TOMMY JAMES-"DRAGGIN' THE LINE" (WITH DICK CLARK) + LYRICS

Good Thursday Morning my RP Brothers and Sisters!

Yesterday was an extremely busy day and today is no less busy, so a quick Thursday Morning Music Interlude and for this Interlude I have chosen a song by Tommy James, once with the Tommy James and the Shondells band...and the song He will be singing is "DRAGGIN' THE LINE"
Just a little nostalgia from the Dick Clark and American Bandstand Days... I hope you enjoy it!

Background:
Tommy James (born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947) also known as Tommy Tadger, is an American pop rock musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, widely known as leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.

In 1965, a local dance promoter, Bob Mack, found a copy of "Hanky Panky" in a used record bin and started playing it at his Pittsburgh dance clubs. Soon after, a Pittsburgh area bootlegger made a copy of the song and began pressing copies of it, speeding it up slightly in the process. Sales of the bootleg were estimated at 80,000 in ten days. It became number one on Pittsburgh radio stations in early 1966. Douglas heard about the record's sudden popularity in Pittsburgh because his name and location always appeared on Snap Records labels. Numerous calls from Pittsburgh convinced James to go to Pennsylvania, where he met Mack and Chuck Rubin, who handled the talent bookings for Mack's dance clubs. Before long, all three major music trade papers, Billboard, Cashbox and Record World, were listing "Hanky Panky" as a regional breakout hit. Rubin, who had music industry connections, said it was a good time for the trio to travel to New York City in search of a record deal.

James went solo and had two further Billboard Hot 100 top 20 chart hits with "Draggin' the Line" (co-written by Bob King) (#4 in 1971) and "Three Times in Love" (#19 in 1980), plus eleven much smaller Hot 100 chartings. "Hanky Panky" has been James' one RIAA certified gold single. He also wrote and produced the million-selling 1970 hit "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive 'N Kickin' (co-written by Bob King). In 1971 James spent time in Nashville at the recommendation of friends when a "mob war" erupted among organized crime families in New York, and threats against James were intimated due to his connection to Morris Levy. He recorded an album there with top Nashville musicians, My Head, My Bed and My Red Guitar, which received critical acclaim but sold poorly. He left Roulette Records in 1974 and two more albums, In Touch (1976) and Midnight Rider (1977), followed on Fantasy Records, with yet another, Three Times in Love, appearing on Millennium Records in late 1979. The independent label Aegis Records put out his Hi-Fi in 1990.

To date, over 300 musicians have recorded versions of James' music. In the mid 1980s, three covers of James' songs were in the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 (the last two simultaneously): Joan Jett with "Crimson and Clover", Billy Idol with "Mony Mony", and Tiffany with "I Think We're Alone Now".

In October 2008 James and the three surviving members of the original Shondells (Pete Lucia died in 1987) reunited in a New Jersey studio to record again, after 37 years. The group recorded an album, I Love Christmas.



LYRICS:
Making a living the old, hard way.
Taking and giving my day by day.
I dig the snow and the rain and the bright sunshine.
I'm draggin' the line (draggin' the line).

My dog Sam eats purple flowers.
We ain't got much, but what we've got's ours.
We dig snow and the rain and the bright sunshine.
Draggin' the line (draggin the line).

I feel fine.
I'm talking about peace of mind.
I'm gonna take my time.
I'm getting a good sign.
Draggin' the line (draggin the line).

Loving a free and feeling spirit.
Hugging a tree when you get near it.
Digging the snow and the rain and the bright sunshine.
I'm draggin' the line (draggin the line).
Draggin' the line (draggin' the line).

I feel fine.
I'm talking about peace of mind.
I'm gonna take my time.
I'm getting a good sign..
Draggin' the line (draggin the line).....