Posterior Approach Fellow

 Song 656: This week the playlist recognizes Back Door Man by Howlin' Wolf, written by Wiilie Dixon, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When the Beatles rocked my world in February of 1964, I quickly became a fan of the British Invasion, but living in a fundamentalist home, I had no idea about the origin of the devil's music. I listened to Top 40 radio whenever I could, and I liked all the punchy sounds I heard, as well as the melodic and harmonic ones, but I didn't have a clue about where the heavier beats had arisen. I wrongly believed the Fab Four and their so-called imitators had created RnR, and I didn't know the real story until I hit the age of 18 as a college freshman. Then, residing in a university dormitory, I soon learned about where the rhythm really came from. As the 1970s unfolded and I got to hear a lot more earlier rockers, I found out about the guy who had done the first presentation of a song I strongly relished. The Doors' debut album became probably my favorite 33 during my HS stage, and I added their version of Back Door Man to this collection as Song 608. When I finally got to hear the original rendition of the rumbler, I immediately appreciated its heavy soundprint and the groundwork that it had created. I felt that even when everybody's tryin' to sleep, I might want to go somewhere making my midnight creep just to hear a beat like this that I enjoy.

West Coast Aspiration

 Song 655: This week on the playlist you can hear California Dreamin' by The Mamas and The Papas, written by John and Michelle Phillips, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Growing up in a fundamentalist home, I soon found out, when the family saw the Fab Four arrive in February of 1964, that the parents, grandparents, and my older brother perceived the rocking sounds as being the devil's music, and only my younger brother and I liked what we heard. I tried to be a good boy as much as I could, but it felt difficult to curb my attraction to RnR, and in the spring of 1966, when Monday, Monday (Song 302) hit the charts, I could no longer resist that captivation. A few months later, on a visit to our Ohio relatives, I got to hear my cousin play the entire If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears disc, and I really enjoyed every song I heard, including this sparkler that opened side 2. When, a few years later, I moved to the Chicago area to become a college student, I had much greater freedom to dive into the music I relished, and I soon acquired the M&P debut album. Experiencing the frigid winter weather of that region got me to appreciate this piece's message even more, and when I found out about the moderate West Coast temperatures, I began my own California Dreamin', which I finally had come true in the summer of 1978. In the neighborhood where I reside now - the same one I grew up in - currently All the leaves are brown and the sky is often grey this time of year, although not always, and considering how chilly it can possibly get, I can't complain about any winter's day in the last month when I had to go for a walk.

Frosty Descension

Song 654: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's cool dive Snow is My Downfall comes from a fine melodic crony Patti Rothberg, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I got to meet her a year after she put out this single, and while I had not known about her music previously, I soon got very impressed with the sounds and words riding my ears that came from her. Not long after my recording partner David Seitz introduced us to each other in a studio, I got involved in a project that included a bunch of videos of Patti performing her songs, and I quickly noticed that I liked them ALL. She has a much stronger sense of melody than far too many of our songwriter colleagues, whether personal or not. In addition, she enjoys playing the kind of word games in her lyrics that I relish cooking up, with this tune's moniker being a prime example, as well as the title track of her second album CD Candelabra Cadabra. Patti actually sent me a copy of this CD single a few years ago, and I genuinely appreciated that gift. I had decided to feature this gem on the personal friend week in the middle of winter, assuming that it would illustrate my area's outdoor precipitation, but, ironically, in my neighborhood we currently have no white coating outside, so Snow has not been Downfalling here lately, and I hope that seven weeks from now, on 4/2, the white stuff doesn't have any Downfall in that period either. 

Her Romantic Attraction

 Song 653: This week on the playlist you’ll find She Loves You by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When I began hearing my fellow junior high schoolmates use a certain insect term on Monday, February 10, 1964, it sounded strange to keep encountering that word on a cold mid-winter day. I seemed to have missed a consequential story and I didn't want to admit my lack of touch, but as the phenomenon continued, at some point that week I had to ask a buddy what was going on. He chuckled when he heard his supposedly smart friend pose such a question. Similar to around a third of the U.S. population, he had seen the Fab Four on Sunday night's Ed Sullivan Show and he told me a bit about those Beatles that everyone had been mentioning. When the next Sunday night arrived, my family gathered in the living room to watch Ed Sullivan instead of going to church. The mop top quartet soon hit the stage, and though I thought they looked a bit weird, they rocked my world as they performed this remarkable mover. Unlike my older brother, my parents and my grandparents, my younger brother and I quickly felt that seeing and hearing these Beatles can't be bad, and any time you had that privilege, you should be glad.