Well, after a little hiatus, I'm back with another Friday playlist. How about fom now on you and I have this agreement: it's not a weekly feature; it's a whenever I feel like getting around to it feature. Fair enough?
Honey Pie – The Beatles, White Album
Yay! The Beatles! This is a pretty prime example of a McCartney composed tune, although the credits list both Paul and John. It kind of has this old timey sound to it, and in fact they added some crackly records type sounds for the enhancement of that feel. I think one of the interesting trivia type things about this song is that George played the bass on it, while John played both rhythm and lead guitar, including the solo. This is one of the first songs baby Ruby joined me in singing during our car commutes. She was about 3 at the time of singing along with me: ”Oh, Honey Pie, you’re driving me craaaaaazy!” Actually, we haven’t listened to that together in a while now. Better change that.
I remember back in the good ol’ year of 2001, I discovered Napster and the availability to make my own CD’s from songs I downloaded. It was also the genesis for me of finding all sorts of great music thanks to a robust search engine on the site. I was sitting there, browsing around, looking for new stuff when I came across a few tracks from this album. I’d never heard of them and none of friends had ever heard of them, but I was digging it. A quick search of a few music review sites told me more about Damon Albarn’s weird new project and so I returned and pirated the whole album. It was fantastic! I’m paying it in my car like its my own secret little stash of golden music booty and I ended up burning copies for those friends of mine that were taken by it. I would say, at that point, Napster helped a band like this…although let’s face it; they were destined for success anyway.
One In A Million – Guns N’ Roses, G N’ R Lies
Here we are looking back on high school days. In fact, I was never really a fan of the band. All through their Welcome to the Jungle days, with all the other charting hits from that album, it just wasn’t my thing. One of my best pals, however, loved them. That meant I always had to listen to them…in his car, at his house, on camping trips…I lived through it. But then came this Lies album and to be honest, things kind of changed for me. The songs were a little more witty, a little more eclectic and infinitely more interesting. This track is a great example of that. This remains the only album I have ever bought from this band and one that I still enjoy listening to.
First, it’s kind of hard to believe that this album is 15 years now. Especially when I look at 23 year old co-workers and realize they were eight when this album came out. For at least two members of this band, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, this was a launching pad for successful solo careers. And let’s make that with a vengeance…Ms. Hill is still considered a force that people wish they got to see more of, while Wyclef proved a force on his own, although these days he’s trying to translate that popularity into political power. What I’m not sure how to translate out of that, is how much success this album brought on the strength of covers. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a ton great original stuff put forth, too….but the songs they were most recognized for at time was this Marley staple and Killing Me Softly. Perhaps that’s aviable way to break into the industry; give the people something that’s familiar so that they’re comfortable and welcoming to you….or maybe it’s just that their interpretations of those songs was fucking great.
Okay, weird. Remember that buddy I was just talking about that loved G N’ R back in the day, forcing me to listen to it all the time? Yeah, so he also loved Lenny. These were his two favorite bands…I so wish he was reading this post, he’d be in his glory. The difference here is that I was all over Lenny, too. This album was so solid, all the way through. I often thought of Kravitz as the last living rock star. As he evolved with way-out fashion, hot girls, a pierced cock and the well rumored “Heavy Petting Room” in his house, complete with fun fur everywhere, most other rock stars were reverting to the grunge (eventually indie) lifestyle. Kravitz wasn’t exactly a throwback, but much like The Dude, it was nice knowing he was out there partying on behalf of all of us fans. I finally got a chance to see him in Vancouver
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