Amboy Dukes – "Journey to the Center of the Mind" (1968)

Take a ride

To the land

Inside of your mind

Did you know that a man’s finger length ratio – that is, the length of his index finger divided by the length of his ring finger – tends to be lower than a woman’s?  That’s because men tend to have longer ring fingers, while women’s ring and index fingers are usually about the same length.

Another significant difference between men and women is the kind of movies they like.

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ScreenGeek recently published a list of the movies with the widest spreads between their IMDb.com rankings by men and their rankings by women.

Among the movies that men love but women hate are For a Few Dollars More, Raging Bull, Unforgiven, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Once Upon a Time in the West, Platoon, Rocky, The Great Escape, and Lawrence of Arabia – that’s two boxing movies, three Westerns, and four war movies:

On the list of movies that women favor but men disdain include rom-coms (Pride and Prejudice, The Notebook) and Disney movies (Frozen, Tangled, Beauty and the Beast):

I suppose it comes as no surprise that men prefer war films to Disney princess movies– and vice versa for women.  But there is something in these rankings that I wouldn’t have anticipated.  And that’s how strongly women and men disagree when it comes to Harry Potter movies.  

Numbers one, two, four and five on the list of female-preferred films with the greatest disparity between male and female rankings – that’s the second chart – are Harry Potter movies.  For example, the average man ranks Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix no fewer than 690 spots lower than the average woman.

In other words, if you ask the typical man and woman to list how many movies they like better than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the man’s list will have 690 more names on it.  That’s a lot of movies.

I’m not sure I could even name 690 movies.  But if I could, I guarantee you I would rate every one of them ahead of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (which is number two on the list).

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The typical male might compare the movies on these two lists and be tempted to make a sexist, smart-ass crack like “Who knew that women had such terrible taste in movies?”

2 or 3 lines is not the typical male, of course.  I would never say something like that.

Though I might think it.

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I’m surprised that I haven’t previously featured the Amboy Dukes’ 1968 hit single, “Journey to the Center of the Mind,” on my wildly popular little blog.  Better late than never!

“Journey to the Center of the Mind” – which is a real stick of dynamite – was co-written by Ted “Motor City Madman” Nugent.  

Say what you will about Nugent’s outré political beliefs and obnoxious public pronouncements, he is a fan-f*cking-tastic guitarist.  

From Wikipedia:

During the recording [of “Journey to the Center of the Mind”] there was considerable tension amongst the band members . . . . Nugent would often create an uneasy environment for the other band members when he didn’t receive enough attention.

I sympathize with Ted – I rarely receive enough attention from others, and am sometimes forced to take rather extreme steps to remedy that.

Click here to watch a video of the Amboy Dukes (plus go-go dancers) performing the newest member of the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME. 

 

Amboy Dukes – "You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire" (1968)

What you gonna do 

When the bubble bursts?

[NOTE: I never in my wildest dreams envisioned having NINE grandchildren (and counting).  Quite a few 2 or 3 lines posts feature one or more of them – here's the first one to do so, which was originally published in August 2016.]

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On July 22 at 6:00 am, my very pregnant daughter Sarah woke up and immediately knew it was time to eight, skate, and donate to the hospital before her bubble burst and my first grandson fell out.

So she and husband drove to the hospital (which is twenty minutes away if all goes well), dealt with the usual I-need-to-see-your-insurance-card hospital bureaucrats, and got to a labor and delivery just in time for Sarah to deliver my grandson Jack at 7:10 am.

My grandson Jack on the day he was born

There was no time for the hospital staff to give Sarah an epidural anesthetic, so she had to tough it out au naturel.

But she handled the whole thing – as she had handled her entire pregnancy – with total aplomb.  In fact, I think it’s fair to say that Sarah is about the aplombest new mother you ever did see.

I for one was very happy at Sarah and Jack’s timing because I was about to leave town and drive to Cape Cod for my annual summer vacation.  My grandson’s birth delayed my departure by a few hours, but I didn’t complain a bit.  (My mother’s comment on my decision to hit the road: “How could you leave that pretty little boy?”)

The three-week-old Jack

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I thought long and hard about what song to feature in this very important 2 or 3 lines.

I could have featured one of the 89 songs I found with “Jack” in the title: e.g., Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack,” The Who’s “Happy Jack,” Ray Charles’s “Hit the Road, Jack,” John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane,” or the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” to name just a few.

Another option would have been to feature a song by a musician who shared Jack’s July 22 birthday: e.g., George Clinton, Bobby Sherman, or Don Henley.

The lyrics of “You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire” are very marginally related to the content of today’s 2 or 3 lines, but that’s enough given what a killer song it is.

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The Amboy Dukes are best-known for their 1968 hit, “Journey to the Center of the Mind.”  It was what I like to call a stick of dynamite.

The band’s follow-up single, “You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire,” which failed to crack the top 100 in the U.S., is almost as good.  But it had totally escaped my notice until a couple of weeks ago.

“You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire” was never released on an Amboy Dukes LP, but was included as a bonus track when the group’s second album was released on CD.  (Saints be praised!)

Click here to listen to “You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire.”

Amboy Dukes – "You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire" (1968)

What you gonna do 

When the bubble bursts?

On July 22 at 6:00 am, my very pregnant daughter Sarah woke up and immediately knew it was time to eight, skate, and donate to the hospital before her bubble burst and my first grandson fell out.

So she and husband drove to the hospital (which is twenty minutes away if all goes well), dealt with the usual I-need-to-see-your-insurance-card hospital bureaucrats, and got to a labor and delivery just in time for Sarah to deliver my grandson Jack at 7:10 am.

My grandson Jack on the day he was born

There was no time for the hospital staff to give Sarah an epidural anesthetic, so she had to tough it out au naturel.

But she handled the whole thing – as she had handled her entire pregnancy – with total aplomb.  In fact, I think it’s fair to say that Sarah is about the aplombest new mother you ever did see.

I for one was very happy at Sarah and Jack’s timing because I was about to leave town and drive to Cape Cod for my annual summer vacation.  My grandson’s birth delayed my departure by a few hours, but I didn’t complain a bit.  (My mother’s comment on my decision to hit the road: “How could you leave that pretty little boy?”)

The three-week-old Jack

*     *     *     *     *

I thought long and hard about what song to feature in this very important 2 or 3 lines.

I could have featured one of the 89 songs I found with “Jack” in the title: e.g., Billy Joel’s “Captain Jack,” The Who’s “Happy Jack,” Ray Charles’s “Hit the Road, Jack,” John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane,” or the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” to name just a few.

Another option would have been to feature a song by a musician who shared Jack’s July 22 birthday: e.g., George Clinton, Bobby Sherman, or Don Henley.

The lyrics of “You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire” are very marginally related to the content of today’s 2 or 3 lines, but that’s enough given what a killer song it is.

*  * * * *

The Amboy Dukes are best-known for their 1968 hit, “Journey to the Center of the Mind.”  It was what I like to call a stick of dynamite.

The band’s follow-up single, “You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire,” which failed to crack the top 100 in the U.S., is almost as good.  But it had totally escaped my notice until a couple of weeks ago.

“You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire” was never released on an Amboy Dukes LP, but was included as a bonus track when the group’s second album was released on CD.  (Saints be praised!)

Click here to listen to “You Talk Sunshine, I Breathe Fire.”