Song of the Day-The Midnight Special

Back from a short hiatus. Can't blame it on anything but my laziness. Can't blame it on any one thing. I wasn't in a "post Whitney funk." I wasn't engrossed in repeated viewings of "Smash." Can't blame it on "Santorum-mania." Blogging is kind of a habit. So, I suppose, is not blogging. Loyal followers of this blog (Kenneth Weiland) actually contacted me inquiring about my health (It's fine thank you though I could cut down on the starches!). I actually have been listening to a lot of music lately which I will be telling you a little bit about in upcoming blogs.  Got some concerts on the horizon. Anybody seen any shows that they can rave about? How about some new cds?  Or vinyl?

When I was about 12 years old, I got my first part time job which was as a weekend cleaner/box "breaker-downer"/stock boy at the old Harmony House warehouse two doors down from the original Harmony House store in Hazel Park. Used to go in Saturday mornings at 8:30am with my mom who worked there too. The first day I worked, at the end of an unbelievably long FOUR HOURS (adults get up and do this everyday!?!?) my mother presented me with a sealed copy of the classic "Creedence Gold" album. I'm not sure that this is still in print in cd, but it was Fantasy records slapdash collection of 8 Creedence classics, capitalizing on the fact that their huge cash cow, Creedence Clearwather Revival, had become history. Leader John Fogerty, while still on the label, showed no signs of being the 3 album a year producer/earner he had been as leader of one of hottest American singles/album bands.

The track lineup was:
Proud Mary
Down On The Corner
Bad Moon Rising
I Heard It Through The Grapevine (album version)
The Midnight Special
Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
Born On The Bayou
Susie Q

It was a haphazard selection of random Creedence singles. But I loved this album. Every single song. Played it to death. Played it like nothing I had played since the McCartney "Ram album released a year previously. Played it like just about nothing I have purchased or owned since.  At the age of 12, it was the first music that hit me hard since the Beatles.

This was, of course, way before I got spoiled working as an attorney representing music stores and bringing home cds by the boxload. I could usually afford one album per week and I would agonize over the choices. (Led Zeppelin II or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-Greatest Hits-So Far?). I was reminded of how I used to listen to new albums when my daughter got a Taylor Swift album this week at Barnes and Noble with a gift card, and has listened to nothing else since. Music, as much as I love it, breathe it, live it, has rarely meant as much to me as it did in those days.

If you are of a certain age, and were not raised Amish or in a cave or in a cult that eschews popular music, then the tunes of this album are in your musical DNA. I don't even have to put the album on to hear the music. Every note is in my head. 

Which leads me to my latest song of the day, which leads off side two on the vinyl of Creedence Gold. Originally recorded by CCR for "Willie & The Poor Boys" this tune is a traditional with over 100 recorded versions. CCR's was featured heavily in the Twilight Zone-The Movie.