Parrothead Ramblings

OK, I know. This isn't the Doobie Brothers' album of note here, but it was my favorite, and it's my Blog, so shut up already.

El Capitan has gone too far this time!

His blog included a music meme today, and I had the bad judgment to follow his admonition and click the link. Now I have to deal with all these insidious, brain aneurysm causing tunes zinging through my head for the rest of the day. Or until I can drink them away and replace them with Songs You Know By Heart. It should be a federal felony punishable by castration to ever, ever play #12 again. That &%$#@! song is a potentially fatal earworm, because suicide may become the only viable option.

The challenge here is to review the Top 100 songs of the year you were finally kicked out of graduated high school, and to honestly go through the list and decide which songs sucked ass, which ones were groovy, and your absolute favorite. Sucks get struck through, good ones get boldface, and the favorite gets boldfaced and underlined.

I'll be fifty tomorrow. That, plus the fact that I have a job, is why I lopped off all but the first fifty. Fifty just seems to be my number these days.......

1. Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Ole Oak Tree, Tony Orlando and Dawn
2. Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Jim Croce
3. Killing Me Softly With His Song, Roberta Flack
4. Let's Get It On, Marvin Gaye
5. My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings
6. Why Me, Kris Kristofferson
7. Crocodile Rock, Elton John
8. Will It Go Round In Circles, Billy Preston
9. You're So Vain, Carly Simon
10. Touch Me In The Morning, Diana Ross
11. The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, Vicki Lawrence
12. Playground In My Mind, Clint Holmes
13. Brother Louie, Stories
14. Delta Dawn, Helen Reddy
15. Me And Mrs. Jones, Billy Paul
16. Frankenstein, Edgar Winter Group
17. Drift Away, Dobie Gray
18. Little Willy, Sweet
19. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life, Stevie Wonder
20. Half Breed, Cher
21. That Lady, Isley Bros.
22. Pillow Talk, Sylvia
23. We're An American Band, Grand Funk Railroad
24. Right Place, Wrong Time, Dr. John
25. Wildflower, Skylark
26. Superstition, Stevie Wonder
27. Loves Me Like A Rock, Paul Simon
28. The Morning After, Maureen McGovern
29. Rocky Mountain High, John Denver
30. Stuck In The Middle With You, Stealers Wheel
31. Shambala, Three Dog Night
32. Love Train, O'Jays
33. I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More, Barry White
34. Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose, Tony Orlando and Dawn
35. Keep On Truckin' (Pt. 1), Eddie Kendricks
36. Dancing In The Moonlight, King Harvest
37. Danny's Song, Anne Murray
38. Monster Mash, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and The Crypt Kickers
39. Natural High, Bloodstone
40. Diamond Girl, Seals and Crofts
41. Long Train Running, Doobie Brothers
42. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth), George Harrison
43. If You Want Me To Stay, Sly and The Family Stone
44. Daddy's Home, Jermaine Jackson
45. Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye), Gladys Knight and The Pips
46. I'm Doing Fine Now, New York City
47. Could It Be I'm Falling In Love, Spinners
48. Daniel, Elton John
49. Midnight Train To Georgia, Gladys Knight and The Pips
50. Smoke On The Water , Deep Purple

As you can see, I had a certain affinity for R&B. It was some of the best stuff on the radio in those days, unlike the violent, misogynistic bullshit out there today.

In June of 1973, one month from my graduation, I was packed into a green uniform and shipped off to places I really didn't want to be. It was then that Rocky Mountain High became my absolute favorite. JD reminded me of home, friends, family, and that certain girl waiting back there for me at the foot of the Sacramento Mountains. Yes, that was the Fetching Mrs. Crime Dog.

But at the moment in time that I was finishing up high school, bulletproof and haulin' ass down highway 380 in my '65 Dodge, four buddies, a case of beer, and a little weed at the ready, headed for the Pecos River or the Bottomless Lakes, it just didn't get any better than The Doobie Brothers.

You guys my age - do you remember this conversation?

Son, why are they called The Doobie Brothers?

"Hmmm. I'm not sure, Dad. I think it's the drummer's last name."

Still not sure if that one fooled him.
  |