La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "Heh Heh -- He Said 'Organists'" Edition

So as I'm sure you're aware, the great Garth Hudson passed away at the age of 87 last week. I have little to say about him that hasn't been said by better scribblers than myself, but in his honor I thought I'd adapt something he figured in that I originally posted here back in 2019 (two great Hudson audio clips at the link, BTW).

Which leads us to today's business. To wit:

...and your favorite organ part/riff/solo on a post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/soul record is...???

In case you're wondering, mine can be heard, by Alan Price (the genius who made The Animals), below.

I gotta tell you -- back in my musical youth, I killed many frustrating hours trying to learn how to play that solo, without success.

I should add that my plan was gonna be to make today's post a Listomania of Best Organ Players, which I have not specifically done before, but in the end I decided not to because (1) there are, frankly, too many to choose from and anyway (2) I didn't want to rank my choices. (If pressed, BTW, and in no particular order, my Top Five fave organists are the aforementioned Hudson and Price, plus Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals. Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum, and Bob Andrews of Brinsley Schwarz).

And speaking of Bob Andrews...

...therein lies one of my favorite true tales, which I have told before, but which behooves repeating in honor of the recently departed.

The short version: So Andrews -- seen in the clip above covering himself in glory with some of the most lyrical keyboard work imaginable -- was, not surprisingly, a huge fan of Garth Hudson, and was constantly updating his gear in emulation of the Great Man Himself; if there was an effects pedal or amp Hudson used, Andrews would immediately add it to his arsenal, trying to get that elusive Hudson sound. Only problem was, no matter what he did, he couldn't quite achieve total Garth-ness and it drove him nuts.

Anyway, sometime in the early 70s The Band toured the UK and at one point wound up rehearsing at the Brinsley's studio and using their equipment. Garth walked in, said nothing to anybody, turned all of Andrews' keyboards and other equipment on, put his fingers to the keys, and immediately sounded just like himself.

And Andrews, who had been lurking in a corner too awed to even say hello to his idol, literally wept. 😎

Alrighty then -- what YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Today's Cartoon Chuckle

From the current issue of The New Yorker.

Dont know who the cartoonist is, but if his art career runs into problems, he's got a gig somewhere as a rock critic. 😎

Songs Appropriate For/Suggested By the Second Trump Administration (An Occasional Series): Special "Glug Glug Glug" Edition

The Replacements' classic ode to "Beer for Breakfast."

Which is perhaps less amusing than it used to be (during the Reagan years, when it was originally recorded -- i.e., a period I then thought represented the lowest ebb of the American Experiment in democracy).

But then again, most things lately are less amusing than they used to be. Which only proves that I was an optimist in 1987. 😎

In any case, I should add that I am not endorsing the song's sentiments as a lifestyle choice.

More upbeat posting resumes on the morrow.

Closed for Monkey Business

Oy gevalt, I'm exhausted from all this President Napoleon Bonapartheid shit.

Not to mention all his swastikars. (I really love that coinage, BTW).

Anyway, genuine music stuff resumes tomorrow. Cross my heart.

Present at the Creation

And speaking of Bob Dylan -- as we all seem to have been since the bio-pic came out and Timothée Chalamet kicked ass covering three of the man's songs on SNL --

-- and in case you missed this in last week's NY Times.

The short version:

Two sheets of yellowed stationery are crumpled but intact, with typewritten lyrics and scribbled changes that offer a rare glimpse into the creative process of their famed author as he penned one of the best-known songs of the 1960s.
The early drafts of Bob Dylan’s 1965 chart-topper “Mr. Tambourine Man” sold this weekend for more than $500,000, according to Julien’s Auctions, the California-based house that facilitated the sale.

The delicate papers were sold alongside dozens of other Dylan memorabilia from the artist’s early career in the 1960s, including sketches and photographs.

The lyrics were part of the personal trove of the prolific rock ‘n’ roll journalist Al Aronowitz, who cut his own trail through the 1960s as chronicler and confidant of the era’s artists and musicians, including Dylan.

“He never threw anything away,” said Aronowitz’s son Myles Aronowitz, who has spent years sifting through some 250 boxes containing his father’s personal collection, a time capsule of 1960s music and writing.

For Dylan experts, the lyrics offer a rare, early glimpse of how Dylan approached his work and the mechanics of songwriting.

“It’s absolutely mind-blowing, and confirmation that this is how genius works,” said Richard Thomas, a classics professor at Harvard who also teaches a course on Dylan’s writing.

The drafts of “Mr. Tambourine Man” were “family lore,” Myles Aronowitz said, and his father, who died in 2005, could not recall where or how he had filed them away. For years, his family believed the drafts were lost.

Myles Aronowitz and his wife unearthed the papers recently as they organized his father’s collections. They expect to put together another auction, but hope to eventually turn over the archives to a library or museum.

Wow.

BTW, if you're not familiar with Al Aronowitz -- who essentially invented my job, i.e. rock journalism (as a columnist for the pre-Murdoch New York Post, among other outlets) -- let's just say that he was one of the most remarkable figures of an era in American popular culture that had lots of them. He knew everybody and was there for everything, from the late 50s to the early 70s, and his rise and eventual fall is both an amazing story and something very close to Greek tragedy.

The more I think about it, I gotta say -- somebody really should write a book about the guy's life and career.

Hmm...I wonder who might be a good choice for the job? 😎

Weekend Listomania: Special "Who Let the Dogs (and Cats) Out? " Edition

[I originally did a version of this back in...yikes...2009. For today's updated posting, I've done some serious rewriting and swapped a couple of entries so as not to appear to be the lazy slacker I actually am. In the meantime, please enjoy. -- S.S.]

So the other day, I stumbled across this photo of our late lamented feline friend The Incomparable Eddie©...

...and I thought, hey, there's a possible subject for you know what.

And which leads us to our fin de la semaine business. To wit:

Most Memorable Post-Beatles Pop/Rock/Soul/Folk Song or Record Referencing Members of the Animal Kingdom (Pets or in the Wild) in the Title or Lyrics!!!

No arbitrary rules, you're welcome very much, except no band names need apply, okay? So don't gimme any of that Monkees shit 'cause I don't don't wanna hear it.

And my totally top of my head Top Six is/are...

6. Al Wilson -- The Snake

"You knew I was a snake before you brought me in." You gals know the feeling, I'm sure.

5. The Fools -- Psycho Chicken

When this originally came out in 1980, I remember thinking it was a long-overdue skewering of David Byrne's pretentious anxiety attacks. In retrospect, it's basically just a sort of sophmoric Weird Al record, which is to say only moderately amusing or smart, and I'm somewhat more forgiving of Byrne's neuroses these days.

4. Bruce Springsteen -- Pretty Flamingo

Originally a hit for Manfred Mann, and written by a guy (previously unknown to me) named Mark Barkan, whose other claim to fame is penning the theme from The Banana Splits. Talk about credits. 😎

A great song, in any event, but since I'm always looking for an excuse to post the above particularly gorgeous 1975 live version (from the famous Roxy bootleg) by Bruce Springsteen this works out pretty well.

3. The Hollies and Peter Sellers-- After the Fox

Jeebus -- even Burt Bacharach's joke songs are gorgeous. I mean seriously; that piano-riff-with-the-vocal-hisses is just a killer hook, isn't it?

2. Gilda Radner -- Let's Talk Dirty to the Animals

Written by the late great comic genius Michael O'Donaghue. And could Gilda be any funnier/sexier? I think not.

And my personal favorite song about species other than our own is...

1. Henry Gross -- Shannon

Gross was one of the original members of Sha-Na-Na, but also -- as you can hear from the above melodically fab ode to Beach Boy Carl Wilson's then lamented dog and glimpse from the Rickenacker 12-string he's playing in the clip -- he's obviously also a serious power pop guy.

Sheesh. I'm gonna have to do some more research on him along those lines, but really...how comes he doesn't seem to be a household word/genre cult figure already?

In any case -- alrighty then. What would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Eerily Prescient Recordings of the Pre-Trump Era (An Occasional Series): Special "Sorry I Couldn't Find a Surf Version of the Horst Wessel Song" Edition

From 1995 and their utterly fab album The Amazing Colossal Band, please enjoy (my fave Finnish group of all time) Laika and the Cosmonauts and their sinister ode to "The Man From H.U.A.C."

I was gonna say I wore that whole album out when I first got it, but of course you can't wear out CDs. Anyway, you know what I mean.

In any case, I expect President Napoleon Bonapartheid (heh) to bring the House UnAmerican Activities Committe back from the dustbin of history at any moment now, so the song just seemed appropriate.

Wednesday Essay Question: Special "Compare and Contrast in Hell" Edition

The Mona Lisa Twins' latest offering -- a spine-tingling cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic.

Those kids, who by any objective standard should be international superstars instead of well-regarded cult figures, have never been the musical guests on Saturday Night Live.

And yet this person, who is at best an unintentional parody of a parody of an aerobicist...

...has/just was.

Does this disparity say something about our current pop culture in general or is it merely a reflection of the limits of Lorne Michael's declining acuity?

Discuss.

Closed for (Post-)Inaugural Monkey Business

Sorry, kids; I found yesterday too depressing to deal with.

Normal actual music-related posting resumes on the morrow.

Honest. Seriously, For real.

Today's Cartoon Chuckle(s)

Have I mentioned I love the unfortunately late Sam Gross (1933 - 2023)?

I mean, this classic (unlike the above) hasn't got even a tenuous connection to anything involving the subject of this here blog, but still...

In any event, tomorrow -- a post about something music-related that somebody really should write a book about.

Hmm. That somebody could possibly be me. 😎