1968

If 1967 had the summer of love, then 1968 had the summer of HATE, right? No, of course not. Hippies still existed in abundant numbers and those motivated enough to write songs in '67 got around to recording and releasing them in '68. These would be rock 'n' roll's last innocent years, though, as arena rock would soon rear it's ugly head.

I'm actually featuring a variety of song-styles here. We've got the Motown sound, a British band, an Irish folky guy who likes his jazz, Nederpop, alt-country in its infancy, and, um, Lee Hazelwood.

Also, I'm trying out a new file hoster, so if things don't work correctly then please let me know.


Edwin Starr - Twenty-Five Miles
Starr is more well-known for asking what war is good for (answer: absolutely nuthin'), but here we have him huffin' and hawin' out this thigh-slappin' song about walking a bunch of miles. There are a lot of numbers mentioned (twenty-five miles, three days, two nights, etc) but if you can keep everything straight you'll find this guy's serious about his devotion to his woman. Best part of the song? The countdown near the end.


Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra - Some Velvet Morning
When they did the dead people montage during the Grammys the other night, I was disappointed that they didn't play this song when they put up Lee Hazelwood's picture. Instead they played "These Boots were Made For Walking", which Hazelwood wrote. But that in itself showed how inseparable Hazelwood was from Nancy Sinatra. Hazelwood was a gritty cowboy-type character, and Sinatra was a smokin' minxy little songstress. Yet somehow they joined forces during the 1960s to create music most excellent. "Some Velvet Morning" is, if nothing else, their most interesting collaborative effort. It's flowery, pastoral, orchesteral, and lyrically bizarre. The song see-saws between Hazelwood's tough-as-bark vocals and Sinatras heavenly "Phaedra" presence. He says he's gonna open up your gate. I don't know what that means.

Van Morrison - The Way Young Lovers Do
This is by far the most pop-friendly song from the super-awesome Astral Weeks, and it's probably for accessibility reasons that I chose it. A nine-and-a-half minute song about a transvestite makes sharing awkward, so here we have "The Way Young Lovers Do". The rest of the album moseys along, so it's a little bit startling to encounter this swingin' jazzy tune. The instrumentation is outstanding, and Morrison's voice is at its soulful best. It's that Richard Davis double-bass that really sets this song apart from any others, though. It ambles along with little regard for what the rest of the song is doing and dang near leads the charge into musical destruction about halfway through. Then everything somehow snaps back into sweet cohesion and things continue as if nothing had happened. Awesome.

The Zombies - A Rose for Emily
In 1930 William Faulkner published a short story called "A Rose for Emily". It's about a shut-in named Emily who kept the dead body of her lover upstairs. Southern gothic necrophilia is the way to go. This song, released thirty-eight years later, has absolutely nothing to do with that story. Instead it's about a woman named Emily who tends a rose garden. Couples in love pluck her roses, but nobody gives her any. So her garden withers and she withers and everything dies. The music itself is very stripped down and features Colin Blunstone's wistful vocals, a simple piano melody, and some sweet Zombie harmonies.

The Shocking Blue - Send Me a Postcard
Apart from "Venus" (yeah baby, she's got it), Shocking Blue didn't do very well Stateside. That's really too bad because they had a handful of very good songs. Take "Send Me a Postcard" for instance. Super-fuzzed guitars, moments of elated rock frenzy, Mariska Veres's big Dutch pipes... it all kinda makes me want to run through a wall. Though released as a single in 1968, this song didn't peak on Euro-charts until 1969 and didn't appear on an album until 1970's The Shocking Blue compilation.

BONUS TRACK

The Byrds - Pretty Polly
This song was recorded for Sweetheart of the Rodeo but ultimately didn't make the final cut. When Sweetheart was reissued in 1997 "Pretty Polly" was featured as one of the bonus tracks. Personally I think this song is better than the original eleven. It's a traditional murder ballad rearranged and country-rockified by Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn. The instrumentation is appropriately blue-grass inspired but comes across as a little frantic. The song gallops along at a steady rate and seems like a sweet little hillbilly love song until, terrifyingly, pretty Polly gets stabbed IN THE HEART. Two-part harmonies are used here for optimal effect and kick in when murderous intentions are discovered. If you're interested, on Roger McGuinn's Folk Den blog you'll find the lyrics and a more traditional recording of the song.