Episode 24: Shelter | Songs About Rescue, Friendship, and Being There

Some songs are about love.
Some songs are about heartbreak.

And some songs are about something just as powerful; showing up for someone when they need it most.

In this episode of Who Ordered the Pie?, we explore songs about protection, loyalty, and the simple act of standing beside someone when the world gets difficult.

From the quiet promise of The Everly Brothers’ “Let It Be Me,” to the friendship at the heart of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” to the powerful declaration in David Bowie’s “Heroes,” these songs all share a common thread: someone choosing to be there.

This episode is also part of Podcastathon, and it was inspired by the work of the Frosted Faces Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping senior dogs find loving homes.

Frosted Faces specializes in rescuing older dogs who are often overlooked in shelters and giving them the care, comfort, and companionship they deserve.

If you’d like to learn more about their work, visit:
https://frostedfacesfoundation.org

And if you’re able to support their mission, you can donate here:
https://frostedfacesfoundation.org/donate

Because sometimes the most powerful thing someone can offer another living being…

is shelter.

And of course, we’ll head behind the bar for this episode’s cocktail… The Frosty Dog, a simple twist on the classic Salty Dog created in honor of Frosted Faces.

So pour yourself something good, settle in, and join us for a conversation about music, loyalty, and what it means to be there when it matters.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome back to Order the Pie, the podcast where music history, the stories behind the songs, and little something in your glass all come together. And this is Christopher back with you again. Today's podcast is a little bit different. This episode is part of Podcast-a-thon. It's a global effort where podcasters dedicate an entire episode to a charity that they believe in. The organization I'm supporting today is the Frosted Faces Foundation in Ramona, California. They focus on senior dogs, the ones that often wait the longest in shelters, the ones that people sometimes overlook, but dogs who still have years of love to give, and dogs who simply need somebody willing to show up. I'll include a link to the Frosted Faces Foundation in the episode notes if you'd like to learn more about them. And that idea leads directly to today's theme, shelter. Not just buildings, not just rescue facilities, but the instinct to step in when somebody else needs protection. Music has been telling this story for decades: a song about refuge, songs about loyalty, and songs about people who step in when somebody else is in trouble. And our first song is Someone Save My Life Tonight by Elton John. Released in 1975, the single climbed to number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It appears on the album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirk Cowboy, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 200.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Well, nothing to those East Den lights.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Toppin later said that Elton seemed trapped, like he was drifting to a life that did not belong to him. Elton had reached a breaking point. At one point, even attempted to take his own life. Toppin stepped in, he told Elton something simple: walk away, end the engagement, start over.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

You need your own to tie.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

And Elton did. Years later, Elton described the moment very plainly. He said, Bernie saved me from that future that would have destroyed me.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Someone saved my life tonight.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

You see, Toppin had a nickname for Elton, and it was Sugar Bear, which is why that lyric lands the way it does.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Hypnotize, sweet freedom, whispered in my ear, you're a butterfly.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Not a metaphor, not a character. Sometimes shelter is a place, and sometimes shelter is a friend, covering for you while you get out of harm's way. And that's exactly what Bernie Toppin did for Elton John. But shelter doesn't always arrive through a lifelong friend. Sometimes it comes from a stranger who simply opens the door. Our next song is Shelter from the Storm by Bob Dylan. Released in 1975 on the album Blood on the Tracks. It reached number one on the Bilbert Hot 200. Today it's widely considered one of Dylan's greatest records.

SPEAKER_06 3:24

I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form. Come in, she said, I'll give you Shelter from the storm.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

The album is also widely believed to reflect the collapse of Dylan's marriage to Sarah Dylan, a record full of heartbreak, reflection, and emotional distance. No orchestra has no big arrangements, just acoustic guitars and emotional honesty.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

If I pass this way again, you can rest assured.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

But the album almost sounded very different. The first recording sessions happened in New York. Dylan finished the album, pressed early copies, and his brother David Zimmerman heard the test pressing. Zimmerman felt the record sounded almost too stark, too stripped down. He encouraged Dylan to try recording some of the songs again. So Dylan changed his mind, and at the last minute he flew to Minneapolis and re-recorded several songs with local studio musicians. Those sessions reshaped the album and in many ways helped turn blood on the tracks into the classic we know today.

SPEAKER_06 4:20

Come in, she said, I'll give you shelter from the storm.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Shelter from the Storm became one of the album's emotional anchors. The song reads almost like a parable: a traveler wandering through hardship, someone offering a moment of refuge.

SPEAKER_06 4:33

I was burned out from exhaustion, buried in the hail, poisoned in the bushes, and blown out on the trail.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Dylan later described the song this way. He said, It's a song about refuge, about someone who comes along when you're in trouble and offers you something you can't find anywhere else. It's not a dramatic rescue, it's just a quiet relief of finding a place where the storm cannot reach you.

SPEAKER_05 5:23

I know you got my heart, babe, but my music's got my soul.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

It was written by Nashville songwriter Lanny Wilson, who was non-member of the band, but he had a real dog named Jake, and that dog helped inspire the story. Wilson once said that he wanted to write a song about the kind of loyalty that only dogs give. The story centers on a man who's fallen through the cracks, a homeless veteran living under a bridge, with only one companion left in the world, his dog.

SPEAKER_05 5:58

Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

The story begins to unfold, the heartfelt lyrics, the man at the end of the rope, and then the chorus arrives. And we just looked at each other and we started smiling because after all that emotion, that line comes out of nowhere. If I die before I wake, simple, unexpected, but somehow it hits even harder because of it. The narrator is not worried about himself, he's worried about the one thing he might leave behind.

SPEAKER_05 6:58

I for one would have to disagree. So would their mamas.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Alright, so that clip played a little bit long, and I'm sure I'm gonna get copyright ding for it, but I had to play it because I want you to see that these guys don't take themselves too seriously. They are just having a good time. Remind me a little bit of like Dr. Hook and Cover the Rolling Stone, that type of thing. But going back to the song, The Dog Never Leaves Him, through everything. And that line captures something every dog owner understands. Animals trust us completely. It also won a Grammy for Record of the Year and would ultimately win five Grammys altogether. Paul Simon wrote the song, but the voice you hear on the record is Ark Garfunkel. Simon wrote it with Garfunkel's voice in mind. He later said, I thought it was one of the best songs I had ever written, and RD was just the right voice for it.

SPEAKER_07 8:40

I'm on your side while when times can run.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

The inspiration came from gospel music, specifically a line recorded by the Swan Silvertones. I will be your bridge over deep water. Simon built the entire song around that premise. Someone standing beside you when everything falls apart. The famous piano introduction was played by Session musician Larry Kentcher. The piano you hear is a heavily echoed Steinway recorded to Columbia Studio B. Producer Ray Haley later said that when the take ended, the control room went silent. Everyone knew that something extraordinary had been recorded. Because at its heart, the song makes one simple promise: when the water gets rough, someone will carry you across. Okay, made it through. Let's move on to our next song. You've got a friend by Carol King.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

When you're down and troubled.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

The song appears on Carol King's 1971 album Tapestry, which spent 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 200. Tapestry became one of the defining albums of the singer's songwriting era.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

And nothing, nothing is going right.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

King wrote the song during her creative period, shared with her friend James Taylor. Both artists were part of the Laurel Canyon music scene in Los Angeles, where musicians were constantly writing, collaborating, and influencing each other.

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Close your eyes and think of me. And soon I will be there.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

One day King heard a line in James Taylor's song Fire and Rain. Taylor sings, I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend. Well that line stayed with her. King later said that the idea behind You've Got a Friend was almost like a response, a musical answer. Yes, you do, you've got a friend.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

And you know wherever I am.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

James Taylor loved the song immediately and asked if he could record it himself. His version appeared as a Mudside Slim in the Blue Horizon, released the same year. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and fittingly, Carol King also sang backing vocals on the record, joined with another Laurel Canyon voice, Joni Mitchell.

SPEAKER_07 11:33

You just call up my name. And you know wherever I am.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

And at the 1972 Grammy Awards, something unusual happened. Carol King won Song of the Year for writing You've Got a Friend, and James Taylor won Best Mill Pop Vocal Performance for singing it. Same song, same year, two friends. The two recordings almost feel like two sides of the same conversation. Friends answering each other through music, and the message is beautifully simple. When the sky grows dark and when the road ahead feels uncertain, just call my name, and you know wherever I am, I'll come running.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Oh yeah, you've got a friend.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Our next song is Let It Be Me by the Everly Brothers. Released in 1960, the song reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.

SPEAKER_07 12:45

I wanna stay around you.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

The song actually began life in France as a 1955 song called Zou ta partine, which roughly translates to I Belong to You. A few years later, American lyricists Curtis Mann and Dolores Dixon wrote the new English lyrics. Their version became Let It Be Me.

SPEAKER_06 13:04

Let It Be Me.

SPEAKER_07 13:30

I find complete low.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

On this recording, Don carries most of the lead vocal, while Phil slips in with a gentle harmony that supports the melody. And instead of teenage heartbreak or youthful rebellion, this song is built around the simple promise: if somebody needs love, if somebody needs stability, if somebody needs a place to land, let it be me.

SPEAKER_07 13:50

So never leave me lonely. Say that you love me lonely.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

The song has since been recorded by dozens of artists, from Willie Nelson to Glenn Campbell, Elvis Presley to Bob Dylan, but Elvis Presley in particular admired the Everly Brothers deeply. At one point he even said, I learned harmony from the Everly Brothers. And listening to it today, it's hard not to hear that line a little differently. Narrators simply saying, Choose me to someone that they love, not unlike what an animal might say if they had the chance. It's a time when Bowie had moved to West Berlin to escape the chaos of Los Angeles. He was recovering from heavy drug use and starting over creatively. While living there, he began making a series of experimental albums that would later become known as his Berlin trilogy. The song initially reached number 24 on the UK singles charts, but over time it became one of Bowie's most beloved songs. Boy recorded the song at Hans of Studios just a short distance from the Berlin Wall. One day, Bowie looked out the studio window and saw a couple kissing beside the wall. For years he said the couple was producer studio Visconti and singer Antonio Moss. Boy later admitted the story was not entirely true. He said he invented it to protect the identity of the real couple he saw. But the image remained. Two people standing together, even in the shadow of something enormous, even in the face of danger. And the recording of the song is just as unusual as the story behind it. Visconti and the engineer Colin Thurston set up three microphones across the studio. Each microphone was fitted with a noise gate. That meant the microphone would only activate when Bowie sang loud enough to trigger it. So Bowie began the song standing close to the first microphone, singing quietly. As the song builds, he moves farther across the room. When he sang louder, the next microphone opened, and the studio began to fill with sound, and that's why the vocal grows larger and more dynamic as the song unfolds. And the soaring guitar line came from Robert Fripp of the band King Crimson. Fripp had not even heard the song before arriving at the studio. The producer simply told him to play something heroic. Within a few minutes, the now famous guitar part was recorded and the song was complete. Heroes of Go On become one of the most defining songs in Bowie's career. It was not a massive hit when it was first released in 1977, but over time the song took on a life of its own. It's been played at historic events, protests, concerts, and celebrations around the world. Because at its heart, the song is not really about fame and glory, it's about ordinary people choosing to stand beside someone else. Bowie once said, we can all be heroes. You don't have to be special. You just have to care. And maybe that's what the song is really getting at. Sometimes being a hero just means helping someone feel a little safer. Before we close tonight, let's head behind the bar for this episode's cocktail. It's called The Frosty Dog. It's a small twist on the classic salty dog created in honor of the organization and inspired tonight's episode, The Frosted Faces Foundation. You start with a rock's glass, run a wedge of grapefruit around the rim, then dip the rim slightly into salt. Fill the glass with ice, then add two ounces of vodka, four ounces of fresh grapefruit juice, must be fresh, a quarter ounce of simple syrup, and two drops of saline solution to give the drink a quick stir and bring everything together. The grapefruit brings brightness, the vodka keeps the drink clean and simple, and the touch of simple syrup softens the bitterness. And the salt, both on the rim and in the saline, sharpens the flavors. A small reminder that sometimes the road to finding a safe place includes a few tears along the way. Simple, bright, and quietly fitting for tonight's theme. As we wrap up tonight, I want to thank the organization inspired this episode, the Frosted Faces Foundation. If you'd like to know more about the work they're doing, I'll include a link to their website in the episode notes. You can also read about the rescue work, the Frosted Fling foster program that they're doing right now, and many other ways to help senior dogs find loving homes. And wherever you live, chances are there's an animal shelter nearby doing the same kind of work every day, because sometimes the most powerful thing someone can give another living being is shelter. Until next time, here's the loud riffs, quiet sips, and the stories in between the same.