A "stream of consciousness" observation on music and how we relate to it. How we purchase, listen to and enjoy music is changing. What does it mean to be a music fan in a world where every song, performance and video is literally at your fingertips? I hope to be a guide to this new world of musical experience. Featuring tunes and comments about artists, old and new in nearly every genre.
Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote this tune that reflects back nostalgically on the loss of innocence that we all feel at one time or another. As I watch my kids grow up and enter their teen years, this song hits home. I am working on a project of attempting to gather up all our "pre-digital" photos from the various boxes and nooks and crannies in our home where they have been stuffed. Some of these photos haven't been seen in nearly 10 years, since they were brought home form the photo developers. This song runs through my head as I catalog these pictures.
"Goin' Back" is one of the great Goffin-King songs, which has caused it to attract numerous cover versions, yet it has never been a big hit. The average listener has probably never even heard this song so it is possible to hear it with a sense of fresh discovery. And if I can turn one reader into a fan of this classic, then I am doing my job.
Carole's version above was not recorded by her until her "pre-Tapestry" album writer. Goldie and the Gingerbreads did it first in the UK but it was withdrawn shortly after it's release.
The version by Dusty Springfield, the first of the truly great versions, came out in 1966 and hit #10 on the UK charts but was never a single her.
The Byrds recorded what was probably my favorite version released as a single back in the era when the Byrds couldn't buy a hit and it only scraped the Billboard Hot 100 at #89. Great Gary Usher production with cello's underpinning one of my favorite Roger McGuinn 12 string Rickenbacker solos.
I have included above the cool video of them lip synching the tune on the old Smother's Brothers show. Gene Clark had returned to the Byrds replacing David Crosby who quit when the group decided to record what he considered Brill Building fluff and place it on the Notorious Byrd Brother's LP instead of his song "Triad" which I consider a good move! By which I mean "Goin' Back" was the much better tune than the slightly odious "Triad" and it was also a good movie for Crosby as it freed him up for the major stardom of CSN.
The take above is from the album and really demonstrates Gary Usher's fine production of this lost Byrd's classic!
Finally, what inspired me to survey this tune is the version by Nils Lofgren, best known nowadays as one of the two guitarists in Bruce's E Street Band, but a fine performer and recording artist in his own right, especially with his under-rated band "Grin." Heard this tune on Sirius Deep Tracks as I was pulling into the Y in Royal Oak last night. It's from 1975 and it caps off this version of "What Song Is Mark Diggin' Right Now?
I've had a rough week, which started out with rainwater entering the music room, through the normal ups and downs of one who earns his living practicing law, to a good bye party for a fine Michigan attorney moving to another state (Good Luck, Pam!). The weekend could not get here fast enough. But now we have our Christmas Tree up, and, even in it's pristine, unadorned state, it looks beautiful.
Let's set the World's Slowest Radio Station wayback machine to 1997. The Lightning Seeds started out as the studio project for one Ian Broudie, a Liverpudlian who been in a band called Big In Japan. After an album or two, they became a real life touring band still working occasionally today. Their biggest hit, a UK number one, was "Three Lions" which hit in 96 and 98.
"You Showed Me" is a tune written by Roger McGuinn (then Jim) and Gene Clark for their great band the Byrds. It was re-done by the Turtles as their last hit single, charting at number 6 in 69. The first time Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of the Turtles heard the song played for them by their producer, he sang it accompanied by himself on a broken harmonium. Because of the malfunction, he slowed it way down. They loved the draggy (druggy?) feel of the slowed-down version and recorded it that way.
The Lightning Seeds version, which charted at number 8 in Britain in 97, copies that arrangement. It also was featured on the soundtrack for the Austin Powers movie. The versions included here show the songs evolution.
