Tripping to the Music

So I just spent six hours alone in a car today, driving back home after taking the family for an extended trip to grandma’s house, and I was able to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes, listening to music in the car. Outside of putting on a pair of headphones in the middle of the night and marveling at the stereo separation in my vintage jazz collection, this is perhaps my favorite way of listening to music.

So what did I listen to, you might ask? I only took four CDs with me on the trip, with the knowledge that I’d be flying solo on the return trip, but they were my own ‘mix’ CDs, taken directly off this very laptop, of various songs downloaded in 2007 from blogs like Aquarium Drunkard, Stereogum, and elsewhere. Since I literally burned them the morning we left town, there wasn’t really any rhyme, reason, or forethought to their arrangement other than how many tracks would fit on each 80 minute CD-R.

Popping the first one in as I pulled out of my in-law’s driveway, I was pleased to hear the Blue Mountain classic, “Blue Canoe,” an old favorite I’d looked up online after a great show here earlier this year, followed by another of theirs, “Jimmy Carter,” which reminded me just how few really good men (or women, for that matter) are involved in politics any more.

A batch of Gram Parsons-related tunes from the Burrito Brothers, etc., followed as my trek parallelled the southern edge of the Shenandoah Valley, and they somehow fit the scene, with mountains in the distance and a long highway stretched out in front of me. It wasn’t the desert west, but on Christmas Day it was pretty deserted territory nonetheless.

That first CD got me almost to Danville and the Virginia/North Carolina line, which meant I was making good time even after hearing Band Of Horses, “Funeral,” and, “Is There A Ghost,” back to back, egging me on and daring me to bump up the cruise control over that safe margin of five miles over the posted limit. I’ve been traveling too long on unfamiliar out-of-state highways to take the chance on a cranky local cop working the holiday, however.

Some of what was on the second and third CD I didn’t even recognize, either the artist or the song, which means I downloaded a lot of stuff I never actually listened to this year. Most of it was pretty good, however, which says a lot for the filtering effect the sites listed above afford even a dedicated seeker of good music like me, not to mention the casual online music fan. There were gruff, baritone voices doing their best Jay Farrar impersonations, Josh Ritter and a live version of Bruce Springsteen’s “The River,” which sounded eerily identical to the original, at least in the beginning, and some Violent Femmes obscurities that I don’t remember downloading, though I instantly recognized Gordon Gano’s quavery voice.

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings kept me alert on I-85’s most tricky stretch, where it goes from three to two lanes and back a couple of times, with the funky, soulful title track from her 2007 album, “100 Days, 100 Nights,” and the Black Crowes offshoot Foamfoot gave me a sing-along chance with their takes on “Take The Highway,” and, “In The Presence Of the Lord.”

Just as the trek was entering its final I-77 leg, the fourth disc offered up a treasure trove of 60’s garage rock rarities, the kind of songs you’d swear you’ve heard before even though you know you haven’t. I think Aquarium Drunkard posted this stuff in several batches, all of which I apparently drank up, to have it rev me up at a most opportune time.

As that last disc ended, I was less than ten miles from home, having enjoyed an almost perfectly timed selection of songs culled from the past fifty-plus years, all found online for free, and about as legal as anything like that gets these days. With a new year approaching, it’s time to get busy downloading stuff for next year’s trip discs, I suppose.

The Living Legacy of Dan Fogelberg

I was saddened to hear of the passing of singer, songwriter, and musician Dan Fogelberg at the age of 56 yesterday, from prostate cancer, and I’m going to pretty much ruin any ‘hip music critic’ credibility I have right now, by admitting that I really enjoy his music. Growing up in the 70s and 80s like I did, it was hard to avoid hearing his hits on the top 40 stations of the times, but even as a casual listener I sensed something deeper going on in his music than there was with some of his peers like America, or Bread. I got a chance to see him perform in 1994 long after his hit-making days were over, and he still sounded great. One of my first feature stories for the Columbia Free Times alt-weekly was a cover story previewing that concert at the Township Auditorium.

The son of an orchestra conductor and arranger (the subject of his, “Leader of the Band” hit), that influence shows on early albums like Netherlands, with strings augmenting the basic folk-pop sounds. That was the first full album of his I bought, after getting the Greatest Hits collection as part of my “Twelve cassettes for a penny” deal from Columbia House record club. The hits album is still what most people remember, and that’s okay because almost all of his best songs are on it.

“Same Auld Lang Syne,” is a perennial radio favorite around this time of year because of the timeliness of the title, but the lyric detailing a chance encounter of an old flame at holiday time is what gives it that universal emotional appeal.
That universality is the hallmark of Fogelberg’s best work, just as it is with any great pop music, but his subject matter tended toward the biggest universal subject of all, love. “Longer,” for example, takes a somewhat clichéd approach to one person’s expression of love for another, but the swelling, sweet musical backdrop and Fogelberg’s understated delivery sell the song.

My personal favorite would have to be, “Run For The Roses,” however. Anyone who has ever gotten caught up in the magic of the Kentucky Derby—its history, romance, and competitive spirit—can’t help but be inspired.
Fogelberg’s father is undoubtedly the one who inspired his son to pursue his own musical path, and “The Leader of the Band,” has to be one of the best father/son songs ever written. “The leader of the band is tired, and his eyes are growing old / His blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul.” Thanks to the magic of Top 40 radio and his many hit songs, the songs of Dan Fogelberg are in my soul, too.

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Leader Of The Band

An only child
Alone and wild
A cabinet maker’s son
His hands were meant
For different work
And his heart was known
To none –
He left his home
And went his lone
And solitary way
And he gave to me
A gift I know I never
can repay
A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn’t wait
He earned his love
Through discipline
A thundering, velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand.
The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul –
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy
To the leader of the band.
My brothers’ lives were
different
For they heard another call
One went to Chicago
And the other to St. Paul
And I’m in Colorado
When I’m not in some hotel
Living out this life I’ve chose
And come to know so well.
I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go –
I thank you for the kindness
And the times when you got tough
And, pap, I don’t think I
Said ‘I love you’ near enough –
The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through
My instrument
And his song is in my soul –
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band.