Why Name It That?

29 March 2025

Supertramp

Supertramp is an English rock band formed in London in 1969. The band's songwriting founders, Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, originally called their band "Daddy" but to avoid confusion with the similarly named Daddy Longlegs, the band changed its name to "Supertramp."

That name was inspired by The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William Henry Davies, who was a Welsh poet and writer who spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo, in the United Kingdom and the United States. He also became one of the most popular poets of his time. His writing focused on nature, observations about life's hardships, his tramping adventures, and the various characters he met. In 1948, the BBC Home Service recorded a version of the book in 15 episodes narrated by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Rick Davies, founder and only constant member, shared the same surname as the Welsh writer, but it was original guitarist and lyricist Richard Palmer-James who suggested the name. Palmer left the band after only 16 months, and they carried on for four decades. In 1986, the group released a collectible compilation titled The Autobiography of Supertramp, a direct reference to the book.

They started as a progressive band but moved to a more pop-oriented approach which led to their most popular album, Breakfast in America. Released in March 1979, it reached number 3 in the UK and number 1 in the US and Canada. The album spawned four successful singles (more than their first five albums combined): three of Hodgson's songs, "The Logical Song", "Take the Long Way Home" and "Breakfast in America," and Davies's "Goodbye Stranger."

The Very Best of Supertramp is their hits package and Slow Motion is their eleventh and final studio album, released in April 2002.

Official Site www.supertramp.com

26 March 2025

My Ears Are Burning

If someone says “My Ears Are Burning” they mean that they think someone is talking about them behind their back.

The origin comes from Ancient Rome. Romans paid particular attention to bodily sensations. They believed signs could be omens of good or bad luck, depending on where these sensations occurred.

The left-hand side was associated with bad luck and the right side was good luck.

A burning sensation in the left ear indicated criticism. Burning in the right ear was associated with praise.

Over the centuries, the two merged and it became a more generalized feeling that you were being talked about. There is no science behind it, just superstition, and no actual burning sensation is required to feel like you are being talked about in either a good or bad way.

21 March 2025

38 Special

The band in 2010

38 Special (AKA .38 Special or spelled out as Thirty-eight Special) is an American rock band formed by singer-guitarists Donnie Van Zant and Don Barnes in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1974, the band practiced in an old barn near Yulee, Florida. They kept the barn locked and nailed down from the outside so their equipment would be safe and entered by climbing a ladder into a second-story loft. One day, someone called the cops thinking there were illegal activities there.

The barn was surrounded by Nassau County Sheriffs and when the bandmates peered out, they saw a bunch of .38 Special guns pointed at them. The .38 Special was the standard service cartridge for the majority of United States police departments from the 1920s to the 1990s. As the story goes, the band members were unable to come out because of a padlock on the door. One of the cops said, "That's all right. We'll let this .38 special do the talking", and shot off the lock.

They are known for their hit songs, including "Hold On Loosely" and "Caught Up in You", among various other Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 during the 1980s and early 1990s, including "Rockin' into the Night", "You Keep Runnin' Away", "If I'd Been the One", "Back Where You Belong", "Teacher, Teacher", "Like No Other Night", "Second Chance" and "The Sound of Your Voice."

Though without any original members, a 38 Special band still tours.