Issue No. 33 of Johnny Be Good features one of 45 songs from the book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John Pearson's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes). Each blog will spotlight a song from the book and a guest blogger’s color commentary. Click here to subscribe. Each issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting will highlight the latest blog.
Disco Dishwasher!
Today’s guest blogger: Scott Anderson
Song: #33 of 45
Title: "Rock the Boat"
Musicians: The Hues Corporation
Released: May 1974
I APPRECIATED THIS:
“What did I appreciate about this song?” Well, this is a tough question. When I took this assignment, I did not appreciate this song at all—but after digging into it a bit, I came to appreciate it more than I thought I would. Much more.
Read more in Marc Myers’ WSJ article, April 2, 2014, “The Hues Corporation's 'Rock the Boat.’ How a musical team crafted a bouncy hit that helped launch the disco era."
Listen to "Rock the Boat," performed by The Hues Corporation. The song was No. 1 on Billboard’s pop charts in July 1974.
MY FAVORITE NOTES & QUOTES:
Well, upon hearing this initially when I was in high school, I had just finished playing the drums in the orchestra for our stage production of “Guys and Dolls.” I kept thinking, “Why would they rewrite a great song like 'Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat' (from 'Guys and Dolls') and put it to this crazy new beat (which is now called disco)?"
My favorite lyrics in the song:
“There's always been
a quiet place to harbor you and me.”
I like this because we all need to access a safe harbor from time to time—and it’s always an added blessing to have someone to share the harbor with.
And I also appreciate the line,
“I’d like to know where you got the notion…
Don’t rock the boat…”
Nobody needs a boat rocker, and it doesn’t matter what the situation is—it just makes everyone uncomfortable. There’s just no upside to rocking the boat.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD THIS SONG?
As I recall, I was a 16-year-old jazz drummer at the time, and I just got a job washing dishes at a wild animal park located in Irvine, Calif. I worked as a bus boy and dishwasher in the cafeteria. It seems that every time I was on dishwashing duty, this song was playing on AM radio. So since I was not a disco fan (even though I didn’t know what disco was), I still associate this song with washing dishes while getting paid $1.35 an hour. You can do the math on that one.
JOHNNY BE...GOOD, BETTER, OR BEST?
• GOOD: I had no idea this song was pivotal in introducing the disco revolution that overtook the musical world for 10 years. “Disco” wasn’t even a thing back then, or at least I don’t think it was.
• BETTER: The song’s history reminded me that disco really had its roots in Motown, R&B, and soul, not only musically but especially culturally.
There was still an incredible amount of racial bias even in the early 70s, and I only know that from what I’ve read. Just being an African-American musician back then had to be so challenging. You were praised for so many things musically, yet not recognized or appreciated in so many circles as a human being like everybody else. I can’t imagine what that would’ve been like.
• BEST: Who would’ve thought that my least favorite song at the time, when I was only 16, was performed on the album by members of one of my favorite jazz groups of all time: the Jazz Crusaders. The group included Larry Carlton, Wilton, Felder, and Joe Sample, one of my favorite keyboard players of all time! Who knew?
One thing I’ll mention in this blog: I’ve discovered that songs are kind of like people. You may find a song uninteresting or even unlikable at first listen, but if you understand the story behind the song and how it impacted the musical world, you tend to have more appreciation for it and might even develop a bit of affection for it.
I hope my friends give me as much grace as I’m trying to give to this song and what it represented.
We asked AI to picture a 16-year-old Scott Anderson at work as a dishwasher—channeling his inner “John Travolta” and “Saturday Night Fever.” So AI gave us “Disco Dishwasher!”
THIS ISSUE'S COMMENTARY BY Scott Anderson
SCOTT ANDERSON was a music major for two years as a percussionist and he played in the orchestras, and wind orchestras, in high school and college, and has always been a jazz fan. But he also had a great appreciation for folk (Joni Mitchell and James Taylor), classical, and disco, especially when “Saturday Night Fever” came out.
Scott adds, “Maybe I just liked wearing a leisure suit and platform shoes (Oh, yeah!). I should note that I was 6’ 6” at the time (6' 8" with the platform shoes!). Also, maybe somehow I felt sick to my stomach back then when I envisioned Joni Mitchell singing disco!”
NEXT UP: Song #34 of 45, “Walk This Way,” by Aerosmith, with commentary by Melinda Schmidt.
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It all started in 2023, when John Pearson read and reviewed a "fun" book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes).
If you'd enjoy being one of 45 guest bloggers, along with John Ashmen, Dick Nelson, Suzy West, Dave Barton, Patsy Barton, Paul Palmer, Bill Butterworth, Jim West, Melinda Schmidt, Jason Pearson, Gary Rea, Callista Dawson, John Walling, Ed Barrett, Larry Beatty, Skye Matlock, Scott Anderson and others, read more here and contact John Pearson. Click here to subscribe to this blog and enjoy the toe-tapping musicians in each weekly blog post—reminding you of these iconic songs of yesteryear.