Music Monday: Aug 7, 2023

Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Music Monday.

Bruce quote 2023

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Rolling Stones celebrated three major milestones over the last several weeks. I believe that calls for a triple play from the band.

First, their dynamic, enigmatic and legendary frontman celebrated the big 8-0 last month. Sir Michael Philip Jagger was born July 26, 1943 in Dartford, UK. He has been the lead singer of the Stones from the first day they formed the band back in 1962. That is six decades of singing, co-writing the bulk of the group’s songs and taking center stage in every show they have ever performed. A staggering statistic anyway you look at it. He also recorded four solo albums along the way. Happy birthday, Mick Jagger.

In 1973, the Stones released their 13th American studio album, Goats Head Soup. It was released fifty years ago-August 1973-on the band’s own eponymous label which was founded in 1970. Our second feature today is my favorite track off this album and was released as the first single.

Five years later, the band released Some Girls in June 1978. Two months later, the last of today’s three songs hit the #1 spot on the U.S. Billboard chart for one week. The album also includes a salute to one of the Stones’ favorite genres-Motown-with a cover of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)”. After 45 years and despite the controversy surrounding the lyrics on the title track, the album still holds up. But there are not many from The Rolling Stones that don’t.

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Top: The band circa 1963 (L-R): front: Jagger and Bill Wyman (front), Brian Jones (center), Charlie Watts and Keith Richards (top). Middle (L-R): Richards and Jagger sometime in the 1970’s. Bottom (L-R): Watts, Richards, Jagger, Ron Wood and Wyman sometime in the 1980’s. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Rolling Stones: “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (1967, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards).

The Rolling Stones: “Angie” (1973, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards).

The Rolling Stones: “Miss You” (1978, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards).

Stay safe & well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 483

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?

Tom Petty music quote

(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.

Sixteen years after they released their first record together, The Rolling Stones had the #1 album in America on July 15, 1978 with Some Girls. But over a decade earlier, on July 10, 1965, the band had the top hit in the country. It stayed in the #1 spot for four consecutive weeks and went on to become one of their signature songs.

The backstory is Keith Richards wrote this in his sleep. He actually does not remember waking up to write it down but when he got up in the morning, there it was scribbled on the pad on top of his bedside table. If there was any doubt that man was not suppose to have a legendary career in music, that one story alone ended the speculation.

It has been used in dozens of TV shows & movies with great effect. For me it was most memorable when it played as Don Draper walked out of the New York Athletic Cub into the blaring hot summer sun after he started swimming to keep his drinking in check during the season 4 episode 8 of “Mad Men”. When my favorite songs collide with my favorite shows, all is right in my world.

“When I’m watchin’ my TV and a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke
The same cigarettes as me”.

Les Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones circa 1965 (L-R):  Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts.  (Image found online.  Original source unknown).  

The Rolling Stones: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards).

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

Stay well.