Rod Stewart “You Wear It Well” (1972)
Like a picture being worth a thousand words, sometimes one example is worth a thousand lyrics. Co-written with guitarist Martin Quittenton, 'You Wear It Well' is Rod Stewart’s musical recital of a letter sent one hot afternoon by a bored guy to his ex-girlfriend... Read More
Simon & Garfunkel “Cecilia” (1970)
Friends, I have to ask: What the hell was up with Cecilia?! She’s getting it on with Paul, at his place and in the middle of the afternoon yet, and as soon as he takes a little bathroom break she’s got someone else hopping into bed with her? How did this other guy even get...... Read More
The Gourds “Gin And Juice” (2001)
I’m not into much Hip Hop. But I can appreciate a good song when it’s done right. The Gourds, a handsome alt-country / progressive bluegrass band out of Austin, take care of that for us here. And if you watch the second short clip, you’ll see the song’s originator can dig it this way too....... Read More
Ron Levy’s Wild Kingdom “Chicken Fried Snake” (1987)
It’s instrumental time again. Here’s a blues shuffle by an all-star grouping headed by one-time Albert King and B.B. King band member Ron Levy on organ, and including four members of Roomful Of Blues plus three-fourths of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. And most importantly, I don’t think you can go any lower than the guitar note at...... Read More
Brothers Johnson “I’ll Be Good To You” (1976)
The Brothers Johnson was the name of a moderately successful ‘70’s funk band made up of brothers George “Lightnin’ Licks” Johnson on guitar and Louis “Thunder Thumbs” Johnson on bass (their nicknames, not mine). It’s also the collective alter ego for my high school friend Duck and I when a couple of OGs such as...... Read More
Beatles “I’ve Got A Feeling” (1970)
There’s not a lot to say about the Beatles that hasn’t already been said, so I won’t try much here. But I chose this song because in many ways it seems a perfect exemplification of what made the Beatles what they were – which was, c’mon, the greatest band of all time. This was at...... Read More
Mike Farris “Mercy Now” (2014)
All I could think to say after first hearing this song was, “What a goddamn voice.” The production is fantastic – the strings, the horns, the organ, the backing singers – but goddamn, that voice is incredible. It belongs to Mike Farris, a guy who had a somewhat notable run in the ‘90’s as the...... Read More
The Lone Star Cafe // Albert Collins “Iceman” (1991)
The best live music venue of my lifetime is The Lone Star Cafe, formerly located at the corner of 5th Avenue and 13th Street in New York City. When it closed in 1989, Manhattan music fans lost their only true honky-tonk and blues joint. They also lost a 40-foot iguana. More on that later. The...... Read More
Old 97’s “Longer Than You’ve Been Alive” (2014)
I recently saw an Old 97’s show with my friend Kenny at the Tarrytown Music Hall, an 843-seat capacity theater built in 1885, the oldest in Westchester County and one of just 6% of theaters in the U.S. built before 1900. It’s a sleepy place. I’ve been to about a dozen concerts there before, and...... Read More
Don Henley “Boys of Summer” (1984)
One of this blog's regular readers, perhaps motivated by my apparent dismissiveness for lyrics, first in a post on the Drive-by Truckers and then in a follow up with Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, has written in to be heard from. For our first-ever... Read More