I was about to say that I’m not a big Elton John fan, in the sense that I have never owned one of his albums, but I would never deny that he is one of the giants of rock/pop music. Then I did a search on some of my Spotify playlists, and Nearly everyone has an Elton John song on it.
Which brings me to “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” which might not be Elton’s best song, but it is a great song. When I first heard it, I thought it was more cheesy than anything else. Yet, this song drills into your head. For me, it’s the guitar hook at the start, and the chorus of “SATURDAY!” being chanted over and over again.
I will admit that “Me and My Arrow” by Harry Nilsson re-entered my life this week due to a Spotify generated playlist, not from my own music knowledge. And if you don’t know, this song is part of a cartoon that Nilsson created and wrote in 1970 called The Point!I remember seeing it on cable, sometime in the 80’s, and what stuck with me about the show was the wise man, or dude, who tells the hero that, “not having a point, is a point.” That little piece of philosophical logic has stuck with me my whole life.
As to the song, “Me and My Arrow,” when I heard it this week, it struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I had to look it up, and I think where I truly remember it from is an episode of The Simpsonsthat used it. But when I read it was from the cartoon The Point!, then it all came back to me. Just a little gem of my childhood. And I had no idea that the great Harry Nilsson was responsible for it all.
Oh, and what just stuck in my head is the whole thing. I’ve been humming it all week.
I bring all of this up because “Rock’n Me” was played to me the other day, and it has been stuck in my head ever since. The earworm portion of the song is the whole song, but if I have to get more specific, the opening guitar riff wedges in my brain, along with the way Miller sings “Northern California.”
Now to get back to the Greatest Hits album. So, in my world, between 1994 and 1997, just about everyone I knew owned this album. Like, I would go over to someone’s place, and flip through their cd collection, and guaranteed, Steve Miller’s Greatest Hits would show up. I remember going to college parties my freshman and sophomore year in college, and someone would always put this on. The funny thing is that I don’t remember any Steve Miller resurgence happening in the mid 90’s. (Unless somebody out there remembers something I don’t…) More like, it was a classic rock album that everyone was cool with.
I have got drumming on the brain again. I posted about Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and I can’t get Clem Burke’s drums out of my head. I don’t like hyper-precision drumming, or supper fast and accurate drumming, which is what everyone sounds like now. It sounds lifeless and artificial to me. But Clem; Clem on that song is vital – adding another character to the song – driving, passionate, and accentuating theme of the song. And what I am most thankful for is to be a failed drummer. See, as one who sat behind a drum kit, and tried his hand at playing for a rock band, I learned two things; first is that drumming is a shit ton of fun, and second is that great drumming is exceptionally difficult. It has made me appreciate what great drumming on a song can do, how it can transform a song into something that isn’t just fun to listen to, but can ingrain itself into the core of what a song can make you feel. And just listening to Clem, man, I would kill to be able to play like that.
Oh it’s bad. I mean, I didn’t think it could get much worse, but it did. Spurs melted like snow on warm ground against Crystal Palace yesterday – it was just awful to watch. Embarrassing is another word that I would use. I know the seasons isn’t over yet, and the odds are still on their side that they WON’T get relegated, but Sonny over at Sonny Talks Spurs has a rather different take than me, but not by much. I have been following the club for ten years now, and I had no idea that that 2016/17 was their high water mark. Ever since then, it has been a slow slide, or car wreck, or train wreck, or growing dumpster fire, what have you… I’m used to supporting a team that lives at the bottom of the barrel (I am a Cubs fan after all) so, seeing a team you love fail isn’t exactly new to me. But this is the first time that I have supported a sports team that gets kicked out of its league because its so bad. Chalk one up for a new experience, I guess.
I woke up this morning and “Heart of Glass” was in my head. And I think I wrote about Blondie and “Heart of Glass” before, but you know what, I think I’m going to do it again.
I think for most people my age, when you say disco, the Bee Gees and Saturday Night Fever are the first things that pop into your head. For me, it’s been “Heart of Glass” since I first head it. Which is funny because me and just about everyone else would never say that Blondie is a disco band – punk and new wave, clearly.
Then, when I was in my 20’s, the song took on a whole different meaning. Instead of being a silly disco song, I started to appreciate the juxtaposition of the tragedy of loss of the love in the song, with the upbeat infectious driving dance beat. To me, it encapsulates the feeling of monumental life altering infatuation that could evolve into love, but deep down you know its doomed, but these feelings are so intoxicating that you can’t say no to them. You embrace the coming train wreck, though you know better.
Give me a year, I’ll probably write about this song again.
