I was listening to Vol. 2 of the Ace label’s excellent Golden Age of American Rock ‘n’ Roll: Hot 100 Hits From 1954-1963 when the Bell Notes’ one and only hit, which reached #6 in February 1959, leapt out and reminded me vividly of the early-‘80s cowpunk act Rank and File and specifically their theme song “Rank and File.” It seems likely this could be settled in a court of law because “Rank and File” sounds more like “I’ve Had It” than “My Sweet Lord” sounds like “He’s So Fine.” Just sayin’. The greater and more obvious influence on the Long Island act Bell Notes is the Everly Brothers, in both their close harmonies and in the sense in their songs of ineffective peevishness, miffed by the way things are going. In “Bird Dog,” “Problems,” “Walk Right Back,” “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” they have reason to feel short-changed and that there’s nothing they can do about it. Just so, the singer of this song has “had it,” an expression, “I’ve had it,” usually spoken by people who are likely to keep having it and know it. Exasperation as real as it gets, in a way. As for the cowpunk lift, I would not call it exactly theft on the part of Rank and File, just a pronounced family resemblance between songs, or maybe a kind of homage or salute (though it’s unlikely many in 1982 remembered the Bell Notes, who I have to keep fighting myself not to think of as the Bell Tones). Rank and File’s version, if you want to call it that, is twice as long and all rocked up heavy on a big drumkit and twangy electric guitar, with all-new lyrics. You can imagine what the “la-la-la-la” singing Bell Notes might have to say about it. It’s right there in the title of their only hit.
What were the odds?!? Not long after consuming your post above, I began reading former J.Geils front man Peter Wolf's 2025 memoir "Waiting for the Moon" for my book club, and discovered right on page 24 that Wolf had bought the Bell Notes single himself, at age 12 or so. He then set it up to play repeatedly at full volume inside a locked office, to irritate a teacher who'd bawled him out for not getting a microphone properly adjusted for Eleanor Roosevelt(!) to use in addressing his class. (I'm not making this up, we'll trust Mr. Wolf.) I don't think I'd ever known of the Bell Notes or their record until it turned up on Can't Explain, though it's possible I heard it on the radio in my father's auto repair shop in my own primordial-rock youth. Quite a lot of related pop history to absorb in a few days, thanks! -- Richard Riegel
ReplyDeleteGreat story, thanks Richard!
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