A little rock and roll?
Puro. Straight from the source... ("Rated PG" = "mature content")
Classic song from and originator of rock as we know it, from him and disciples of all stripes from Beatles to Stones to....
#musiclegend #ChuckBerry #RockAndRoll #musichistory #rockhistory #rocklegend #musica #music #musique
Coming from a discussion on the longevity, influence, and changeability of Lou Reed, beginning with a look at a early days, such as described in a BBC article, including "Heroin" "Walk on the Wild Side", and other folk-rock-poetry anthems.
And still being emulated, reworked and performed today, like pointedly more mellow cover from Andrew Bird, released today.
So my bottom line is that what most stuck in my head for the longest time during my music-biz days - from Lou Reed - was this, Rock & Roll. It just struck me that I think I was at the concert where this was recorded. Checking the description, oh yes: I was there for this.
Great sound recording, acoustics, and performance. What blew me away most (live and then later with good speakers or phones) -
Around 4:40 in it tones down the rock rhythms and does this thing "like flanging" with the guitar and scrapes away back to rock. Hm.
#music #musica #loureed #rockpioneers #musique #rockandroll #NYacademyofmusic #musiclegend #rocklegend 🎧
Can't really say there's much out there like this. Wikipedia (in the YT dscription) details this "rock opera" (an old favorite of mine).
Frank Zappa himself, doing Zappa. With kazoo and Jew's/Galician Harp. Part of a futuristic fantasy, but also just a fun song. 🎧
LYRICS
Central Scrutinizer:
We take you now, to a garage, in Canoga Park.
Frank Zappa:
(It makes it's own sauce...)
Joe:
It wasn't very large
There was just enough room to cram the drums
In the corner over by the Dodge
It was a fifty-four
With a mashed up door
And a cheesy little amp
With a sign on the front said "Fender Champ"
And a second hand guitar
It was a Stratocaster with a whammy bar
At this point,
LARRY (a guy who will eventually give up music and earn a respectable living
as a roadie for a group called Toad-O) joins in the song...
Larry:
We could jam in Joe's Garage
His mama was screamin'
His dad was mad
We was playin' the same old song
In the afternoon 'n' sometimes we would
Play it all night long
It was all we knew, 'n' easy too
So we wouldn't get it wrong
All we did was bend the string like...
Hey!
Down in Joe's Garage
We didn't have no dope or LSD
But a coupla quartsa beer
Would fix it so the intonation
Would not offend yer ear
And the same old chords goin' over 'n' over
Became a symphony
We would play it again 'n' again 'n' again
'Cause it sounded good to me
ONE MORE TIME!
We could jam in Joe's Garage
His mama was screamin',
"TURN IT DOWN!"
We was playing' the same old song
In the afternoon 'n' sometimes we would
Play it all night long
It was all we knew, and easy too
So we wouldn't get it wrong
Even if you played it on a saxophone
We thought we was pretty good
We talked about keepin' the band together
'N' we figured that we should
'Cause about this time we was gettin' the eye
From the girls in the neighborhood
They'd all come over 'n' dance around
like...
Twenty teen-age girls dash
in and go STOMP-CLAP,
STOMP-CLAP-CLAP...
So we picked out a stupid name
Had some cards printed up for a coupla bucks
'N' we was on our way to fame
Got matching suits 'N' Beatle Boots
'N' a sign on the back of the car
'N' we was ready to work in a GO-GO Bar
ONE TWO THREE FOUR
LET'S SEE IF YOU GOT SOME MORE!
People seemed to like our song
They got up 'n' danced 'n' made a lotta noise
An' it wasn't 'fore very long
A guy from a company we can't name
Said we oughta take his pen
'N' sign on the line for a real good time
But he didn't tell us when
These "good times" would be somethin'
That was really happenin'
So the band broke up
An' it looks like
We will never play again...
Joe:
Guess you only get one chance in life
To play a song that goes like...
(And, as the band plays their little song,
MRS. BORG (who keeps her son SY,
in the closet with the vacuum cleaner)
screams out the window...
Mrs. Borg:
Turn it down!
Turn it DOWN!
I have children sleeping here...
Don't you boys know any nice songs?
Joe:
(Speculating on the future)
Well the years was rollin' by, yeah
Heavy Metal 'n' Glitter Rock
Had caught the public eye, yeah
Snotty boys with lipstick on
Was really flyin' high, yeah
'N' then they got that Disco thing
'N' New Wave came along
'N' all of a sudden I thought the time
Had come for that old song
We used to play in "Joe's Garage"
And if I am not wrong
You will soon be dancin' to...
Central Scrutinizer:
The WHITE ZONE is
for loading and
unloading only. If you
gotta load or unload,
go to the WHITE
ZONE. You'll love it...
Joe:
Well the years was rollin' by (etc.)...
Mrs. Borg:
I'm calling THE POLICE!
I did it! They'll be here...shortly!
Officer Butzis:
This is the Police...
Mrs. Borg:
I'm not joking around anymore
Officer Butzis:
We have the garage surrounded
If you give yourself up
We will not harm you
Or hurt you neither
Mrs. Borg:
You'll see them
Officer Butzis:
This is the Police
Mrs. Borg:
There they are, they're coming!
Officer Butzis:
Give yourself up
We will not harm you
Mrs. Borg:
Listen to that mess, would you?
Officer Butzis:
This is the Police
Give yourself up
We have the garage surrounded
Mrs. Borg:
Everday this goes on around here!
Officer Butzis:
We will not harm you, or maim you
(SWAT Team 4, move in!)
Mrs. Borg:
He used......
#rockopera #rockhistory #musiclegend #FrankZappa #music #musica #musique #1979
#NeilYoung #musiclegend #superspreaders #COVID #publichealth #music #musica #musique #rocklegend
Charlie Watts, "backbeat to the Rolling Stones" has died, age 80. R.I.P.
:(
#RIP #CharlieWatts #RollingStones #musiclegend #RollingStone #music #drummer #musica #musique #RollingStones #RockLegends
So much to draw upon in the decades of thoughtful and profound ballads from Jackson Browne
Many ideas and human struggles, captured so well.
A personal favorite lyric which has influenced me until this day, IMHO, capturing the importance of personal choices: "I'm going to be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender". Or not. Now Jackson Browne is concerned about the planet itself, and still, humans.
I'm going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
Gonna pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I'll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I'll get up and do it again, Amen
Say it again, Amen
I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening?
I've been aware of the time going by
They say, in the end, it's the wink of an eye
When the morning light comes streaming in
You'll get up and do it again, Amen
Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there
ah, the lovers as they run through the night
(Leaving nothing) leaving nothing but to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight
I'm gonna find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put our dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again
I'm gonna be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Where true love could have been a contender
Are you there? Say a prayer for the pretender
Who started out so young and strong only to surrender
Say a prayer for the pretender
Are you there for the pretender?
Say a prayer for the pretender
Are you there for the pretender?
Are you prepared for the pretender?
--
PBS NewsHour tribute: https://www.pbs.org/video/jackson-browne-we-could-have-society-where-justice-is-real-1627234405/
#music #musica #musique #musiclegend #JacksonBrowne #Pretender #happyidiot #anniversaries #mindfulness
Sad really, and tinfoil-hat bizarre...
R.I.P., the disappearing 'mind' of a once beloved and music/life focused singer/songwriter...
turned conspiracist, anti-semite, raving looney
Alive still physically, but not so much dynamically, mentally, or "reputationally". A dweller on the threshold - of tinfoil hat alley.
#music #musiclegend #tinfoilhat #VanMorrison #antisemitism #conspiracy
