From Me To You

 

I’ve just finished reading John and Paul, A love Story in Songs, by Ian Leslie.  Even if you are only a casual fan of The Beatles, you owe it to yourself to read this book.  Yes, you will read all the usual anecdotes you probably already know.  But you will also revel in amazing insights into the most important musical force of your lifetime – however old you are.  It’s a beautiful and touching tribute.

Have Some Sympathy …

 

A good song will stand up to almost any amount of abuse in the recording studio.  For example: most hits by The Rolling Stones before 1978.

There’s No Need For Argument

 

Van Morrison deserves respect as a songwriter, but I wish his songs had been recorded by Springsteen.  Take, for example, Domino.

Please Listen

 

Listen to the last refrain of Nowhere Man.

 

I will love Paul McCartney ‘til the day I die.

Sock It To Me

 

The thing about lists is they are designed to create controversy.  Witness Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.  Everyone’s going to have a grievance or three.  This one’s too low on the list, that one’s too high.  And – especially, it would seem, if you’re a Celine Dion fan – why isn’t she (or he) on the list?

 

But this list created a different problem for me, because for every okay-I-get-it and are-you-serious? on the list there was also a who?

 

I must be getting old.

Or Else Expecting Rain

 

Check out the lyrics for Dylan’s Desolation Row. 

 

How can one guy be this …  insightful, cutting, good, clever, empathic, cynical, hypnotic, intimate?

 

Thanks, Bob.  Wow!  Ouch!  Right on!  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

 

I think.

Deep Inside My Heart I Know I Can’t Escape

 

Here’s some heresy for you:

 

Who is the greatest blues songwriter?  Willie Dixon?  Robert Johnson?  Howlin’ Wolf?  Muddy Waters?  B.B. King?

 

I think a serious case could be made for one Robert Zimmerman.

Ol’ Poor Boy

 

The older I get, the more I understand why George Harrison revered Carl Perkins.

Time Is Tight

 

Who’s on your list of tightest bands of all time?  Led Zeppelin?  U2?  The Allman Brothers?  Jethro Tull?  Yes?  AC/DC?  Steely Dan?

 

Have a listen to Melting Pot by Booker T. & the MG’s and tell me they don’t belong.

She’ll Never Break

 

The Stones should have re-recorded Heart of Stone when they were making Voodoo Lounge.  I mean, they were always good, but their musicianship and production was just so much better later on.

Don’t Think Twice

 

In the run up to Bob Dylan’s 80^th birthday, there have been dozens of articles offering praise, trivia and insights.  As a fan, of course I read them.

 

One of the more interesting tidbits I picked up was the notion that Dylan’s songs are paintings.  You don’t have to understand them.  You don’t even have to like them.  You only have to know whether they speak to you.

 

Speaking for myself, they do.  Yeah, they do.

Ain’t No Life Nowhere

 

You want psychedelic?  Listen to I Don’t Live Today by Jimi Hendrix.  That’s psychedelic.

You’ll Be Laughing

 

I have a playlist called Rock and Roll Heaven (it’s short; about a hundred songs).  The other night when I was listening to it, the first three songs that played were:

1. Be My Lover by Alice Cooper 
2. John Lennon’s cover of Stand By Me 
3. Permanent Waves by The Kinks 

 

Aside from reminding me that the 70’s wasn’t all disco and prog wankarama, what do they have in common?  Well, if you made a Venn diagram of the three artists, you’d find humour in the centre.

 

Sure, John gives one of his overpowering performances where you believe Every. Single. Word.  

 

But John was the funniest guy in a very funny band called The Beatles who were constantly amused that we all took them so seriously.  Alice Cooper could never be accused of taking himself seriously.  Ditto Ray Davies.

 

Yes, a lot of us are still hopeful that music can change the world, but it’s a healthy reminder that, although it might not be a joke, Rock and Roll really is just a bit of fun.

I Won’t Hide It

I don’t know about you, but when I listen to Cheap Trick’s If You Want My Love I hear The Beatles.

Time Is On My Side

So you’re a bar band.  You start out playing Chicago Blues and 50’s R&B.  Rock and Roll takes over.  Then things move on to Motown, Psychedelic, Hard Rock, Disco, and Alternative.  How the devil do keep getting gigs through all these changes? 

Answer: you become the Rolling Stones.

Run Devil Run

I know it was Paul McCartney’s album and all, but:

• Mick Green
• Pete Wingfield
• Ian Paice
• David Gilmour
• And Sir Paul himself

So how come that line-up on Live At The Cavern Club wasn’t labelled a supergroup?

Gotta Hear It Again Today

The three best covers of all time are:

1. All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix, and 
2. All Along The Watchtower by Neil Young, and 
3. All Along The Watchtower by U2 

Okay, it’s actually Roll over Beethoven by The Beatles, but still …

Butterflies Above Our Nation

Sure, I know that Woodstock started out as a commercial enterprise.  I realize that it was basically a disaster.  I understand that most of the positive things happened by accident.  And I accept that the ‘Woodstock Nation’ was an illusion that would never materialize.

To which I say this: If we don’t grasp at illusions, if we don’t embrace fantasies, if we don’t chase dreams, there can be no magic in our lives.

And what’s the point of that?

Carry That Weight

I belong to too many Facebook groups, the consequence of which is that I am regularly subjected to posts declaring that The Beatles were overrated- if not downright awful.

To which I say this: If you were between the ages of ten and twenty in 1964 you are entitled to your opinion (even if you’re wrong).  If you are younger, you will never understand, because you weren’t there.  You didn’t experience those magical years.

Well I Realize I’ve Been Hypnotized

OK, I know Hendrix played the Chitlin’ Circuit, and near the end he was getting into funk and all, but Jimi Hendrix did psychedelic, right?  I mean he embodied the words Far Out.

But listen to Gypsy Eyes.  Underneath the trippy exterior is a Motown song.  It could have been done by The Temptations, right?

That’s what’s so cool about great artists, great recordings, and great songs.  They keep giving up something new.