the best songs ever

[Ragnarök_62]

Ah yes, what was old is new again.  Toxic shadows in Dallas, Toxic shadows everywhere.  Toxic shadows FBI, Toxic shadows Everywhere,
Toxic Shadows, Hillary and Trump, Toxic Shadows everywhere. Toxic shadows Minnesota,   Toxic shadows everywhere,  Toxic shadows hacked computers everywhere, Toxic shadows, Mid East, Toxic shadows everywhere.

Song of da year man.  2016 = year of Toxic Shadows.

[Ragnarök_62]

More good shit from youtube.  

[Eric the Green]

Well we have now crossed the threshold of groovy enlightenment, as Gabrielle said. Into 1967, and 1966.

Light My Fire by the Doors was #1 of the whole year, locally in the Bay Area. It was a breakthrough recording which for while made longer album cuts on AM radio possible, which however soon split off into a genre of its own. It was the single which topped the charts though, and that version had a livelier feel off the vinyl. But this is the album version which featured the famous, brilliant long organ and guitar instrumental. The guitar theme of that section reminds me of Take Five by Dave Brubeck. It was my #2 pick for 1967, but a few other pieces from 1967 have since surpassed it on my all-time list. It has received many honors as the video commentary reports. In about 1980, a poll on our local Bay Area talk show station put it as all-time #1. It's another example of how important the organ was in 2T rock, which largely disappeared later on. Rock organ was one reason I took up the instrument myself, and this song was certainly the most prominent example.

It is the song which embodies the groovy year more than any other, even tough the lyrics are rather conventional. It is obviously sexual, as is Jim's singing. But they include the line "we couldn't get much higher," which Ed Sullivan forbid them to sing on his show because he thought it suggested drug use. They sang the line anyway; what else could they have done? So Ed banned them, but later Sly and the Family Stone sang "we're gonna take you higher" anyway, and it was OK with him by then. Talking about getting high was something that became so ubiquitous in those days that it could not be censored.

[Eric the Green]

(07-10-2016, 09:41 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: More good shit from youtube.  

There were sure a lot of musicians that I didn't know about from this era; many local centers of music, and many boomer youth doing garage-band stuff. Toad is from Switzerland. I guess they had time to put down their guns and pick up their guitars

[Eric the Green]

My #1 for 1967, it always transfixes me, but especially when it came out; displacing Light My Fire as my fave of the year. That took some doing! Arranger Joe Renzetti, who worked on several other hits of the time, went on to compose classical music. A.P.P.P. was sort of a southern (or was it Philly) white+black motown sound. Even more than with Magic Carpet Ride, you can let the sound take you into fantasy. The most delicious record ever made, without doubt. Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie; Jay & the Techniques. A big national hit; exactly contemporary with a bigger, somewhat-similar hit, The Letter by the Box Tops, which was #1 of the year nationally. The title, I learned later, is an alternative name for Hide and Go Seek. Did you play it? We did all the time. I loved it as a kid. I wasn't looking for a girl yet though; except maybe Crystal. Currently I list it as #8 on my all-time list.





I could never make out the lyrics, though. So here they are:

Ready or not here I come
Gee that used to be such fun
Apples peaches pumpkin pie
Who not ready, holler I?
That's a game we used to play, yeah.
Hide and seek or what was its name.
Ready or not, hear I come,
Gee that used to be such fun.
I always used to find a hiding place,
Times have changed.
Well I'm one step behind you, but still I can't find you.
Apple peaches pumpkin pie,
You were young and so was I.
Now that we've grown up it seems
You just keep ignoring me.
I'll find you anywhere you go,
I'm gonna look high and low.
You can't escape this love of mine anytime.
Well, I'll sneak up behind you,
Be careful where I find you.
Apple peaches pumpkin pie,
Soon your love will be all mine.
Then I'm gonna take you home,
Marry you so you won't roam.
Marry you so you won't roam. Right now
I'll find you anywhere you go,
I'm gonna look high and low.
You can't escape this love of mine anytime.
Well, I'll sneak up behind you,
Be careful where I find you.
Ready or not here I come,
It used to be such fun, now....

[Ragnarök_62]

lyrics Wrote:Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
But she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
But she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
The blue and gray they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war was over
They stuffed it just like a hog
And though the past has it's share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey
The spirit it was freedom and justice
And it's keepers seem generous and kind
It's leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
Now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'
Cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into the noose
And it just sits there watching
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now?
We can't fight alone against the monster
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now?
We can't fight alone against the monster
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now?
We can't fight alone against the monster
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now?
We can't fight alone against the monster
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now?
We can't fight alone against the monster

Yup, what was old is certainly new again.

[Ragnarök_62]

DEFCON 1

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/20...-attention


Duck and cover, man.

[Eric the Green]

(07-11-2016, 01:54 AM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

DEFCON 1

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/20...-attention


Duck and cover, man.

With all that hair, they didn't need to cover

But can cool guitar work stave off the end of the world?

[Eric the Green]

Protest is cool and all, but I like music to get high by. Lots of folks like these two pop psychedelic classics. I sure did. And that psychedelic organ. Groovy man!

Turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around! Look at yourself.





It's all too beautiful!

[Eric the Green]

Exotic middle-eastern interpretation by cool singer Keith in 1967 of a really-nifty tune, another arrangement by Joe Renzetti




Hollies original from 1966
https://youtu.be/nOx-ESwWYOQ

Good cover by Fogelberg from 1978
https://youtu.be/8mI6qw6LNeE

Keith's and Renzetti's other great hit from 1967
https://youtu.be/ykN6Cz05bLM
sunshine pop! Lovin is the medicine that saved me. Hey 98.6 it's good to have you back again!

[Eric the Green]

This one certainly takes pop music to another level. Amazing.





Some say Jimmy Webb's lyrics to this were sad, but to me it felt like Zen liberation. Be open and receptive like a cup and the waters of life flow. The magic of 1967 is all in this groovy, enlightening, uplifting song. Near the top of my Top 400-plus at #17.

Some comments on the video:

Thanks for sharing this for not only we that were there..back in the day, but for those that were not.

Back in the day, I bought the Magic Garden album and played it until the needle practically wore a hole through it. Drove the neighbors crazy. Loved every minute of it. Where is that music today?

Musically, it was a fascinating era, one I doubt will ever happen again. I'm thankful to have seen, heard and enjoyed many of these artists and performers in their prime.

kind of like a Beatles song Great

This lyrics should get a Nobel prize

McCoo thrills in all dimensions!

You gotta have a lot of talent to sing about a paper cup...they do!

to me it sounds like somebody who's giving up on regular life and its many stresses (aka somebody who's homeless and is actually happy with his new stress free lifestyle (paper cup = beggars cup (or change cup))

[Eric the Green]

A little bit of a preview: LSD may not be for everyone (including me), and Ed Sullivan and the Establishment wanted to suppress it. But it was the catalyst for the late sixties music. This song is the fount of it all. But I'm just posting a commentary for now, because we haven't got to 1966 in our review yet!-- although many of the songs released in 1967 were already there underground in 1966 and not yet released, as the counter-culture quickly came out of the college town houses and into the world of all of us, as Kenneth Clark said about the romantic natural men of the Revolution.
https://youtu.be/-vwfGz75vlU?t=6m45s
LSD was supposed to open our creativity and imagination. And so it did for a while in pop music and psychedelic art. Maybe we could have done so much more with it, were it not for all the suppression and denial. And it opened the way to non-chemical means to enlightenment and the flow of creativity too, which we call the new age. Gen Xers, it's still there. Knock it all you want, but our culture was dead until LSD came along.

[gabrielle]

(07-11-2016, 12:09 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: This one certainly takes pop music to another level. Amazing.





Some say Jimmy Webb's lyrics to this were sad, but to me it felt like Zen liberation. Be open and receptive and the waters of life flow.  The magic of 1967 is all in this groovy, enlightening, uplifting song. Near the top of my Top 400-plus at #17.

Some comments on the video:

Thanks for sharing this for not only we that were there..back in the day, but for those that were not.

Back in the day, I bought the Magic Garden album and played it until the needle practically wore a hole through it. Drove the neighbors crazy.  Loved every minute of it.  Where is that music today?

Musically, it was a fascinating era, one I doubt will ever happen again. I'm thankful to have seen, heard and enjoyed many of these artists and performers in their prime.

kind of like a Beatles song Great

This lyrics should get a Nobel prize

McCoo thrills in all dimensions!

You gotta have a lot of talent to sing about a paper cup...they do!

to me it sounds like somebody who's giving up on regular life and its many stresses (aka somebody who's homeless and is actually happy with his new stress free lifestyle (paper cup = beggars cup (or change cup))

My parents liked the Fifth Dimension, so I heard a lot of them as a child.   Good stuff  

[gabrielle]

[gabrielle]

Wes Anderson used this song in his film Rushmore.  Another Gen Xer who is sentimental about old 60s pop music  

[Eric the Green]

Certainly Both Sides Now belongs on a list of best songs ever. I liked the original album track better though; very hard to find on you tube. Judy Collins gave this Joni Mitchell tune (originally written for Judy) its best melodic shape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8PFT1Va...e&t=18m14s

1964 was my first rock n roll summer. I'll be gettin' there.

[gabrielle]

(07-11-2016, 01:17 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:  Gen Xers, it's still there. Knock it all you want, but our culture was dead until LSD came along.

What are we supposed to be knocking here, the culture or the LSD?  Hogwash, to both claims.  I love 60s music, and while I never did LSD, I know many Gen Xers enjoyed it.  Hell, the 90s were proof of that--lots of psychedelic music.

[Eric the Green]

(07-11-2016, 11:03 PM)gabrielle Wrote:

(07-11-2016, 01:17 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:  Gen Xers, it's still there. Knock it all you want, but our culture was dead until LSD came along.

What are we supposed to be knocking here, the culture or the LSD?  Hogwash, to both claims.  I love 60s music, and while I never did LSD, I know many Gen Xers enjoyed it.  Hell, the 90s were proof of that--lots of psychedelic music.

Yes, especially in the rave scene and electronica.

[gabrielle]

Piper at the Gates of Dawn might be my favorite Pink Floyd album (from 1967)









This song wasn't on the album, I don't think, but it also came out in 1967

[Eric the Green]

Astronomy Domine is great, and it's on my top 400 (Ummagumma version is the one I know best), but my favorite of course is the pioneering psychedelic space music jammin' gem, Interstellar Overdrive. Yet another one featuring the sixties rock organ sound.





It takes a motif from a rock song by Love ("My Little Red Book") as a theme with which to blast off and land.

I have the album Relics, which included See Emily Play and the Overdrive and other early hits and a few other cuts from Piper.