Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXXXVI--Blind Faith: Can't Find My Way Home

 A few years back I heard wisps of this week's tune while watching a (not particularly interesting) documentary about racist/conspiracy theorist nutjob Eric Clapton (tell us how you really feel, emaycee!), and I knew I recognized the song but had no idea who had done it.  Thanks to a quick internet search, I discovered it was an album-oriented rock staple on FM stations back in the day...which is most likely where I knew it from....

Blind Faith formed in 1969 when Clapton (Jukebox CLXXV as a member of Derek and the Dominoes) and Steve Winwood (Jukebox CCCLXXXIV) decided they wanted to do some playing together.  Agents/promoters quickly seized on the pairing of the famous duo and an album was rush released and a three-month tour was undertaken.  At which point Clapton decided it was considerably more effort than he wanted to expend, and the band was no more.  There were apparently few hard feelings as Clapton and Winwood have joined forces in concert on a few occasions in the intervening years.  Both men would go on to have quite a bit of solo success, and their one-off musical endeavor is considered a classic.

Fun Fact:  The album cover of their lone LP featured a prepubescent topless girl...which caused quite the stir in America and the cover was changed to a generic photo of the band.  It would eventually be released with the original artwork some years later.  God only knows the fuss such an album cover would cause today....

"Can't Find My Way Home" was featured on the band's only LP, the oh, so creatively entitled Blind Faith.  The song was not released as a single (except for some odd ass reason in the Netherlands--so many cool Dutch kids!), while the album would hit #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K.

From the song's eerie instrumental opening to Winwood's otherworldly falsetto vocals, "Can't Find My Way Home" is a masterclass in just how far the envelope can be pushed in pop music.  Clapton's guitar has echoes of raga and Ginger Baker's jungle drums both give you the feeling that you're lost, walking down the streets in some exotic locale like Algiers or Budapest.  It's been surmised that the song is about either trying to kick a drug habit or the search for God, but either way the band captured the feeling in a stunning fashion.  Three minutes and seventeen seconds of brilliance.

Lyric Sheet:  "Come down off your throne and leave your body alone/Somebody must change/You are the reason I've been waiting so long/Somebody holds the key..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCIV--George Harrison: What Is Life

When I go over my favorites list on my iPod, it always surprises me that I have as many songs by George Harrison and Ringo Starr as I do by John Lennon and Paul McCartney...which probably shows just how much the Beatles were a sum of their parts.  And probably one of the numerous reasons why they're considered by many to be the greatest rock and roll band of all time.

For the third straight week the biographical portion of this week's post will be brief (though I should note that each of the Beatles' entries on Wikipedia takes longer to read than it does to write the corresponding week's post)--the life of George Harrison has been written about numerous times by writers much better than myself (including Harrison himself).  Though he developed a reputation as the quiet Beatle (mostly because he got strep throat on their first trip to America and didn't speak much at press conferences to protect his voice), Harrison was anything but.  He was very active in charities of every stripe (civil rights, poverty, animal rights, environmental to name but a few), and was also known for playing and corroborating with numerous other artists (Dylan, the Band, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Billy Preston to name but a few).  Unlike the other Beatles, Harrison joined another band--the Traveling Wilburys--who released two albums before going their separate ways.  Like his bandmates Lennon and McCartney, Harrison is a double inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  He won thirteen Grammys altogether, and an Academy Award.  For his solo career, Harrison released twelve albums (two of which reached #1), and 35 singles (with three hitting the top of the charts).  Harrison passed away in 2001 after battling numerous cancers over the last four years of his life.

"What Is Life" was the second single released from Harrison's seminal 1970 LP All Things Must Pass.  The single reached #10 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #1 on the Billboard 200.  Rolling Stone ranked it 368th on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All-Time."

Fun Fact:  All Things Must Pass, surprisingly enough, is widely considered to be the best of all the solo albums by the members of the Beatles.  Bet you there weren't many people that had that ticket in 1970 in the greatest Beatles solo albums pool....

For whatever reason, George Harrison's sense of pop music always meshed very well with mine--there are really any number of his songs that I could have featured this week, but I chose "What Is Life" for the sheer exuberance of its music, lyrics, and vocals.  From its laser gun burst guitar opening to its snazzy horns throughout, the song is a celebration.  Harrison mixed the best of the Beatles catchy hooks with a Motown vibe and came up with a pop masterpiece worthy of the ages.  While there is some minor disagreement as to who the song is speaking of (is it God or a woman who love he can't live without?), in the end the song is a paean to a special love--with Phil Spector's Wall of Sound providing the soundtrack.  Other than the whole using real musicians who play real instruments (God do I sound like a cranky old fart), it's the kind of song that even fifty years down the road sounds as if it would be a hit right here in 2020.

Lyric Sheet:  "What I feel, I can't say/But my love is there for you anytime of day..."

Enjoy:

237,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLXXV--Derek and the Dominos: Layla

A couple of years back I scored an Eric Clapton compilation CD at a thrift store for a buck--and as I usually do when I get a previously unheard CD, I began playing it in my car.  For whatever odd ass reason, despite the fact that I'd heard the song, oh, thousands of times before, it suddenly dawned on me that "Layla" was beyond a classic and that it was literally the voice of the God of Music.  Just a slight exaggeration, but I did play "Layla" non-stop for the next two weeks on my way to and from work.

Derek and the Dominos was formed in 1970, when after touring with Delaney and Bonnie for the summer, Eric Clapton found he rather enjoyed just being a regular old guitar player instead of being Eric Clapton, of "CLAPTON IS GOD!" fame.  Joining forces with fellow Delaney and Bonnie alums Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, and Jim Gordon, the new band spent time playing together in and around London, were basically George Harrison's backing band for his All Things Must Pass LP, were joined for a time by FNJ featured artist Dave Mason, and eventually landed in Miami where they recorded their one and only album.  Fueled by cocaine and heroin (not usually a good combination...), the band was joined by Duane Allman, of, obviously, Allman Brothers fame (and another featured FNJ band), and released their album to little or no fanfare (at least partly because Clapton refused to have his name plastered all over the project).  Within a year the band had dissolved (again, cocaine and heroin, not a good combination), and as is sometimes the case, fate was not kind to the band members.  Clapton spent the next three years shooting heroin into his veins before being rescued by Pete Townshend and would eventually lose his four year old son in a tragic accident, Carl Radle would die of a kidney infection in 1980 brought on by drug and alcohol abuse, and saddest of all, Jim Gordon, an undiagnosed schizophrenic, would eventually murder his mother during a psychotic episode and was put in a mental institution in 1984 where he remains today.  I wish I had some uplifting close to the band's bio, but alas drug addiction, death, and schizophrenia are tough to put in a happy light.

As noted above, "Layla" was released on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in 1970 to little critical or commercial success, but was re-released as a single after being placed on a Clapton retrospective, The History of Eric Clapton, in 1972 and rose to #10 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  History would be very kind to the band--"Layla" is a classic rock staple and ended up at #27 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  Meanwhile, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is considered by many to be the crowning achievement of Clapton's career (and that's saying something) and was ranked #117 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."

For the three people who may not be familiar with the song's background, "Layla" was written about Patti Boyd, the wife of Clapton's good friend George Harrison (yes, that George Harrison), with whom Clapton was hopelessly in love.  For those wondering...Harrison wasn't all that bothered by Clapton's desire for his wife, being quite the philanderer back in the day and they would eventually divorce.  Clapton married Boyd in 1979 but they, too, would end up divorced by 1988...because, in no small part, Clapton was quite the philanderer back in the day, as well.

The song opens with perhaps the most widely known burst of guitar in the history of pop music (and for which Clapton gives all credit to Duane Allman), which literally sounds like lightning bolts shooting out of a guitar amp, moves into Clapton's plea (and it's truly a plea) for Layla/Boyd to give her man/Harrison the heave ho for him all the while Allman and Clapton are frenetically playing a real life version of Guitar Hero, before the release comes about three and half minutes in and the song moves into a comforting piano while Clapton and Allman provide some subtle backing guitar for the last three and a half minutes.  If ever there was a song that was a metaphor for sex, "Layla" would be it:  the guitars and vocals being the excitement of the foreplay and the passion of the actually making of love, with the piano closeout being the canoodling after the climax.  Forty four years of following pop music and I'm finally ready to admit that just maybe sex plays a small part in rock and roll....

Fun Fact:  Jim Gordon stole the piano part from then girlfriend Rita Coolidge, and she has never been credited for her work on the song.  Amazingly, Coolidge never sued, though it likely would have meant millions in royalties for her. 

Lyric Sheet:  "Layla/You've got me on my knees, Layla/I'm begging, darling please, Layla/Darling won't you ease my worried mind..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XIX--Ray Charles: What'd I Say, Pts. I & II

One of the last memories I have of my father is him sitting in the kitchen of his and my Mom's home in Ohio, smiling and swaying to Eric Clapton singing "San Francisco Bay Blues" from Clapton's Unplugged album.  By that time, chemotherapy had taken most of his hair, left his cheeks puffy, and made him feel like vomiting every time he moved.  Still, the joy he felt as he listened was palpable, and I could tell from the glow on his face that music was an old and trusted friend that he was going to miss dearly when his time was done.

Had my father lived, he would have been eighty-one years old today.  More importantly, because he lived a love of music was imbued in all of his family and will remain with us until our time here on earth is done as well.  My family, my sister's family, my brother's family--music is as much a part of our lives as our toes and fingers.  There's nothing like a "You've gotta hear this song!" e-mail from my kids, or my brother, my brother-in-law, and myself playing our half-assed version of Name That Tune, with my nephew playing the emcee.

When my father passed away I was the very lucky recipient of his record collection.  My father loved God, his family, America,and Ray Charles, in that order.  While the ranking for Ray Charles may be a bit of hyperbole, by my count I own better than fifty Ray Charles albums--ninety-nine percent of which were purchased by my father.  I had the pleasure of seeing Brother Ray in Decatur, Illinois in 1983, and I can tell you it is still one of my fondest concert recollections.

Here's all you need to know (though I'll have more to say for certain) about "What'd I Say":  If an alien came down to earth and asked, "What is this 'Rhythm and Blues' of which you speak?" all you would have to do is play "What'd I Say" and by song's end the alien would understand (and presumably beg you for more).  Released in 1959, the song is considered Charles' signature tune, was his first gold record, and is listed at #10 (with a bullet!) on the Rolling Stone list of the five hundred greatest songs ever.

Part I is one of the longest and funkiest instrumental intros you'll ever hear as Charles' fingers dance all over the piano, and Part II is some of the most soulful vocals you'll ever hear, with a touch of fun thrown in with the back and forth "Ohs" traded between Charles and his backup singers, the Raelettes.  Frankly, if you're not shakin' all over when you hear this song, you're either tone deaf, in a coma, or dead.  "What'd I Say" is a true piece of musical genius by a true American musical icon.

Fun Factoid #1:  My father was a hell of a dancer.  At my first wife and I's wedding, after my parents had cut a wicked rug, one of the guests came up to me and said, "I never knew your parents before today, but after watching them dance, I'll never forget them."  Some years later my mother would tell me that when my father was young, they would clear the dance floor for him (a la John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever) to watch him dance--though she was quick to point out that he had a partner, too, because their generation wasn't quite as self-centered....

Fun Factoid #2:  "What'd I Say" was released the same year I was born.  Coincidence?  I think not....

Here's where I usually find some pithy way to tie in a link to the lyrics, but this time I'll just tell you the lyrics are here, and say Thanks, Dad--your love for music is ensconced in our DNA and it has given us immeasurable joy.  And it's something we'll all miss dearly when we're gone, too.

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee