The past few days I have been listening to Willie Nelson’s “God’s Problem Child”. I have really enjoyed this package of songs. For the most part the songs are wistful and longing. This is Willie singing about running out of time and losing friends. His guitar playing is superb and his voice is so perfect for these longing, almost mournful, ballads.
Over the years I have run hot and cold over Willie. I have seen him perform live several times. I think the best time was with the Highwaymen. I have always appreciated his guitar playing, however his song choice has oft times left me scratching my head. Willie is an iconoclast and thus I won’t criticize him. However there are albums that really work, like Stardust, and others that don’t like his covers of Frank Sinatra tunes.
My musical taste was ignited by playground talk when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I remember people talking about Blood, Sweat and Tears song “Spinning Wheels”, the hit of the day. (I am talking abaout you Valerie Nixon Caulfield). That night I started to listen to a Philco white and gold plastic radio that someone had put in my bedroom. Initially, I immersed my self in the pop and soul hits of the day. God some of the stuff was positively weird and other bits were classic. The O’Jays, the Hughes Corporation, Tommy James, Peter, Paul and Mary all rang through my head.
One day I discovered my there was a knob that said AM/FM and I flipped it. The change flipped me. Suddenly I was listening to the Chambers Brothers singing “Time Has Come Today.” This was followed up by Fairport Convention and then Muddy Waters and then David Ackles and then the good old Grateful Dead. One dose of Casey Jones and I was a Deadhead, once and forever. FM radio in 1968 was transformational.
The music was new, it was fresh and it was constantly evolving. The bands moved from traditional formats of 2-3 minutes with a repeating chorus to something that was far, far beyond. I think the first time I listened to “The Other One”, I was totally captivated by the adventurous nature of the musicians exploration of sound.
Once I discovered marijuana and headphones (I was probably 12 years of age), music became my guide through life. Almost any life situation was captured in a lyric. San Francisco bands were just sooooo out there. Smoking a joint and listening to something like the Dead’s “Ripple”, well damn did it get any better?
Why have have I gone down this discussion. Did I want to reemphasize I started using the now legal (sort of) weed 51 years ago? Nyah. Did I want to offer a commentary about how moribund over the air radio and Sirius are? Nyah, just listen and you can figure that out for yourself.
The reason I decided to talk about this is that last night when I was doing the pots and pans post dinner I needed something to listen to. At that point I came upon Jerry Garcia singing the dated classic “Friend of the Devil” on a solo acoustic guitar. In about seven minutes I was transported back to a time when music was life for me. In listening to Mr. Garcia sing that song and noodle around on an his six string with all the talent he could muster, the hope of the late 1960s filled me again. It lasted for just a moment, but damn it was amazing. You should try and go there sometime.
Hey don’t take my word that the music is magic. Give it a listen.
https://youtu.be/fhG_PnM0Vq0
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