Shared Intentional Conduct

 Song 556: Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's entertaining dive The Phenomenology Sing-Along comes from another of my Fast Folk colleagues, Hugh Blumenfeld, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. He performed this chuckler during my era with the group, and I definitely would have found it quite amusing at the time, but I actually only came across it recently. That said, it quickly made me smile, as it obviously did for most, if not all, of the audience who got to participate in the live recording, which now commemorates a comical moment at the Postcrypt Coffeehouse in Colombia University on an evening in the early 1990s. I will confess that if Jean Paul Sartre did describe phenomenology and existentialism as nearly-parasitic ideologies of Marxism in his critique of dialectical reason, I don't know if he was serious or just teasing, but I can certainly agree with Hugh that it sounds like right on phenomenology.

Accompanying the Villain

 Song 555: This week the playlist features Runnin' With the Devil by Van Halen, written by Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When this rumbler came along in the late spring of 1978, I was getting ready to make a major move from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area, and so, when I jumped out on that road that summer, standing next to the pavement with my thumb pointed westward, I could have felt like I was Runnin' With the Devil, especially since, as an adult, I had embraced the devil's music that my parents and grandparents disparaged and condemned. I would at times parody their POV that evil Commies/Russians crafted the rock backbeat as a way to control the minds of America's youth, and supposedly got musicians from the lower levels of our society (a sly reference to those dark-skinned soul performers) to act as useful idiot puppets. I might sometimes playfully pretend to go evil in the name of RnR, but in reality, early on, I had concluded that the basic rock values of peace and love that enliven the form align more closely to that Jesus fellow than to the Lucifer guy. These days, we all know that the simple life ain't so simple, but we also don't hear much about folks living at a pace that kills.

An Amorous Halt

 Song 554: This week the playlist applauds Stop! In The Name Of Love by The Supremes, written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Mary Wilson, who performed as a member of this trio back when they released this hit in the winter of 1965, would have celebrated her 75th birthday yesterday if she hadn't left the land of the living back in February, so it seemed like an appropriate moment to add this chart topper to the list. I don't remember exactly when this cut first got my attention, but it definitely enlivened my HS days, and I quickly learned the lines well enough to sing along whenever it came to my ears. Now, in the era of social distancing, we find ourselves having to Stop! In The Name Of Love rather than visit those we care about to share our love and affection, leading to many more secluded nights for lots of folks. Even big city dwellers see a lot less people walk down the street these days. How will this end? I won't claim to have an answer - my advice is just to think it over. Think it over!

Observe Yours Truly

 Song 553: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Watch Me by Lorrie Morgan, written by Tom Shapiro and Gary Burr, and you can find a really entertaining YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the early 1990s, the NYC country music radio station introduced me to Ms. Morgan's rambles, and I soon added to my collection the LP that glowed with this hit as its title track. That vinyl disc became a regular spinner on my turntable, and this marks her second appearance on this list, with her follow-up single What Part of No (which also shows up on that 33) shining as Song 499 - you can find the blog about that cut here. Both of these jaunts express an assertive POV that Lorrie conveys in a strongly convincing and amusing way - need I say more? Unfortunately, in the current pandemic situation, there are probably a lot of people who might want to say, The more I needed, the less you gave, I guess you thought that it worked that way. Hopefully we'll reach a point in the near future where the major issues get resolved in a positive way - please don't tell me that it can't be done.

Forgo Vicious Behavior

 Song 552: This week the playlist comes around to Don't Be Cruel by Elvis Presley, written by Otis Blackwell, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Last week I again shared the story about how The Beatles rocked my world in February of 1964, as they did for so many other folks, although in my case it occurred a week later than it did for most fans. The Fab Four stayed at the top of my rocker list through my junior high and high school stretch, and in my senior year a biography of the group came along which I relished, but which also had some surprising revelations for me. It astonished me to read how all four initially got their rock inspiration from Mr. Presley. At the time, the only spinner of his that I knew was Hound Dog (Song 433), which happened to be the A side of the single that had this gem on its B side. I knew nothing about EP's contributions to the RnR scene until the early 1970s, when a 1950s revival came across the rocking radio air waves and my Rolling Stone subscription filled in the blanks. In response, I soon acquired a Presley greatest hits LP, and I treasured that 33. It got plenty of spins on my turntable, and I clearly understood by the time of his 1977 demise what the music world lost at that sad moment. These days, as the pandemic question marks continue to hang in the air, some of us might feel like asking why should we be apart? We still don't have the answer, but perhaps at some point not too far down the road, we'll see that the future looks bright ahead.

A Remarkable Appearance

 Song 551: This week the playlist recognizes I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. A lot of people saw something amazing on The Ed Sullivan Show on the second Sunday night of February, 1964, but that evening (2/9), my family and I knew nothing about it. Over the next few days, at the junior high, I heard a bunch of fellow students speaking about Beatles, and I wondered whether a new insect infestation was predicted, or if a popular new VW model had just hit the road. When I finally asked a friend what everyone was referring to, he laughed at how the neighborhood wise guy could be so clueless about the current cultural moment. He did tell me the story, though, and then my whole family gathered by the TV on the next Sunday night to find out what we had missed. My younger brother and I felt we had never seen anything as captivating as the Fab Four, but only a couple minutes into the appearance, my older brother said, “This is just junk. Let's turn this off!” The parents and grandparents agreed with him, but younger brother and I insisted on seeing the complete segment, and we got the other five to comply with our wishes. The performance included this tune, which I truly relished, and in the following weeks, now that JPG&R had rocked my world, for fun, my good friend Brian Johnson and I crafted a parody of the lyrics: Well, she was just 48 and a bit overweight and the way she looked was way beyond repair. I'd rather dance with a stumbler when I saw her lurking there. This being 2/14, it seemed like an appropriate time to add a love song by the quartet that created the finest collection of RnR love songs ever, and who have not yet been outdone, over 5 decades after they disbanded. Happy V Day! You know what I mean.

Sharp Betrayal

 Song 550: This week on the playlist you can hear Back Stabbers by The O'Jays, written by Leon Huff, Gene McFadden and John Whitehead, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This sparkler quickly lit up the airwaves when it arrived in the dog days of the summer of 1972, during an era when my female companion and I resided in an apartment in Music City, USA (AKA Nashville, TN) which we shared with my childhood best friend, who found that place while serving in the U.S. military nearby. At that point, just as I neared my 21st birthday, I already had seen plenty of guys who smile in your face all the time they want to take your place. I understood the personal romantic angle, and the appeal of that perspective, but though I might have met a couple of those Back Stabbers, the phrase always resonated more for me as a description of the grifter jerks who want to get their hands on your wallet, not your lover's waistline. As I put it in my anthem Same Old Change, which appears on my recent CD release Elder Statesman, They say they respect the working man as they stab him in the back. Clicking on the track title will take you to the Amazon page where you can get the MP3 of it, clicking on the CD title will take you to the Amazon page where you can get a copy of that, and clicking on Same Old Change here will take you to the lyric page on my website where you can read the words of that ramble.