The Music Court

In 1969, while the Woodstock festival literally took over the entire music world for a few rainy days in August, a song was finishing its six week reign as the top song on the billboard hot 100 charts. It is a great trivia question. What was the #1 song on the charts during Woodstock? I was asked this, and stumped, by my girlfriend’s father’s friend. When he told me I did not have an “ohhh! of course” moment. I was a bit surprised. In what I believe is the first, and probably only, prophetic science fiction song ever to chart as a complete one hit wonder (well that is quite specific) Zager and Evans hit big in their musical warning “In the Year 2525.”

Did you know that the b-side of the “In the Year 2525” single is a touching tale of young love entitled “Little Kids.” Yeah, I did not know either. This is the definition of a one hit wonder. Plus, I believe that it is kind of hard to repeat after writing a song about human’s being overtaken by technology. In a year where the space program reached the height of their productivity by landing on the moon (coincidentally the song about how human’s are incredibly dependant on technology and this will lead to their downfall was #1 on the charts when human’s first landed on our moon. Awkward! You can’t make this stuff up) Zager and Evans were putting technology down.

Since this is not a lyric of the day I will not bore you with their lyrics which progress through each thousand ten year intervals until 6565 and then continues with some more years up to 9595. The song’s main message is that technology will slowly dehumanize humans (The Police would obviously be a fan of this prospect). This sort of sounds like the book 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and the corresponding movie in 1968 by Stanley Kubrick about a space ship’s computer system rebelling against the humans on the ship. The song was written by Rick Evans in 1964 and made public a lot of science fiction fears that had been outlined in numerous books written before the song.

In the year 9595 man has taken all the Earth has given him and has not put something back. Sound familiar? The verse continues mentioning that man’s reign is through. But through eternal night, The twinkling of starlight. So very far away, Maybe it’s only yesterday.

This, of course, leaves open the possibility that this may have happened on a far away planet and now it is happening again, here, on Earth. OH NO. Watch out for your toaster. It is coming to get you.

         On August 15th, 1969, a concert billed as an Aquarian Exposition began on Max Yasgur’s 600 acre dairy farm in Bethel, NY. Who knew that the concert, known to practically all as Woodstock, would draw over 500,000 people over a rainy weekend of thirty-two musical acts? Who knew that forty years later the concert would still be fresh in the minds of all who lived through the event and would be known as possibly the greatest event in Rock history? If you asked people then, except the confident group of promoters, an answer of “you gotta be kiddin’ me” or a long drawn out “no wayyyy mannn, you want a hit” would most likely be the common answer.           

        Yes, the year of 1969 was both a year of great success (the moon landing) and great unrest (The Vietnam Conflict) and music was accordingly at a turning point. Rock was becoming more experimental, or psychedelic as some would come to call it. The good old days of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “I Want to Grow Up to Be a Politician” had turned into The Beatles singing that Happiness is a warm gun and Roger McGuinn singing about how he wished he could be an easy rider and let the sea carry him out of war and conflict. The times were certainly changing again and young teens were becoming angrier that their country continued to send men of their age to die in a hopeless war. In hindsight, I guess the turn out (or turn on) at Woodstock was not surprising. Teens hear about a concert that is going to promote a weekend of peace and love in hopeful support of a movement against the war. At the time would you say no? Whatever it may be, the Woodstock Music Festival was born and hundreds of thousands of people came to turn on, tune in, and drop out.

            So, in celebration of the 40^th of anniversary of Woodstock let us look at the only musical performer in history who ended up being plagued for his punctuality, Richie Havens. Well, it wasn’t really any other performer’s fault, except maybe Tim Hardin (who came by helicopter and would have opened the concert if not for being too stoned to get on stage. Technically, Sweetwater was supposed to open the show but they were experiencing band problems). You see traffic was so bad on 17B the highway that was used to get to White Lake, NY (and the same one that can be used to get to Binghamton University, my place of learning), that concertgoers decided eventually to abandon their cars on the highway and walk the rest of the way. Can you imagine those few cars on 17 going to visit their cousins in Vestal, NY. “Morris, we’re already late and they said that they are serving dinner at 6:00,” says agitated wife with a voice like Fran Drescher. Okay, I am digressing stupidly.

     The point is that at 5:07 pm Eastern Daylight Time, Richie Havens walked on stage and performed “High Flyin’ Bird,” officially opening the festival. Three hours later, Richie Havens’ fingers were falling off and his oversized thumb was most likely bruised and dirtied by acoustic guitar strings. He was still on, asked to continue his set until he ran out of songs in his repertoire. All joking aside, he did not know any more songs to play. After doing “Handsome Johnny,” a scared look must have been in his eyes. So, do to his quick thinking and large thumb, “Freedom,” the unofficial anthem of Woodstock, was composed for the first time right on stage. Richie Havens improvised possibly the most important song in the entire show.  

            Strumming wildly and convulsing to the beat he merged a new composition, “Freedom,” with the tradition “Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child,” which dates back to the days of slavery when black children were commonly sold and ripped away from their mothers. The song lifted the growing crowd off their feet and was over five minutes of pure emotion and, in a sense, possible exasperation. Just kidding! Richie Havens is a true performer and a real amazing mind. The end of the song which sees Richie Havens get up from his seat while the song crescendos reveals a glob of sweat on the back of his brown dress-like shirt. That, my friends, is hard work. Woodstock would have not been the same without the opening act of Richie Havens. One must give credit where credit is due and he certainly deserves the credit. Happy 40^th to Woodstock and enjoy the anniversary with some Richie Havens links I am posting below.

Check it Out:

“I Can’t Make it Anymore,” Woodstock: http://www.uulyrics.com/music/richie-havens/song-cant-make-it-anymore/

“Strawberry Fields Forever,” Woodstock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQG-xM62tQg&feature=fvw

Woodstock- “Freedom”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-d5x-CiTUs&feature=related

Yesterday I spent the day walking around the Bronx Zoo and checking out their wide collection of incredible species of animals. No joke there, it was actually a pretty awesome visit. One would think that the visit to the zoo obviously sparks the choice of artist for the song of the day but this hasty assumption is only partly right. You see, you underestimate the immensity of the pointless comments I can make. No, the zoo did not specifically spark the Animals, but, a highly convoluted reason sparks both the song and the artist.

Let me take you back to a land before my birth. An incredibly smelly place filled with fish guts and fishing huts. A coastal town that gained its worth and income from their fisheries, and their main catch, sardines. Pretty gross right. Well, after the fisheries eventually went out of business, the town fell into disrepair and became an unfortunate relic of its former self. Yet, after many years of fading away in the California sun it was revived when an idea for a concert hatched and decided it wanted Monterey. Flash forward to a small building in the heart of the Bronx zoo. A building that greeted each visitor with a smell of…well…dung. While all the rest of the animals were outside chilling on the beautiful day, two anteaters remained indoors with the unbearable farm-like smell. The anteaters were involved in digging holes in their exhibit to rest and in their own funny way they were actually graceful. That’s right, in the smelly, forgotten about location a small gem could be found. A needle in a haystack, an oyster’s pearl on the enormous sea bed. Do you see where I am going with this? Both situations are somewhat similar and stuck in the middle of this all is the conveniently named band The Animals, or Eric Burdon (the lead singer) and The Animals, or simply Eric Burdon. Yeah, the guy became a little full of himself.

The Monterey Pop Festival happened over three days, like the more famous Woodstock festival, in 1967, two years prior to the event’s big brother. Planned in seven weeks by Lou Adler, John Phillips (of the Mamas and the Papas), Alan Parisir and Derek Taylor, the Monterey Pop Festival was heavily promoted and ended up drawing close to 200,000 people. Funny how that number still pales in comparison to Woodstock. The festival was truly the first “Rock” festival and famous performers lined the days events. One of which, The Animals, performed in between Johnny Rivers and Simon & Garfunkel on day 1 friday, June 16th of the festival. Eric Burdon summed up the group’s experience in Monterey with his song of the same name. In his prophetic hit he mentions some of the artists who performed at the festival. While the festival did enjoy over thirty performers, Eric Burdon specifically mentions The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, The incredibly young Who, The Grateful Dead, a man who went by the name of Jimi Hendrix. It is almost as if Burdon knew in 1967 who would become famous and who would not. He called the musicians “young gods,” and in many ways Monterey did not only come to fruition, but also many of these musicians reached god status.

               I will be honest with you guys. I never thought I would be profiling a Jack Johnson song for the Song of the Day section. Not because I do not respect the man and his soft musical accomplishments, but, I have never really listened to him. Maybe in passing when a song by him is playing overhead in a store or an outdoor sitting area next to Chipotle in the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park, NY. I assume you all can guess where I heard “Hope” by Jack Johnson now. The hook, that constantly repeats “You better hope your not alone” (and many other variations of the same line) got so stuck in my head my girlfriend suggested that she sent me a text with the song title so I did not forget it. Thank you Rebecca.

              Jack Johnson, the Hawaiian singer-songwriter, surfer, movie maker, et cetera, tends to get little respect from music listeners who label his brand of soft rock as well soft. Yes, while some of his music may be a little hard to listen to, “Hope,” is actually great. It is incredibly catchy and it does a great job demonstrating Jack Johnson’s style. He may not be slamming on the guitar or putting together some illustrious musical sound, but, he does have an acoustic guitar, a mellow voice, and a pretty solid sound. Good sound for a surfer dude. He’s better then the inaudible music of Eddie Vedder.

          Right before the chorus the song slows down and Johnson’s voice sounds over silence. This breakdown is quite revealing. What does it show? Johnson is one of those artists who is simply comfortable. He knows who he is and he is not going to change. I respect that.

Check it Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nglKASnDxhI

Let me first apologize for not including the umlaut mark over the o. I have upset German’s everywhere. I do not know how to do it on wordpress blogs. Plus, I do not think I will ever need to use it again. Also, for everyone eagerly awaiting the#99 lyricist you get to see the highly anticipated post tomorrow. But, for now the most kick butt song of all time.

I was having a lot of trouble thinking of what to do for the post today. I was supposed to wake up early and go for a walk by the beach but the gloomy weather prevented me from doing so. So, exercise was on my mind, and the most crazy song to pump you up on my compact exercise playlist is “Ace of Spades.” Yes, I know that you are sick of playing this song Motorhead, but whenever I need an extra boost you are who I turn too. Why am I talking to Motorhead. Ian Kilister, who just goes by Lemmy, says it best. They, “can’t ditch Ace of Spades, it wouldn’t be right. If I go to see Little Richard, I expect to hear Good Golly Miss Molly or I’d be pissed off.” Good point.

The song is their best, having been covered and used by countless bands and television shows, movies, and various other media conduits. The song is ranked #10 on VH1’s list of best Hard Rock songs. It is fast paced, loud, and I love it. Lemmy’s voice strains perfectly and the guitars and drums are quick. I am not the biggest fan of loud metal but this is just a great song. The English band truly rocked England with a style of music that they had not heard before. Yes, Black Sabbath, was early metal but in 1980 not many had heard this real head-banging  Metal before.

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5cqe_JE0Q

How about some fun facts?

Did you Know:
– Hayseed Dixie, a satirical bluegrass band has covered the song, appropriating the piece for acoustic guitar, mandolin, bass, banjo and vocals. Got this one straight from wikipedia. You can’t make this stuff up. What? You think I am joking? Oh, I have video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYJUywl7CFw

– One more great one. Between 8pm and 2am on November 9th, 2005 the song was played at The Boat nightclub in Toronto. No big deal right. Well, it was played consecutively 128 times. By the end of the night three were dead and everyone had a gambling problem.