LookBack #23: Soulful Tunes

This week's Classic Track LookBack looks back at the man who grew to be known by many as the King of Soul.

When it comes to remembering the rock and soul artists that we've lost during this week over the years, I can't help but reflect on their huge contribution to the music that we love. It has indeed been a bad week for rock and soul artists. In 1964, Sam Cooke was gunned down. In 1980, outside the apartment building where he lived, John lennon was cut down. Finally, we remember December 10, 1967 when Otis Redding and most members of his band were killed in a plane crash. They were flying from Cleveland Ohio, following a live performance when the tragedy occurred. But as is the case when I write about an artist who is no longer with us I want to concentrate on Otis' life rather than his death.

1965 - Respect

During the 60s, as a kid growing up near Detroit, Michigan, I was fortunate to have the choice of two radio stations that pumped out the best in rhythm and blues all day and all night. That's where I first heard Otis' music. For instance, as well as hearing the huge hit version of Respect by Aretha Franklin and the local Detroit hit of the same song done by the Rationals, I got to enjoy the Otis Redding interpretation as he belted out his plea for respect.

Respect

1966 - Try a Little Tenderness

If you were into rock music in the early 70s, as many of my readers were, you no doubt recall Three Dog Night and their version of Try a Little Tenderness. But have you ever heard the Otis Redding version of the song, recorded years before that?

Try a Little Tenderness

1967 - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

When Otis died at age 26, he had never enjoyed significant success on the top 40 charts. But that was about to change. Shortly before his death, he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival. Following that performance, he penned his most famous song, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, just days before his death. After its release, it hit #1 in the US on both the Top 40 and Rhythm and Blues charts. When an album was released with Dock of the Bay as its title track, it went #1 in the UK as well. Was all of this popularity due to the tragic manner in which Otis died? I like to think that the record would have topped the charts regardless of when it was released. Have a listen and see what you think.

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

1967 - Merry Christmas Baby

Christmas time gives us the chance to recall a couple of Otis Redding Christmas classics. I offered one of them on my #rockhistory Twitter feature during this past week. It was Otis Redding's version of White Christmas. But my favourite Otis Christmas tune was released for Christmas 1967.

Merry Christmas Baby



I've barely scratched the surface when it comes to recalling Otis Redding's true classics. I encourage you to search out more. You might want to start with his first solo release, These Arms of Mine, or maybe Mr. Pitiful, or a great blues tune called I've been Loving You Too Long. Otis Ray Redding Jr, the King of Soul.

Till next time, that's another Classic Track LookBack at rock history. Speaking of rock history, you can find all of my rock history tweets in all of their Storified glory. You can rock the holidays with Maindog too by visiting Rockin' the Holidays with Maindog Sound on Storify. Or best yet, follow me live on Twitter, and see my #rockhistory tweets as I roll them out sitting send from my studio. Do you have a Christmas fave that you love to rock to at Christmas?

Legendary Lightfoot

This week's Classic Track LookBack looks back at a singer-songwriter's career which is very much still in progress. The inspiration for the post was born a couple of week's ago, when Gordon Lightfoot performed at Canada's Grey Cup Game.

Yes, Canada does have a professional football league, and this is Canada's Superbowl of sorts). For the benefit of those living outside Canada, that's the Canadian Football League's championship game. This year marked the 100th Grey Cup and it was played in Toronto.

But I digress. This story isn't about football. It's about a Canadian legend.

So anyway, when Gordon Lightfoot performed as part of the game's entertainment, some of the younger fans wondered who this Gordon Lightfoot guy was. Tweets went out from the game - but not about what the Biebs was singing, who was also part of the entertainment. Admittedly, Justin Bieber is a Canadian icon of sorts, but not the kind of superstar that the venerable Gordon Lightfoot represents.

Gordon has been part of the Canadian landscape for decades, and still performs regularly, including his annual concerts at Toronto's Massey Hall.

Sure, he may have aged a few years (a few of us may have too), but you know what? This man can sing, and he hasn't lost his status - or his voice!

Indeed Gordon is (not was) an icon - he's a legend - and holds that place in Canadian musical history at the very least.

But the thing is, they don't teach Lightfoot in our schools. They should though. Maybe Lightfoot101 and beyond for those who wish to specialize? A lot can be learned from listening to what Gordon Lightfoot has to tell us in his music. Yeah but in all honesty, I knew little about my parents' music and absolutely nothing about the favourites of those who were a generation beyond.

Still, all this uproar concerning the music of this extraordinary singer-songwriter got me to thinking about him some more. Actually, Lightfoot deserves the title of icon, as long as you add the word active in front of the title. That title, just by the way, is one that I think is overly used, but for Gordon? Of course it is a good one.

1967 - Black Day in July by Gordon Lightfoot

I first heard Gordon Lightfoot shortly after the 1967 racially motivated riots which crippled the city of Detroit in the summer of 1967. At the time, I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of the city, out of harm's way, but near enough to take very close notice.

For me, a kid who knew nothing of the problems which lead to the rage that spilled over in the Motor City, Gordon Lightfoot, a Canadian, drew the picture which gave me my best grasp of the situation in his track called Black Day In July. To my way of thinking, every word has a place in our collective social consciousness.

Black Day in July

1967 - Does Your Mother Know

When I bought the album, Did She Mention My Name, which featured Black Day in July, I learned that Lightfoot also wrote and sang of situations that lived on a more personal level. The song Does Your Mother Know is about someone who is young, perhaps too young to have left home to be on her own. As a guy, I could relate to the words as well. Like the subject of the song, I had left home recently, probably too young to have done so.

Does Your Mother Know

The Singles, Hits and More

Lightfoot has enjoyed hit singles as well, big hits, not just rarities that we no longer hear. The list includes If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, Carefree Highway, Rainy Day People and The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald. In Canada, the country that I call home these days, the list is quite a bit longer. These songs are all well worth checking out. But my purpose here is to offer some insight into Gordon's career that may well be unfamiliar to those living in the United States and other countries outside Canada.

1974 - Circle of Steel

Finally though, while mulling over the question of what to feature in my admittedly brief glimpse of someone whose career has spanned nearly 5 decades, I wondered if I could include anything that Lightfoot had written or recorded that might be considered seasonal. I did come up with one that I hadn't heard until listening to an anthology called Gord's Gold. It originally was released on his Sundown album in 1974, and it is not a typical Christmas song, in that it deals with they type of person who tends to be virtually forgotten during the holidays.

1974 - Circle of Steel


What you've read here amounts to nothing more than a few words leading up to a couple of Lightfoot songs that have touched me in one way or the other. There are many more of those to be sure. But perhaps the ones that I've shared will serve to encourage you to look around and see what else you can learn and what else you can listen to from the huge collection of music given to us by a true Canadian legend, Gordon Lightfoot.


Till next time, that's another Classic Track LookBack at rock history. Speaking of rock history, you can follow me at @MaindogSound and find all of my #rockhistory tweets in all of their Storified glory by visiting last week's tweets today and heir rockin' music links right here.

LookBack #21: All Things Past

This week's Classic Track LookBack looks back at an album that was released in late November 1970. Actually it's a triple album, not to mention a multi-platinum LP. George Harrison's All Things Must Pass still stands as the best selling post-Beatle release.

My Sweet Lord

The album opens with My Sweet Lord, a song which gently suggest we embrace the concept of a "higher being" rather than one specific religious denomination or even one specific definition of said "higher being." Side by side it embraces Hindu and Christian beliefs. It features co-producer Phil Spector's "wall of sound" and George's slide guitar technique. This peaceful song with its peaceful message was also the subject of a plagiarism claim, alleging that its sound copied that of a 1963 hit by girl group, the Chiffons, called He's So Fine. Personally, I don't see the intent to copy. For me, it's just a really good song. Yet for some reason no one asked me what I thought. But enjoy listening to it.

My Sweet Lord

Apple Scruffs

The song Apple Scruffs can be found on the B side of the 45 What is Life, as well as on All Things Must Pass. But who were theese Apple Scruffs?

The name was coined by George Harrison as the Beatle years raced toward their inevitable close. It referred to a group of fans who congregated outside Apple Corps and hung out within easy sight of London's Abbey Road Studios. In both cases, they were hoping for a glimpse of one of the group members, or maybe even some interaction with one of them.

Please note that the original version of Apple Scruffs has proved itself to be difficult to find. While I usually choose YouTube as video source because of its accessibility, Vimeo was the only place that I could find it. If you have trouble accessing it, please just let me know.

Apple Scruffs

George Harrison - Apple Scruffs from ana diaz on Vimeo.

Wah-Wah

And for our third song? You might wonder why I singled out Wah Wah instead of Isn't It a Pity which was the flipside of My Sweet Lord? Or I could have picked the hit single that asks the alltime conundrum of questions, What is Life?

Well I could fashion an explanation that sounds really intellectual, even artistic, while saying nothing at all. I'm pretty good at that and might even be doing just that right now. But the truth is that I just like the song, the sound of it when I say it, and the way George sings it. Is that baseless, groundless, shallow and even weak? Ok, I can live with that. But I can also tell you that George wrote Wah Wah following an argument with Paul McCartney during the Beatles Let It Be sessions. Ride with whichever explanation you like. They're both true. Then listen to George sing the song. I bet you'll like it too.

Wah-Wah



Till next time, that's another Classic Track LookBack at rock history. And speaking of rock history, check out Maindog Sound's Storified tweets all in one place or check out the original tweets in last week's Twitter's Rock History hashtag #rockhistory tweets and their rockin' music links right here.