Wednesday 28 August 2013

Five Star Songs: Ballad of Easy Rider

It was only a matter of time before one of The Byrds' songs appeared here. I just didn't know which. Many of the band's songs hold the five star rating in my library, and it's too difficult to pick only one. Well, at least it was before I stumbled across the wiki page of the song Ballad of Easy Rider, featured prominently in the film Easy Rider, and set my eyes on the following paragraph.

The star and script writer of Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, had initially intended to use Bob Dylan's song "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" in the film but after failing to license the track, Fonda asked Roger McGuinn of The Byrds to record a cover version of the song instead. Fonda also wanted Dylan to write the film's theme song but Dylan declined, quickly scribbling the lines - "The river flows, it flows to the sea/Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be/Flow, river, flow" - on to a napkin, before telling Fonda to "give this to McGuinn. He'll know what to do with it." The lyric fragment was dutifully passed on to McGuinn, who took the lines and expanded upon them with his own lyrical and musical contributions to produce the finished song.



I think it's an interesting fact from making one of the quintessential films of the New Hollywood era, and it gives an idea about the relationship between Dylan and The Byrds.

I've been listening to the band all day. All twelve studio albums arranged chronologically, played front to back. It makes up for over seven hours of incredible listening experience. Right now, I think I like The Byrds a little bit more then every other band, including the Fab four.

Thursday 15 August 2013

Joe South

Among all the famous songwriters from the 1960s, this one name is very easy to overlook. Unrightfully so. Joe South was a musician of great scope and incredible talent.


Born Joseph Alfred Souter in 1940, South started writing hits already in his late teens. Today, he is best remembered for songs like Hush, which he wrote for his former roommate Billie Joe Royal and which later became a huge hit and first top ten single for Deep Purple, or Lynn Anderson's version of (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden, which went on to become one of the biggest hits of the 1970s, and for which Anderson won a Grammy and South received two nominations.

Joe South won two Grammys on his own, too, with the 1968 protest song Games People Play, which has been covered many times by the likes of Tom Jones, Tina Turner or Inner Circle. He was also a prominent sideman, having played on Aretha Franklin's Chain of Fools or Dylan's Blonde On Blonde album, among others. 

However, the monstrous success of Rose Garden in 1971 was overshadowed by a personal tragedy when South's beloved brother and frequent collaborator took his own life. Following his brother's death, South retired from the music bussiness and it seemed like he almost dropped off the face of the earth, living on royalties and making only seldom appearances. He died of heart failure in 2012.



I discovered Joe South about two weeks ago, while working on my own Best of the '60s compilation, which I'm about to share with everyone really soon. I was once again doing my research and his was the most interesting name to come out that I hadn't known before. One can only wonder how many great songs he could've written if it hadn't been for the unfortunate death of his brother.

Oddly enough, just as I was writing this post, Lynn Anderson's take on Rose Garden was playing on the radio...

Monday 5 August 2013

Your Life Is a Lie

What the f!#k? :D



The weirdest video since The Avalanches' Frontier Psychiatrist. But I must say I quite dig it. That guy with the banana is priceless. MGMT's new album comes out September 17. Your thoughts?