Shakin' All Over

There's nothing like cranking some good rock 'n' roll and singing along?especially if it's the Flaming Groovies. The Real Kids' "All Kindsa Girls," Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69," John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" or even Pavement's "Summer Babe" are all consummate summer afternoon songs, but the Groovies' "Shake Some Action" tops them all. The Flamin' Groovies have this amazing energy that makes any dreary Monday morning feel like a Saturday night. Plus, they have the ability to make me wanna shake it.

Every year on the first day of spring, or at least the first day I can open my window, I play a few of my favorite songs at neighbor-annoying levels and boogie in my underwear. It's like an initiation into warm weather, a greeting to all that lies ahead. My chance to say goodbye to winter, sweaters and depression, and to welcome the months of spring and summer. "Shake Some Action" gives me this sense of empowerment, and I love the notion that maybe one day I'll pick up an instrument and be able to make others feel the way I feel about the Groovies.

'Cause the Groovies are all about having a good time. Maybe I like the San Francisco band so much because they just make me happy. Shouldn't all good music get you gushy inside? How can Cyril Jordan singing "Shake Some Action" (the 1976 b-side to "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better") not get you turned on? "I will fly away/to get to you some day/Oh, but I'm, babe, I'm so afraid I'll fall/now can you hear me call?/Shake some action's what I need/to let the bus stop at full speed/and I'm sure that's what you need to make it all right." It makes me want to drive cross-country with the top down in a classic Falcon, stereo cranked without a care in the world. It's the equivalent of drinking cans of PBR on a Brooklyn stoop in the smoldering summertime heat. "It's taking me so long/to get where I belong... Shake some action's what I need."