Zis and Zat

Song 820: This week the playlist recognizes Zor and Zam by The Monkees, written by Bill and John Chadwick, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title.  As the spring of my junior HS year unfolded in 1968, it did disappoint me when this primate quintet who had done TV segments that I had enjoyed for a year and a half hit the end of their tube career in late March, so when their fresh chart-topper arrived soon after, it didn't take long to learn a lot of the lines that I could then sing along with when the piece emerged from a nearby radio. At the time, the U.S. leaders called for war at the rise of the sun. I read news pieces and heard news shows warn us about how the dominoes could fall, as the MIC fashioned their weapons, one upon one, ton upon ton. For no real reason, that era's war actually continued for about another 7 years! 

Fierce Existence

 Song 819: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Wild Wild Life by Talking Heads, written by David Byrne, and you can find a cool YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the summer of 1986, I had a comfortable room in a 6-bedroom house in Berkeley, CA, that I shared with a bunch of my singer-songwriter friends. While the SF Bay Area has milder temperatures overall, the summer months are still the best time to do visits to special places like the Yosemite National Park, and that summer I had a car, so I drove myself and a good friend over to see and visit our favorite peaks. At this point, I don't remember if the radio shared this gem during that excursion, but I do know that when we got on that mountain top, we certainly did get to see some wild wild life.

Munching in Pastures

Song 818: This week the playlist rides on Grazing in the Grass by Hugh Masakela, written by Philemon Hou, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. As the summer of 1968 unfolded and I began looking forward to my final HS year, this Hugh guy started giving us all a brassy view of creatures ingesting green vegetation, and I really enjoyed picturing the pastures that his metallic melodies sketched. During that summer, my family visited my father's relatives in the Bowling Green, OH, area, as they had done every summer in the 1950s and every other summer in the 1960s. On that 1968 visit, as usual, we did get to see and watch a few of their cows and goats, and doing so gave me some more specific scenes to repicture when Mr. HM's anthem came rising from a nearby radio.

Inability to Act

 Song 817: This week the playlist showcases I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) by Hall & Oates, written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. About three years after I had found a comfortable and affordable spot to reside in Oakland, CA, in September of 1988, the home's owner had decided to sell the place, and luckily for me, one of the occupants at a six-bedroom residence in Berkeley filled with my musical friends moved out, and I soon moved into that available room. A few months after I made that move, a duo with names that sounded like a corridor and grains had their harmonies inform us about their inability to accept an expectation. At that point, I actually paid a lot more attention to my fellow songwriters and performers in that Berkeley circle, but I did still sometimes give a listen to the radio as well. Back then, I had a strong attraction to a female member of the Berkeley circle, and I felt ready and willing to do almost anything that she might want me to, but fairly soon, I realized I had to accept the fact that she did not go for that.

Displayed Patterns

Song 816: This week the playlist focuses on Traces by The Classics IV, written by Buddy Buie, J. R. Cobb and Emory Gordy Jr., and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Early in the year of 1968, this musical five who identified as a quality quartet started telling us about a Spooky (Song 743) romantic partner, and then in January of the following year, as I looked forward to probably having my HS diploma in hand during the hot season, those five began outlining marks and indications that might give a clue about a passionate exchange that sadly didn't work out right. I really cherished their sketchy ballad and I soon learned the chorus, so I could sing along with that part when the transistor radio shared the ride, as it often did for a few months. Even back then, I had some memories in bits and pieces, and living with a fundamentalist family, every night, when I went to bed, I would close my eyes and say a prayer, but since my folks did not approve of the devil's music, I had trouble singing along with that line. 

Precipitous Seven Days

 Song 815: This week the playlist can introduce you to Week of Rain by Jeff Larson, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's saturating forecast comes from one of my closest CA musical buddies. We first saw each other perform solo sets on a stage in San Francisco back in 1979, and since we both liked what we saw and heard at that event, we soon developed a close melodic friendship. We actually even became a performing duo for a while, calling ourselves Dusty River, and we did some performances together, as well as plenty of rehearsals. At some point, we decided to end the duo, but we still remained in close touch, and continued to do so after I headed back eastward in September of 1988. When I get copies of a new recording in hand, I'll send him a CD of that project, and he does the same, so last year I started getting to hear his Adobe Home album quite a bit, which includes this moist observance. Now that the April showers might arrive, those of us in the U.S. Northeast may start staring at a week of rain, though maybe we could call it by another name, and perhaps hope for the sun, though the light might not be easily found.

Adult Female Identity

 Song 814: This week the playlist features I'm a Woman by Maria Muldaur, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When Ms. MM started grabbing my attention at the end of the summer of 1973 by describing a dark visit to a sanctuary (Song 560), I pictured a very attractive female young adult, and quite soon, I got to see images and video footage confirming that beauty, which strongly aroused young adult males like myself. Then, around the beginning of the next January, she began bragging about her natural feminine abilities to launder clothing and to prepare nutrition. She also explained that with her cleansing talent, she could rub and scrub to have a house shine just like a dime. If you came to her sick, she could make you well, and if you got all hexxed up, she could break the spell. In fact, she bragged that she had a twenty-dollar gold piece which said there was nothin' she couldn't do back then, and it did impress me how she gave us a clearer understanding of what it means to be a W-O-M-A-N!