True story: Back in the 90s, I worked with the drummer for the group Survivor, who had the hit "Eye of the Tiger." I saw his gold record and held his Grammy, so I knew he was the real deal. One day, Vehicle came on the radio and I started singing along with it, and to my absolute delight, this guy starts drumming along with the song, and I was like Omg, I'm singing with the drummer from Survivor (!) and when the song was over, I exclaimed, "Wow, I can't believe you know that song, too!" and he said, "Yeah... I was also the drummer for the Ides of March." And you could have knocked me over with a feather.
I've become long distance friends with their Hammond master after he taught me a bunch of keyboard stuff at a workshop. The drums are phenomenal but the Hammond Organ laid a foundation for the horns to shine. This song is a masterpiece and Jim Peterik has the golden touch.
FYI - The expression 'Beware the Ides of March' derives from the historical fact that Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of Roman senators on the Ides of March (the 15th), 44 BC. Exactly a month earlier Caesar had visited a soothsayer named Spurinna. who had predicted that his life would be in danger for the next 30 days.
This song is about the composer's high school crush who lived down the street. He had a car, and she knew he had a crush on her, so she took advantage of the situation and asked him for rides all the time. He gladly obliged but never got anywhere with her. True story.
We played this in high school marching band in 78'/79'. One of or drummers had his personal kit sat up on the sideline and one of my fellow trumpet players was a great guitar player as well and had his amp and ax next to him. When we played this, we always got a standing ovation.
Yesssssss my high school band was amazing! This is a favorite for high school and college bands, great memories from half time shows and parades. I was in the flag team, we got to march right behind the drummers, epic memories!
Ides' Jim Peterik, the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Vehicle is a hit maker. He was responsible for the majority of hits for Survivor (where he played keyboards) including Eye of the Tiger and several of the hits for 38 Special. Too many more hits to mention. Jim has the golden touch.
@@kathleenconnors9013 Unfortunately, the key word there is "was". They stopped being 38 Special when Peterik took over vocals and they started writing songs the record label wanted them to write. I grew up in their hometown of Jacksonville when they were coming up and they were great southern rockers.
@@scottingram7634 - You don't know what you are talking about. Jim Peterik never sang for 38 Special. He cowrote many of their hits and without him most people would have never heard of 38 Special. Troll somewhere else.
@@francisseidel8014 My mistake. I thought he was the guy who sang that "Second Chance" song which is when 38 stopped being 38. I pulled all my 38 vinyls and, you're right, Peterik did co-write some of their best and biggest songs. Really never heard anything about him back in the day. It was always Barnes/Carlisi/VanZant. I stand corrected.
When this song came out, Blood, Sweat, and Tears was a popular group, and a lot of people heard this song and assumed it was them. As Ides of March was a one-hit wonder and BST got constant requests to play the song, they eventually (much later) finally started performing it at shows. I got this information second (or third) hand and have never been to a BST show, so somebody in the comments will probably seek to correct me.
I had always thought that Ides of March was the group that BST's lead singer, David Clayton-Thomas, was in before them. I didn't find out different until recently...
Spider. A proffesor I had at Berklee College of Music was founding BST member " Fredipsius" ( Sax). Also my grandmother was close friends at Assisted Living with AL Cooper's (other BST founder) mom. I took her to his show at the Berklee Performamce Centre.
Ides is a term that was used by the Romans in their calendar. It referred to roughly the middle of the month. Today we would think of it as the 15th of the month. The "Ides of March" is famous for the day that Julius Caesar was killed. And in the Shakespeare play "Julius Caesar, there is the famous line "Beware the Ides of March".
In the late 70's, we won a few parade and field band competitions with this song. We had a killer horn section, and the guitar solo was done using a sax. This song was my fondest memory from those band years.
Excellent one-hit wonder! Their Keyboardist Jim Peterik co-wrote 7 Survivor songs including "Eye Of The Tiger", 38 Special's "Hold On Loosely and "Caught Up in You".
Funny because I just listened to all 3 of their 70's albums and while superb musically and no bad songs. aside from Vehicle no other struck me as a hit. Was curious if they got a raw deal as a 1 hit like Say Thin Lizzy whom had countless others that could have been hits.
Vehicle is one of my favorite 70s songs. Can't help but feel good!! In a similar vein, "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse. Another Canadian band. Horn Heavy. Real 70s vibe.
Top Three songs I've been waiting for were War by Edwin Starr, Vehicle by Ides of March, and You Made Me So Very Happy by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Two down, one to go!
They've done "War". I sure you know BS&T had way more than one hit, but, yeah, I would love to have them do anything by them. My favorite by them is "Lucretia Mac Evil/Lucretia's Reprise".
*One hit wonder................Three Gold Records!* Mountain is not just MISSISSIPPI QUEEN! Check out : Nantucket Sleigh Ride , For Yasger's Farm and Theme for an Imaginary Western Radio play is not the true measure of a band
Finally, Vehicle! Andy, I asked you to give it a listen long ago in Patreon, thanks for finally getting around to it. And to all the other commenters also asking for it!
I was a trumpet player in high school, and we always played this at half time of the basketball games. Great song! Also check out "Get it On" by Chase.... Another one with great horns!
You've been hitting the great tunes from my high school years lately. Now is finally the time to check out The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today (The 11 minute version). Honestly, it would be for your own good! 😎
Here's another great rocking, straight ahead, horn-heavy tune for you - "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse. They were a Canadian band in the Chicago/BST mold. Pretty much a one hit wonder but they had some decent albums and were a lot of fun live.
This is so similar that it might as well be a Blood Sweat and Tears track. The singer even sounds like DCT. Not too crazy about the total stereo separation but it was mostly an AM hit so it didn't matter. The Ides of march is one of the coolest names I can think of since it portends the murder of an Emperor.
Hell, I miss that hard-panned stereo mix sound. Music doesn't move around the left/right field like it used to - all very samey-same, overcompressed, sterile, brittle, and boring.
The leader of this band and writer of this song later formed the '80s band Survivor who had a number of hits like the Rocky theme song "Eye of the Tiger." Also Alex, the Ides of March is a Shakespeare quote referring to the warning that Julius Caesar received about his impending assassination ("beware the Ides of March...") that happened mid-March (what the ides of March means).
Yes! How come nobody besides you and I ever heard of Chase!!! Can you even find their music on RUclips? I tried and failed. Was it just me? Man... let me know!! 😊 ✌
@@jodimae5793 Yes unfortunately they couldn’t duplicate their big hit and in 1974 Bill Chase along with a few members were killed in a plane crash on the way to a gig🥲
Although I was a very young child when this song was being played on the radio, I do remember it sounding like BST and Chicago, who had dropped their single "Make me Smile". Big brass bands were the thing in 1970
You know it's a banger when Alex both crosses his eyes *and* rolls them back at the same time. Love it! 😁 GREAT song that I've loved since forever, glad you've finally found it!
I know I'm the voice in the wilderness on this one, but the original version of _Classical Gas_ by Mason Williams is a beautiful roller coaster of a tune that carries you along urgently to the first hill, deposits you in a brief brass trough, and then builds you back up onto the crest of a second orchestral hill, until finally returning you gently and satisfyingly to the platform. Any music lover or musician should hear it at least once. Fair warning that it's an instrumental, but you really won't notice, so compelling is the main theme.
So much this. Instrumental-shminstrumental; that guitar *sings*. I'm also a big fan of the cover by Synergy/Larry Fast, but I still think it's best to hear the original version first.
I love Classical Gas. Amazing that such a beautiful piece of music was written by a comedy writer. Mason Williams started as a writer for the Smothers Brothers show, and I believe Classical Gas was debuted there. He also wrote for Saturday Night Live.
Saw these guys in 1971 at John Carroll University gym in Cleveland. A friend got so wasted that he danced to this song on a table in front of the stage for the entire song and totally alienated the band! Still a prominent joyous memory 50 years later
This song is in my top 10 and is a ringtone. It is the SHIT. I worked as a bartender in a live band bar in the 1900s and 90s and we had a band that covered this with perfection. LOVE THIS.
I have seen them in concert several times, billed as one of the "Cornerstones of Rock", along with New Colony Six, The Buckinghams, The Vogues, The Cryan Shames, Shadows of Night. All Chicago bands. JIM PETERIK of Ides wrote many other songs for other artists. You should also listen to: You Wouldn't Listen '70 and L.A. Goodbye '71.
Beware the Ides of March, is the warning Julius Caesar ignored and was assassinated entering the Senate, to quote Shakespeare. Jim Peterik is the man behind this band and Survivor. He's one of the most prolific song writers ever. He co-wrote .38 Special's hits and ton's of songs under assumed names.
Guys ! Take it all the way home & play the only hit by "Chase". It was a tragic story but they were getting ready to blow away everything in the, jazz rock genera. Still remember the news when it happened. They mattered in a big way. Enjoy.
So glad you hit this song. Always happy to hear it. I'm from Chicago and this was one of our local bands (they originated in one of our suburbs, Berwyn).
Gotta hit Starbuck, "Moonlight Feels Right." The only pop hit I can think of that has a xylophone solo in the middle - and a completely badass xylophone solo at that.
I started playing trumpet in fifth grade. Turned out I had a small amount of talen for it, and was usually first chair in the top band in junior and senior high. In my sophmore year we got a new assistant band director to help Mr. Leroy out. His name was Tom Henninger. He was a trumpet player of great skill. The things I learned from him were valuable to my playing AND to my life in general. He instilled a passion for the instument that had been slowly waning since I had picked up my first pair of drum sticks in seventh grade. The trumpet was back on equal footing with the drums, and I still play both to this day. Before Mr. Henninger became a music teacher, he was asked to join The Ides Of March. But he didn't want to be in a band - he wanted to be in a school music room, standing in front, directing us all, or sitting in a practice room with one or two of us, showing us amazing things that we were capable of doing if we only put the time and effort in. He was young, and so it was inevitable that he would end up doing a little partying with some of us. We all really loved him. He retired about ten years ago and moved to Madison with his girlfriend. About a month ago, he was killed while crossing a very busy street on his bicycle. There was a standing room only memorial for him here in Watertown at the local Turner Hall. I saw a shit load of people that I hadn't seen since I graduated from high school. About ten of us hung out together for the rest of the day/night, getting drunk and high, and reminiscing about Tom. He had an incredible impact on hundreds of kids, which carried over into our adult years. I have three favorite trumpet players who I admire and emulate: Doc Severinsen, Lee Loughnane (of Chicago) and Tom Henninger. RIP, Mr. Henninger. You were one of the best.
I was privileged to see this band play at a venue that was part of my high school (Lyons Township High School in Western Springs IL) back in the day before the band got really famous. I was also privileged to hear one of the band member's mother's brag about her son who was in the band a couple of years later. My sister & I & some friends were out wandering a neighborhood out in St Charles IL in the neighborhood of this church camp we all attended every year in the mid-1970s & started talking to an older women (I don't remember what happened that made us talk to her) when she asked us if we had heard of the band called "Ides of March". Of course we had!!! The local Chicago radio stations were playing the heck of out of the band at the time, especially since they were local boys from Berwyn IL for cryin' out loud. She then confessed that her son was in that band & played horns with them. We were delighted to hear this & told her we liked their songs a great deal. She was so pleased to hear this. That just warmed my heart to hear a mom bragging about her son. So sweet.
Thanks for reading my message . Glad you guys enjoyed the high energy in the sauce like song. "Drift Away" is a good song by Dobie Grey that should get you guys in sauce or make you drift away. I have travelled lots and have heard this song played by many cover bands in many different countries, it seems to be a cover band staple.
Dobie Gray's best song is his 1965 hit "The In Crowd". It's possibly the greatest song done in the style of Sam Cooke since Cooke died the previous year. Offhand, I can't think of another '60s hit that has more smooth swagger than "The In Crowd".
OMG !! I saw Ides of March LIVE in Erie, Pennsylvania back in 1971. They were so good, the HORNS!!! and dancing on the stage that by the time they sang Vehicle at the end the whole audience was so pumped. I was 19 or 20 then. Boy, we had great music. This band was a one-hit wonder, but what a hit! This was definitely one for puttin' the pedal to the metal in my Mercury Cyclone 351 4 barrel, lol. ty, ty, for reacting to this
My earliest memory of this song is it being used in a Speed Shop tv ad, and ever since, I associate it with anything Hot Rod or Custom Car. Such a great cruising song
"Vehicle'' is an immortal record. In the genre, "Get It On'' by Chase, "One Fine Morning'' by Lighthouse and "Go Down Gamblin'" by Blood, Sweat & Tears are highly recommended bangers.
I highly recommend Pacific Gas n Electric "Are You Ready" I believe was a one hit wonder (could be wrong) it reached no.14 on Billboards top 100 in 1970. It's so funky and it's got a really good guitar solo.
To add to other stories - Jim Peterik, (still very active) was only 19 when they recorded it. He's the lead singer and guitarist here. He played keyboards for his next band Survivor. The song didn't originally have the first line "I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan". He changed it to that after he saw an anti-drug pamphlet about pushers. Like others said, it was about a girl who used him for rides and then broke up with him. But she kept calling him for rides. They eventually got back together and that is his wife to this day. Peterik said they sent a demo of the to Blood, Sweat and Tears, but never heard back. A few years later he ran into a member of BST and told Jim, "We should have listened to your song..." He wrote and co-wrote a lot of songs for other groups. Mentioned were 38 Special. Most recently he co-wrote and produced Dennis DeYoung's (former lead singer and writer in Styx) final two albums. They live near each other in suburban Chicago. He also co-wrote several songs of the recently released brand new Chicago album. He worked with Robert Lamm of Chicago on several songs for a Lamm solo album and it spilled into Chicago's album. Jim did a lot of live videos of his songs during the lockdown that you can find on RUclips. His son Colin Peterik is a hell of a musician too. He has solo work and also formed a great Steely Dan tribute band called "Brooklyn Charmers". They appear around the country.
If you're listening to this great tune you should also listen to Classical Gas by Mason Williams. Guitar, bass, drums, and horns horns horns. And no lyrics. It will make you want to drive, except not off a cliff ..nor fall asleep.
Great song...I actually have the pleasure of printing t-shirts for the Ides of March who are still touring. Jim Peterik has written quite a few good songs including this one. They were recently inducted in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame too
The ides of March is March 15. The band name comes from the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, in which a fortune teller tells Caesar to "beware the ides of March," a prophecy of his assassination.
Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, The Ides of March and a few others all popped up around the same time. Amazing point in music histy. The singer, if I recall,like Alex Chilton in The Box Tops, was around 16 at the time of the recoro
They technically are one-hit-wonders, but their song" L.A. Goodbye" (also a great song) was a number-one hit in Chicago. I always assumed it was a hit everywhere but it only reached #73 on the charts nationally. It's funny how regional the record biz and radio were back then.
@@garystanford3921 - indeed. I grew up in the southeastern U.S. and there were lots of regional "beach music" hits that most of the rest of the country never heard of. I'm listening to "L.A. Goodbye" now -- never would have dreamed that the same band did that song and "Vehicle". No horns at all!!! There's a lot of America in L.A. Goodbye....
This song really really slaps hard! So glad you finally got around to it. Another good one hit wonder from the 70s is "Brother Louie" by Stories. Also, when are you guys finally going to do some Boz Scaggs???
OMG…every time I hear this song I always think of a guy that I had a Hugh crush on in the the early 70’s. He was too old or me, but I thought he was the greatest! Great memories
True story: Back in the 90s, I worked with the drummer for the group Survivor, who had the hit "Eye of the Tiger." I saw his gold record and held his Grammy, so I knew he was the real deal. One day, Vehicle came on the radio and I started singing along with it, and to my absolute delight, this guy starts drumming along with the song, and I was like Omg, I'm singing with the drummer from Survivor (!) and when the song was over, I exclaimed, "Wow, I can't believe you know that song, too!" and he said, "Yeah... I was also the drummer for the Ides of March." And you could have knocked me over with a feather.
That's LEGENDARY!
👍😎 Awesome!
The album Vital Signs is one of my absolute favorite 80s guilty pleasures
I've become long distance friends with their Hammond master after he taught me a bunch of keyboard stuff at a workshop. The drums are phenomenal but the Hammond Organ laid a foundation for the horns to shine. This song is a masterpiece and Jim Peterik has the golden touch.
@@robland6804 Me too!
FYI - The expression 'Beware the Ides of March' derives from the historical fact that Julius Caesar was murdered by a group of Roman senators on the Ides of March (the 15th), 44 BC. Exactly a month earlier Caesar had visited a soothsayer named Spurinna. who had predicted that his life would be in danger for the next 30 days.
"Beware the Ides of March"
It's from Shakespeare's play about Julius Ceasar
"Ides" were a certain time of months in the Roman calendar and is too complicated for me to explain.
Great choice! In this age of digital "perfection" it's great to hear the gritty, funky truth of the 70s.
@@scambammer6102 bill s didn't originate the term
This song is about the composer's high school crush who lived down the street. He had a car, and she knew he had a crush on her, so she took advantage of the situation and asked him for rides all the time. He gladly obliged but never got anywhere with her. True story.
Ha, the actual story is even better -he married her and they have now been married right around 50 years
@@MikeCoggan correct 👍🏼
I had the same experience as him with a girl in my neighborhood.
Really?? Interesting!
The song was so huge, High School marching bands played it as a fight song
We played this in high school marching band in 78'/79'. One of or drummers had his personal kit sat up on the sideline and one of my fellow trumpet players was a great guitar player as well and had his amp and ax next to him. When we played this, we always got a standing ovation.
I played this in pep band at football and basketball games constantly in high school in the early 2000s! Graduated in 09.
We played this song in pep band and stage band. One of my favorites to play.
Yesssssss my high school band was amazing! This is a favorite for high school and college bands, great memories from half time shows and parades. I was in the flag team, we got to march right behind the drummers, epic memories!
Ides' Jim Peterik, the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Vehicle is a hit maker. He was responsible for the majority of hits for Survivor (where he played keyboards) including Eye of the Tiger and several of the hits for 38 Special. Too many more hits to mention. Jim has the golden touch.
38 special was great
@@kathleenconnors9013 Unfortunately, the key word there is "was". They stopped being 38 Special when Peterik took over vocals and they started writing songs the record label wanted them to write. I grew up in their hometown of Jacksonville when they were coming up and they were great southern rockers.
@@scottingram7634 - You don't know what you are talking about. Jim Peterik never sang for 38 Special. He cowrote many of their hits and without him most people would have never heard of 38 Special. Troll somewhere else.
@@scottingram7634 I remember. I’m 64.
@@francisseidel8014 My mistake. I thought he was the guy who sang that "Second Chance" song which is when 38 stopped being 38. I pulled all my 38 vinyls and, you're right, Peterik did co-write some of their best and biggest songs. Really never heard anything about him back in the day. It was always Barnes/Carlisi/VanZant. I stand corrected.
When it came out, I thought it was Blood, Sweat, and Tears. It was several years later that I found out it wasn't.
Killer song!
I thought it was by Chicago.
When this song came out, Blood, Sweat, and Tears was a popular group, and a lot of people heard this song and assumed it was them. As Ides of March was a one-hit wonder and BST got constant requests to play the song, they eventually (much later) finally started performing it at shows. I got this information second (or third) hand and have never been to a BST show, so somebody in the comments will probably seek to correct me.
I had always thought that Ides of March was the group that BST's lead singer, David Clayton-Thomas, was in before them. I didn't find out different until recently...
Spider.
A proffesor I had at Berklee College of Music was founding BST member " Fredipsius" ( Sax). Also my grandmother was close friends at Assisted Living with AL Cooper's (other BST founder) mom.
I took her to his show at the Berklee Performamce Centre.
HERE BST IS PERFORMING THE SONG
ruclips.net/video/-s5XmNmXChM/видео.html
Oh wow, another song I heard on the radio but never learned the name of! When I read title here, I thought the song name was Vehicle. 😳
@@grangerjung4129 the song name IS "VEHICLE" wtf??!!!
A perfect song. Does everything they wanted it to do.
Ides is a term that was used by the Romans in their calendar. It referred to roughly the middle of the month. Today we would think of it as the 15th of the month. The "Ides of March" is famous for the day that Julius Caesar was killed. And in the Shakespeare play "Julius Caesar, there is the famous line "Beware the Ides of March".
This came out in the Blood Sweat & Tears / Chicago era and received a lot of airplay. Great song from the way back.
“I’m your vehicle baby, I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go…” 😜
In the late 70's, we won a few parade and field band competitions with this song. We had a killer horn section, and the guitar solo was done using a sax. This song was my fondest memory from those band years.
And my high school played it, too. Remember the song " The Horse"?
My son played this in jazz band in the 2000's.
@@mrsteve3527 Yes, I had to Google it because I didn't know it by name. I think we played that in regular concert or jazz band.
Excellent one-hit wonder!
Their Keyboardist Jim Peterik co-wrote 7 Survivor songs including "Eye Of The Tiger",
38 Special's "Hold On Loosely and "Caught Up in You".
Actually not really a one hit wonder. LA Goodbye spent 8 weeks in the top 100. It's a good song. I've met Peterik. Nice guy.
Funny because I just listened to all 3 of their 70's albums and while superb musically and no bad songs. aside from Vehicle no other struck me as a hit.
Was curious if they got a raw deal as a 1 hit like Say Thin Lizzy whom had countless others that could have been hits.
Peterik can't be considered a one-hit wonder, he wrote TONS for hits for TONS of artists
Lots of great songs!!
@@elfinmagic4022 "L.A. Goodbye" only reached #73 in the US and #63 in Canada. I've seen Professor Of Rock interview Jim Peterik, he's a very cool cat.
Vehicle is one of my favorite 70s songs. Can't help but feel good!! In a similar vein, "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse. Another Canadian band. Horn Heavy. Real 70s vibe.
Definitely Andy and Alex have to give "One Fine Morning" a listen!
Yes! I have suggested OFM to them. Also that they check out the members of the band. One is rather a surprise.
I've been trying to get Andy and Alex to do " One Fine Morning " for about a year now. Hope they come through.
@@HollyVee I gotta assume you're referring to Howard Shore
Such a visceral song , the horns , the drums , the guitar and his deep growling voice .....powerful classic .
Top Three songs I've been waiting for were War by Edwin Starr, Vehicle by Ides of March, and You Made Me So Very Happy by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Two down, one to go!
They've done "War". I sure you know BS&T had way more than one hit, but, yeah, I would love to have them do anything by them. My favorite by them is "Lucretia Mac Evil/Lucretia's Reprise".
We were lucky to have so much "horn rock" back in the 70's!
Ooo, Lucy you just so damn bad…
Fantastic song. How could they make something this good and never have another hit?
I always thought the same with Sanford-Townsend Band's "Smoke of a Distant Fire" and King Harvest's "Dancing In the Moonlight".
They had 2 other songs that were big in Chicago. Both charted. "You Wouldn't Listen", & "L.A. Goodbye".
Written by Jim Peterik -- look him up, not a one-hit wonder at all
Some ended up in Survivor, and did "The Eye Of The Tiger".
*One hit wonder................Three Gold Records!*
Mountain is not just MISSISSIPPI QUEEN!
Check out : Nantucket Sleigh Ride , For Yasger's Farm and Theme for an Imaginary Western
Radio play is not the true measure of a band
“Beware the Ides of March “ is a Shakespeare quote from Julius Caesar. Ides is the 15th day of the month, in the months that have 31 days.
One of my favorite rockin' songs ever. Dangerous if you are driving down the road, foot on the gas pedal.
Finally, Vehicle! Andy, I asked you to give it a listen long ago in Patreon, thanks for finally getting around to it. And to all the other commenters also asking for it!
I was a trumpet player in high school, and we always played this at half time of the basketball games. Great song! Also check out "Get it On" by Chase.... Another one with great horns!
Yes - "Get it On" is my favorite horns song!
I saw them live in 1970 when they upstaged Iron Butterfly and Led Zeppelin. They were an amazing live act.
You've been hitting the great tunes from my high school years lately. Now is finally the time to check out The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today (The 11 minute version). Honestly, it would be for your own good! 😎
Yes, please!!!
YES! I've been requesting this for ages. Great horn band out of Chi-town!
Here's another great rocking, straight ahead, horn-heavy tune for you - "One Fine Morning" by Lighthouse. They were a Canadian band in the Chicago/BST mold. Pretty much a one hit wonder but they had some decent albums and were a lot of fun live.
Another karaoke killer!
This song never gets old. Jim Peterik can write some tunes in any genre from Beach Boys to Sammy Hagar (Heavy Metal) and all in between.
Must have picked up that skill after this album.
One of the best songs EVER!! I've heard it many, many times and never tire of it🎺
One of my favorite songs EVER!!!!
This is so similar that it might as well be a Blood Sweat and Tears track. The singer even sounds like DCT. Not too crazy about the total stereo separation but it was mostly an AM hit so it didn't matter. The Ides of march is one of the coolest names I can think of since it portends the murder of an Emperor.
Hell, I miss that hard-panned stereo mix sound. Music doesn't move around the left/right field like it used to - all very samey-same, overcompressed, sterile, brittle, and boring.
The leader of this band and writer of this song later formed the '80s band Survivor who had a number of hits like the Rocky theme song "Eye of the Tiger." Also Alex, the Ides of March is a Shakespeare quote referring to the warning that Julius Caesar received about his impending assassination ("beware the Ides of March...") that happened mid-March (what the ides of March means).
"Lucretia Mac Evil" by Blood, Sweat & Tears is a must.
Another bi g hit back then for horn bands were Chase doing" get it on" and "one fine morning" by Lighthouse, check them both out
Yes! How come nobody besides you and I ever heard of Chase!!! Can you even find their music on RUclips? I tried and failed. Was it just me? Man... let me know!! 😊 ✌
@@jodimae5793 Yes unfortunately they couldn’t duplicate their big hit and in 1974 Bill Chase along with a few members were killed in a plane crash on the way to a gig🥲
@@jodimae5793 also type Chase band and you’ll see their videos
Although I was a very young child when this song was being played on the radio, I do remember it sounding like BST and Chicago, who had dropped their single "Make me Smile". Big brass bands were the thing in 1970
You know it's a banger when Alex both crosses his eyes *and* rolls them back at the same time. Love it! 😁 GREAT song that I've loved since forever, glad you've finally found it!
I know I'm the voice in the wilderness on this one, but the original version of _Classical Gas_ by Mason Williams is a beautiful roller coaster of a tune that carries you along urgently to the first hill, deposits you in a brief brass trough, and then builds you back up onto the crest of a second orchestral hill, until finally returning you gently and satisfyingly to the platform. Any music lover or musician should hear it at least once. Fair warning that it's an instrumental, but you really won't notice, so compelling is the main theme.
So much this. Instrumental-shminstrumental; that guitar *sings*.
I'm also a big fan of the cover by Synergy/Larry Fast, but I still think it's best to hear the original version first.
I love Classical Gas. Amazing that such a beautiful piece of music was written by a comedy writer. Mason Williams started as a writer for the Smothers Brothers show, and I believe Classical Gas was debuted there. He also wrote for Saturday Night Live.
I agree. It's one of my favorites.
When this song pops onto my playlist in the car. You know my wife is gonna hear me sing it to her.
Whether she wants it or not.
This song is on one of my playlist along with Blood Sweat n Tears, Rare Earth, Chase and Lighthouse.
“Street Life” by the Crusaders.
Beautiful voice of Randy Crawford.
Haunting. 1979. Jazzy.
I'm clicking Like before I even watch this. I've been waiting for y'all to do this.
One of my favorite songs of all time.What a voice!!
CHASE-GET IT ON
One hit wonder:
Billy Thorpe with the song
(and drum intro) "Children of the Sun" .
(Ps: **Have Area 51 on standby.....)
When my dad first drove for Uber, he drove a black car and I tried to get him to play this song on repeat while he drove!
because Chicago is not the only 1970's Chicago-area rock band with a horn section...
Saw these guys in 1971 at John Carroll University gym in Cleveland. A friend got so wasted that he danced to this song on a table in front of the stage for the entire song and totally alienated the band! Still a prominent joyous memory 50 years later
Another one that I think you would absolutely love is The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace
This song is in my top 10 and is a ringtone. It is the SHIT. I worked as a bartender in a live band bar in the 1900s and 90s and we had a band that covered this with perfection. LOVE THIS.
What a week of music!
I have seen them in concert several times, billed as one of the "Cornerstones of Rock", along with New Colony Six, The Buckinghams, The Vogues, The Cryan Shames, Shadows of Night. All Chicago bands. JIM PETERIK of Ides wrote many other songs for other artists. You should also listen to: You Wouldn't Listen '70 and L.A. Goodbye '71.
It's like if early 70's Chicago & Blood Sweat & Tears has a one night stand that resulted in one baby, and one baby only, and that baby was this song.
the lead singer reminds me of David Clayton-Thomas
Wish Chicago did this song with their original lineup imagine Terry doing that lead it would take it to another level
Beware the Ides of March, is the warning Julius Caesar ignored and was assassinated entering the Senate, to quote Shakespeare. Jim Peterik is the man behind this band and Survivor. He's one of the most prolific song writers ever. He co-wrote .38 Special's hits and ton's of songs under assumed names.
Love this song!
The band continues to perform today with all of the original members.
The singer- Jim Peterik was about 19 when he recorded this song.
Guys ! Take it all the way home & play the only hit by "Chase". It was a tragic story but they were getting ready to blow
away everything in the, jazz rock genera. Still remember the news when it happened. They mattered in a big way.
Enjoy.
Now every time I eat a smokehouse-flavored almond I'm gonna think, "Ooo, banger!"
Back in high school band our trumpets broke out that trumpet riff every time they got a chance.
So glad you hit this song. Always happy to hear it. I'm from Chicago and this was one of our local bands (they originated in one of our suburbs, Berwyn).
Gotta hit Starbuck, "Moonlight Feels Right." The only pop hit I can think of that has a xylophone solo in the middle - and a completely badass xylophone solo at that.
I started playing trumpet in fifth grade. Turned out I had a small amount of talen for it, and was usually first chair in the top band in junior and senior high. In my sophmore year we got a new assistant band director to help Mr. Leroy out. His name was Tom Henninger. He was a trumpet player of great skill. The things I learned from him were valuable to my playing AND to my life in general. He instilled a passion for the instument that had been slowly waning since I had picked up my first pair of drum sticks in seventh grade. The trumpet was back on equal footing with the drums, and I still play both to this day.
Before Mr. Henninger became a music teacher, he was asked to join The Ides Of March. But he didn't want to be in a band - he wanted to be in a school music room, standing in front, directing us all, or sitting in a practice room with one or two of us, showing us amazing things that we were capable of doing if we only put the time and effort in.
He was young, and so it was inevitable that he would end up doing a little partying with some of us.
We all really loved him.
He retired about ten years ago and moved to Madison with his girlfriend. About a month ago, he was killed while crossing a very busy street on his bicycle. There was a standing room only memorial for him here in Watertown at the local Turner Hall. I saw a shit load of people that I hadn't seen since I graduated from high school. About ten of us hung out together for the rest of the day/night, getting drunk and high, and reminiscing about Tom.
He had an incredible impact on hundreds of kids, which carried over into our adult years.
I have three favorite trumpet players who I admire and emulate: Doc Severinsen, Lee Loughnane (of Chicago) and Tom Henninger.
RIP, Mr. Henninger. You were one of the best.
I was privileged to see this band play at a venue that was part of my high school (Lyons Township High School in Western Springs IL) back in the day before the band got really famous. I was also privileged to hear one of the band member's mother's brag about her son who was in the band a couple of years later. My sister & I & some friends were out wandering a neighborhood out in St Charles IL in the neighborhood of this church camp we all attended every year in the mid-1970s & started talking to an older women (I don't remember what happened that made us talk to her) when she asked us if we had heard of the band called "Ides of March". Of course we had!!! The local Chicago radio stations were playing the heck of out of the band at the time, especially since they were local boys from Berwyn IL for cryin' out loud. She then confessed that her son was in that band & played horns with them. We were delighted to hear this & told her we liked their songs a great deal. She was so pleased to hear this. That just warmed my heart to hear a mom bragging about her son. So sweet.
Thanks for reading my message . Glad you guys enjoyed the high energy in the sauce like song. "Drift Away" is a good song by Dobie Grey that should get you guys in sauce or make you drift away. I have travelled lots and have heard this song played by many cover bands in many different countries, it seems to be a cover band staple.
Dobie Gray's best song is his 1965 hit "The In Crowd". It's possibly the greatest song done in the style of Sam Cooke since Cooke died the previous year. Offhand, I can't think of another '60s hit that has more smooth swagger than "The In Crowd".
@@gregsager2062 That is a good song.
Gimme the Beach Boys and free my soul....
@@MoMoMyPup10 lol!
Drift Away NEEDS to be done!
Say "No", to strangers, in black sedans, offering candy, and rides to Hollywood.
That's a dead giveaway.
That album cover, is scary, in context.
OMG !! I saw Ides of March LIVE in Erie, Pennsylvania back in 1971. They were so good, the HORNS!!! and dancing on the stage that by the time they sang Vehicle at the end the whole audience was so pumped. I was 19 or 20 then. Boy, we had great music. This band was a one-hit wonder, but what a hit! This was definitely one for puttin' the pedal to the metal in my Mercury Cyclone 351 4 barrel, lol. ty, ty, for reacting to this
I had forgotten all about this pop hit. Played on AM radio all the time in its day, but hadn't heard it in decades. Thanks for the memory.
The singer was about 19 when he laid this performance down. Mind blown first time I heard about that. What a voice!!!
For me, this has always had a Chicago and Blood Sweat n Tears vibe. Great song.
My earliest memory of this song is it being used in a Speed Shop tv ad, and ever since, I associate it with anything Hot Rod or Custom Car. Such a great cruising song
"Vehicle'' is an immortal record. In the genre, "Get It On'' by Chase, "One Fine Morning'' by Lighthouse and "Go Down Gamblin'" by Blood, Sweat & Tears are highly recommended bangers.
Great suggestions! Go Down Gamblin for sure one of BS&T best.
we used to play this in the mid 70's in marching band, so much fun!!!!
All true. It's a great love song as well. Listen to the pain of love in this man's voice.
A prime example of what used to be called "blue eyed Soul"...
Listening to this song through a one speaker transistor radio, yesssss, those were the days of my youth!
I highly recommend Pacific Gas n Electric "Are You Ready" I believe was a one hit wonder (could be wrong) it reached no.14 on Billboards top 100 in 1970. It's so funky and it's got a really good guitar solo.
Yes, I remember it!
I have this song on an old K-Tel album, lol.
Wow - K-Tel, now that takes me back.
To add to other stories - Jim Peterik, (still very active) was only 19 when they recorded it. He's the lead singer and guitarist here. He played keyboards for his next band Survivor. The song didn't originally have the first line "I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan". He changed it to that after he saw an anti-drug pamphlet about pushers. Like others said, it was about a girl who used him for rides and then broke up with him. But she kept calling him for rides. They eventually got back together and that is his wife to this day. Peterik said they sent a demo of the to Blood, Sweat and Tears, but never heard back. A few years later he ran into a member of BST and told Jim, "We should have listened to your song..." He wrote and co-wrote a lot of songs for other groups. Mentioned were 38 Special. Most recently he co-wrote and produced Dennis DeYoung's (former lead singer and writer in Styx) final two albums. They live near each other in suburban Chicago. He also co-wrote several songs of the recently released brand new Chicago album. He worked with Robert Lamm of Chicago on several songs for a Lamm solo album and it spilled into Chicago's album. Jim did a lot of live videos of his songs during the lockdown that you can find on RUclips. His son Colin Peterik is a hell of a musician too. He has solo work and also formed a great Steely Dan tribute band called "Brooklyn Charmers". They appear around the country.
Freakin' love that song! The opening riff with the horns & phrasing is just off the fucking chain.
Everytime I think "No, don't know that title" and then I hear it and I know it and sing it! Thanks Andy and Alex!
I got one for you guys that's more of a vibe, but definitely A+... "Smiling Faces Sometimes" by The Undisputed Truth
Saw them live when this first came out and I still remember how they had the most animated lead guitar player I've ever seen. All over the stage.
That really takes me back to the great bands with horns. Great songs to dance to. Wonderful music!
This is one of the greatest sings of that era maybe of all time for pop radio.
A great song from my youth. Thanks for sharing. You guys are the best!
If you're listening to this great tune you should also listen to Classical Gas by Mason Williams. Guitar, bass, drums, and horns horns horns. And no lyrics. It will make you want to drive, except not off a cliff ..nor fall asleep.
I remember I was a senior in high school when this came out. It was on the radio a lot. Great tune.
The bangers just kept comin this week. Thank you both. Your the best. ❤
Great song...I actually have the pleasure of printing t-shirts for the Ides of March who are still touring. Jim Peterik has written quite a few good songs including this one. They were recently inducted in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame too
The ides of March is March 15. The band name comes from the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar, in which a fortune teller tells Caesar to "beware the ides of March," a prophecy of his assassination.
Awesome song!! This brings back so many memories.
Songs like this solidify that I grew up with the best music.
Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, The Ides of March and a few others all popped up around the same time. Amazing point in music histy.
The singer, if I recall,like Alex Chilton in The Box Tops, was around 16 at the time of the recoro
50 years later- I still love this!
Great song, his voice and all that brass.
I've definitely heard these horns before but had no idea about the song or artist names. Great choice for a one hit wonder!!
We played this back in the 70s when I was in high school band. I still remember the dance break. Ya we were cool.
One of my favorites of all time.....how did they not do more!?!? Should be on everyone's Top 10 one-hit-wonders.....
They technically are one-hit-wonders, but their song" L.A. Goodbye" (also a great song) was a number-one hit in Chicago. I always assumed it was a hit everywhere but it only reached #73 on the charts nationally. It's funny how regional the record biz and radio were back then.
@@garystanford3921 - indeed. I grew up in the southeastern U.S. and there were lots of regional "beach music" hits that most of the rest of the country never heard of. I'm listening to "L.A. Goodbye" now -- never would have dreamed that the same band did that song and "Vehicle". No horns at all!!! There's a lot of America in L.A. Goodbye....
A GREAT driving song "Driver's Seat" (12" Version) by Sniff'n'The Tears
This song really really slaps hard! So glad you finally got around to it. Another good one hit wonder from the 70s is "Brother Louie" by Stories. Also, when are you guys finally going to do some Boz Scaggs???
Brother Louie would be a great choice!
And, could go for some Lowdown too 🤩
OMG…every time I hear this song I always think of a guy that I had a Hugh crush on in the the early 70’s. He was too old or me, but I thought he was the greatest! Great memories