"Shake Up Your Engines", formerly known by the same placeholder title, is a formerly unidentified power pop song by Long Island-based musicians, Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg, and sung by Neal and Dory Roedel Ferraro. The song is a demo recorded around 1976 in Neal Ferraro's home studio on a 4-track.
Search History
1980s-2000s
Just as is the case with Lookin' Into Love: In around 1987, bootleggers circulated this song on an audio tape, mislabeling it as a Paul McCartney & Wings studio outtake.[1]This song was the sixth track on the tape.
This lead to the song being featured in two separate newsletters devoted to unofficial Beatles recordings, Scott Belmer featured it in 1987, and L.R.E. King subsequently included it in another newsletter in 1989 as a direct response to Scott Belmer's review of the song.
The song's earliest known online mention dates to sometime before November of 2001 when user Randwolf2 included it on his now-defunct website, which aimed at cataloging recordings of The Beatles.[2]
2010s-2020s
On July 12th, 2018, user BeatlesBootlegs9 posted the song to YouTube, along with all the other songs on the tape. The tape said the song was from 1974.
On July 13th, 2023, a copyright entry was discovered in Cocatalog for a song titled 'Lookin' Into Love', registered by Neal Ferraro and Len Rothberg in 1978. Further investigation also revealed that both copyright holders reside on Long Island, supporting the theory that this is likely the area of origin for these songs.[3]
After contacting Neal, he confirmed that 'Lookin' Into Love' was his song. He also shared additional information about the song, including its lyrics and his other song 'Shake Up Your Engines'.
Finally, on February 29th, 2024, he provided a HQ recording of both Lookin' Into Love[4] and 'Shake Up Your Engines'.[5]On March 2th, 2024, both Lookin' Into Love and Shake Up Your Engines were added to the Internet Archive.[6]
According to Neal, Shake Up Your Engines and Lookin' Into Love were submitted to various radio contests in the late '70s, such as WBAB 102.3's Homegrown Hour show and WALK's radio show's, which was dedicated to showcasing local talent. These shows are likely the source from which bootleggers stole the song.
WBAB 102.3 is the likely station that played the song in the late '70s.
Lyrics
Walking hard at the boulevard
Takin' the time to feel real fine
And I know you weren't walking
Back to me
Pay your dues to the avenue
Show that smile though it takes a while
Even though no one's talking
Back to you
Shake up your engines
And rattle your trains
Cause I'm not coming on board
Mr. Conductor, if you call out the names
I won't be ridin' anymore
Shake up your engines
And rattle your trains
Cause I'm not coming on board
Mr. Conductor, if you call out the names
I won't be ridin' anymore
Sittin' trackside, suicide
It's beating time to a real fine line
And I know it wasn't any
Good for me
I pay my dues to all of you
Walk a mile just to make you smile
But I know that ain't really
Very far to go
Shake up your engines
And rattle your trains
Cause I'm not coming on board
(I'm not coming on)
Mr. Conductor, if you call out the names
I won't be ridin' anymore
Shake up your engines
And rattle your trains
Cause I'm not coming on board
(I'm not coming on)
Mr. Conductor, if you call out the names
I won't be ridin' anymore
Yeah!
Credits
Written and Produced by ● Neal Ferraro, Len Rothberg
Lead Vocals, Lead Guitar, Piano, Keyboard ● Neal Ferraro
Rhythm Guitar ● Jimmy Patrick
Drums ● Pete Emola
Backing Vocals ● Dory (Roedel) Ferraro
Bass ● Unknown
Gallery
External Links
- ↑ Wings - Wild Wonders
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20011119054312/http://www.angelfire.com/music3/BeatlesTapes/main.html
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/134wohq/is_this_the_identity_of_looking_into_love_from/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/Rp8KP4IBjvo
- ↑ https://youtu.be/uh8DO9ohCnY
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/neal-ferraro-len-rothberg
|
Wings - Wild Wonders' Lostwave Songs | |
|---|---|
| Relax In Red • Lookin' Into Love • Shake Up Your Engines • Guarantee | |
| Signs Of Love • Please Come Home • The Best Is Yet To Come • Go For The Beer • Runaway Teenager | |
| Jimmy Takes A Ride [The Sheiks - Ginny, Take A Ride?] | |