Recognize That Sound

Song 383: This week on the playlist you can find I Hear You Knocking by Fats Domino, written by Dave Bartholomew, and you can find a YouTube video of it here. This week's playlist pick pays tribute to another 1950s RnR icon who died recently, in late October. Up to and through my HS years I knew almost nothing about the 1950s rockers, believing that the Fab 4 had invented the form. Not long after I began my college career, the early 1970s brought a revival of that first generation music, including this cut, which got my attention. While I soon came to understand how Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard and others had figured into the picture, I didn't know how big a role Fats had played until near the end of the decade, when my Oakland housemate Doug filled me in on Mr. Domino, thereby vastly increasing my appreciation of his contributions. On a strange side note, I only learned today that Fats had lived in New Orleans at the time Hurricane Katrina hit back in August of 2005, and, as I'm currently working on a studio version of Blackwater Boys, I now realize that he may have been one of those I was addressing when I wrote about when that rising water came so fast you couldn't get away you climbed up on your roof and then you had to wait. You can check out a rough cut YouTube video of Blackwater Boys just by clicking on the title. Fats died on October 24 from natural causes at the age of 89, and may his musical soul rest in peace, knowing he left behind a generous helping of his creativity.

The Place to Shop

Song 382: This week’s playlist track is Downtown by Petula Clark, written by Tony Hatch, and you can find a YouTube video of it here. On the week that includes the biggest retail day of the year, AKA Black Friday, this 1960s shopping anthem seems fitting. When the single came along at the beginning of my teenage years, people usually went Downtown to do their shopping, although perhaps a modernized version would carry the title At (or To) the Mall. When I heard it back then, I knew exactly which 3-block stretch to picture, and I certainly would have enjoyed the chance to Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty (or at least once were). I didn’t often get the opportunity to listen to the music of the traffic in the city, though, or take in all the noise and the hurry, because I didn’t have much change in my pocket, and my family couldn’t contribute much either, so even if Petula had graced the scene, she probably wouldn’t have seen me there, but yet, listening to her singing could, at that moment, help me to forget all my cares, and it sometimes still can.

Helping Each Other

Song 381: Seven weeks after my last personal friend song post, this week on the playlist you can hear Life is Hard Enough by my good friend Terry Kitchen, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it here. The video features a live performance of a cut from his 2006 CD Heaven Here on Earth, and I will admit that I don't recall hearing it before today. Terry sent me a message about a new YT video where he covers an old favorite called Nature's Way (originally done by Spirit, and sure to be featured on this playlist one day soon). After enjoying that video, I clicked on the link to this one, and I really liked what I heard. While the song has been around for over a decade, it seems to fit the present moment quite well. The currently-ascendent conservative political narrative emphasizes selfishness, competitiveness, and a supposedly-innate war-like characteristic of our species, but a more scientific analysis of human nature and history comes to a completely opposite conclusion that humans largely have succeeded through cooperation, or, as Terry would put it, We are all strong enough to help each other through. Today you might need me, tomorrow I'll need you.

Fond Romantic Memories

Song 380: This week’s spot on the playlist goes to Yankee Lady by Jesse Winchester, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it here. At the turn of the 1970s, the solo singer/songwriter era unfolded, with acoustic-guitar-wielding types like James Taylor, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell getting a lot of attention. Jesse Winchester, with an eponymous debut LP produced by The Band's Robbie Robertson, might have had a similar shot at the spotlight, but perhaps because of his inability to tour the U.S. due to his status as a Vietnam War draft dodger residing in Canada, he never got the acclaim that those other artists did. I liked what I heard from that first album, though, and I made sure to add it to my collection, soon learning to play this tune, as well as a couple of other cuts from the record. Like Jesse, I too have taken An autumn walk on a country road With a million flaming trees and these days, I understand feeling a little uneasy when there's a winter chill in the breeze, which I have felt once or twice lately. I will also confess to finding inspiration in Jesse's last verse here, where he speaks of seeing himself as a stranger by his birth. I used that as the basis for the lyric of my song Waylaid the Stranger, and you can find a rough cut YT video of that by clicking on the title.