Tag: rock

Monday’s Theme Music

My stream hauled this one out of 1973’s memory bins.

My friends weren’t familiar with Montrose’s work. Their music struck me as raw and elemental. I often sang them aloud to entertain myself as I went about being a student. Most people reacted, “What are you singing?” This was the question no matter what Montrose song was being sung. Could be that it was my singing.

One day, while singing “Rock Candy”, a grinning Scott said, “Is that Montrose?”

“Yes, it is Montrose, “Rock Candy”,” I confirmed.

“You like Montrose?” he asked.

“No, I’m singing it to be perverse,” I said, adding, “stupid fucking question.”

Scott was a new student. Part of a wealthy family, he’d been kicked out of several private schools and had convinced his parents to let him go to a public high school. We shared several AP classes and were on the sports teams together. He was friendly but a little distant, with an interesting sense of humor. He and I were suddenly great friends because of Montrose. Scott sought me out about other groups, and then expanded our relationships to books we were reading.

His big ambition was to crew a ship and see the world. I joined the military and did the same. I haven’t seen him since we graduated in 1974.

I still sing “Rock Candy” when I’m out walking. I mean, come on:

But you’re rock candy, baby
You’re hard, sweet, and sticky, yes
You’re rock candy, baby
Hard, sweet, and sticky, oh, yes

h/t to Songlyrics.com

Oh, yes.

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Sunday’s Theme Music

I was streaming several songs this morning, including “Timothy Leary” by the Moody Blues, but looking out the window at the emerging spring day and the hopes for more pleasant weather, I selected another oldie for today’s theme.

Here’s Friends of Distinction with “Grazing In The Grass” (1969). As Harry Elston sings, “What a trip just watching as the world goes past.” Perfect for a mellow-ish Sunday.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

I stole this song off of John Scalzi’s post from earlier this week.

I’d never heard of Burning Sensations or their MTV hit, “Burning of the Whale”. I listened to it and was intrigued. It appears to be about a guy living in a whale, and the production is a bite out of the eighties, just in a slightly different direction. I figure it’s a good theme song because it’s an artistic attempt, and it’s different, and they tried, and these things are what art is about, no matter which venue we pursue. Have a dream, apply some imagination and work, and put it out there.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Found myself singing The Cult, “She Sells Sanctuary” (1985). Sanctuary was on my mind, partly through writing and reading influence but also due to various news articles and local events. Locally, forty-eight hundred customers, including my house, have been without natural gas since Monday. It’s expected to be restored by Friday afternoon at my house. That diminished my sense of sanctuary but also stirred reflections on how much is accepted and taken for granted as a given – gas and electricity to heat and cook water to bath, drink, and cook; and protection from the elements. I see homeless people everyday that don’t have these things. I recognize they don’t have them and feel for them, but with my temporary losses magnified my empathy for people going without. As too many times with privileged folks like me, it takes an inconvenience to look harder and think deeper.

 

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

I thought my cats were singing today’s theme music. As I did the morning rituals of feeding cats, dressing, and foraging for coffee, they took turns stalking me, rubbing against my legs, sitting on my feet, giving me adoring gazes, and purring like mad. They wouldn’t relent, and I picked up that they were singing, “I got my mind set on you.”

You might recall the 1987 George Harrison cover of the 1962 song, “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You,” released by Harrison as “Got My Mind Set on You”, or the Weird Al parody, “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long”. According to the feline streams hitting my music stream (a wholly telepathic thing), the cats were singing the Harrison cover.

I’ll go with it, just to purge it from my stream.

 

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Today’s music popped into the stream out of my dreams. An old favorite from 1969 by the Who, the song came out when I was thirteen. I was singing it to myself when I went into science class. Melissa, the girl behind me, said, “Do you like the Who?” Sure, yes, etc. Melissa invited me over to her house to listen to music.

Here’s “Pinball Wizard”. The song and memory all seem innocuous now, but it was a big deal when I was thirteen.

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Monday’s Theme Music

I have stones on my mind today. Probably will for for several more days to weeks. Hard to say with kidney stones.

With those as my guide and inspiration from another blogger, Kenneth, I started streaming some Bob Dylan this morning. Of course, it’s the 1965 classic, “Like A Rolling Stone”. It felt like it took years to understand the lyrics, but as a kid, I always liked the intonation of, “Like a rolling stone.”

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Runnin’ behind today. Awoken with a sharp abdominal pain at 6:30. After a bathroom visit, “To the Google,” I cried. I’d begun to guess that I was attempting to pass a kidney stone.

The Googles agreed with me.

I did some home remedies that I was sure would work because they were on the ‘net. Three hours later, that was done, but I was a bit worn out, so I read and went to bed.

Back up at eleven, my stream fed me this Night Ranger tune, “When You Close Your Eyes” (1983), proving that you can still rock in the free mind.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

I was on the road today. Naturally, that opened my music stream to road songs. One of them that popped up early is by Canned Heat. AM Radio and the growing pop revolution introduced them to me in my early teens. I didn’t appreciate how much the blues inspired them until about six years later, when I was listening to ZZ Top and the Allman Brothers Band.

Besides Canned Heat, I was singing “Hit the Road, Jack,” “Truckin'”, “Little Red Corvette”, “American Pie”, “Little GTO”, “Beep Beep”, “Uneasy Rider”, “The Way”, “Sweet Hitchhiker”, “Life Is A Highway”, “One Headlight”, “Drive My Car”, “Mustang Sally”, “Little Deuce Coupe”, “Pink Cadillac”, “The Leader of the Pack”, “Dead Man’s Curve”, “On the Road Again”, “Where the Streets Have No Name”, “Route 66”, “Born to Be Wild”, “Ninety-nine Miles From LA”, “Midnight Rider”, “Fast Car”, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”, and “Radar Love”. You can place the performers to the songs.

You have any favorite road songs that I should have been streaming? I’d like to know them. Sharing is caring, friends.

Here’s Canned Heat with “On the Road Again” from 1968.

 

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