My Little Red Book

Welcome to the newly created Crutch blog. Simply put, watch this fucking space – that’s really all I have to say because you will not only learn about new and old rock and roll, but you’ll be able to listen to it, be entertained by it again (finally), and even participate in the discussions about it. We’re going to have some fucking fun.

Watching my dear 3-year-old publication, The Crutch, board a plane to some Cuban hotspot, not knowing when she’ll return, I feel like I’m breaking up with a girlfriend. With that in mind, I wanted to post a song that would be fitting: “My Little Red Book”.

60s garage band, Love, turned this Burt Bacharach (and Hal David) song into one of the catchiest little ditties ever laid down, full of fervor and burning like gasoline on skin in the Tucson sun. To me, it stands as one of the better first album / first tracks ever, opening up Love’s 1966 debut. Jet stole the beginning for their breakthrough hit, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and you can hear an inexperienced White Stripes cover this on a live bootleg of one of their first shows ever. There are actually a number of artists to have covered “My Little Red Book” – too many to name, but I’ll give you a taste of a few – you decide which is best.

I’d say nothing will replace my first publishing love, The Crutch, but this song represents a twofold perspective on my original sweetheart. One, we can go with the lyrics, which would support the romantic idea that there is no replacement, or we can go with the fact that the covers of this song are better than the original, which does stand as a special song in its own right. Time will tell, I suppose.

Versions of "My Little Red Book":
Love
White Stripes (live)
Burt Bacharach
Manfred Mann
The Nomads
The Rumour
The Standells
Elvis Costello (live)