When the world was forced to contend with yet another mediocre white man (in the making).
On May 13th, 1970, the Bilboard #1 on the “Hot 100,” was “American Woman” by the Guess Who. Not a bad song to have associated with the auspicious occasion of my birth. I try not to think about that I missed “Let it Be,” “The Long and Winding Road,” and “ABC” by just a few weeks. Of course, I also missed “Everything is Beautiful,” so I’ll take what I got.
My first song is from Simon and Garfunkel’s most popular and successful album Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Simon and Garfunkel was my favorite group growing up, and this album is full of great songs. I’ve chosen “Cecilia,” because it’s a great song to sing along with. I have fond memories of breaking into four-part harmony with my friends Colin, Tory, and Tal at Duke’s nerd camp, singing Cecilia at the top of our lungs. There are other Simon and Garfunkel songs I like more, even on this album, but this is the best party song of the bunch.
For my second choice, I went with the first and best hard rock (heavy metal?) band OF ALL TIME. The Immigrant Song has that impossible scream with the growling pulsating guitar beat pushing you through the 2:25. You can’t really dance to it, but everyone would have the chance to try their best to match Robert Plant’s wail. I must admit I wasn’t always a Led Zepplin fan. Not that I disliked them, but more that I didn’t really get into them. Growing up, we had a radio station that did their weekly “Get the Led out” segment that I would frequently ignore. I thought it was weird when I went to North Carolina for college, and their classic rock station ALSO had a “Get the Led out” segment. Meh. It wasn’t until I started hanging out at my friend Brett’s house where Led Zepplin (among other bands who stopped recording in 1975) was in constant rotation that their music seeped into my conscious mind. Now I count many of their albums as among my absolute favorites. What does that say about how we form “favorites,” I wonder?
Nathan’s picks for this year were “I Want You Back,” by The Jackson 5 and “Moondance” by Van Morrison. The first you just can’t argue with, but I’m not really a huge Van Morrison fan. “Moondance” is ok, but it wasn’t hard to avoid this one. I’d love to hear what you think. Comment!
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