Blast from the Past

I was in the backroom of the newspaper today and heard "Black Water" on the radio. It's from the mid 70s, my end of high school, going to college days. I couldn't remember the name of the song or who wrote it and performed it. So I googled some key words. Oh, black water, keep on rolling, Mississippi moon goin' keep on shining on me...and then the acapella part at the end:

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland, pretty momma come and take me by the hand, by the hand, take me by the hand, pretty momma, come and dance with your daddy all night long.

To my surprise it was the Doobie Brothers. What a memory, but then it's been affected by THC no doubt. Those were the days I always had reefer. Sometimes hashish. That's when I also began to listen to Bach and Beethoven and Brahms. I also had a whole bunch of albums, mostly rock, some jazz, and a few Classical.

The Doobie Brothers were not always one of my favorites back then as I liked the harder rock bands. But I did enjoy those guys at least till Michael McDonald came around, not that I knew who he was, I just knew that I like a few of their songs. Same thing with Fleetwood Mac before Stevie Nicks joined them , although she had one or two songs I liked. (Landslide) or as I call it the avalanche song. Remember Space Opera? Back then everyone knew that Freebird was my song. Do you remember Wishbone Ash? "Throw down the sword" was one of my favorites. I heard them live at the Coliseum in Madison Wisconsin, also heard Frank Zappa there and many others, including Grand Funk Railroad, then a three man rock band from Flint Michigan.

Soup was the local favorite, not always reliable in concert, and
eventually never made the big time. They were also a three man
band and very very loud. What stoner wouldn't have loved that? I remember going to hear them when I was in eighth grade and in a band of my own called Hash. We played at the young people's dances and we were loud, and sometimes in tune, and generally well received. Thank God for "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", (Iron Butterfly)
which assured us of having more than enough songs for a 2 or 3 hour gig. Iron Butterfly, Led Zepplin (heavy) (hehe)


Most pop music is too predictable, repititous and lame compared to the classics. You might have to be a student of the art to know what I mean. But for what it is it can be creative and fun at times and sometimes, yes, sometimes profound. And who dances to classical music? Oh yeh, ballet dancers and ice skaters.

You can hear the Doobie Brothers here. My favorites are Black Water, China Grove, and Long Train Runnin'.