Sunday, June 21, 2009

A Little Musical History


We were having a lazy afternoon in the cool air conditioning down here where it's about 100 deg. and the same humidity outside. It was a nice time for watching a little TV, reading email and magazines and talking to our children on the phone. Then something happened that took over our plans. I read an email from our good friends, Jerry and Dee Thomas, that challenged a group of friends to name selections of the best songs from various decades. Jerry T. is known for his creation of favorites cds. So, of course, we had to be a part of this group effort. And the deadline for submission was Sunday, June 21 -- today! And, did I mention that these selections would be one per couple, per decade?

Why not? This is history, right? That's our mode right now. And we both love music!
So we got started by looking through our own cd collection to see if the years were listed on our our favorite albums. Before we knew it we firing up the Internet. It was dueling computers on about six internet sites each, speakers turned up to outblast each other. After all, we had to really remember how good each song sounded. It was hysterical. Music does evoke a variety of responses from two compatible individuals. "How could you say that one was even worth mentioning?" "I never even heard that song before." Not to mention the various disagreements about artists in general.

But soon we decided that it would be impossible to choose one song from each decade, even if that was one of the six rules that Jerry T. gave us. And we also decided that Jerry would choose the 1950s and I (Nancy) would choose the 1980s. Also, we agreed to leave out certain artists that we knew the other person did not care for at all. It was interesting to say the least, agreeing on the 60s and 70s. After all, can you just imagine that I had to eliminate The Beach Boys and The Beatles !?!

When all was said and done, we came up with the songs below:

1950s: "Hey Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley
1960s: #1 - "Solitary Man" by Neil Diamond
#2 - "Fortunate Son" by John Fogerty
1970s: #1 - "Up Around the Bend" by Creedance Clearwater Revival
#2 - "Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin
1980s: #1 - "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner
#2 - "Sarah's Smile" by Hall and Oates
1990s: "Good Man, Good Woman" by Delbert McClinton and Bonnie Raitt
And, just because he can, Jerry has an all time selection: "Strokin" by Clarence Carter

It's amazing, considering both of our music interests, that we didn't have The Allman Brothers or B. B. King on our final list. There's just too much gooooood stuff. For instance, I think that "The Rose" by Janis Joplin (or Bette Midler) ranks up there on the top, just for the lyrics.

But anyway, what about it, you guys? Do you think you have better picks? Would you be able to decide on one for each decade? Let's see what your favorites are. I'll post the results in a few days. Just click on the comments button below and give me your selections.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hi: Thanks for your thoughts.