Chuck's Children

[chuckschildren]

Maurice White, the founder of Earth, Wind, and Fire, died today. He was another musical great from the '70s.

[chuckschildren]

Fifty-seven years ago today Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens died in a plane crash. Don McLean's "American Pie" commemorates the event (particularly Holly's passing) as "the day the music died." This video touches on several of the references in the song but some things are still debatable about the song.

[chuckschildren]

One of my high school literature teachers brought the LP version of Tales of Mystery and Imagination into class and played this song for us when we were studying Poe. The album was the first released by The Alan Parsons Project. Later releases would have more commercial success, but this is a great album, particularly for fans of Poe or horror/suspense more generally.

[chuckschildren]

“Take It Easy” sung by Glenn Frey and co-written by Glenn and Jackson Browne (a more country version of the song can be found on Jackson’s For Everyman album). When I was in high school one of my English teachers would put quotes up on the board, several of which were from rock songs. One of those was:

“Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy

Lighten up while you still can

Don’t even try to understand

Just find a place to make your stand

and take it easy.”

[chuckschildren]

“No man's got it made till he's far beyond the pain And we who must remain go on living just the same.”

Bernie Leadon, another founding member of the Eagles, wrote those words as part of a tribute to Gram Parsons. Those words, along with the rest of “My Man” seem appropriate today with the passing of the driving force behind the Eagles, Glenn Frey.

“Like a flower, he bloomed till that old hickory wind called him home.”

[chuckschildren]

Few artists have had careers as long and as storied (pun intended) as Gordon Lightfoot. He’s had many number one hits (”Sundown” and “Carefree Highway” among the best known) but “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” may be his best known song though it only reached number two on the U.S. charts. The song chronicles the story (true story) of the last trip of ship and crew on Lake Superior.

[chuckschildren]

If you talk about Southern Rock, you have to mention the Allman Brothers. Growing up I loved "Rambling Man" (and still do) but these days I'm more partial to "Melissa." Written by Gregg long before Duane's death, it was recorded after because it was a song Duane loved.

[chuckschildren]

The Animals’ recording of “House of the Rising Sun” in 1964 is probably the best known version of the song, though many others have recorded it as well.

[chuckschildren]

Glad’s “Variations on a Hymn (That Hymn Thing)” is a survey of history of music in song. It looks at how Christian hymn writers did and might have used the contemporary styles of their time in hymn/song writing.

Glad’s exploration of the history of A Capella styles is also pretty cool.

[chuckschildren]

While it seems hard to imagine today, Mac Davis was a pop star, not a country star when he first started out. Much like Glen Campbell, the music industry changed around Mac Davis so that his music today seems more country than pop or rock and roll. Early in his career, Mac was best known as a songwriter, writing hits like “In the Ghetto” which Elvis made famous. “Rock ‘N Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)” was not written by Davis but must have resonated with him. He eventually embraced the country music label and is probably better remember by fans of that genre than by pop/rock fans.

[chuckschildren]

One of my favorite bands of the early 1980s was Golden Earring. The Dutch band had hit big in the ‘70s with Radar Love but seemed like a one-hit wonder in the US. But the album Cut would change that in 1982. The single “Twilight Zone” from Cut would become a hit and the follow up album N.E.W.S. would be a success as well. Both albums are solid with wonderfully diverse songs and themes. The songs reference literature (”The Last of the Mohicans” and “1984″) and pop-culture (”Twilight Zone” and “Mission Impossible”) among other topics. “Twilight Zone” grabbed my attention because the Serling’s anthology series has always been among my favorite TV shows. The song appears to reference a particular episode, “The Jeopardy Room” starring Martin Landau, by the opening dialog and the hitman reference. The song doesn’t give all the details but many allusions are there. Like the 2:00 AM reference, which is not specifically stated in the episode but can be determined by the fact that Landau’s character is given three hours to live and his time is up at 5:00 AM. Also, if you watch the episode, you will understand why the hitman knows he has been cheated.

[chuckschildren]

Of the singer songwriters of the early 1970s, the biggest and most enduring is James Taylor. My brother (8 years my senior) had two of James’ albums when I was growing up, Sweet Baby James and Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. It was Sweet Baby James that captured my interest. With the title track, “Country Road,” and perhaps James’ best known song, “Fire and Rain.” There is something affecting and beautiful in the music, the voice, and the lyrics. This is true for most of James Taylor’s music, and especially true for “Fire and Rain.”

[chuckschildren]

Simon & Garfunkel had been one of the biggest acts of the 1960s but in in the ‘70s they had split and Paul Simon had a successful solo career with songs like “Kodachrome” and “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” Art was successful, but less noticeably so. His music tended more to the adult contemporary charts as opposed to the pop charts. Paul wrote “My Little Town” originally with Art in mind but they decided to record the song as a duet and both included it on their albums. Not too surprisingly, the song became a top 10 hit for the duet. The song evokes images for many of us who grew up in smaller towns. My own memories aren’t quite as negative as the perspective contained in the song, but there have been times when I could identify with many of the verses. At one point it did seem like there was little left but the dead and dying in my hometown, but it has since seen a bit of a resurgence. The real key to the song though is that harmony. There is something about those two voices that can draw me back to times and places I had otherwise forgotten. That’s part of the power that music has.

[chuckschildren]

“Green Grass and High Tides” is perhaps the best known song the Outlaws released and yet it was never a single. It is an example of the power that album-oriented rock stations carried in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. It’s also a bit different for a southern rock song with the images of “castles of stones, souls, and glory” and “kings and queens.” The band has stated that the song is a tribute to the rock stars lost early, like Hendrix, Joplin, Jim Morrison, etc. Live the song tends to stretch over 20 minutes in length with the guitar solos, so in that sense it is very much a southern rock anthem, like “Free Bird.”

[chuckschildren]

For their series Paperback Writers the BBC recently had Stephen King play some of his favorite songs. Based on what I know of King and his musical tastes, that the Stones and AC/DC were included was not surprise. However, some songs were, including this one, Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man.” I love the song, having been first introduced to it when I was quite young (my sister, who is ten years older than I, had the 45). I initially associate the song with James Bond (”They’re giving you a number and taking away your name”) but the song was actually used for the TV show Secret Agent (US title; the show was called Danger Man in the UK). As for Johnny Rivers, he would have a string of hits but this remains my favorite of his songs.

[chuckschildren]

“Now More than Ever” is something of an odd choice for a Sunday. It’s not explicitly religious, let alone Christian, and John Mellencamp’s beliefs are anything but clear from his music (and I’ve never seen where he addresses the subject). The clearest song is an old one; “Golden Gates” from the Uh Huh album and it is a fairly clear statement against traditional Christian teaching. “Mansions in Heaven” is too ambiguous to be seen as a refutation of the earlier “Golden Gates” lyrics. So why “Now More than Ever?” Because God is a Trinity, and that means all existence is relationship. The foundation of all being is relationship and God’s creation of the world flows out of the love that exists between the persons of the Trinity. That’s why the Bible says of all the virtues, the greatest is love. And that’s why, now more than ever, and always, the world needs love. Not Hollywood sentimental love, but a deep and costly affection that looks first to the needs of others.

[chuckschildren]

For a country music Saturday that falls on Halloween, Johnny Cash’s “Ghost Riders in the Sky” seems an appropriate choice. The song, written in the 1940s, has endured and been recorded by many artists. The most well known rock version of the song was done by the Outlaws in 1980. Johnny’s is probably the best know country version. The song is a reminder too that country music was once more commonly called Country and Western Music, though the Western label (like the roll from Rock and Roll) is frequently left off. Though not mentioned in the song, I like to imagine that the lead horseman was headless.