September 5, 2006

Music, Music, Music.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:39 pm

musical notes.jpgTammi laid this one on me over the weekend.

I spent a fair amount of time scratching my head over some of the categories. Finally, I decided that the answers to some of these depend on my mood at the moment (I believe Tammi said the same thing, or something similar) and the tunes that happen to pop into my head at the time. I doubt that I would ever respond exactly the same way twice, although my responses would always reflect my age.

With that said, here we go:

Four songs that you could listen to over and over:
Let it be Me – The Everly Brothers
Running on Empty – Jackson Browne
Where or When – Dion and the Belmonts
Scotch and Soda – The Kingston Trio

Four songs that drive you up the friggin’ wall:
I Will Follow Him – Little Peggy March

I love him, I love him, I love him
and where he goes, I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I’ll follow
I’ll always be his true love, his true love, his true love

It makes me feel like barfing, like barfing, like barfing.

The Name Game – Shirley Ellis (Some dork always says, “Hey, do Chuck!”)

Wipe Out – Surfaris (I’ve written HERE about why this song drives me farookin’ nuts)

Mariah Carey songs where she enters the shriekosphere.

(Bonus song) Joy to the World (sometimes known as “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog”) – Three Dog Night. (That stupid song has absolutely no redeeming qualitites – None.)

Four songs that you’re embarrassed (or should be) to admit you like:
Winchester Cathedral – The New Vaudeville Band (I got a thing for bassoons)

59th Street Bridge Song (Simon and Garfunkel’s “Feeling Groovy”) – Harper’s Bizarre (Like I said, I got a thing for bassoons)

Indian Lake – The Cowsills (I’ve taken lots of crap over the years each time I admit to this.)

Even Now – Barry Manilow (Actually, I like lots of Barry Manilow’s tunes – So shoot me!)

Four best driving songs:
China Grove – The Doobie Brothers
Rad Gumbo – Little Feat
The Last Time – The Rolling Stones
Pipeline – The Chantays

Four songs that make you cry:
Daddy’s Little Girl
Old Shep
Silver Bells (This was my mother’s favorite Christmas song)
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane – Peter, Paul and Mary

Four best risqué songs:
If you Peek in my Gazebo – Elsa Lanchester (seriously esoteric I admit)
Don’t Go Walking Without Your Hatpin – Elsa Lanchester (see above)

????

Four best kid songs:
The Theme from Sesame Street
Do Re Mi
Itsy-Bitsy Spider (I learned it as “Inky-Dinky Spider”)
Jingle Bells

Four songs (hell, pick your own category and fill it in):
No thanks. My hair already hurts.

Now comes the “tagging” part. I won’t “tag” anyone, but there are a few peeps whose answers I think might be interesting. If any of the following are not interested in partaking, no problemo. No problemo whatsoever: GUYK (I figure I might recognize many of his tunes), Eric (I don’t think Robert Service wrote anything that would have been on American Bandstand), and Dogette (because I am always intrigued by anything she has to say).

September 5, 2003

“Wipe Out” – Why It Didn’t Make the List.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:30 pm


Cousin Jack, who has a good musical ear and an even better musical memory, in a comment to yesterday’s post, noted the absence of “Wipe Out” (by the Surfaris) from the list of guitar instrumentals. The fact is, I had not forgotten about that song when I assembled the list. Rather, I made a conscious decision not to include it. Here’s why.

“Wipe Out’s” not making the list had nothing to do with the guitar playing in the tune (although I never really cared much for it), but rather it had to do with the dumb drum part in the song. For decades as a drummer, I have had to deal with people who want to hear that song, because, sadly, and stupidly, they believe that being able to play the dumb drum part in “Wipe Out” is the ultimate test of whether one is a good drummer.

“Yo, you’re really good, but can you play ‘Wipe Out’?”

For years, particularly during the time the song was popular and even for five to ten years after that, when asked that question, I would politely smile and nod at the requestor, and the band would play the song, and I would dutifully play the stupid-ass drum part. Even though in recent years I have not gotten that request nearly as often, I still am dogged by that God-awful song.

As recently as last summer, some guy positioned himself near the band I was working with and intently watched me play for most of the night. I could not help but notice the guy, because during the songs he fixated on me to the exclusion of the other three guys, and after each tune he would vigorously applaud. (What’s not to like about that? If you perform, you’re an applause junkie.)

So, we were taking our final break of the evening, and this fellow walked up to me and told me how well he thought I played and how much he enjoyed watching me play. (What’s not to like about that? If you perform, you’re compliment junkie.) I sincerely thanked him for saying nice things about my playing.

By that time of the night, I was tired and sweaty, but I was still basking in the glow of the compliment I had just received from this person. In fact, I had even managed to convince myself that this obviously sophisticated listener might even be musician himself, something that would make the compliment very special.

However, without warning, this fellow lobbed a turd into my punchbowl and snapped me back to reality when he asked, “Hey, can you play ‘Wipe Out’?”

As in the past when asked this question, I smiled, but this time I said, as graciously as humanly possible, “Yes, I can play that song, but I am afraid that we will not have time to get to it tonight, as we have a number of prior requests that we simply had to get to.” He was noticeably disappointed, presumably because he would never be able to truly satisfy himself that I could pass the ultimate drumming test.

The desire to avoid being rude to this person prevented me from saying what I was thinking, and that was this:

“Jesus Farookin’ Christ, Asswipe. You stared at me for more than three hours, during which time I played my ass off and did boatloads of stuff that require a helluva lot more skill than being able to play the piece-of-shit drum part in “Wipe Out.” And after watching that, how could you think for one goddamned minute that I might not be able to play that shit? Did you ask the piano player whether he can play ‘Chopsticks’?

So, to answer your question, you dopey bastard, yes I can play ‘Wipe Out,’ but don’t even think about asking me if I will play “Wipe Out,” unless you want these drumsticks shoved way, way up your sorry ass.”

And that’s why “Wipe Out” was not on the list.

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