Is This Love? - Cake

Is This Love? - Cake

5:19

Motorcade Of Generosity, 1994

Written by John McCrea and Greg Brown

Greg Brown, the founding guitarist of Cake (not the Iowan folk giant), died last Saturday. While Cake would generally sharpen and streamline their sound after his departure, Brown co-wrote “The Distance,” their biggest hit, and deserves a nod during in memoriam week.  This is a "woman done me wrong" style of song, dressed up in Cake's style. Blaring horns jab and retreat while bass and guitar lock into an unusually funky groove. Over it all, John McCrea growls, croons, and half-talks his way through the lyric like a bluesman with irony.   The rhythm section keeps it moving with a loose, swaggering pulse, and McCrea’s vocal performance shows more range than his later, more minimalist persona would suggest. It’s a deep-pocket groove that clearly foreshadows the later hits "The Distance" and "I Will Survive." while still sounding rawer and a little less self-aware.

Venus - Television

Venus - Television
3:49
Marquee Moon, 1977

Written by Tom Verlaine

Fred Smith, guitarist for Television, died a few days ago.  I could not have named the man before today, but he helped shape some of the most important and let's face it, downright cool music of the 1970s.  This brief but entrancing song pulls together everything great about rock of the era — surreal, image-driven lyrics and extraordinary, interlocking guitar lines — then filters it through the harder, cleaner lens of late-'70s production. Dreamlike, dislocated lyrics ("Broadway looked so medieval, it seemed to flap like little pages / And I fell sideways laughing with a friend from many stages") sit alongside an anecdote about "Ritchie" (Richard Hell) and the suggestion that they "dress up as cops."  That single detail grounds the song in an actual scene, even as the druggy imagery and spiraling guitars make it feel slightly out of this world. It's street-level and cosmic at once, which is exactly Television's sweet spot.  And in addition to all this, it's also a genuine pop song. Amid the bending riffs and nervous fire of Television's playing, there's a sense of structure and immediacy that gives the track lift. It manages to be a great rock song and a great pop song at the same time, without sanding down either quality.

Up, Up and Away - The 5th Dimension

Up, Up and Away - The 5th Dimension

2:43

Up, Up and Away, 1967

Written by Jimmy Webb

Lamonte McLemore, founding member of the 5th Dimension, died a few days ago.  This track, one of their big hits, is a love song that walks the line between silly and truly sweet.  The conceit is that the narrator describes how nice life would be if the object of his interest would take a ride in his "beautiful balloon."  The idea is kind of twee, but some of the sly lyrics would not be out of place in a Cole Porter torch song: "If by some chance you find yourself loving me / We'll find a cloud to hide us / We'll keep the moon beside us."  In addition to the group's beautiful harmonies, the track features the Wrecking Crew as backing band with some powerhouse horns punctuating the strings, and a piccolo providing a lighter-than-air line that evokes floating out into the sky.  The fantasy may be weightless, but the craft is anything but.

Good Time Living - Three Dog Night

Good Time Living - Three Dog Night

4:10

It Ain't Easy, 1970

Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil

Chuck Negron, one of the three distinctive voices of Three Dog Night and the tenor behind classics like "Joy to the World" and "One," died a few days ago and it escaped my attention.  I'm a big fan of the hits but don't know much about their catalog.  RIP Chuck, and I hope you had a "good time living."  This song is a pure hippie artifact, extolling the wonders of nature and denouncing modern urban life: "Air pollution, revolution, you know I've had my fill / Advertisin', computerizin', don't understand it and I never will / Got to get back to some good time livin' / Got to get out where the air is sweet."  It's not exactly a heavy-hitting exposé, but it's an accurate vibe from the era, and a great showcase for the powerhouse vocals of Negron, Danny Hutton, and Cory Wells.  I like the fake-out fade-out-then-in at the end and the "Got to got got to back" overlapping chorus as the song really comes to a close.

Dancing On the Wing - The Felice Brothers

Dancing On the Wing - The Felice Brothers

4:28

Life In the Dark, 2016

Written by Greg Farley, Ian Felice, James Felice and Josh Rawson

The Band comparisons are inevitable.  With typically baffling, specific lyrics ("Probably call me in a year / Sobbing for a chandelier / Eating sherbet / In some sad suburbia / And dating a disturbing profiteer") and a shuffling, ramshackle Americana tune with scratchy guitar, fiddle, organ, and harmonies, it's as close to the Band as you get without going back in time.  Whether the song actually means anything is or just joyous nonsense, at least it's a merry hoedown.

Dry My Tears and Move On - The Del McCoury Band

Dry My Tears and Move On - The Del McCoury Band

3:20

It's Just the Night, 2003

Written by Richard Thompson

A song of proud defiance in the face of lost love.  The narrator's love no longer dreams of him; the spark has gone out.  But does he wallow?  Has his entire world ended, as in so many other songs?  No.  This guy's got shiny shoes and a nice suit and he can do better.  "If you don't need me there's someone else who needs me out there / She's kind and tender and one day I'll meet her I swear."  This song was first released by Thompson on his 1999 album Mock Tudor in a pathos-drenched slow burn, but here Del McCoury turns it into a fast-packed bluegrass romp.  Thompson sounds like he's trying to convince himself; the guy in this version means it.

Draggin' the River - Ferlin Husky

Draggin' the River - Ferlin Husky

2:10

single, 1959

Written by Vic McAlpine

I'm amazed that I haven't heard of this honky-tonk singer, who released dozens of albums over a seven-decade career, had 11 top ten hits, two dozen top 20 hits, and was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame.  In this single, sounding like a countrified Elvis, he croons over a deceptively bright, bouncing melody a sad tale of being left, the spark of love now cold and dark: "Well, if things get worse, I can't shake this curse / Then start draggin' the river for me."  Grim!

Don't Look Back - The Remains

Don't Look Back - The Remains

2:38

The Remains, 1966

Written by Billy Vera

The Remains, often labelled garage rock although with tighter musicianship and clearer production than most bands filed under that rubric, were slated for great things.  They were getting good word of mouth in the 1960s and even opened for the Beatles in Candelstick Park.  Unfortunately, their drummer quit, they broke up, and their debut album came out a few months later with no tour or acclaim.  They rose to a kind of cult fame over the years, however, and released their second album in 2002.  This tough soul-influenced rocker, sounding a bit like Them, is a jagged track with a nice call-and-response chorus.  At about one minute in, the singer says, "All right now, hold it, hold it!" and delivers an impassioned half-spoken bridge.  It's a fun faux impromptu bit that makes the recording seem immediate and dynamic.

Dancing Lady - Teddy and the Rough Riders

Dancing Lady - Teddy and the Rough Riders

2:56

single, 2020

Written by Teddy and the Rough Riders

Teddy and the Rough Riders is a Nashville-based country rock duo.  Sounding like a cross between the Flying Burrito Brothers and Ween at their most earnest circa 12 Golden Country Greats, this song, with some solid steel guitar work, offers a deadpan but slyly weird neo-country ballad.  The narrator isn't doing well, but his infatuation with the titular dancing lady makes up for his troubles.  "This house is up for rent / Payment's overdue / Honey, I'm heaven sent / I wanna give it all over to you."

Something Big - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Something Big - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

4:44

Hard Promises, 1981

Written by Tom Petty

According to tour manager Richard Fernandez, Bob Dylan said this was one of the best songs Tom Petty ever wrote.  I don't agree, personally, but I can see the appeal to someone who's lived the touring life, and to Dylan's sense of story.  The song centers on a restless guy named Speedball living on the road, sleeping in cheap motels and looking for a drink, maybe trying to get the next tour together.  It hints at long nights, nameless partners, and seedy plans.  "And he was not looking for romance, just someone he could trust."   This could be about a traveling musician.  Or, it could be about some illegal caper being put together in a motel lobby in the wee hours of the night.  The strength of the song is in that lack of specificity, so it's easy for the listener to identify with.  The song lives in that in-between space, where everything feels on the precipice of importance, but nothing has quite taken shape yet.