Each day, Rich Terfry and Radio 2 Drive wraps up your day with music and stories about the interesting things going on in the world.
REAR VIEW MIRROR:
Each week on Rear-view Mirror, Rich Terfry and the Radio 2 team look back at a great R&B/soul song from the good ol’ days. In today's story, we look at the protest song disguised as a joke, the Coasters' "Run, Red, Run."
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When you think of protest songs in pop music, you probably think of the '60s and acts like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. But before all of that, there was a song released in 1959 by, of all groups, the Coasters.
The Coasters started out as a doo-wop group and became known for novelty songs like "Charlie Brown" and "Yakety Yak." But they, and the songwriting team behind them, had something to say, too.
"Run Red Run" is essentially a song about civil rights, wrapped up in the Coasters' signature comedic style. On the surface, it tells the story of a man named Red, who teaches a monkey how to gamble and get drunk. But a closer look reveals a song about racism, challenging stereotypes and overcoming oppression and injustice.
It was written by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote not only many of the band's signature hits, but some of the biggest songs in rock 'n' roll history - songs like "Stand By Me," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Hound Dog."
Asked about the meaning of the song, Leiber said "once the monkey knows how to play poker, he knows how to understand other things. And once he understands that he's being cheated and exploited, he becomes revolutionary."
The twist in the tale, and perhaps the strongest moment in the song, comes when the Coasters frontman Carl Gardner sings the line "Monkey said Red/ you made a man out of me/ now I'm going to make a monkey out of you." You can hear Gardner's wicked smile and his satisfaction as he sings the line.
The protest era in pop music was still several years away in 1959, so the genius of the song is that it's veiled as a novelty song and given a pop polish. It wasn't the biggest hit the Coasters ever had, but it did crack the top 40. So here it is, perhaps the very first pop protest song from the most unlikely of sources.
Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:
Phil Spector and the Ronnettes/Be My Baby
Os Mutantes/Ando Meio Desligado
Captain Beefheart/Yellow Brick Road
Elton John/Bennie and the Jets
Hank Williams/Long Gone Lonesome Blues
R.E.M./What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
Tom Waits/Jockey Full of Bourbon
Buffalo Springfield/For What It's Worth
Five Man Electrical Band/Signs
Band Aid/Do They Know It's Christmas
The Pursuit of Happiness/I'm An Adult Now
Big Joe Turner/Shake Rattle and Roll
Martha and the Muffins/Echo Beach
Wilson Pickett/In The Midnight Hour
The Band/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Animals/House of the Rising Sun
Ian and Sylvia/Four Strong Winds
James Brown/Please Please Please
John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'
The Ramones/I Wanna Be Sedated
U2/I Still Have't Found What I'm Looking For
Janis Joplin/Me and Bobby McGee
Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind"
Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence"
Bill Haley and his Comets "Rock Around The Clock"
The Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting For The Man"
Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"
Bobby Fuller "I Fought The Law"
Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"
Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"
The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"
Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"
The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"
The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"
Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"
Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"
Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"
New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"
George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"
The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"
James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'
Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'
Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'
Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'
CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'
Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'
Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'
Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'
Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'
Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'
Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'
Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'
Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'
The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'
Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'
Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'
Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'
JUNK IN THE TRUNK:
Rock climbing bears:
Australian shower surprise:
Dog with a case of Beatlemania:
RICH'S PICK: "Pretty Polly" by Lee Sexton:
MARK'S PICK: Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk! Your Searchlight 2014 winners!