The Malvern Prep Class of 1971 - Our Favorite Music

Prologue

Ever since my days at University, I have been in an ever expanding phase of defining and refining my Self by experiencing and moving thru Life with and by music. To me, a song sticks sometimes at first listen and sometimes on a not so first listen. Lyrics always catch my ear as does production, or as I like to say the chemistry of all things together all at once.  As a great artist once said, “so many donuts, so little time.”  To wit, then, here are some of those (my) donuts.

My Top 10ish List  

Joni Mitchell - Coyote - listen at https://youtu.be/f7MbmXklj3Q?t=146 

I came to Joni Mitchell, while living in Philadelphia with my girlfriend and three of her girlfriends after university.  My friends, height is not overrated.  But more about girlfriends later.  They, the women I lived with in Philadelphia, introduced me to Joni Mitchell and I continue to hold Joni Mitchell as one of the best of our time along with Dylan, Steely Dan, Talking Heads and Bowie.  The lyrics, “…Coyote’s in the coffee shop, he’s staring a hole in his scrambled eggs, he picks up my scent on his fingers, while he’s watching the waitresses’ legs…” caught my imagination first time I heard them, putting me in that coffee shop.  BTW, Joni would have made me love poetry at a much earlier age had it been on my high school American Literature syllabus. Prince famously stated that "…Joni Mitchell's music should be taught in school, if just from a literature standpoint…”  Additionally, I am a sucker for live versions recorded well, as The Last Waltz was and still is one of my favorite live recordings and concert films.

The Roots - Long Time - listen at https://youtu.be/4cn7IEqh2aA 

Never was one for rap while driving my middle-aged Volvo to work in Philadelphia.  Instead listened to Steely Dan and The Dead on the Schuylkill.  But one day my middle school son had me sit and listen to The Roots Long Time. Blew me away. Bass guitar, background vocals, percussion tracks and ending. And this is a Philadelphia work with rap lyrics, part percussion, all heart and all soul, "Struck by the luck of the draw, real life preservation, what I'm hustling for, my name black thought, the definition of raw, I was born in South Philly, on a cement floor, I had nothing at all, had to knuckle and brawl, they swore I'd fall, be another brick in the wall…”  Take a listen without the lyrics in front of you for a classic cathartic experience. Don’t take my word for it. Play the track. 

Diana Krall - Simple Twist of Fate - listen at https://youtu.be/eJObUEotZYY 

For me, Dylan is not as much a part of the scenes at Greenwich Village, Woodstock, Laurel Canyon, etc., as he is a generational artist whose work transcends any and all of the reasons, he may have taken up his pen in the first place. And, in my mind, his works are enriched by various covers by all kinds of artists. One of my favorites is Diana Krall’s interpretation of Simple Twist of Fate. Krall’s telling of Dylan’s story captivated me in a more simplistic way and seemed so sincere you could think she lived it as well. 

Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World - listen at https://youtu.be/2nNR4EsOgKE

Not a big Tears for Fears fan, yet Everybody Wants to Rule the World is on this list just because, OK, the production is seamless.  The chemistry of all things, all together, all at once, goes to my core every time I hear the song- it is on most of my playlists. The bridge and breakdown followed by “…all for freedom and for pleasure, nothing ever lasts forever…” Right to my core. every time.

David Bowie - Changes - listen at https://youtu.be/WcrPy1kzzaY

Changes was my introduction to Bowie. Probably first heard it at Malvern Prep when I was not a student of music (not much of a student of anything, really). When I heard it on my car radio though, the chemistry of all things (production, instruments and lyrics) together all at once went right to my core. The same way Everybody Wants to Rule the World did on my first listen. But unlike Tears for Fears, Bowie would do much more to and for me.  Later, while at university, while I was becoming a much better student in and out of the classroom, I delved deeper into all things Bowie. For me, as an aspiring recording artist, Bowie was more influential than The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Stones and other British bands.  The production is so tight, the opening piano riff, the piano through with strings and then, "…And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds, are immune to your consultations, they're quite aware of what they're goin’ through…”  And, oh yeah, the sax close.  I went to visit my daughter when she was living in London after Bowie had passed and she took me to the Bowie tribute wall in Brixton. Very, very moving, I raised her right.

Grateful Dead - Bertha - listen at https://youtu.be/82ADE0DUeM4OK 

OK, I am a Dead Head. I’ve seen them maybe about seven or eight times. Cut classes at university for a week to follow them thru New England.  Funny story, though, about the first time I saw The Dead. I took my girlfriend at the time (not the girl friend who would become my wife) to see The Dead at the Philadelphia Convention Center in August ’74. And, as I making my move toward 1st base (she was having none of it BTW), not really paying any attention to the goings on onstage, The Dead rip into Bertha. Then, after two or three of the singing verses, Garcia takes to his guitar and opens a door of my musical perceptions that I didn’t know was there. Bertha was my Deadhead baptism that night, followed by my Deadhead confirmation when they tore into Scarlett Begonias. The recording here is from The Filmore East in 1971 (Skull and Roses album) and there quite a few songs from the Skull and Roses album that found their way too many of my playlists.

Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet - listen at https://youtu.be/rC95MEenIxA

What a great piece of pop literature! Another classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, for me anyway.  The arrangement, the lead vocal, the lyrics, absolutely cannot peel the skin from the onion on Romeo and Juliet. Upon repeated listening to pieces of pop literature like Romeo and Juliet, I get the feeling that our generation looks and finds our poets right here, in our music.  A pop retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? Could be, but does that really matter?  Just a great, emotionally moving piece of pop literature.  

Talking Heads - Life During Wartime - listen at https://youtu.be/8al5cSQNmME

Taken from Jonathan Demme’s classic Stop Making Sense, a 1984 concert film (watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7BGS8dvSnw&list=RDF7BGS8dvSnw&start_radio=1).   During the summer of 1985, I took my girlfriend (the one who I’d married five years earlier) to see Stop Making Sense at the Narberth Theater.  I kind of knew bits and pieces about Talking Heads but I was not at all prepared for what David Byrne was and continues to be all about. The recording of the music was the best I had ever encountered in a movie theater, almost like being in the concert hall. But the theatrical nature of his choreography was unlike anything I had seen from a band. Byrne wore his trademark expanded shoulder suit jacket for most of the film. For Life During Wartime, he took off the jacket and danced in place with knees bending in beat and arms spinning round and round.  And then, during the musical interlude he jogs in time around the band.  Stop Making Sense is my favorite concert film and if you haven’t seen it yet, sit your butt down and go stream it on your flat screen (using the link above).

Allman Brothers Band - Jessica - listen at https://youtu.be/1ToMMcQ3O3Q

While we talking about great pieces of pop literature, I must say that, about the same time at university, when I gave up basketball for music, I happened to have a girlfriend at university (a real sweetheart but she never really viewed me as a keeper) who would occasionally slip a Gershwin album on while I was reloading the bong between The Doors and Jefferson Starship albums. Rhapsody in Blue was then, and still is now, an audio wonder for my ears to behold, especially on multiple listening’s.  So, years later, me being me, retired and still loading and reloading bongs, it dawned on me, while listening to Jessica for the umpteenth time, that Jessica follows a similar classical (or Jazz for that matter) structure.  The open guitar, at 0:04 piano, and then at 0:12 the drums and then the lead guitar duet riff establishing a theme (or hook) that they will return to. At 0:54 they take a slight improve departure (sweet) but then, at 1:12, back to the opening riff. At 1:30 they begin a run to the keys. At 1:56, the keys, at 2:24, watch out, because here comes percussive bridge beneath a beautiful piano and drum variation. At 3:40, everybody joins back in, introducing a jumping guitar variation (drums running throughout and, BTW, a good time to reload the bong). At 5:37 a final breakdown with all in (including a nasty organ - most nasty at 5:56 - who’s been lurking in the audio shadows) and run up and then down to a lead into the major theme/hook/riff at 6:21. Leading to at 6:58, a thoughtfully, yet efficiently tight but not to overly dramatic close. Bong all done!

Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows - listen at https://youtu.be/Gxd23UVID7k 

If Basil Sullivan had gone to college at NYU and stayed in the Village instead of Warren Avenue, he could’ve been our Irish Leonard Cohen. What I love about his songs is way the Cohen delivers his poetry. I first heard Everybody Knows just a few months ago. I could go on about the dutiful marching snare drum and syncopated bass, background vocals, and interspersed dobro steel guitar (?) but why bother. Just listen to the Cohen’s poetry, don’t bother reading them. Bill Doyle once brought into class a recording of T. S. Elliot reading The Wasteland. I had struggled mightily reading and re-reading The Wasteland but upon hearing Elliot read it, The Wasteland and my ear for recited poetry came to life.  For me, the same applies to the poets/lyricists I like from the Woodstock, Greenwich Village, Laurel Canyon scenes and beyond. And Leonard Cohen is one of my favorites. Take five and a half minutes and listen to Everybody Knows.

Fontaines D.C. - A Hero’s Death - listen at https://youtu.be/vtFdrNqiWZg

My son Owen is a music producer, DJ, and performer living in LA. He heard this song and thought I’d love it. He was right. I’m a big-time junkie for lyrics. Fontaines D.C. are an Irish post-punk band formed in Dublin in 2014 (post-punk? really?). The band members met while attending music college and bonded over a common love of poetry. Are you beginning to sense the blurred line in my mind between poetry and lyrics?  The arrangement suits the lyrics in an undoubtedly Irish way.  “…when you speak, speak sincere, and believe friends, everyone will hear…” Life ain’t always easy.

Hank Jones - Round Midnight - listen at https://youtu.be/rTO438Ps0xU

A special shout out to my son Michael, our classmate Paul Duffy, and my 30 year neighbor and great friend Michael Settanni, for pushing and tuning my ears into more and more jazz artists and compilations. I started to appreciate jazz when I moved in with my girlfriend (the one who would become my wife and go to see Stop Making Sense while being 8 months pregnant) when we happened upon an Oscar Peterson Stephan Grappelli double record set. My son Michael introduced me to the Miles Davis Kind of Blue album.  Paul Duffy introduced me to John Coltrane. And Michael Settanni introduced me to Joey DeFranchesco. There are a million jazz rabbit holes you can wonder down while scrolling the internet and one of my favorite rabbit holes is searching out covers of Thelonius Monk's Round Midnight.  This is easily one of the most recorded jazz standards. What I love about Round Midnight and it’s many covers by various artists is its distinctive melody. On occasion, while pouring myself a glass of 2005 Bordeaux (Note: 2005 is considered the vintage of a lifetime), I might have a jazz playlist in the background, not really hearing but just listening.  And then, bang, I hear the very distinctively melodic musical riff. “Hey,” I say to myself making sure not to spill as I pour, “that’s another take on Round Midnight.”  If you’re going to go down the Round Midnight jazz covers rabbit hole anytime soon, be sure to check out the original by Monk.

Hans Zimmer - Themes from Pirates of the Caribbean - listen at  https://youtu.be/n6JZRUAedeg

I was first made aware of Hans Zimmer when I got hooked on the Chris Nolan Batman Trilogy films - Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). I am a big fan of Phillip Glass, and I think his influence upon Zimmer and other modern-day composers is hard to underestimate.  Zimmer’s themes for Nolan Batman Trilogy films are as awesome as the three films themselves. BTW, The Batman Trilogy is my favorite film trilogy, better than The Godfather Trilogy, because I don’t think The Godfather Part Three measured up to The Godfather Parts One or Two.  For me the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean makes me frantically and rhythmically flail my arms about every time I put in on. The running piano is sneaky. Try to follow the keys and you will be smiling just like I am right now listening to the theme for the, I don’t know, I’ve lost count of how many times.

Sofi Tukker - Fuck They - listen at https://youtu.be/yB80EzZLT_k

My son Owen sent this song to my girlfriend and me (luckily for me my girlfriend and wife are the same woman).  This number popped in my ear the moment I listened, and I bet the same will happen to you. I don’t know much about Sofi Tukker, in fact, when I first heard that Owen was sending us a new song by Sofi Tukker, I thought, isn’t she the woman who sang God Bless America before Flyers’ games in the 70s?  And isn’t she dead?” Well, “no and yes", my girlfriend told me. "No, that woman was Kate Smith and, yes, she (Kate) is dead." But enough of my “C” section recall. Like I said Fuck They popped into my ears immediately.  All the production tracks blend seamlessly.  No peeling of the skin of the onion on this one.  And, all the songs I hold in high esteem, they all have this same seamless quality. I am a sucker for songs that are produced in a way making the whole song greater than the sum of its production tracks.

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic - listen at  https://youtu.be/m7EJGXa-5Rc

Last but most certainly not least, “The Dan”. Ahh, Steely Dan is so closely aligned with my continually defining and refining, one in being with the music.  I can’t imagine the words that might express these thoughts I have inside. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry. But I can tell you the moment it all began. After my junior year at university, I took a job managing Joe Pops, a club in Ship Bottom, Long Beach Island, NJ. We had bands play Wednesdays thru Saturdays all summer. Midsummer, this one band came in without much fanfare, no strobe lights, no smoke bombs but the band had a lead guitarist that made me stop mid-tequila sunrise. And the lyrics of Pretzel Logic, whilst their colorful technical flair surpasses that of Dylan, they are also noted as being some of the finest lyricists out there, with their style of prose something akin to a mix of Thomas Pynchon and the science fiction greats of the 1940s such as C. M. Kornbluth.  And most of this info comes right off the internets, so you know it’s indisputable. The link above is The Dukes of September performing Pretzel Logic.  They are a super group with Don Fagen (Steely Dan), Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers), and Boz Scaggs.

Epilogue— 

Even as my bones grow brittle, my skin wrinkles, my eyes grow dimmer, I very often and most fortunately for me, come across pieces of music that touch the core of my being, my true “self” as I continue to experience and move thru life. I am a lucky one.

Prologue—

These 10ish influential songs are in no particular order and are offered in multiple parts.

My Top 10ish List —

Part 1

Miles Davis - Time After Time - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLEj7E8ORU4

This song absolutely devastates me. My Mother and I saw Miles Davis at the Academy and this number had her in tears.

Bruce Cockburn - Pacing the Cage - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h_VKaoITio

Was written in Philadelphia, as was Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd).  Restlessness, emptiness, feeling let down by life. 

Yes - Onward - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3lbAwWX8aU

Written by Chris Squire of Yes (for his wife), who is blown away by the Lincolnwood Chorale’s acapella version.  Progressing on a continuous journey.  

Marillion - Sounds That Can't Be Made - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3dwSj5HQWk

Absolutely great lyrics regarding the consequences of desperation from the British neo progressive band (lyrics at https://www.marillion.com/music/lyric.htm?id=817).

Steven Wilson and Ninet Nati Tayeb - Pariah - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoYKAlT-HDI

Beautiful combination of an English Musician and an Israeli Musician, performing a melancholic and emotional song about a person dealing with depression.  In the duet, Ninet plays a foil to Steven’s melancholy.   

Joni Mitchell - Two Grey Rooms - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDi_plwi5A

Obsession and heartbreak, when love is given, but not returned.  

Richard Thompson - Beeswing - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CwzOD1gIc

Put me in mind of Fiona, from Donegal (a reference to John Prine’s wife?).  Enjoy a singer songwriter tell his story with just a guitar and his voice about people who dropped out of society, no matter the reason.

Sandy Denny - Solo - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEtyYjMYvdk

I would have followed her to the ends of the earth.  Does the “Fairport Convention” tie Richard Thompson and Sandy together – playing for the band at the same time? 

Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere but Not Here - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3lsqUqGTzM

A tune about passing through the Bardo (the transitional state between death and rebirth in some schools of Buddhism) but check with Michael Carroll on the details.  And Porcupine Tree was the English Rock Band formed by Steven Wilson.   

End of Part 1 and the Beginning of Part 2

Peter Gabriel - Red Rain - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLUp6PNTi7E

Dreams, swimming pools, red wine, cliffs, and being punished for your sins.  Greater than or equal to a Malvern Prep education.  

David Bowie - Under Pressure - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkzcszmeVrs   

Gail (bass and vocals in the video) is a Philly girl (West Philadelphia).  Pressure and anxiety come from all the difficulties and the effort to be alive.   

King Crimson - One Time - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUpd3u66gas

The confusion and uncertainty of life, as life is fragile.  

Yes - To Be Over - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKe4qBYRgdY

The spiritual side of Yes, our souls, our dreams, meditation, study, how we relate to the world, captured in a lovely song.  

George Harrison - Let It Roll - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQm40CWv_qQ

This ballad is a tribute to Sir Frank (Frankie) Crips, who designed the home and gardens of Friar Park, where George lived after leaving the Beatles.  

Judy Collins - The Blizzard - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJF3K5htQ-s   

A distinctive voice blends with a story about Judy’s home state of Colorado, while stranded in a snowstorm. I am a loner; I can’t take the heart ache.  

Stephen Stills and the Buffalo Springfield - Bluebird (A great choice) - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKHY8MXgiz0

Saw Judy Collins and Stephen Stills in concert together in 2016.  It was like hanging with old friends

The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4UQJwd3awQ  

Listen to this one, you heard it before and liked it.  Searching for something real and authentic, by moving away from the pressures of modern life.  Pursue a more authentic life of hard work.  

Robert Plant - I'm in the Mood - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj5nH0O8lmg

Screw Zeppelin, Robert's better off without that load. 

XTC – The Ballad of Peter Pumpkin Head - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYupSHWEJxA

Ouch, could it be that being honest can increase your popularity, but eventually lead to martyrdom? 

Billy Bragg - Somedays I See the Point - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3H1vP-fSqg  

Trying to clear your head – something we need to do after a difficult life moment.  Bragg became a champion of populist activism in the mid-1980s. 

Lead by Rufus Wainwright - Choir! Choir! Choir! Singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRfJ6-qkr4

One of the best times I ever had with my wife.  Check out Choir! Choir! Choir! Space Oddity at the Art Gallery of Ontario, we miss you Major Tom (https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2016/01/18/the-scoop-550-voice-choir-choir-choir-takes-over-the-ago/).  

Lennie Gallant - Y'a que L’Amour - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPPw8yEXYBQ   

Lennie is a close friend of my wonderful wife and me.  When we keep slipping, two steps forward, three steps back, and love is the only thing that guides us in these times.  

Emma Stevens – Blackbird - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99-LoEkAA3w  

Emma’s cousin, Laurent Powell, is married to my granddaughter.

Note: to bring awareness to this important cause students at Allison Bernard Memorial High School in Eskasoni, Cape Breton (Nova Scotia, Canada) recorded Paul McCartney's Blackbird in their native Mi'kmaq language.  McCartney has said that this is the best version of the song he has ever heard, including his own. 

Grace Potter and Daryl Hall – Paris Ooh La La - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HidKdc0IWs 

Check out Grace Potter with the Stones doing Gimme Shelter - she blows Jagger off the stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ps9xy2iaSs).

Traveling Wilburys - Handle Me with Care - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4s1KVJaVA

A great song by a great band with great members – we know them all, we grew up with them.  

Bruce Cockburn - Tie me at the Crossroads - listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwEZ6pakZLA

Fame is fleeting.  Fame has a fickle nature.  We all regret missing out on opportunities, particularly in relationships.  Yet the pursuit of recognition can lead to a sense of emptiness or regret if it overshadows genuine connections. 

Epilogue— 

More to be written…

Prologue—

Music has seared many memories of my youth into my brain, and they are still vivid today.  My list reflects these memories, feelings, emotions, uncertainties that drove my musical influences.  It is based on my years in junior high and through Malvern and does not venture further in my life – that would require another Top 10ish List.  I still love these songs and enjoyed singing them again as I put my list together.  To me, I am hanging out my young, inexperienced soul for all to see…

My Top 10ish List —

Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Kv0vF41Bc

At a young age was intrigued by local Coffee Shops, the singers of Folk Music, Beatniks walking the street, and wondering what was it like to be in a place called Greenwich Village? 

Led Zeppelin – Tangerine – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaFjxLMsOuo

Walked out of that King of Prussia record store tall, radical, different, and cool with Led Zeppelin III – loved the cover almost as much as the music.  Song has ties to the Yardbirds.

Beatles – I’ve Just Seen a Face – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8LbJfC0SYM

The Beatles changed our lives, was just blown away by Help and this particular song - my Beatles favorite.  

Mason Williams – Classical Gas – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEzyrpfrPEI

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is Wonder and Awe (Fear of the Lord).  To this day, I am in complete wonder and awe, how did Mason create this?  Please listen to Glen Campbell and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, the absolute best cover of this wonderful instrumental (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4Ga67EDrKI).   

Neil Diamond – Solitary Man – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLilTP5WAU0

Wished we had better speakers for the AM car radio when this song came on the air.  Roll down the windows, step on the gas, and start screaming the lyrics.  

George Harrison – Beware of Darkness – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrsGTItbss4

Could not believe that George Harrison was that talented and creative.  Started to believe when I found myself envious of everyone who had the triple album ‘All Things Must Pass’.

James Taylor - Sweet Baby James – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2x0fPgAj_Y

During the summer of 1970, some friends from the neighborhood drove out west to the University of Denver.  They claim to have met and spent time with James Taylor, who was supposedly dating a coed at the University.  Don’t know if the story is true, but we listened to the Sweet Baby James album for months. 

Rolling Stones – Dead Flowers – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPInSfh6H4

One of the early mixers that I went to was with my cousins in upstate Pennsylvania.  Even though I was an outsider, had the chance to dance with a local cute/hot chick to the song ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’, among a few others.  A great time, a great memory, a fan of the Stones forever.  And ‘Dead Flowers’ is a personal favorite.  

Yardbirds - Heart Full of Soul – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjmkeXj9bRI

When driving over 100 MPH, this song is “bad”.  Nuff said.  

The Who – Behind Blue Eyes – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMrImMedYRo

Tommy, Hair, and Jesus Christ Superstar, made me think differently about rock and roll and re-look at The Who – are they more than a band who destroyed their instruments at the end of a concert.  They are and it was fun to watch the growing creativity of Pete Townshend.  

Moody Blues – Tuesday Afternoon – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5N7qHmEgxA

Electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and classical instruments, this is a very cool sound, and a day in the life of a day.  John Lodge still performs the “Days of Future Past” concert, which covers the entire album – worth the price of admission (https://www.johnlodge.com).  

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Teach Your Children/Country Girl – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj8FlXGPcOQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Dr9koWfHs

During my four years at Malvern, if I consider all the albums that were played at mixers, parties, on cheap stereos, weekend get togethers, summer evenings, 8-track tape players, and school closed snow days, Déjà Vu was the most played album – more than all the others combined.  I remember having the album, 8-track and cassette media.  All the songs are excellent, CSNY performed at Woodstock, and these two songs stand out among the rest. 

Honorable Mention

Grateful Dead - Uncle John’s Band – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSIajKGHZRk

Will I ever visit the intersection of Haight and Ashbury?  Will I feel afraid?  

The Monkees – Valleri – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNqUufWLfZc

Yes, I was a faithful follower of the weekly TV show. 

The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin’ – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-aK6JnyFmk

Should have asked Michelle Phillips to go to the Prom? 

Scott McKenzie - San Francisco – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0vkKy504U

I was 50 years old when I first stood on the corner of Haight and Ashbury.  It did feel a tad tentative (did I belong here), but with this song playing in my head, I felt welcomed by the (graying) counterculture.

Epilogue—

I did not fully understand/appreciate Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Pat Metheny, Woodstock, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Gordon Lightfoot, Buddy Holly, the Eagles until college and beyond.  Also, seeing bands perform on TV added to my strong interest in music and created a new dimensions of feeling about a song.  Those shows from the 60s like Hullabaloo, Hollywood A Go Go, Where the Action Is, and others were can’t miss TV.  You could see what the band looked like, how they performed, even the chords they were playing on their guitars.

Hollies – Look Thru Any Window – enjoyed watching Hullabaloo, where I first saw the Hollies perform.  That guy Graham Nash caught my attention, seems to be pretty cool. Took note of the fact that I was attracted to the dancers.  Listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlDv20NbuB0 (starts at 2:50).  

Byrds – I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better – enjoyed watching Hollywood A Go Go, where I first saw the Byrds perform.  That guy David Crosby caught my attention, seems to be pretty cool.  Took note of the fact that I was attracted to the dancers.  Listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cuWjHoEB0Q  

Paul Revere & The Raiders – Him or Me – listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5kGbBNJQl8. Enjoyed watching Where the Action Is, where I first saw the Raiders perform (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-6BdAT5lw starts at 14:10).  Took note of the fact that I was attracted to the dancers.  

Prologue—

My Top 10ish List —

Epilogue—

Prologue—

My Top 10ish List —

Epilogue—

Prologue—

My Top 10ish List —

Epilogue—