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“Jailhouse Rock” is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The song was released as a 45rpm single on September 24, 1957, to coincide with the release of Presley’s motion picture, Jailhouse Rock.
When I was just sixteen
Now he stops at traffic lights
But only when they're green Oasis – Shakermaker
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The final verse was written in a taxi on the way to the recording studio to record the song. Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was pestering Noel to finish the song. At this point, the taxi stopped at the traffic lights outside “Sifter’s” (a record shop in Burnage, Manchester). Noel penned the lyric and it became part of the song. Noel used to frequent the store to buy old records and Mr Sifter refers to the owner of the record store; Sifter told Noel to mention his name if he ever got famous.
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Mr Benn is a British cartoon who appears in several children’s books.
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What is this?
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Michelle, a California native, despised the frigidity of New York. The story goes that they blindfolded Michelle and she shot a dart on a map of the world; the target that she hit would be their next destination – so the Virgin Islands it was.
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What is this?
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Just to leave their folk music behind; The Mamas & The Papas – Creeque Alley
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Refers to John Phillips and Michelle “Mitchie” Gilliam, two of the group’s founders.
John Phillips had been playing in a folk band known as The Journeymen. They played old folk standards but, like other similar-sounding acts at the time, were relatively unadventurous and weren’t garnering much of an audience.
The Journeymen had played at a coffeehouse called The Hungry i which is where John met Michelle. After watching her sing, he fell in love with her almost instantly. He was 26, and she was 17. John left his wife and children, and he and Michelle were married on December 31, 1962. Michelle worked as a model at the time, but was later to become a singer with the Mamas and Papas.
The Journeymen split up by early 1964, and later that year John and Michelle formed The New Journeymen with Marshall Brickman. By 1965, however, John was getting “itchy” and restless, keen on trying something new.
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The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany that stood for an end to fascism and war. Six of their most prominent members were beheaded in 1943.
However, Jeff has stated he didn’t know about them until after the album was released. It’s most likely a reference to the first line “the only girl I ever loved was born with roses in her eyes”. Since white is a symbol for innocence, Jeff may be saying that he wanted them to be innocent, but the world corrupted and destroyed them.
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“Shakermaker” was released as the second single off Definitely Maybe, June 13th 1994. In 2010 it was included in the singles collection Time Flies… 1994-2009.
The verse melody of the song was taken from “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony),” a song famous for being featured in a 1970s Coca-Cola ad. Oasis was sued and forced to pay up $500,000. When asked about the incident, Noel Gallagher stated, “Now we all drink Pepsi.”
noel actually sang that pepsi line at the end of a live version at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Creating Records Birthday party (04.06.94)