Lennon's Jukebox

[Talisant]

Not sure if this item has already been posted.

John Lennon carried a portable jukebox with forty of his fav 45 rpm singles (80 sides) on the road as the Beatles toured in early and mid '60s. The jukebox complete with records turned up at an auction a year or two ago, was snatched up for, I think, $2,500, a documentary was filmed and re-shown on PBS this last Wednesday, pretty great. Here is the playlist alphabetized:

Arthur Alexander-You Better Move on/A Shot of Rhythm and Blues
The Animals-Bring It on Home to Me/For Miss Caulker" 1965
Richie Barrett-Some Other Guy/Tricky Dicky" 1962
Len Barry-1, 2, 3/Bullseye" 1965
Fontella Bass-Rescue Me/The Soul of a Man 1965
Chuck Berry-No Particular Place to Go/You Two 1964
The Big Three-Some Other Guy/Let True Love Begin 1963
Gary US Bonds-New Orleans/Please Forgive Me 1960
Gary US Bonds-Quarter to Three/Time Ole Story 1961
Booker T. & the M.G.'s-Boot-leg/Outrage 1965
Bruce Channel-Hey! Baby/Dream Girl 1962
The Contours-First I Look at the Purse/Can You Do It? 1965
Donovan-Turquoise/Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness) 1965
Bob Dylan-Positively 4th Street/From a Buick 6 1965
Buddy Holly-Brown Eyed Handsome Man/Slippin' and Slidin' 1959
The Isley Brothers-Twist and Shout/Spanish Twist 1962
Little Richard-Long Tall Sally/Slippin' and Slidin' 1956
Little Richard-Ooh! My Soul/True Fine Mama 1958
The Lovin' Spoonful-Daydream/Night Owl Blues 1966
The Lovin' Spoonful-Do You Believe in Magic/On the Road Again
Derek Martin Daddy-Rollin' Stone/Don't Put Me Down Like This 1963
Jimmy McCracklin-The Walk/I'm to Blame 1958
The Miracles-Shop Around/Who's Lovin' You 1960
The Miracles-Ain't It Baby/The Only One I Love 1961
The Miracles-What's So Good About Goodbye?/I've Been Good to You
The Miracles-The Tracks of My Tears/A Fork in the Road 1965
Bobby Parker-Watch Your Step/Steal Your Heart Away 1961
Wilson Pickett-In the Midnight Hour/I'm Not Tired 1965
James Ray-If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody/It's Been a Drag
Otis Redding-My Girl/Down in the Valley 1965
Paul Revere & the Raiders-Steppin' Out/Blue Fox 1965
Timmy Shaw-Gonna Send You Back to Georgie/I'm a Lonely Guy 1963 Edwin Starr-Agent Double-O Soul/Back Street 1965
Barrett Strong-Money (That's What I Want)/Oh I Apologize 1959
Tommy Tucker-Hi-Heel Sneakers/I Don't Want 'Cha 1963
Gene Vincent-Be-Bop-A-Lula/Woman Love 1956
Larry Williams-Short Fat Fannie/High School Dance 1957
Larry Williams-She Said, Yeah/Bad Boy 1959

[Pietro_Mercurios]

I'd read about the portable jukebox, but I haven't seen the playlist, before.

Good call, Talisant! A lot of those tracks look worth checking out. :)

[Talisant]

I grew up hearing most of the songs, great stuff, still have a number of the 45s, but only recently heard Barret Strong's version of Money on XM radio, a really great cut with cool drums, and I'd forgotten about James Ray's If You've Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody - wonderful song, I'm more familiar with the later Freddie and the Dreamers version, but just a/b'd them and Ray's sounds better imho. There's a cd compilaton of A sides plus a few notable B sides available through Amazon type purchase portals.

[DeeCrowSeer]

Re: Lennon's Jukebox

Tommy Tucker-Hi-Heel Sneakers

I have that on a tape somewhere... I love songs with strange, or absurd, images like that. There's another Blues song (possibly on the same tape) where the singer declares that he has an axe-handle pistol, built on a graveyard frame. Nonsense, of course, but very evocative.

Oh... after a quick Google search, I discover the sneaker song was covered by Janis Joplin... who also recorded a special song for Lennon, shortly before she died... although I think I read that he didn't hear it as such... I'm gibbering now...

It was pointed out to me a while ago that, even though I consider John the "coolest" Beatle, most of my favourite songs were actually Paul's. How very shallow of me. :(

[Talisant]

"Axe-handle pistol" could be Who Do You Love by Bo Diddley, covered by many others.

Haven't heard the Joplin-for-Lennon song, sounds interesting.

Somewhat ditto as to your Lennon/McCartney statement, I like more McCartney songs than I realized.

[DeeCrowSeer]

"Axe-handle pistol" could be Who Do You Love by Bo Diddley, covered by many others.

I've definitely heard that song, so could be...

Haven't heard the Joplin-for-Lennon song, sounds interesting.

I've only read about it in a biography, but I believe it was added to the recently re-released Pearl. "Happy Birthday, John (Happy Trails)" is the title, according to Amazon.