spoti.fi/1ShNd4Gbit.ly/1thPDIj "I woke up this morning and I got myself a BEER!"
I didn't buy "Morrison Hotel."
The Doors' debut is one of the best albums extant. Sure, it's got "Light My Fire," even "The End," but my favorite is "Crystal Ship," and I have a soft place in my heart for "Twentieth Century Fox."
So I bought "Strange Days," which was even darker, but sans standout tracks. Then again, I love "Moonlight Drive" and "You're Lost Little Girl," but what in the hell was up with "Horse Latitudes"? They get all the credit for experimenting, but...
"Waiting For The Sun" had a huge hit, and who doesn't love "Love Street," and I sing "Summer's Almost Gone" to myself every August, but...it didn't quite reach the previous peak.
And then came "Soft Parade," which was criticized for being bombastic, but I've got no problem with the title track, and I really love "Wishful Sinful" and "Runnin' Blue," but I stopped there...
Because the reviews weren't quite good enough.
Funny how time has written a different story. People exalt the rawness of "Morrison Hotel," the Paul Rothchild-less "L.A. Woman" is a classic, and I know them by heart, they get so much airplay, the Doors had a renaissance nonpareil, but...
When I heard John Sebastian give the backstory on "Roadhouse Blues" just now and he launched into the tune I was TRANSFIXED!
I had my hands upon the wheel, my fingers were tapping, my ass was shaking, I was reminded of what music once was, when rock ruled, when it was about singing as opposed to talking, when those who made it were truly outlaws, when it was the most important thing in the world, when it WAS the culture.
So, John Sebastian is the deejay today on the 70's on 7. Installations in automobiles broke Sirius XM, never underestimate the power of distribution, and I'm stunned when people don't subscribe, I haven't listened to terrestrial radio since 2003, and I don't miss it a bit.
And John isn't the best deejay, he doesn't have a smooth voice, it's a bit halting and considered, but I'm playing the home game, I'm anticipating what he's going to say, and he's talking about a recut of "Nashville Cats" in Nashville and I'm thinking of Valerie Carter's exquisite cover of his "Face Of Appalachia," but I've got to stop at the 76 station for some gas, where the woman next to me has a neck tattoo and I'm wondering...does everybody want to be like a rock star, and at what cost, does this hurt your career?
And when I'm back in my machine John is telling a story about the aforementioned Paul Rothchild, who I actually knew, how Paul called him up to play with the Doors.
I didn't know that!
This was pre-internet, pre-Wikipedia.
And John's talking about being thrilled to play with the lauded Lonnie Mack, whom I didn't know was on the record either, and just before he hits play he says to listen for himself on the harmonica.
I DIDN'T KNOW THIS! For some reason I thought someone in the band played the harp.
And it's fifty years since the Lovin' Spoonful, and John Sebastian may have lost his voice but for the life of me I don't know why the Lovin' Spoonful" has lost its respect, they had a string of hits, my favorite besides "Darling Be Home Soon"? SIX O'CLOCK!
So I've got it cranked. I've got an aftermarket stereo. Does anybody do that anymore? Is everybody resigned to better than crap but not really great sound in the car?
And I've got the six speakers and the subwoofer and I'm in my cocoon and....
That guitar starts to chug, the one that lit up untold Saturday nights in the city.
And the ivories are tinkling and the harp is blowing and then Jim is imploring us to keep our eyes on the road and our hands upon the wheel as we drive to the roadhouse to have a real good time.
How did the band change sounds? I think it confounded critics. People expect you to sound exactly like you did before, but the crowd caught on, "Roadhouse Blues" is a staple, a classic.
By today's standards it takes too long to get to the lyrics.
But back then we were all about breaking rules.
And the band is laying down track, rollicking, taking the Band's sound and amplifying it and then...
"Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel"
Today millennials don't even get their license. But back then it represented freedom. Does anybody even drive cross-country anymore? That was a box to be ticked, not because you could not afford to fly, but because you wanted to see what was going on, soak up the landscape.
"Yeah, we're goin' to the roadhouse
We're gonna have a real
Good time"
Oh, the tales your parents have to tell. Getting in Pontiacs and Pintos, loaded up with their friends, driving to a bar where there was a jukebox, maybe a band, and beers were a buck and you started early and ended late and it was all about jostling and jiving, telling tales and having the night of your life.
"Let it roll, baby
Let it roll, baby
Let it roll, baby
Let it roll, all night long"
Getting in the moment, surfing the zeitgeist, that's the essence of life, that's what music provides, you want to catch the wave, stand up and ride it all the way into shore.
"Save our city
Save our city
RIGHT NOW!"
Nothing beats immediacy. Don't call me about drinking Saturday night, tell me to meet you downtown RIGHT NOW!
"Well, I woke up this morning, I got myself a beer"
That's what you did when everybody wasn't on the fast track to nowhere taking business courses so they can climb up the corporate ladder, so they can be entrepreneurs, founding apps, making coin,
We didn't think we could win back then. Life was for the living. And sometimes the only way to go, to cope, was to pop a top as soon as you got up, and face the day.
"The future's uncertain and the end is always near"
For Jim it certainly was, shortly he'd be six feet under in Paris. But the reason he and his compatriots' music lasts is because they played like it was everything and it could all end tomorrow. No corporation could keep up.
Now this is not background music, not something to come up on the Pandora channel playing while you work, while you make dinner, no "Roadhouse Blues" immediately demands your attention.
So what I want you to do right now is TURN IT UP! I want you to LET LOOSE! I want you to FEEL ALIVE! I want you to let the music WASH OVER YOU! I want you to be jetted back to what once was and forevermore will be!
That's the power of music, that's the power of a track, get it right and it's forever. It's not an iPod that's superseded that ends up in a drawer. It's not the supporting cast, but the lead, when done right it dominates, desecrates and decapitates, that's right, it blows your head RIGHT OFF!
So what I want you do is let it roll.
Let it roll.
ALL NIGHT LONG!
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