Historic Conflict Ends

 Song 721: This week the playlist comes around to The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by Joan Baez, written by Robbie Robertson, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Tonight I highlight a ballad about an event that occurred 159 years ago on this evening. I think I first became aware of Joan Baez during my junior HS year when I heard a warning given to my religious group about a bunch of commies and Soviet puppets who had infiltrated our Top 40 airwaves, with Pete Seeger and Ms. Joan ranking as major adversarial agents. A couple of years later, as I increased my personal knowledge and collection of modern music, I soon learned a lot more about a certain Bob guy and how JB played a big role in expanding his audience. As I got to appreciate him more and more, I also added her 33s to my stack, including the one that featured this melodic tale soon after it came along in the summer of 1971, and it got plenty of spins on the turntable in that era. I had spent that summer in Atlanta, GA, which was the first time I lived in a southern state. Previously, during my years growing up in upstate NY, I actually had an interest in the history of the U.S. Civil War, so I could certainly have imagined when the bells were ringing on a particular night and all the people were singing.

Mobile Flyer

 Song 720: This week the playlist recognizes Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day, written by Leon René, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Before the Beatles rocked my world in early 1964, I paid little attention to most of the music on the radio, with a couple of exceptions, so I probably knew nothing about this tune when it arrived in 1958. I may very well have heard it after I started listening to RnR, but I also would not have known about it being a Golden Oldie unless it got that label when it got played. In the early 1970s, when, as a young adult, I expanded my knowledge of, and collections of, the music I liked to listen to, I also learned a lot about the earlier phase of the rockers, mainly from my Rolling Stone subscription. However, at least one Chicago-area radio station at the time did a revival of rock's founders, and so I got to enjoy hearing about how a certain flying character rocks in the tree-top all the day long, particularly around the time Michael Jackson got his version riding the airwaves. In doing so, I felt especially impressed by a winger who out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole.

Dark Moisture

 Song 719: This week the playlist features Black Water by The Doobie Brothers, written by Patrick Simmons, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. As the early spring of 1975 started to unfold, this aquatic anthem hit the top of the charts. I had found an affordable place to live in south Evanston, only a few blocks from the Lake Michigan beach, and sometimes when driving in my neighborhood, i got to hear the song on the radio while also seeing a part of the lake nearby, although the waves from that body of water had a turquoise tone, not an inky one. I enjoyed the tune's lyric flow, and I had a vague thought about someday crafting a similar message about a dark tide. What I ended up doing, three decades later, was writing a ballad about the Blackwater Boys and you can see a lyric video of that song about the 2005 New Orleans situation by clicking on the title. Back during the era when I went rollin' along with this ride's waves, I did not like the Windy City's snowy season, but during the warmer months, I felt that if it rains, I don't care - that would make no difference to me.

Constructive Support from a Blossom

 Song 718: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations, written by Mike d'Abo and Tony Macaulay, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Now that the April showers have brought us May flowers, we can celebrate a blooming melody that actually started growing on the charts during the winter of my HS senior year in early 1969. Along those colder stretches, I couldn't listen to the local top-40 station inside my parents' home because they didn't approve of the devil's music, but I could get to hear some moving hits when hanging out with friends, which I frequently did in that era. One friend that I often visited back then had an attractive sister who I also hung out with, and as the scenes unfolded, eventually I could have pointed a finger at her and vocalized this piece's lyrics. Initially I didn't feel that way, although, from the start, I did sense that she wanted to rope me in. After I came around to having a date with her, I felt attracted to her all the more, and at that point, she seemed to want to build me up, not to have a genuine romantic exchange, but simply just to let me down and mess me around.