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.
These posts relate to the songs that I add to my YouTube favorite songs playlist, which I started as a daily thing in June of 2013 but which I had to change to a weekly thing 6 months later due to the time involved. I started posting here with song 184, but you can find the older posts on my website if you're interested, plus links to YT videos of the songs.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Sunday, May 5, 2024
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.