Farewell to Amber Pavement

 Song 695: This week the playlist recognizes Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. During my younger years in the 1950s and 1960s, my family and I every year got to see the famous film The Wizard of Oz on TV, I think around this time in the autumn. As soon as we learned the date that it would appear, we all made plans to watch it. When Elton started catching people's ears with this engaging saunter back in the spring of 1973, those of us who had regularly seen Judy Garland strolling along with a scarecrow, a tin man and a cowardly lion as they tried to get to the Emerald City understood the suggestive sarcastic message conveyed by the hit's lyrics. Throughout that year, I lived with my wife in an apartment in southern Evanston, so no one could plant me in a penthouse at the time, and I had already decided that my future also had to lie beyond the yellow brick road.

Tasty Romance

Song 694: This week on the playlist you can hear Yummy Yummy Yummy by Ohio Express, written by Arthur Resnick and Joey Levine, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Since a holiday arrives this week that people in the U.S. commonly honor with a shared family banquet, it makes sense to have a spicy anthem that celebrates savory nutrition become the song of the week. This appetizing treat came along in the early spring of my junior HS year, and it didn't take long to learn the chorus lines. I hadn't known what to make of it when, the year before, the Fab Four and other British invaders started heading in the psychedelic direction, and so at that time, I appreciated even more the hits of the era that followed the previous styles, including this delicious feast. As silly as it may seem, love can actually taste sweeter than sugar, and thereby, love can satisfy.

Lively Transportation

 Song 693: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Rocket by The Smashing Pumpkins, written by Billy Corgan, and you can find a cool YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Given how a certain holiday arrived and ended a couple of weeks ago, this seems like an appropriate moment to share a creative ramble by Smashing Pumpkins, in light of how much people in various parts of the U.S. have lately spent some time pulverizing large decorated round orange squashes. When this fiery carrier took off in the summer of 1993, I had lived in Brooklyn for a few years, and while I don't recall seeing the entertaining video that came along with it, I did get picked up by the moving sounds that it rolls and rocks around. In the evening, when the moon is out and the stars invite, I think I'll see if something takes off tonight. Whatever happens, though, I doubt I shall ever be free of those voices inside me.

Switchboard Manager

 Song 692: This week the playlist applauds Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels) by Jim Croce, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. As the warmer months of 1972 unfolded, my romantic partner and I spent a lot of time traveling, hitching a few times and also driving her parent's car on at least one major excursion. During those journeys, we got to hear a bunch of radio hits, and although the majority of chart toppers in that era didn't move me, a few of them did get me going along with their rambles, including a handful by a new guy with the initials JC, and this marks his first appearance in this collection. When he needed some assistance from a switchboard technician, it sounded pretty convincing that he had overcome the blow and had learned to take it well, so the telephone assistant probably did give him the number when she/he could find it. Sadly, just before the summer of the following year came to an end, as my wife and I lived in an apartment on the south part of Evanston, Jim's life came to an end via a plane crash, so whether or not he got the number, the company obviously did keep the dime.