Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Two Rarely Heard Cuts from the ’60s
This wonderfully creative but rarely played song by The Lovin' Spoonful dates from 1966. Six O'Clock is one of the songs that captures for me the 'magic' of those fabulous and far-off days. Same goes for Van Morrison and Them's Here Comes the Night (1965). It still sounds as raw and fresh as it did in…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Celebrating Freedom and Independence
Not to mention resistance and defiance. Johnny Cash, I Won't Back Down. Tom Petty wrote it, with Jeff Lynne. Byrds, Chimes of Freedom. One of Dylan's greatest anthems. Byrds, I Wasn't Born to Follow Good YouTuber comment: "I keep searching for that door back into the summer of '69, I lost it somewhere long ago." …
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Suicides
Del Shannon (Charles Weedon Westover), December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990, known prmarily for his Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit, Runaway, 1961. "Suffering from depression, Shannon committed suicide on February 8, 1990, with a .22-caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California, while on a prescription dose of the anti-depressant drug Prozac. Following…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Sleep, Dreams, Insomnia
These tunes go out to Sally S. and Jean H. Bobby Lewis, Tossin' and Turnin (1961). Santo and Johnny, Sleepwalk (1959). Joe Satriani's cover blows the original and every other cover clean out of the water. Masterful guitar work. But wait a minute! What about old man Les Paul's version? Bobby Edwards, You're the Reason…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Brian Wilson
The Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy opened yesterday and I saw it. I grew up in Southern California in the '60s with all those songs, and so I had to see it. I'm glad I did. Trailer here. But not for the music of which there is little, but for the biography and backstory. …
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Kings of the Blues
Albert King, Born Under a Bad Sign Albert King, Crosscut Saw B. B. King, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out B. B. King and Eric Clapton, Riding With the King Playlist1. "Riding with the King"2. "Ten Long Years" 3. "Key to the Highway" 4. "Marry You" 5. "Three O'Clock Blues" 6. "Help the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Clowns
Being hung up on the '60s, there is and will be only one clown for me, Bozo the Clown. After Bozo I had no truck with clowns. I'm a serious man. But I can relate to this segment from the Seinfeld episode, "The Fire." It is one of the funniest in the whole series. But…
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Dion DiMucci on Lennon’s Imagine
At Victor's place.
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: “Render unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar’s. . .”
Have you settled accounts with the Infernal Revenue 'Service'? If yes, order up one scotch, one bourbon, one beer and enjoy this live version of Taxman featuring Harrison and Clapton. Stevie Ray Vaughan's blistering version. Related articles Friday the 13th Cat Blogging! In the Foothills of the Superstition Mountains.
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Holy Saturday Night at the Oldies: Religious Themes
Herewith, five 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 has something to…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Bob Dylan, Traditionalist
The Left owns Dylan as little as it owns dissent. Every Dylanologist will want to read Christopher Caldwell's Weekly Standard piece, AWOL from the Summer of Love. It begins like this: In the mid-1960s the most celebrated folk musician of his era bought a house for his growing family at the southern edge of the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Ordinals and Cardinals > 10
I did zero to ten a couple of years back. What songs can you think of that feature ordinals or cardinals greater than tenth or ten? Well, racking wracking my brains there's Connie Stevens, Sixteen Reasons. With footage from David Lynch, "Mulholland Drive." Simon and Garfunkel, 59th Street Bridge Song. What a great song! Slow…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Weights and Measures
The Band, The Weight The Byrds, Eight Miles High The Rolling Stones, Moonlight Mile The Who, I Can See for Miles Cannonball Adderley, 74 Miles Away. So titled because it is In 7/4 time. Dave Brubeck, Take Five. So titled because it is in 5/4 time. Cream, Spoonful. Heavy, man. The Lovin' Spoonful, Six O'Clock…
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St. Valentine’s Day’s Night at the Oldies: Love and Murder
We'll start with murder. David Dalton (Who Is That Man? In Search of the Real Bob Dylan, Hyperion 2012, pp. 28-29, hyperlinks added!): Most folk songs had grim, murderous content (and subtext). In Pretty Polly a man lures a young girl from her home with the promise of marriage,and then leads the pregnant girl to…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Winning and Losing
Losing and losers win. Jerry Lee Lewis, You Win Again. Does old Jerry Lee seem to have a high conception of himself? An old Hank Williams tune from 1952. Emmy Lou Harris, If I Could Only Win Your Love Allman Bros., Win, Lose or Draw Beatles, You're Gonna Lose that Girl Beatles, I'm a Loser…