Monday, June 18, 2018

Covering a Lot of Ground Very Quickly

Song 412: This week's playlist pick is 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds by Jefferson Airplane, written by Marty Balin, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This post arrives a day late due to a local internet outage. Surrealistic Pillow very quickly made my personal top 10 of favorite LPs, and this 216 mph mover would be the 3rd SP cut to appear on the playlist (She Has Funny Cars is Song 154 and Somebody to Love is Song 267). Back in the days of 2-sided records, very often the first and last tracks on a side were the best, and this rocker opens side 2 with a bang. I always picked up a satirical edge to the lyrics, and found it amusing, although, in the current political atmosphere, it wouldn’t surprise me to hear a more serious right-wing version of these words, with various demonizations filling in the blanks after the phrase Do away with people . . .  I truly relished the second verse’s suggestion about living in a circus tent where all the other freaks can share my cares. The term hippie freak was originally meant as a smear, but counter-culture types adopted it as a communal descriptive for members of the club, and when I grew my hair long enough to earn the title in 1971, I proudly wore that label and shared it with my fellow freaks. I did not share the interest many of them had, though, for a smoke that could cost 65 dollars, but I also did not judge them harshly for that interest, especially since it seemed to have the effect of moving someone from a Do away with people frame of mind to one of Know I love you baby.

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