For Adam, blood of my blood
Adam McKay, rock on, Mo!
“Before there was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young there was Buffalo Springfield. Stephen Stills is one of the most underrated rockers of all rock n roll time and this is one of my all-time sixties favorite songs. Young’s jangling banjo at the end is way cool.
“Going Mobile”
“Watch the tax man and the po-leece miss me, I’m mo-bile!” If this won’t getting you going on the treadmill, have somebody check your pulse for signs of life.
“I Got a Line on You”
Spirit was a horrible band, but even a blind hog can find an acorn sometimes. This song rocks!
“Mississippi Queen”
If you know what I mean and I think you do. (Did I spell Mississippi right? Ain’t in no mood to look it up.) I have both the recording and the live recording.
“Sloop John B”
“I feel so broke up, I wanna go home.” You feel his pain, don’t you? From the Beach Boys seminal “Pet Sounds.” Which inspired Paul McCartney to “Sgt Pepper.”
“Rock Me,” “Sookie, Sookie”
If I ever hear “Born to be Wild” again I might have to hurl, but Steppenwolf was once the world’s most dangerous underground band.
“Monterrey”
“Religion was being born, down in Monterrey.” Eric Burdon and the Animals got all kinds of great sounds going on in this remembrance of the Monterrey Music Festival, a big rock event that faded from memory after Woodstock and the ugliness at the Stones’ party at Altamont where the Hell’s Angels spiraled out of control. (BTW, I saw Eric Burdon at at Houston club about 15 years ago when he was traveling with a bunch of really young musicians and the rocked the house. Eric still had some great rock chops going on too.)
“Paint it Black”
Speaking of the Stones. Mick the angry young man in his best whiskey voice and what can I say about Charlie Watts on drums? Charlie was always the sober one and what a drummer!
“Higher Ground”
Got tons of Stevie Wonder on my playlist. Actually, though, I like the Red Hot Chili Peppers version of “Higher Ground.”
“The Captain and Me”
As with so much in rock, the Doobies’ best stuff is the stuff you never hear on the radio. And I never get tired of this song because it spoke to me at a certain time and place in my life when I was going through so many changes. But then, I’ve never stopped going through changes and never will.
“Freedom”
George Michael. Hey, I like George Michael’s music a lot. The eighties weren’t a total loss.
“Questions”
“Why do we never get an answer, when we’re knocking at the door, with a thousand million questions, about hate and death and war.” Saw the Moody blues at Moody Coliseum at SMU when they were at their, uh, high point. A show that anybody who was there will never forget. Then again, a lot of people probably don’t remember it at all.
“Born on the Bayou”
“My Papa said Son, don’t let the man getcha, do what he done to me.” The original Creedance version. Me and Paul Adam McKay have rocked down the highway many a time together listening to this one.
Rock on, Mo.
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