Friday, April 08, 2022

Weekend Listomania: Special Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" Has Been Retitled "Your Call is Important to Us" Edition

Well, it's yet another year in paradise (not counting some weird disease, an insane ex-president, and WW III in Europe), and you know what that means.

That's rignt -- we're gonna argue the Best or Worst Post-Elvis Pop, Rock, or Soul Songs Referencing the Time(s) of the Season!

And my totally top of my head Top Eight are:

8. Pete Hamill -- The Fall of the House of Usher

Fall. Get it?

7. The Jamies -- Summertime, Summertime

Posssibly the weirdest yet most innocent hit song of my formative years. Who were those people and how did they come up with that sound?

6. Simon and Garfunkel -- A Hazy Shade of Winter

Pretty much the closest they ever came to rocking out, which is probably why The Bangles covered it so well.

5. The Beach Boys -- Fall Breaks and Back to Winter

Nah, Brian Wilson's not a genius. No way, Jose.

4. Eddie Cochran -- Summertime Blues

Without question, the greatest song ever written about every teenager's favorite time of the year.

3. Blue Cheer -- Summertime Blues

Without question, the worst version ever performed of said great song. I saw these assholes do this live from a 7th row seat at the old Fillmore, and it was all I could do not to barf on the poor putz in the row in front of me. And I wasn't drunk or on drugs, alas.

2. The Producers -- Springtime For Hitler

Even after all this time, there are still no words for how sublimely offensive this is.

And the unquestionable greatest tribute to a particular few months of the year remains...

1. The Kinks -- Autumn Almanac

Sublime. On every level.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

Have a great weekend, everybody!

9 comments:

steve simels said...

Oops,posted the wrong Cochran song. I’ll fix that after lunch.

Alzo said...

Wait... where's 'Seasons in the Sun'?

But, seriously, folks. 'Autumn Leaves' is a venerable standard and I would rate Eva Cassidy's take as definitive.

cthulhu said...

My favorite version of Summertime Blues is the Who’s from the spectacular Live at Leeds, but obviously Eddie’s original is pretty damned great. But for me, the Blue Cheer version is so over-the-top it’s a guilty pleasure; that said, I certainly don’t seek it out.

And you left out the Zombies’ Time of the Season? After all of the times you’ve waxed rhapsodic over Odyssey and Oracle??

Chris Whitley, Phone Call from Leavenworth - “a western winter be hail and rain”. And Make the Dirt Stick - “all summer long was rain and water”. And the gorgeous and haunting Indian Summer - “ summer is lost now / the frost is closing in / to the cold gospel dollar / the poor man walks in sin”…I think I’ll just leave it there.

Anonymous said...

Carla Olson & Mick Taylor - Winter.

Doctored Captain Al

Anonymous said...

By the way The Beach Boys track "Fall Breaks And Back To Winter" almost sounds like it could have come off of The Residents "Duckstab" Album.

Doctored Captain Al

Squints said...

Fountains Of Wayne -- It Must Be Summer

GetAwayGoober said...

Chuck Prophet - Summertime Thing

Unknown said...

As I recall, last time you had this list I added Springsteen's Girls in Their Summer Clothes.
Elvis Costello's Other Side of Summer is a good one.
No Lovin'Spoonfuls's Summer in the City?
Tom Robinson Band Long Hot Summer (pretty sure I'm repeating myself again).
How about The Weather Girls (It's raining Men)?

GLLinMO said...

The S & G version of hazy shades is so well done. A Wrecking Crew recording? Puts the Bangles version to shame, which itself is well done.

Else… anything from the Beach Boys is a summer song Yes, a category to itself…

Stupid observation. Back in the high school days when I spent my summers working on farms (they paid well) my summer songs are Waterloo / Abba and Magic by Pilot. Hey…… we only had am radio.