rock nyc radio, Thursday, January 19th, 2017
Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple – Her greatest mement and I remember watching her perform in on 44th street (at the ever changing named west 44th street) as part of a fairly lousy and strange and uncomfortable set (I’ve seen Fiona three times -the time in the middle was awesome), but this song was the truest of statements. I, myself, completely emphasize with it and not just because I’m also the youngest of the family, it happened so. It is like Sisyphus as a nursery rhyme, and plus one of the great bridges known to men. be kind to me or treat me mean -I want that to stand as my epitaph – A+
Waiting On A Friend – The Rolling Stones – That video? I was at this bar around St. Mark’s Place getting trashed in multi-colors, when I buddy asked me if I wanted to go watch the Stones film a video for some song. And I, inexplicably, said nah I’d rather get drunker. The video, you probably remember it, right? The St. Marks bar And Grill was my regular. The song is terrific, the album less so, but the song kinda tugs at your heartstring for no reason, just in its casualness. That’s Sonny Rollins on sax (and pretty magnificent as well, right? Mick Taylor returned to the fold to play guitar. And, oh my, Peter Tosh is one of the friends on the stoop. Instead, I was waiting on another drink – A
Rainy Days And Mondays – The Carpenters – This is a strange song, Karen is soaring up but deeper into her melancholia, and even tough she knows she is loved she can’t shake it, and she has the blues and the song tries to envelope her and push up and out of it, so she follows the strings headstrong forward and she can’t help this sense of ache: the weather, the day, no reason, nothing to save us from her chronic unhappiness that only time can lift – A
Where Do The Children Play – Cat Stevens – If the sentimentality is a little too cloying in 2017, so what? It is, if anything truer today than it ever and stands as prescient beyond average pop song comprehension. And the song itself isn’t gooey or sentimental -it is a tough minded white man folk blues – A
