Weekend Listomania: Special In the Jingle Jangle Morning I'll Come Following You/"Bob Dylan -- Poetic Musical Visionary or CIA Spook?" Edition

Okay ladies and germs -- let's get right to the weekend's business.

To wit:

Best Post-Mr. Tambourine Man Pop/Rock/Folk/Soul Song/Record featuring electric or acoustic 12-string guitar riffage that's NOT the work of either The Beatles or The Byrds!!!

No arbitrary rules here; we're basically talking about the stuff played on the radio after Roger (nee Jim) McGuinn changed the sound of contemporary music back in June of 1965.

I remember where I was -- do you? 😎

And my totally Top of My Head Top Six is:

6. The Who -- I Can't Explain

Once heard -- particularly at an impressionable age (I was 17) -- that riff can never be unheard. And Pete Townshend's 12-string sound on that is pretty much the definitive non-folk rock/non-arpeggiated guitar examplar.

5. We Five -- You Were on My Mind

This pretty much defined the electric folk-rock sound (non-"Like a Rolling Stone" organ and keyboard version) in the immediate wake of The Byrds. I'm not sure if any of these guys were actually playing the jangly/percussive guitar parts, but whoever LA session players were doing it, the 12-string licks are about as good as it gets.

4. The Beach Boys -- Dance Dance Dance

Utterly killer, and apparently inspired by Carl Wilson having purchased a Rickenbacker 12-string in England after a Beach Boys British tour where he saw George Harrison playing one onstage. And yeah, I know, a lot of the backing stuff on Beach Boys records from this period was actually the work of the legendary (uncredited) session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, but this one seems to be just the actual Boys doing all the great guitar and drum parts, including the 12-string solo in the middle.

I mean my god -- that opening riff!!!

3. You Am I -- Mr. Milk

These guys are (justifiably, as you can hear from this song) gods in their native Australia. I should add that I was introduced to them (and this) one afternoon in 1996 when I wandered into my favorite neighborhood (then the Upper West Side) record store NYCD, and proprietor (and friend of PowerPop©) Sal Nunziato was blasting it over their sound system.

An instant life changer, and I bought the CD on the spot. Thanks, Sal!

2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- The Waiting

Oh god, that guitar at the top. I remember hearing the record on the radio for the first time in 1981 (when it came out) and thinking "oh my god, that validates me on a million levels." 😎

And the bestest chiming geetar work evah, as if you didn't see this coming, is...

1. The Floor Models -- Getting Back Into My Life

Oh right. Like you didn't know this was gonna go to something by my old band. 😎

In all seriousness, that song is by power pop legend Marc Jonson (who also does the beyond gorgeous background vocal harmonies, and who claims to have written it for us, which may well be true; in any case, we played it live all the time back in the early '80s). I should add that the perfecto 12-string stuff on the 2019 version above is the work of my long-time bandmate/friend of PowerPop J.D. Goldberg, who also gets a coveted PowerPop No-Prize© for having suggested the theme of the week's Listomania. Way to go, my friend!!! 😎😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!