Empathy is a Hard Master

I am sure I hate spiders. Really, it is their fault. They move silently and ever so quickly, even though they have no thoughts of eating us, no animosity toward us, and with no real concern for us at all, they will if given the opportunity, lay eggs in ear holes and under the skin. I think the ear-hole thing is justification enough.

I am not a Jainist who refuse to kill any living creature to the extent they carry a little fine brush to scoot away insects. There are special classes on how not slap a mosquito. It is about self-control and prevention. Admirable but a little kooky. I am ok with killing animals for food and even the existential killing of insects during the production of food. Temple Grandin said it succinctly, “Humans aren't as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth.” I do not like any method of killing anything that is not quick and in our best effort, attempts to be humane. After all we are human and we have a choice how we treat the world and that includes our enemies.

I was inspecting the tennis court for imperfections that could be easily corrected when I noticed a spider just hanging out in the middle of the court. In Florida on a hot day, a dry concrete surface is no place for any living thing and especially insects. They can dry out in minutes. Since the spider was in a bad spot for survival, I decided to flick the quarter-sized creature off of the courts playing surface. To my horror, when I did the flick, “she” landed off the playing surface safely but she was carrying about 150 babies which I did not notice. They are dispersed as the flicking was in progress. I literally gasped out loud. What happened next further horrified me. Now, I am a grown person and I tried to rationalize that they probably all would not survive to adulthood anyway, blah, blah, and blah. I tried to get a closer look at the babies which were mere specks. The mother turned from what I now know was trying to round up her babies and charged at me. She was defending her family at the risk of attacking a foe several thousand times larger than her. That alone caught my attention and my heart in a big way.

The person I was to play with on the court just arrived and I said to him. “Can we play on the other court and I am not going to tell you why we cannot use this court. Maybe after a few beers I can tell you!” I felt flush and a little weak and he said, “Ok, whatever.” With a brief glimpse back over my shoulder toward the spider, I could see she was in the middle of her baby roundup. All I could think of as I walked to the other court was the screaming, scared babies looking for their mamma. For warm-ups, I placed myself as far away from them as I could to avoid hearing the screams. My playing partner was oblivious of course and I felt like I had responsibility as an older person, I should explain the empathy I felt for this living creature. My distorted pride would not allow it and I was still in a mild state of shock. I had to push the spider gathering out of my mind and concentrate on tennis, specifically destroying this young person’s self-esteem by losing to a man nearly 40 years his senior.

It may take more than a few drinks to re-tell this story. That is why I wrote it down.

The Year of Matt

Since the declaration of this, "The year of Matt", I have a bunch of plans and responsibilities. 

Part of the Year of Matt is my attempt to be more social, in social situations but also to be responsible for being a friend worth having.  I guess it is taking responsibility for not having any friends.  I have basically a whole lifetime of not giving  a crap what people think ( most likely a defense mechanism from childhood) and winding up at 60 years old without much of an understanding of friendship. 

My brothers and sisters have all these friends from schools and life and I have almost nothing in the way of friends, certainly not good friends.  I take responsibility for that so in this year that is mine, I will work to change that.  Not that at this point do I want anyone invading my space like a bunch of cheerleaders, but with exploration comes understanding, then intelligent change can occur.

It is a plan anyway.

 

Sixteen Tons

This is a song written by Merle Travis about a coal miner, based on life in coal mines in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.^[1] Travis first recorded the song at the Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California, on August 8, 1946.

 I remember the version by Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded in 1955.  Of course I did not hear it until the 60's but I was fascinated by his voice and the song.  My cousin Vince got hooked on Fords music on a visit to my parent's place in Ohio.  While there he heard one of Ford's gospel records and flipped out.  He was like a kid in a candy store.  He listened and listened.  We still had records (LP) in those days.  It was good times.  He had never heard such listenings.

It went along with the John Henry was a steel driving man song by somebody, maybe Johnny Cash. 

We had lots of music styles in our house.

Pets, feelings and other stuff

First thing, my pets are suffering from the evils of capitalism just like the rest of us.
Second thing, I am beginning to dislike pets more than children.
Third thing, and there is always a third thing, I am on the precipice of my new life and I am listing. 

Ok, lets detail these things.

Pets have become substitutes for humans to interact with.  They are peoples "children" I hear said.  I have young friends that treat pets like people.  My da was very specific about pets not being treated like people.  Do not feed them from the table and don;t let them sleep in your bed with you.    I had a cat that loved to sleep under the covers.  He would sneak into the room, climb under the covers, migrated down to my feet and deposit all of his fleas under the sheets.  I thought I was with a cheap hooker in the Angolan jungle.  I scratched for three days.  One cat is very, very skinny and his fur fell off the back half of his body.  It grew back without stripes, well now the stripes are coming back. Anyway, I feed him extra little smokey hot dogs every night in hopes that he gains some weight.  He is an asshole so we cannot let him in the house.  That is the the thing about cats, they just expect us to provide everything for them, I mean, if you leave them outside, they will do just fine except when they are road crossers.  Road crossers will eventually get killed by a car, it is sort of Darwinian. 

I raised 5 children, not including myself.  I give my wife credit for that.  Fortunately, she was an adult when I met her.  She did not know much about raising children though.  She is a great nurturer of the babies and invalids.  Thinking, conniving, trecherous children above the age of two were pretty much out of her wheelhouse.  I was ready and willing to pick things up from there.  A child is like a bike wheel with loose spokes, It will wobble and break down, you just need to help it get straight and keep nudging them down the road, sometimes with a stick.  I did not dislike any of my kids, there were two kids from little league softball, Alysa and Malysa, I think they were the two twins from "The Shinning".  They gave me the evil eye because I they did not want to stand out in the sun and heat, they were ten years old and I am sure they have ruined many a life since I exorcised them from my team.  They scared me with that look. 
I think children are just too much work, never ending.  I mean even now they are grown, I worry about them, help them out in ways of guidance and guilt.  I am old and tired, I want the children to cook and clean for me and do all the things I am tired of doing.  I am tired of doing most things.  Nobody is going to do all those things for me.  Raising them was mostly chaos and pain, very little smiling, even less joy, but the joy was enormous when it came.  The sheet is not balanced though.  That is why I am listing. 

This precipice I talk about, I just lost a bunch of weight, finally see the end of the mortgage, have a decent idea about what I want to do with the last part of my life but there is that listing.  Listing from the old english meaning of " the edge".  Precipice should translate to"listing" but whatever.  I wander while I list.  If I am going to act drunk, I may as well be drunk.  I came to that conclusion and my daughter bought me one of those cute little pocket flasks.  I do not imagine I could take it on a plane but everywhere else I have a flask of vodka in case I need it. 

I need to sum this up, Pets get fat, unhealthey and unruly, children destroy vaginas, spines and order, precipices lead to change, and uncertain growth as well ass hard landings.

Not working

I have been trying to report on a phenomenon that has been part of my life for many years, the random generation of songs in my head when I wake up in the morning.  Well, I have been trying to report on the songs and some insights into my day with that song. 

Several problems have cropped up.  I am not sleeping well lately and songs are not popping into my head like they used to do.  Also, I sort of figured I could expound on memories of those songs and have a decent conversation with myself about my life related to me.  Fairly self-concentric I know.  I am bored with it and the entire shooting match.  The songs are not coming, due in part to lack of good sleep and probably also to early dimensional drift.

I had hoped to invigorate my writing and lead me to a new understanding of myself.  Nope, the four guys in the Ukraine that are following me will most likely be even more disappointed with me and my site.  This capitalist dog will no longer be in the hunt.  I am going to try to go back to school and get my major in "slacker" or something similar.  That should challenge me and my writing.  Conversely, inversely or reversely I really don't care anymore what I am saying.  

The night they drove old Dixie down

This was recorded originally by The Band, and written by Robertson and the boys.  Joan Baez made a name for everyone recording it in 1971.  The original by the Band was very aggressive and  southern.   

I like the part about Robert E. Lee, a person I have immense respect for as a soldier and a person, both were exemplary.   The Band is sort of mysterious to me musically and ethosly.  I have read about the pink house and Dylan, I guess I am too young.  Baez the same except I alwas and still consider her a babe.

My best friend growing up and probably still, (never have as close a friend as when you were 12, paraphrased from Steven King novelette)  he was from Delaware so I always listened when I heard something about the Great general. 

Different Drum"

 This is a song written by Michael Nesmith in 1965 and became popular in 1967 when recorded by the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt.   

The song is slightly awkward yet brilliant, like most of Mike Nesmith's songs.  Ronstadt kicks ass on this song with her stylizing.  Stone Poneys is a great name for a band, up there with the Grateful Dead, these names spread fear and panic through parents around the world.

This song was written as a man but Ronstadt changed that but still used the word "pretty" which is a genius move which sort of fits rule 3 related to older phrasing.  Soon I will publish my rules for hit songs, once I finish editing it.

"Lookin' Out My Back Door"

 This is a song recorded by the American band Creedence Clearwater Revival. Written by the band's lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter, John Fogerty, it is included on their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory.  

I cannot figure this band out.  I also cannot figure out this script.  why does it do that.  There is this formating thing.  Anyway, John Fogerty is a well off southern California guy who writes songs that do not sound like the Beach boys.  I do not know anything.

On  one level, I do not even like this song, on most levels i guess. 

"High On You"

This is a 1985 song by the American rock band Survivor. It peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of March 23, 1985.
I remember Eye of the Tiger, Rocky and all that.  Good movie song but to play it all the time on the radio, that's not right.  They  High on You rotted my brain out for almost a year.

I am glad the hard working boys of Survivor made some good money, really, I am.  I would have paid them not to let that song on the air.  Not that it is a bad song by the rules of music, rule 4 and rule 9 apply.  I guess my dread is the balance between playing a song on the radio and driving nails in my ears to not ever hear that song again.  I thought it was a 38 Special song for years.  I think the  songs of those two groups are annoying in the same way.

I always ask myself the question:  Will this song be requested and listened to in twenty years?  I have had three twenty year periods now and King of the Road still holds up.  One Oclock Jump, Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade, Roy Orbison's Only the lonely still hold up.  High on You?

Not so much.


PS.  The worst thing about this type of song, you cannot get it out of your head, ever.

Take the Money and run

This is a song recorded in 1976 by the Steve Miller Band. A song about two young (possibly teenage) bandits and the police officer pursuing them, it was one of the many hit singles produced by the Steve Miller Band in the 1970s and featured on Fly Like an Eagle. The song peaked at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in July 1976^[1] and also charted well in Australia.

1973 is my wheelhouse for music because my brother was a few years older than I was so I was swamped with Deep Purple, Woodstock and the Grateful Dead.  I was a senior in high school in 1976 when this song came out.  Steve Miller songs were everywhere.  Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I was in Utah for my high school years and the availability to a wide variety  of music was limited but The Steve Miller band was always on X-Rock 80. X Rock was a border blaster,  a broadcast station that in practice is used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM stations covering large parts of the United States and United States border AM stations covering large parts of Canada.

XEROK-AM is a commercial AM (medium wave) radio station in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. It is licensed to operate with a power of 150,000 watts on a carrier frequency of 800 kHz, although its new transmitter is now powered at 50,000 watts. The station calls itself "Radio Cañón."
XEROK is the dominant Class A station on 800 AM, a Mexican clear channel frequency. The station had a colorful history as a border blaster, aiming its programming at listeners in the United States, when at night, its 150,000 watt signal could be easily heard in many parts of the Southwest.

In the evenning, with near zero humidity or clouds, it was possible to pick up tons of radio stations.  Most of them were the russian woodpecker versions blocking Radio Free Europe or Voice of America.  But X-Rock came in clear most nights.

Good things do come across the border.

Boom Boom, Out goes the lights

Pat Travers had a big hit in the late 70's with this one.  It was written by harmonica player Stan Lewis it was recorded by another harmonica player, Little Walter on Chess Records. Marion Walter Jacobs (1930-68) was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2008.  I think the origin is suspect.  

When I was in college and trying to learn how to drink beer, this song was everywhere.  Yes it is about punching the lights out of a girl friend.  But men and women just loved this song when it was played.   The important thing to remember is that Pat Travers did a great job with this in his live concerts. 

Run, Run, Run

Written and recorded by Jo Jo Gunne , an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1971 by Jay Ferguson (keyboards, vocals and guitar) and Mark Andes (bass guitar and vocals) after they had left Spirit. The group's name is derived from "Jo Jo Gunne", a Chuck Berry song that peaked at #83 as a single in November 1958.  

There is at least 4 other songs and 1 group with the name of Jo Jo Gunne or something similar.  I love this song.  Even fourty seven years later I love the song.  It was the first song that really kicked my ass.   I was thirteen years old, and the radio in Florida was wearing this song out.  My brother bought the album and we played it continuously when we weren't playing the Beatles, Creedence, and Led Zeppelin.   I have read some reviews of Jo Jo Gunne that compared the sound to southern rock Lynyrd Skynyrd.  It is probably the slyde guitar style.  See what I did with all those  "y's".  I have no idea what the punctuation on this stuff should be since it is poor grammar to start with.

I remember the album cover, the best album cover stereotyping the Rock era.  Young men, long hair, great car and hopefully living large.  It almost makes me cry, still.  It follows Music rule #8, great album cover.

I still have this album

"Somebody's Baby"

This is a song written by Jackson Browne and Danny Kortchmar^[1] and recorded by Browne for the 1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High movie soundtrack.  I have not seen the entire movie if you can believe that. 

I know the take on the song but later in life, the line "She must be somebody's baby" had a larger meaning as a parent.  It is strange how that happens.  This song just popped into my head and it has been there every since that 1:30 am awakening.  I went right back to sleep but the song is still there and I rememberd thinking about it.  It was not until morning that I remembered it was Jackson Browne with an E at the end. 

Since I am a bad speller and grammar guy, an E at the end is important.

She's a Lady

This is a song written by Paul Anka and covered by a ton of people, most notably (I always wanted to say that) by Tom Jones.  You cannot say enough about Paul Anka and the transition to Rock and Roll and popular music.  He was in the middle of it, talented and smart.  The song is progressive and snappy. 


This song at its base is quit male dominated but if you really feel the lyrics, you can see who is in charge and large and that is this LADY. "But she always knows her place, She's got style, she's got grace, she's a winner!"  I am not sure where her place is, she knows it though and that is her strength. "She can take what I dish out, and that's not easy."  People have "places" in society.  We may not like our place and we can change the stars, in some places at least but "how" is usually the trick to success.  

This lady is a success in any place or time.  



 

"Last Kiss"

This is a song released by Wayne Cochran in 1961 on the Gala label.  It was later done by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers which is the version I heard and loved.  This song makes tears in my eyes always.  It is the craziest thing but not as crazy as Wayne Cochran, with the Dolly Parton hair and Liberace outfits.  That is what Rock and Roll is all about. 

Pearl Jam had a big hit with it and I don't think I ever heard it.  I like Pearl Jam but since I don't listen to the radio since probably 1999, I have missed a bunch of stuff.  I just do not want to invest the time in listening to 53 shit songs just to hear 1 decent one.  For those keeping score that is about 1 less than awful song .02 percent of the time.  If your average song/introduction/commercial announcement,  even on stations that say they do not waste your time,  that would be in a twenty four hour period, seven(7) song that do not suck each day.  For that to be new songs that could be worth hearing more than once, I am not listening to new music intentionally because it most likely will be a waste of time. 

The song was one of several teen tragedy songs from that period.  The other one I think I have already review, "Billy, Don't be a Hero" but it did not make me cry.  It made me angry,  "War, good God, what is it good for, Absolutely nothing." 

So it goes.

King of the Road

 Technnically, this was not the first song in my head this morning.  I have not had a song in my head in the morning, the premise for this blog, for six days.  I am worried that my mental functions are changing.  I am almost sixty-one years breathing.  My mom recently died with dementia as a main cause. Although I am still challenging my mind with new ideas and processes, I cannot remember shit.

Many years ago I was introduced to the concept of "pro-active interference".  As I remember it, (hopefully)  generally current ability to remember things is related to what memories you already have.  It is a filing system issue.  There was a great, and I mean great example demonstrated on the tv show "Married....With Children where it was discovered that the daughter (a ditsy blond) had 100% recall of memory and information about a subject but with a limited amount of space in her brain.  The father put her on a game show to win a bunch of money if she could answer all the questions correctly.  Well, Her limit was something like 50 questions and they loaded her up with the all possible answers.  Anyway, an instant before she went on the show someone asked her "another" question causing her to push one question and answer out of her brain.  A classic proactive interference reference. 

[ A prominent theory of forgetting at the behavioral level is anchored in the phenomenon of interference, or inhibition, which can be either retroactive or proactive. In retroactive inhibition, new learning interferes with the retention of old memories; in proactive inhibition, old memories interfere with the retention of new learning. Both phenomena have great implications for all kinds of human learning.  This article was most recently revised and updated by Robert Lewis, Assistant Editor. https://www.britannica.com/science/memory-psychology/Forgetting#ref386914  ]

 So, allotting for interference, and general apathy, lack of good sleep and diet, I hope I am not losing my mind because now, lately I rarely have a song in my head when I wake up.

I read this recently.  "The best advice I’ve ever gotten about thinking came from a private-company CEO who has a thirty-year track record that’s up there with Warren Buffett’s. One day he said to me, “Shane, most people don’t actually think. They just take their first thought and go.”"

The important word is "first".  Now, I am a "look while I am leaping" kind of guy.  First thoughts are actual preceded by  action.  Like a horse or a cat's flight reflex.  It is autonomically controlled.  "I will figure out how to land on the way down after I leap off a cliff kind of thing.  It has served me fairly well. 

So, back to King of the Road.  My dad was a huge Roger Miller fan and I followed that lead.  His songs, Roger's, were a big part of my early music life.  We had the old furniture sized turntable with record storage and the latest in high fidelity speakers, record changers and needles.  I was allowed to play records if I was careful to drop the needle cautiously, always hold the record correctly without touching the lines and put the album back in the sleeve when done with it. 

I did all of those things. 

"The Power of Love"

This is a 1985 single by Huey Lewis and the News, written for and featured in the 1985 blockbuster film Back to the Future. It gave the band their first number-one hit on the U.S charts.

I do not have anything good to say about this song or Huey Lewis and the News.  Well, the name of the band is not too band, not creative but a nice ringing in your ear kind of name.  Even though I just made that negative statement, I have found myself very interested in the band and their songs.  It is a sickness.  I would compare them to the band "Chicago" getting stuck in a cotton candy machine and still producing songs, sticky, gooey songs.  When I catch myself singing these songs I feel like a mosquito getting stuck in tree sap.

I think it has something to do with Huey's hair.  I have the same feeling about "Loverboy's"  or McEnroe's headband.  The reason I am blogging in the first place is to get songs and feelings out of my head so I can more easily deal with the shit show of a life in the desolation that is the United States of America.  It is not working lately.

"Paint It Black"

 This (originally released as "Paint It, Black") is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Jointly credited to the songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was first released as a single on 6 May 1966, and later included as the opening track to the US version of their 1966 album Aftermath.  

Some interesting fthings about this song are that it was created in 1966.  This song is such a progressive, fresh sound for a song today and a fine example of Mick Jagger's voice instrumentation.  He had a way with some phrases, didn't he.  It would have been fun working on this song.  Also, I think that when Ciara covered it as a sound track to the remake of WestWorld, you can see what an incredibly created and skilled song it really is. 

I remember that in the movie, "Taken", they had a green door, I think.  I thought of this song when I saw the green door scene.  Because details like color don't matter when creativity is rearing its head. 



 

"Foolin"

This is a 1983 single by British Hard rock band Def Leppard from their multi-platinum album Pyromania. When released as a single later that year, it reached #9 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #28 on the US Billboard Hot 100.^[1]

Is anybody out there, anybody there
Does anybody wonder, anybody care

This sort of hits on Rule #2:  Song must have the angst or pain of growing up.

This rule encompasses Def Leppard.  They also have Rule #7 covered with the great name and unusual spelling.  

Rock on.

"Happy Together"

This is a song by American rock band the Turtles from their third studio album Happy Together (1967). The song was written by Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, arranged by Chip Douglas, and produced by Joe Wissert.  I do not really know much about the Turtle but I really get into this song.  It feels to me like something Jackson Browne would write.  It is just conversational lyrics set to a really nice beat. 

I remember this song was on that mix tape my friend  Kary created I guess.  We listened to it as we were dragging main street in his Ford Custom before it blew a piston through the block.  At least that is what he said happened.  I had a copy of the tape in my 8-track player.  These songs from the mid-sixties rock and roll bands gave me an idea of love and longing.  It was great to be trolling for chicks on Main street thinking we were all bad and stuff while listening to :

So happy together! 
 I can't see me lovin' nobody but you
For all my life....

For kids that have no concept of the rest of their lives, what a great song.  For kids that cannot see where they are going to get the next 50 cents for two gallons of gas enabling them to drag main another twenty times, what an appropriate song.  The big future thing when we were in high school was the Bicentennial in two very distant years, two hundred year anniversary of the United States  and waiting for the  Y2K and George Orwell.  

George was correct by the way.

With a Little Help from My Freinds

This is a song by the English rock band the Beatles (def.  ones who have beat) from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

The song I heard in my head was the Joe Cocker version originally done at Woodstock in 1968.  The version I listened to had Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) on the guitar solo.   After recording the song, Cocker and record producer Denny Cordell brought it to Paul McCartney, who later said of the recording, "it was just mind blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful for him for doing that."  I know I have heard many music guys and gals say they were much more satisfied as a song writer than as a performer.  That is a paraphrase as a matter of course because just about anyone could say it more succinctly than I did. 

I have said several times in my life that I am amazed when people take an idea, turn it around, inside out and present it in a completely different way, sometimes better than the oringinal version of the idea. 

That cleared it up.

"Hold On Loosely"

 This is a 1981 rock song by 38 Special and the first track from their fourth studio album Wild-Eyed Southern Boys. Released as the lead single from the album, the song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart and No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It received a ton of airplay in the south.  I cannot say everywhere else.  Southern Rock was sweeping the country in 1981 and there was plenty of talent to go around especially from the Van Zant family.  I never really was all in for 38 Special.  The music sounded a little too over-produced to me.  I first heard that phrase "over-produced" in a George Martin interview about some work he did for one of Paul McCartney's solo efforts.  He said "Please don't tell me it was over-produced" about the effort.

Hold on Loosely was played for many years and too many times.  I think that if it would have been released in 1991 instead of 1981 it may not have even been a hit song.  It violated one of my song rules, #4 which is:  Keep it simple.  Some of the old Irish limericks have 39 verses or more.  Now I understand the purpose was to tell a story probably before most people could read or afford a book but a song must KISS it.  By the way, rule #6 is: Use historical references in the song so that people will not think your band is just a bunch of uneducated crack goofs trying to get a piece of ass.  The rule is technically not that descriptive but you get the idea.

This song did use rule #3: Use catchy phrases your grandparents could possibly have used.  This usage was a little bit direct but ok.

I always wondered if there was a song that went, "What else is a dog to do......Bury the bone!  

"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"

 is a power ballad^[1] performed by the American musician Meat Loaf. It is a track off his 1977 album Bat Out of Hell, written by Jim Steinman.  The Japanese release changes the title of the song to use a percentage, translating it as "66% is good enough".  I find translating of things one of the most interesting aspects of human existence. 

Meat Loaf is quite a story in himself.  Jim Steinman is like the man who releases the hounds in Cool Hand Luke.  What I mean by that is, well, I am not sure what I mean but those two were a great team that sold gobs of records.    Yesterday I had a psychological training day and it is still effecting my brain. Music was not part of it.  I did not have any new songs in my head this morning.  This post was from Friday's morning and I the weekend is a blur. 

I have listened to several Meat Loaf songs over the those days and his voice and the arrangements are so entertaining.  I guess that is the point.

I think.....

Papa Gene's Blues

I found it, and I am ashamed.  I did not remember that it was the Monkees who performed it.   Peter Tork died the other day and I thought of him and Davey Jones having passed. 

"I have no more than I did before
But now I've got all that I need
For I love you and I know you love me"   

Songwriters: Michael Nesmith

Classic Nesbit.  I saw the Monkees in concert a while back and Mickey always made a point of telling which songs Mike wrote.  They did a string of them and his music is very intricate but the songs are so skillfully arranged and presented that they seem quite innocent and simple.  In fact, they all were quite musical contrary to the rumors.

My daughter was a big fan and we listened to them in the New Smyrna band shell thingy.  There were these really attractive 45 year old babes in front of us.  I was watching them and their movements exclusively and listening to the music.  It was great.

Like most things New, Smyrna, York, Hampshire, England, Rochelle, Brunswick, Hebrides, etc, there must be an old smyrna, york, etc, and there is.   Was it always called New York, or was it called York and people kept getting confused as to which York they were talking about.  " What do you mean shipping costs will be $37 thousand dollars?, no, no  new York, not the old York."  There is a road called Old Cheney Highway so I suppose there was another Cheney Highway and possibly there is a New Cheney Highway.  Maybe after a road is around a while it gets the tag, Old, like a bridge or something.  Then there is New South Wales in Australia which opens up a whole roomful of nonsense reasonings.  Is that to be confused with Old North Wales, not in Australia.  I check Wales, a country in the United Kingdon and there is a desgnation of a North Wales but no South Wales even though luckily there is a north part and a south part.  But what neuroid thought it was necessary to designate a "new"  and "south" Wales in Australia?

Rock on.

"Alone"

 This is a song composed by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. It first appeared via Steinberg and Kelly's 1983 pet project, I-Ten, on Taking a Cold Look. It was later recorded by Valerie Stevenson and John Stamos, in their roles as Lisa Copley and Gino Minelli, on the original soundtrack of the CBS sitcom Dreams in 1984.  (I have no memory of this one). American rock band Heart, recorded and released it in their 1987 album Bad Animals, this version was a number-one US and Canadian hit that year. In 2007 Celine Dion recorded it for her album Taking Chances.

I only remember the version by Heart.  I actually woke up with another song in my head but I know it is from the early rock and roll days but I cannot find it on the web.  I have what I think is the end of the hook, "Cause I love you and I know you love me".  Regardless, before I could cement the thought, the Heart song crashed in and for the most part saved me from frustration.  Never fear, I dredged up the frustration this morning and now am searching the internet for answers.  The trail is leading to lots of rabbit holes.  Heart members did not write the song, Mark Andes name came up in the liner notes.  Mark was a member of Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne also with Jay Ferguson,  Firefall and then Heart.  All groups had hit songs while Mark was there.  

Mark Andes opens up another industry rabbit hole of mine.  Having come from a non-music family.   Couldn't carry a tune in a bucked as my dad would say, I notice easily how entire families have musical ability.  I remember the Osborne twins when I was in high school which by the way is changing its mascot name from "Redmen" because it is I guess deemed derogatory, when in fact it was selected to create inclusion of the local Paiute indian reservation people and "Redmen" was always a symbol of strength and power.  Interesting side light which is distinguished from a rabbit hole by its importance and distance from the original universe. All the way back to the top,  Mark's brother, Matthew played guitar as part of the Jo Jo Gunne (follows the rock and roll great name thing).  Of all my friends prior to high school, I did not know if any of them played an instrument.    All, and I mean all of them in high school did.  

Yes it was different states of locations and minds.

"A Whiter Shade of Pale"

This song is the debut single by the British rock band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967.  United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognized it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years.^[8] Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed "A Whiter Shade of Pale" 57th on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  Enough said about this song, it is exceptional in all respects.  From Wikipedia

The group Procol Harum like all things fractal had a guy on guitar named Robin Trower who went on to Bridge of Sighs stardom. 

This brings up the most fascinating aspects of the music industry, and probably all "developing" industries.  I know it is the same with coaches in the sporting world, and I know it is true in the evangelical christian world, a nucleus of talent gets started with a band, lets select the Yardbirds from London in the early 1960s.  Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck all came through the band along with many of the other talented people associated with Cream, Led Zeppelin and Beck's band.  It was the London pipeline and it branched out to the gratitude of the rock and roll world. 

In the evangelical world there was Corrie Ten Boom who was a lady that  survived the Holocaust and became an inspirations to many angelical preachers that followed.  In the sports world there are old legendary coaches, Bryant etc. who developed players and coaches that now dominate the football world.  Baseball, basketball, all the same.

Where am I going, I am not sure.  I just wanted to say those things because they were on my mind.

Dance the Night Away

I am completely embarrassed to even mention this song but my blog's current mission and directive is to report what song is playing in my head when I first wake up in the morning.  Morning happened to be a 3:30 am when I woke up with this song glaring in my head.  I think it woke me up.  It is like my foil hat fell off and the asimulators got through my secondary bio-force-field. 

I think I hate this song actually.  Along with the Grateful Dead thing and the  Springsteen thing, I never really understood the Van Halen stardom thing.  ( except for Valerie Bertinelli) It just was never that big of a deal to me.  I am not judging because now we have a whole  bunch of "entertainers" claiming to be legends and they are merely hacks making a crap load of money.  Maybe it is just me but I have never seen such a wide disparity between income and talent. 

All I really know is that I cannot get the song out of my head and after another few hours I will go mad.  I will have to watch three Let it Be videos, one "Don't Let Me Down and two Nights in White Satin videos to purge the evilness out of my soul.

Shit, I just googled "Don't let me down" and the first search result was not referencing the Beatles. Don McLean said it would happen, It has come, the day the music died.  See what happens when a virus get into my head.  I need to find a monoclonal antibody for virulent songs.  I will take Lynyrd Skynyrd shooters and James Taylor rubs to help with the symptomology.  Maybe I will try "Mickey by Toni basil, that may do it.

"Smokin' in the Boys Room"

 This is a song originally recorded by Brownsville Station and written by Michael "Cub" Koda (October 1, 1948 – July 1, 2000) in 1973 on their album Yeah! It reached number 3 in Canada^[1] and on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was later certified by the RIAA.  The song was covered in 1985 by Mötley Crüe. Released as a single, "Smokin' in the Boys Room" reached #16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and became Mötley Crüe's first and probably only hit.  The Crue had one of the main things a band needs, a great name.

This was a song that could really crank you up.  I remember every year of school, the students voted "yes" for a student smoking area and it never happened. This song was the anthem.  We all had a buddy named something like "Fang".  We knew a bunch of kids that smoked of course.  They were as close to an actual rebel as I could get.  Rebels were rebellious and that meant sex, drugs and wild rock and roll. If a girl smoked, she was putting out, because it was all part of rebellion.  Anyone who was bold enough to smoke in the bathrooms at school was "cool" by my measure.  Smoking was not cool but people who smoked were cool and most likely having a bunch of sex.  People that were smoking on school grounds were freakin awesome.

Cub Koda was a genius as far as I am concerned.  His name, his outfits, his abilities said all the good things about the early rock and roll era.  Talent, flair and determination was what rock and roll was really all about.  To see how original Brownsville Station was, look at the early videos and imagine that they did all that before MTV, and YouTube.

What a great experience hearing this song for the first time.  I got the album as a "introductory album" from the record club that I was part of.  I had to order Credence Clearwater Revival-Green River and they sent me "Yeah" by Brownsville Station for free. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9zWw0Ru28w

Oh Sherrie

This is a song written by American singer Steve Perry, Randy Goodrum, Craig Krampf, and Bill Cuomo. 

Needless to say, well apparently I do need to say it.  This song has been playing in my head for an entire day.  Good song, simple lyrics.  Not much else.

I am not feeling it today

"Billy Don't Be a Hero"

"Billy Don't Be a Hero" is a 1974 pop song that was first a UK hit for Paper Lace and then, some months later, a US hit for Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods. The song was written and composed by two British songwriters, Mitch Murray and Peter Callander.

I was 16 years old when this song came out.  I was aware of what was going on in Vietnam and knew of people in town that were getting drafted or going to Canada or getting killed. I heard of one guy that shot himself in the foot with a nail gun to get out of going. The Don't be a hero song was well know in my circles anyway.  It was protest in the finest fashion.  A strange thing happened with my group of friends after that. I had to adjust to a new set of friends because we moved to a community that was totally non-protest oriented.  These new friends thought this was a dumb song and I became a symbol of an outsider and something to be watched carefully and pre-judged on all occasions. 

Many of the lyrics of songs, much like songs for kids today have a lasting impact on development of character. I guess that is why those trying to control our minds are so afraid of the "Jesus" movement or the "summer of love" stuff, marijuana and Timothy Leary.  When really all we need is parents telling us the truth with respect and showing us love.  Contrary to what Charles Manson babbled, music did not cause his actions, he found a song that validated his psychotic thoughts.  If you look hard enough, you can find something to validate you.

Billy and his girl were honest to themselves.

Academy Awards

Hmmm.

I have only seen a few movies this year!

"Black panther". I only watched about 15 minutes of this one, lots o flashy stuff but I did not see Mogli in there at all and it was too loud.

"Trip to Mogador". This was a independent film that dealt with a kid’s challenge to prove he was Hank Williams’s great grandson.  The main problem in this film was the casting of Vin Debonna as the ghost of Hank Williams. 

"Driving Miss Daisy’s Car". This is a tender love triangle about two boys who steal a old lady’s car and drive cross country to a math convention.  There is one scene where they are trying to figure out how to use a protractor, it is priceless.  Ray Crock Jr is in this one.

My top honor goes to “Gigo gets Trolled” which is about a Mongolian throat singer and anti-vaxer  that gets the Whooping cough and tries to sue a drug store owner for ruining his career!  Tony Shalub is the drug store owner, tears of laughter and sorrows all  around!

 

I do not go to the movies for several reason.  One, I am cheap and you cannot always have a nice, quiet evening.  I have never been a fan of stickiness, I do not like candy and there must be spiders in there somewhere.  I like getting lost in a movie or at least like being able to control the environment and I cannot even though I am paying for it.  Also, eventually I will see it somewhere on the TV or somebody will tell me about it.

There are too many categories, and since this is supposed to be a music blog for a while anyway, the best music in movies is subliminal, for the most part you do not even notice directly.  At least I do not.  It is very important to the movie and the plot.  The introductory music to the "Sound of Music" is somewhat in the background to the scenery and hills, which are alive with the sound of music.  I thought it was some kind of Nordic ghost movie.

 

Can we please take it easy on the red carpet and After-party crap.  The dresses are ugly, the shoes are uglier and most of the walkers end up looking like clowns.  Who tells them they look nicer than a pair of jeans and some comfortable shoes.  I like dress up but accentuate the positive and if you cannot, do not.  I understand the after party thing, its a party with people you hardly know but somewhat admire.  Just pick a nice corner and observe.  

 

That is it.

Talking in Your Sleep

This is a chart-topping hit song by Detroit rock band The Romantics. It was a number three U.S. hit in early 1984 and became a UK hit in August that year for British band Bucks Fizz.  I would have thought that The Romantics were a glam rock band out of London not Detroit but whatever.  This song received huge play in the 80s because of its querky mind melting beat and hook and MTV video play.  Fuzzy half naked women always play well, still do.  

I do not really like the song although it made a  bunch of money for the group and the music industry so at some level it was a good song.  It is a hard song to get out of people's head which is now equated with "plays" in the music sites and that is how it is monetized.  The screwdriver in the ear thing does not really work anymore and since healthcare is bullshit now days, neither care nor health is achieved significantly.   Proactive interference will wipe it out soon enough anyway. 

I like to say my mind (memory, brain) is like a steel trap, everything that goes in is there for eternity.  It just has a broken retrieval system.  People that have eidetic memory do not have more in the storage system, they just have a better retrieval system.  I think they file it differently in the first place.  I have developed some databases in my day and how you set them up and store the data well always effect the retrieval of the information later.  Lets throw half-heimers into the formula.   I would never make like of dementia of any kind because it is like "a hitler joke".  There is nothing funny about Hitler.  Climbing out of the rabbit hole.

I do not file things the same and I do not recall things the same as I used to, I do not think so anyway.  I do know that I am approaching circular logic and if I stay with this long enough, it will not make sense to anyone, even me.  My brain is filtering about ninety four percent of all information and shunting most of it to the short term trash heap. 

Back on topic, It surprises me that the group name, "Romantics" was never taken before 1977.  I noticed that the official name is "The Romantics" and this gave me a clue that somewhere there was possibly a copyright on "romantics".  There was a group called Ruby and the Romantics from Akron Ohio, yep she is a Zip.  Ruby Nash, the female lead of the group, originally sang with a group, consisting of her sister and three friends.  Ruby attended Central High School in Akron. Some of the male members of the Romantics sang with The Embers. Eventually, The Embers became known as The Supremes^{[citation needed]} (not to be confused with The Supremes of Motown Records fame),^[5] and then The Feilos.  This is a prime example of the music industry and how it displays its evilness.  I thought I was back on topic and I am if you go back to the purpose of "Remediation-Basket" which is my mental health.

all information that I did not know and I reference here was from Wikipedia as usual and I cut and pasted for accuracy

Total Eclipse of the Heart

This is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. It was written and produced by Jim Steinman, and released on Tyler's fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night (1983). Worldwide, the single has sales in excess of 6 million copies^[1] and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 1 million copies after its release, updated to Platinum in 2001 when the certification threshold changed.^[2]


The RIAA operates an award program for albums that sell a large number of copies.^[13] The program originally began in 1958, with a Gold Award for singles and albums that reach $1,000,000 in sales. The criterion was changed in 1975 to the number of copies sold, with albums selling 500,000 copies awarded the Gold Award. In 1976, a Platinum Award was added for one million sales. In 1989 new criteria were introduced, with a "Gold Award" for singles that reach 500,000 in sales and a "Platinum Award" for singles that reach 1,000,000 in sales; and in 1999 a Diamond Award for ten million sales was introduced.^[14] The awards are open to both RIAA members and non-members.^[15]

Who gives a shit.  A sale is a sale.

This song plays in my head often, only Freud would possibly know why, parapraxis I guess.  Wikepedia defines it as A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish.  This song is imposing and Miss Tyler's voice is very attracting, penetrating. My wife could sing like that before she imposed silence on her singing.  I know most of the words to this song, not in the correct order and scrambled verses but if you asked me do I know the words I would say "mostly".  My daughter knows every word to Disney's "The sword in the Stone", and I know all the words to "The Sound of Music".  Talk about songs in my head, when I lived in the mountains, I used to sing "Climb every mountain, fiord every stream.  I used to think the word was  Fiord every mountain which since I associated both fiord and mountain with some sort of glacial shit. more generally, a fjord is a narrow water body running from a glacier and a steam is a narrow body of water from a river.  Confusion alert.  Ok, honestly, I used the word "ford every stream", driving a bronco across ever stream.

Yes, it continues but not today.

I Only Have Eyes for You

A romantic love song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, written for the film Dames (1934) and listed as #157 in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2004)." I think the version I like the best is the one by the Flamingos in 1959.  Art Garfunkel did a great cover in 1975 and I was once again surprised when I found out it was a cover.

It is a great song and I am glad I am not the only one to think so.  There are two reasons this song is in focus today.  The first is because I was singing it when I woke up and secondly because at the same time there was a second song trying to break in to the solitude at 3am.  It was by ZZTop(1979), "I Thank You" is a song written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes originally recorded by Sam & Dave, released in early 1968.  I bring this up because I know a lady that can sing the lyrics of one song to the beat and rhythm of another song and I could almost hear that kind of thing with these two songs.  I can not now but during the REM fog I almost could.

You are here and so am I
       You didn't have to hold it but you did
Maybe millions of people go by
        And I thank you
But they all disappear from view
         You didn't have to squeeze me but you did
And I only have eyes for you!

The song is still playing in my head.  It is being attacked by my thoughts of food.  I think of food almost constantly.  I lost fifty pounds but am finding it extremely difficult to lose ten more.  I know have a duality of thought about weight, like the songs of thing morning.  I try not to judge people and whenever someone is judging they say "but" how can they stay fat?  At the same time I feel like shaking them from a distance and saying "snap out of it, eat bacon and eggs only and you will lose weight" but then I descend or condescend and say, but don't chase it with a soda and some grits.  I do realize that addiction whether food or drug or slothfulness, greed etc are complicated and judging is not a helpful tact.  Rabbit hole closing in on me.

Clarity, lets return to clarity.  A very romantic song but what is with the Sha bop sha bop.  Did Scatman Crothers work on that session.  I am not going to explain that.

I'm Just A Singer (in a rock and roll band)

This is a 1973 hit single by the English progressive rock band The Moody Blues.  One of the great things about this song and I really guess I mean video is that when the band says "I'm just a singer in a rock and roll ba-and" they are get these really childish grins.  I assume it is because they are really enjoying themselves and "still" cannot believe they are getting paid for this shit.  At least I hope that is what is going on.  There is nothing more gratifying than getting paid to do something you enjoy.  It reminds me of the feeling I had when I was in college and I would walk home thinking out loud, "I just sit there and they jam tons of awesome stuff into my brain, I love it.  I can do this forever."  And since it took me 6.5 years to get a degree I am sure my parents/advisioners thought I may have to do it forever. 

Another great thing about this song is when I was young and impressionable and heard the lyrics "I'm just a wandering on the face of this earth", it chilled my core because they used the word "wandering" as a noun.  It is a powerful word that can be used easily as a verb as in "What are you doing?, Wandering!", an adverb, "I am forever wandering", an adjective, "I am a wandering whore", and in this song, a noun.  "I am just a wandering....".  At twelve years of age, such grammatical assaults are uncalled for and quite abrupt.  I never looked at language the same after that.  I bashed the rules of grammar from then on and till this day.  I have been told that I can really turn a phrase.  

Now if I can just figure out how to get people to read what I write.  Rabbit hole coming up in 5,4,3,2,1, Imagine falling falling like Alice in Wonderland.  When her dressed popped open like a parachute I was about 12-13 years of age and all I was looking at was her bloomers.  What?, one thing I have found is that I am not the only one of the face of the earth that thinks like that.  What about the artist that drew it?  

Check out the Moody Blues, it will not disappoint. 

Night Moves

"Night Moves" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. It was the lead single from his ninth studio album, Night Moves (1976)

Well I actually "woke last night to the sound of thunder" and I was hearing this song in my head.  It is really a good song.  The storm outside was blowing hard and had lots of loud cracks and bright flashes.  It was 3:30 in the morning.   I had been asleep in the torture chamber for almost six hours so I was awake and most likely going to stay that way.  I call it the torture chamber because if I do not get any real exercise, I will not get a "good night's sleep".  I spend a great deal of sleep time just rolling around thinking about sleep. 

I wonder why someone like Bob Seger would not fix his teeth.  I know he has the money to have all golden diamond crusted teeth.  I have bad looking teeth but I am not wealthy and do not have insurance that will cover shit like that.  So maybe he has had it with dentists or people in general.  Maybe he just wants to figure out how to go to the store without hearing "Bob, hum me a song from 1962".  I heard and interview with some country singer who I had never heard of, while I was out looking for scallops and I guess he had 1 hit song and he said, "I wrote this song and I knew it was good, real good and I just had to figure if I even liked it because it was so good I would be singing it for the next twenty years so I better like it."   NO scallops again.  I am sure Bob had to sing it one hundred thousand times and think about 1962 so he does not want to think about it when he is buying some smokes and brewskies. 

, "Night Moves"

Burnin For You

"Burnin' for You" is a hit song by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, from the band's Platinum Fire of Unknown Origin album, released in July 1981.  While reading up on this song I was once again reminded I really know very little about anything.  The band's songs are still very popular and some of their videos were played near constantly on the "new MTV" back in the day.

I think I know stuff about bands and songs and I really don't. It is strange how the brain takes random bits of information and constructs a logical scenario.  I have discovered I know very little about a whole library full of things.  I would have guessed this band was mid-western, from Normal, Kansas or somewhere like that.  Nope, Long Island, NY.  WTF?  I think that as most people I form early opinions on things, all things and then hope through the process of investigation and learning that I reshape and validate the original impression.  Apparently, I am bad at that process. 

testing sound file

,"Run through the Jungle"

It's All Over Now

I woke at 4 am with this tune in my head.  It is the Rolling Stones version.  I don't  remember ever hearing any other version but it was written by Bobby Womack.  I always find it interesting when popular groups cover other peoples songs.  Did Mick and Keith not have a good recording session or did they just like the song and wanted to tell the world through an album.  My total ignorance of the music business, which is one of the most destructive in terms of lives lost keeps me searching for answers.  I remember on Lynyrd Skynyrd's album, Second Helping which is one of my top albums ever recorded they had a song, Call me the Breeze (by JJ Cale).  I was stunned that they would do a cover, well I was stunned when I found out it was not an original creation.  "Why"? 

In 1964 when the Rolling Stones covered It's all over now, I was 6 years old and still trying to put the needle down on the turn table without scratching the record and it was not a Rolling Stones record, it was probably a Roger Miller Do Wacka Do song on a 33rpm.  It was an investment in time and energy to listen to music in those days.  Record players got smarter by replaying automatically and I remember the first time we had one that had a lowering lever for the needle arm.  I used to just be amazed at how that needle which soon after was renamed a "cartridge" (subsequently there was a huge price increase) just touched down and the music was released from this vinyl disc. They still sell Shure cartriges, supposedly the best by all the album-heads of the day and they look similar to Pentium processors.  If you just take a wire and place it in the needle spot and put your ear real close to the record, you can hear the music.  It is just a vibration built into the grooves,  I love the Toyota commercial where they embed grooves and bumps in the road and as a car passes over them, it generates a tune. 

That should be a LAW that roads play songs at the proper speed.  Instead of naming them "Interstate 95"  would not it be great to call it "Highway Star" 95" by Deep Purple. "Nobody gonna take my car
I'm gonna race it to the ground...."  The only problem would occur, well not the only problem but the biggest problem is that after the guitar solo part any sane person would be traveling at about 130 mph. 

Ava Maria

Really.

I went to a funeral last week and they sang this song.  It is such great song and melody.  Franz  Schubert has something to do with it back in 1720 or so and it has been modified, reworked lots of times.  There are several good versions but the Celine Dion version is probably about as good as it can get.  Honestly, it is a little over the top but technically perfect. I could not listen to it on a loop or I would need a sedative to keep from jabbing things in my ears. 

I have very little idea what the words mean.  Schuber only gets credit for the melody but the phrase "ave maria" is in it.  It is complicated and trying to sort it all out and give credit was not going to happen but it did give me a headache.  I have heard people tell me that it is a funeral and Christmas standard in many cultures which is strange because often times (as my parents and family can validate)  I am not listening when people tell me things.  The other thing about Christmas dinners, funerals and wedding is that the same "nice cloths" are worn to each.  I am not a slave to fashion so I really only have one nice outfit in a more demure color scheme and I wear it to life and death events.  I cannot think of Christmas as a beginning of Jesus's life without also thinking of his death, a funeral is obviously a death thing and a wedding is a death to male stupidity and a beginning of a new more enlightened walk so same cloths kind of fits.  The priest's first words at the funeral were "I always  ask, Is she really dead? " 

This song has  been bouncing around my head all morning.  I have not taken the time to put on the headphones and listen appropriately. I will soon since I am nearing a break time in my day.  I am wondering what language I am going to hear it in.  I have a choice of Latin, Germanic, Francoian and Esperanto.  The Esperanto version is not very good.  This particular record sold about 243 copies and most of them in Switzerland.  I made that up.

I would like to hear "Howlin Wolf" sing it in his classical Chicago blues style. 

Midnight Confession

Yep, way back to 1965 by the Grass Roots.  When I was in high school in the late 70s, a friend of mine had a mix tape 8-track of bands like the Grass Roots, Lovin Spoonful, The Rascals and others.  It also could have been one of those commercials that ran on TV all the time in those days that unheard of record label was trying to sell one hit wonders that they did not make enough money on.  They would package a good song with two or three ok songs and six or eight lame songs.  These commercials were played at night before the test pasterns came on a midnight or whenever. 

I remember dragging main street on a buck of gas in my 1966 Chevy Impala, all six thousand pounds of it with no shocks and nine miles to the gallon.  Five loops through town was about 50 cents worth of gas, 1 gallon in those days.  We would stop to pick up girls and offer to drive them around with the line "Gas, Ass or grass!"  I do not remember getting any ass or grass but I do remember running out of gas a few times.  About eight or nine high school kids could quite comfortably fit in a 66 Impala.  Hell, we traveled 40 miles with six guys in football uniforms, three cheerleaders and a trainer (with a big orange cooler in the trunk full of cool-aid) in a 68 LTD with no rear window.

I loved to sing that song at the top of my lungs, "when I tell all the world that I love you",  not while anyone was around.  Singing those songs in 1975 was like watching Little house on the Prairie.  You just did not reveal that kind of thing not with The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and others pumping out hard rock legends.  My friend with the mix tape, Kari was ok with it though.  My eight track player ate that tape about 1981.  I tried to repair the tape but I had lost the touch.

Jumpin

Jumpin at the Woodside

This is a Count Basie tune that was popularized to me on the Gong Show which was a TV show created by Chuck Barris  and we will go into that some other day.  The Woodside hotel, according to Wikipedia  was located on Seventh Avenue at 142nd Street in Harlem (and has since been demolished) and apparently it was jumpin.  This tune was first played in 1938.  Count Basie is well known for many great songs and performances. I first heard The Count as I call him on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in the 60s and 70s..

I encourage you to listen to the Gong Show version by Milton DeLugg and the Count Basie version.  Because I have Zero, Zip, Nada musical ability, I am truly mystified by different musical interpretations.   I remember the first time I heard the original acoustical version of "Something" by George Harrison while a member of the  Beatles or the other versions of "Layla" played by Eric Clapton, it sent my mind into a twirl because I now had to accept that just because I liked something and thought it was the best way to do something, now there is other ways of doing things which are as good or possible better. One potential fact about these two examples, Something and Layla, it is rumored these songs are about the same woman at different time in her life and with different men in her life.  Down the rabbit hole we go.

Jumpin at the Woodside was also part of the Hitler youth movie "Swing Kids" in early 1990s.  This is a great movie that did not get enough play in the day especially if you like swing/big band music and history stuff.

In roundorium, this song does get stuck in your head looping around all day.

Enjoy

Down Under

Down Under

Ok, so I was getting in the car this morning and this song from  Men At Work "Down Under" popped into my head.  I was concerned again because usually songs start the instant I wake up.

Generally I like this song, it was catchy and a new sound from the Australian invasion of sorts even though there have been some very successful sounds prior to the early 80s.  The BeeGees, Olivia Newton John, the Cowsills, not the Cowsills.  They are too happy anyway.  There was Rescuers Down Under, a tremendously entertaining Disney animated feature and lots of Australia stuff going on.

The Land Down Under as I called it, not to be confused with he Land Before Time, Land of the Lost or Land HO was played six or seven times an hour when it first came out as American capitalism requires.  Paraphrasing Alexander Hamilton, "you must beat the horse long after he has given up to the ghost:."  Even with all that airplay, I still did not know the correct words until I did some research for this blog.


Also, I am going to try to figure out with HTML how to add a little sound bite of the songs.  It is possible I assume. 

We are Go Houston

I have been trying to physically get into my blogspace so I could start blogging again.  It has been a password/device/handshake kind of problem which to me is just frivolity and not needed security but I guess some people care about those things.  I do not.  The problem was that the verification thingy was using a phone number to contact me that did not exist.  Also, it was a google account crap and I am one of the original Yahooligans from the 80s and I never really had a google account that I know of.   I was being asked to view some photos on a google site and a login code was sent to me and I used it to get into google and from there I found my way to my account and changed the phone reference no. 

One of the interesting things that goes on in my brain is that practically every morning just as I wake up, a song starts going off in my head.  It could be a song I like or a song I do not like.  It could be jazz, rock, pop from the 60s or saints preserve me! a Christmas song.  It is always a different song than the previous day.

I plan on sharing that with you.  I know that is not a very good reason for you to rush to my blog every day so I will try to spice it up.

There are some days, interestingly today of all days there was no song, and there is not one now and since I could use yesterday's song, which I know there was one because I remember thinking, I will try to log on to Remediation Basket Monday morning.  It is Monday morning and I am in, no without aggravation but I am in and I have a device blah blah blah so hopefully there will be a song tomorrow.