Let’s Take A Moment Day 88

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 in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal 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.

I have always been interested in finding out what kind of music inspired and influenced the artists I listen to. Bruce Springsteen led me to Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison. The Beatles led me to Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins. Otis Redding led me to Sam Cooke and gospel music. And Eric Clapton led me to many of the blues greats like Muddy Waters and B.B. King, with the latter becoming a favorite of mine.

He has collaborated with so many singers I love including Clapton (on the 2000 release “Riding With The King”), Elton John (on the song “Rock the House”) and Van Morrison (on the song “Early In The Morning”). King also recorded a song with U2 (“When Love Comes to Town”). But when I listen to him, my go to is his 1969 album, “Completely Well” because it has today’s classic on it. He recorded another version of this song with Clapton for 2005’s “B.B. King & Friends: 80” with a fabulous string arrangement that is now my second favorite. But nothing beats the original.

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

B.B. King: “The Thrill Is Gone” (1969, written by Rick Darnell and Roy Hawkins).

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

Stay well.

10Jun2020

Let’s Take A Moment Day 86

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

As all of you have realized by now, I love music. Moreover, I am in love with it. For me, it is one of the most beautiful & most necessary parts of life. What would our lives sound like without it? How would we transport back in time to special moments or years in our lives without it?

I can remember where I was the first time I heard certain songs because the impact they had on me was just massive. They were so beautiful it actually hurt to listen to them. The first time I heard the opening guitar riff of Derek & The Dominos “Layla” I froze. All I could think was, “what the hell was that?” Then the second riff followed and I thought, “My God, what the hell is that?” I managed to stagger to the edge of my bed, sat down and stared directly into the radio as if a sign was going to pop up to tell me what this unbelievably gorgeous but heartbreaking sound was that I had never heard before. I remember having to close my eyes and take in some deep breaths because I was in sensory overload. And this was before Eric Clapton sang. One. Single. Note.

Decades later and I still lose my breath whenever I listen to it. And that includes the absolutely sublime four minute piano exit with the chirping birds at the end. No wonder Scorsese used that part of it to end the movie “Goodfellas” with. He is an artist who appreciates the craft of a fellow artist. There was a reason someone declared “Clapton is god” back in the late 1960’s when this song was not even an idea yet. He is just that insanely talented.

As much as that song impacted me, so has today’s. It is a beautiful ballad by a man who, initially frustrated by how long it was taking for his wife to get ready for them to go out, used that time to write a love letter to her. No grand gestures, no gifts, no sugary metaphors, no special circumstances needed. Just the love for his wife in an ordinary moment. Simple. Elegant. Breathtakingly beautiful. Eric Clapton has single handedly given every man alive a lesson on how it is done (although one missed it as evidenced in this commercial). Bravo to an incredibly great man. And to this unbelievably gorgeous song.

“I feel wonderful because I see
The love light in your eyes
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don’t realize how much I love you.”

Eric Clapton at the Knebworth Concert, June 1990. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Eric Clapton: “Wonderful Tonight” (1977, written by Eric Clapton).

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

Stay well.

5Jun2020

Let’s Take A Moment Day 81

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

For those of you who do not know the history of George Harrison and Eric Clapton, allow me to fill you in. The two met in the mid 1960’s while Harrison was a Beatle and Clapton was in the Yardbirds. They became closer friends as the decade progressed. Clapton went on to join the band Cream in 1966, and wrote the song “Badge” with Harrison. Clapton also played lead guitar on”While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that Harrison wrote for “The White Album”. The two men stayed friends after the Beatles broke up, and Clapton played at Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh in NYC in August 1971.

While all this friendship and music was going on, Clapton began to have very strong feelings for Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. According to her autobiography and his, along with statements he has made over the years, she spurned his advances in 1970 leading him to write many songs about her on the album, “Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs”, while he was a member of the band, Derek & The Dominos. He said it also led to his heroin addiction that he would not recover from until approximately 1973. A year later Boyd finally decided to leave Harrison because of his repeated infidelities & go to Clapton. They were married in 1979 and Harrison harbored no ill will toward the new couple and the three remained friends. Say it with me: wow.

Clapton & Boyd’s love story was short-lived, however, and the two divorced in 1989. But Boyd cemented her place in rock history as one incredible muse. She inspired Harrison to write several love songs while he was with The Beatles including “Something”, “If I Needed Someone” and “For You Blue”. Clapton wrote “Layla”, “Wonderful Tonight” and today’s song for her. Let’s say it again: wow. I love all the music included here, but Clapton’s vocal expression of romantic pain & agony in today’s song is remarkable. Plus I really adore the song’s title, which Clapton said came from Boyd asking him to buy a certain pair of blue jeans for her from America when he went there for a tour. Whether you like Clapton or not, you have to admit it is one hell of a story. And he is one hell of a musician. Wait, how could you NOT like Clapton???

“Bell bottom blues, you made me cry
I don’t want to lose this feeling
And if I could choose a place to die
It would be in your arms“.

Top: Derek & The Dominos ((L–R: Jim Gordon (drums), Carl Radle (bass), Bobby Whitlock (keyboards & vocals) & Eric Clapton (guitar & vocals). Bottom: Clapton circa 1975. Right: Pattie Boyd & George Harrison circa 1966. (Images found online. Original sources unknown.)

Derek and the Dominos: “Bell Bottom Blues” (1970, written by Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock).

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

Stay well.

29May2020

Let’s Take A Moment Day 74

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

When Steve Winwood released his 1986 album, “Back In The High Life”, he won a whole new audience thanks to his visibility on MTV. The record’s first single, “Higher Love”, went to the top of the charts. I for one was already a fan of this unbelievably talented man. I discovered him thanks to FM radio where songs from his first three bands were in constant rotation: “Gimme Some Lovin” from The Spencer Davis Group (a band he joined when he was only 14 years old); “Dear Mr. Fantasy” & “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” with Traffic and then Blind Faith which teamed him up with powerhouses Eric Clapton on guitar and Ginger Baker on percussion. I also adored two of Winwood’s previous solo albums, “Arc Of A Diver” (with that fabulous title track and his first solo hit, “While You See A Chance”) and “Talking Back To The Night”.

Winwood was first introduced to music from his father, a semi-professional musician in his own right. And a few years ago, Winwood’s very gifted daughter, Lilly, reworked “Higher Love” into a beautiful ballad that her father joined her on which was used in a really touching Hershey’s commercial. Winwood is probably one of the earliest singers to incorporate blue-eyed soul into his music, which was a cross between rock, soul, R&B, jazz and pop. I am a huge fan of his and really enjoy his music, but I am madly in love with today’s song. It is profound and beautiful in so many ways. It’s a prayer for all of us who are lost that we may find our way home to wherever and whatever that is.

“And I ain’t done nothing wrong but I can’t find my way home“.

If Clapton is god, then Winwood is lord and saviour.

Blind Faith circa 1969 L-R: Steve Winwood, Ric Grech, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Steve Winwood circa 1986. (Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Blind Faith: “Can’t Find My Way Home” (1969, written by Stevie Winwood).

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

Stay well.

21May2020

Let’s Take A Moment Day 66

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

COVID-19 update: Yesterday began Phase One of reopening CT. The list included restaurants with outdoor dining spaces, outdoor spaces of zoos & museums, offices and retail stores & malls. There are limits on capacity and other new guidelines. However, hair salons & barber shop reopenings were pushed back to June 1. Phase Two will start on June 20 where gyms and movie theatres may reopen with restrictions and only if the rate of new cases continues to go down. As for me, I am playing it safe to see how things go. I am in no hurry to throw the last two months of safety away.. So back to the music.

Tina Turner established herself as one of the finest soul/R&B voices in the 1960’s and 1970’s. When she made her comeback in 1983 with a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, it appeared she was going to stay in the same genre. But with the release of her “Private Dancer” album the following year, it was clear Turner refused to stay in any box and started diving into other types of music like pop, mainstream and rock. She worked with legends like Mick Jagger at Live Aid in 1985 and Eric Clapton during the European leg of her “Break Every Rule” tour in her ever evolving musical sound. But today’s song is my favorite duet of hers, thanks to her incredible vocal performance and that of her collaborator, Bryan Adams. It is also one of my favorite performance videos from the 1980’s.

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Bryan Adams with Tina Turner: “It’s Only Love” (1985, written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance).

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

Stay well.

30Apr2020

Let’s Take A Moment Day 45

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

If I had to pinpoint how rock & roll music officially began, my timeline would be this:

1908: The year American bandleader & swing/big band/R&B musician Louis Jordan is born.

1916: The year American rockabilly songwriter Claude Demetrius is born.

1926: The year American guitarist Charles Edward Anderson Berry is born. The world would come to know him as Chuck Berry. Soon he learns to “play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell and, oh my, that little country boy could play”.

1946: Demetrius writes a song (co-written with Jordan’s wife, Fleecie Moore) called “Ain’t That Just Like A Woman” which Jordan records and turns into an R&B hit the same year.

1958: Berry writes and records his semi-autobiographical groundbreaking hit, “Johnny B. Goode”. The song begins with a note for note replica of the introduction to Jordan’s 1946 song, written by Demetrius. A new sound is born from combining music from the swing/big band/R&B/rockabilly genres and Berry is christened “The Father of Rock & Roll”.

Young impressionable youths like John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix and many others are entranced by what Berry does with a guitar. Fast forward to 1963 & 1964 where The Beatles record Berry covers “Roll Over Beethoven” & “Rock & Roll Music ” and stop by America for that Sunday night show at the same theatre David Letterman was in and there you have it.

Yes, Elvis (who covered a few of Berry’s songs, including today’s), Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Carl Perkins and many other early architects of this new sound were coming up around the same time as Berry. However, his musicianship, his stage dance moves (most notably the “duck walk”) and his songwriting talent made him a triple threat and set him apart from the others. Elvis will always be the King, but Berry was and remains The Master.

Today’s song also has the distinction of being part of NASA’s Voyager Space Mission as one of the pieces of music from Earth. And honestly, can you imagine Marty McFly sliding across the floor to any other song in “Back To The Future” than this one?

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

Chuck Berry: “Johnny B. Goode” (1958, written by Chuck Berry).

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

Stay well.

10Apr2020

Let’s Take A Moment Day 25

Posted in Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

(Image found online. Original source unknown.)

The first time I listened to “The Last Waltz” album, it was an overload to my senses. A magnificent overload. So many artists that I adored-Eric Clapton, The Band, Ringo Starr, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, to name a few-were on it, so I had no idea who to listen to first. Or should I just play it from start to finish, I wondered. Given my impatient nature, I started with a few of the songs I loved most before letting the album play in its entirety. And that is when I heard today’s song for the first time by Van “The Man” Morrison. And I sa-woooooned.

How could I not? A master of blue eyed soul with clear infusions of jazz, folk and the blues, he delivered a performance in an intense and expressive manner interpreting his own lyrics as only the writer could. Within days I went out and bought his “Moondance” album and wore it out within the week. After that I purchased two more-“St. Dominic’s Preview” & “Astral Weeks”-and before I knew it a month went by and all I had listened to were his songs. And that is by no means a complaint. My love for him only intensified a few years later when I finally saw his performance & the rest of the concert movie on cable. I love so many of Morrison;s songs, but this one remains my favorite, especially because the lyrics speak right to my heart:

“Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher, radio
Turn it up, that’s enough, so you know it’s got soul“.

Van Morrison in 2014 (Image from vanmorrison.com. Original source unknown.)

Van Morrison: “Caravan” (1970, written by Van Morrison).

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

Stay well.

31Oct2019

My Top 10 Halloween Songs

Posted in Holidays, Music by Michele at Lilacs & Rust

Happy Halloween, everyone!!!

Courtesy of Pinterest & ehomedecors.com (original source unknown)

You know for me it is all about the music, so I could not let this holiday pass without honoring it with my favorite songs (in no particular order), which are guaranteed to put you in a Halloween mood.

1. “I Put A Spell On You” (1956, written by Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins).