the best songs ever

[Eric the Green]

A counter-culture protest song by a great singer/songwriter. Still relevant today. I'm sure JPT and Classic Xer would hate it. Not to mention Cynic Hero! Oh, and kinser too!

Goodbye and Hello, Tim Buckley (1967)





Lyrics
The antique people are down in the dungeons
Run by machines and afraid of the tax
Their heads in the grave and their hands on their eyes
Hauling their hearts around circular tracks

Pretending forever their masquerade towers
Are not really riddled with widening cracks
And I wave goodbye to iron
And smile hello to the air

Oh the new children dance
I am young all around the balloons
I will live swaying by chance
I am strong to the breeze from the moon

I can give painting the sky
You the strange with the colors of sun
Seed of day freely they fly
Feel the change as all become one
Know the way, know the way

The velocity addicts explode on the highways
Ignoring the journey and moving so fast
Their nerves fall apart and they gasp but can't breathe
They run from the cops of the skeleton past

Petrified by tradition in a nightmare they stagger
Into nowhere at all and then look up aghast
And I wave goodbye to speed
And smile hello to a rose

Oh the new children play
I am young under the juniper trees
I will live sky blue or gray
I am strong they continue at ease

I can give moving so slow
You the strange that serenely they can
Seed of day gracefully grow
Feel the change and yes still understand
Know the way, know the way, know the way

King and the queen in their castle of billboards
Sleepwalk down the hallways dragging behind
All their possessions and transient treasures
As they go to worship the electronic shrine

On which is playing the late late commercial
That hollowest house of the opulent blind
And I wave goodbye to Mammon
And smile hello to a stream

Oh the new children buy
I am young all the world for a song
I will live without a dime
I am strong to which they belong

I can give nobody owns
You the strange anything, anywhere
Seed of day everyone's grown
Feel the change up so big they can share
Know the way, know the way

The vaudeville generals cavort on the stage
And shatter their audience with submachine guns
And freedom and violence the acrobat clowns
Do a balancing act on the graves of our sons

While the tap dancing emperor sings War is peace
And love the magician disappears in the fun
And I wave goodbye to murder
And smile hello to the rain

Oh the new children can't
I am young tell a foe from a friend
I will live quick to enchant
I am strong and so glad to extend

I can give handfuls of dawn
You the strange to kaleidoscope men
Seed of day come from beyond
Feel the change The Great Wall of Skin
Know the way, know the way

The bloodless husbands are jesters who listen
Like sheep to the shrieks and commands of their wives
And the men who aren't men, leave the women alone
See them all faking love on a bed made of knives

Afraid to discover or trust in their bodies
And in secret divorce they will never survive
And I wave goodbye to ashes
And smile hello to a girl

Oh the new children kiss
I am young they are so proud to learn
I will live womanhood bliss
I am strong and the man fire that burns

I can give knowing no fear
You the strange they take off their clothes
Seed of day honest and clear
Feel the change as a river that flows
Know the way, know the way, know the way

The antique people are fading out slowly
Like newspapers flaming in mind suicide
Godless and sexless direction less loons
Their sham sandcastles dissolve in the tide

They put on their death masks, compromise daily
The new children will live for the elders have died
And I wave goodbye to America
And smile hello to the world

[Eric the Green]

The new children will live! The Haight-Ashbury hippie anthem. San Francisco, sung by the late Scott McKenzie, and written by "Papa" John Phillips, who organized the Monterey Pop Festival.





Another view:
https://youtu.be/vnmiWnq3bT4

Almost done with the psychedelic year. So many jewels from the late sixties, including some I didn't post, but there's still a lot more, because we still have 1966 to cover!

Comments on the video:
Would've been great to be 18 during the Summer of Love.......sighhhhhh. I was born in '68, instead I was a teen during the '80's which doesn't, anywhere NEAR, compare to the late '60's!! I did have lots of fun during the '70's when I was a little kid also. Peace....

there never was peace and love and our young are not sacrificed in foreign wars they go because they want to go or have to go because they have no jobs. War is money and the whole world is money and all these so called famous hippies disappeared and sold out to make money.

[Eric the Green]

This one maybe is not a pick for best ever, but it at least makes my top 400. But I'm stretching the line to post this because it's my video! No-one had posted this when I decided to put some pictures with it (including of me) and upload it. Naturally it's my most popular video because it's a hit record (especially on the west coast) and very much an icon of its time. Live by the Merry Go Round was written by Emitt Rhodes who was also the lead singer. He went on to have a successful but fairly-tragic solo career in which the company that "owned" him demanded that the young genius produce, produce and produce hits every couple of months, and when he didn't work that fast, they sued him and broke his spirit and he never recorded again until more recently. But he helped others record after that. Although this video is blocked in some countries, I hear that he and his girlfriend appreciated my posting it. Released in early 1967 and recorded in late 1966.





Here he is in a radio interview in 2010. He's about my age, a core boomer, which he admits right away, but his health has suffered.
https://youtu.be/PfqEhZO7I3w

Lots more Emitt Rhodes videos are available on the side panel of the interview video. Interesting guy and musician.
Here's one:
https://youtu.be/3CvzawbXLS8

[Eric the Green]

For some of the more recent years I only picked my favorite of the year, or left it for others to choose. I know there's more, but I know so much more about this era, and I really think it's the best pop era; 1956-1977 is my list; 1963-1973 is the best part of it, and 1966-1967 is the peak of the peak. Like a mountain pop may never reach again; I'd bet that it won't in fact. And even though I know a lot from this era, it's so rich and there were so many local centers of music, that there's probably almost as much that I don't know from this era as from the other periods.

There's one group I haven't mentioned since they broke up, going backwards from their solo hits in 1970, and that of course is The Beatles. This great one was also recorded in late 1966 and released in early 1967. It's a vivid and beautiful slice of life; specifically of their lives, but that doesn't matter, because it's my life too; I'm there. Penny Lane.





The Beatles never recorded anything as good after this one, IMO. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band was recorded at about the same time, and became their biggest hit album, at least until The Beatles (White Album). I liked For the Benefit of Mr. Kite and Lovely Rita from that album, but none of its songs come close to being a best songs ever pick by Eric. Still, there were some other good songs after Penny Lane, although none good enough to merit it's own video post on this thread; well; maybe almost good enough

Including these (unfortunately the copyright enforcers are pretty good at taking off Beatles songs from you tube anyway):

Your Mother Should Know (Magical Mystery Tour)
Only a Northern Song (Yellow Submarine) not available on you tube
It's All Too Much (Yellow Submarine)
Mother Nature's Son (White Album, "The Beatles")
Black Bird (maybe) (same as above)
Come Together (Abbey Road)
Let it Be https://youtu.be/7yftZAcGggE?t=19m22s
Get Back (Let it Be) https://youtu.be/txzcXUuoTSk
Across the Universe (Let it Be) (maybe)

[Eric the Green]

Well, after that strange interlude.......

we get into the fabulous and pivotal year 1966.

And first I'm going to post three or four songs by artists which are also connected to songs from a few years later; an excuse to pick up a few more from the late sixties, although some were probably actually written in 1966 or earlier.

Laura Nyro was a charming, exhuberant, exotic, quasi-gospel composer from 1966, who had a great hit record late that year called Wedding Bell Blues:





But this also gives me an excuse to post a couple more songs by the Fifth Dimension group. They also did a version of Wedding Bell Blues, which was a bigger hit in 1969; #1 I think. But that's not one of my picks. Instead, I like these two other Laura Nyro songs they did-- as you can hear in my next post!

[Eric the Green]

This one is so much fun to listen to, and idealistic and uplifting too. Fifth Dimension: Save the Country, written by Laura Nyro. Come on down to the glory river!





After your visit to the river, come on over to enjoy the Stoned Soul Picnic! S'urry!





Uploader says: Everybody get down to some "Stoned Soul Picnic"
as The Fifth Dimension performs this great classic from 1968.
Written beautifully by great songwriter and performer Laura Nyro

Comment: The song is written and originally recorded by child prodigy and creative genius Laura Nyro (1947 - 1997). It comes from her second LP, 'Eli and the Thirteenth Confession' (1968) which critics universally regard as a masterpiece (her third LP 'New York Tendaberry' (1969) is considered even better). Laura was uncompromising in her art and hence did not achieve great commercial success and is relatively unknown to the public, but her songs were hits for many others, particularly The 5th Dimension. For example, in late 1969 three of her songs were in the USA Top 10 at the same time to different artists. However, Laura is extremely well known within the music industry as an exceptional talent, and her influence has been vast (from Prince to Alice Cooper to Elton John to Joni Mitchell to Barry Manilow to Streisand). From her teens she wrote radically original and technically complex songs with personal and poetic lyrics sung with such soul by her three octave range that it 'blew everyone away' (Todd Rundgren). Laura was self taught at piano and guitar. She was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2012 by Bette Midler. Her songs continue to be re-interpreted. Her life was claimed by ovarian cancer at age 49.

[Eric the Green]

This one from late 1966 is extraordinary. Captivating. Let Suzanne take you down to the river, and see where it takes you. An historic, sacred musical moment. I first heard it on the same program on which I heard "Get Together" before it was heard anywhere else. #19 on my all time list.





Comments on the video:
love it!!! Wow, what a powerhouse of song writing, vocalist, and producer? The cascading guitar...who assembled that?

"...for he's touched your perfect body with his mind" Who else could sing this song so real, you can feel it."? God bless you sweet Judy Collins!

Judy Collins has such a beautiful voice, absolutely perfect for singing Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne." They just don't make music like this anymore...

This song and singer never get old! So beautiful

what kind of voice is this, what kind of sorcery is this, I melted.

Bill Moyers interviews Judy about Leonard Cohen, and "Suzanne"
https://youtu.be/Ijqp4s9JDOc

[Eric the Green]

Connections between artists and songs is always interesting, especially when founded on the fountain year of pop music, 1966. Besides Suzanne, Leonard Cohen's best-known song is also a candidate for "best-ever" according to most critics, and I like it too. But what date would one assign to it? He worked on it for many years of the late Awakening/2T, then released it in 1984, but it remained unknown until it was covered by other artists; eventually over 300 of them.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah...ohen_song)

The most popular and acclaimed version was apparently only released posthumously or became popular at the very start of the 4T in 2008. It has 74 million you tube views. It's by Jeff Buckley, who is the son of Tim Buckley, whose acclaimed 1967 work I sampled above. But typical boomer Tim abandoned this typical Gen Xer, who says he was treated like trash in childhood. But fortunately he was raised in a musical family. He was born on Nov.17, 1966, just a few days after the solar eclipse in which all planets formed the peace symbol, right during the peak of sixties creativity and recording I have mentioned. Both Buckleys died young, rather impulsively; Tim in a drug overdose and Jeff in a drowning. Both were exceptionally good-looking young guys too.





Tim recorded a highly-acclaimed album called "Grace" in 1994. So maybe there's some "good 3T music" on it. I have no opinion yet, never having heard it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Buckley

[Eric the Green]

There's a time for everything! It's time to post on this best songs ever thread, what the authors of The Fourth Turning identified as their theme song. The term "turning" may have come from it. The best version is by Judy Collins, singer of Both Sides Now and Suzanne. She gives the best shape (and the best voice) to the melodies that she sings. Turn Turn Turn (to Everything there is a Season).





This was released as a single in 1969, but it came from her 1963 album #3, and here is a version from 1966.
https://youtu.be/K3kKqfTjsj0

Here's another:
https://youtu.be/5PhZ0z8pBFw
Pete Seeger & Judy Collins perform "Turn, Turn, Turn" on Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest from 1966.

Wow, there WERE lots of people "making up their own songs" while this show was on. It was 1966! Not only people who went on stages, but people in their own garages.

The Byrds hit number 1 in late 1965 with this song. I liked it, but not as much as Judy's. The song itself by Pete Seeger goes back to the 50s, and most of the lyrics, back about 2500 years.

There is a second theme song often cited for "Generations" which will be along in a while

Another Judy Collins goodie from 1969; country folk-rock written by Ian of Ian & Sylvia
https://youtu.be/ZIgnHPqp0Dk

[Eric the Green]

This song from 1966 wasn't an American hit, but I got to know it after 1970 from the Live at Leeds album of that year. It exhibits the strange camaraderie of the London mod scene; the harmonies are very evocative. Not that I really know what the lyrics are about.





Live at Leeds version:
https://youtu.be/lc7RcgMfYng

I guess I'm just "back-dated"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substitute_(The_Who_song)
http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/125286/

Here are some of the other great Who songs from 1968-1973 I didn't post yet:
Is It In My Head from Quadrophenia 1973
The Punk and The Godfather Quadrophenia 1973
(Pete said he was sure he invented punk rock, but that it had left him behind)
Going Mobile Who's Next 1971
Magic Bus Magic Bus, 1968
Little Billy Odds and Sods, 1968
Faith in Something Bigger Odds and Sods, 1968
I'm Free Tommy, 1969
Amazing Journey and Sparks Tommy 1969

[Eric the Green]

Lyrics to Save the Country by Laura Nyro
The Fifth Dimension mixed up the lyrics a bit. All the same though.
Are the "two brothers" JFK and RFK, and is the "king" Jesus, or Martin?
The answer is yes, it appears: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Country

https://youtu.be/pTuwAo5sUik

Come on, people, come on, children
Come on down to the glory river.
Gonna wash you up, and wash you down,
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down.
I got fury in my soul, fury's gonna take me to the glory goal
In my mind I can't study war no more.
Save the people, save the children, save the country now

Come on, people come on, children
Come on down to the glory river
Gonna wash you up and wash you down
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down

Come on people! Sons and mothers
Keep the dream of the two young brothers
Gonna take that dream and ride that dove

We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build a dream with love, children,
We could build the dream with love, oh people,
We could build the dream with love, I know,
We could build the dream with love.

Come on, people! Come on, children!
There's a king at the glory river
And the precious king, he loved the people to sing;
Babes in the blinkin' sun sang
"We Shall Overcome".

[Eric the Green]

The mesmerizing, scenic and soulful song by Fred Neil, The Dolphins, is #4 on my all time list.

I discovered it on our FM album-oriented rock station in 1968. I bought the album, which also contains his song that Nilsson recorded for the movie Midnight Cowboy (1969, mentioned above). Not long after I bought it, the album was re-titled "Everybody's Talkin' ". But The Dolphins is side 1, track 1. It is a cult favorite.





It was a very personal song for Fred, which is why he put everything into it he could. A few years after recording it, he stopped making music and dedicated the rest of life to a project to save and protect the dolphins he loved, and whom he wanted to be able to stay "wild."

I thought he must be a Pisces; he was an escapist who loved sailing the sea and loved those that swim in it. And so he was. I think if he could have, he would have just swum away into the ocean and become a fish.

(hey, that remark of mine reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft novels-- see below, the musical group recorded Neil's songs)

http://www.fredneil.com/

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Neil
Neil gained public recognition in 1969, when Nilsson's recording of "Everybody's Talkin''" was featured in the film Midnight Cowboy; the song became a hit and won a Grammy Award. He was one of the pioneers of the folk rock and singer-songwriter musical genres, his most prominent musical descendants being Tim Buckley, Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Joni Mitchell. His most frequently cited disciples are Karen Dalton, Tim Hardin, Dino Valenti, Vince Martin, Peter Stampfel of the avant-folk ensemble the Holy Modal Rounders, John Sebastian (the Lovin' Spoonful), Gram Parsons, Jerry Jeff Walker, Barry McGuire, and Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane). Some of Neil's early compositions were recorded by Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison. He played guitar on the demo version of Bobby Darin's 1958 hit "Dream Lover" and was a demo singer on a late-1950s Elvis Presley movie soundtrack session.

It appears that Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Airplane/Starship's references to "Pooh" might also refer to Fred Neil (Pooneil)

The group H.P.Lovecraft included a version of Fred Neil's song "That's the Bag I'm In,"
https://youtu.be/bjzyHAob7kw as well as Neil's song about "Bleeker and McDougall" streets in Greenwich Village NY (title of Neil's second album) and Coconut Grove (where Neil lived), in the 1967 album I featured earlier.
https://youtu.be/poKB0mI3UDk

original version: https://youtu.be/PeBPb_1RKLc (title track of his 1965 album)

Tim Buckley made a well-regarded cover of The Dolphins. Tim was strongly influenced by Fred Neil.
https://youtu.be/CBcfDoQZ-IA

Linda Ronstadt and It's A Beautiful Day also covered it.
https://youtu.be/NkvqyIYFXnY

I just posted another "Dolphins" piece from 1985 on the "lost years" thread.
https://youtu.be/-FvnQQCDIoU

Dolphins inspire some great music!

[Eric the Green]

track 2 deserves its own post. I think this song was composed by Elizabeth Cotten, and arranged by Fred. I have heard other versions of it.





didn't we shake sugaree
I'm gonna go to heaven in a split pea shell
everything I have done and gone (or pawned?)

https://youtu.be/O1ViAIdO3i4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugaree
http://www.allmusic.com/album/shake-suga...0000636068


Elizabeth Cotten sang a version of "Going Down the Road, Feelin Bad" a traditional blues song. So did the Grateful Dead. Apparently Fred Neil adapted one line of this song for "Everybody's Talkin' and changed one word. "I'm going where the weather fits my clothes" (became suits my clothes).
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Going_Dow...lin%27_Bad

[Eric the Green]

British-invasion organ blues-rock meets the Motown sound, resulting in a great classic, and the best by Eric Burdon and/or The Animals, from late 1966.

[Eric the Green]

uploader comment: Released on Valiant Records and produced by Curt Boettcher (both of them worked in the group Millenium) this Phil Ochs folk classic gets a re-vamp from its Chad Mitchell version. This cut highlights the genius of Curt and Lee's vocals. The arrangements are cutting edge and the production was as slick as you could find in rock's heyday in 1966. Enjoy!

It was one of the first folk-rock-psychedelic songs, released in September. My essay on this song:
http://philosopherswheel.com/melee.htm

In the years after it came out, I played it more than any other single that I bought, ever. It was a splendid soundtrack for the times; all its life is in it. It sorta barely missed being a hit, but broke through in some places (#2 in Seattle). It was not promoted well, it is said, because it sounded too much like The Association (" Along Comes Mary ," "Cherish"). At the time I thought there must be some kind of "association" between them, in fact. And, in fact, there was. Same label, same producer (Curt Boettcher), some of the same background singers. It was reported that Brian Wilson was stunned when he heard a recording session of That's The Way it's Gonna Be in Spring 1966, and that it inspired him during his recording of Pet Sounds; which in turn influenced The Beatles. I wondered what happened to Lee Mallory after this great song, but until the year 2000 I heard nothing. Until he personally called me on the phone. He and his friend saw my website and liked that I had put That's the Way It's Gonna Be as #7 on my all-time 400-plus rock/folk list.

So I invited him down for my radio show, and then I was invited by him a couple of times up to San Francisco where he performed with other cool singer-songwriters of his scene. He had moved there from LA about 20 years before. Read more from my essay. But the main thing I found out (ironically, in the year 2000 is when I found out) is that he did have a later career. Curt Boettcher and Lee Mallory had formed a "supergroup" called The Millennium in 1967-68. Their album was "Begin", which was recorded in 16 tracks. "To Claudia on Thursday" written by Mike Fennelly and Joey Stec is one song they did, which was also covered by The Mamas and The Papas. https://youtu.be/3dNny2F1a0A?list=PLH7U1...a9eZ7UID-c

Lee Mallory and Curt Boettcher wrote and performed this psychedelic gem:
https://youtu.be/ZyHXmkeuJC0

They did a lot of songs. Curt sometimes sounds effeminate; he was gay in fact, and died of AIDS in the AIDies. Before The Millennium, they were also involved in a studio group put together by LA producer Gary Usher (worked with Beach Boys and Byrds) called Sagittarius in 1967, after Gary's sun sign. But the leading singer and songwriter for that group was Curt, especially on their biggest hit that I knew and loved at the time, "Another Time." https://youtu.be/cOUYJtn26qY

That's The Way It's Gonna Be was written by folk icon Bob Gibson and revised by Phil Ochs, and was the title track for a Chad Mitchell Trio album. With John Denver no less!
https://youtu.be/A5C0uEphYPU
A number of others recorded it as well.

Looks like I am officially a "freak!" Just in time for the time!

[Ragnarök_62]

Eric The Green Wrote:For some of the more recent years I only picked my favorite of the year, or left it for others to choose. I know there's more, but I know so much more about this era, and I really think it's the best pop era; 1956-1977 is my list; 1963-1973 is the best part of it, and 1966-1967 is the peak of the peak. Like a mountain pop may never reach again; I'd bet that it won't in fact. And even though I know a lot from this era, it's so rich and there were so many local centers of music, that there's probably almost as much that I don't know from this era as from the other periods.

Yes, there is good stuff back then.  I bet Eric does NOT have this on his top 400 though 'cause he was too OLD.
 








So yeah, the in 1969, the trippy stuff was everywhere.

[Eric the Green]

When I was that age, I was listening to the Chipmunks. And The Witch Doctor. Ooh EE OOh AH AH

[Eric the Green]

The Supremes big hit from 1966, don't hurry!





The follow-up; hanging on!
https://youtu.be/KKQbcJyVKR0

Original: The Supremes ( U.S.A. ) - You keep me hanging on ( B. Holland - Lamont Dozier - E. Holland ) ( realesed: 12/10/1966 ). Covers: Vanilla Fudge ( U.S.A. ) - You keep me hanging on ( 1967 ). Les Ingénues ( Canada ) - Tu me gardes en suspends ( 1967 ). The Box Tops ( U.S.A. ) - You keep me hangin' on ( 4/1968 ). Paul Mauriat ( France ) - You keep me hangin' on ( 1968 ). Wilson Pickett ( U.S.A. ) - You keep me hangin' on ( 1969 ). Grupo Corpus ( Perú ) - Confesión de un creyente ( 1970 ). Kim Wilde ( U.K. ) - You keep me hangin' on ( released: 13/10/1986 ). Reba Mc Entire ( U.S.A. ) - You keep me hangin' on ( released: 3/10/1995 ). Mr. Blues ( Perú ) - You keep me hanging on ( 2007 ).

[Eric the Green]

Wise words with some wonderful sounds that bring them to life! Carry your cup in your hand (notice a few other references to cups in these sixties songs, an ancient symbol of the yin receptive side; the watery side; the chalice as opposed to the blade, the holy grail)





Time, time, time
See what's become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities

I was so hard to please

But Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band
Down by the riverside
It's bound to be a better ride
Than what you've got planned

Carry your cup in your hand

And Look around
Leaves are brown now
And the sky
Is a hazy shade of winter

Hang on to your hopes my friend
That's an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again

Look around
Grass is high
Fields are ripe
It's the springtime of my life

Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won't you stop and remember me?
At any convenient time?
Funny how my memory skips
Looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime

I Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a hazy shade of winter

Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow
On the ground

Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow
On the ground

Look around
Leaves are brown
There's a patch of snow
On the ground

[Eric the Green]

Virtual title track of their album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, 1966





Simon and Garfunkel, Scarborough Fair in counterpoint to a "canticle"
Expert arrangement by Art. Haunting and beautiful; a song like this maybe only possible to make in the Summer of '66? Vibrations calling all humanity!