Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: My Bob Dylan Top Ten
Hector C. asked me to name my top ten favorite Dylan songs. With pleasure. Don't Think Twice. I first heard this in the Peter, Paul, and Mary version circa 1962 or '63. Deeply moved by it, I bought the 45 rpm single and noted that the song was written by one B. Dylan. I pronounced…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: More Musical Duos and Some Duets
Richard and Mimi Farina, Pack Up Your Sorrows Mimi and Richard Farina, Reno, Nevada Ian and Sylvia, Early Morning Rain Ian and Sylvia, You Were on My Mind Joan Baez and Mimi Farina, Catch the Wind Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, Blowin' in the Wind Dick and Dee Dee, The Mountain High, 1961 Dick and…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Musical Duos
Saturday night, time to punch the clock and pour yourself a stiff one. Me, I'm drinking a Jack and Coke. How about you? Mickey and Sylvia, Love is Strange, 1956 Nino Tempo and April, Deep Purple, 1963. The lyrics are pure sweet kitsch. But what's wrong with a little kitsch and sentimentality? Up yours, Theodor…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some California Tunes from a Happier Time
Sir Douglas Quartet, Mendocino, 1969. This one goes out to Mendocino Joe. Eric Burdon and the Animals, Monterey. This one goes out to Monterey Tom. Eagles, Hotel California. Some of finest guitar-slinging of the '70s. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lodi GG Kettel, San Francisco Bay Blues. Ferrara, Italy, 2007 Scott Mackenzie, San Francisco Johnny Bond, Hot…
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Bob Dylan at 80: A Sober Assessment
Graham Cunningham: It pains me a little to say it, given my own past devotion, but some cold perspective is needed here. Bob Dylan was—from 1962 to the early 1980s—an extraordinary singer-songwriter and, in terms of quantity of great material, simply without equal. For the last 40 years, though, he has mostly been trading on…
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Holy Saturday Night at the Oldies
Herewith, six definite decouplings of rock and roll from sex and drugs. Norman Greenbaum, Spirit in the Sky Johnny Cash, Personal Jesus. This is one powerful song. Clapton and Winwood, Presence of the Lord. Why is Clapton such a great guitarist? Not because of his technical virtuosity, his 'chops,' but because he uses them to say something. George Harrison, My…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Torch Songs
"A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on." (Wikipedia) Sarah Vaughn, Broken Hearted Melody. YouTuber comment: "Late 1959. I was in 4th grade, listening to…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: A Little Harmless Escapism from the Horrors of the Present
Freddy Fender, Cielito Lindo. Tex-Mex version of a very old song. Arizona's own Marty Robbins, La Paloma. Another old song dating back to 1861. Barbara Lewis, Hello Stranger, 1963. 1963 was arguably the best of the '60s years for pop compositions. Emmylou Harris, Hello Stranger. Same title, different song. This one goes out to Mary Kay F-D. Remember…
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New Year’s Eve at the Oldies: ‘Last’ Songs for the Last Night of the Year
Happy New Year, everybody. Last Night, 1961, The Mar-Keys. Last Date, 1960, Floyd Cramer. It was bliss while it lasted. You were so in love with her you couldn't see straight. But she didn't feel the same. You shuffle home, enter your lonely apartment, pour yourself a stiff one, and put Floyd Cramer on…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Varia
Marlene Dietrich, Die Fesche Lola. 'Fesche' means something like smart, snazzy. Ich bin die fesche Lola, der Liebling der Saison!Ich hab' ein Pianola zu Haus' in mein' SalonIch bin die fesche Lola, mich liebt ein jeder Manndoch an mein Pianola, da laß ich keinen ran! Kinks, Lola. From the days when 'tranny' meant transmission. Marlene…
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Saturday NIght at the Oldies: The Forgotten and the Underplayed
Betty Everett, You're No Good, 1963. More soulful than the 1975 Linda Ronstadt version. The Ikettes, I'm Blue, 1962. Lee Dorsey, Ya Ya, 1961. Simplicity itself. Three chords. I-IV-V progression. No bridge. Paul Anka, A Steel Guitar and a Glass of Wine, 1962. Carole King, Crying in the Rain, 1963. The earnest girl-feeling of young Carole makes it better…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Wall of Sound
Here are some of my favorite Phil Spector productions. It wouldn't have been the 'sixties without him. I avert my eyes from his later misadventures and remember him for his contributions to the Boomer soundtrack. Crystals, Uptown, 1962. Crystals, He's a Rebel Ronettes, Be My Baby Crystals, Da Doo Ron Ron Curtis Lee, Pretty Little…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Sibelius, Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Opus 39
Leonard Bernstein conducts. 20th century classical music with human meaning. My favorite part is the Andante movement, starting around 13:00. Commentary by Robert Reilly: Jean Sibelius' Music of the Logos. Sibelius said, “There is music in the whole universe.” He believed in the “Music of the Spheres,” the classical Greek view that held that the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: September Songs
September already. A transitional month leading from hot August to glorious October, Kerouac month in the MavPhil 'secular liturgy.' Dinah Washington, September in the Rain Rod Stewart, Maggie May. "Wake up Maggie, I think I got something to say to you/It's late September and I really should be back at school." Carole King, It Might as Well Rain…
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Saturday Nght at the Oldies: The Ten Most Violent Democrat-Run Cities
New York, New York. "Start spreading the news . . ." L. A. Woman Born in Chicago Houston Streets of Philadelphia Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again. "The post office has been stolen and the mail box is locked." Prescient! Detroit City Dallas Alice By the Time I Get to Phoenix Lady…