Sunday, November 25, 2018

Flying a Bit Higher Than Others


Song 435: The week the playlist can take you to Eight Miles High by The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn and David Crosby, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I heard about the controversy over this 45 when it came out, but I don't think I actually heard the single at the time. Due to an accusation that the record encouraged drug usage, many radio stations refused to air it, and our local top-40 broadcaster may have numbered among the bunch taking that attitude. When, at the turn of the 1970s, I could begin collecting albums, I wanted to get Byrds LPs as soon as I could, and upon hearing this cut for the first time, I felt the group had exceeded my high expectations. The sound seemed to take some surprising turns, in light of their more well-known work, but I totally enjoyed the ride. I took note of both the jazz influence and the Indian classical leanings that shaped McGuinn's lead guitar riffs, and I relished the hints of Gregorian chant stylings in the vocal harmonies. I also knew, having flown to Europe in the summer of 1969 on a tour with my HS select choir, that airplanes crossing the Atlantic fly somewhere in the range of Eight Miles High (usually six or seven), so I understood the lyrics as a story of a tour to England, and I never gave much thought to the supposed druggie references in the lines. The intriguing musical innovations where The Byrds broke new ground in recordings like this one have inspired me to explore unusual harmonies and chord sequences, with one prime example of that influence being Marketplace - the Elder Street track which I posted as my September 2018 SoundCloud release, and which you can listen to by clicking on the title. So when you touch down, maybe you'll find that it's stranger than known, but maybe, in addition, you'll find that you like it that way - I know I did.


Sunday, November 18, 2018

A Sad Red-Letter Day


Song 434: The week the playlist comes around to Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2, written by Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and David Howell (the four band members), and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the fall of 1983, my good friend Eddie Spitzer started a music store in the back of a record shop on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, so of course, I visited him a number of times there, and in doing so, I kept hearing this new LP by an Irish quartet, and what I heard sounded so good that soon enough, I walked out with my own copy. I liked every track on the album, and I had that 33 on the turntable a lot. This rocker clearly conveys the disturbing brutality that had tormented Northern Ireland for far too long, referencing a well-known massacre and painting an unsettling picture of its horrific aftermath. There's many lost, but tell me, who has won. Certainly, none of the common folk numbered among the winners in that bloodbath. During that era, just like this foursome, I saw no escape route from the violence in their neighborhood, and I would have echoed Bono when he sang, How long must we sing this song? However, The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 brought both sides together, and largely put an end to the casualties, although not completely. For the Irish, the sad story of mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart has mostly become a thing of the past, and perhaps the resolution of this conflict has some lessons to offer, and to apply to other battles where The trench is dug within our hearts. On a side note, 2 other cuts from Under a Blood Red Sky have appeared on this list - 11 O'Clock Tick Tock is Song 181, and Gloria is Song 362.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

This One Makes a Lot of Noise


Song 433: The week the playlist features Hound Dog by Elvis Presley, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This early Elvis hit was the only one of his that I knew in my younger years. I had some awareness of the man's career and stardom, but had no contact with any of his output, other than hearing this single once on the radio. When the Fab Four rocked my world in the winter of 1964, they immediately got me hooked on RnR, but it surprised me, a few years later, to learn, from their official biography book, that Presley had been their original inspiration. I had guessed, from the sound of this record, that EP was some kind of hillbilly singer, but when the early 1970s unfolded a sort-of 1950s RnR revival, I got to know Elvis' music much better, and thereby, to appreciate his place among the early rocking musical pioneers. At some point in that era I acquired an LP of his greatest hits, which included this track along with a lot of other fun stuff, so that by the time he left the land of the living, I understood what a gem the music world had lost. Only in recent years did I learn that my best friend's mother has been a life-long Elvis fan - during our teenage years, living in a highly-religious home where the parents and grandparents despised the devil's music, I attended a church where the older generations expressed this same outlook, so it would have astounded me to learn that any of my friends' parents were actually fans of a rocker, let alone my closest buddy's mom. On my visits to his home, we would often listen to his Simon and Garfunkel collection, but I never got to witness his mother enjoying the music of Mr. Presley. I may very well get to share a meal with the two of them, plus some of their other family members, a week from Thursday, and if I do, I imagine that the topic of Elvis and his music might animate our conversations.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Identifying a Very Memorable Type


Song 432: The week the playlist comes around to Twentieth Century Fox by The Doors, who also wrote the song. You can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. The Doors lit such a big blaze with their opening single in the summer of 1967 that even though I had no hope at the time of owning their first album, so many of my friends had it that I soon knew the entire record. I also remember often hearing the whole LP during the monthly extended after-school work sessions when those of us on the student newspaper would put together that month’s issue. At some point during the fall of my HS junior year, my English teacher just randomly asked the class which band currently was the thing, and without hesitation, a bunch of us answered in unison: The Doors! I always relished the way the lyrics on this track outline a figure that breathes life into the trademark name of a movie production company and then illuminate her with multiple shades of meaning. Within a day or 2 of my early arrival at N.U. in the fall of 1969, a local RnR band played a fun set in the parking lot next to my dorm, and I still remember their performance of this tune. The words of this piece always stayed with me, reminding me to Just watch the way she walks, and inspiring me to write my own lines about how she moves, though I don’t at the moment have any links to that particular rocker, but maybe someday. On a side note, 2 other cuts from their eponymous debut The Doors have appeared on this list - Soul Kitchen is Song 56, and The Crystal Ship is Song 323.