Category: Music
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Intimations of Elsewhere: Sensible Reminders of Hidden Beauty
Salzburg, Austria, December 1971. A young Austrian girl, radiant and beautiful, walked into the kitchen. I lost all desire for the food I had prepared. My soul sprouted wings. The visible beauty triggered a memory of a timeless Beauty. Anamnesis pierced for a moment the amnesia induced by the bodily senses. Dayton, Ohio, 1978. Gripped…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Monterey Pop Festival June 16-18, 1967
It transpired 56 summers ago, this June, the granddaddy of rock festivals, two years before Woodstock, in what is known as the Summer of Love. Your humble correspondent was on the scene. Some high school friends and I drove up from Los Angeles along Pacific Coast Highway. I can still call up olfactory memories of…
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Saturday Night at the Obituaries
Astrud Gilberto, the Girl from Ipanema, has passed on at age 83. The genre, Bossa Nova, was popular from the late '50s to the mid-'60s. "Blame It on the Bossa Nova" is a song written by Cynthia Weil (lyrics) and Barry Mann which was a 1963 hit single for Eydie Gormé, reaching number 7 on…
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Why Typos Don’t Matter Much and the Musical Watershed of the ‘Fifties
This is a re-post from 21 September 2011. I dust it off in dedication to my friend Dr. Vito Caiati, historian and old-school scholar who is excessively worried about typographical errors in his missives to me. He is not alone; he has recently been joined by long-time blogger buddy Tony Flood who shares Vito's worry.…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Nonsense Titles and Lyrics
I'm a serious man, as serious as cancer some would say. But it's Saturday night, a night on which I allow myself a drink or two and some nostalgic indulgence. Tonight, the unseriousness of nonsense titles and lyrics. The Rivingtons, Papa Oom Mow Mow The Trashmen, The Bird is the Word. It is not about Bird's…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Americana
Buffy Sainte-Marie, I'm Gonna be a Country Girl Again Hoyt Axton, Greenback Dollar Nanci Griffith, Boots of Spanish Leather 16 Horsepower, Wayfaring Stranger Stanley Bros., Rank Strangers Bob Dylan, I am a Lonesome Hobo. Have you heard this version? Bob Dylan, As I Went Out One Morning Highwaymen, The City of New Orleans Kenny Rogers, The Gambler Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cod'ine Bob Dylan, Only a Hobo, 1963…
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‘Nuclear’ Thoughts on Dylan’s Birthday
We've gotten used to living under the Sword of Damocles: One of its more famous [invocations] came in 1961 during the Cold War, when President John F. Kennedy gave a speech before the United Nations in which he said that “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the…
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Blues for a Monday Afternoon
Lonnie Mack and Co. Mack has been around a long time. I first picked up a guitar around the time this tune climbed the charts. "If I could only play like that!" Never got close. But I played in bands that got paid. If you get paid for doing something, then someone must think it's…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Good Tunes from the ’70s
The '60s rule, of course, since no decade in Anglospheric popular music was richer or more creative. I say Anglospheric because great stuff came out of the U. K., Canada, and Australia. I don't know about New Zealand. But let's not ignore the cream of the '70s. Jackson Browne, The Pretender. This great song goes…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Starting, Stopping, Moving, and Grooving
These tunes in memory of my cat Zeno and the 'cat' he was named after, Zeno of Elea. Sammy Davis, Jr., I Can't Get Started Bunny Berigan, 1937. Don Gibson, I Can't Stop Loving You Little Eva, Locomotion Eva was Carole King's housekeeper. Carole wrote her a song . . . Sir Douglas Quintet, She's about…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Music from the Vietnam War
Here. Were you draftable during the Vietnam era? What's your story? UPDATE (4/23) A correspondent and I both lament the non-inclusion of a certain period piece by Country Joe and the Fish. Said correspondent points out that the CJF tune is based on Louis Armstrong, Muskrat Ramble from 1926.
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Holy Saturday Night at the Oldies
First, 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. Billy Preston, My Sweet Lord George Harrison, Hear Me Lord George Harrison, All Things Must Pass. Harrison was the Beatle with depth. Lennon the radical, McCartney the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Fools and Useful Idiots
These go out this April Fool's Day to all those who voted for Joey B and Kamala the Clown. WTF were you thinking? You weren't. But most of you are 'nice people.' Useful idiots are often very nice people. Would that being 'nice' were enough! The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again Sam Cooke, Fool's Paradise…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Coffee
October 1st is International Coffee Day. But we are still in March. So I'm jumping the gun as one might do under the influence. Herewith, some tunes in anticipatory celebration. Not that I'm drinking coffee now: it's a morning and afternoon drink. I am presently partaking of a potent libation consisting of 3/4 Tequila Añejo…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: A Temporary Retreat into the Past; Back to the Fray Tomorrow
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…