Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Magic ’60s
I'm So Glad to join you, My Best Friend, as we follow Mr. Tambourine Man on an Embryonic Journey to hear the Chimes of Freedom as we Break on Through to the Other Side.
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Running on St. Valentine’s Day
My training over and my carbo-loading done, I am now in the psych-up phase for tomorrow's Lost Dutchman marathon. Will I be able to go the distance? At the outset, I'll Take It Easy but then Take It to the Limit. I will have no trouble with the first 20 miles, but the last 10…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: It’s Not All Sex and Drugs
Here are my six favorite broadly religious songs in the rock/pop genre. Clapton & Winwood, In the Presence of the Lord. And now three by the 'philosophical' Beatle. (If Ringo Starr is the 'regular guy' Beatle, and Paul McCartney the 'romantic' Beatle, and John Lennon the 'radical' Beatle, then George Harrison is the 'philosophical/religious' Beatle. My…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: ‘Sunny’ Songs
Last time the theme was 'rainy' songs. To balance things out, here are some 'sunny' songs. Donovan, To Try For the Sun. Forgot what a great tune that is. Might have been the mid-60's since I last heard it. And then there's the moody Sunny Goodge Street by the same artist. The Beatles, Here Comes…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Rain Theme
Here in the Zone and elsewhere in the West we are getting a much-needed soaking. And that puts me in mind of my favorite rain songs. Fire and Rain is particularly appropriate for California: first the wildfires strip the land of vegetation, then the rains come and bring on mudslides. Didn't James Taylor have an…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Woman as Devil Theme
The question is posed in this 1955 Clovers number. But perhaps you are more familiar with the Bobby Vee cover. Elvis Presley learns that appearances can deceive. Marty Robbins succumbs to temptation and begs his Mary for forgiveness. An aging Mitch Ryder gets it up one more time in this rousing version of Devil with the…
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How Bob Dylan Got Unpoliticized
The story is told in My Back Pages. "Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
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How Joan Baez Got Politicized
David Hajdu, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina, 2001, p. 147: Dylan nestled his guitar on his lap and began strumming a C chord in three-quarter time. He repeated it until the small room hushed, then he slid into the opening of "With…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: There But For Fortune
Tonight's episode is in memory of my grade school classmate Vincent Regan who languishes in prison for his part in a brutal rape and murder. He belongs in prison for the rest of his life, and I don't believe that "there but for fortune go you or I." But fortune, genetics, and environment have some…
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What’s Wrong with Kitsch and Sentimentality?
April Stevens' and Nino Tempo's version of Deep Purple became a number one hit in 1963. I liked it when it first came out, and I've enjoyed it ever since. A while back I happened to hear it via Sirius satellite radio and was drawn into it like never before. But its lyrics, penned by Mitchell…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Christmas Tunes
Elvis Presley and Martina McBride, Blue Christmas. And can we call it Christmas until we've heard Porky Pig's version at least once? Or Cheech and Chong's Santa Claus and His Old Lady? Must Be Santa but can it be Dylan? Santa Claus is Coming to Town by the best of the YouTube amateurs, the amazing Fretkillr. Leon…
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Remembering John Lennon
John Lennon was gunned down this night in 1980 by Mark David Chapman. I remember that night well: a student of mine called me in the middle of it to report the slaying. Lennon was my least favorite Beatle due to his silly utopianism, but this tune of his from the 1965 Rubber Soul album…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: My Darling Clementine
Saw this 1946 movie once again last night. A heavily fictionalized version of the shootout at the O. K. Corral, it stars Victor Mature as Doc Holliday, Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp and Walter Brennan as Old Man Clanton. The Mexican cutie's name is 'Chihuahua.' They don't make 'em like this anymore. Now enjoy the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: “Let’s Think About Livin’”
I'll buy you a beer if you can remember this 1960 crossover hit from Bob Luman (1937-1978). A period piece offering wry commentary on the music business of the day.
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: “Greenback Dollar”
I can't find a YouTube clip of this old Hoyt Axton number by Axton himself, so give a listen to this version by Fret Killer, who gets my vote for King of the YouTube amateurs. Check out his version of "Uncle Pen" while you're at it.