Rear Entrance Guy

 Song 608: This week the playlist recognizes Back Door Man by The Doors, written by Wiilie Dixon, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. 3 years after the Beatles rocked my world, when the summer of 1967 rolled around, I didn't know what to make of their new psychedelic direction when a certain Lonely Hearts Club Band appeared. However, soon after, a captivating hit by an L.A. quartet topped the charts and the air waves, essentially dousing the question. While living in a home where the adults did not approve of the devil's music I could not have acquired a copy of The Doors (and I probably couldn't have afforded it anyway at the time), I had close friends who did have the LP, so I quickly got to know the entire 33 quite well. When I began my junior year that fall, I again participated in the monthly school newspaper production sessions, which went on a few hours after classes ended, and The Doors became a regular feature of those work meetings. Of course, as a fundamentalist teenager, I felt some guilt over the sexual implications of a bunch of the disc's tracks, including this rumbler, and I tried to avoid focusing on that aspect of their lyrics. A few years later, as a young adult listening to the music I treasured and not feeling any religious guilt, I got a chuckle when I recognized a second sexual overtone in the words. I had always pictured a male cheater knocking on a woman's home back door to have a secret affair with her, but I hadn't previously thought about the rear entrance of a female body. Hey, all you people that are tryin' to sleep, you can get your rest, but in the dark, am I out to make it with my midnight dream? Yeah, I am! 

Side note: this marks the fifth cut from The Doors to appear on this gathering: Soul Kitchen is Song 56, The Crystal Ship is Song 323, Twentieth Century Fox is Song 432, and Light My Fire is Song 490.

Repeated Arrival

 Song 607: This week the playlist applauds Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton, written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Ms. Dolly first showed up on my radar in 1973 as I started to become a Maria Muldaur follower. Maria's debut LP highlighted the Parton saga My Tennessee Mountain Home (Song 310) which I truly relished, and once I began paying attention, I saw and heard more and more from DP. A few years later, in October of 1977, as I prepared to face my final winter in the frigid Chicago area, this sparkler appeared as the opener, title track and top hit for her 19th solo studio album. In recent years, she has had her name (and her image) on a number of books, including one that I saw featured on a visit to Barnes & Noble a couple of days ago. As I mention in verse 2 of my song As Long as Merle is Still Haggard, Dolly, beg your Parton, puts up a good front (and you can find the Merle video on YouTube by clicking on the title). Similar to what happened the last time around, now, just when we'd begun to get ourselves together, here they come again to lie those pretty lies, just for messin' up our minds and fillin' up our senses.

Completely Favorable Feeling

 Song 606: This week on the playlist you can hear Glad All Over by Dave Clark Five, written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Shortly after the Fab Four rocked my world in February of 1964, other members of the British Invasion got my attention, including this particular quintet, and tonight marks their first appearance in this gathering. I quickly became a fan of the 5 as well as the 4, and I have a vague memory of a warm afternoon, before summer vacation arrived, when a school group that included me got to attend a free short set by the DC5 in the town across the river. I had heard this hit enough to truly relish it, and I recall it enlivening the sound waves that we the audience on that warm afternoon got to savor. Despite the troubling aura of things taking shape on the horizon lately, I want to send out an optimistic vibe, hoping that most of us will have no sorrow, that we'll never be blue, and that we can look forward to feelin' Glad All Over. That's how I felt when I first heard this tune, and that's how it makes me feel hearing it now.

Unidentified Location

 Song 605: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's intriguing jaunt Whereabouts Unknown comes from my East Bay partner Jeff Larson, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. It seemed like an appropriate moment to feature him since he observed his birthday yesterday. We hooked up soon after watching each other perform at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco one night in 1979. I liked what I heard coming from him, and he had a similar regard for my set. We quickly developed a close friendship, exchanging our fresh melodic inspirations and even performing as a duo for a certain stretch. He released his CD Left of a Dream in 2009, and he soon sent me a copy. I got my iPod around that same time, and LoaD became one of the first discs to enhance that music player. Over the years, I have listened to the album a lot, and I made its opening cut The Ghosts of San Miguel my first personal friend song on this list at #3. Prior to tonight, I added 2 other tracks from the CD to this list - Child's Play became Song 409 and Leaving California became Song 493. Even though the timing is now, spring should arrive in a couple of weeks, and when it does, hopefully we can see the flowers from home, plus the sticks and the stones.