Segment 43

They say the heart is a lonely hunter. They say the heart has reasons that reason cannot understand. They say, wherever you go, go with all your heart. Ah, the metaphorical heart, seat of emotion and love and longing and the subject of many a song. But no one ever writes songs about the literal heart. That muscular little organ that plays its song at seventy-two beats per minute and makes all things possible. Maybe it’s just too hard to rhyme atrioventriuclar, I don’t know, I’ve never tried. So instead of writing a song about the human heart, I wrote a book instead. It’s called ‘Heart Seizure.’ It’s a political satire about what happens when two people need the same heart for a transplant. One of them is a sweet, little old lady who has made it to the top of the transplant list. The other is the president.

Politics being what it is, the president’s people steal the heart. But the sweet little old lady’s son steals it right back, kidnaps a beautiful heart surgeon, and takes off for points unknown. I mean you’ve got to ask yourself, what would you do if it was your mom? Well, the FBI gives chase, trying to retrieve the heart. But the president’s political opponent sends a two-man team from the CIA to make sure whoever stole the heart gets away with it, thus improving her chance of moving into the White House. Obviously, there’s plenty of keen political insight but there’s also a nervous banker, a gay cop, a stoned-out skateboard champion, and a Morman basketball team, all of which probably has you asking yourself, I wonder if he’s heard from the Pulitzer Prize people yet. I tell you what, I’m going to go wait for their call. Meanwhile, today’s batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl will get straight to the heart of the matter. Eight cardiac related tracks, including one called “Heart of the Matter,” from Jon Anderson. We’ll also hear from Bruce Springsteen, Joe Cocker, Buddy Miles, the Beatles, Steve Miller, and the Yardbirds. So, from the Way Back Studios, and the bottom of my heart, here’s Tom Petty.

Tom Petty A Mind With a Heart of His Own (part 1)
Bruce Springsteen Two Hearts
Joe Cocker Unchain My Heart
Buddy Miles Heart’s Delight
Jon Anderson Heart of the Matter
The Beatles Devil in Her Heart
The Steve Miller Band Can’t You Hear Your Daddy’s Heartbeat?
The Yardbirds Heart Full of Soul
Tom Petty A Mind With a Heart of His Own (part 2)

Back in 1960, Connie Frances had a #1 hit with “My Heart Has a Mind of its Own.” Sadly, I don’t have a copy of that, so instead I went with Tom Petty’s variation on that theme, “A Mind With a Heart of its Own.” And, since it’s got a false ending, I used it to bookend that heartfelt set. Now, if you joined us somewhere in the middle of all that you might’ve found yourself wondering what’s with the cardio-vascular theme? Well, it’s a nod to a little book called ‘Heart Seizure,’ a novel I highly recommend for anyone with a pulmonary artery. Now, as you might imagine there’s no shortage of songs with ‘heart’ in the title so the eight tracks here hardly scratch the surface. For example, five years after Connie Frances had her heart hit, The Yardbirds had a hit of their own with “Heart Full of Soul” which was written by Graham Gouldman who went on to have a nice career with 10CC whose song, “Bridge to Your Heart” is just one that we didn’t have time for.

Before the Yardbirds, The Steve Miller Band from Brave New World, “Can’t You Hear Your Daddy’s Heartbeat.” I think it’s slightly irregular, probably just needs a pacemaker. At the top of the set, after the first part of “A Mind With a Heart of its Own” we went down to The River for Springsteen’s “Two Hearts” followed by Joe Cocker’s “Unchain My Heart” a song Ray Charles had a hit with. That was followed by the late, great Buddy Miles doing “Heart’s Delight,” and Jon Anderson doing “Heart of the Matter” from his second solo album, Song of Seven. After that it was The Beatles with George Harrison on lead vocals, covering a song that was originally titled “Devil in His Heart.” Well it’s like the man said, Once a woman has given you her heart, you can never get rid of the rest of her… but you can drop her off at the Way Back Studios and we’ll make sure she gets home. I’m Bill Fitzhugh, thanks for listening. I’ll be back next time with a heartless batch of All Hand Mixed Vinyl right here in the Deep Tracks.

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