My 68th Birthday Music Post

Have been having a nice relaxing birthday with my wife, Jo. We just watched the first episode of a BBC cop show set in Northern Ireland, Blue Lights. Gritty but engrossing. It's basically about a group of rookie cops. We enjoyed this first episode very much. We will continue. Glad to see that BBC Canada, now BBC One, will be showing Season 2 of Ghosts. We like the American version but the British version, which was the original series, was excellent. Oh and Astrid, the French crime show started season 2 last week.. Such a bounty of great shows.

So... There is a BBC Radio show called Tracks of my Years where celebrities choose 10 songs that influenced or impacted their lives. Today is my 68th birthday so, even though I think I might have done this once before, so here are 10 songs that grabbed my attention as I grew up. I can't say that they changed my life in any way but they are songs that bring back memories of certain times. So let's go, here are my 10 songs.

1. Cream - Badge. The next two songs are from a similar time period. When my dad was stationed in Germany, we listened to Canadian radio, basically the military station in Lahr. They had local DJ's, like the teen show, the Hideaway Show and they also had CBC radio programs. We used to get the Top Music in Canada every weekend. There were certain songs that grabbed me as I began to get into music. I had a little portable record player with the speaker in the lid that I would listen to records, both LP's and 45's on. I've tried to find a photo of the record player but no luck. I had that for many years, until I went to university in '74 and got myself a quadrophonic system.. LOL. Anyway I loved this song. The first time I heard it, the opening grabbed me. It was short and sweet but perfect. I bought the album Goodbye Cream because it had the song. shown here. One of my first.

2. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit. One of the other albums I bought pretty quickly was by Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxter's. I bought it because of this song, even though, oddly enough, the song wasn't on this particular album. Go figure. Now here is where I'm doubting my memory somewhat. On my album, I'm sure that there was a song called Lather. But as I search on line, I see it's on another album. Maybe it's the version I had. HELP! Anyway, my favorite song by Airplane has always been White Rabbit; the lyrics really grabbed me and that's not something that normally happens. "Remember what the dormouse said. Feed your head. Feed your head." Enjoy.

3. Neil Diamond - Cracklin' Rosie. Another of my first albums was Neil Diamond's Taproot Manuscript and it was mainly because of Cracklin' Rosie. I have my ideas about why I liked it so much, probably because of an unattainable girl, but I was in Grade 9 or 10. The song is great, the album cover was great (I like the blue of it) and the second side, the African trilogy was surprisingly excellent. Check it out.

4. Joni Mitchell - Free Man in Paris. So now I'm off to university and spending the first half term living with my brother. I had my new stereo and for the time kept it in his basement. I used to head down there sometimes to listen to my few albums. I don't know where I first heard Free Man in Paris but this is the Joni Mitchell song I remember most. There was a guy on TV Ontario who used to talk about music, some music nerd and I remember him analyzing the album, Court and Spark. I did see her in concert in Vancouver a few years later. Great show.

5. Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman. The first band I ever went to see in concert was ELO, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I loved their mix of rock and classics. The first song that I heard by them was Evil Woman. It began a long time love affair with their music. In fact while at university, there was university piped in music station run by students. I had visions of working there and featuring them, but I kind of chickened out. But I did work at the Base radio station in Cold Lake Alberta after I graduated. All volunteers, and great fun.

6. Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker. I do like me a woman with a powerful voice. I saw (as I recall, he says, because his memory has been proven wrong many times before) her on a pop show on TV once when she performed Heartbreaker. WOW! I had quite a few of her albums. Maybe not her best song because she grew into her music, but as an introduction, with great guitar and her fantastic voice, just another instrument for the band, it was super. Unfortunate that she is one performer I never saw live.

7. Kate Bush - Them Heavy People. OK, this is where my memory of when I first saw Kate Bush seems to have failed me. In my mind I saw her perform on Johnny Carson, two songs from her album The Kick Inside. Jo and I searched on line and checked the musical performers throughout the complete Johnny Carson shows run. Nope. She wasn't on it. But I did see her perform on TV!!! Dammit! She was just so unique, music as more than just a song. Enjoy it anyway, no matter where I saw it. LOL 

8. Dionne Warwick - Wishin' and Hopin'. Jo and I met online in 2001 at a Buffy the Vampire Slayer website and let's say the rest is history. We used to talk on the phone from Comox BC to Worthing, England at least twice a day. For our first Xmas, we sent each other mixed tapes. On her tape she had taped a BBC radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. I listened as I drove around. It broke me up. The other side had some of her favorite songs. This was the one that stands out for me.

9. Mary Chapin Carpenter - This Shirt. Continuing my thoughts from #8, this was one of the songs I chose. I love Carpenter's voice and story telling. It always chokes me up. 

"This shirt was a pillow for my head

On a train through Italy

This shirt was a blanket beneath the love

We made in Argeles...."

I think I sent Jo my plaid shirt as part of the gift..

10. The Veronicas - Untouched. In 2007 I was posted to Victoria and for the first few months Jo stayed in Comox with our dog Nikki and I rented a place in Victoria. This meant each weekend I would drive home so we could spend some time together. It also meant that I spent a lot of time listening to the car radio. This song reminds me of that time. The Veronicas are an Aussie band, but what I like most about the song is the cello (the intertwining of the rock with the classic.)

There you go. Thank you for allowing me to indulge myself. Now to go spend the evening with my wife and puppies. Take care.