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.