Let’s Take A Moment Day 326

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Hi everyone. Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing. But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

In 2007 I was deeply obsessed with the TV show “Lost”. In a particularly fun episode during season 3 (#10, “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”), Hurley discovered (with Vincent’s help) an old vehicle lying on its side buried in a remote part of the jungle. When he & a couple of the other guys flipped it on to its wheels, it was easy to see it was a circa 1970’s VW van, similar to the one Kevin Costner drove in “Field Of Dreams”. Hurley was convinced he could get the van started with some help. So he climbed into the driver’s seat, Charlie rode shotgun and Sawyer & Jin gave the vehicle a push. Miraculously it shifted into first gear much to the delight of all four men. And when the van started, an 8-track in the dash radio started playing today’s song. If there was any doubt as to what decade the vehicle originated from, that perfect bit of nostalgia was the only clue you needed.

The show took it one step further by playing a gorgeous symphonic version of that track as the men returned to camp. The song was by the band Three Dog Night who were all over the radio in the 1970’s with songs like “Joy To The World”, “One”, “Just An Old Fashioned Love Song” & “Black & White”, to name a few. I cannot say they were one of my favorite groups, but their songs were different enough to pique my interest. What made their sound unique were the three lead singers: Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron & Cory Wells. The one song by them that I adore was sung by Wells, who was born 80 years ago today on February 5, 1941. And when it started playing in that van during that “Lost” episode, it was a fabulous salute to a great decade & a great song.

“Wash away my sorrow
Wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala“.

Top: A few snapshots from the “Lost” episode with the van: Charlie & Hurley (top), The four men driving around in the van (middle) & Sawyer, Jin (purple shirt) and Vincent the Lab running towards the working van. Bottom (L-R): Chuck Negron, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells of Three Dog Night circa 1972. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)

Three Dog Night: “Shambala” (1973, written by Daniel Moore).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

4Feb2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 325

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Beware of “Rumours”, unless they are the Fleetwood Mac kind. Then you cannot lose.

Celebrating 44 years of one of the best-selling albums of all time, released on February 4, 1977.

“It’s only me, who wants to
Wrap around your dreams and
Have you any dreams you’d like to sell
Dreams of loneliness“.

“Like a heartbeat, drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost
And what you had“.

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Fleetwood Mac: “Dreams” (1977, written by Stevie Nicks).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

3Feb2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 324

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

February is short but incredibly rich with music history. But the month that gave us the arrival of The Beatles in the U.S. is the same month that five years earlier produced one of the worst tragedies in American music. On February 3, 1959 a plane crash in Iowa ended the lives of Buddy Holly, 21; Jiles Perry (J.P.) Richardson, a/k/a “The Big Bopper”, 28 and Ritchie Valens, 17. The cause of the crash remains undetermined to this day and also killed the pilot, Roger Peterson.

After six decades, countless documentaries, movies, books and plays celebrating the lives of each musician’s contribution to music & their enduring legacy, there is nothing I can add here that will offer a different insight to these talented three men. And in some ways no one has since Don McLean’s 1971 masterpiece, “American Pie” where he immortalized the devastating event as “The Day the Music Died”. For a refresher on the lives of two of the three artists I recommend two bio-pics: 1978’s “The Buddy Holly Story” & 1987’s “La Bamba”. Or just YouTube the music & historical footage. It is worth it to see all three men as they should be remembered when often times it is how they died which remains most notable.

There are many songs to choose from to mark this sad anniversary. This year I chose one by the youngest singer on the plane, Valens. His career was still so new he only released singles while he was alive. The first one was “Come On, Let’s Go”, then “Donna” (about his high school girlfriend) and then today’s song. I still find it astounding yet completely wonderful that in 1958 when rock & roll was still very much in its infancy, a reworked Mexican folk song about a dance sung in Spanish by a relatively unknown teenage performer became a hit. We can never underestimate the power of music.

“Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitan
Soy capitan, soy capitan
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba
Bamba, bamba, bamba“.

Translation:

“I’m not a sailor
I’m not a sailor, I’m a captain
I’m a captain, I’m a captain
Bamba, bamba
bamba, bamba
bamba, bamba, bamba“.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)

Ritchie Valens: “La Bamba” (1958, written by Ritchie Valens based on a traditional Mexican folk song).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

2Feb2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 323

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

I have always loved songs with horns in them and no one featured them quite the way the band Chicago did. From their debut album in 1969 through all the ones which followed in the 1970’s, their distinctive sound set them apart from the usual radio fare. That is until their first #1 hit in 1976, “If You Leave Me Now”. The softer more AM radio sound prompted the hit songwriter, bassist Peter Cetera, to push the band away from their FM oriented music.

One of the group members most disturbed by this change was co-founder & guitarist Terry Kath. He was called a better guitarist than Jimi Hendrix by Hendrix himself when Chicago opened for him at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in the late 1960’s. And Kath’s deep baritone voice, which was often compared to Ray Charles, was behind some of the band’s most recognizable songs including “Colour My World”, “I’m A Man”, “Wishing You Were Here” and today’s track. Kath wanted to stay true to the groups rock & jazz infused style rather than veer off into pop music.

Like many musicians of the decade, Kath struggled with drug & alcohol abuse. That combined with his love of firearms created the perfect storm of a tragic situation when Kath accidently shot himself to death on January 23, 1978. The loss obviously stunned the band who seriously contemplated a break up after the loss. They reconsidered and dedicated the song “Alive Again” to Kath later that year. Ironically though Kath’s death & a new producer led the band into the soft pop sounds they created in the 1980’s.

January 31 marked his 75th birth anniversary and like him I consider Chicago’s rock roots to be their best. Today’s song showcases both Kath’s vocal ability & musicianship skill perfectly and the horns are absolutely resplendent. He was inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016 with the rest of the band where his only child, Michelle Kath Sinclair, accepted her father’s award. The same year she released the documentary, “The Terry Kath Experience” about his life, influence & legacy.

“Living life is just a game so they say
All the games we used to play fade away
We may now enjoy the dreams we shared so long ago“.

Top: The band Chicago circa 1975. Terry Kath is on the end far right. Bottom: Kath circa 1972. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)

Chicago: “Make Me Smile” (1970, written by James Pankow).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

1Feb2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 322

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

On February 1, 1949 the 45 RPM record was introduced by RCA. The round seven inch disc played at a faster speed than its 12 inch 33-1/3 LP counter part that was launched the year before by CBS. The smaller disc format became known as a “single” and provided better sound quality than the LP. The 45’s I owned when I was young were my most treasured possessions & probably qualify as the first official items I collected.

Fast forward to February 1, 1972. Neil Young releases his fourth studio LP, Harvest. It went on to become the best selling one of 1972 and it hit the #1 album spot for two weeks in March 1972. One of those weeks the first single, “Heart Of Gold” featured here on Day 24, also went to the number one spot.

Today’s song was the second single from the album. It hit the Top 40 in the US the same year & like the first one, it featured Linda Ronstadt & James Taylor on backing vocals. He also played the banjo on this track as well. Young was my introduction to acoustic music & to this day I see him as one of the most gifted artists in that regard.

“Love lost such a cost
Give me things that don’t get lost
Like a coin that won’t get tossed
Rolling home to you“.

Neil Young circa 1970. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Neil Young: “Old Man” (1972, written by Neil Young).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

31Jan2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 321

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Today’s song was originally released by Jefferson Airplane in 1967. I enjoyed that rendition, especially because it was written and sung by my favorite lead singer of the group, Marty Balin. In 1999 he released his greatest hits album with a new version of this song. Then around 2014 I heard a live performance of the updated track that absolutely slayed me. It was one of those songs I found so incredibly beautiful it hurt, a gorgeous acoustic arrangement with Balin’s entrancing reflective and gentle vocal. I was in complete awe. And I feel that way every time I hear it. At the end of today’s clip Balin referred to the track as “a heavy drug song” but I do not hear that at all. I hear an absolutely stunning piece of music. January 30 marked Balin’s 79th birth anniversary and as much as I love his work with Jefferson Starship especially “Miracles” (Day 99), it is today’s song that I am most grateful for.

“You came to stay and live my way
Scatter my love like leaves in the wind
You always say you won’t go away
But I know what it always has been“

Marty Balin circa 1974. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Marty Balin: “Comin’ Back To Me” (1999, written by Marty Balin).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

30Jan2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 320

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Today marks the 52nd anniversary of The Beatles impromptu & now famous rooftop concert featured in the documentary, “Let It Be”. On January 30, 1969 The Fab Four went to the top of the Apple Records building in London to play a handful of songs before the police brought the miraculous event to a close. What initially gave their fans hope that the group was testing the waters to start touring again soon became the heartbreaking reality that this was The Beatles final public performance as they disbanded in April of the following year.

Can you imagine leaving your office for lunch on an otherwise ordinary day, go walking down the street to get something to eat and suddenly hear the most famous group in the world playing music from a few blocks away? In today’s clip you can see some of those lucky people standing next to the makeshift stage while others gathered on the street below. The only thing missing is a shot of Billy Preston playing those funky keyboard parts. But you can clearly hear him playing with everything he had on the songs the group performed that day including “I Dig A Pony”, “I’ve Got A Feeling”, “One After 909”, “Get Back” and today’s song. Eventually they would all be released on the “Let It Be” album.

I saw the documentary when I was barely a teenager & the thing I remember so vividly about it, aside from the remarkable music, was how different they all looked from the images I had in my head of their mop-top days. The decade changed them and not just because it was the decade of change. They were four young men from a small town in England who played in a band & ended up changing the course of music history. They conquered the world while it was changing and while they were changing. They were growing up, falling in love, starting families all while navigating the enormous price of fame. They were trying to find happiness & eventually discovered they could not achieve that together.

As much as it might have hurt to see them going their separate ways, it was heartwarming to hear how happy John Lennon was, especially on today’s song. The raw passion of his intense vocal was an announcement of his finding love “for the first time” and how it changed him from the inside out. He & his bandmates deserved that & so much more for everything they did for us.

“I’m in love for the first time
Don’t you know it’s gonna last
It’s a love that lasts forever
It’s a love that had no past“.

The Beatles on the roof (L-R)” Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

The Beatles: “Don’t Let Me Down” (Live rooftop performance recorded January 30, 1969. Released in 1970, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

29Jan2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 319

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

When Fiorello La Guardia became NYC’s mayor in 1933, one of his first acts was to ban burlesque shows in the city. This caused Hurtig and Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater to close its doors after nearly twenty years in business. While this was obviously a bad thing for that show, it turned out to be one of the greatest blessings in musical history. A year later, on January 26, 1934, that venue was reborn as The Apollo Theatre.

From its first amateur night to the features of major musical performers, The Apollo stage has hosted the best artists in swing, bebop, jazz, gospel, blues, R&B and soul. In the 1930’s Billie Holiday, Lena Horne & the Count Basie Orchestra made their debuts there. The next decade featured Amateur Night winners like Sarah Vaughn and Ruth Brown. In the 1950’s James Brown was discovered the same way and “Showtime At The Apollo” began. That decade also saw the premiers of jazz greats Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk.

The 1960’s featured numerous shows by Stax & Motown artists. In 1972 John Lennon & Yoko Ono took part in a benefit concert there to help families of the inmates who were shot during the Attica Prison riots in 1971 (Admit it-now you hear Al Pacino in your head screaming “Attica!” “Attica!” from the movie, “Dog Day Afternoon”, right?)

The Apollo closed briefly in the late 1970’s but reopened in 1981. That decade brought about the debut of the television show, “Showtime at the Apollo”. For 87 years the theater located on W 125th Street in Harlem has been a beacon for legendary music & comedians. My parents are part of that history as they were there at a show in the 1960’s to see one of my mother’s favorite singers, Jackie Wilson. Today’s song is one of the biggest hits of his career and always reminds me of how lucky my parents were to see this man live during the height of his fame.

And in a great example of symmetry, I saw my own musical hero Bruce Springsteen play this song in concert several times (one of his best versions was with an all star band at The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame’s 25th anniversary concert in 2009). Dolly Parton did a gospel inspired country version of it as well in 1977. But today’s track features an electrifying horn arrangement & music by The Funk Brothers so that makes it the premiere version of this incredible song.

“Now once I was downhearted
Disappointment was my closest friend
But then you came and he soon departed
And you know he never showed his face again“.

“Mr. Excitement” Jackie Wilson circa 1960. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

The marquee’s announcement of The Queen Of Soul’s return to The Apollo Theater in New York City on June 3, 1971. (Tyrone Dukes/The New York Times). (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Jackie Wilson: “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher” (1967, written by Gary Jackson, Raynard Miner, and Carl Smith).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

28Jan2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 318

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Watching David Letterman’s shows for over 30 years was not just an education in humor but an introduction to a lot of different people and music, too. One of his favorite guests was singer & songwriter Warren Zevon, born January 24, 1947 in IL. I saw him for the first time on Letterman’s NBC show but I had been listening to his music for years before that appearance.

Zevon’s most well known song, “Werewolves Of London” was a staple of FM radio in the 1970’s as were covers of his songs by Linda Ronstadt including “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” and today’s pick. Zevon included it on his 1976 self titled album which was produced by his friend Jackson Browne. It is a heartbreaking song about a man realizing he is losing the woman he loves not to another man but just because her feelings for him simply faded away. The beautiful harmony vocals are by Phil Everly, who met Zevon when he joined The Everly Brothers touring band in the 1970’s.

“She’s so many women
He can’t find the one who was his friend
So he’s hanging on to half her heart
He can’t have the restless part”.

Warren Zevon circa 1979. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Warren Zevon: “Hasten Down The Wind” (1976, written by Warren Zevon).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

27Jan2021

Let’s Take A Moment Day 317

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Time for another mid-week Motown break & unbelievably our last one for January 2021 already. I tend to see Marvin Gaye’s career with the label in three parts: his early years working with the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland (“How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”, “Little Darling (I Need You)”, “You’re A Wonderful One”), the later years featuring the songs written by Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield (“I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, “That’s The Way Love Is”, “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby”) & his social awareness period (“What’s Going On”, “Mercy Mercy Me”, “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”. Today’s song is my favorite from the early years.

“Up early in the morning with her on my mind
Took to find it out all night I been cryin’
But I believe a woman’s a man’s best friend
I’m gonna stick by her till the very end”.

Top: Marvin Gaye circa 1964. Bottom (L-R): The legendary songwriting team at Hitsville USA circa 1964: Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland and Brian Holland. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)

Marvin Gaye: “Can I Get A Witness” (1963, written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland).

I do not own the rights to anything. I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

	Music Monday: May 11… on Let’s Take A Moment Day…
	Music Monday: May 4,… on Let’s Take A Moment Day…
	Music Monday: April… on Music Monday: October 7, …
	Music Monday: April… on Let’s Take A Moment Day…
	Music Monday: March… on Music Monday: August 19, …

Lilacs & Rust

Music & makeovers! I swoon for chippy paint, a gorgeous patina and a fabulous song!!! I love great music (read: Bruce Springsteen & Otis Redding), white lilacs, walking in freshly fallen snow, the Golden Girls, road trips and the fall!!!

Author Archives: Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Let’s Take A Moment Day 326

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Let’s Take A Moment Day 325

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(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Let’s Take A Moment Day 324

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Let’s Take A Moment Day 323

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Top: The band Chicago circa 1975. Terry Kath is on the end far right. Bottom: Kath circa 1972. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)

Let’s Take A Moment Day 322

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Let’s Take A Moment Day 321

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Marty Balin circa 1974. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Let’s Take A Moment Day 320

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

The Beatles on the roof (L-R)” Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Let’s Take A Moment Day 319

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

“Mr. Excitement” Jackie Wilson circa 1960. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Let’s Take A Moment Day 318

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Warren Zevon circa 1979. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Let’s Take A Moment Day 317

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)