It took this blog thirteen years to hit 100,000 pageviews. When it happened, I remember thinking, "I'll have to live to be two hundred to hit a million."
For whatever reason, the fourteenth year brought 100,000 pageviews on its own. Year fifteen did the same.
And then last year it shot into the stratosphere (well, at least for a not so social media savvy old guy like me), so much so that yesterday brought emaycee Presents: A Liberal in the Motor City its one millionth pageview, just 133 years short of my two hundredth birthday.
For my loyal readers (all three of you--which for those wondering, has always been and always will be a reference to my three children, none of whom, I believe, read the old man's blog), and everyone who's ever so much as glimpsed a page, a very heartfelt thank you for joining my journey.
I've mentioned before that if only one person had ever read my work and was moved or motivated to join our cause the whole effort would be worth it. I still very much believe that.
Because in the end, as Ernest Hemingway wrote in his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, I also believe that "The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for...."
Regular readers (both of you) may remember that I wrote a short obituary for Eddie Money when he died last year. In it I promised that there would come a day when this week's tune would be featured...and voila! today is that day....
Edward Mahoney was born in New York City and after trying to become a policeman and failing, moved westward to the San Francisco Bay Area, changed his name to Eddie Money (his surname being a play on the fact that he never had any), and in 1974 began his music career in earnest. He released his debut album in 1977 (which is when I discovered him after seeing him perform on Saturday Night Live) and due to its success was able to carve out a musical career that lasted until his death in 2019. Money would go on to release 12 studio albums (eight of which would reach the Billboard 200), 4 EPs, three live albums, and six compilations. He would also release 27 singles, 24 of which would hit the charts, with the best topping out at #4. Money was nominated for a Grammy Award, wrote songs for four soundtracks, acted on both the silver screen and television, and is a proud member of the Long Island Hall of Fame. While Money never remotely reached greatness over the course of his 45 years performing, he most certainly had a nice string of success and was at least able to enjoy a taste of fame and fortune.
Fun Fact Money was at one time a trainee to become a New York City police officer (his grandfather, father, and brother were all policeman), but after a few months decided he didn't want to cut his hair and quit the program to play music. His Dad was so pissed he tore down a Jimi Hendrix picture from Money's bedroom wall....
"Baby Hold On" was released in 1978 on his first album, entitled, appropriately enough, Eddie Money. The single would reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was the most commercially successful of his career, eventually selling over two million copies (though it only peaked at #37 on the album charts).
While "Baby Hold On' doesn't make a lot of greatest songs of all-time lists, it's one of the first singles I remember really going crazy over, listening to the album again and again in my room just to hear it, and cranking the radio as high as it would go every time I heard it tooling around Kokomo, Indiana in my parents car. It's aged very well--it still sounds as good every time I hear it as it did when I was an awkward eighteen year old. Money gives easily the best performance of his career vocally, and the song is a smorgasbord of emaycee faves: jangly guitars, hand claps, pulsating bass, driving drums, a catchy chorus, and even an interlude of just vocals, bass, and drums. It's the kind of song that a young man just getting his feet wet in the mystery that is rock and roll would fall in love with...and still love enough to write a fanboy blog post about some forty odd years later.
Lyric Sheet: "Hey Baby/You know the future's lookin' brighter/Every morning when I get up/Don't be thinkin' 'bout what's not enough, now baby/Just be thinkin' 'bout what we got..."
Another week, another song discovered by listening to Pandora's folk channel when I worked at the thrift shop....
I wrote about Mark Knopfler's song "Sultans of Swing" with Dire Straits way back when, so there's little need to rehash their history, though I can now add that they have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Knopfler has grown embarrassed through the years by the mega success of Dire Straits and was not present at the band's induction ceremony and has said it is very unlikely the band will ever reunite). Since his time with Dire Straits came to an end, Knopfler has kept busy with a solo career that now features ten studio albums, a few more soundtrack albums, a couple of collaborative affairs with Emmylou Harris, and some production efforts. While (much to Knopfler's relief, I'm sure) his solo career has not seen the frenzy that his stint with Dire Straits had, all but two of his albums have hit the top ten in his native U.K. (and the two that didn't were top 20), and he's had three of his solo efforts hit the top 20 of the Billboard 200 here in the States. And through it all, the man still plays one hell of a guitar...
"True Love Will Never Fade" was released in 2007 on Knopfler's album Kill to Get Crimson. It was released as a single in Europe without much commercial success, but was not released in the U.S. The album reached #9 on the U.K. charts and #26 here in America.
Fans of Friday Night Jukebox (both of you) know that I really enjoy listening to acoustic guitar, so they wouldn't be surprised that the first time I heard "True Love Will Never Fade" it took all of two seconds after hearing the opening acoustic guitar licks for me to make a beeline to the office computer at the thrift shop so I could find out who was behind this piece of music. I've actually put this write-up off for a bit because I wanted to make sure I did this song justice (which I probably won't, but what the hell, someday I'm bound to "fail better" as Samuel Beckett has suggested), because it's truly one of the best songs I've heard this century. Knopfler weaves the tale of an aging tattoo artist remembering a tattoo he put on a woman once (while I think the tattoo artist and the woman had a romance, I'm not entirely sure she isn't just a beautiful memory of one of his customers). The song has a poignant acceptance of the hands we are dealt in life, and reminded me of some of the excellent work Lou Reed, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen did in their later years, where the passion was just as rich as when they were younger, but much more measured. There's a quiet dignity to the portrait that Knopfler creates, and his understated vocals and the bands thoughtful playing makes for a mini masterpiece that truth be told, I enjoy more with each listen and is another reason I put off this post--so I could listen to it just a few more times.
Lyric Sheet: "These days I get to where I'm going/Make it there eventually/Follow the trail of breadcrumbs/To where I'm meant to be..."
Man, it has not been a good week for some of my rock and roll favorites from my youth--Eddie Money on Friday and now news that Ric Ocasek , the wizard behind the Cars, was found dead at the age of 75 in his apartment on Saturday. My loyal followers (both of you) will recall that I wrote about the Cars' song "My Best Friend's Girl" on Friday Night Jukebox a little more than a year ago.
It's hard to understate what a breath of fresh air the Cars were when they first arrived on the scene--while they may have eventually thrown their lot with commercial success, their first album was unlike anything that many of us (especially those of us growing up in small and conservative midwestern towns) had ever heard. Ocasek was the quirky genius (Jesus, he's one of the few humans that could make dorkiness look and seem cool) who brought it all together--his lead guitar, vocals, and songwriting had a uniqueness that opened the door for a lot of bands that followed.
Fortunately, as a great man (Bob Seger) once noted in song, rock and roll never forgets--the sadly appropriate, "Since You're Gone":
The average American gets paid just enough so he doesn't quit his job, and works just hard enough so he doesn't get fired.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." Source unknown
Uncle emaycee Wants You For the Coming Class War! Enlist today....
Capitalism: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can exploit his labor, become filthy rich, and keep the poor bastard living paycheck to paycheck for the rest of his life.
