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.
No comments:
Post a Comment