Historic Memorable Evening

 Song 595: This week on the playlist you’ll find December, 1963 (Oh What a Night) by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, written by Bob Gaudio and Judy Parker, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Now at the last week of the year and in the first week of the winter season, we can celebrate by picking a hit with December in its title. This chart topper brightened the winter of 1976, and I remember shivering so much in the freezing Chicago temperatures of that stretch while at the same time learning about the milder climate of the SF Bay Area, leading me to plan on making a western move in the coming summer, though tooth problems would lead to a 2-year delay in that trip. With frost on the apartment windows, I could savor riding along an energetic heated amorous lyrical jaunt. Hearing it, sometimes I felt a rush like a rolling bolt of thunder spinning my head around and taking my body under, making it a very special time for me, whether or not it ended much too soon.

Colorful Observance

 Song 594: This week the playlist comes around to Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley, written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Considering the special day that will arrive at the end of the week, this seems like the appropriate moment to feature a major noel classic. Mr. Presley's version of this yuletide ride first appeared on his 1957 LP Elvis' Christmas Album, but growing up in a household where the adults despised the devil's music, I knew next to nothing about the RnR star, the exception being Hound Dog (Song 433). As a young man in the 1970s, though, I soon learned a lot about the 1950s rockers that had laid the foundation for the musical style I had come to savor, and at a certain point I got an Elvis hit collection 33 that included this shiner, which would become one of my repeated 12/25 spinners. Last year my neighborhood had a white Xmas after a record blizzard at the beginning of December left behind very deep piles that lasted well beyond the holidays. This year, the community looks quite green, but that doesn't bother me. If those blue snowflakes start fallin', however, I will know that's when those blue memories start callin'. Regardless of what does or does not come out of the sky this week, Merry Happy!

Associated With Darkness

 Song 593: This week the playlist applauds Because the Night by Patti Smith Group, written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Other than my personal friend song post 2 weeks ago (which I do every 7 weeks), all the artists I featured in the last 6 weeks appeared in this group for the first time, including Prince, Carly Simon, Woody Guthrie, Queen, The Animals and now PSG. This compelling jaunt arrived just before the spring of my final year in the Chicago area, as I planned to point my thumb towards the West Coast in the unfolding summer of 1978, and it enlivened the radio waves during the stretch when the daylight hours grew longer. I had not gotten that thrilled with most of the Springsteen releases of the previous years, but this one did grab my attention, as Ms. Smith took a Bruce idea and added her inspired soundings to it, getting listeners like me to relish singing along with her memorable lines. As the unresolved pandemic situation keeps going on, try and understand that love is a banquet on which we feed. With love we sleep, whereas, with doubt the vicious circle turns and burns, so hopefully those who sew the doubt can't hurt you now because the night belongs to us.

A Dawning Residence

 Song 592: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on House of the Rising Sun by The Animals, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When this mover got everyone's attention at the end of the summer after the Fab Four rocked my world, I didn't get to hear it. My religious parents and grandparents did not approve of The Devil's Music, so I couldn't listen to RnR in their presence, and over the coming years, I found other ways to tune in on the rocking gems. I actually first got to hear this hit during my junior HS year, when another student brought the 45 to my French class, and the teacher gave it a spin. I really liked what I heard, and a couple of years later, as I started becoming a major Dylan fan, I began to learn the story behind the disc. The song had evolved over many generations through various folk channels, and prominent folkies like Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, the Weavers, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez had all done recordings of it. Then Bob Dylan basically grabbed Dave Van Ronk's arrangement of it, putting it on his own premier LP. The Animals got a lot of audience notice when they started rocking that chord sequence, and when they captured a studio version of it in just one take, the single soon rose to the top once it got released. I learned the chord pattern a while before I found out it came from Van Ronk, and I even used part of it, in a different key, as the foundational sequence for a sparkler I wrote soon after I turned 18 called The Wanderer (and you can find a lyric video of that by clicking on the title). Back then, I did feel like I had one foot on the platform and the other foot on the train, and I have felt that way other times as well, but I never had to wear that ball and chain.

Confined to Uncertainty

 Song 591: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's intriguing jaunt Stranded in Limbo comes from a Bay Area comerade Jim Bruno, who also wrote the song. He joined the Berkeley songwriter circle that I hung out with in the late 1970s and most of the 1980s - in fact, I introduced him to the group that gathered at the pizza parlor just north of the U.C. campus. I heard this gem for the first time recently which enlivens his 2017 release Long Story Short, but as soon as I did, I thought it sounded very appropriate for the pandemic era that we and our fellow humans have experienced in the last year and a half, and which arrived over 2 years after Jim’s record appeared. The whole scenario feels like an endless road to a hollow home with plenty of broken promises like broken bones, and as it keeps going, do you wonder where it will end? I sure do, and maybe we shouldn't have expected much, since no one owes you the human touch, so every day it's fade to black, no going forward, no going back - at this point, we're stranded in limbo. In the morning, sometimes it's drought, sometimes it's flood, and they say the problem is in our blood (or our lungs), although perhaps we'll get to another angle of the story someday.

Nonconformist Composition

 Song 590: This week the playlist recognizes Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, written by Freddie Mercury, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Along with Prince 3 weeks ago, Carly Simon 2 weeks ago and Woody Guthrie last week, this week Queen appears for the first time in this bunch. I lived in the Chicago area back in the middle of the 1970s when this rocker got everyone stirred up. Unlike the majority of radio wave riders, it came with a quite unique form, not relying on the typical verse & chorus pattern that animates most hits, but instead running along a suite path going through differing segments one after another. As a songwriter, I found this an intriguing exception to the basic rules that we tune-crafters generally pursue, and, like Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Song 566), it inspired me to explore some additional options at least 2 or 3 times, opening the door to endless possibiities. In fact, even compared to that CS&N trailblazer, the Queen groundbreaker went a lot further from the traditional verse & chorus formula and into some rare encapsulating territory. Under the current pandemic situation, people might ask Is this the real life or Is this just fantasy? Are we caught in a landslide with no escape from reality? I'd say to anyone open your eyes, look up to the skies and see, and pay attention to the signs so you can know any way the wind blows.

Continue Streaming

 Song 589: This week on the playlist you can hear Roll On Colombia by Woody Guthrie, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Two weeks ago marked Prince's initial appearance on this list, last week was Carly Simon’s premier here, and now Woody has arrived at the gathering. Given the role that Mr. Guthrie played in laying the groundwork for the singer/songwriter phenomenon, it does seem remarkable to have gotten so close to 600 before featuring him, and I'll probably give him a few more numbers in the near future. I think I first heard this mover during my HS years, but I definitely knew more about it in my early twenties as I evolved my own personal singer/songwriter style and I learned about the multiple landmarks created by WG's pioneering. At the time, I would have agreed with the concept that dams can wonderfully provide clean energy, although in recent decades I have learned about how such structures can damage aquatic wildlife communities. Still, we can all feel grateful when a river’s power is turning our darkness to dawn, including when other great rivers add power to it. As a songwriter, I understood someone having a vision that would not let him rest, and I respect how often in the past mighty men labored by day and by night, and that by doing so, they won the hard fight.

Arriving at the Proper Circumstance

 Song 588: This week on the playlist you’ll find That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be by Carly Simon, written by Carly Simon and Jacob Brackman, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Last week marked the first appearance of Prince among this group and this week is Carly's premiere here. Again, I don't know how I got so far along before including a CS gem, but I will certainly give her more numbers in the near future. This shiner arrived in the spring of my college sophomore year, and I recall enjoying the moment when it enlivened a car's radio speakers as I rode along with friends on a rural cruise one afternoon that summer. A couple of decades later I would actually get to know a woman who had resided in Carly's circle around the time of this hit and who had hooked up during that era with a young guy working as Ms. Simon’s ivory player and song arranger - that former boyfriend Billy Mernit got credit on the LP jacket for his keyboard contributions to this cut and other tracks from the album. In the present day, I expect that my friends from college they're all married now, and regardless of the pandemic, I would hope most of them still have their houses and their lawns. I want to believe that as humans we can keep our love alive, someday soon resolve the question marks, and then soar like the birds through the clouds.

Small Scarlet Vehicle

 Song 587: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Little Red Corvette by Prince, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Last week I featured an anthem by The Bangles called Manic Monday which was written by Prince, and in doing so, I realized that I hadn't yet added an original record of his to the list, so tonight a special colorful mover marks his first appearance among this group. At the time he got this vehicle rolling, I lived in Berkeley, CA, and I don't recall ever encountering a Corvette on the streets there, though I felt that Mr. Royalty did convey quite well the sound and sense you might get if such a sports car did happen to come rocketing through the community. In the following 3 decades, residing mostly in the NYC area, I have no memories of meeting a fancy Chevy there either. However, during the 1990s, this tune did inspire a line in my song Drivin' in My Sleep Again (you can find the lyric video of that by clicking on the title) - I thought I was drivin' in my old black Dodge van but now here I am in a Little Red Corvette. Over the past decade, now dwelling in a more rural neighborhood, I have witnessed many of these noisy roadsters, and they do sound like a pocket full of horses. You could try to tell the drivers that they've got to slow down because they're movin' much too fast, but most of them act like they’d rather run the car body right into the ground.

Frenzied Timetable Commencement

 Song 586: This week the playlist comes around to Manic Monday by The Bangles, written by Prince, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I well remember when this hit got my attention while living in Berkeley, CA. Similar to a bunch of music critics, I immediately connected it to the Mamas & the Papas classic Monday, Monday (Song 302) from 20 years earlier. As the first instance of this female quartet crossing my radar, it soon moved me to get a copy of the LP Different Light which features this cut. The 33's title track In a Different Light appeared on this list in 2016 as Song 331. I genuinely relished the entire record, and I appreciated the way it put an end to the mildly male-supremacist narrative that women could not rock the world the way men could and did. I really liked having The Bangles rock my world when their album spun on the turntable, and I felt happy to go along when they suggested c'mon honey, let's go make some noise. We all know that time it goes so fast when you're having fun, so after I finish this post on a Sunday night, even if I then get to spend a little time in the middle of a dream by a crystal blue Italian stream, when the morning light arrives it will once again be just another Manic Monday.

A Magical Player

 Song 585: This week the playlist applauds Pinball Wizard by The Who, written by Pete Townshend, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This resounding rocker rose over the airwaves shortly before the spring of my senior HS year arrived, and I really relished the moment I got to hear it while visiting the local Boys and Girls Club across the river from my stomping ground, just a couple of miles from my childhood home. I had joined a group of fellow HS students learning and practicing judo, and we had regular weekly sessions at the B&GC, so that probably led to the magic instant when this gem lit the room, though I would also occasionally go to the facility to practice swimming in its pool. Two years later I added the Tommy double-album to my LP stock, which gave the cut a much-different backdrop. When I was a young boy, I didn't get to play the silver ball because my folks couldn't afford to hand me pocket change for the game, so back then I had of course seen nothin' like him in any amusement hall, and if I ever had in the 5 decades since, I'd never forget watching the digit counters fall.

Not Booting Fur

 Song 584: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's amusing jaunt Don’t Kick the Cat comes from a long-time singer/songwriter buddy Terry Kitchen, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Soon after I completed my CD Purrfection: The Cat Single back in early April, when I had copies in hand, I sent one to Terry, and not long after I did, I got a copy in the mail of his latest album Lost Songs. The disc has quite a few engaging rambles, but the one that immediately grabbed me on the first spin was, of course, this feline anthem. My friendship with the Kitchen fellow goes back to the late 1980s, and i will always recall the September 1994 Sober in the Sun festival that we both attended and did performances at. During a campfire song circle in the evening, I played my furry excursion Curiosity, and he had a strong reaction to it - he told me I had to finish the story in the lyrics, and his suggestion prompted me to add the 4th verse, which begins with the phrase Circumstantial evidence. You can find a lyric video of Curiosity by clicking on the title here. On the personal friend song post from 7 weeke ago I featured a shiner called Pussy Cat, so this week continues the CATegorically-correct POV. I mentioned in that segment about Pussy Cat that it had inspired the opening track of Purrfection (which is It Takes a Cat and which you can find a lyric video of by clicking on that title), so now I wonder if maybe Curiosity played a role in spawning Don’t Kick the Cat, though I won't make a claim that it did - I'll leave that to Terry to admit, or not. I will say that whatever I've done in life to get a better angle, thankfully a big ball of fur never got my feet in a tangle, and also, I can now appreciate the fact that my slippers have never exploded in a big meow. 

Greeting the Attractive One

 Song 583: This week the playlist recognizes Hey, Good Lookin' by Hank Williams, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Mr. Hank got everyone riding on this mover just as the summer of 1951 arrived, a couple of months before I was born, and about a year-and-a-half later, his life ended. During that decade, every summer my parents and grandparents took the family to western Ohio to visit my father's relatives, and within a few years my aunt and uncle would give me access to their stereo record player and their country music LP collection. I soon came to appreciate the remarkable Williams fellow and his extensive catalog. Regardless of the source, most of the classic spinners that grabbed my attention didn't usually register with other family members, but this particular one did, to the point that I can remember my mother singing along with it, which she rarely if ever did on any of the other anthems. The only other Hank hit that I recall family members singing along with was Jambalaya (Song 471). While I myself haven't got a hot rod Ford, I do have at least one two dollar bill (possibly more). With the current unresoved pandemic situation, I can imagine someone deciding to throw their date book over the fence, but I still think maybe we can find us a brand new recipe.

An Expansive Romantic Footprint

 Song 582: This week on the playlist you can hear Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) by Edison Lighthouse, written by Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. During the winter months of my college freshman year, this entertaining ramble topped the charts, and when it crossed the airwaves I liked riding the tide with it. I had found myself under harsh criticism from my new dorm roommate, who himself had writing ambitions and who verbally disparaged the lyrics of my compositions that I played for him, with the one shining exception being a piece called The Wanderer that I wrote a couple of months before we began sharing the same living space (and you can find a lyric video of that sparkler by clicking on the title). He tried to move me more in the direction of serious-message songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, and by the time summer break arrived he had gotten me headed down that path, but I could still relish the kind of bland romantic meandering that this EL cut personifies. After all, as a young adult male, I knew that with a certain female there was something about her hand holding mine - it was a feeling that was fine, because she really had a magical spell that was working so well that I couldn't get away from it, and I had no reason to want to do so.

Facing a Favorable Outcome

 Song 581: This week on the playlist you’ll find It's Gonna Be Alright by Gerry and the Pacemakers, written by Gerry Marsden, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This marks the first appearance of Gerry and Co. on the list - a quartet who came along with their fellow Liverpudlians The Fab Four as part of the 1964 British Invasion. Soon after those Beatles rocked my world during the winter of my first year at Junior High, I started learning about their comrades, including the Pacemaker four. I remember one weekend night when I hung out with a few friends inside the porch of a house a half-mile down the road from my home, and as we played cards and listened to the radio, this shiner lit the airwaves, and I relished it when it did, possibly thinking that it might have improved my odds. The magic of that moment has lingered with me for well over 5 decades now, and perhaps it makes sense to honor this hit during the year that sadly marked the end of the lead singer's life. Gerry left the land of the living on January 3rd, and this coming Friday, 9/24, he could have celebrated his 79th birthday if he had survived. Facing the pandemic question marks still hanging in the air, maybe once in a while my heart skips a beat but I continue to believe that it's gonna be alright, alright, alright, it's gonna be alright.

Another Blazing Spiral

 Song 580: This week the playlist applauds Ring of Fire by Social Distortion, written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I posted the Johnny Cash version of this tune 4 weeks ago (Song 576), and I had intended to feature this other rendition after doing so, but the following week was my 7th week personal friend time, and then a couple of recent deaths (Don Everly and Charlie Watts) moved me to highlight recordings where they played their parts. The SD punk rockers put out this track back in 1980, but it didn't cross my radar until shortly after the 2004 November Presidential election, which I strongly suspected W and the Chainy Snake had stolen as much as (or possibly even more than) the one they grabbed 4 years earlier. Clicking on the title Chainy Snake here will take you to a lyric video on YouTube of the anthem I wrote about W's partner in crime. Not long after that late fall fraud, I discovered a few trustworthy sources of information, including the Ring of Fire Radio podcast, and I soon came to appreciate RFK Jr.'s contributions to the segments. I became a regular listener of that show for the next few years, and I always liked the sound of their theme song, which obviously did not come from Mr. Cash. Due to the current unresolved pandemic situation, we have the social distancing form of social distortion, and hearts like ours don't get to meet as often as previously, but the taste of love is still sweet, and maybe this scenario will get worked out soon and we'll stop going down down down.

The Witching Hour Mover

 Song 579: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Midnight Rambler by The Rolling Stones, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Following last week's post of an Everly Brother's hit meant to memorialize the recent passing of Don Everly, this week's rocker from the Rolling Stones can serve to commemorate drummer Charlie Watts, who left the land of the living on Tuesday, August 24, only 3 days after Don's demise. My appreciation for the RS 5 began when Satisfaction (Song 256) hit the airwaves, but it greatly increased soon after I arrived in college a few years later. Hank Neuberger, who lived in the dorm room across the hall from mine, had a very good sound system for highlighting his amazing LP collection, and in the Beatles vs. Rolling Stones debate, he leaned strongly towards the latter, so he introduced me to some RS classics I hadn't heard, plus he shared their latest disc, which featured this cut. While I still favored the Fab Four over the Rolling Five, Hank definitely did increase my respect for Mick & Co., and soon enough, I did add Let It Bleed to my stockpile. This track opens side 2 of the 33, and I liked it so much that I would sometimes just play it over and over. It was one of the final recordings to include the band's founder Brian Jones, who I have long admired, and who died before the album got released. I really relish the slide guitar and harmonica embellishments, and I have savoured the lines that tell a story simllar to one which I crafted shortly before first hearing the Stones roller. You can find a lyric video of my ramble called The Wanderer by clicking on the title, so if you ever meet the midnight rambler coming down your marble hall, I guess you can say I told you so.

Farewell Romantic Companion

 Song 578: This week the playlist recognizes Bye Bye Love by The Everly Brothers, written by David Richards and Richard Julian, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I had originally planned to feature a different tune tonight, but then Don Everly passed away a week ago yesterday, on August 21, so this became an appropriate moment to debut him and his sibling on the playlist. Of course it's ironic that a guy who sang the line I feel like I could die at the age of 20 would make it nearly halfway through his 88th year, and we can appreciate the fact that he did both of these things. I don't recall exactly when this cut first got my attention, but I do know that it enriched my single-digit years well before the new decade arrived. The hit topped the country charts as well as the rock ones, so it could easily grace my family circle in the era when it appeared. I also remember it coming across the airwaves as a shining golden oldie at least a couple of times during my HS stretch, and I relished its glow. In addition, I could tell how much Phil and Don had influenced other duos like the Simon and Garfunkel pair, and had done so in a very favorable way. Sadly, due to the current pandemic situation, a lot of people have had to say bye bye happiness, hello loneliness, and hello emptiness, knowing that they're through with counting the stars above. However, maybe someday we'll get beyond this trauma and again have a reason to be so free.

A Rocking Feline

 Song 577: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's furry ramble Pussy Cat comes from another one of my Fast Folk colleagues, Richard Julian, written by David Richards and Richard Julian, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. RJ was actually the one who introduced me to the FF bunch, telling me one night at the Speakeasy club about where and when to join the group's weekly meetings, which I did at their very next gathering. I spent a lot of time as part of that circle over the next few years, but in early 1994 I drifted away. However, a couple of years later, while working with David Seitz and his independent record company Prime CD, he got involved with Fast Folk, and so I did the graphic work for the Rebirth CD (volume 8, issue 7) for which David did the recording work, and which includes this track. When I got to hear the disc, this cut quickly grabbed my attention. In fact, it played a role in inspiring my feline anthem It Takes a Cat, which I recently did a YouTube lyric video for that you can check out by clicking on the title. 25 years after this gem arrived, it still looks like we better make a new plan or we're gonna land down in the hole shovelling coal. Even so, it also still feels good to imagine that one can see the cat chasing the air, leaping and swinging like there's something there - that pussy cat in a rocking chair with big gray eyes and a curious stare.

A Blazing Circle

 Song 576: This week the playlist comes around to Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Growing up in a family where the parents and grandparents did not approve of the devil's music (RnR) but who had no objections to C&W (country and western), and having Ohio relatives that we visited every other summer who were major country fans, during the 1960s I often knew a lot more about C&W chart movers than I did about the RnR ones. Even before the 1960s arrived, I relished a couple of JC singles (I Walk the Line and Don't Take Your Guns to Town). Around the time I turned 11, another Cash 45 came along - Busted (Song 447). I liked that spinner quite a bit, and then he followed it up with this hit, which moved me even more, and which made the newer decade sound more lively, a good 9 months before a quartet called The Fab Four took the music scene up to a whole new level. Back in the era when this blazer lit up the charts, we already knew that love is a burning thing and it makes a fiery ring, bound by wild desire, and now, nearly 6 decades later, the taste of love is still as sweet as it ever was.

An Extended Chronology

 Song 575: This week on the playlist you can hear Tomorrow Is a Long Time by Judy Collins, written by Bob Dylan, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. It seems a bit ironic to get to this high a figure before including a gem that I considered my #1 favorite recording back in the early 1970s, when I finished my second decade and started a third one. Ms. Judy Blue Eyes (as in Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, which is Song 566) first appeared on my radar, as did Joni Mitchell, when Both Sides Now rose up the charts in the fall of my senior HS year, and the following year, as a freshman at N.U., my musical horizons greatly expanded and I listened to a lot more of the folkie types who would strongly influence the original singer/songwriter style that I put together in that era. When I first heard this piece it topped my list, and I always relished the way JC enlivened a Dylan sparkler with a melodic acoustic guitar frame. I admired Mr. Zimmerman's rough edgy approach, but I also liked it when folks such as Ms. Judy added a compelling tuneful element to one of his treasures. Once again, with all the pandemic question marks still hanging in the air, today can feel like an endless highway, tonight can look like a crooked trail, and tomorrow can seem like a long time, but I'd say there still is beauty in the silver singin' river and there is beauty in the sunrise in the skies. I understand that currently some can't remember the sound of their own names, but I can, and tonight I plan to lie in my bed once again.

Attached Amiable Youngster

 Song 574: This week on the playlist you’ll find Sweet Child o' Mine by Guns N' Roses, written by Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. After featuring a Sweet Child last week, this time around, the spotlight shines on another particular affectionate young one. This strong rumbler arrived a few months before I left Berkeley and headed back to the East Coast, and I got to hear it a few times as I prepared for my journey. Knowing that I would soon leave behind an attractive temperate region and return to an area that has seasonal temperature extremes, I had my own answer to the question Where do we go now? Today, almost 33 years after that trip, hearing the query again really resonates, but in a totally different way. I could not have foreseen the kind of pandemic scenario that has unfolded over the last year and a half, but perhaps if we pray in the right way for the thunder and the rain to quietly pass us by, maybe we will figure out what to say when someone asks us Where do we go now?

Amiable Youngster

 Song 573: This week the playlist recognizes Sweet Child by Pentangle, written by Terry Cox, Bert Jansch, Jacqui McShee, John Renbourn and Danny Thompson, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Sometimes it surprises me how far I have gotten along this list when I include a cut by a group or soloist that marks yet another first appearance in the tally. As the 1970s unfolded and I greatly expanded my musical horizons while creating my own singer/songwriter style, I would encounter acts like Pentangle that I had not previously known about who crafted sounds that fit my circle perfectly. I had become a Donovan fan during my HS years, and not long after adding Sunshine Superman to my LP stock, I found out that the subject of Bert's Blues had a last name of Jansch and belonged to this particular quintet, so I soon acquired one of their 33s as well, and it got lots of spins on the turntable. I myself have heard that there are brave men who could save our souls with kind and gentle hearts and love is their gold, though I might also guess who could shoot them down. Meanwhile, where has the pretty flower in the darkness gone? I don't claim to know but maybe we shall see, and perhaps it won't be long. For now, won't you lay yourself down and rest? You'll probably do yourself some good if you let your mind relax.

The Flow of Passion

 Song 572: This week the playlist applauds Water of Love by Dire Straits, written by Mark Knopfler, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the middle of the summer of 1978, I held out my thumb and hitch-hiked away from the Chicago area where I had spent most of that decade, arriving in the East Bay of San Francisco in about a week, and the first DS LP showed up a couple of months later. I liked what I heard of it on the radio, and one of my closest folkie colleagues had become a big fan of the four, so he soon convinced me that I should give the quartet some major focus. By the time I added the 33 to my collection, I already knew that I enjoyed it quite a bit. This cut followed the Side 1 opener Down to the Waterline and kept the energy flowing, although it did so with a bit deeper current. Fast forward to April of this year, and the US VP admitted that past wars have been fought over oil, but asserted that in the near future, WATER will turn into a cause of armed conflicts. Lately, plenty of people have felt high and dry in the long hot day, with a lot crying out for some soothing rain but sadly, too many conclude there ain't no water here to be found. In certain places, once there was a river but now there's a stone. However, maybe someday baby when the river runs free it's gonna carry that water of love to those who really need it.

Recognizing a New Presence

 Song 571: This week the playlist features Welcome To The Occupation by R.E.M., written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the spring of 1983, R.E.M. hit the road just after the release of their second LP Murmur, and my band Victims of Technology had the honor of being the opening act for them (and another group called The Lloyds) at The Stone in San Francisco one night in late June. I liked what I heard from the quartet that evening, and also the tracks of theirs that rode the radio waves during that era, but when Document arrived 4 years later, I felt even more impressed, and that disc got plenty of spins on my turntable. A couple of decades down the line, not long after I had my iPod in hand, the album would soon grace my mp3 player as well. This cut follows the opener Finest Worksong (Song 419), and it keeps things moving quite well. These days, it seems truly ironic to listen to lyrics about The Occupation that appeared nearly a decade and a half before a certain guy nicknamed Dubyah began the military occupation of Afghanistan that still has not ended. Here we stand and here we fight in a country where all of their fallen heroes got held and dyed and skinned alive while we propagate confusion by claiming that freedom reigns supreme.

Sacrificing Life for Wealthy Corporations

 Song 570: Seven blogs (but in this case eight weeks, due to computer problems that prevented one weekly blog dispatch) after my previous personal friend song post, this week's compelling jaunt We're Supposed to Die for McDonald's comes from my Berkeley songwritiing comrade Carol Denney, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I haven't seen much of her in the past few decades, but I still pay a lot of attention to her, and for good reason. I don't claim to know the answers to the big questions about the pandemic, but one thing I saw quite clearly from the very beginning was how the billionaires dramatically increased their wealth through the situation while American workers, as usual, got brutally screwed over by the unfolding events. While I have witnessed various version of this story play out over and over again in recent years, it still does amaze me on some level to hear about, for example, the world's richest man doing everything possible, including actions that violate human decency and may potentially break laws, just to hinder his employees from unionizing and demanding a slightly-better deal. He has to grab every penny he can, but the guys delivering his goods might have to pee into bottles they carry in their vehicles. From the rich ruling elite POV, workers are supposed to die for the owners who always think labor's to blame and who think that worker health care cuts into their wealth and can never remember a worker's name.

An Undecorated Moniker

 Song 569: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Judy by Elvis Presley, written by Teddy Redell, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I had known 3 of the previous 4 Judy tunes quite well, and I think I also had some familiarity with the other one, but I will admit I just found out about Mr. Presley’s Judy jam a few weeks ago, when I first perused the list of top Judy songs. Still, a single listen convinced me that it deserved to appear on that list, and it had actually reached #78 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in September of 1967, shortly after my 16th birthday. Growing up, I knew almost nothing about Elvis - I think the only record of his I heard in those years was Hound Dog (Song 433), and it greatly surprised me during my HS era to learn that he had been the one who inspired the Beatles. A few years later, as my knowledge of the 1950s RnR pioneers expanded, so did my respect for Mr. Presley, and I added to my collection at least one of the compilation LPs he released during that stretch, plus, I clearly understood what a deep loss the rock world experienced on August 16, 1977. Back then, as in our current strange situation, I could have sympathized with someone saying don’t let our sweet love wither and die like flowers in the fall.

A Female With a Shinier Viewpoint

 Song 568: This week the playlist comes around to Jewel-Eyed Judy by Fleetwood Mac, written by Danny Kirwan, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This cut just became the fourth Judy tune in a row on this list. I had gotten to know a few FM rambles but I didn't become a major fan of the group until the Buckingham/Nicks duo joined. Shortly after that pair amplified my interest in the band, I gave their earlier recordings a closer review. I added a bunch of FM discs to my LP collection, at some point including their 1970 classic Kiln House, which soon got lots of spins on the turntable. This marks the third appearance of a KH gem on this list, following Tell Me All the Things You Do (Song 6) and Station Man (Song 64). Even in the current troubling pandemic situation, I can see in a dream thoughts so clear and jewels that gleam, including this track. Of course, some folks might have a tough time answering the question can you see where it is you're meant to be (?), but I would like to wish everyone well - where you lay your head tonight may the stars find your light.

An Extremely-angry Female

 Song 567: This week on the playlist you can hear Mad Mad Judy by Buzzcocks, written by Steve Diggle, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I started this series of female-name-titled songs 3 weeks ago with a tune about a certain woman named Lucy, but the next 2 were both named Judy, and I decided to continue with that moniker, particularly after having discovered a list of top Judy songs which included this gem. It first came along in the late 1970s, and I don't recall whether or not it crossed my radar back then, but hearing it again, it did sound familiar. Even during the era of its release, when I was in my late twenties, if someone told me they had all the answers, I could not have taken that assertion seriously. It would have sounded even more ridiculous to hear there ain't nothing left in all the world except diversity, or there ain't nothing left in all the world except obscurity, but I can think of at least a few times in my life when it definitely DID feel like there ain't nothing left in all the world except insanity, with the current pandemic scenario being just the latest example. Under the present circumstances, it's not hard to imagine a mad mad girl who is mad at all the world because she wanted something she never got. Tell me about it  - I understand.

An Attractive Female With a Sad Viewpoint

 Song 566: This week on the playlist you’ll find Suite: Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby, Stills & Nash, written by Stephen Stills, and you can check out a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When this captivating portrait appeared a couple of years after the pair that I featured in the last two weeks (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Judy in Disguise), I thought it might have a vague connection with them, although I soon found out that Stephen's primary inspiration came from his romance with Judy Collins. Being a big fan of the Byrds, I already had plenty of respect for David Crosby, and the impressive 3-part harmonies he had now crafted with a previous Buffalo Springfield member and a former Hollie would increase my veneration for him and his new partners. Having grown up playing violin in elementary, junior high and high school orchestras, I had learned a lot about classical music, including how the term suite defined a type of composition structure, and then Mr. Stills provided me with a modern example of how to apply that concept to contemporary song design. In light of the current question marks hanging in the air, I think we should not let the past remind us of what we are not now. We have seen that fear is the lock and laughter the key to so many hearts, and we still don’t know the answer when someone asks, “How can you catch the sparrow?"

A Female Hiding Behind Spectacles

 Song 565: This week the playlist features Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) by John Fred and His Playboy Band, written by John Fred Gourrier and Andrew Bernard, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Computer problems prevented me from doing a post last Sunday night, but anyway, tonight's hit appeared a few months after the cut from 2 weeks ago, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. At the time it arrived, I suspected that the newer track had a relationship with the earlier one, and now, I can confirm that thought - Wikipedia explains that JFG, on hearing the Beatles' ramble, believed Mr. Lennon was singing Lucy in disguise, and on finding out the real words, Mr. Gourrier then had a fresh lyrical idea in hand. I will readily admit that I myself have crafted original phrases a few times thanks to experiencing a mondegreen, and have relished the inspiration. When the Playboy Band 45 came out, I actually liked it better than the Fab Four opus, though my assessments changed a couple of years later, when, as a young adult, I began acquiring my own record collection, but I still enjoyed this ride. If I happened to see lemonade pies with a brand new car, that might really unzipper the strings of my kite, but hopefully it wouldn't lead to a circus of horrors.

A Highly-regarded Decorated Female

 Song 564: This week the playlist recognizes Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I didn't get that excited when the Sgt. Pepper 33 arrived, and I didn't know how to assess the new direction the Fab Four had chosen. When I began my LP collection a couple of years later, I started it with Revolver, but being a major fan of the quartet, I did eventually add the Lonely Hearts Club disk to the pile, and having it in hand, it would get plenty of spins on the turntable. This particular opus had gotten a lot of attention during the release era, in part due to the debate over whether or not the psychedelic inspiration behind the lyrics might lead a portion of the band's followers to engage in destructive pleasure with drugs. The letters of the title gave a clue as to the type of ingestion that had triggered the images John outlines with his words, but as a listener, I never cared how a songwriter came up with the lines I liked. Interestingly enough, recent research indicates that psychedelics may actually provide relief for some who struggle with certain mental disorders, and if that’s the kind of medication that makes them feel better, then I see no adverse consequences for legalization of the pills. Personally, I could picture myself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, and if a girl with kaleidoscope eyes happened to call me, I also might answer quite slowly, but afterwards, I would definitely feel like finding a musical way to share the experience.

Noteworthy Equine Character

 Song 563: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's captivating mover Crazy Horse comes from one of my Fast Folk colleagues, Josh Joffen, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When I moved from CA to Brooklyn at the end of the summer in 1988, I soon got to know him, and since we lived fairly close to each other, I think we made a few gig trips side by side in my van. I still recall one particular excursion we did during the warmer months of 1989 when we headed for a club in New England, and we got slowed down a bit by the jams on Bushwick Ave. While I did get to hear and savor a few of Josh's jewels, I had never heard this shining gem until today, but it quickly got my attention the first time around. Not only do I relish and admire the subject of its lines, which show appreciation for a striking indigenous warrior, but the lyrical and musical styles employed to express those deep thoughts remind me of the way I often put my pieces together. Though I had not previously considered it in this manner, I can now clearly see how a man carves a man out of a mountain and a mountain draws a mountain from the man. In addition, If our time should come to pass that our kind is gone at last, I can picture how Crazy Horse (or actually a carved-out statue of him) will stand as a reminder to the spirit of a man.

Limited Desires

 Song 562: This week the playlist applauds All I Want by Toad the Wet Sprocket, written by Todd Nichols, Glen Phillips, Dean Dinning and Randy Guss, and you can find an entertaining YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I don't recall exactly when the Toad crew first crossed my radar, but as the 1990s unfolded, soon enough, so did my interest in this bunch, although I will readily admit that I did not know until earlier today how the group evidently got its name from a Monty Python bit - I learned that entertaining twist thanks to a Facebook post featuring the Monty Python folks. This marks the third Toad appearance on this list, following Something's Always Wrong at #102 and I Will Not Take These Things For Granted at #118. The latter of those two enlivened the Toad CD Fear which also included tonight's track. As someone who has focused on sound for much of life, I can confirm that nothing's so loud as hearing when we lie and I can verify the fact that the truth is not kind. However, I additionally understand that nothing's so cold as closing the heart when all we need is to free the soul. While a lot of question marks still hang in the air regarding the current pandemic, whatever happens will be, and though the air speaks of all we'll never be, hopefully it won't trouble me.

Revolving Circle

Song 561: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Spinning Wheel by Blood Sweat and Tears, written by David Clayton-Thomas, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Following last week's bit featuring Even Dozen Jug Band luminary Maria Muldaur, this week's track comes from a group that included fellow Jug Band mate Steve Katz. I didn't necessarily enjoy the various RnR genres that emerged in the closing years of the 1960s, including the jazz-rock style that B, S & T embodied, but this 45 got my hoops turning quite rapidly when it lit up the airwaves around the time I graduated HS, in June of 1969. Less than 2 years later, during the winter of 1971, as a sophomore at Northwestern U., I got a ticket to watch the band perform live at the college auditorium, and I definitely relished hearing the horns that night. Having grown up in an area that prizes carousels, and that still champions them, I understood at a young age that what goes up must come down and a spinning wheel has got to go round, so it always felt good to ride a painted pony and let the spinning wheel spin. Regarding the bad times currently percolating, I think it makes sense to drop all your troubles by the riverside, ride a painted pony and let the spinning wheel fly, if and when the chance comes along.

The Time at the Special Place

 Song 560: This week the playlist comes around to Midnight at the Oasis by Maria Muldaur, written by David Nichtern, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Around the time my companion and I fled the fierce Chicago winter, moving to Atlanta, GA, in February of 1974, this single got a lot of attention as it climbed the charts, and for good reason. Back then I knew a bit about the history of the Even Dozen Jug Band, but I only learned of Maria's membership in that group a few years ago, mainly thanks to Wikipedia, so at the point when this hit stirred the airwaves, I did not have a clue about the dues MM had paid to set the stage for her stardom. Regardless of how she arrived, though, this jangle quickly got a bunch of us singing along, and according to what she hears from fans at her concerts in recent years, during its chart excursion, the piece inspired plenty of sexual encounters, loss of virginity, and pregnancy. Understandably, when we see heaven's holding a half-moon shining just for us, we might want to slip off to a sand dune real soon and kick up a little dust. Despite the current pandemic situation, at least some of us can still get to the place where we've got shadows painting our faces and traces of romance in our heads.

Monetary Influence on Duration

 Song 559: This week on the playlist you can hear If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time by Lefty Frizzell, written by Lefty Frizzell and Jim Beck, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. During my single-digit years in the 1950s, my family would go see the Ohio relatives every summer, and on those trips I got to hear a bunch of major country hits, thanks to my aunt and uncle having a truly impressive LP collection of classic C&W spinners. This cut rode the airwaves a year before I was born, so on those recurring visits, I quickly learned the gem, to the point where I could soon sing along, and I relished the chance to do so. Of course, growing up in a fundamentalist household, I'd never admit any intentions to dance, drink beer and wine, but as long as I didn't put a magnifying glass on those lines, they got no particular scorn. Also, living in a lightly-patriarchal circle, it did sound a bit strange to have the male expect the female to provide the monetary flow, but I could very well understand the compelling reason to start out tonight and to spread joy, since if you spread it right you have more fun, baby, all the way down the line.