Wayne Cochran – Goin’ Back to Miami
The Mighty Wayne Cochran!!
Listen/Download – Wayne Cochran – Goin’ Back to Miami
Greetings all.
Hey everybody!
Welcome to the new week.
Is everyone ready to get their eyebrows singed?
In the many years (decades) that I’ve been chasing records, there are records that I will seek forever, ultimately unrequited.
Then, with a tip of the chapeau to the supernatural, there are the records that are meant to be mine, pushed into my view, and delivered to my crates by the intervention of what the denizens of the mystic east once referred to as kismet.
Today’s selection is one of them.
Not too long ago, I purchased a video collection of performances from a Detroit dance party show, mainly because it featured video of one of my all time faves, the mighty Jerry-O. So, some time goes by and eventually the DVD popped through the mailslot, after which I had only to wait for some of that good ‘alone’ time, on account of nobody else in this crib has the slightest interest in watching fuzzy, third generation bootleg video of people they don’t know, lip-synching on a long forgotten TV show while a bunch of bored teenagers do the frug in the background.
That time finally came, and I settled in with a cold drink and some potato chips to enhance the viewing experience.
Things started out well enough, with some footage of Detroit garage greats the Rationals (I’m a big garage punk fan, too) and rolled right along to a variety of 1966/67 stuff, all groovy. In fact there were (including today’s selection) no less than three mindbending revelations (for me anyway) that will all appear in this space in the weeks to come.
Anyway, I’m really digging this video, when who should pop up on the screen but my old fave, Mr Wayne Cochran.
If you don’t know Wayne Cochran, you really ought to, because in the annals of whiteboy soul, Wayne and his giant, psychedelic mushroom cloud of a hairdo cast a big shadow. When you first see film of him performing it is immediately clear that he was trying his damndest to be the white, chubbsy-ubbsy James Brown (circa 1965), but when you have the chance to soak in the breadth of his catalog you begin to realize that he was something more than that, i.e. possessed of a genuinely unique, remarkably enthusiastic take on rock and soul music.
Anyway, I was watching the video, and then the host of the show introduces Wayne and says that he’s going to do a song called ‘Goin’ Back to Miami’.
“OK”, I thought. “I’ve never heard this one before”.
Then, in a flash, the entire landscape of Cochranistan underwent a radical change, erupting in a white hot blast of flame that pretty much knocked me on my ass.
I mean, holy flaming fuckballs…I’d heard a lot of Wayne Cochran, but none of it, no matter how right, tight and out of sight came within a mile of ‘Goin’ back to Miami’.
It was as if Wayne got ahold of Otis’s ‘I Can’t Turn You Loose’, poured rocket fuel all over it and threw a match on it.
BLAMMO!!!
My eyes were rolling, my hair was standing on end and the musical card catalog in my head was upended and spilled on the floor, never to be properly shuffled again.
There was Wayne, poured into a suit three sizes too small, swiveling about the stage while the band, complete with capes (no shit!) work it out behind him.
There’s a video out there of Cochran performing this same song live on the Jackie Gleason show, with Wayne in a suit the color of a key lime pie absolutely burning up the stage, working the call and response with the band, that has to be the craziest thing Gleason ever whipped on the folks at home. It’s not hard to picture some old guy smacking the side of his TV set wondering what the fuck had gone wrong.
So, once things came to a halt, I tore into the interwebs in search of a vinyl copy of same.
Imagine the depth of my crestfallen-ness when I came up snake eyes.
No matter where I looked – aside from CD comps – I could not locate ‘Goin’ Back to Miami’ anywhere.
I saved the search, and went back and assuaged myself by playing the video repeatedly.
A few days later, I repeated my search and found a copy, up for auction, with one bid (standing at 99 cents) from a seller who lived about five minutes from my house.
I assumed that the first bidder must have laid down a serious chunk of change, so I entered a significant maximum bid, instantly driving the price up to the princely sum of one dollar and thirty seven cents (!?!?) which is where it stayed until the auction ended, with yours truly the victor (to whom, according to legend, belong the spoils*).
It was as if the keeper of the great book of vinyl suddenly noticed a forgotten, dog-eared page, opened it and discovered that it had been written that this very banger of a 45 was destined for my record box, and with a wave of his hand (or magic wand, or tone arm), made it so.
A few days later the 45 hopped out of the mailbox and into my greedy meathooks right onto the turntable, and the next thing you know, abba-zabba, zip-a-dee-doo-dah, biff-bang-pow, I’m playing it, and replaying it at the kind of high volume generally reserved for amped up teenagers, the hard of hearing and those of us swept up in a transformative religious experience (my case being the latter).
And so, I placed it on the platter and let the wonderfulness flow up through the stylus where it passed into the computer, transmuted into the ones and zeros of legend so that this two minutes and forty seconds of nuthouse soul might be shared with you all.
So strap yourself in, crank up the volume and let it rip.
You will not be disappointed.
I promise.
You can thank me later.
Peace
Larry
*This particular scenario has played itself out, in very similar ways, many times before. Enough so, that were I a superstitious/religious type I might be inclined to suspect some kind of divine intervention.
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Themocracy
Blammo is right!
Thanks Larry!
This tune used to be in the Blues Brothers live set, but I’d never heard the original before – thanks!
Larry, I’ve seen various posts on here about Wayne Cochran, but, I have to admit, never listened to any of the tracks. But that oversight has just been corrected.
Well, what can I say? The outrageous lime green suit, groovy moves, a voice like gravel soaked in cheap whisky, some great horns; a seriously energised piece of funky soul.
Thanks.
When I think of Wayne I’m taken back to my days as a used record store manager.
A young girl came in looking for a Wayne C. record for her dad (who was a Viet Nam vet with good memories associated with the disc). She had heard her dad go on and on about Wayne and looked everywhere for a record of his (this was pre-internet) with no luck. When I showed her the Cadet LP with gatefold cover she about fell over and offered everything but her first born for it (I think we sold it for 15 bucks, 1980’s money).
She came back later and said her dad was speechless when she gave it to him. That was always the best part of that job.
I want to thank everyone who still appreciates Wayne Cochran and The CC Riders. I am a proud, original member of the band. Every member of the band had a soulful goal to bring soul music to the forefront. We had 2 drummers, myself and the great Ron, “Tubby” Zeigler. We played very large and loud Rogers, double bass drums. You can hear them kick in on Going Back To Miami.
Thank You for your appreciation! It means so much to us old guys!
Absolutely fabulous! Thanks.
Larry,
This is probably the funniest post you have ever down, we have been rolling around the office in laughter, it’s time you wrote that book you know! Genius
Love the track too, just as you said we would
Cheers!!
I just listed “Going Back To Miami” done in 1968 by Sprit Of St. Louis” on eBay. I like their version better than Blue Brothers and on par with Wayne Cochran’s.
I cannot find any reference to this record other than a Dutch website??
A while back I located someone who was going to get me a copy of the Wayne Cochran album “Wayne Cochran” which had “Somebody’s been cuttin in on my groove”, and “Do you like the sound of the music” in CD or cassette format; then I moved and lost their address. I would like a copy of the album. Can anybody help.
[…] as well, it hadn’t been for twenty years. At that point, Wayne Cochran was singing about going back to Miami. He wasn’t fleeing New York’s devastation, like Joel, but merely trying to get back to […]
I’m an old friend of Tubby. Does anyone know hie whereabouts? If so PLEASE give him my email and tell him Joey M & Larry O are trying to reach him. Thank you!