While the Corvus Soars

 Song 801: This week the playlist applauds As the Crow Flies by Jim Allen, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Seven weeks after my previous personal friend song post, this week's uplifting spin comes from another one from my Fast Folk circle. Back in the 1990s, when we gathered weekly and voiced our latest excursions, Jim probably shared this flying ride at some point, though I don't remember specifically when he might have done that. He did add it to a FF LP in 1992, though, so I definitely got to know it by then, and I really liked picturing a winging black bird roaming around the airspace, but I also understood the importance of paying attention while armies line up on the sly as the crow flies.

Expected Saint Arrival

 Song 800: This week the playlist recognizes Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the Supremes, written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and you can find a cool YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. With the noel holiday set to arrive this week, it seems appropriate to now add this revealing travel plan to the playlist. I learned this Saint Nick narrative, and a bunch of other Yuletide rides, during my single-digit years in the 1950s, and the lucid 1963 version of it quickly got my attention. My brothers and I would sometimes sing along with holiday songs we heard on the TV or radio, but our parents basically only approved of the religious anthems. During our younger years, the folks played the reindeer gift delivery game with us a few times, even though our home's fireplace chimney was too small for a person to fit inside of it. However, once my brothers and I had all reached the age where we knew Mr. Claus did not exist, we understood who really decided if we had been bad or good, and if we wanted to build a toyland all around the Christmas tree, we knew we had to watch out and that we could not pout.

Hispanic Parasite

 Song 799: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Spanish Flea by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, written by Julius Wechter, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. In the era after the Beatles rocked my world, I mostly heard about them and their fellow British Invaders, but as my freshman HS year unfolded, the Top 40 excursions got more inclusive, and in the spring of 1966, a rocking instrumental group topped the charts with a wild ride that mainly had trumpets playing the tune's melody. While I generally preferred the vocal stories riding the airwaves, the surprising and unexpected melodic message from the Herb crew roped me in as well. A few years earlier, having no idea about the rocking sounds that would appear, I had decided that the musical instrument I wanted to learn to play was the violin, and I became a fiddler, but then the strong tones I heard coming from the Brass bunch got me wishing I could blow a horn. However, that could not have happened. My working class family had bought me a violin and an acoustic guitar, and the home had an upright piano, but they could not have afforded to also get me a trumpet, so I had to limit my own musical excursions to the possibilities I had already explored, and that actually brought me excellent results!

Donate a Small Amount

 Song 798: This week on the playlist you can hear Give a Little BIt by Supertramp, written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, and you can find a cool YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. As the late fall arrived in the Windy City region in 1977, I looked forward to the coming spring because I planned to say farewell to that area when the warmer weather returned. During that stretch, I spent a lot of time behind the wheel and listened to the radio as I did, often singing along with anthems like this request. When I looked in the mirror back then, I could see the man with the lonely eyes, and in that era, I also wrote my own song about having a female Gimme What I Want. When the higher temperatures returned, I did a quick trip going home to visit my parents in upstate NY, and then, after a brief return to the northern edge of Chicago, in early July I stretched out my thumb towards the west and soon got a long ride that took me to the East Bay of CA.

Greatly Appreciate

 Song 797: This week the playlist recognizes Cherish by The Association, written by Terry Kirkman, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I probably sang along with this expression of appreciation when it climbed the charts near the end of the summer before my sophomore HS year, but around a year later, it absorbed me even more when someone gave me a copy of the sheet music for the tune. I had begun writing my own songs in early 1965, about a year after the Fab Four rocked my world, as I imitated the moving sounds that had grabbed my ears, but the Cherish sheet music gave me a much clearer view of how others followed the songwriting process as I spent time learning and practicing the song riffs on my family's upright piano. I knew my folks didn't like hearing the devil's music but they generally did allow me to have time with the keyboard when I chose to do so. The fundamentalist church that my family attended included a family that had a daughter a year older than me and I became good friends with her and her brothers. During its Top-40 phase, I found out that she liked Cherish as much as I did, and for a few times we sang the song together - I did the melody and she added a very nice harmony. I felt quite attracted to her and I wished that I could hold her but I also assumed that a senior HS female would not consider the possibility of a romance with a junior HS male.

Fumes Above Liquid

 Song 796: This week the playlist applauds Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple, written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, and you can find a cool YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. As the warmer months of 1973 arrived in the Windy City area, I worked as a cab driver in Evanston, IL, which meant that I spent a lot of time waiting for customers at cab stands on Howard Street, which is at the edge of Chicago. While waiting, I listened to the radio, which shared this fiery gem quite a bit during that stretch, and I really liked hearing the story, though I had no idea at the time about the event that inspired the tune's lyrics. I actually only recently found out about what happened, and that some stupid jerk with a flare gun in the audience at a concert fired the weapon at the ceiling, sparking a fire that burned the place to the ground.

Planetary Absence of Affection

 Song 795: This week the playlist comes around to A World Without Love by Peter and Gordon, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. The P & G duo that appeared in early 1964 played a role in expanding the British Invasion and their sound similarity to the Fab Four came at least in part from their identical authors. My parents and grandparents did not approve of the devil's music so during the colder months I would sometimes try to listen to a transistor radio in my home's basement. The family did regularly watch the Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday night, so it's possible that I could have seen the duo there, though I don't remember if that happened. As usual, in April of that year I did get to hear the birds sing, although I don't know if they ever did so out of tune. I also saw the rain clouds sometimes hide the moon, and in addition, I strongly hoped that I would someday see my true love smile - at the time, I looked forward to that.