Monday, January 26, 2009

Death's greatest hits ...

... The Day the Music Died.

I detest "American Pie," but I like "Bohemian Rhapsody."

7 comments:

  1. Two things:

    1. No link here.
    2. You detest "American Pie"? You know, I met a girl who sang the blues and I asked her for some happy news...but she just wept with the knowledge that Frank Wilson detested the song in which she was featured. So, you know, nice work there.

    -G

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  2. The poor girl. I actually knew a guy who used to play the damn song over and over and over. The actual "day" I remember quite well, coming home from school to see Dick Clark on Bandstand announcing the sad news out of Iowa.

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  3. P.S. The only top-ten list in which "Tears in Heaven" belongs is the "Top-ten List of Most Chillingly Opportunistic Songs." (And it's #1 on that list, btw. Just an awful, awful, shameless, vapid, putrid song. It's auditory toxic slime; I need a Silkwood shower after every listen. That song caused Slowhand's stock to plummet to 2-cents per with me, and has never since recovered.)

    -G

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  4. I'll second that, Greg.

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  5. He starts by saying that death is not a topic one normally thinks of in popular music. That's so absurd it requires comment. For one thing, death is THE principal topic in bluegrass, in old-timey country, and holds a significant place in jazz and blues. That anyone could say that, now, means only that the culture has gone a long way to suppress the topic at present, in pop arts—to its loss and detriment.

    Things that belong on that list:

    Joni Mitchell: "Sex Kills"
    Bruce Cockburn" Closer to the Light"

    Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead

    I could go on. It's actually a very long list.

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  6. Good point, Art. I hadn't thought of that. There's also Harry Nilsson's "I'd Rather Be Dead."

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