This Instrumental Is a Gas

Song 470: This week the playlist applauds Classical Gas by Mason Williams, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When this 45 came across the airwaves in the summer of 1968, just shortly before I began my senior year at HS, I really liked the sound of it. At the time, I played violin with the orchestra, as well as writing my own songs on an acoustic guitar and the family piano, so I really enjoyed an instrumental hit that combined classical elements with popular music ones. I also have a vague memory of one of my friends sharing an odd rumor about the record being created by an anonymous source who hid his real identity and put Mr. Williams up as a front man. I don't know where that strange story came from, but I learned, in researching for this post, that MW was the head writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the time of the release, which makes me respect him even more. In addition, I read that Mason originally called the tune Classical Gasoline, and I'd say that the musical copyist who shorted it did him a favor, because this composition is a real gas!

A Wicked But Not Supernatural Character

Song 469: This week the playlist focuses on El Diablo by ZZ Top, written by Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. La Grange (Song 366) turned me into an instant ZZ Top fan, and a couple of years later, when Tejas came along, I thought it sounded even better than the trio's previous records. The LP became a regular spinner on my turntable, and I liked it so much that when the band came to Chicago a few months later, in February of 1977, I had to join the crowd for that show, and it remains one of my most memorable concert experiences. Having studied Spanish in HS, I knew that the title of this song meant The Devil, although the character sketched in the song lyrics, while malevolent, did not possess supernatural powers, The man with the tan who lived by the luck of the draw might have been high on the hog for a bit, but by verse 3 he was caught, he was bound, he was tried, he was found, he was readied for the noose, and then he bid his last farewell.

Can’t Make the Grade

Song 468: This week on the playlist you’ll find She's Too Good for Me by Sting, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When Ten Summoner's Tales came along in early 1993, Fields of Gold (Song 112) got a lot of airplay, and rightfully so, I thought. That cut, just by itself, might have convinced me to get a copy of the album, though I also heard some other good stuff from the record before I made the purchase, but I did not hear this track until the first spin on my own player, at which point I knew that disc was money well spent. Later, when I got my iPod, Sting's TST numbered among the handful of albums to adorn its drive, and that have enlivened various journeys where the iPod has accompanied me. This marks the fourth appearance of a TST tune on this list - Something the Boy Said is Song 123, and Saint Augustine in Hell is Song 317. I would bet that most young single guys, if they've chased enough young single women, have found themselves, at least once, in a situation similar to what Sting sings about here - I know I certainly did, and so I understand what it feels like when she don't like the clothes I wear, the way I stare, the tales I tell and the way I smell, but oh, the games we play.

Feelings Colored by an Elevated Viewpoint

Song 467: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Blues from an Airplane by Jefferson Airplane, written by Marty Balin and Skip Spence, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Not long after I began my freshman year at N.U., I started an LP collection that soon included Surrealistic Pillow. That 33 became a constant spinner and forever favorite, but I also knew that the group had released their debut album some months before that well-known classic appeared, and I suspected that I might treasure their earlier effort almost as much, so at some point, I acquired my own copy of Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. This cut opens the record, and by the second verse, I felt sure that I had made a very good purchase. So what's that sound around my heart? Well, these days, it's not something new - it's something well over 5 decades old, but whenever I hear it, I know that the love the band put into this track must be real.