Farewell - Mary Black

All things that have life will pass beyond returning. This will be the final farewell for this blog. Should anyone read this, may your spirit be ever more buoyant than mine.

Be well.
*

As if by magic...

Having mentioned a couple of (to me) memorable lines from Yellow Sub, the next clip I looked at contained both...

I confess to being something of a Beatlemaniac: I have every vinyl album they released in the US while they were still a group, including a numbered copy of the White Album, a white vinyl White Album, a picture disc of Sgt. Pepper, a commemorative plate of the Sgt. Pepper cover, a Beatles song book from 1964 that has fallen apart but still contains the Fan Club application, 2 other, more recent songbooks, the original Two Virgins, featuring a naked John and Yoko on the front and back covers... and more. Not that I'm obsessed or anything - it was an ccident, really!

Once upon a time... or maybe twice

The opening scenes of the Beatles' film, Yellow Submarine... I have seen it 22 times, in the theatre. Always interesting to see how people choose to spend their money, isn't it?

Some great lines in this script. Although the Beatles themselves did not do the voices, the actors did a passable job. Harrison says, "it's all in the mind," and Lennon says "nothing is Beatleproof." I still use those lines today...
*

I Got a Feeling - Beatles (Live)

How awesome it must have been to be in that neighborhood that day, to hear the last live performance by the best group of their generation!
*

Got a Feelin' - Mamas & Papas (Live)

Quite possibly the most magical concert experience of this life was seeing the Mamas & Papas. Cass Elliot had such a marvelous voice, and just looking at Michelle Phillips was enough to make me ache, this song more than any other of ther repertoire. Their harmonies have never been surpassed. This film was shot at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

I was scheduled to go in 1968, but something happened that kept me away and changed the course of my life. Water well past the bridge, time to look forward, not back.
*

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys...

A song reflecting the less than glamorous aspect of dying from the cold, in the arms of a nightmare, with a video about taking what you need from the ladies...
*

My Heroes have always been Cowboys

A person who follows their own lights, rarely asking help from anyone. They want what they want and generally don't hesitate to take it. This could describe a Dom/me, but stir in a facility with rope, and you get cowboy. Now when I grew up here in the West, I didn't 'specially want to be a cowboy, because I really did not understand them anymore than they understood me, a long-haired hippie-type.

And as the years passed I mellowed, I guess, and began to appreciate there was more than one way to view the world, always believing a man who would look you in the eye and shake your hand and live up to his word was someone you could rely on. It was the way I was raised, I just didn't realize what it meant.

Anyone can sign a contract, then walk away. But a person who would rather suffer physical pain than renege on a promise, that's the sort of person I want around me, waking or sleeping. I don't fault anyone for not being that way, but those who are not may find me scarce.

Did She Mention My Name? - Gordon Lightfoot

One of my all-time favorites, a joy to sing and play, full of hope and happiness, yet sadness blended within. Yet another cover, the original post having been removed, but a heartfelt rendition and the sound quality is very good.
*

Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot

A celebration and indictment of the steps taken to "tame" the northern portion of this continent. Much of it applies to the race to lay tracks from sea to shining sea in what is now the USA. "Open her heart, let the life blood flow, gotta get on our way 'cause we're movin' too slow."

"Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day..."

I don't think this is Lightfoot singing, but the first version posted was removed and this is a very good cover, if not real....

Big River - Jimmy Nail, with Mark Knopfler

Not a great song, perhaps, but poignant in its observation of the gradual deflating of their dreams as people's lives give way to the flow of time...

The Highwayman - Phil Ochs

Could not find even a poor video of "I'm Gonna Say it Now," so I'll post the song I have played more than any other aside from Beatles tunes. It predates McKennit's effort, and as I saw him perform it in concert as well as having committed it to memory, this is the only version I think of as "real."
*

Flag Decal

The last time I performed on stage at the University of Wales I got a warm reception, and it may be that this song was the audience's favorite. This or Phil Ochs' "I'm gonna say it now," which follows if I can find a decent video.
*

Illegal Smile - John Prine

Having mentioned this in the last post, it seemed only fitting to add it...
*

In Spite of Ourselves - John Prine & Iris Dement

Now John Prine is someone I've known about forever. His "Illegal Smile" and "Flag Decal" were songs I played for audiences for longer than I can remember. So to find him and Iris performing together was an unexpected treat. Many smiles!
*

Let the Mystery Be - Iris Dement

In the Transatlantic Sessions, one person stood out for me: Iris Dement has that elusive combination of lyrical grace, a distinctive voice and a beautiful, caring soul. The songs she writes are so broad that she is listed as Pop rather than Country, which is fine by me, for I don't much care for pigeonholes, as the selection of music on this blog might suggest... let the mystery be.
*

Will he Circle Be Unbroken? (live)

Seems like it was in 1996 or so that an amazing thing happened: a group of American and British musicians gathered at a house on the West coast of Scotland and made some heart-breakingly beautiful music. Broadcast on the BBC as "The Transatlantic Sessions," there were four or more one-hour broadcasts. I taped the all, but of course when I returned to the US, shipping a bunch of PAL videos to the land of NTSC was entirely silly. So I left them there. It is with great delight I discovered clips and this was one of many outstanding songs they played.
*

Crazy on You - Heart (Live)

There is one in the "related videos" that appear below when this ends that is a better version of Anne's vocals, but I prefer this one for Nancy's guitar work. As a (formerly) guitarist, I have a keen appreciation for those who achieve a level of proficiency beyond anything I ever did.
*

Alone - Heart

Another awesome video. Truth be told, I always had a crush on Nancy, who is an amazing musician, as the next video shows...
*

What About Love? - Heart

One of the most amazing concerts I ever saw was Heart, at about the time of this recording. It was in the days when you were still allowed to take pictres, but those were in a very large box of negatives and prints that vanished in a move. Oh well, I have the memories... and thanks to video I can share them with you - almost.
*

Sweetest Taboo - Sade

One simply is not enough... (Be warned, the volume may be a trifle high!)

Smooth Operator - Sade

She doesn't date from those earliest days, but Sade is just awesome and the rhythms of d'Arby's song brought her to mind. And once there, how could I not post at least one song?

Sign your Name - Terence Trent d'Arby

The third song that really stuck with me from those early days. Don't think this is the video, but that's ok...

Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode

The 1982 version, with the incredible freshness and energy has been removed from YouTube, so this newer version will have to do.. and I've left the original post below.

Not quite the one I remember, and the sound's a bit muddy, but the energy is there. As a musical offering of the day, it doesn't get any better than this.
*

Beautiful World - Devo

In the early 1980's a new TV station, KBDI began broadcasting in the town where I grew up. As the second PBS affiliate in the Denver market, they were free to offer alternatives to the more mainstream fare, including Dr. Who and a radical new concept they called FM TV. This may have been the first regularly scheduled airing of music videos, before even Betamax, when home movies were still mostly made on Super 8, and some years before MTv.

Devo were among the pioneers of this format and this song was my favorite of theirs. Others who impressed me were Depeche Mode and a band whose name escapes me. In the next post I'll show my second favorite from those days.
*

Gettyburg Address

My great-great-grandfather had died in the Civil War a year before the battle of Gettysburg, leaving behind a 2 year-old daughter and her mother.

That daughter, born in 1860, went on to midwife over 300 babies, have six children of her own by the time she was 40, bury three husbands and lived to see her 95th year, although she had been blind for some years before she died. Sarah Isabelle Langford was maybe 5' tall, and is the chief reason why, when I hear women rerferred to as "the weaker sex," I just smile and shake my head...

Mediate - INXS

I love to see ideas continued, not just copied, so this was a delight. The solo at the end reminds me of a hot summer evening, seeing / hearing a guy on the 10th floor balcony of an apartment house nearby playing a sweet trumpet solo to the sunset and whoever else might be listening. Until some asshole shouted "Shut the f*ck up!"

Looking back, I have to concede the shouter had as much right to peace and quiet as the musician did to play. But like Edward Everett, who spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, the elegance and eloquence are more sharply-etched by the contrast.

Subterranean Homesick Blues

Sometimes it feels like the 60's were in black & white, until the Summer of Love and the beginning of the Psychedelic Era. In a way, Dylan's career parallels this, with his early acoustic "pure folk" songs (he was actually booed early on, when his music became electrified). It was a time of awakenigs, of belief in possibilities beyond the certainty of nuclear war, when Vietnam had not yet become the fault-line between generations, when it seemed Love might actually become the guiding principle of a generation...

Local Hero - Wild Theme (Dire Straits - Live)

Guess I've spent more time in the Working Class neighborhoods in the UK than in the US, and somehow I may have a greater appreciation or sympathy for the people who live in such straits. I have long thought that adversity nurtures creativity, or at least the striving to overcome such adversity does. And perhaps I am mistaken, but after watching "Romeo and Juliet" a dozen times or more I am left wondering whether Knopfler's awesome talent and considerable success has brought him Happiness.

It might be argued that everyone is entitled to happiness and the pursuit thereof. It has been argued that Happiness is a conscious decision. And it has been argued that Happiness can be molded to fit the person, like a lump of clay may be molded to an unique shape.

And it may be that, in the end, being a local hero, a big fish in a small pond, as it were, is worth more than being known by millions around the world.

A nice collection of images, well and thoughtfully assembled to accompany one of Knopfler's finest compositions.
*
*

Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straits - live)

Sometimes even riches from rags is hollow. Sometimes love is not enough to bring someone into your life to stay. Sometimes two people just simply need different things. No right, no wrong. It is what it is. I suppose the biggest pitfall lies in dreaming someone else's dream, for no two people can have entirely identical dreams. When the dream becomes real for one, it may be shattered for the other. And that can be so hard to bear, so hard.

I have been guilty many times of thinking what I wanted was what my partner wanted, was something I should strive for, could share in, if only we worked hard enough, together. This song has spoken to that feeling for me for a couple of decades. At least now I have a glimmer of understanding. Doesn't mean I am "better" now, or will be any time soon. Just means I need my own dreams to pursue.

I cannot recommend the Dire Straits video "On the Night" strongly enough. It contains a 10-minute version of this song, featuring saxophone, keyboard and steel guitar solos along with Knopfler's incomparable guitar work. That is the version originally posted here, removed for copyright violations. A shame that, as it prompted me to buy the video even before it was removed from YouTube. I wonder how many more were sold, and now will not be?
*
*

Do You Remember? (First time I saw Snow)

A video of California-born Simon Sagal's true first experience of snow, made quite conveniently, on the day when New York City was paralyzed by a significant blizzard. Supporting cast: his mom, Courtney, filmed by his dad, Marc. Music by Simon's uncle, Jared Sagal.

the 21st Century equivalent..

.... of a wallet full of photographs, and you can look as long as you like. Star of the show is my grandson, Simon Sagal, as well as glimpses of my daughter, her husband and her adoptive parents. I reckon I am biased, but he seems like a pretty cute little kid... and no, don't think I am in it

Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd

tongue-tied and twisted, an Earthbound misfit, I...

Werewolves of Lndon

Ahh-ooh!