OK folks. Now we have the Top 10 favorite from Dave. He is my musical partner in this redd granite thang. Here is the list with a few comments of mine below
1) Maggie Mae — (Rod Stewart and Faces) —wow, that mandolin part at the end, still brings chills–from a special time in my life…
2) Because —- The Dave Clark Five — maybe the perfect ballad (and that Vox organ!)
3) Let It Be—– The Beatles –my all-time favorite Beatles tune, shows how even under stressful, chaotic conditions, turbulent emotions, the “end of the dream” ,the end of an era that shook the world to it’s roots, can still produce a balm for the soul, magic melancholia. I still choke up when I hear it…
4) Here Comes the Sun — The Beatles –George Harrison‘s finest song
5)Rocky Mountain Way—Joe Walsh —proved a man can play lead and rythym guitar at the SAME TIME. Wow–power chord and wa-wa pedal extraordinaire
6) Layla–Eric Clapton –original “hard rock” version. Can anyone play with Clapton? No–never can, never will. The piano break towards the end is amazing. The first time I heard the song I dropped my jaw in amazement. Few songs have ever done that.
7)Ooooh Child –Artist unknown, but believe they were “one-hit wonders” . The way the song starts soft and slow and builds to crescendo is inspiring.
8)Sister Golden Hair–America —yeah, yeah, the lyrics make no sense–so what. A song from another special time in my life. One of those, “It’s-our-song” things. I still smile, even when I play it and sing it live.
9)Won’t Get Fooled Again — The Who — The genius of the power chord maestro. Tough one to pick over Pinball Wizard and Baba Oreilly, but the lyrics, go far beyond their usual pre-punk, tough, working class life, disillusionment to real political statement in a kick-ass rock song. The greatest recorded scream in rock history opens the song.
10)There’s A Place in the World For a Gambler — Dan Fogelberg — One of my hero’s. Again a tough call, but lyrics, music, arrangement make my list.
Just out of the top 10:
A Hard Day’s Night–The Beatles — oh John, we hardly knew ye, but when motivated and focused…Damn, you were the best….
Back In Black — AC/DC What can I say? The perfect Rock and Roll Riff. Tough to leave out You Shook me all night long, and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap…does anyone have as much fun with lyrics? (Except maybe Joe Walsh)
Landslide —Fleetwood Mac –Stevie Nicks can write some great songs, but the arrangements are incredible (See ‘Gypsey”)
Roll With The Changes—REO Speedwagon –Maybe the greatest Piano riff of all time…..
As you can see, Dave added a few extras under honorable mention. There a few comments worth noting. Musical taste catagories for Dave is hard to pin down. He likes a variety, and I think you can certainly see that from the above list. Interestingly, we share “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the Who….and one of our future lists will have this as well. Hmm. I think we are all a bunch of angry people! The Fogelberg song does not surprise. When I join the Dazzling Weasel Faces, we usually close with this….I have never heard the recording, but this is one that brings out our harmonies in the very best way.
A quick comment on one honorable mention song with two stories: “Roll With The Changes” by REO…1) we were playing b-ball in the gym. We were good enough to hold court on a weekend afternoon as long as we wished usually (winner keeps court). This day, we were sucking, and threatened by an early exit from the court. Some dude walks in with his boom box (cassette tape for all you young’ans) The first song is the one above, and it is so inspiring, we just started playing out of our heads, made up a huge deficit, and keep the court the rest of the afternoon when we should have been studying. 2) I believe this is the same day I walk into the gym to start our basketball day. I am wearing sweats. and a t-shirt. We are going to be skins in the pickup game, so i take off my shirt (I could do this back then). I then start to take off my sweats to get to my shorts(?), nope, I got the pants down around my ankles with all of my teammates rolling in laughter, as I had forgotten my gym shorts underneath the sweat pants. So here I have these pants around my ankles, tighty whiteys high, not even realizing until I figured out what they were laughing about……
…oh well, I still have no self respect
