Someone You Might Not Have Noticed

Song 416: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week the playlist features Laundromat Girl by my good friend and former Berkeley housemate Carol Denney, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I had heard her do this cut live at least once, and I didn't really get it the first time around. When I got to hear it as the opening track of The Rich Will Never Be Poor, though, I did get it right away, and I liked it a lot more than I would have expected, given my initial reaction to it. Soon enough, I had The Rich Will Never Be Poor loaded onto my iPod, and over the last decade I have listened to the record a lot, with this opening tune setting the mood for the listening experience. Having lived in the Bay Area for about a decade, it's possible that I might have met the Laundromat Girl sketched here, but since I cannot claim her interest, it may not matter. Similarly, I would not know how to tell if something's wrong with that girl, but whether there is or not, Carol sure makes her sound intriguing. When I got the CD back in 2010, I still lived in Highland Park, NJ, and when I would head over to do laundry, I would hear this chorus in my head while looking at the woman behind the counter, because, even though I knew she was not the original subject of the piece, at that moment, she was the Laundromat Girl in my life.

Get Wise to the Divisive Hustle

Song 415: This week the playlist honors Us And Them by Pink Floyd, written by Roger Waters and Richard Wright, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Warren James, as my first dorm roommate at NU, introduced me to the music of Pink Floyd because he really liked them, but what I heard didn't interest me at the time. When Dark Side of the Moon came along a few years later, though, it did grab me, and I felt it deserved all of the attention it got. This particular epoch paints a very clear picture of the simplistic, fearful authoritarian mindset that fuels all large-scale violent conflicts, up to and including major wars. The lyrics also make the point that theft underpins the us vs. them mentality. While this kind of hostile rhetoric never disappeared, lately it has gotten a lot louder, which makes this cut all the more meaningful for the present moment. Us? We're always the good ones, even if we start wars for oil. Them? They're always the bad ones, even when they feed the hungry. Listen, son, said the man with the gun, there's room for you inside. Well, If I Was You, I wouldn't go inside the war machine - better to recognize that at the core of the divisive Us And Them phrase lies a strategy as old as the Roman Empire: Divide and Conquer. If you don't want to be conquered, tune out the authoritarians sowing the division. On a side note, you can now find the If I Was You song video pinned to the top of my FB musician page if you just click on the title.

A Dying Man’s Instructions

Song 414: This week the playlist comes around to Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport by Rolf Harris, who also wrote the song. You can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. During the summer of 1963, I heard this novelty tune coming out of transistor radios at least a few times while hanging out at the nearby park down the road where kids gathered to play games like chess and checkers and to do simple, fun, crafty stuff. I really liked the catchy chorus, although at the age of 11 I didn't have any clue as to the nature of the story, other than that it obviously referred to the kangaroo country Australia. When, as a young adult a decade later, I added this hit to my record collection, I learned the lyrics and understood the basic context of the extended joke. Even then, though, I did not know what the Abos were - I pictured some sort of horse/donkey type of animal, but only recently did I learn that Abos referred to Aborigines, meaning that the singer had enslaved a group of Australian indigenous people. If I had known that, even as an 11-year-old, it might have clouded my pleasure in the cut, but this one isn't meant to be taken seriously anyway, so maybe they tanned his hide when he died, Clyde, and that's it a-hangin' on the shed, but I can still smile about it.

A Melodic Communicator

Song 413: This week on the playlist you can hear Songbird by Fleetwood Mac, written by Christine McVie, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When the duo of Buckingham and Nicks replaced Bob Welch as the front performers for Fleetwood Mac, they helped to take the band to a new level, both artistically and in terms of commercial success, in the summer of 1975. A little over a year-and-a-half later, Rumours came along, and I heartily agreed with the critics who asserted that it sounded even better than its predecessor. I always believed that the title slyly referenced the whispers of romantic dalliances between band members. The McVies had divorced, while the Buckingham and Nicks romance flickered on and off, and at the time I suspected both Buckingham and Nicks of a McVie hookup, though I don't now recall what fueled that speculation. I pictured the stirring ballad that concludes the LP's side one as a statement of renewed dedication, though in real life, maybe it didn't work out that way. About a year-and-a-half after the release of Rumours, I relished my first visit to the city where FM had recorded the album, and having just moved to the Bay Area, Sausalito seemed like a truly inspiring place. During the 7 years I lived in Berkeley, though, I don't think I ever realized that Songbird had been recorded at U.C. Berkeley's Zellerbach Auditorium, though I always appreciated the cut's concert hall ambience. To this day, I savor hearing a certain Songbird singing about how she loves her lover Like never before.

Covering a Lot of Ground Very Quickly

Song 412: This week's playlist pick is 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds by Jefferson Airplane, written by Marty Balin, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This post arrives a day late due to a local internet outage. Surrealistic Pillow very quickly made my personal top 10 of favorite LPs, and this 216 mph mover would be the 3rd SP cut to appear on the playlist (She Has Funny Cars is Song 154 and Somebody to Love is Song 267). Back in the days of 2-sided records, very often the first and last tracks on a side were the best, and this rocker opens side 2 with a bang. I always picked up a satirical edge to the lyrics, and found it amusing, although, in the current political atmosphere, it wouldn’t surprise me to hear a more serious right-wing version of these words, with various demonizations filling in the blanks after the phrase Do away with people . . .  I truly relished the second verse’s suggestion about living in a circus tent where all the other freaks can share my cares. The term hippie freak was originally meant as a smear, but counter-culture types adopted it as a communal descriptive for members of the club, and when I grew my hair long enough to earn the title in 1971, I proudly wore that label and shared it with my fellow freaks. I did not share the interest many of them had, though, for a smoke that could cost 65 dollars, but I also did not judge them harshly for that interest, especially since it seemed to have the effect of moving someone from a Do away with people frame of mind to one of Know I love you baby.

A Unit That Still Works Well

Song 411: This week on the playlist you can hear There Ain't Nothin' Wrong with the Radio by Aaron Tippin, written by Aaron Tippin and Buddy Brock, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This entertaining novelty single came along in the early 1990s as part of the New Country scene happening then, according to the branding of the NYC country station I listened to, and the hit introduced me to the voice of Mr. Tippin, who I hadn't heard before. It didn't take long to warm up to this one, as anyone who has driven an old clunker for a while can relate to the lines about bald tires, as well as needing a carburetor and a set of plug wires. Of course, the ride completely crosses the border into fantasyland when, after a cop stops the singer for Out-of-date tags and no tail lights, the officer lets him go because of his marvelous radio, but you might very well have guessed from the opening narration that the drive was headed in that direction. On a side note, this track is the second sly reference to the third (and final) verse of my own song As Long as Merle is Still Haggard, which begins with the line I think Aaron’s been Tippin a few. You can find the Merle video by clicking on the title.

The Part That’s Hard to Pin Down

Song 410: This week on the playlist you’ll find Spirit Slips Away by Thin Lizzy, written by Phil Lynott, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I first heard about Thin Lizzy when Wild One (Song 296) showed up on the radio near the end of summer in 1975, and I liked that cut enough to take a chance on the Fighting LP, which soon proved to be a worthy investment, with this track being one of its highlights. As much as I enjoyed the album, it didn't garner much attention for the band, unlike their followup record Jailbreak which brought them their biggest hit (The Boys Are Back in Town) and a lot more popularity. I felt the earlier 33 deserved more attention than the latter, but evidently the RnR audience as a whole disagreed with my POV. To this day, I would much rather hear the Fighting gems than the Jailbreak highlights, but I also don't begrudge the quartet their commercial success, And when the music that makes you blue Unfolds its secrets, the mysteries are told to you, no matter which album the music comes from, so When the darkness starts to fall May the angels bring their flame to you, to me, and to us all.