Interior Contents

 Song 612: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's enchanting dive Inside comes from a fellow singer/songwriter Patti Rothberg, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. She has definitely lit up my past 2 decades. Appropriately enough, we met each other in a studio one evening in the fall of 2003, and the more I got to hear her music after that, the bigger fan I became. This gem, which enlivens her first album Between the 1 and the 9 and rolled out as her first single, rose to #25 on the Billboard magazine Alternative chart, though I hadn’t heard it until I met her. It also spiced a 1998 movie The Misadventures of Margaret that appeared in France and the U.K. She gave me copies of her CDs, which got plenty of spins on the player, and when I got my first iPod in 2008, I soon added her albums to it, so this tune and all her other ones have often brightened my scenery ever since. As the weird pandemic scenario unfolded and the world turned strange over the last 2 years, a lot of folks haven't done a thing on many days but just sitting around, wasting time away, and even if they wanted to, all too often, they couldn’t go outside, because there was nothing they’d be allowed to do. Hopefully we have gotten beyond the oddball situation and we won’t have to go down into a big black hole.

Later on the Third Day

 Song 611: This week on the playlist you’ll find Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon) by The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This marks the first appearance of TMB on this list, despite my intention to add them much sooner. If I knew anything at all about the group during my HS phase when this ramble arrived, I think I would remember it, particularly in light of my own long history with violins and orchestras in that period. Along that stretch, my interest in RnR seemed to conflict with my classical experiences. When, as a young independent adult a few years later, I had more freedom to explore the sounds I liked as I crafted my own personal singer/songwriter style, I found this crew and their Days of Future Passed album a captivating ride, and it, along with other influencers like King Crimson, helped me to add a classical element to my own tunes. In the summer of 1972, my female companion and I spent about a month residing in a Nashville apartment with my close childhood buddy who got a place in that area because of serving in the military. Though he may have had a few other LPs, nothing else in the place interested my partner or myself, so we listened to DoFP at least a few times every day, and I will forever associate the 33 with my month in Music City. Interestingly enough, in doing this blog, I learned that my older brother, who sadly died 11 years ago, had been a big fan of The Moody Blues, often singing along with them as he played their records on his machine. When the third day of the week arrives, if you're looking at yourself with reflections of your mind, it's just the kind of day to leave yourself behind, but gently swaying through the fairyland of love with the right sweetheart, maybe you'll see the beauty of Tuesday afternoon. On a side note, during my late teen years I thought of 2 WRONG band names, and I've yet to find a use for them, but this may be the appropriate moment to mention them - The Bloody Muse and The Dreadful Grape.

Passionate Illness Gloom

 Song 610: This week the playlist comes around to Lovesick Blues by Hank Williams, written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. It initially amazed me when I realized that I had passed #300 on this number set before including Mr. Williams in the group. I made Honky Tonkin'  Song 301 in May of 2016, and since then, I've added 6 of his other movers, commemorating how he had gotten my attention and admiration very early on. During my single-digit years in the 1950s, my family visited the Ohio relatives every summer, and residing with my aunt and uncle, I got to listen to their amazing country music LP collection. Doing so, I soon got to know, and relish, this classic shiner. Hank had originally performed the piece in his opening appearance on the Louisiana Hayride radio show in 1948, and the favorable response motivated him to record his own version and then reease it in eary 1949. The 45 soon topped the charts, becoming his biggest hit, and understandably so. While HW had died well before I got to hear and know his music, I savored his compelling legacy during most of my first 2 decades, also at some point riding along a biographical film about him that raised my respect even more. Personally, if I'm in love with a beautiful gal and that's what's the matter with me, that seems like such a beautiful dream I would hate to think it's all over and I'm nobody's sugar daddy now, but if that's the case and I don't know what I'll do, I guess all I could do is sit and sigh.

Your Entire Inhalation

 Song 609: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Every Breath You Take by The Police, written by Sting, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This hit came along shortly before the summer of 1983 arrived, which would actually mark the mid-point of my decade in the East Bay, although of course I couldn’t know that at the time. During that stretch, one of my guitar comrades handed me a golden deal where for a very affordable price I bought his grandmother's 1967 car, which only had around 40,000 miles on it when I got it, so for the next 5 years I had a reliable vehicle. The City of Berkeley has an excellent public transportation system, but having a good car, in addition to making it easier to get to gigs, also made it possible for me to visit inspiring places like Yosemite and other Sierra treasures. Not long after I got the wheels, I did at least 2 or 3 trips where I got to hear this gem sailing the radio waves, and it made the ride feel even smoother. You might already know this, but these days, every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, every smile you fake, every claim you stake, every vow you break, every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay, someone might be watching you, so you should probably watch your step, your smile, etc.