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Friday Influences Thread - 6/19


rsadasiv

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You Won't See Me is a big, big favorite of mine. I love the long, slow, lamenting, descending chromatic feel in the 2nd section of each verse - answered by quick chromatic ascents in the harmonies. And the groove is great - Ringo is on top of his game here.

 

John must have loved this particular drum groove - had Ringo recycle it in all the following in chronological succession:

 

Anna

[YOUTUBE]DVJwwLcV3KY[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

more slow lamenting descending vocal lines on It's Only Love - I think if they take my brain after I die and squash it into the shape of a vinyl album and play it on a record player, this is what you'd hear -

[YOUTUBE]s6rzcmhly-I[/YOUTUBE]

 

and of course In My Life. December 9, 1980 I woke up as usual to the 6am sounds from the local classical station in Denver - same time the station came on the air, always playing the same little Baroque ditty, but that morning they played a string quarter version of In My Life. Uh oh...I said to myself....

 

interesting how the vocal line is very evenly distributed between descending and ascending in this bittersweet tune

[YOUTUBE]KHt9R1R32g4[/YOUTUBE]

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"Old Buttermilk Sky," music by Hoagy Carmichael, Words by Jack Brooks (an Englishman!). It was written for Canyon Passage, a western film Hoagy appeared in as an actor. It's been recorded and performed by Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle and Irish singer Freddie White.

 

[video=youtube;fOgrjd9NKF0]

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Marc Jordan, "Mystery Man," from 1978's Mannequin.

 

It starts out very softly then builds.

 

[video=youtube;G-c3n9-NVT0]

"Mystery Man"

 

Jumped in my car,

put my foot to the ground,

I’m the lonely one.

Bought some heavy-duty gas,

new tires all around

Now I'm heading out of town

 

I was born when you came,

died with your name

still running through my head.

Four days on the road

with this impossible load

but my car’s still running fine.

 

Chorus

You can cry, baby.

You can be the one to shed a tear now.

You can cry, baby.

Got your hand-me-down highway and a song.

 

I’ve got a ticket to ride

the hot, melted slide

that blurs the country outside

where the diners and the truckers

are the lonely men’s mothers

and their gas tanks are open wide.

 

You can come on in

and sit with the men

and the flies ’round the “No Smoking” sign.

I think I’ll keep driving

while my Chevy’s still goin’

through the darkness to the other side.

 

(repeat chorus – guitar solo – repeat chorus)

 

Seems I’ve been in school

for so many years

that September marks my life out of ten.

Still the mem’ries were good

when my heart was made of wood

and I didn’t realize back then.

 

Lift:

I’d be driving down the highway

‘cause it’s the only thing goin’ my way.

And I’d give the world,

I’d give the world,

to be comin’ home to you…

 

(repeat chorus)

 

Jordan has written songs for, or recorded by: Cher, Chicago, Joe Cocker, Sean Colvin, Josh Groban, Kansas, Kenny Loggins, Manhattan Transfer, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Ross, Rod Stewart ("They Rhythm of My Heart") and many others.

 

He's one of my favorite tunesmiths.

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Watched an old BBC production of a Gordon Lightfoot concert - 1972. It's a bit over an hour long. I've always admired a few of his tunes, but watching him live on this production, I stayed riveted the whole time.

 

He was a bit old-fashioned to me when I was a kid - too folky, no rock influence, that characteristic warbly vocal vibrato put me off a bit. These distinctions mean nothing to me now at my age...the guy is a consummate example of the art and a flawless performer. I should have been more broad-minded when was a kid....

 

here's the entire thing - the first song is killer...

 

[YOUTUBE]PqS310cQ0CI[/YOUTUBE]

 

nat whilk ii

 

 

 

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Played for a festival type thing in the Texas Hill Country for Radio Free Texas. Met some great songwriters and had a really good time. The Chubby Knuckle Choir was one of the bands that played. They were really good.

 

[video=youtube;ALww4fe5IQM]

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Watched an old BBC production of a Gordon Lightfoot concert - 1972. It's a bit over an hour long. I've always admired a few of his tunes...

 

Yeah, he's a great songwriter, capable of writing in an amazing range of styles that somehow all sound like Gordon Lightfoot songs, except for "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," which sounds like an old seafaring ballad. I was stunned to find out that he wrote it about a shipwreck on Lake Superior in 1975.

 

Here's one from 1976.

 

[video=youtube;Rj1Y6AzdpCc]

And talk about vibrato... but it really works on this tune:

 

[video=youtube;UYWt4vpXGOk]

 

 

 

 

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Pretenders - Talk of the Town

[video=youtube;99svrFj-G_g]

 

Probably my favorite Pretenders song - thanks for posting. Did you hear her WTF interview a couple of months ago - she had an amazing coming of age basically seeing every seminal punk band coming up in both the US and UK, wild stuff.

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