Dear Erik,
Dear Erik,
Here is the music I promised you. I really didn’t put a whole lot of thought behind it like you did. I just picked stuff I liked that I thought was something you might not be familiar with. I left out some of my favorites because you are already familiar with the music. And some were omitted because I couldn’t pick just one or two songs. I would need to send you everything ever recorded by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But I managed to find 29 songs. And almost everyone has a little short story that you need to be aware of. So, we will start with the Allman Bros. and work our way down the alphabet.
1. The Allman Brothers Band – One Way Out This is one of many songs of the BYWB genre that I have included. That stands for “Before You Were Born”. This is good stuff that I first heard while at Cousin Bruce’s house in New Jersey. The summer before my senior year in high school. I remember exactly where we were when I first heard this song. Lying on the floor at a friend’s house, looking at the album cover. We used to do that a lot when listening to music. I wish you could buy a CD or download something from i-tunes, and they would give you a big old 12”x12” album cover to read when you listen to the music.
2. Apollo Saxophone Quartet – High Life I heard this one night on NPR on the way home from a tennis match. It’s fun music that really sounds great with headphones. They could have stopped at about 4 minutes though. Gets old after a while.
3. The Avett Brothers – Live And Die I rented the movie “This Is Forty” awhile back. 10 minutes after it was over I downloaded the soundtrack. Full of great music. I really liked this song. You will quickly figure out that I like banjos. Especially a banjo and piano together. I just do. Can’t help it.
4. Bette Midler – Higher & Higher This was one of Jane’s favorites when we were first dating back in college. Starts off kind of slow and then you hear the drums, and it gets crazy. Fantastic drunken dancing music! I have some great old video of Dawn and Megan and my girls wearing cowboy hats and dancing to this music when they were little. I don’t think they had been drinking though.
5. Sweet Pea – Dan Holmes Dan is the friend of mine that went to the Planet Hollywood opening with us. He’s a good musician and this is a fun song.
6. David Garrett – Toccata You should listen to classical music. Don’t be afraid. It is fun stuff that can be just as exciting as anything written this century. And if you listen to it, you will realize that you are much more familiar with it than you thought. It is in movies, cartoons, commercials and influenced most of what is created today. But I’ll stop lecturing. Just wait until we get to the opera!
7. Edgar Winter Group – Frankenstein More BYWB music. You need to Google Edgar and his brother Johnny. Just your basic albino rock stars. This was high school music and the best part was near the end of the song and it gets a little weird and the music fades from one speaker to the other and back and forth. Pretty psychedelic stuff for 1972. Still fun for an old guy to listen to after the wife has gone to bed.
8. Electric Light Orchestra – Roll Over Beethoven A touch of classical which is cool, but it also has a lot of orchestral instruments, which was pretty odd for a rock group back BYWB.
9. The J. Geil’s Band – Whammer Jammer This was another one from that NJ summer. Listened to the music as Bruce played his harmonica with it. Then a week later we went to see them in concert in Philly. Got really stoned that evening.
10. John Mellencamp – Jackie Brown Strange song, but I really like it. And you should too.
11. John Prine – Glory of True Love You need to listen to this guy’s music! He has been around forever. Over 70 now and still touring. Just great simple music full of very poetic lyrics. Very much a thinking man’s musician. Started with a bunch of war protest stuff and just kept going.
12. Kishi Bashi – Bright Whites Another NPR find. Weird as hell but you can’t help but hit REPEAT after you hear it for the first time. One of those songs you hum to yourself all day. Bound to end up as background music on an Apple commercial someday.
13. The Barber of Seville I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned opera earlier. This is fun stuff. I used to sing it at the top of my lungs as my girls sat in the bathtub and I washed their hair. Bugs Bunny sang this song too. It’s fun I tell you!
14. Led Zeppelin – Communication Breakdown Not one of their best known hits but it is great rock music. And it is special for me because if you listen closely, you can hear him sing “OHHHH, Suck Meeeee in the middle of the song. They just kind of sneak it in there and you have to listen for it. Which is what a bunch of 15-year-old boys did back in the 70s. Amazing what amused us back then.
15. Leftover Salmon – Lovin in My Baby’s Eyes I like it, but I’m a little strange. But there’s a chance you’re the same kind of strange.
16. Meatloaf – Paradise By The Dashboard Lights Really great rock beat and a neat story. A well-crafted piece of music that reminds me of a bunch of nights in a steamy 66 Mustang with… never mind.
17. Pat Metheny Group – Last Train Home Soft jazz isn’t all bad. Another one made for headphones. Or driving at night when the wife and kids have already crashed.
18. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Shake Your Moneymaker So tell me Erik, do you like the blues? Good stuff but best if listened to when by yourself. Because when you hear this stuff, you get all cool and start getting into it and then you get all funky and bite your lower lip and bounce your head up and down. And you are in the groove and feeling great. But you look kind of stupid.
19. More of the same. This one is called I Got My Mojo Working. Please heed warning above.
20. Peter, Paul and Mary – Early Morning Rain Simple clean harmony. These people could really sing. And I really like that guitar. Nice simple picking.
21. Sleepy LaBeef. Come on, you gotta love a guy named Sleepy LaBeef. This is boogie-woogie at its best. Now I don’t really know what exactly differentiates the blues from boogie-woogie. I just know this feels like boogie-woogie to me. Actually, my friend Dan’s song might also fall into the boogie-woogie category. I really just like typing the word boogie-woogie.
22. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Pride and Joy No special story about this. Just seriously good music.
23. Ten Years After – I’m Going Home – More BYWB stuff. Actually, these guys were pretty much forgotten about before your first birthday. But they were a big deal at Woodstock, which is where this song came from. I went and saw the movie “Woodstock” with some friends from church. I was 14 at the time. It was a long movie, and I remember the guy that took us got yelled at by my dad because it was after 11:00 when we got home. It’s weird how some things just stick in your mind.
24. Them – Baby Please Don’t Go No story, just like it.
25. Tommy Emmanuel – Sukiyaki The world’s best guitar player playing one of the best songs ever written. I love Tommy. Going to see him again in June. And I have always loved this song. I probably have six or seven different versions. From the original to an a cappella version and one done in German. I don’t know what it is about this song, but it just has everything I like in a tune.
26. Tony Bennett – The Way You Look Tonight Just classy. The kind of song that you wish you were cool enough to be able to sing to your wife without her laughing. But you’re not. But Tony is, so let him sing while you just snuggle a little closer and cop a feel.
27. Uriah Heep – Look at Yourself A lot like Ten Years After, these guys were a big deal in the US for a short while. They were the first Metallica.
28. Wilco – I Got You Another track from “This Is Forty”. I do like the banjo. Can’t help it.
29. Yo Yo Ma & Alison Krauss – Simple Gifts A centuries old tune played on the cello and sung by one single voice. What a perfect way to end a CD.
That’s it. Hope you found something new that you like.
So, I picked the music and typed the letter. And it took 3 weeks to print and get mailed. Sorry for the delay.
UW