Friday, September 3, 2010
1968 - Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 - The Look Of Love
I'm becoming a little obsessed with this. 1968 produced several songs that are definitely bricks in my foundation. It was impossible to choose one over the others, but when I listened to this I remembered this song making me feel kind of "funny".
I knew being in love felt like this.
There are many other versions out there. Dusty Springfield had a particularly nice one.
1967 - The Fifth Dimension - Up, Up And Away
The 1966 Billboard Top 100 churned and spun through my dreams last night. What an interesting contrast and statement of the times. The number one song was The Ballad of The Green Beret as the country answered the call of the war drum and rose to stop communist aggression. Other wholesome songs like Born Free, Strangers In The Night, You're My Soul And Inspiration were on the charts at the same time as the Rolling Stones with Paint It Black, and 19th Nervious Breakdown and Donovan with his Sunshine Superman.
I went a little crazy trying to figure out what to play. It was a good year for catchy garage rock hits - 96 Tears, Wild Thing, and Dirty Water - all songs I came to love a few years later, but my world in that first year was probably shaped more by the radio in the kitchen - my parents' music.
So I decided to leave '66 represented by Sunny and move on to 1967 because, if you can't sort out the past, you can at least run from it.
The Fifth Dimension was ubiquitous during those years. This song definitely echoes across time to me. Sometimes it's straight forward and optimistic, and other times it's surreal and part of a horror movie soundtrack.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Soundtrack
Did you ever stop to think about the music of your life? Not just your favorite songs, but all that stuff playing in the background all your life. Love it or hate it, it's a part of your superstructure and is partially responsible for who you are today. Since Autumn - the season of memory, nostalgia, longing, and maybe some regret - is upon us, I think I'll take a peak at the Billboard Top 100 from across my early lifespan and post a song a day here. Not necessarily because it was a favorite, but because it's built into my superstructure.
So we begin at the beginning, 1966, with a song that struck me as the real thing a long time ago, and it still does today.
Sorry, if you want to hear the song you have to play the bottom one - copyright stuff I guess, and I couldn't figure out how to delete the top one without reposting. How inconvenient!
So we begin at the beginning, 1966, with a song that struck me as the real thing a long time ago, and it still does today.
Sorry, if you want to hear the song you have to play the bottom one - copyright stuff I guess, and I couldn't figure out how to delete the top one without reposting. How inconvenient!
1979 - The Knack - My Sharona
This song was iconic back in the corn field running days, but it didn't have the spirtual quality of night running. It was more of a day time song for jumping around and raising some dust. It captures pretty well the manic frustration of that age for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F69Kg65kt6s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F69Kg65kt6s&feature=related
2. Run
Fall carries memories.
Running
through tall corn fields in darkness,
dew wet grass,
bright moon,
crisp night air,
heart pounding,
the rows of stalks a blur,
my blood sings,
I all but fly.
Rendered
pure and open
all the way
to the cold stars -
the only eyes to see
and
know
how much
this
means
Running
through tall corn fields in darkness,
dew wet grass,
bright moon,
crisp night air,
heart pounding,
the rows of stalks a blur,
my blood sings,
I all but fly.
Rendered
pure and open
all the way
to the cold stars -
the only eyes to see
and
know
how much
this
means
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
1. Sombrero
September begins
and the weather is like this:
tense
with a strong chance of hurricane
by week's end;
the kids are scattered in three directions
for the first day of school;
the temperature
will reach the high 90s;
and the leaves are turning
orange,
red
and
yellow.
I'm collecting images in my
head
that
I wish I had photographed
instead.
This morning it was this hazy valley
with silhouettes of rounded
blue mountains as a backdrop,
a bend in the railroad tracks lit
by slanted rays of the rising sun,
and then a homemade traffic sign
warning of turtles
crossing
along the next seven miles of road.
But there was no time to stop.
There never is.
A cat sitting bolt-upright
near a cut in a grassy field,
staring down,
waiting.
The cat is orange,
and I've seen it in
that very spot
before doing
that very thing.
An ornate black sombrero
falls down
from somewhere and
comes to rest
up-ended
on the sidewalk.
No one rushes after it -
nothing else happens.
I don't know whether
to laugh at the
absurdity
or
fear the
consequences.
and the weather is like this:
tense
with a strong chance of hurricane
by week's end;
the kids are scattered in three directions
for the first day of school;
the temperature
will reach the high 90s;
and the leaves are turning
orange,
red
and
yellow.
I'm collecting images in my
head
that
I wish I had photographed
instead.
This morning it was this hazy valley
with silhouettes of rounded
blue mountains as a backdrop,
a bend in the railroad tracks lit
by slanted rays of the rising sun,
and then a homemade traffic sign
warning of turtles
crossing
along the next seven miles of road.
But there was no time to stop.
There never is.
A cat sitting bolt-upright
near a cut in a grassy field,
staring down,
waiting.
The cat is orange,
and I've seen it in
that very spot
before doing
that very thing.
An ornate black sombrero
falls down
from somewhere and
comes to rest
up-ended
on the sidewalk.
No one rushes after it -
nothing else happens.
I don't know whether
to laugh at the
absurdity
or
fear the
consequences.
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