Now, I will go to the mat and fight on any hill available to me when I say that Ringo is one of the truly great rock drummers of all time. C’mon, let’s go!
But this song does drill into my skull and won’t leave which is rather annoying.
And I guess it was time to pick on another Beatles and cut Paul some slack…
I mean, I’m not ashamed to say that, but yeah. I saw Wilco on SNL playing this song, and I was like sure, I’ll buy this album.
It’s the jangly piano at the start. That’s the part that gets stuck.
I went to high school with this guy, let’s call him Dan. We weren’t really friends, such as we didn’t hang out after school, but we hung in parallel social groups, and if we had a class together, we sit near each other so we could crack jokes and pass the time. He was very tall and lanky, but with no athletic coordination or maybe he didn’t like sports, so he preferred to be an outsider, but with his height, you couldn’t miss him. He was soft spoken, real dry sense of humor, and he was the type of guy you’d see reading Naked Lunch or The Bell Jar. He was smart, but a slacker, and he carried himself like a 90’s neo-hippie, you know, he looked like he was in The Spin Doctors.
Dan had a thought or an opinion on just about everything. I had read about it somewhere, is what he would say when he had some knowledge that covered a rather arcane subject. But music, that was his big thing. I was, and still am for that matter, a huge Beatles fan which Dan was as well. He told me, that one day my music taste would evolve – not that I would stop liking The Beatles – but I would follow down the path of enlightened music enjoyment. He said that I would start with The Beatles, then in a few years I would be all about Led Zeppelin, and that I would end with Pink Floyd. I didn’t think too much of it, but his idea did stay in the back of my mind.
I graduated and went away to college, for a reason I have forgotten, I bought “Physical Graffiti,” and I got hooked on Led Zeppelin. Somewhere, hiding in the back of my mind where I placed it, I envisioned Dan sitting Lotus style, hand raised to heaven, surrounded by a cloud of pot smoke, smiling and nodding at me – “You have attained the next level” he imparted on me. The truth is that I did start on a path of deep diving into all things Led Zeppelin. Got all the albums, hunted down rare “B” sides, read biographies, even did a sad stint of trying to learn how to play their songs… that didn’t go well.
Then, jump ahead three years, and I have dropped out of college and am working at a pizza delivery place in my home town. Who should happen to come in and get a job at that pizza place? Why, it’s Dan! It didn’t take him long to scope out my car, which had three band stickers on the back window; The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Nirvana. “What, no Pink Floyd?” he asked.
I was slightly surprised that he remembered that conversation, but I had to admit that I never really got into Pink Floyd. I mean, I had a copy of “Darkside of the Moon,” and it was cool and all, but I never had any interest in going any farther than that.
It was like I kicked his puppy. Dan was so disappointed in me. “Pink Floyd will be there for you when you’re ready,” he added.
I don’t think about Dan often, but when I do, it’s all pleasant and happy memories. Sad to say, I have never come around to Pink Floyd. Not that I have anything against them. It’s just not my thing. Yet, when a Pink Floyd song comes up on a Spotify playlist, I think of Dan; knowing that he is still floating on a great pot cloud in the sky – waiting for me to join him – maybe to push play on “Wish You Were Here.”
Hey Everybody! OASIS is getting back together!!!
This news was such a big deal that I got an alert on my phone from The New York Times.
And when we all say that OASIS is getting back together, what they mean is that Noel and Liam Gallagher are getting back together. I am sure that Paul and Paul, Tony, Alan, Gem and Andy are wondering if this includes them.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Noel and Liam would ever get back together. They just seemed like John Fogerty types. You know, complete assholes, but really talented assholes. The type of assholes that would refuse to reunite just to piss the other one off, even though deep down, they really wanted to get back together.
I’ve already texted friends this morning, asking that if OASIS comes to the US, who would be interested in going to see them. I got one yes, so far.
My first concert was OASIS; It was 1996 at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas, TX. See, I have personal history with them.
I had got their first album when it came out. I liked it, it wasn’t a classic or anything, but I played that album often. Then, and I don’t remember how, magazines or MTV News, but I started getting word that OASIS was recoding a new album, out in the Fall of 1996. I kept scanning the radio, and record stores trying to find out when this album was coming, and what the first single would be. Something about this time in my life, I was very locked into bands. One of the record stores I found had CD singles imported from England, and I gobbled up as many as I could get my hands on. Then, finally, the “Wonderwall” single came out, and I got the George Harrison reference. I bought (What’s the Story) Morning Glory the day it was available. I listened to that thing pretty much non-stop. I made my friends listen to it non-stop. I bought the CD singles so I could have the bonus B-side singles that were just as good as the album tracks, but these were songs that would never make it on any album.
And then the concert tour was announced, and my best friend got us tickets. We sat on those tickets for like four months. I circled the date on my wall calendar, April 20th. And I kept my ticket in a ziplock bag, which I kept in my dorm room desk drawer. I would look at that thing daily. Counting down until when I would be in the presence of one of my favorite bands.
Then there was the fact that me and my best friend made a whole weekend out of it. I stayed with him in Dallas, we drank a little too much. The anticipation of the day of the concert. The waiting in line to get into the venue. Getting to our seats, but standing the whole time. Then the lights went down and everybody lit up; cigarettes and joints all over the place. And just being on this completely euphoric music high, present with 5,000 other people who loved this band, the songs, and their attitude.
Now, I’m not stupid here. There is no way I will ever get that feeling back. It is a great memory that lives in my past, and it is great to reminisce with my best friend about going there, and doing that. It was a moment in time that is cherished, but ultimately just that; a moment.
Besides, let’s see if the Gallagher brothers can make it through these shows in 2025 without killing each other. That’s the real question.
