Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale

Procol Harum were involved in the creation of symphonic rock and roll, which in turn makes them responsible (at least partially) for the creation of progressive rock, to which I am forever grateful. Procol Harum is a typical band for someone like me to really enjoy, highly experimental and artistic, while also finding a way to be jarring and confusing to music critics and fans alike. In 1967 Procol Harum released their single biggest hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

1967 was the year of introduction for Procol Harum, their self titled debut album was released and soon then after they released their hit single “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” This caused me some confusion for a short moment as I searched for the studio recording to purchase for this classic masterpiece, and finding it not present on any studio album, similar to my struggle with T.Rex’s “20th Century Boy.” There are two studio album sources for this track, the U.S. released of Procol Harum self titled debut is very different from the UK’s, similar to many early Beatles albums, and most modern releases of their debut album include “A Whiter Shade of Pale” as a bonus track. Nonetheless the point is this, the success and popularity of “A White Shade of Pale” is so great that it completely overshadows everything else Procol Harum ever did.

The power of Procol Harum’s sudden success would effectively serve as a negative thereafter. The following year Procol Harum released their second album “Shine on Brightly” and the year after that they released “A Salty Dog,” both respectable progressive rock albums yet both received negative reviews from critics at the time; their great sin? No one song was as good as “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

There are two takeaways from all this. First, this is a tragic turn of events as Procol Harum have many great songs, including “Conquistador” and “Repent Walpurgis” both of which are from their first album, also I am a huge fan of the psychedelic trips that are “Song for a Dreamer” and “Strangers in Space.” Second, the reason why a single song can eclipse an entire powerhouse discography is because that song, “A White Shade of Pale,” is very, very good.

I am very much a lyric guy, probably I can sing reasonably well enough, but my talent elsewhere, namely the guitar, leaves much to be desired, however we are engaged in yet another exception for myself, as I hardly paid too close attention to “A Whiter Shade of Pale’s” lyrics until fairly recently, and that has everything to do the organ and drums. The instrumental side of the song is lead by a steady and calm drum beat and the melody is dominated by the electric organ, which creates something of a rocky and watery feel to the sound, kind of like a river’s stream, at least that is where my mind has always wandered to, a lot of Procol Harum songs are nautical in them. It is a very relaxing song that has a real talent at putting one into the mood of a calm trance; it real easy going, you might even say groovy.

I should like to say that there are very few songs in rock history where the organ plays the role of lead melody, but that would be untrue, there was actually quite a bit of experimentation with the electric organ being used in this fashion in early progressive rock, I am reminded of Emerson Lake and Palmer, all of a sudden.

Another reason the melody is so fantastic likely resides in the fact it takes direct inspiration from Bach's "Air on the G-String."  I had not noticed this for a long time because most version of "Air on the G-String" I listened to included the full orchestra and too lost in the sounds was I to pay closer attention to just the melody on the violin; or I really like guitar and piano versions of the song.  If you listen to just a violin version of Bach's classic you can hear the similarities between it and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" a little more easily, better yet just here is an organ version:

Bach's "Air on the G String" on organ:

The lyrics, now that I pay a little closer attention to them, appear to be little more than a fabulous poetic description of a drunken seduction. The song title appears in the chorus:

“And so it was that later,
As the miller told his tale,
That her face, at first just ghostly,
Turned a whiter shade of pale.”

Apparently Keith Reid overheard at a party once someone saying to a woman “you’ve turned a whiter shade of pale,” which is a fairly eloquently thing to say to a drunk woman at a party, whom presumably was feeling a little worse for wear. This insight does support the idea that this song is primarily about a drunken hookup, but what a beautiful drunken hookup it is.

Many believe that the line “the miller told his tale” is a reference to “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer, as one of the stories is titled “The Miller’s Tale,” but I cannot offer any insight into any such theory, as I have not read “The Canterbury Tales” nor am I very familiar with that piece of literature; sorry internet, I have failed you. However I have read that Keith Reid, and possibly the rest of Procol Harum has explained that they have never read “The Canterbury Tales” so it is unlikely they were making any effort to draw a connection to it.

In summary Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is a fantastic example of early progressive rock, a highly eloquent tale of drunken seduction, and a song so beloved that other great songs by the same band are often over looked.

- King of Braves

P.S.

The studio version contains only two verses but there was originally two extra verses that go:

"She said, I'm home on shore leave, 

Though in truth we were at sea.

So I took her by the looking glass,
And forced her to agree.
Saying, you must be the mermaid,
Who took Neptune for a ride.
But she smiled at me so sadly,
That my anger straightway died.

If music be the food of love,
Then laughter is its queen.
And likewise if behind is in front,
Then dirt in truth is clean.
My mouth by then like cardboard,
Seemed to slip straight through my head.
So we crash-dived straightway quickly,
And attacked the ocean bed."

This live version has all four verses:

There we go, very nautical.

The Beatles - Blackbird

“The Beatles are generally seen as the single most important rock band of all time, because they wrote the best songs. Since both of these facts are true, The Beatles are rated properly.” – Chuck Klosterman – The Ten most accurately rated artists in rock history (Number 4)

The Beatles 1968 album “The White Album,” sometimes referred to as just “The Beatles," is kind of a big deal. It is the only double album The Beatles ever produced and arguably their most experimental. “The White Album” received mixed reviews from critics at the time, probably because some of the tracks were really bizarre and not in the fun playful “Magical Mystery Tour” way, and also the, dare I say progressive, styling of the album may have been so unexpected as to throw off music critics of the time. Regardless “The White Album” is now considered by some as the greatest album of all time, while I am more of “Abby Road” guy, it is impossible to deny “The White Album” as anything other than pretty freaking amazing.

While “The White Album” has a full roster of great songs to enjoy, sometimes the simplest songs are the best, or the least simpler songs can resonate with the listener the most. So while Charlie Manson may have thought “Helter Skelter” was about a race war (I have no idea how), and “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” is among Lennon’s most daring songs while “Revolution 1” is probably his most effective and memorable, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is probably the best song George Harrison ever wrote, I am very partial to Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird.” It is a simple song, just Paul’s alone on guitar is all that it takes to perform the song; a nice short, simple guitar song right in the middle of a circus of psychedelic musical exploration.

It is a nice little poem of simple structuring where Paul sings:

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night,
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see.
All your life,
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.”

Now the real question, is this song really about a bird or African Americans?

It would be the sort of thing for McCartney to do, write a song about a bird he saw in a tree in his backyard, something whimsical like that fits perfectly with many of the odd sort of songs McCartney created. On the other hand using a bird with broken wings finally recovering and being able to fly is a perfect metaphor for the American civil rights movement and it would hardly seem like a coincidence then the bird happens to be black. However political charged songs were more often Lennon's affair and this discourse becomes challenging because Paul has said many, sometimes contradicting things about the song over the years.

Other theories suggest the song is related to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," some people have taken the song to be a metaphor for death and flying is entering the afterlife, others thought it might tie into Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," which would relate itself back to the plight of African Americans, and lastly some thought it might have been a strange sort of love song, perhaps about someone finally finding it in them to move on after a rough breakup.

For many decade's Paul never gave a clear answer but in recent years he has all but confirmed "Blackbird" is about the civil rights movement, and more specifically the song is about a black woman, since bird was an old slang for woman. In 2002, McCartney had this to say:

"I had been doing poetry readings. I had been doing some in the last year or so because I’ve got a poetry book out called Blackbird Singing, and when I would read “Blackbird”, I would always try and think of some explanation to tell the people, ’cause there’s not a lot you can do except just read the poem, you know, you read 10 poems that takes about 10 minutes, almost. It’s like, you’ve got to, just, do a bit more than that. So, I was doing explanations, and I actually just remembered why I’d written “Blackbird”, you know, that I’d been, I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of “you were only waiting for this moment to arise” was about, you know, the black people’s struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It’s not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it’s a bit more symbolic."

Here is a video of Penn Jillette discussing his battle of understanding “Blackbird:”

There are two things about Penn Jillette's rant that I really appreciate. First the level of humility he is using approaching the topic, he does not pretend to have special insight into McCartney's mind and he is quick to admit that Beatles expert know a lot about the Beatles, I share his stance on this; Beatles experts are intense. Second I really enjoy his musings over the prose versus poetry, he discussed this better then I feel I could, but I feel it is worth drawing attention to, because if we were left to ponder over the mystery of "Blackbird" forever many of us would enjoy that. However it would appear from all recent remarks by McCartney "Blackbird" is about the struggle of African Americans during the 60s civil rights movement and you might think that would be the end of it but I am not entirely sure, and I suspect Jillette feels the same. Why would it take McCartney so long to openly admit the best possible interpretation of his song was correct one? Why would he have offered such small off handed explanation in the past?

Might I make a suggestion?

I think it might be possible that McCartney wrote a whimsical song about a literally black bird, but as time went on and people understandably loved the song and in turn over thought about it they began to suspect something more. Existing in the politically charged 60s and Charlie Manson somehow believing the entire "White Album" was about a race war, peoples' minds began to wander towards possible racial and political symbolisms within the "White Album" and a song named "Blackbird" seemed all too obvious. McCartney after years of hearing how great it would be if "Blackbird" was about the civil rights movement finally concedes and declares that is what he meant all along.

It is possible right? I mean why would a black woman's eyes be sunken eyes and she need to learn to see? Who would blame McCartney for changing his mind about his own song and accepting praise from involuntary genius? I mean Paul is so humble he never took credit for “Yesterday” and that was amazing, could we really hold it against him for claiming he meant for something brilliant all along that was in reality serendipitous?

The nicer cleaner theory is obviously that Paul is telling the truth, and I do not imagine any of us was to put the screws to Paul to figure out if he might possibly be misremembering or mixing up inspirations after the fact. Regardless either intentionally or quasi unintentionally McCartney has created a multi-dimensional song that is if not directly about the African American civil rights movement it is culturally.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

The Beatles - All You Need Is Love

1967 was a great year for Beatles fans, it was the year the albums “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band” and “The Magical Mystery Tour” came out, and those are two of my favorite Beatles albums. Before the release of second album, “The Magical Mystery Tour” The Beatles were asked to contribute to “Our World” which would be the first live global television event. Naturally The Beatles, being bigger then Jesus at the time, were asked to participate and perform a new song. This was a great opportunity for the biggest band in the world, arguably ever, to send a message to fourteen different nations live.

The Beatles were changing at the time mostly because John Lennon was changing his focus. Legend has it that Bob Dylan was very critical of John Lennon and the Beatles when he first met them. Dylan was very entrenched in the hippie culture and the message of peace, love and drugs they were espousing, and Dylan had invested a huge part of himself and his music towards forwarding these messages of political change. Meanwhile The Beatles were singing songs about holding hands and being in love, but to be fair the Beatles were writing amazing songs that happened to be about holding hands and being in love.

Supposedly Bob Dylan has these choice words for John Lennon when they met:

“Yo John... Enough of this teenybopper crap! ‘Help!’ is a real cry for help! Show me you have a pure heart, show me you have something to say.”

This quote comes from the fine people at: http://thoughtcatalog.com/chris-castiglione/2015/01/what-bob-dylan-said-to-john-lennon-that-changed-his-career/

I highly doubt that the above quote is accurate, but I have always been told that Dylan said something to that affect to the Beatles, and more specifically Lennon, however the above quote was the best representation I could find online. Regardless the point is Dylan had a huge affect on Lennon and afterward a more serious and sage like Lennon began to send many an important message to the world, and among his first bits of wisdom he would share is “All We Need Is Love.”

So the scene was set, The Beatles had such a huge audience what they said in their songs could change the world, and with the opportunity to perform on international live television their audience would not only broaden even further but their words could reach many listeners. John Lennon knew what the world needed to hear, a simple but universal truth “All You Need Is Love.” Later that year the hit song would be included on “The Magical Mystery Tour” album and would later appear on “The Yellow Submarine” album/soundtrack.

The song is credited as a Lennon McCartney creation and that makes a lot of sense, Paul McCartney had an almost unnatural talent for writing catching lovable pop rock songs and “All You Need Is Love” feels like such a song, but the political drive, the desire to inspire the world towards cooperation and understanding clearly the message of John Lennon it is hard not to credit him more so for the creation of this song.

But perhaps we should give some credit to Bob Dylan.

If Bob Dylan had not provoked/shamed John into trying to make a difference, or prove he had a “pure heart,” the high lord of hippies may never had made such a strong effort to do so much with his music to encourage peaceful revolution.

It is one of the often overlooked charms of The Beatles how they managed to write so many upbeat songs while living through such political charged challenging times, all the more so, while they, especially Lennon, actively engaged in the turmoil of many potentially ugly debates. It is easy to criticize, and it would have been easy for The Beatles to present a song on the “Our World” broadcast denouncing the political rivals of the UK or some of the long lived backward ideas still held by the populous. It would have been even easier to write and perform another fluff pop rock song. However they did something else entirely, they told the world what it needed to hear and reminded everyone who listened something they had always known, but easily taken for granted, that all we really need is to love one another.

This is where credit to Dylan should be halted, because the key difference between Lennon and Dylan is cynicism. While both men are clearly politically aligned, and have many similar messages and philosophies they share with us via their music Lennon is so much more embracing of the world and its people. No meaningful slight is intended toward Dylan in this remark, it is just amazing how positive Lennon could always be, maybe it was from years of hanging out with McCartney, I do not know.

I have always found it difficult to write about The Beatles, because their history and influence is so huge, and so well documented and discussed, that it is nearly impossible to add anything. It is possible that I am way off the mark connecting various Beatles tales and events together to accumulate to the creation of the great song “All You Need Is Love,” and maybe I am overselling the importance of that track. It is always possible that The Beatles and songs like “All You Need Is Love” had a subtle rippling effect on all of us that ultimately changed the world is many positive ways that no one could ever hope to connect all the dots.

Anyway long story short, Beatles theories are numerous, the importance of The Beatles cannot be overstated, and yeah... all you need is love.

- King of Braves.

Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad

The Ghost of Tom Joad, the album, is Bruce Springsteen’s eleventh studio album and was released in 1995, so this is a later day piece of music from the Boss.

Springsteen has always held strong left leaning political beliefs and this translated into the messages of his music with some reoccurrence throughout his career and to no surprise this only became more and more important to him the older he became. What I find very endearing about Springsteen is his passion for sticking up for the less fortunate, and while most of us would normally consider the political left as compassionate for the poor and minorities in the chaos that is political discourse we often find a lot of hypocrisy and contradiction, however the Boss has always been very consistent in these two overall simple messages, socialism is good, and caring about other people is worthwhile, with a strong focus on the later. We need not even presuppose political signalling from Springsteen as he often writes songs about compassion for a wide range of people, such as homosexuals in “Streets of Philadelphia” and professional wrestlers “The Wrestler,” two very different groups of humans with very different problems, and there is nothing necessarily political about either of those two songs. When we talk about the song “The Ghost of Tom Joad” we are affectively talking about both endeavors simultaneously, because the people in need in this song are the poor, so we are talking about political considerations that actually consider everyone, and the struggles of people worthy of our empathy.

“The Ghost of Tom Joad” has a very obvious literary reference but I did not pick up on it right away, in fact I was introduced to the song and album before I was introduced to the literature, but I suppose this is yet another example of my musical knowledge preceding my literary knowledge. I read John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” recently and instantly, on page nine to be precise, our protagonist reveals his name to be Tom Joad, and I paused and thought “where have I heard that name before?” It was very easy to piece together the order of inspiration soon then after.

Henry Fonda as Tom Joad from
1940's "The Grapes of Wrath."

For those who do not know “The Grapes of Wrath” tells the story of very poor Oklahoman family heading to California to find work because the banks have taken over all the land they used to own. Tom Joad was recently released from prison and is the eldest child of the Joad family, though his father and uncle are still alive Tom very much functions as the head of the family, with Ma Joad very much taking second in command in many ways. Tom Joad was in jail for murder, and while he is not a violent man he never backs down from anybody and he is constantly standing up for what is right instinctively, and we are led to believe the person he killed was a result of a combination of Tom trying to do the right thing and accidently using too much force and killing the man while subduing him. The point is the character Tom Joad is always eager to help, and his willingness to put his family first combined with his ability to get things done, ever dirty things like killing a man, makes him a natural leader of his family, also something of an interesting loose cannon.

In “The Ghost of Tom Joad” by Springsteen the chorus is as follows:

“Well the highway is alive tonight,
But nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes,
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light,
Searching for the ghost of Tom Joad.”

Why the ghost of Tom Joad? Well when you get to the end of “The Grapes of Wrath” Tom has a little speech to his mother that explains the significance of his ghostly presence in Springsteen’s song:

“Tom laughed uneasily, ‘Well, maybe like Casy says, a fella ain’t got a soul of his own, but on’y a piece of a big one-an’ then-‘”

‘Then what, Tom?’

‘Then it don’ matter. Then I’ll be all aroun’ in the dark. I’ll be ever’where-wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’ – I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build – why, I’ll be there. See? God, I’m talkin’ like Casy. Comes of thinkin’ about him so much. Seems like I can see him sometimes.’

At the end of “The Grapes of Wrath” Tom Joad realizes that if he really wants to make a difference for his poor family then he has to stand up for all poor families, it is not enough to help the Joad family along when the whole situation is against everyone. He makes this unusual promise to be there whenever anyone needs the hard helping hands of Tom Joad. He indirectly indicates he intends to help with the unions and help the working people, and he intends to do what he can to stop the police when they actively prevent folks from trying to better their lives. Basically Tom Joad swears to be a socialist hero somehow everywhere to everyone.

Springsteen capture’s this message in this verse:

“Now Tom said,
‘Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy,
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries,
Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air,
Look for me, Mom, I'll be there.

Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand,
Or a decent job or a helping hand,
Wherever somebody's struggling to be free,
Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me.’"

The parallels between Steinbeck’s word and Springsteen’s are very obvious when comparing these two parts and it makes sense that Springsteen would invoke the character of Tom Joad and the final symbolism his character is meant to represent. “The Grapes of Wrath” was originally published in 1939, right at the tail end of the great depression. “The Ghost of Tom Joad” was released in 1995, where poverty was, and is, still an ongoing issue and Springsteen, being the caring individual that he is, refers to the folk hero of Tom Joad and his promise to be there for all of us struggling and writes this great song about searching for that endearing and everlasting spirit of charity and assistance.

It is possible that Springsteen has some additional specific meaning when he sings about searching for the ghost of Tom Joad, but more than anything a general truth, where is the compassion in government, but also ourselves? Again it is very possible I am missing something specific Springsteen is attempting to stab at, but the left leaning Springsteen is likely actively calling for a variety of social programs and improvements to help the downtrodden, however the idea of a single man, appearing everywhere to help when needed, that sounds an awful like Springsteen himself. In many ways Bruce Springsteen is a real life Tom Joad, I wonder if he is aware of that.  I am sure if it were logistically possible Bruce Springsteen would literally be there whenever a cop is beating up some guy or hungry babies crying.

- King of Braves

P.S.

Rage Against the Machine did a cover of “The Ghost of Tom Joad” that was very popular as well:

Derrick and The Dominos - Layla

You have heard it on the radio before, Eric Clapton’s greatest, most famous song, “Layla.” Only it is not a Clapton song, at least not technically, technically the artist credit for “Layla” is Derrick and the Dominos.

Derrick and the Dominos is a band that consists of Eric Clapton on lead guitar and lead vocals, Jim Gordon on drums and piano, Carl Radle on Bass, and Bobby Whitlock doing a little bit of everything. The band existed for a single album “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” and then dissolved. A combination of exhausting touring and drug abuse casually caused the four gentlemen involved to go their separate ways.

If you look at Clapton’s history it is full of stories like Derrick and the Dominos, the guitar legend wandered from group to group and from project to project almost like he was in a daze and at some point in the seventies he stopping trying to be part of any group altogether and finally settled into his solo career. The end result is that there are surprisingly few studio albums Eric Clapton can claim, at least in comparison to the massive number of live, compilation, and collaborate albums he was involved in.

However Derrick and The Dominos is a very important moment in the history of Clapton’s music, it produced his most famous work “Layla” and that song tells a story.

Lovers of folklore may be knowledgeable enough to recognize the name Layla or Laila as the female half of lovers from the Persian poem “Laila and Mujnun” by Nizami Ganjavi. The story is, Qays and Layla meet when they are children and as they grow older Qays becomes obsessed with Layla’s love and the community begin calling him “Mujnun” which means “madman,” and as a consequence Layla’s father forbids her from marrying someone who is considered mentally unwell. Layla is then married to someone else and when word reaches Mujnun this drives him even more insane and he ends up wandering the desert. Layla dies, in some versions from heartbreak from not being with Mujnun, and in some versions Mujnun find her remains, or burial in the desert, and writes poems on her grave. It is then assumed Mujnun also perishes. There have been many adaptations of the story throughout India, Arabia, and all former Persian territories.

Layla and Majnun

It is very similar to Romeo and Juliet. Some versions, including the Hindi film “Laila and Majnun” take on additional similarities to the Shakespearian story having Layla’s father refuse to let her marry Qays because he is from a rival family, and street brawls between family members result in important character deaths like Majnun’s father much the way Tybalt killed Mercutio. Also in the Hindi film Majnun places a piece of jewelry on Layla’s ankle while she sleeps as a sign of his affection for her, and I thought maybe this could be referenced by the famous song line “Layla, you got me on my knees,” but I am probably reaching.

The theme of love causing madness interested Clapton and he created a song dedicated to this love struck insanity. Clapton was experiencing a little love induced madness himself, so while “Layla” the song is certainly about this Persian poem, it is also a smokescreen, because Eric Clapton’s “Layla” is very much about a very real woman whom Clapton was going insane with desire for, Pattie Boyd.

Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton's Layla.

In 1970 when Clapton wrote the song “Layla” he was madly in love with Pattie, but there was a problem she was already married to one of Clapton’s friends, George Harrison, of the goddamn Beatles. Perhaps I should let Pattie herself set the scene:

"We met secretly at a flat in South Kensington. Eric Clapton had asked me to come because he wanted me to listen to a new number he had written. He switched on the tape machine, turned up the volume and played me the most powerful, moving song I had ever heard. It was Layla, about a man who falls hopelessly in love with a woman who loves him but is unavailable. He played it to me two or three times, all the while watching my face intently for my reaction. My first thought was: 'Oh God, everyone's going to know this is about me.'

I was married to Eric's close friend, George Harrison, but Eric had been making his desire for me clear for months. I felt uncomfortable that he was pushing me in a direction in which I wasn't certain I wanted to go. But with the realization that I had inspired such passion and creativity, the song got the better of me. I could resist no longer."
- From “Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me” by Pattie Boyd

Eric Clapton, Pattie Boyd and George Harrison, 

Call it a hunch but it is probably very difficult to have an affair when you are a super famous rock star and even harder when you are wooing the wife of one of the Beatles. I am not sure how exactly Pattie responded to Clapton putting “Layla” out on the radio, but it seems to me that he kind of forced her into a very compromised position, the whole world was going to know that Clapton was throwing all of himself out there to her, publicly, and she had to either break his heart or leave Harrison; she chose the latter.

Bold Mr. Clapton, bold.

From all reports Harrison seemed completely neutral about the whole ordeal. In 1977 the couple finally broke up, seven years after the release of “Layla,” so I suppose Harrison had a while to brood over the situation, he supposedly gave Pattie permission to leave and moved on without any issued whatsoever. As for our “madly” in love couple, the chase proved to be better than the catch. After nine years of marriage Eric and Pattie separated and they too were forced to move on. I think I would like to read Pattie's book, she must have some interesting insights to offer being married to two of the greatest guitar legends ever.

There is one more thing that “Layla” is about, and to me at least is the most important part, the piano and guitar outro.

Drummer, Jim Gordon, was playing the piano when Clapton heard his melody and asked him to include it on the song “Layla,” and it is this piano part that is the best part of the entire song, and is shockingly sometimes overlooked. Case in point the original radio version of “Layla” was just over three minutes in length and cut out the entire instrumental outro of piano and guitar. This was a huge mistake for a variety of reasons, but mostly because everyone was missing out of the best part. Sure “Layla” is one of the most powerful desperate love songs of all time and is just raging with emotion, but despite that the piano at the end is the best part and not including that on the radio release may have been a factor into why the radio edit was largely ignored, granted the studio doing nothing to advertising Derrick and the Dominos album and not pushing the single “Layla” at all probably had more to do with the single’s initial flop, but still. It may seem strange that the studio would not advertise work done by Eric Clapton, but their reasoning at the time was that anything Clapton did would sell itself, and evidently they were wrong.

One would think that the guitar of “Layla” is some of Clapton’s finest guitar work, but the truth is guest guitarist Duane Allman, of the Allman brothers, was playing the lead guitar on this track, and the most famous guitar rift is openly lifted from Albert Kings “As The Years Go Passing By.”

Albert King - "As The Years Go Passing By"

It is weird that Clapton’s best guitar song is sort of not his guitar work, but I guess that just speaks to how great Duane Allman was. Allman passed away in 1971 when he was involved in a motorcycle crash. His death would prompt radio professionals to start playing an assortment of his work on the radio including the full version of “Layla” which then become a huge hit.

There is a lot to discuss when talking about “Layla.” We have a epic reference to ancient Persian poetry, this bizarre love triangle involving two of the greatest guitar legends ever, we have this unusual attitude from the produces regarding promotion, and we have some amazing work by underappreciated rock stars Jim Gordon and Duane Allman, and most people have no idea all of this is going on, all at once, in a very famous song that we have all heard on the radio.

- King of Braves

Pride and Glory - Machine Gun Man

I have held the belief that for the past several years that Zakk Wylde is the greatest active guitarist in the world. There are a lot of guitar players who can play quickly but fast twitching fingers are only a useful talent if you have something worthwhile to play. I have seen a lot of guitar solos that while physically impressive are unfortunately meaningless sound. I have seen a lot of Zakk Wylde guitar solos and while seemingly impossibly impressive are almost always a journey to metal music mystery and highly entertaining to say the least.

I really like Zakk Wylde, and there are a lot of reasons to like him, but a major reason I really appreciate Zakk and all that he does is because he has come to my home town many times to perform live. I live in one of the largest cities in Canada but that does not say much, a lot of bands do not come here or they come here rarely. If you are going to tour North America it makes more sense to focus on the United States, they have ten times the population and significantly less land to transverse from metropolis to metropolis, so mostly Canada get a few shows typically in the east and Vancouver, while most of the country gets ignored. I have seen the Black Label Society (BLS) four times in the past six years, and I missed them once in that time. I have also seen “an evening with Zakk Wylde” where Zakk did a whole acoustic set. Also many years ago I saw Zakk play with Ossy Osbourne, and while this last example does not help make the point I am attempting to make, I just wanted to mention it because it was awesome.

The point is I am forever grateful that the Black Label Society and Zakk Wylde for coming to Calgary so often, but even more impressive, and perhaps a little crazy, is the sort of Canadian tours Zakk puts together, he does shows in places like Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. Good luck getting any other metal bands to come through your home town if you don’t live in one of the larger cities, except maybe Megadeth, they tour Canada impressively.

As we all know Zakk got his first real experience as a rock star playing lead guitar for Ozzy Osbourne. In 1994, a full year before departing from his job with Ozzy and moving on to his solo career and BLS, Zakk produced his first solo endeavour titled “Pride and Glory.” The intention at the time was to make Pride and Glory his permanent side project while working with Ozzy, and while the Pride and Glory label never saw the light of day after this first effort, this album is the grounds for the beginning of BLS, so in the scheme of Wylde’s music history it is a very important album.

Zakk before he grew his
viking beard.

Nowadays we are all familiar with Zakk shredding guitar with intense metal songs like “Funeral Bell” and “Suicide Messiah” but the Pride and Glory album was much more acoustic, it is still metal, but it is not the heavier style we have come to appreciate with Ozzy and BLS. A lot of my favorite songs by Zakk come from this first album, including “Machine Gun Man.”

“Machine Gun Man” is a song about a man lost without war. I always imagine Zakk is singing about a soldier who returned home and cannot find purpose or meaning anymore, so he takes to the bottle and soaks in the hate and pain he experienced in his wartime. Zakk is no angel on the mic, but he has soul and he conveys the struggle effectively; more importantly is the great guitar in “Machine Gun Man.” The intro is very memorable, as is every bridge and the outro, the solos are great, and especially live, speaking of which, the only time I have ever heard “Machine Gun Man” live was during evening with Zakk Wylde acoustic set when he came through Calgary.

Of all the Zakk Wylde songs to exist I have always wanted to hear “Machine Gun Man” and “Way Beyond Empty” live, and I finally got to here “Machine Gun Man” live during the before mentioned show, still waiting to hear “Way Beyond Empty,” I guess it is good to have goals. The evening with Zakk Wylde was stripped down and simple, it was just Zakk playing guitar and singing with an assist from a rhythm guitarist and nothing more. Zakk broke into “Machine Gun Man” fairly early on in the show, song three or four, if I remember correctly, and after taking us through the verses and the chorus he broke into a guitar solo, a very long guitar solo. Zakk produced a wild range of pleasing sounds in that time, but I found my ear drifting to the sounds of the rhythm guitar, and my eyes watching the hands of the unnamed guitarist on stage. I never fully appreciated the background rhythm guitar of “Machine Gun Man” until that moment, the young man kept the pace while Wylde, well went wild, and it was such a soothing repetition of music. It was one of my fondest memories of any concert really, it was an interest point I was noticing about the song as a whole, all the little extra things the ear can miss, combined with the unique individualized solo Zakk was taking us on. It was a good time.

Naturally most people who read this never needed me to tell them Zakk is a great guitarist or how good of a song “Machine Gun Man” is, but I try to keep certain of pace of production on these reviews and with limited time available to me, at this point in time, I thought I would share this “Machine Gun Man” moment, and I wish you all similar metal moments in your lives.

- King of Braves

Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane

I dabble in guitar, which is really just another way of saying I am a poor guitar player. Anyway I dabble in guitar, and one song I have always wanted to learn is the rhythm section for Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” it is such a groovy song. I love how the melody of the guitar moves so smooth, and I really wanted to recreate that sound with my own hands, that would be great for parties. So I learned the basic cords: DAGG BmADD, okay got it; did not sound quite right so I started playing them up down, up up, up up, up down, repeat; yeah that sounds right; only it is not. Bar cords. Bar cords I do not know. Oh well my incorrect version actually sounds really good, so at least I got that going for me. Nonetheless I will keep practicing “Sweet Jane” properly, good way to practice bar cords which I am terrible at, after all I only dabble.

Anyway enough but me failing to be a rock star let us talk about Lou Reid, The Velvet Underground, and “Sweet Jane.”

Through most of my life I have never really paid much attention to the lyrics of “Sweet Jane,” and this is really unlike me. I have a pretty good talent for memorizing lyrics, and I tend to really get into analyzing songs, which you may have noticed since I have a music blog and all, but for a variety of reasons I never paid too much attention to “Sweet Jane’s” words. One reason is my love affair with the song’s rhythm. Another reason is that I just never gave the song much of a second thought. Velvet Underground did a lot of drugs, and in turn, they wrote many songs about drugs; and for those of you who somehow do not know, sweet Jane is a slang term for marijuana; so a song titled “Sweet Jane” written by group drug fiends, well, one would assume it is about drugs, so naturally I just assumed “Sweet Jane” was a groovy song about marijuana; right?

Wrong.

Well at least mostly wrong.

The truth is “Sweet Jane” is about a lot more than just the sweet sensation of sweet Jane. Lou Reed is making a social commentary and it is not as straight forward as simply, “change is a coming, the revolution is here, get used to it squares,” which would be entirely appropriate message coming from the Velvet Underground; but no, Reed has a lot more insight to offer.

If we look at the first verse we see the perspective of an outsider seeing the conformed plastic world as something dull and maybe even tragic.

Lou Reed

“Standing on the corner,
Suitcase in my hand,
Jack is in his corset, and Jane is her vest,
And me I'm in a rock and roll band.
Riding in a Stutz Bear Cat, Jim,
You know, those were different times.
Oh, all the poets they studied rules of verse,
And those ladies, they rolled their eyes.”

Who would not pride themselves as being in a rock and roll band, especially when contrasted by a banker?

The outsider, presumably Lou Reed himself, observes Jack and Jane dressed prim and proper and compares them to the styles and lives of the poets and artist; and then those ladies rolled their eyes, but at who? Presumably at Jack and Jane who are not part of the revolution.

The differences between these two groups of people are further divided in the second verse:

“I'll tell you something,
Jack, he is a banker,
And Jane, she is a clerk.
Both of them save their monies,
And when, when they come home from work.
Sitting down by the fire, oh.
The radio does play,
The classical music there, Jim.
"The March of the Wooden Soldiers,"
All you protest kids,
You can hear Jack say, get ready.”

The differences continue for a small spell in the third verse:

“Some people, they like to go out dancing,
And other peoples, they have to work.
Just watch me now.
And there's even some evil mothers,
Well they're going tell you that everything is just dirt.”

But then this happens:

“You know that, women, never really faint,
And that villains always blink their eyes,
And that, you know, children are the only ones who blush,
And that, life is just to die,
And, everyone who ever had a heart,
They wouldn't turn around and break it,
And anyone who ever played a part,
Wouldn't turn around and hate it.” 

Something very humanist is being said here and I feel a little ashamed having looked past it for so many years. Despite the radical differences a rock star, poet, romantic wanderer, that Lou Reed and company might have felt towards the working stiffs Jack and Jane, there is a commonality here, Jack and Jane could very well have been poet wanderers in their past. Necessity can drive people to change and work nine to five for a living. Love can change people too, in fact it is being suggested here that Jack and Jane settled into their boring conformed life for each other, and who has a heart would turn around and wreck the things they love, they would not and could not live like that forever hating it.

But of course we have evil mothers out there just spewing dissent onto everything, conjuring up stereotypes about everyone, even about women, villains and children.

I have always enjoyed the Velvet Underground’s music, and I greatly appreciate the important role Reed played in the creation and advancement of seventies glam rock, but I have personally felt slightly apart from the whole scene. I could never dress, or do drugs, or sleep with trans-women, like Reed, nor would I want to really, furthermore, at best, I can only dabble in guitar, I have neither the talent nor the time to be a poet wanderer like Reed or “Sweet Jane’s” narrator; basically I am Jack. It is nice knowing that working stiffs like me were never poorly misjudged by rock heroes like the Velvet Underground.

It would be very easy for Reed to look at the working stiffs and stereotype them as the boring dirt like people that surely some of his more radical friends would have prescribed them as, but Reed sees the false dichotomy in this; he sees the dual nature most people live with. We human beings are many multiple things, and we play many parts over the course of our lives. Reed understands this and looks at the strange boring conformed folks and thinks to himself, perhaps they were once poet wanders too, perhaps a small part of them still is.

And to tie things back to drugs, it cannot be a coincidence that Lou Reed named the woman in the working couple Jane. I think the reason is twofold. I think Jane has a little wild in her, just like Jack, just like everyone, and this further emphasizes the fact that a little bit of the artistic rebel lives in us all. Also I think the love of a drug like marijuana is comparable to the love of another, and while the hippie musician has his sweet leaf, Jack has his literal sweet Jane, and again, and who could possible judge that?

“Sweet Jane” possesses a very accepting and relaxed view of the world and also is one of the instrumentally most relaxing smooth songs ever created; a double dose of good feelings; a persisting positivity in a turbulent world. It is always so nice to find connections with people who are so wildly different from yourself, but that is only natural, as that is true human nature.

- King of Braves