Some Music Thoughts

I'll be right up front about this---The Pirate Dogs love the version of "Jingle Bells" done by those barking, howling dogs. And it is a bone of contention in our house that I refuse to download a copy of it. Of course, we don't have "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" either.

Now the wife is a librarian and decided to improve the storage and cataloguing of the cd collection. She decided to eliminate all those plastic jewel cases and get everything in order by artist. So the Pirate Dogs and I went sifting thru them to find material for the Ipod.

One song we definitely agreed on was John Lennon's "Hey Bulldog" from Yellow Submarine "Sheepdog/Standing in the rain/Bullfrog/Doing it again/Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles/What makes you think you're something special when you smile.."

But there was much discussion over female singer songwriters. After much listening to songs and debate, with Weetz growling a lot at Bertequila, here's something of a consensus:

Tori Amos--We love the EP Crucify. There's a great cover of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You"but the perros really love "I feel stupid /and contagious/here we are now/entertain us/So mulatto/an albino/a mosquito/malabito/or denial..." the Cobain classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit." And the Strange Little Girls cd is nothing if not that.....especially the intro to "Happiness is a Warm Gun."

Laura Nyro--Now the Pirate Dogs don't recognize her but they sure know the hits: "And When I Die" made famous by Blood Sweat & Tears; "Wedding Bell Blues"--The Fifth Dimension smash chart topper; "Eli's Coming" from 3 Dog Night. Maybe I'm very partial because my name's Bill???

Lucinda Williams----name a better album than Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. I love her voice, her emotion, her riffs, and her lyrics---"you can't depend on anything really/there's no promises there's no point/ there's no good there's no bad in this dirty little joint/no dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock/ Rosedale Mississippi magic city juke joint/ Mr Johnson sings in a corner by the bar/ sold his soul to the devil so he could play guitar/ 2 kool 2 be 4-gotten hey hey.."

But since you asked, or rather we asked, the best album by a female songwriter is Carole King's Tapestry. She's backed by James Taylor and his band. Already an established hit maker as part of the Goffin-King team that wrote hits for the girl groups of the '50's and early '60's, this was her debut as a solo act. And it's a must have for anyone who appreciates the music of the era post-Beatles. "My life has been a tapestry/ of rich and royal hues/ an everlasting vision of an ever changing view/... / Now my tapestry's unraveling/He's come to take me back." Written for an entire generation................

An Appreciation of Eric Andersen

As part of my job, I travel from Clovis to Roswell and Artesia, NM almost every Thursday. It's about 120 miles each way, 160 when I go to Artesia. So it's a good road trip for one day.

Now US Route 70 is 4 lanes with a 70MPH speed limit. It bisects a number of ranches and oil fields. If I pass a half dozen cars, that's a lot. It's pretty empty space--high plains, cattle, deer, oil wells. It parallels railroad tracks and honestly there's more trains than cars.

So I usually have my Ipod loaded and ready. Now there's the usual "road songs"--"Born to Run" by Bruce is one of my favorites, along with some good old honk from Lynyrd Skynrd.

But for evoking the loneliness of the road, Eric Andersen has no equal. I guess his most well-known song is "Thirsty Boots"--"So take off your thirsty boots and stay for awhile/Your feet are hot and weary from a dusty mile/And maybe I can make you laugh/Maybe I can try/I'm just looking for the evening/The morning in your eyes." For me, however, it's his first album, "Today is the Highway", which really made an impression on me. I first saw a poster in a coffee-house in Bryn Mawr, PA for an appearance by this artist back in 1966 when I was in college in that area. I don't recall if we made the show but I must have heard some of his music because I went out and bought this record. (I now have the cd and all of it is on my computer as well.)

I wonder what Eric would have written if he saw the trains as they are presently constituted. One of my favorites on this album is "Dusty Boxcar Wall"--"I'm going away my darling/I'm gonna leave you pretty girl/ A train pass you by while you lay sleepin'/I'll write you a letter on a dusty boxcar wall." Now most of the freight trains around here, and there's a ton since Clovis was founded as a freight depot and major terminal on the southern branch of the old Santa Fe railroad, are container cars. I guess the proper term is "inter modal transport." Just seems pretty hard to hitch a ride on one of them---those containers are sealed, unlike the old box cars.

But the title song really expresses the weariness of the traveler heading home:

"Do you see my face in the rain that's fallin' freely?/Do you hear my voice in the whisperin' in the trees?/ Do you taste my love in a glass of wine?/Do you touch your heart and feel the beat of mine?/Along this darkened roadway your love will always shine/For today is the highway and tomorrow is the time."

I loved this song on the train going from Philly to NYC to see my girlfriend back home when I was in college and first heard it and I think I appreciate it even more traveling US 70 East towards home now.

Supergroups

I love music. Growing up in the 60's & 70's allowed for so many diverse listening experiences in popular music. I'll state right up front that Stairway to Heaven is definitely NOT the greatest rock and roll song of all time. It's not even Led Zeppelin's best song. I think Dazed and Confused or Babe I'm Gonna Leave You from the first album are better.

Buffalo Springfield gets my vote as the seminal group of the late '60's. Their music has influences still heard today, e.g., The Eagles. Joe Walsh, playing with The James Gang, covered Bluebird and took credit on the liner notes for playing all "10,000 guitars" himself--a "one up" on the original liner notes on the number of guitar sounds/styles from the original. So many of the "supergroup" performers of the early '70's owe a debt to this band. It's members read like a Hall of Fame: Steve Stills, Neil Young, Jim Messina, Richie Furay. This group gave us great music in many of its permutations over the succeeding years--Crosby, Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Loggins and Messina, Poco. My choice for seminal group of the 60's----only one "big hit"--For What It's Worth but a wealth of great music.