A Hearty Rhythm

Song 522: This week the playlist comes around to Shakedown Street by The Grateful Dead, written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I hitch-hiked from Chicago to northern CA in the summer of 1978, and in the fall of that year, a new GD album came along. I don't remember how it happened exactly, but I did get to hear this title track a number of times, and I enjoyed it, even though it supposedly embodied the band’s sellout to the disco trend, which did not interest me at all. Fast forward four decades, and as the current pandemic situation has unfolded, a number of times it has looked like there was nothin' shakin' on Shakedown Street, which used to be the heart of town, but don't tell me this town ain't got no heart because honestly, you just gotta poke around. The virus scene might make it appear as if the sunny side of the street is dark, but well, you can never tell, and so, don't tell me this town ain't got no heart when I can hear it beat out loud, and personally, I like the sound of that beat.

Acting Out of Mutual Concern

Song 521: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's absorbing composition We Are Each Other's Angels comes from my old Bay Area buddy Chuck Brodsky, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I hung out with a Berkeley, CA, singer-songwriter circle for about 10 years, from the late summer of 1978 to the late summer of 1988, and Chuck joined that group during the latter half of my era there, around 1984 or 1985. This particular tune got everyone's attention when we all first heard it, and rightly so, I thought, though he also had another one called Blow 'em Away (Song 45) that quickly moved my needle as well. In light of the current pandemic situation, I'd say this piece fits the present moment quite appropriately. Sometimes you'll stumble, whereas, sometimes you'll just lie down, and then, sometimes you'll get lonely, even with all these people around. Seeing the big question mark on the horizon, You might shiver when the wind blows, and possibly, you might get blown away, but truly, We are each other's angels, we meet when it is time. Doing so, we keep each other going and we show each other signs. We will get through this troubling scene, and we will do so together.

The Benefits of Pain

Song 520: This week on the playlist you can hear Hurt Me Bad (In a Real Good Way) by Patty Loveless, written by Deborah Allen and Rafe Van Hoy, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. At the turn of the 1990s, listening to a NYC country station soon introduced me to the music of Ms. Loveless, and when her greatest hits album came out in the middle of 1993, I quickly added it to my collection, making it a regular spinner on the CD player. I always enjoyed the ironic lyrical twist on this cut, which appears just before the record closer Jealous Bone (Song 277). I too can remember having someone hurt me bad in a real good way when she opened my eyes to a world beyond that impossible dream I was livin' on, so with my feet on the hard ground of the real world, I would later find out how the river of tears that flowed from my eyes was only moving me on to a different paradise. On a side note, here’s an interesting question: Should Patty Loveless? I actually ask that question at the beginning of verse 2 of my song As Long as Merle is Still Haggard, and you can find the YouTube video of that tune by clicking on the title as well.

The Downside of Being Special

Song 519: This week the playlist honors Trouble Child by Joni Mitchell, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I had already developed an appreciation of JM's music by the time Court and Spark came along in early 1974, and that LP seemed to add a whole new level to my admiration for her. While I never had any deep attraction to jazz, I thought Joni made a very interesting move in that direction with C&S, adding jazz to the singer-songwriter mix in a unique and captivating way. During the first few spins on the turntable, this track, which appears just before the closer on side 2, soon got my attention. Having grown up in a family where my mother was the Trouble Child, the lines really resonated with me, though at the time, I could not have pictured Ms. Mitchell as referring to herself. I did know that she had hooked up with James Taylor for a while, and I also knew that he had issues with heroin, so I thought perhaps the words pointed towards him, although I also thought it possible that she had a family member similar to mine. I saw my mother go through something like this - They open and close you. Then they talk like they know you. They don't know you. As well-meaning as they might wish to be, They're friends and they're foes too - so sang the Trouble Child about a point where she had been breaking like the waves of Malibu. I referenced this song's lyrical message in chapter 7 of the first edition of Expecting the Broken Brain to Do Mental Pushups, and in the second edition, which I hope to release shortly, I expand on what I learned from Joni and other creative types, both known and unknown, about a particular condition that has plagued this special Trouble Child.