My Final Playlist

I’ve Been Dreaming About Rivers

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on December 1, 2013
Posted in: Life Lessons From Music, My Final Playlist, myfinalplaylist. Tagged: . Leave a comment

gulfofmexico_sed-plumes

I’ve been dreaming a lot about rivers lately.  Yeah I know that probably sounds strange but what can I say.  These dreams have made me realize that a river is an incredible metaphor for our lives.

  • A river has a well-defined beginning and end.  It doesn’t flows forever.
  • A river starts small, I’ve seen pictures of the mighty Mississippi river at its source and you can step over it.
  • A river grows as it flows downstream and interacts with other streams and rivers (sometimes referred to as tributaries).
  • During stormy times a normally calm rivers can quickly turn into raging torrents that destroy anything unlucky enough to be in its path.  Sometimes a storm is strong enough to completely change the path of a river.
  • As a river nears its end it slows down and in doing so it starts to drop the sediment that it has picked up and carried as it flowed downstream.  In mighty rivers this sediment creates deltas of incredible rich soil and areas of incredible bio-diversity.
  • At its end, after dropping off the treasures it has carried down stream, a river merges into the sea becoming one with all of the other rivers that have similarly reached their end.  There is no final judgment that determines whether a river is worthy of flowing into the sea…. a sea refuses no river.

I know that I’m not the first person to have such thoughts and dreams about rivers.  I’m pretty sure that Pete Townshend must have had similar thoughts when he wrote his amazing song, A Sea Refuses No River.

Please don’t think I’m trying to influence what you believe……I just want to make you think……

Why Walk When You Can Run

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on November 29, 2013
Posted in: Life Lessons From Music, My Final Playlist, myfinalplaylist. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

imgAyrton Senna1

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it in this blog but I love Formula One and Indycar open wheel auto racing.  My two racing heroes, Aryton Senna and Michael Andretti, actually tell you a lot about me and how I approach life and work.

Michael drove the wheels off of race cars, sometimes literally, because as a driver he only knew one speed……full throttle.  He still holds the record for leading the most laps of the Indy 500 without ever winning the race.  If he would have taken better care of his cars, he might have won multiple Indy 500s but my, my, my he was wicked fast (until his cars blew up).  Watch the following clip from the 1992 Indy 500 and you’ll l see what I mean.  (The start of the race is about 17 minutes into the clip.)  Michael qualified 6th (on the outside of the second row) and if you watch closely you will see him go from the outside to the inside and around the leader by the first turn.  Absolutely amazing.  I was there to see it in person and it was a performance I’ll never forget…….

Michael ended up leading 160 laps of that race but his car broke 10 laps before the end.  Like I said….wicked fast as long as his car was running.

Aryton Senna was arguably the greatest race car driver of all time.  He was, is, and always will be a hero for me.  The man was incredible in a race car and an absolute magician in the rain.  Watch this clip from the 1993 Formula One race at Donnington Park.   In wet conditions that were absolutely atrocious you can observe Senna go from fifth to first within a few corners into the race.  This first lap performance may be the best single race lap of all time.

Senna won the race and had lapped all but the second place car by the end of it.  It was a stunning performance but only one of many similar performance in his career.

You are probably asking yourself what’s the link between me and these racing legends?  The answer is that in life I only know one speed….full throttle.  I firmly believe that if something is worth doing it’s worth throwing yourself into 110%.  I work hard, harder than just about anyone that I know.  Not bragging, it’s just a fact.  My equipment (in this case it’s my body and not a race car) might wear out before the natural end of my race but by God I’m running full throttle until that happens.

Two of my musical heroes produced songs that helped shape my approach to life.  To close out this post let me share those songs with you.

First up, Born to Run, by Bruce Springsteen.  The message of this song is pretty self evident so let’s listen to it without any further explanation.

Next up, My My Hey Hey (both the Out of the Blue and the Into the Black versions), by Neil Young.  The two versions of this song are absolutely brilliant and capture the way I feel about life in a couple of key lines:

It’s better to burn out than to fade away

It’s better to burn out that to rust

It’s better to burn out cause rust never sleeps

I firmly believe that if I move fast enough the rust will never catch me……burning out, well that’s probably something that can’t be avoided.  Let’s listen to both versions…..

Add This To Your Playlist Now – Sam Baker (Go In Peace)

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 7, 2013
Posted in: Add This To Your Playlist Now, Life Lessons From Music, My Final Playlist, New Music, New Music That Doesn't Suck, Overlooked Music, Under Appreciated Singer/Songwriter. Tagged: . 1 Comment

Sam Baker 2

It’s Day 2 of my Sam Baker weekend post barrage.  Go In Peace is the closing song on Sam’s new album, Say Grace, and I’m in love with the song, the performance, and the message.  I’ve already added it to My Final Playlist and I think you will understand why when you listen.  Do yourself a favor….buy the album…it is really good stuff.

Here is Sam’s website in case you want to by the album directly from him.

http://sambakermusic.com

Album Of The Week #18 – If Only I Could Remember My Name

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on November 19, 2012
Posted in: Album Of The Week, My Final Playlist, Rock History. Tagged: . 2 Comments

David Crosby’s Masterpiece

I just discovered that I never posted Album Of The Week #18 (which is is a real shame because it is one of my favorite albums ever).  I can’t believe that no one noticed….. I don’t think you guys have been paying attention 🙂

So….a few weeks late, tonight I present you with David Crosby’s first (and best) solo album If Only I Could Remember My Name.  Let’s listen…….

1. Music is Love

2. Cowboy Movie

3. Tamalpais High/At About 3

4. Laughing

5. What Are Their Names

6. Traction in the Rain

7. Song With No Words/Tree With No Leaves

8. Orleans

9. I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here

FYI – This is on my list of candidates for “my final playlist”

To provide you with some of the interesting details about this album and it’s recording, the Wikipedia article on the album is provided below.  The collection of musicians that played on this album is amazing so pay attention to the list of players on each track.

If I Could Only Remember My Name is the debut solo album by David Crosby, released in February 1971 on Atlantic Records. One of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album, it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200. It has been in print continuously since its initial release. The album gained new recognition in 2010 when it was listed second on the Vatican’s “Top 10 Pop Albums of All Time” as published in the official newspaper of the Holy See, L’Osservatore Romano.

A large grouping of prominent musicians from the era appear on the record, including Nash, Young, Joni Mitchell, members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. This ad-hoc ensemble was given the moniker of “The Great Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra” by longtime Crosby associate Paul Kantner; many of the same musicians appeared on the latter’s Blows Against The Empire, recorded concurrently with Crosby’s album. The album also features the only recorded appearance of David Crosby’s reclusive brother, Ethan Crosby.

Although the album garnered its share of detractors, including Crosby’s then-manager David Geffen and influential Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau and only a lukewarm review from Lester Bangs in Rolling Stone, it was a modest commercial success, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. Two singles were taken from the album, “Music Is Love”, which was released in April 1971 and peaked at #95 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “Orleans” which was released in July 1971. The album has gained in critical appreciation since its release.

The album was released on compact disc on October 25, 1990, having been digitally remastered from the original master tapes, using the equipment and techniques of the day, by original engineer Stephen Barncard. A double-disc reissue appeared on November 6, 2006, with an audio disc remastered in HDCD, including a bonus track “Kids and Dogs,” and a second DVD Audio disc of the original album remixed for 5.1 digital Surround Sound. Reviews of the most recent reissue place the album in the same influential company as the more baroque works of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention.

Side one

  1. “Music Is Love” (David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young) – 3:16
    • Crosby – guitar, vocal; Nash – guitar, vocal; Young – guitar, bass, vibraphone, congas, vocal
  2. “Cowboy Movie” (Crosby) – 8:02
    • Crosby – electric guitar, vocal; Jerry Garcia – electric guitar; Phil Lesh – bass; Mickey Hart – drums; Bill Kreutzmann – tambourine
  3. “Tamalpais High (At About 3)” (Crosby) – 3:29
    • Crosby – electric guitar, vocals; Nash – vocals; Jorma Kaukonen – electric guitar; Garcia – electric guitar; Lesh – bass; Kreutzmann – drums
  4. “Laughing” (Crosby) – 5:20
    • Crosby – guitars, vocal; Garcia – pedal steel guitar; Lesh – bass; Kreutzmann – drums; Nash, Joni Mitchell – vocals

Side two

  1. “What Are Their Names” (Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Michael Shrieve, Young) – 4:09
    • Crosby – electric guitar, vocal; Young – electric guitar, vocal; Garcia – electric guitar, vocal; Lesh – bass, vocal; Shrieve – drums; Nash, Mitchell, David Freiberg, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick – vocals
  2. “Traction in the Rain” (Crosby) – 3:40
    • Crosby – guitar, vocal; Nash – vocal; Laura Allan – autoharp, vocal
  3. “Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)” (Crosby) – 5:53
    • Crosby – electric guitar, vocals; Nash – vocals; Gregg Rolie – piano; Garcia – electric guitar; Kaukonen – electric guitar; Jack Casady – bass; Shrieve – drums
  4. “Orleans” (traditional) – 1:56
    • Crosby – guitars, vocals
  5. “I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here” (Crosby) – 1:19
    • Crosby – vocals

Album Of The Week #19/My Final Playlist – Life, Death, Love, and Freedom

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on October 15, 2012
Posted in: Album Of The Week, My Final Playlist, myfinalplaylist. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Life, Death, Love, and Freedom is a great album by John Mellencamp but probably not what you have grown to expect from him.  As Rolling Stone said in their review of the album: “There’s not a bright, catchy riff or fist-pumping populist anthem to be found among these brooding, low-key songs about growing old, sick, lonely and pessimistic.”

I’ve managed to find performances of most of the album’s songs for you to listen to (see below).  I am really interested to hear what you think.  Unfortunately, I was not able to find For the Children so I will have to create my own video for it, load it on YouTube, and do a post later this week with a link to it.

One song to watch for is Country Fair.  The story in this song is absolutely scary (I have been to a lot of County Fairs and I can identify with the story)!  Here are the lyrics to County Fair for those that are interested…

Well the County Fair left quite a mess
In the county yard
Kids with eyes as big as dollars
Rode all the rides
Strip artists and con artists
Put on quite a show
And made some money
Then left town
Where they went I don’t know

Hey all you suckers
I heard a fat woman say
Come on in for fifty cents
You can stay in here all day
So I took a chance
I went inside
Wasn’t much there to see
So I asked her for my money back
And she just smiled at me

Saw Princess Tonyika taken off all her clothes
Rode some rides and played some games
Saw the Wild Man from Borneo
There was a black man playing the blues
Talked to some friends I hadn’t seen in a while
Through a football through a hoop

Well I saw them loading up their trucks
Taking down the rides
Folding up all the tents
There’s a full moon in the sky
Some were laughing some were cussing
As they worked
Saw one of them making love
To a local girl

I was minding my own business
It was quarter after two
When a fella walked up and said
Hey man
I remember you
And then he shoved me
And pulled out his knife
Stuck me three times in the chest
And I died that night

For the like of me I can’t remember
Who he was
And why he’d put a knife in me
In the dusty parking lot
Everybody said
What a shame it was
But he knew better than staying out
Past twelve o’clock

Some people put no value
On a human life
And there are places we all go
That just ain’t safe at night
If somebody would do this to me
They just might do it to you
So be careful where you go
And what you say or do

Well the County Fair left quite a mess
In the county yard

Now the songs….enjoy!

Longest Days

My Sweet Love

If I Die Sudden

Troubled Land

John Cockers

Don’t Need This Body

A Ride Back Home

Jena

Mean

County Fair

For The Children

Look for this song in a post later this week!

A Brand New Song

My Final Playlist #5 – The Last Carnival

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 24, 2012
Posted in: My Final Playlist, Tribute Songs. Tagged: . Leave a comment

Bruce Springsteen wrote this song as a tribute to keyboardist Danny Federici who died in 2008.

Sundown, sundown
They’re taking all the tents down
Where have you gone my handsome Billy?

Sundown, sundown
The carnival train’s leaving town
Where are you now darling Billy?

We won’t be dancing together on the high wire
Facing the lions with you at my side anymore
We won’t be breathin’ the smoke and the fire
On a midway

Hanging from the trapeze
My wrists waiting for your wrists
Two daredevils high up on the wall of death
You throwin’ the knife that lands inches from my heart
Sundown

Moonrise, moonrise
The light that was in your eyes has gone away
Daybreak, daybreak
The thing in you that made me ache has gone to stay

We’ll be riding the train without you tonight
The train that keeps on movin’
Its black smoke scorching the evening sky
A millions stars shining above us like every soul livin’ and dead
Has been gathered together by a God to sing a hymn over your bones

Sun down, sun down
Empty are the fairgrounds
Where are you now handsome Billy?

I am totally captivated by the song’s carnival metaphor.  Let’s give it a listen…..

Although the song is about a band, I think it is equally applicable to anyone that has ever had a job.  Let’s face it, in the workplace we are all “performers”.  Anyone that has ever ventured into a new Customer’s office to make a pitch with a co-worker can understand a comparison of that experience to “dancing together on the high wire”, “facing the lions”, and “breathing the smoke and fire”.

The part of the song that really tugs at my emotions is the train metaphor.  All of us are riding on that same carnival train and at some point we get off and don’t get back on.  The train has a schedule to keep and it is programmed to leave the station whether you are on it or not.  Life is truly “The train that keeps on movin'”.

I haven’t quite figured out how to work this one into “My Final Playlist” but it is too good to not give it a shot.

As always, let me know what you think.

How about one more tribute song before we end the post?

In a word that is full of BS, the tears running down my face are real……        RIP Clarence and Danny!

My Final Playlist Candidate #4 – The Last Nail

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 13, 2012
Posted in: My Final Playlist. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

The Last Nail, the last song on Dan Fogelberg’s Captured Angel album, has always been one of my favorite songs.  Here is what Dan had to say about it in the liner notes for the Portrait box set.

A very cathartic song about finally letting go of my first great love. Never thought I’d use the word Pennsylvania in a song, but there you are.

Let’s listen……

I recently found an interview where Dan talks about The Last Nail and Tucson, Az (Gazette) (which I posted about a couple of  days ago).  I though you might enjoy hearing it so let’s listen….

Ok, that was not a good idea….it is way too sad that both Dan, and the woman Dan obsessed about all through high school/college, died way before their time!  Sorry to bring everyone down.

By now you are probably saying I thought this was a “My Final Playlist” post,  why would anyone want to use this song at their funeral?  The answer to that question is that I don’t want to use the whole song, just this part….

I was always very taken by this part of the song and think it would be a great way to say goodbye to friends.  What do you think?

Let me leave you with this live performance of The Last Nail from 1982.

Have you signed the petition to get Dan in the Rock and Roll Hall of Face?  No?  You know he deserves it…..so do it now!

My Final Playlist Candidate #3 – I Don’t Even Know Myself

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 8, 2012
Posted in: My Final Playlist. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

So the bottom line is this….. no one, I repeat no one, really knows me.  People know what I let them know and there is a lot that I don’t let anyone know.   Sometimes I discover things about myself that even I didn’t know. (Maybe everyone is like that but it is not something that I have ever discussed with anyone else.)  Based on this, the last thing that I want people doing at my funeral is telling stories and acting like they know the real me.

I am pretty sure that Pete Townshend shares my feelings on this topic based on today’s candidate song for “My Final Playlist”.  I Don’t Even Know Myself was originally written by Pete for the the abandoned Lifehouse project.  Unlike many of the other Lifehouse songs, I Don’t Even Know Myself did not make it onto the Who’s Next album.  It was; however, released as the B-Side of the Won’t Get Fooled Again single and has been included on many of the deluxe reissues of Who’s Next.

My favorite version of the song, and the one that is a candidate for “My Final Playlist”, is Pete’s demo version that he recorded in advance of the Who Lifehouse sessions.   Let’s listen…..

The key message of the song, for my purposes, is captured by Pete in this line:

Please don’t pretend that you know me, cause I don’t even know myself

Pete posed a question on the Quadrophenia album…..”Can you see the real me, can you, can you?”   I think this was merely rhetorical, Pete already had the answer based I Don’t Even Know Myself .

As always, let me know what you think.

To close this post I want to share an incredible live performance of I Don’t Even Know Myself by the original Who in all of their splendor.  Looney Mooney, in particular, was in fine form for this performance.

The best rock group of all time?  After watching this performance I dare you to say NO……….

My Final Playlist Candidate #2 – Remember Me

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on September 6, 2012
Posted in: My Final Playlist. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

So….here is another candidate for “My Final Playlist”.  This one is from Todd Rundgren….have I mentioned that he deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame???

I don’t think I need to do a lot of explaining about why this song is under consideration, give it a listen and I think you will understand.  It has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it on Todd’s second solo album, Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren in 1971.

Short and to the point………as always let me know what you think?

My Final Playlist Candidate #1 – It’s Been A Lovely Cruise

Posted by thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard on August 29, 2012
Posted in: My Final Playlist. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Up first in the “My Final Playlist” series of posts is a song from Jimmy Buffet.

Years ago I read a book about Steve Jobs titled “The Journey Is The Reward.”  That title (which I later learned was from an old Chinese proverb) really made an impression on me and has shaped the way that I look at life.   In my opinion, life is not about the wealth that we accumulate, the fame that we achieve, or the things that we buy along the way.  Life is all about the journey and the people that we meet (and help) along the way.

With this philosophy in mind, there is no better metaphor for life than a cruise which makes today’s song is a strong contender for “My Final Playlist.”  When I sail into that final port, I want everyone to know that although the cruise is ending it has been lovely and I wouldn’t change a thing.

As always….let me know what you think.