WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG FROM THE FIRST HALF of THE...
The 1970s turned out to be surprisingly difficult. So difficult in fact that I decided to break it into two parts. I was sitting around talking to songwriters about the best song of the 70's and too many were tossed out. Even when we tried to just look at '70-ish to '75 it was insane. There are hugely important songs like Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On" and "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Superstitious" by Stevie Wonder. And for me personally so many things by Harry Nielson like "Without her" and "The Moonbeam Song."
But there is a song that keeps haunting me through my life from David Bowie's "Hunky Dory" album. Most people know that album for his perennial hit "Changes." But it is truly a deep album. Very intellectual and thought provoking, while still with the pop sensibilities that Bowie ALWAYS had. Even in that album it could be hard to decide--"Oh You Pretty Things" and "Quicksand" are two brilliant songs too. But the one that keeps coming around for me is "Life on Mars."
A song that keeps getting used in odd places, even in the eponymous BBC show (re-done for American TV) called "Life On Mars" that used the title and the song very effectively. It was once described as "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dali painting, the Daily Telegraph named it #1 in it's list of 100 greatest songs of all time and Pitchfork named it the best song of the '70s.
I find the way it questions art imitating life or life imitating art to be fun and cheeky and still relevant today--"Look at the law man, beating up the wrong guy, oh man I wonder if he'll ever know, he's in the best-selling show." In Bowie's own words, it's about "A sensitive young girl's reaction to the media. I think she finds herself disappointed with reality... that although she's living in the doldrums of reality, she's being told that there's a far greater life somewhere, and she's bitterly disappointed that she doesn't have access to it."
I see this and I see the girl's home life is one of conflict, so she goes to the movies and it's fighting and violence and she looks out in the streets and it's caveman behavior--fighting and violence. And then she's thinking, 'this place sucks, I wonder if there's life on mars?' Like, somewhere there is a better place, a better way to be--right? Longing to get away from the dog-eat-dog mentality and brutality of the below-average existence.
In a way it could be seen as elitist, but really it is just hope that things could be better somewhere, some way.
Oh and it ends with a fantastic hommage to the bombastic orchestral ending of the Beatles "Day in the Life."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ
Loading content, please wait.
Replies
Rick Carnes
Sin City (Graham Parsons/Chris Hillam)
This dirge-like song is an anthem for all those who were burned out, chewed up by, and otherwise wrecked and left for dead by the music biz in the Late 60'-early 70's...(Whose numerous victims included Parson's himself in '73). If you haven't heard the song then you are one of the vast majority of people who haven't because even though Parsons is acknowledged by all to be the father of Country-Rock he never had a hit record.
I was fortunate enough to see him live one time and I converted to Country Rock on the spot like everyone there that night. He was an evangelist for the sound and the amazing combination of soul and blues and twang. According to Hillman the song was written in 30 minutes one morning. It sounds very much like a stream of consciousness poem.
The images are apocalypic as they sing about "The Lord's burning rain" descending on the wicked residents of Sin City. But there is no redemption in this song. The two part harmony weaves a woeful sound much like the Everly Brothers singing from the gallows. Perhaps this is the reason that Parson's music never got air-play like the follow-on groups like the Eagles who took Country Rock mainstream with love songs and catchy hooks. But if your tastes in music are darker and grittier then there is no stronger stuff around than the bitter sweet brew of Graham Parson's music.
The best version of Sin City was recorded by his vocal partner and life long promoter of his legacy Emmy Lou Harris. www.youtube.com/watch />
I will leave you with just one verse that is perhaps the finest example of Parson's pen:
"The scientists say it will all wash away
but we don't believe anymore.
Cause we've got our recruits
and our green mohair suits
so please show your ID at the door."
I can see it... I can feel it... but I can't explain it. That was the magic that was Graham Parsons. And here is the original Flying Burrito Brothers version: www.youtube.com/watch />
Loading content, please wait. 7 years ago
This dirge-like song is an anthem for all those who were burned out, chewed up by, and otherwise wrecked and left for dead by the music biz in the Late 60'-early 70's...(Whose numerous victims included Parson's himself in '73). If you haven't heard the song then you are one of the vast majority of people who haven't because even though Parsons is acknowledged by all to be the father of Country-Rock he never had a hit record.
I was fortunate enough to see him live one time and I converted to Country Rock on the spot like everyone there that night. He was an evangelist for the sound and the amazing combination of soul and blues and twang. According to Hillman the song was written in 30 minutes one morning. It sounds very much like a stream of consciousness poem.
The images are apocalypic as they sing about "The Lord's burning rain" descending on the wicked residents of Sin City. But there is no redemption in this song. The two part harmony weaves a woeful sound much like the Everly Brothers singing from the gallows. Perhaps this is the reason that Parson's music never got air-play like the follow-on groups like the Eagles who took Country Rock mainstream with love songs and catchy hooks. But if your tastes in music are darker and grittier then there is no stronger stuff around than the bitter sweet brew of Graham Parson's music.
The best version of Sin City was recorded by his vocal partner and life long promoter of his legacy Emmy Lou Harris. www.youtube.com/watch />
I will leave you with just one verse that is perhaps the finest example of Parson's pen:
"The scientists say it will all wash away
but we don't believe anymore.
Cause we've got our recruits
and our green mohair suits
so please show your ID at the door."
I can see it... I can feel it... but I can't explain it. That was the magic that was Graham Parsons. And here is the original Flying Burrito Brothers version: www.youtube.com/watch />
Loading content, please wait. 7 years ago
Eric Watkins
Berry Gordy didn't want Marvin Gaye (or Motown) to release a political song. Reportedly, Gordy actually hated the song. Luckily, someone managed to get the single released and it was a huge hit.It was a huge hit because Gaye's performance is stunning, the lyrics are simple yet devastating and the question – What's Going On? - was so important, so pressing and so confounding that it summed up a desperate plea that was perfectly of its time. That's why it was a great song then. It was written in a time of extreme racial tension, political divisiveness in a world that feels like it could be broken at any moment.
But that's not why it's still considered one of the greatest songs ever written. No, the reason it still stands up today is because we have extreme racial tension, political divisiveness in a world that feels like it could be broken at any moment. It's still a song perfect for our time.
One thing has changed, at least – Berry Gordy grew to love the song after all.
www.youtube.com/watch Loading content, please wait. 7 years ago
But that's not why it's still considered one of the greatest songs ever written. No, the reason it still stands up today is because we have extreme racial tension, political divisiveness in a world that feels like it could be broken at any moment. It's still a song perfect for our time.
One thing has changed, at least – Berry Gordy grew to love the song after all.
www.youtube.com/watch Loading content, please wait. 7 years ago
Rusty Watkins
My Favorite Song from 1970-74
What an impossible era to pick a favorite song from! The 70’s represent all of the turmoil and change of the 60’s maturing and bearing fruit. What a great time for music!
I look through the list of all the great songs and see “Let it Be”, “Imagine”, “Superstitious”. “I Want You Back”, “Without You”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and the list goes on. To pick a great song from this time I had to look within myself and at what really moves me and the answer that came back was both strange and obvious. It’s not from Lennon, McCartney or Wonder but from Joe Raposo.
“Bein’ Green” or “It’s Not Easy Being Green” is a song that touches my soul every time that I hear it. Freaks, wierdos and outcasts everywhere can look to this touching song about self-acceptance and find comfort in the introspective and uplifting lyrics. Starting with lamenting “ it seems you blend in with so many ordinary things, And people tend to pass you by because you’re not standing out like flashy sparkles on the water or stars in the sky” but moving to being “big like a mountain, or important like a river or tall like a tree” while the tone of the music goes from melancholy to hopeful and back to a bit melancholy again as Kermit asks “ why wonder?” and in the end accepts what he is with the wonderfully non-committal ,”It’ll do fine, It’s beautiful and I think it’s what I want to be.”
This is a song for people who have been discriminated against for any reason with a hopeful message of nonconformity. There are only a few songs that touch me as deeply and warm my heart as much as this wonderful little song. I ‘m getting a little something in my eye right now…
www.youtube.com/watch Loading content, please wait. 7 years ago
What an impossible era to pick a favorite song from! The 70’s represent all of the turmoil and change of the 60’s maturing and bearing fruit. What a great time for music!
I look through the list of all the great songs and see “Let it Be”, “Imagine”, “Superstitious”. “I Want You Back”, “Without You”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and the list goes on. To pick a great song from this time I had to look within myself and at what really moves me and the answer that came back was both strange and obvious. It’s not from Lennon, McCartney or Wonder but from Joe Raposo.
“Bein’ Green” or “It’s Not Easy Being Green” is a song that touches my soul every time that I hear it. Freaks, wierdos and outcasts everywhere can look to this touching song about self-acceptance and find comfort in the introspective and uplifting lyrics. Starting with lamenting “ it seems you blend in with so many ordinary things, And people tend to pass you by because you’re not standing out like flashy sparkles on the water or stars in the sky” but moving to being “big like a mountain, or important like a river or tall like a tree” while the tone of the music goes from melancholy to hopeful and back to a bit melancholy again as Kermit asks “ why wonder?” and in the end accepts what he is with the wonderfully non-committal ,”It’ll do fine, It’s beautiful and I think it’s what I want to be.”
This is a song for people who have been discriminated against for any reason with a hopeful message of nonconformity. There are only a few songs that touch me as deeply and warm my heart as much as this wonderful little song. I ‘m getting a little something in my eye right now…
www.youtube.com/watch Loading content, please wait. 7 years ago