Joe Bataan - Ordinary Guy appreciation thread

dayday 9,612 Posts
edited April 2016 in Music Talk
So good.



  Comments


  • pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts
    good looking. I just found mr new york a few days ago for $1.
    on the boogalo tip, does anyone know of a nu yorican song that goes
    "ILL NEVER GO BACK TO GEORGIA! ILL NEVER GO BACK"
    i had it on a comp but cant seem to find it.

  • Big_ChanBig_Chan 5,088 Posts
    W-O-R-D. This song is my SHIT!!!!!!!!!! I had not heard this song in years then that crazy L-Dula guy from SD sent me this dope mix CD he did called "Illa in Manila" and this track was on there. Reminded me how great Joe Bataan is. DOPE SONG. Also been feeling "Woman Don't Want to Love Me." Joe Battan is that Afro Fillipino ordinary dude.

  • dayday 9,612 Posts
    Man this shit is so damn good. I'm on round 3 of this, about to unwind my damn self with a red stripe and a cigarette and chill in the cold to this.

    That fucking chorus man.

  • Big_ChanBig_Chan 5,088 Posts
    Man this shit is so damn good. I'm on round 3 of this, about to unwind my damn self with a red stripe and a cigarette and chill in the cold to this.

    That fucking chorus man.

    Word. This song is so perfect. I can never get tired of this joint. I'd like to have a beer myself but I'm already a little faded of the Jameson and I have to get up at 6AM for work! At least it's Friday. Meeting the hommies at Morton's for happy hour right at 5:00PM. Back on the Jameson and all the free steak sandwiches you want! Morton's happy hour is official.



  • mandrewmandrew 2,720 Posts

    definitely. but what version?

    that one
    this one
    and the one on soul-sides, which is my favorite

  • DigginDiggin 319 Posts
    this one is my favorite (aka the soul-sides one?)


  • i could play that song all day.. and sing the chorus while making coffee.
    how can you not love that song!!

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    1) The version of "Ordinary Guy" on my comp is indeed taken from "Afrofilipino" but personally, I like EVERY version of the song.

    2) The Joe Cuba LP that "El Pito" comes off of is: . It's one of the more affordable Cuba albums but as noted, "El Pito" has always been comped in a variety of places. It is an awesome song (even though his "Bang Bang" is still my fave).

  • W-O-R-D. This song is my SHIT!!!!!!!!!! I had not heard this song in years then that crazy L-Dula guy from SD sent me this dope mix CD he did called "Illa in Manila" and this track was on there.

    I had pretty much the same experience. Never heard the track 'til I heard it on L-Dula's mix. Didn't know the artist or what but I kept re-playing the track. It was the "jam of the week" for a month! Really great song. Is it on that LP titled "Afrofilipino"?

  • Birdman9Birdman9 5,417 Posts
    this one is my favorite (aka the soul-sides one?)


    YES YES YES...that whole second side is sublime.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    W-O-R-D. This song is my SHIT!!!!!!!!!! I had not heard this song in years then that crazy L-Dula guy from SD sent me this dope mix CD he did called "Illa in Manila" and this track was on there.


    Who's L-Dula? I think I may need this mix since I'm collecting Filipino-related soul/funk tunes.

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    Isn't "El Pito" just a salsa-fied version of "Manteca", which Dizzy Gillespie was playing in the 40's with his Afro-Cuban band? My favorite version is on the "Dizzy At Newport" LP from 1958. One of my favorite ones, just cuz my Grandad used to love it si much, I can still see him shuffling around the living room with a smile on his face...

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Isn't "El Pito" just a salsa-fied version of "Manteca", which Dizzy Gillespie was playing in the 40's with his Afro-Cuban band? My favorite version is on the "Dizzy At Newport" LP from 1958. One of my favorite ones, just cuz my Grandad used to love it si much, I can still see him shuffling around the living room with a smile on his face...

    I always did wonder where the origin of "I'll never go back to Georgia" came from. I know Gillespie opened his early '70s version of "Manteca" (recorded for "The Giant" on the French label, America) with that verse but for some reason, I thought he borrowed that from Joe Cuba vs. the other way around. I could be wrong, certainly.

  • Neil Armstrong has this on a few of his mix cds. I think he refers to it as his "theme song".

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    Isn't "El Pito" just a salsa-fied version of "Manteca", which Dizzy Gillespie was playing in the 40's with his Afro-Cuban band? My favorite version is on the "Dizzy At Newport" LP from 1958. One of my favorite ones, just cuz my Grandad used to love it si much, I can still see him shuffling around the living room with a smile on his face...

    I always did wonder where the origin of "I'll never go back to Georgia" came from. I know Gillespie opened his early '70s version of "Manteca" (recorded for "The Giant" on the French label, America) with that verse but for some reason, I thought he borrowed that from Joe Cuba vs. the other way around. I could be wrong, certainly.

    Yeah, just did a quick search and "Manteca" dates back to the mid 40's, Dizzy and Chano Pozo wrote it. Every version I've heard starts with the "never go back to georgia" chant. BTW check "Manteca" in the iTunes Music Store, there's loads of versions from super-ill to super wack.

  • Isn't "El Pito" just a salsa-fied version of "Manteca", which Dizzy Gillespie was playing in the 40's with his Afro-Cuban band? My favorite version is on the "Dizzy At Newport" LP from 1958. One of my favorite ones, just cuz my Grandad used to love it si much, I can still see him shuffling around the living room with a smile on his face...

    I've never heard a version of 'Manteca' with the chant on it (certainly not the original). The chant is supposed to have originated with Dizzy, and Manteca and El Pito have some similarities (like the opening horn riff on the Gillespie original, which sets the rythm for the chant by Joe Cuba) but are essentially different tunes.

  • pjl2000xlpjl2000xl 1,795 Posts
    you guys fucking rule. Ive been searching online for this track for like a week straight. I must have tried to download like 10 nu yorican boogalo comps looking for that shit but none of them finished yet.
    heres my gift to you
    http://download.yousendit.com/63E2A2A30C1F3D45
    ray barretto - together

  • DJFerrariDJFerrari 2,411 Posts
    On a more upbeat tip... I can't get enough of Cycles of You from his latest album. That's a song I could, and do listen to over and over again. Dude's the fucking man.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Isn't "El Pito" just a salsa-fied version of "Manteca", which Dizzy Gillespie was playing in the 40's with his Afro-Cuban band? My favorite version is on the "Dizzy At Newport" LP from 1958. One of my favorite ones, just cuz my Grandad used to love it si much, I can still see him shuffling around the living room with a smile on his face...

    I've never heard a version of 'Manteca' with the chant on it (certainly not the original). The chant is supposed to have originated with Dizzy, and Manteca and El Pito have some similarities (like the opening horn riff on the Gillespie original, which sets the rythm for the chant by Joe Cuba) but are essentially different tunes.

    If you listen to the version of "Manteca" from Dizzy's album "The Giant" (reissued by Prestige on a double LP version), he does the chant on that version.

    I think there are some melodic similarities in the chord progression of both Cuba's "El Pito" and "Manteca" but not enough that when you hear "El Pito" you think, "Manteca."

    Regardless, "El Pito" = great fucking song. That muntono piano riff is fantastic.

  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    W-O-R-D. This song is my SHIT!!!!!!!!!! I had not heard this song in years then that crazy L-Dula guy from SD sent me this dope mix CD he did called "Illa in Manila" and this track was on there.


    Who's L-Dula? I think I may need this mix since I'm collecting Filipino-related soul/funk tunes.



    I think he's the dude from sd that makes all those hiphop t-shirts (Cold Chillin, etc).

    There's a recent cover of Ordinary Guy by the LTJ Experience that is pretty decent.

    I also met Bataan this summer and had a chat w/ him about the lost album "Bataan In San Frantasia". Basically shit went down and he had a falling out w/ Fania. Hence the album was shelved and he moved on to record Salsoul. There's a 45 that came out w/ two tracks from the unreleased album, shit is FIYAAAAAH. Pretty hard to find though, I'm still looking for a copy.

    Also dude is mad kind, and his wife is his backup singer on tour.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    What I want to know is...did Emusica acquire that lost album as part of their procurement of the Fania catalog? You gotta figure that album's gotta be somewhere still.

    Speaking of Bataan in S.F., I wrote this leading up to his concert in SF in 2005. He's got some great stories about his last gig in SF back in 1975:

    http://www.sfbg.com/39/48/art_music_bataan.html

  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    From what he told me, the masters are good as gone. He thinks they're destroyed, but perhaps there's that nil chance of it sitting somewhere in a warehouse. He also mentioned quite a few of the songs were reworked into the "Salsoul" album.

  • my brother eats chocolate meat while bumping joe bataan seriously!
    was ordinary guy ever on 45?

  • Big_ChanBig_Chan 5,088 Posts
    my brother eats chocolate meat while bumping joe bataan seriously!
    was ordinary guy ever on 45?

    LOL! What up with the dinuguan hommie?

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