Lend a Hand…

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We all deserve to know what we come from.

We all deserve to know what we come from.

Let me explain where I’m coming from, because I mean no disrespect. My grandfather and namesake, Robert Fisher Laird, had a wealthy, successful father, Samuel Laird. But my grandfather never knew even the name of his own grandfather. Samuel was a bit of an eccentric. He never talked about the past. But he had a prodigious mustache. He left not a cent to his own children. His will left everything to grandchildren he never saw, with no disbursement to occur until after his own sons and daughters were dead. He was somehow committed to making a hole in life containing himself and his children, who wouldn’t even be allowed to know where they came from.

I think we all deserve to know where we came from, the origins of the things we cleave to and hold dear.

That’s what’s motivating my response to Tim’s latest comment explaining his musical past:

…Just so you know where I’m coming from: my parents are too old to be Boomers and listened to a lot of ‘40s & ‘50s era music. My brothers were teens in the mid-80s. Had basically zero exposure to anything from the ‘60s & ‘70s growing up. The Beach Boys were about as close as it got.

Unfortunately, most people I’ve met who really like music from one or both of those decades lionize the Beatles. I decided early on, during a two part history of rock n’ roll lecture I had in elementary school (half of which was devoted to the Beatles), that I didn’t care for the Beatles so much. Glad that you have more information & stories about music during that time other than, “…and then John Lennon was shot and I stopped listening to music because what’s the point?”

That being said, I do know of the Allman Brothers, just hadn’t heard that particular song before. Well, I haven’t heard most of their songs before. The only one I ever heard played on the radio back when I still listened to the radio was Nobody Left To Run With. Blondie I only knew through Heart of Glass. Rolling Stones I originally only knew because Paint it Black was the theme song for this Vietnam show called Tour of Duty. Same type of story with many other bands of that time. Thanks for filling in the gaps.

But I haven’t filled the gaps. There are two missing decades in Tim’s musical heritage. All our Top 100 lists have as their context the whole history of the music that surrounded our lives growing up. Each of us is like one kayak navigating through the whitewater of everything else we might have chosen. Our choices define us. But those choices are essentially meaningless without comprehending the whole river we’re paddling through.

I’m asking everyone to offer up ten songs available for viewing or listening on the Internet from the sixties and seventies. These are not necessarily your own preferences. They are the definition of the width and depth and speed of the river. And nobody has to do it all. The lists will add up and do their work by accumulation. You can be eclectic, or you can be specific. For example, somebody could do ten iconic Motown songs. Somebody else could do a Woodstock collection. Or somebody could try to find the outer boundaries of all the fads and movements of the two missing decades. You can do more than 10 songs. There’s no penalty for passion. And no disincentive to advocate, explain, recommend, or criticize.

Bear in mind, you’re providing input to someone whose knowledge of the Beatles consists primarily of an elementary school lecture. He loves music. But he is deprived of knowledge of the antecedents of even the things he knows he loves. It’s very like my grandfather not knowing who his grandfather was. And Tim IS asking. It’s not his fault. A hole so big hides itself by its sheer immensity. But he’s working his way through your lists, following the trails of all the individual kayaks.

Let’s help him see and feel the river.

Raebert's grandfather spoke to me in a dream once. Before I knew what a deerhound was. He told me I was doomed.

Raebert’s grandfather spoke to me in a dream once. Before I knew what a deerhound was. He told me I was doomed. Notably he didn’t tell me Raebert would help. He just kind of smacked his lips at the company I’d be keeping.

31 thoughts on “Lend a Hand…”

  1. Seems to me he’s also missing the varied origins of rock and roll from the “50s – what preceded the Beatles and Stones. Not to mention the great Blues and Jazz from that decade. There’s a big gap to be filled.

  2. 1969 official school is out for me, real life lessons straight ahead!
    Stevie Wonder: My Cheri Amour
    The Dells: Oh What A Night
    Three Dog Night: One
    Jerry Butler: Only The Strong Survive
    The Who: Pinball Wizard
    Blood Sweat and Tears: Spinning Wheel
    The Archies: Sugar Sugar
    The Guess Who: These Eyes
    Tommy James and The Shondells: Crimson and Clover
    Jay and The Americans: This Magic Moment
    Shocking Blue: Venus

    • How cool are you? Fantastic list. But the one that blows my mind — Crimson and Clover. I was 14, We thought it was the dirtiest song ever recorded, Because we simply couldn’t make out the lyrics of the Kingsmen’s Louie Louie. How great would it be to be that young and dumb again?

      Actually, I thought I’d be the first. Put together a Beatles list. Just to prove my bona fides. But the hyperlinks aren’t working when I try to import them here. I need a tech rescue from Lake. What it is to get old…

    • Thank you, Edna! A few notes:

      Thought My Cheri Amour was an ‘80s song. Whoops. I like that, but my favorite Stevie Wonder song is Overjoyed. I mentioned I like singing, and that song is like my karaoke white whale because I just…can’t…quite…nail the ending due to the key change.

      Oh What a Night: perfect example of a song I’ve heard and liked but have no idea who sang it or any story behind it.

      And Spinning Wheel! I really like that song but I don’t have a copy of it. I need to rectify that ASAP.

      Can’t wait to dig into the rest of these. Some I think I may already know but I can’t be certain until I hear them.

    • So Edna, I actually knew all of these songs except Only the Strong Survive. Had trouble finding a studio recording of that but found a live version and it didn’t ring any bells. Every single other one I knew but I didn’t know their names nor who sang them.

      What I’m discovering as I go through these is how pervasive ‘60s & ‘70s music has been even though I didn’t grow up with it in my house. If I hadn’t heard these songs in their original version, I knew them as covers that other bands did or repurposed for jingles on TV commercials.

      Anyway, I have some more tunes to add to my collection. Thank you for the list, Edna.

  3. Did this with links. Not importable apparently. Make do with this for a while:

    All right. I’ll start. To show you I’m serious and to demonstrate the difference between preference and education.

    Ten Beatles songs that matter.

    I Want to Hold Your Hand. One of the two songs that started it all in the U.S. Moptops. Innocents. Why Ed Sullivan was willing. Holding hands was better than what Elvis Presley was pushing.

    Twist and Shout. A cover song. But one that proved John Lennon had a real rocker inside him. Hope for all of us who weren’t screaming girls.

    Something in the Way She Moves. They could write real love songs, beyond the level of She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Good to know. Sinatra covered it. Beautifully.

    She’s Leaving Home. My own tutorial lecture moment. My high school music teacher wept openly as he played this for us. I figured he must know something I didn’t.

    Helter Skelter. Charles Manson killed people with this song as a backdrop. Powerful stuff, eh? That Lennon guy could have gone places.

    A Little Help from My Friends. Eh. Then Joe Cocker covered it. I was persuaded.

    Hey Jude. Hey, dude. Maybe only the most famous song on the planet.

    Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. LSD. Cool. First they want to hold your hand. Now they want you to drop acid. Gotta do what you gotta do.

    The Long and Winding Road. Okay, they were breaking up by then, having been together for almost (gasp) ten years. What roads wind longer than ten years? Not many, luv.

    Working Class Hero. After the breakup, there was a brief flicker of hope that John Lennon could blossom as a real rocker. But then there was Yoko and nude lie-ins, and a very bad ending. For what it’s worth, my perfect Lennon song. Leonard Cohen without the poetry.

    Oh well. Let it Be. It’s over and done with now. As much as anything ever is.

    • I should point out that I know more now about the Beatles than what I heard back in elementary school. What I didn’t like growing up is how so many people continually tried to foist them on me as musical perfection. I like some of their songs but many I can do without.

      Yellow Submarine, LSw/D, Hey Jude: okay, I get it. They are singing about doing drugs in ways that went over the heads of many parents at the time. Hey Jude is at least nice to listen to. Lucy, though, I can’t do it.

      Twist & Shout: we talked about this a few years back at Instapunk. I had forgotten about this song then and I forgot about it again. I have always liked it but it is atypical of the Beatles. You described it as a glimpse into how the Beatles might have been, a path not taken.

      The Joe Cocker cover of “Friends”: wasn’t this the one used as the opening for the Fred Savage show the Wonder Years? Like Paint it Black, for a long time I knew this only as a cool theme song from a mediocre TV show. Heard the original some years later and didn’t care for it. Joe’s version is great, though. Curious thing is that there are a good number of Beatles songs I feel the same way about: other people did covers which I like but the originals don’t do it for me.

      One exception is Yesterday. I liked that song since the first time I heard it. It was one of the few the teachers were probably allowed to discuss in the elementary school thing as Hey Jude and Lucy would have been frowned upon back in the heyday of D.A.R.E. and “just say no!”

      Let It Be: I like that one, too.

      Some of these I may not have heard, though. I will check them out. Thanks again. Even if I happen not to personally care for something, I do like hearing about the history & personal recollections behind it.

      • Important point. The Beatles are important. Doesn’t mean I like them. I don’t. Musically sappy, not good technically, but so popular they changed the landscape. I made the comment I did because you need to understand what was driving music for the years you know nothing of. And you do know nothing of them. Remembering a song or two doesn’t count. You don’t know the current everyone was swimming through, reacting to. You’re still snagging things out of the water with sticks and tent poles. Sit back. Relax. Hear the music go by.

        • Okay, you’re right. I won’t argue that they had an important impact on music. Looking forward to hearing the rest.

  4. Everybody else? Come dancing. So many of you know so much more about music than I do. Help! Explain. Illustrate. Elucidate.

  5. I’d really like to chime in on this but I don’t know how to create links to You Tube videos without copying and pasting in lengthy URLs. I’m old enough to remember the emergence of Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, etc. And I remember how they were replaced by commercial schlock after Elvis was drafted and Holly died until The Beatles and The Stones arrived on the scene. I will agree that the Beatles’ music, while, with some exceptions, was not the greatest, was of extreme importance to the development of popular music. They completed what Buddy Holly started by composing and performing their own music instead of performing whatever Tin Pan Alley gave them. Some instruction on creating links would be appreciated.

    • Don’t worry about the links. Just give us your list — titles, band name, year of original recording maybe, just enough info to find the version you think important. And why you think it’s important.

    • I will second that. Unless there’s a specific version of the song you’re referencing, like a cover or live performance, the original version shoudl be easy enough to find on Youtube.

      And if there’s something you need to include a link for, just paste the lengthy URL in. No big whoop. I don’t know how to do hyperlinks here, either.

  6. Btw, RL, sorry about the Flyers last night. I can’t stand the Rangers. I’ve gotten to know them very well since the Caps have faced them five or six times out of the previous seven years. Dirty and boring team who tries to lean on their goalie to win with soccer totals like 1-0. Saw the cheap shot they gave Giroux, cross checking him in the back early on. I think he was hurting the rest of the night b/c he didn’t look right after that. Flyers were still in it, though, until the rookie accidentally whacked the other guy in the face with his stick. Hope he gets angry instead of depressed for game 2.

    • Well, frankly, we’re lucky to be in the playoffs. But I hate the Rangers too. Maybe the hockey gods will deal us a break. Maybe not.

  7. Here’s my list of 10. Rather than research a theme or put together songs that I specifically love or like, these are the songs that occur to me as I type this for one reason or another. These come to mind mainly because they’re what my parents were listening to while I was growing up. Unlike you, Tim, my folks came right out of the hippie movement.

    1. Yes, I’ve Seen All Good People (73)

    2. Pink Floyd, Shine on you Crazy Diamond (75)

    3. The Guess Who, American Woman (72) (remember when Lenny Kravitz covered it?)

    4. Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues (62)

    5. Van Morrison, Moondance (70)

    6. Doobie Brothers, Long Train Runnin (73)

    7. Eric Clapton, After Midnight (70)

    8. The Rolling Stones, Wild Horses (71)

    9. Led Zeppelin, When the Levee Breaks (71)

    10. The Who, Baba O’Riley (71)

    I see in most of these the genesis of my favorite bands from the 90’s, specifically Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder said that he should send Pete Townshend (from The Who) a card every Father’s Day, and they’re constantly giving credit to their musical forefathers. Now they’re an old band too, ‘classic rock’ according to the radio stations. I still see classic rock as all of the amazing music above.

    Scrolling up, I see how much cooler Edna’s list is than mine!

    • Doing this exercise, it’s clear to me just how amazing and deep these decades went. I admit defeat! You were right. It dawned on me that while I appreciate Pearl Jam’s longevity and depth, ALL of the above artists have amazing song after song. It was hard to pick one for any given band knowing that *every one of them* had an additional dozen excellent songs. And for every one of them, you could go ‘deep’ into the catalogue and find the hidden gems, become an uber-fan, etc. I did that in the 90’s with several of my teenage bands, but every band and singer on my list has uber-fan-worthy history. And then I realize that for all of these super popular bands, there are dozens under them who still produced terrific music and the occasional hit.

      The one hit wonders of the 60’s and 70’s could have been the top groups of today, if only our modern ears hadn’t changed. Why did we leave this kind of music behind for synthesizers and auto-tuning and sampled beats??

      You were right, RL, you’re always right. It took this second exercise to open my eyes to that. Of course, I love (and you love) a lot of more modern music, but it’s just not the same.

      I’m going to spend the afternoon cranking out rock and roll while my students work on labs. Maybe they’ll learn something too.

    • “Unlike you, Tim, my folks came right out of the hippie movement.”

      Don’t worry, so did practically everyone else’s parents in my age group.

      Baba O’Reilly: another song I mainly associate as a theme song b/c of its use in the American Beauty trailers. Didn’t care for the film but I do like the song.

      Yes: I know “All Good People” but I love “Owner of a Lonely Heart”.

      Clapton: After Midnight I have on my phone even though I prefer Layla.

      American Woman: I think many people prefer the first version they hear of a song, whether it’s the original or a cover. Not so for this one. They played the Kravitz version endlessly on the radio when Austin Powers 2 came out. Don’t know about you but I found it lifeless & repetitive. The original is featured in the actual movie and that one I liked a lot more. Kravitz didn’t even include that neat guitar lead in with his cover. Why, Lenny?

      Wild Horses: heard a cover of this by the Sundays. Don’t think I’ve ever fully listened to the original. Need to check that out as well as the others. Thanks!

  8. Ten, eh? I may run over.

    Chicago – Ballet For A Girl In Buchanon – This is the extended version of Make Me Smile that also includes THE early-’70s wedding song Colour My World. Taken as a whole, the album-side-long suite has everything that made Chicago great before they went all David Foster on us: Tight brass, great harmonies, and blistering guitar by Terry Kath, a man that Jimi Hendrix called the greatest guitarist he ever heard. For a deeper dive into Chicago, get their third album, which has no hits but is as adventurous as any double album from that era.

    Steely Dan – Aja – the album is great, the song is better.Steve Gadd, the drummer on Aja (the song), should have this song’s title on his tombstone. Listen to what he does with a single bass drum.

    The Beatles – You Never Give Your Money, etc suite on Abbey Road – Stunning collection of throwaways by Lennon and McCartney that Paul stitched together into a cohesive whole as the band fell apart around him. His closing line, “the love you take is equal to the love you make” probably caused 75% of Gen X conceptions.

    Black Sabbath – War Pigs – Folks overlook how jazzy the Sabs were, but listen them swing on this song. This and Fairies Wear Boots somehow creep up to high volume in my car, when I’m alone of course. Can’t let my 13-year-old boys have that much fun.

    Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy – Nothing was cooler in the ’60s than Peanuts, and nothing made Peanuts cooler than the music in Charlie Brown Christmas. The story behind the TV special is filled with happy accidents, one of which was one of the producers hearing “Cast Your Fate To The Wind”, Guaraldi’s big early-’60s hit, on the radio while in San Francisco visiting Charles Schulz, and thinking his music would be perfect for this Peanuts documentary he and Schulz were cooking up. The doc went unfinished until later, but the connection had been made.

    Bert Kaempfert – Red Roses For A Blue Lady – Anyone who attended a dance recital in the ’60s heard this song, but didn’t know what it was called. Now you know.

    Elton John – Burn Down the Mission – Honky Chateau was the bomb EJ dropped on America, and the last song, usually filler on ’70s albums, was Burn Down the Mission, only the best song on the album. Pre-dates and predicts the later classic Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. Elton John was, and still is, a genius.

    Boston – Hitch A Ride – Boston’s best, in my opinion. Glossy production and stellar musicianship teamed up with a sweet song about finding the open road, hippie-style, only with dueling metal guitars. Another window-breaker in my car.

    Rush -The Trees – How three guys can create the things they do is incredible. This song is Rush: the Renaissance-Fair intro, the jackhammer drums, The time changes, Geddy’s lead bass guitar, Alex shredding his brains out, and Neil Peart teaching us a lesson about forced equality, Ayn Rand-style. Majestic as the lofty oaks, grasping as the lowly maples.

    Heart – Mistral Wind – Could girls rock? Uh-huh, and a lot heavier than Joan Jett and Lita Ford ever could. Heart’s Zeppelin channelings were the best, and this was the best of the best and, unfortunately, one of the last. Two albums later, Heart was ringing up Diane Warren for songwriting help, and Zeppelin was forgotten. And yes, they were comic-book super-heroine hot.

    Kix – Kix Are For Kids – Kix was a hyper-kinetic Baltimore band with an AC/DC sound and a Aerosmith wink who later hit big with an album produced by the same guy made Ratt stars. But their first album, with this song on it, is their best and most free. Smarter than a hair band, funnier than the Stones.

    Lovin’ Spoonful – You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice – You’ve heard of the laid-back hippie days in San Francisco? John Sebastian was smack-dab in the middle of it. This song goes best with a beach and a joint.

    Neil Young – Cinnamon Girl – Best one-note guitar solo ever! Neil specializes in writing songs you and I think we could write, but can’t. Another genius, complete with everything that term implies.

    U.K. – In the Dead Of Night – After Bill Bruford left Yes, he teamed up with Alan Holdsworth, John Wetton (from King Crimson, later in Asia) and Eddie Jobson (from Roxy Music) to form U.K. With those egos, they managed one album with one awesome song suite.

    Yes – Close To the Edge – This was the last great Yes Song. After this, Yes was Jon Anderson’s floats downstream, and Chris Squire trying to maintain his dignity. But this song had everything you want in a Yes Song: Bruford’s confounding beats, Howe’s steady at the wheel guitar hitting just the right notes, Wakeman’s straight-from-the-merry-go-round organ, Squire’s dirty bass licks and Anderson’s incomprehensible mysticism. That it’s their longest song turns it up to 11.

    Thanks for the indulgence. And yes, I ran over.

    • Don’t care about too long. Heck, keep going. I’ll be checking into Youtube myself.

      • Thanks RL. I did not do my YouTube due diligence on these tracks, but I would think they are out there somewhere. Maybe the Kix song can’t be found, but the CD is only five bucks at some places, and well worth the price of admission.

    • You got me, Chris. I don’t think I know a single song on this list except for the one from Peanuts. Thanks!

  10. Thank you, Chris & Lake. Planning on listening to many of these tonight via my tablet as hockey flashes (muted) on the tee-vee screen.

    • Pro tip: For any of the bigger artists, Google the name and ‘songs’ and you’ll get a de facto ‘best of’ list, all linked to videos. Also, YouTube has their playlist functionality, so there are some pre-done playlists out there that will cycle through great songs.

  11. OK, I’ll take a stab at this. It won’t come all at once as I have too many distractions to devote long uninterrupted minutes to it. My first real introduction to popular music came watching the 1950’s TV show, Your Hit Parade. It featured singers Snookie Lanson, Giselle McKenczie, Dorothy Collins and Russell Arms performing the top 5-7 current top hits. They were reasonably competent as long as the hit songs were “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window,” “Shrimp Boats Are a’coming,” etc.

    But…”The show faded with the rise of rock and roll when the performance became more important than the song. It is said that big band singer Snooky Lanson’s weekly attempts to perform Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” hit in 1956 hastened the end of the series.” – Wikipedia.

    I witnessed this. I was only 11 or 12 at the time, but it was obvious to me that the times were changing. And then, of course, right on the heels of Elvis, came Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. Don MacLean hit the nail on the head (up to a point). The music basically died in 1959 when Holly died, Elvis was in the army and the Everly Brothers were beginning to fade.

    (I don’t mean to minimize the significance of groups like Bill Halley and the Comets, or any of the Stax/Motown groups of the time. During that time my exposure to pop music was mostly through TV shows so I am writing about what I experienced.)

    From 1959 until sometime in 1963/64 my experience of pop music was pretty much a wasteland of beach party movie music: Fabian, Annette Funicello, etc. There were some good songs produced during that time, but not much that really qualified as rock.

    And then came 1963/64. The Beatles, the Stones, Dylan. And I hated it.

    That’s all I can do right now. To quote someone: “More to come…”

  12. I’m not up to recreating history tonight so I’m going to throw this out there. There is a fairly recent video by The Killers called Miss Atomic Bomb that I have found to be intriguing. (For whatever it’s worth it’s my 18-month old granddaughter’s favorite song, and has been for some time now). About 1/4 or the way into the video when the “hero” and the girl are riding the motorcycle, they get their first glimpse of the “villain.” He’s leaning back against his Rolls Royce, smoking a cigarette, but what is interesting is that he has this “swash” across his lower face that looks familiar. A little later the “hero” is passing through a crowd and, as he passes, the appearance of the people in the background keeps morphing.
    I have no knowledge whatsoever about the political leanings of the members of The Killers, but I find some of this imagery quite interesting. Any input would be appreciated. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qok9Ialei4c

    • The swash is the coat collar seen through the back of a ghost head. Symbol of what’s to come. The haunting possibility of loosing her to a wealthier, more worldly man. That man that stands just out of sight watching the young, beautiful woman waiting for his chance to corrupt and possess all in the name of supposing to help her achieve her goal, costing her everything.
      The morphing people is “I see you every where I go”. It is what people that have lost a great or important love say, I see her/him all over the place, especially when I go places that we had gone to together. She/he is always on my mind. I may never get over her.

  13. Edna, you are probably absolutely correct about the “swash.” But about the third time I saw it, I realized it kind of looked like the Obama swash in his logo. And the morphing people in the background fit, too.
    Now, to change the subject, no one has mentioned The Beach Boys. I’m not going to try to elevate them to the title of best band of all time, but there are times I would say that “Good Vibrations” might be my favorite song from the 60’s. As I understand it, the Beach Boys and the Beatles fed off each other for a time, each trying to outdo the other. This was during the period of the Beatles’ “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper,” and the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and “Smiley Smile,” the scaled down version of an album that was to have been called “Smile” that was scuttled due to Brian Wilson’s mental breakdown.

  14. In case anyone is still watching, I actually have a link this time. It’s not the link I wanted because that one apparently doesn’t exist anymore. This is Steve Goodman and Jethro Burns doing a song called “The Dutchman,” which I became aware of only a few minutes ago. For anyone who doesn’t know, Steve Goodman was the author of The City of New Orleans. He died in his 30’s from leukemia. In most of the videos I’ve seen of him he looks a little puffy, probably from the chemotherapy. (I have some personal experience with that.) In the 1950’s, Jethro Burns was part of a country-western duo called Homer and Jethro. They were an early incarnation of Weird Al, doing parodies of popular songs. Since the 50’s, I never gave Homer and Jethro another thought until, a few years ago, I found a video on YouTube of Goodman and Burns performing The City of New Orleans in a live concert somewhere, probably a college campus. I was totally blown away by the old guy’s mandolin. Unfortunately, that video disappeared a year or so ago, probably due to some copyright infringement or something. I think the following link is from the same concert. I have never been a big country-western fan but I have fond memories of Homer and Jethro and it has been a great pleasure to rediscover Jethro Burns. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeBD3rcAMFw

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