Music Industry News: 2020-09-13

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Spanish Moon

https://bit.ly/3kwLmhx

I went down the rabbit hole. It started two days ago, I needed to hear Bonnie Raitt's "Nothing Seems To Matter," but I ended up getting sidetracked by this genius bootleg from Philly back in '72, I wanted to write about it, how it tied in with the first album and...the night got away from me. But today's been ultra-busy and after finally sending my last e-mail I decided to return to where I was, but I wasn't in the same mood. Funny how that works, you've got to capture the lightning during the storm, the next day just won't work.

But then I decided to look for live versions of "That Song About The Midway" on YouTube and I found one but the sound was imperfect, however Raitt was backed up by Little Feat.

They were tied together back then. Supposedly Lowell George started out as the producer of "Takin' My Time" but then he got sick or didn't deliver the goods and he was replaced by John Hall. "Takin' My Time" was supposed to be the breakthrough, but it was not. That didn't arrive until three albums later, with Bonnie's cover of "Runaway" on 1977's "Sweet Forgiveness." And the truth is that the two best Bonnie Raitt albums are 1972's earthy, immediate "Give It Up," and "Luck Of The Draw," the 1991 follow-up to "Nick Of Time," Don Was allowed Bonnie to be herself and Ed Cherney got such an exquisite sound it'll haunt you. "Something To Talk About" and "I Can't Make You Love Me" are the famous tracks, but "One Part Be My Lover" is the best, with a lyric I've never seen done so well anywhere else, about the ambivalent lover, and then there's the title track, written by Paul Brady and the down in the gutter groove of "Slow Ride" but now I'm going down a different rabbit hole. So, all this is to say there's a cut on "Takin' My Time" that transcends everything else on the album, a cover of Chris Smither's "I Feel The Same," a complete reworking, it's the same song but not the same track, and what makes it so great is the slide playing, the chicken pickin' which is not credited but just has to be Lowell George or inspired by him, Lowell was famous for being tasty, never playing two notes if one would do.

So, Bonnie's cover with Little Feat of "Can't Find My Way Home" is no longer a rarity, but what else did the band do together that's findable on YouTube? Plenty it turns out. The most memorable of which is a performance on "The Midnight Special" from 1977. Yes, Little Feat were on "The Midnight Special," which was famously live as opposed to Don Kirshner's travesty on Saturday night. And the highlight is a cover of "Dixie Chicken," a complete stiff back then, but a legendary song today.

But it gets even better. Lowell is in rare form, his honeyed voice intact, but what pushes it over the top is Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris are backup singers, never mind Jesse Winchester adding to the mix.

So...when you watch Bonnie and Emmylou sing together at the single mic you'll be brought back to what once was. They're so into it, playing subsidiary roles, the only thing that's important being the music. Check it out: https://bit.ly/2FQdzAx This is the kind of stuff we lived for in the heyday of Napster, but then file-trading died and we got excited about YouTube but then time went by and now it's all in the rearview mirror, there's a huge schism between what was and what now is, this stuff is easily searchable, easily findable, much easier than in the Napster days, but there's no buzz about it.

But I'm one of the few people who don't love "Dixie Chicken." I mean I like it, this performance is amazing, but it's not my favorite from that album. But one song that is my favorite is "Easy To Slip," the opening cut on Little Feat's second album, 1972's "Sailin' Shoes," which I bought in '73 after getting hooked by "Dixie Chicken," but at the time, during the seventies, I never found another soul who owned the LP, not one.

"Easy To Slip" was the song I sang as I banged the bumps at the 'Bird, back in '75 & '76, to the point where others started to sing it even though they'd never heard the record, could there be a live version of "Easy To Slip" on YouTube?

I couldn't find one, but I found something even better, a demo of the song from February 5th 1971. REALLY? Well, you can't trust the labels on YouTube, but this is definitely rough like a demo, like a rehearsal tape and it has a completely different chorus, and it's so authentic, so from the gut it's a revelation, assuming you care, which I certainly do.

So now I click to find out what else this guy has posted on YouTube.

Oh, right, check out "Easy To Slip" here: https://bit.ly/3c9Kc8r

And this guy's got a plethora of stuff, and now I'm searching for a definitive version of "Willin'," but the truth is that Lowell's versions are all slow, the best iteration is still the unavailable on streaming services one from Seatrain. But thank god it lives on on YouTube. If you're used to Linda's take, everybody else's cover, you might not cotton to it at first, but check it out here: https://bit.ly/35Sels5 But the truth is the killer on that LP is the follow-up track, "Song Of Job": https://bit.ly/32HoeGS No one makes music like this anymore, but it fit right in in the seventies.

So, searching for a live version of "Willin'" I of course come across ones by Linda Ronstadt, but then I find a version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest," I never knew Linda sang that! https://bit.ly/2FKPdbx

But I'm interested in Little Feat. And then my clicking leads me to something called "The Saddle Peak Demos." The track list is amazing, check it out (it's the pic on the YouTube page linked to at the top), but they're all not available, probably were in the heyday of Napster, but damn! And I'm listening, and it's all interesting, and then I click on "Spanish Moon."

"Spanish Moon." It took four albums for Little Feat to break through, to have a hit, but it was Billy Payne's "Oh Atlanta," not one of Lowell's numbers. And over time the band morphed, there were fewer Lowell songs and ultimately he O.D.'ed. Yup, at 34, can you believe it?

But the fourth album, "Feats Don't Fail Me Now," the one with Payne's hit, from 1974, was uneven, it was not the breakthrough of the otherworldly "Dixie Chicken" which came before.

So, the band soldiered on. Word was they were a great live act, they got some traction in the U.K., but when I moved to L.A. in the fall of '74 you could still see them at the Troubadour, I went, it was not sold out. And sure, there was the 1978 double live album "Waiting For Columbus" with the Tower Of Power horns but if you'd seen the band there was still something missing, you see Little Feat was not always loud and in your face, that side was not represented.

So I'm clicking around, the take of "Two Trains" from the Saddle Peak Demos is for fans only and then, and then, AND THEN...I STUMBLE ON SPANISH MOON!

"Spanish Moon" was on "Feats Don't Fail Me Now," but that version was superseded in the public consciousness by the live take on "Waiting For Columbus," deservedly so. And I've got "Spanish Moon" playing on YouTube as I continue to research and then it starts to catch my ear. It's obviously not a demo, especially when Lowell calls out to the Tower Of Power horns, but it hasn't been through the studio wringer, it hasn't been treated, it hasn't been mixed to the point where the rough edges are gone, it truly sounds live, and it's more immediate than anything on "Waiting For Columbus."

Sam's congas start it off, the groove is laid, but it's Billy Payne's keyboard that grabs you along with the horns, and Lowell is truly the leader of the band, he's not playing to the back row, he's not trying to impress anybody, he's just doing what he does, which he can instinctively only do right.

And it's Billy's break that truly piqued my interest, he's soloing after Lowell stops singing and the organ sounds almost cheesy, the way it sounds in church, it's authentic.

And now the band is one cohesive locomotive.

"There's WHISKEY and BAD COCAINE!"

This is the seventies, back when the marching powder was not considered addictive, when it ruled Hollywood and those at home were out of the loop, back when you could still be a musician living the musician life as opposed to being a star. Oh, everybody wanted more, but what they really wanted to do was get high, get laid and play music. Push the musical and personal envelopes both. This was not the internet era, we knew almost nothing about these people's personal lives, their trials and tribulations.

And the truth is a lot of music was played in those bars, that's where you started out, not TikTok.

"There was HOOKERS and HUSTLERS they filled up the room"

We just watched the hookers episode of "Borgen" last night.

The Spanish Moon's attraction was the dark girl singing while she played the guitar. It was the music, not the brand, we were all following the pied piper.

And the way this version of "Spanish Moon" ends with Kenny Gradney's bass...they truly captured lightning in a bottle.

So, I go to Spotify, what other takes of "Spanish Moon" can I find? None with Lowell, but I do find covers by Gov't Mule and Derek Trucks and the String Cheese Incident and even the Arc Angels. Funny how Lowell and Little Feat influenced the players, even if many of the listeners were out of the loop, and may still be.

And then I start thinking, not only about the sadness of Lowell's passing, but Little Feat's career. The band really never broke through to the masses, to stardom. And that's when I realized, they were out of time, their time is NOW!

It was nearly impossible for Little Feat to have a ubiquitous hit in the seventies, but now, in 2020, IT'S LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE! There's no reason to shoot for the stars because you can't get there!

And this music lives live, and word is spread online. Radio is not a factor. And if you're good enough, word gets around, you become a god in your world, and believe me Little Feat with Lowell George would be gods today. Can you imagine them on stage at Bonnaroo, any place where it's one and done, purely about the experience? This world gets little press, but it's huge, it's the antidote to the Spotify Top 50, and the circuit and its fans will support you quite well, just ask Warren Haynes or Derek Trucks, and as good as they both are, they would admit that Lowell was better, sure, he could play, but he could also sing AND WRITE!

And if you're a newbie, you might not get it at all. But this performance was done without a net, without hard drives, it's all live, it's music, it's the essence of rock and roll.

"Down the street I heard such a sorrowful tune
'Comin' from the place they call the Spanish Moon"

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The Color Revolution

What?

I hadn't heard about it until this morning, but my inbox is filling up with references to it and one Norm Eisen, a name that will draw a blank with most people not part of the Murdoch bubble. This is Saul Alinsky all over again, a man almost no Democrat had ever heard of was suddenly the main force behind their efforts. This is the Republican playbook, create a target, demonize him or her and warn of the ending of society as we know it, therefore illustrating why Democrats should never be allowed behind the steering wheel.

Yesterday I wrote about the Democrats needing a plan to deal with Trump's calling the election for himself whether he wins or not, how the rank and file need to be made aware of this, and now the right, the Republicans, are already ahead on this issue and saying the problem is the DEMOCRATS!

We've seen this movie before, with "fake news." Somehow Trump turned it around, to his favor, that the problem was the news industry at large, not his falsehoods. And now we've got a recalcitrant media which reacts to the president at best, which is afraid of going out on a limb for fear of being excoriated.

The left really has no idea what is going on in Fox Nation, it's got its head in the sand, believing if it just ignores the insanity it will go away. Susan Powter tried to stop the insanity, but that didn't work, one person cannot stand up to either fat or an army of tens of millions, you need everybody to get on the same page. If you watch television news I implore you to turn on Fox, if you're anti-flat-screen go to foxnews.com multiple times a day, it's like an alternative universe, there are stories that never make it to the platform and every article is spun to the advantage of Trump, not that you can say this, no one has as thin a skin as a Republican, but you should be informed, since the number one rule of warfare is know thine enemy.

The left is clueless.

So, you need to watch this Tucker Carlson clip from last night:

"Darren Beattie & Tucker Carlson Discuss Color Revolutions & The Plot To Oust President Trump": https://bit.ly/3hCBf93

Then I point you to today's "Independent":

"QAnon: Mysterious conspiracy leader points followers to Tucker Carlson interview warning of 'coup' against Trump - Fox News host featured disgraced ex-White House speechwriter promulgating a Kremlin-style conspiracy theory about the Democrats' supposed plan to wreck the election": https://bit.ly/2FIZxB0

Why "The Independent"? Because it was the second hit on Google when I searched on "Norm Eisen," the first from a well-known news outlet. We live in a networked world, "The Guardian" has more impact in the U.S., more traction than all the local newspapers brain-dead journalists living in the past are trying to save. Furthermore, "The Guardian" does it without a paywall.

So, if you read "The Independent" article you'll see the power of not only Fox, but the power of Q. Yes, you're laughing, but QAnon is real in the minds of Trumpers, and if you say it's irrelevant get back to me after you read about Pizzagate.

This news is not in "The New York Times" or "The Washington Post," I just checked. So, chances are unless you're watching Fox you're unaware, but you should know. Once again, our news outlets are letting us down.

And then we've got the ongoing campaign of Bill Barr:

"Barr's undermining of the election is downright dangerous": https://cnn.it/3mvwAJE

Barr goes on Fox and says it's b.s. that Trump would stay in office if he loses, but then he goes on endlessly about fraud in the election, undermining the process.

Meanwhile, the Democrats keep trumpeting the process, saying to believe in it, it's our route to victory. But have you ever heard the aphorism if you win you still lose? That is what is going to happen with the Democrats.

So, the Republicans are undermining the validity of the election results long before the counting begins, and fearmongering that the Democrats will end American society as we know it and most Democratic voters are absolutely clueless as to what is going on. All we've got is these inane e-mails from people telling us to VOTE! Sure, vote, I will, you should. But that is not the battle here. Look at the polls. Biden is ahead. But it's not about the polls but the count. How can you win if the game is declared false, unreliable, rigged? This is how we lost truth, facts in America, and now the same thing is gonna happen with elections.

As for social media, I point you to the cover of the new edition of "Businessweek":

"Facebook Is Basically In The Tank For Trump, Says Bloomberg Businessweek - On the magazine's latest cover, Alfred E. Zuckerberg, let's call him, dons a Make America Great Again hat and asks, 'What, Me Partisan?'": https://bit.ly/32FlUA7

"Businessweek" and "The Atlantic" are being aggressive. "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" are so busy just reporting the news that they're not getting the proper message across. As for MSNBC...that's like the He-Man's Woman-Haters Club from "The Little Rascals," an insular club of like-minded people that does not affect the world at large.

And now we've got Tucker Carlson featuring a man claiming that the virus was man-made and it's flagged on Facebook and Instagram and lives on Twitter: https://nyti.ms/3hFzJTz Yet now Carlson is fighting back:

"Tucker Carlson Cries Censorship After His COVID-19 Posts Flagged as Misinformation by Facebook, Instagram": https://bit.ly/32FmmhN

And you wonder why Republicans fail to wear masks.

Yes, social media is complicit. But, once again, the Democrats just tell us to vote for laid back Old Joe who can't even get any traction in the media, who is two-dimensional in most people's minds, other than the Republicans who keep saying he's demented and evil, and that everything will work out. THAT'S B.S! Because first and foremost the odds of Biden actually getting into office are slim, because the right has been fomenting an all hands on deck campaign against the system itself.

Wake up. The right's game plan is in plain sight. And if you're not ready to stand up to it, if you're not willing to go on the offensive, you're gonna find yourself losing once again, scratching your head, wondering how we got into this fix as you truly lose your freedom. Yes, that's a left wing concept, not a right, CAN'T WE RECLAIM IT!

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Joe Bonamassa-This Week's Podcast

Guitarist extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa opines on his upcoming couch concert from the Ryman on September 20th and also discusses his upbringing, his place in the musical landscape, how he and his manager four wall his shows and at the end we delve deeply into guitar collecting. Self-deprecating yet quick-witted, I could have talked to Joe for hours more.

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0cv30aZ50G5mtuDfIMGsk4

https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=77796213

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Wednesday, 16 September 2020

The Narrative

The only Democrat on the right page is Hillary Clinton, and she's not backing down. She told Joe Biden not to CONCEDE!

At least one person learned the lesson of 2016. That Trump fights dirty and will do anything to win and if he doesn't win he will still say he won. End of story.

Don't believe me?

"Appearing on 'Fox & Friends' on Tuesday morning, President Trump again told his supporters to believe that if the election doesn't deliver the result they want, the outcome is inherently illegitimate - that there are no democratically legitimate circumstances under which he and his supporters can lose in a fair election.

By my count, this is the third time he has stated this explicitly in recent weeks. Trump will generally say both that the election is likely to be rigged and fraudulent - say, due to vote-by-mail - and that he can lose only if that happens."

https://wapo.st/3krigzM

Trump is preparing not only himself for victory, but his minions. The Democrats? They're still debating the issues, defending Joe Biden against all the bogus issues the right throws at him. So when the going gets tough, the Democratic constituency will be completely unprepared.

My friends want to argue the horse race, they want to whip out statistics, talk about Nate Silver, wince over Trump's behavior, but all of those are completely irrelevant. Trump is gonna declare victory no matter what, then what?

The Democratic insiders are getting prepared. They don't want to be outplayed like they were in 2000. But those not on the inside? THEY'VE GOT NO CLUE!

Let's go back to Hillary. The problem is still her e-mails, they caused Covid-19 and global warming, of course. The Democrats played defense in 2016, but you can only win if you play offense. Kinda like the "deplorables." Hillary and the left were badgered into retreating, taking back their words, and then they were lambasted for them all the way until election day, even after. The truth is Clinton should have doubled-down, isn't that what Trump has always done? He owns his statements. And the truth is a lot of Trump's supporters are deplorable, and what difference does it make if you label them so, they're going to vote for Trump anyway.

There's this canard that there's a great swath of undecided voters out there. If not, why do we have this endless election process which takes up the better part of two years? If voters are already aligned, what difference do the articles and the debates make? NONE! We live in a completely tribalized society and yet when it comes to voting for president a great number of people don't know which side they're on, they haven't made up their mind? That's like the Yankees playing the Red Sox and fans not knowing who to root for, but it's worse, it's a matter of life and death, of democracy. As for those friends, if you've got any, who say they're not sure, they just don't want to endure abuse from their circle. Come on, you know some of these people, if you get them alone and push them a bit they admit it, they voted for Trump and will again, but if they say so they'll be excommunicated from the group. You know, the ones who are educated but refuse to ever discuss politics. The undecided voter is a myth, I tell you.

So, Trump is playing the long game. He not only took control of the post office and hobbled it, he installed his own judges, who are tilting the playing field his way. Like the Trump judge who ruled the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania's lockdowns unconstitutional. And don't tell me to respect the bench, that would assume that no one lies in court and just because you were appointed you've got gravitas, when nothing could be further from the truth.

We could pay whac-a-mole here, delineate all of Trump's offenses, but that's what the right wants us to do. To get caught up in the minutiae, to debate facts and credibility when those are out the window completely. No, what we need to do is get out of the trenches and focus on the big picture, November 3rd and thereafter, how do Democrats counter Trump's narrative?

Trump has been telling his acolytes for months that the vote is untrustworthy unless he wins it. Meanwhile, the left keeps talking about the sanctity of the vote, like the election process is inviolate and we've just got to let the system work. Yeah, right. No, what the Democrats need is to get their base riled-up for the fight. And they need to do this with sunshine, a slogan. Enough with the hosannas for Michele Obama, when they go low...WE DON'T IGNORE IT!

LEGITIMIZE THE VOTE! Maybe that should be the bumper-sticker. Or MAIL-IN COUNTS! Or, NOVEMBER 3RD IS JUST THE BEGINNING! Yes, everyone agrees that the odds of having a final count on election day are essentially zero. But those in the trenches say Trump will declare victory on November 3rd and and then declare all resulting ballots illegal.

Not to mention the problem with mail-in ballots. A lot aren't counted for numerous reasons. Not mailed in time, not properly signed. Double digit percentages are thrown out, how are the Democrats preparing people for this? Where is the line as to whether a mail-in ballot is valid or not? If the secretary of state in question is a Republican are they going to decide in favor of Democratic mail-in ballots or play the role of a record company, counting royalties in their favor? And yes, you can audit the label, but even if they're wrong you never ever get a hundred cents on the dollar. You try to solve the problem via the initial contract. But in the case of voting, all these issues are not going to be addressed until the votes come in, and that's too late.

WE NEED PUSHBACK!

As for the talking heads on TV...forget them, they've never experienced this. And they're so wary of appearing one-sided that they'll cite the other side's opinion no matter how inane. But not on Fox! If you're in the right wing media silo you live in an alternative universe where all Democrats are insane and if Biden wins life in America as we know it will end. There's no concomitant left wing outlet. Forget the right excoriating MSNBC and CNN, it's no contest, Fox is way off the rails. But the right keeps working the refs, undermining whatever credibility MSNBC and CNN have, so people won't pay attention to them.

This is the battle of our lifetimes. This is the battle of the century. This is the ultimate battle for democracy. You'd think the Democrats would play a little harder. But no, they put up an old candidate who can't even get traction in the news, who barely ever tweets, and close their eyes and hope that it will all work out. Oh, there's another thing, you can't say anything bad about Biden or you're being disloyal. I'd buy that if the DNC and Biden campaign were employing a scorched-earth policy like the Republicans, but instead they're holed up inside with their polls with their fingers crossed, like a kid praying he got an A on the test. That doesn't work, but preparation does. And if you ever went to high school you know that the elite were often grade-grubbers, if they did not get the mark they wanted, the one they thought they deserved, they marched right up to the teacher's desk and implored he or she to change it, to the point where the teacher got wary of giving bad grades to these "achievers." As for business...it's all about blurring the lines, if not outright fraud. But somehow, when it comes to the election process everything will be hunky-dory.

This is the message the Democrats must disseminate. That there's a war on the election process itself and they are going to fight hard and not back down. The Democrats have to alert their voters that voting is just the beginning, and it's not enough. Sure, vote. But that's kind of like showing up at the stadium, it's after you vote that the game begins, truly.

This is unprecedented. So it calls for unprecedented measures. Do you see any from the Democrats with less than two months to go?

This is the narrative that should be established. After all, the Republicans are literally telling their rank and file to take to the street if things don't go their way. What's the Democrats' plan? Hope and prayer? The Republicans are planning a strike in plain sight. It'd be like Japan telegraphing FDR that they were going to bomb Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt doing nothing about it, sitting on his hands and being surprised when the bombs dropped. This isn't even a sneak attack by the Republicans, they keep telling us if Trump doesn't win the contest is illegitimate, and if the big bad, i.e. weak, Democrats don't accept this be ready to fight it out in the streets.

Bite-sized. Hammered over and over again. That's what the Democrats need. A slogan that everybody in America knows. To prepare them for what's to come. Oh, don't talk to me about dividing the country, it's already divided. As for the Trumpers up in arms...are you gonna always play by their rules, always concede? Rush Limbaugh and his minions get it wrong about Covid-19 but somehow they're right when it comes to climate change? The Republicans have their voters hoodwinked. They're all-in. The truth is irrelevant. And their truth is that the Democrats are untrustworthy and Biden is bad for the nation and there's only one true savior, Donald Trump. Yes, that's the message, repeated over and over and over again, multiple times each day. And all the Democrats do is drop their jaws open in amazement. As if by pointing at the train-wreck you can prevent it from happening. No, you gain control of the train. It's too late to rebuild the track or the locomotive. You prepare the passengers. You tell them you're going to do your best to prevent an incident, but if it comes be prepared, and blame it on the lack of investment in infrastructure. Owning your faults only works if you're a celebrity going to rehab. You circle the wagons and push back. That's the nation we're living in. The fight is not over the vote, but the count. Get that message hammered into people's heads, and only then will you have a chance of victory.

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Tuesday, 15 September 2020

Letter To You

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Even Springsteen can't reach us. This was released last week and I just found out today, via a SiriusXM playlist I get from the company each week, of added tracks. I'd heard the Boss had a new album in the works, not that I cared, he seemed to have lost track, this happens when you get caught up in your image, are beholden to your fans' perception of you, you ultimately become irrelevant to everyone else. Then again, it's your fans that keep you alive, so... But Springsteen is one of those acts that we all knew and we all might be theoretically open to once again, assuming we knew he had new material.

Then again, Springsteen owns the press, he gets mainstream media hype every time he farts. His album releases are military campaigns. Then again, his story is about played out, with his book and stage show, what else is there to excavate, what story is there to tell?

He had writer's block.

I did not know this until I started to research "Letter to You" after hearing it.

In the tradition of "Born To Run," the sound is rough, it's not crystal clear, and therefore you get that miasma of sound he's famous for and it's hard to pay attention and then...suddenly you wake up, your ears stand at attention, has Bruce found the plot again?

He hasn't had it for a very long time. The overhyped "Rising" was disappointing, at least on an absolute Boss scale, but what came thereafter was even worse, more self-conscious and less appealing, but at least he soldiered on, when everybody else gave up he continued to write and put out new material, kudos for that. But last year's overbaked "Western Stars" fell flat. I hate to say it, but shut up and play your music, let it stand or not. The backstory, the concept of "Western Stars," if only the music lived up to the endless hype, we even got a film...it's not like "Western Stars" was awful, it just wasn't great.

The problem is Springsteen is competing with himself. And therefore he's always trying to reach a mark he may not ever be able get to again. Once again, his brethren have solved this problem by not even trying. But somehow, the Boss has connected again with "Letter To You"...it's close, but no cigar, but maybe a cigarette, it's got the majesty and the energy of the records that made him famous. It's nearly anthemic. And not a moment too long, actually its length makes the record better, it allows the band to stretch out, the lead guitar playing at the end is so satisfying.

As for the front cover photo... It's great, but it's also part of the hype, if you search online you'll find a whole story about the creation thereof...talk about eviscerating the mystery.

There's a generic guitar opening, yet there's a wild lead guitar way in the background and then it all fades and Bruce starts to sing. But it's the change that gets you, when Bruce sings "Tried to summon all that my heart finds is true," that drop down is reminiscent of the hook that makes "Green River" so great, even though that minor Creedence classic (talk about a contradiction in terms...it's not as great as the greats, but it's so much better than the competition) is superior.

The band comes in on the second verse, classic Springsteen, and then you get that change once again, adding meaning, gravitas:

"Dug deep in my soul and signed my name true
And sent it in my letter to you"

Unfortunately, the chorus is not as good as the verse. Except for the last line, "And I sent it in my letter to you." But in the break the organ in the background gives you everything but the kitchen sink E Street Band sound.

And then...quiet.

I'd quote the lyrics but they're substandard. This entire song is not up to Bruce's standard. If someone else wrote the words you'd shrug. And as for "letter," why not "e-mail" or "text" or "iMessage"? We're not going back to letters, no way, which is one of the reasons why the post office is floundering financially.

But, there's that drop in the verse. And the break. And the playing at the end. No one else is doing this. Then again, like I said, most of Bruce's contemporaries are doing nothing.

But what I immediately thought when I heard "Letter To You" is...WE HAD TO WAIT FOR THIS?

"Letter To You" is not a one listen hit. They'll play it on AAA but you won't be closed if you're not a fan, it can slide right off of you, unlike Bruce's best work. But, like I said, it's close, it gives one hope Bruce can recapture the magic.

Bruce went back to basics. As in the band played together, there was not all this tracking, overdubbing, and that aids the song, the performance is cohesive, you can visualize the song being played in a club, where Bruce started.

But Bruce should be putting out this stuff on a regular basis. Instead of worrying about living up to his lofty standards, why not put out new stuff when he writes it, keep the juices flowing, maybe he'll capture lightning in a bottle. The old paradigm is broken, why is he beholden to it?

And a stiff today does not matter, it doesn't tarnish your image, it just fades away. And creators know when you throw off the rust and finally get inspired you frequently end up on a roll of creativity, which is why we got "Lucky Town" along with "Human Touch."

Writer's block is usually fear about doing something bad, not reaching the level you used to be at, a peak in your mind that you probably never achieved anyway, then again, one of the worst things about making it is you're saddled with the adulation, it inhibits you. Can you say Alanis Morissette? She became so self-conscious as to become irrelevant.

But Bruce is first and foremost a musician. Who came up on the road. And that's about playing each and every night, improving, learning what works and what does not along the way. Now he can do the same thing online. And, if he rings the bell, hits the note, word will spread, after all, he's got his army, although I must admit they've turned off disbelievers nearly completely, I'm a fan and they bug me, what I always say about Bruce is I don't hate him, I hate his FANS! After all, I saw him live at the Bottom Line in '74, the year before "Born To Run," most are johnny-come-latelies, like the young 'uns who lecture you on the Dead even though they weren't even born when the band cut "Workingman's Dead."

So my goal here is to encourage you Bruce. You've recaptured something you've lost. Sure, "Letter To You" is not an "A," but it has elements that are so close. Get the band together, write the lyrics in the studio, lay down some tracks, put them on Spotify, the rest of the streaming services. Surprise us. Irregularity works online. Not a track a week, maybe one and then another six weeks later and then three a month after that and then maybe nothing for months and then six all at once. What a fan wants most is more material. And today, when fandom is one of the few ways people can feel like they belong, they're less critical, they forgive mistakes, they want to send the message they're there for you, every step of the way, that they're supportive.

Yes, Bruce is for listeners, not for the media. The people at the "New York Times" didn't go to shows in the seventies and stay up all night. And neither did Chris Christie. It's the nobodies who own you, admit it. Nobodies run the planet. In their world you're a somebody, you make their lives worth living, live alongside them! You don't have to be on the cover of "Time" and "Newsweek," you don't need to be all over MTV, everything is small these days, everything is cottage industry, the biggest of acts is smaller than you ever were.

So, can old rockers have something to say?

Age is respected in country, but not rock, why not? Bruce's kids are out of the house, music is what he's got. It's time to get back to the garden, to go back to the beginning, and to take chances too, to keep it interesting.

Bruce is incomplete. That's why he does this, make records. He needs you to fill the hole inside him. And you want to, and you want to tell everybody if he does something worthwhile, that's the joy of being a fan, telling others about what you love, even if Bruce's fans have overdone it in the past. So, Bruce wants it. The audience wants it. We're just looking for that one track. Listening to "Letter To You" makes me think he's still got it inside, ready to come out when he throws off the cloak of respectability, stops worrying about what others think, just starts being the alienated musician with a dream once again.

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Double Lockdown

Right now the AQI is just a bit over 150, in the red zone, labeled "Unhealthy." As for the beach, down by where I hike, it's even worse, it's also in the red zone, i.e. "Unhealthy," but it's about 160.

Now the truth of Los Angeles is the further you go east, the worse the smog gets. Normally the coast has the clearer air. But not now.

The fire is out by Azusa, you know, of "The Anaheim, Azusa & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review and Timing Association." That was the b-side of Jan and Dean's single "Ride the Wild Surf." I thought they made up the names, I had no idea these places really existed. But they do. And Azusa is right on the borderline, of the Angeles National Forest.

That's something that non-natives, people who've never been to L.A., don't know. That the wilderness bumps right up against the metropolis. There's everybody, and then there's nobody. And where there's nobody can get very hot during the day and equally cold at night so if you're stranded there, outside cell range, you might not make it back.

But I'm going nowhere. I'm home. Inside.

You can take the warnings seriously or you can maybe pay the piper later. Then again, even if you can't quite see the particulates in the air you can certainly smell the smoke and visibility...well, at least there's some sunshine today, but nothing like the blue skies we're used to. Oh, that's another thing about SoCal, no clouds. I know, I know, they're a feature on the east coast, everywhere else, but we rarely get them here, unless it's gonna rain. And usually that's when the rain comes, when the fires begin, that's the turning point, you watch the news for precipitation but...I've been here for eons and I might have seen it rain in September once, maybe twice, so that's not how the fires are gonna be extinguished.

The rest of the country is laughing at California. Yet, I point them to yesterday's article about Jerry Brown:

"Jerry Brown on a California Exodus: 'Tell Me: Where Are You Going to Go?' - From his ranch, the former California governor is experiencing the same smoky air wafting through much of the state. 'We are causing this,' he declared in an interview": https://nyti.ms/3iyk0a0

My mother once told me that her mother, my grandmother, would still be voting for Roosevelt if he hadn't died. That's how I feel about Jerry Brown if hadn't termed out. Elected young, he was considered "Governor Moonbeam." He ran for president too early. And then as an oldster Brown came back, was mayor of Oakland and ended up back as governor, older and wiser. California is a blue state. Once upon a time it had huge red factions, but those are now gone, and everyone likes Arnold, well, except maybe for his ex-wife, but he proved he was not up to the job as governor and there are no Republicans in the pipeline. Unlike Arnold, Brown is a wonk. He not only knows, he can opine for days. And with experience he knew it was about compromise, realism. It was Brown who fought with the Democrats, even though he was one of them, he pulled them back from the brink, he restored California's finances. But that didn't keep the rest of the country from laughing about California.

It happens in California first. Always has, still seems to be. Sure, you've got nitwits testing the limits in Florida, but that's more of an ongoing Darwin Awards culture than cutting edge. You see in California we're three hours from New York. We might as well be living in a different country. Californians get no respect, they're seen as flighty, and that serves them well, it allows them to jettison judgment and just be who they are, who they want to be. And as a result, innovation happens in the Golden State.

It's California that has pressed for cleaner air. It's California that not only engendered smog controls on automobiles, but got the whole car industry to cater to its demands. You see with enough customers, you've got leverage. And the truth is many of the cutting edge cars are designed in California anyway.

Don't talk to me about Texas. It's a boom and bust state, depending on the energy market. Fracking is a financial disaster. As for tax considerations...that's how we got into this mess, via low taxes. You can't have it all and not pay for it. Which brings me to last week's Nicholas Kristof article:

"'We're No. 28! And Dropping!'-A measure of social progress finds that the quality of life has dropped in America over the last decades, even as it has risen almost everywhere else.": https://nyti.ms/32wbfI4

The American Dream is over, and the sooner we wake up to this fact the sooner we can be on the road to recovery. Then again, facts are fungible, there no longer is any truth, but if you look outside my window you can see some.

So, I don't want to get Covid-19. How will I achieve this? Especially in a country that opens more and more each day. People are burned out, to use a phrase, with staying home so they're not. I'm just waiting another week for the Labor Day Covid-19 statistics. Seems like people went on road trips, interacted, will there be a negative result? You'd think so. But everybody believes Covid-19 can't reach and affect them, no way.

So I'm reading and streaming. And working a ton too, I'm busy, I'm not complaining about it.

But at the beginning of lockdown, it was novel, everybody was calling, everybody wanted to Zoom...but that's died down, everybody's hunkered down, waiting for it to be over. When will it be over? Fauci says not before the fall of 2021. Other experts say it will be sometime in 2022 that we can live our lives normally. What am I supposed to do in the interim?

Right now my house is not in danger. Although we did have to evacuate a couple of years back. But everybody's in suspended animation when it comes to their mental health. Staying home takes a toll. Not that you'd get anybody to admit it in our winners rule society. If you evidence just a crack, someone will come along and split you in half and take your spot. We're lemmings climbing a greased pole.

So, California is burning up, but it's not like the rest of the country is getting a pass. There's that new hurricane, Sally, sauntering to the coast, you'd better keep your Mustang in your garage. But those people in Louisiana who lost their homes in the last hurricane, we no longer hear about them, the news cycle can't keep up with the past. Kind of like everybody no longer getting cash from the government, how are they paying their bills? But in America we ignore those who lose, they soil our image of our nation.

And then there's the election. There's tons of news, not that almost any of it is relevant. Except for Caputo talking about fighting in the streets and all the left-leaning publications filing articles about what to do if Trump won't leave, if he declares unjust victory. There are more questions than answers, and if you believe in the system you're gonna get your comeuppance in November. As for the Post Office? The L.A. "Times" had a front page story today, turns out mail is much slower, but that's old news, that ship has sailed, DeJoy is in charge and get over it.

Nothing sticks. At least the left wing prognosticators have realized this. They say out loud that the Woodward book will have no effect. Nothing Trump does will shake his believers free, nothing!

So, we're watching "Borgen." We've started the third season. I recommend it.

And I've been reading books that I can't quite recommend.

But the truth is almost nothing is as satisfying as it once was. You yearn for time to catch up, and then when you get it each and every day...

So, over the weekend it was like the end of the world, dark outside. Eventually it will return to normal, it always does, but frequently at a cost. But relief doesn't appear to be on the horizon. Nothing is imminent.

They rescued the auto companies in 2008, it turned out to be the right thing to do. Do we rescue small businesses today? Is there enough money to do this? Yes, I've got a ton of questions, you probably do too. But answers are elusive. Seems the country wants to live in darkness. And in California we are right now.

Check your AQI - Enter your city or zip code in the box in the upper righthand corner, click on your town in the resulting list and then click on the red button that says "AQI": https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/

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Eye Songs-Songs With "Eye" In The Title-Part 2-This Week On SiriusXM

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2FomWrG

Pandora: https://bit.ly/32zeFJS

Tune in today, September 15th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

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Monday, 14 September 2020

Star Star

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/33vJbUm

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2FzS07m

"Goats Head Soup" was a disappointment. The opening cut, "Dancing With Mr. D," was not on the level of other album openers. That's where the Stones shined, can you say "Gimmie Shelter," can you say "Brown Sugar"? Then again, "Rocks Off," which kicked "Exile" off, was not superior, then again it was better than "Dancing With Mr. D" and it was followed up by the better "Rip This Joint," the ethereal "Shake Your Hips," the vastly underrated (and my favorite on the LP!) "Casino Boogie" and the album side finished with "Tumbling Dice," whereas "Dancing With Mr. D" was followed by the nearly lame, sans energy, "100 Years Ago" and then the dirgey "Coming Down Again," which sounded like everybody involved was on drugs, which they probably were, but the first side ends with the album's two keepers, my personal favorite, "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" and the classic "Angie." "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" began with Billy Preston's exquisite clavinet and then the way Mick sang "The PO-lice in New York City"...you were instantly closed. As for "Angie," can we say "Sweet Black Angel" on "Exile" was better? "Sweet Black Angel" was made by a band that didn't care what you thought, you could only peer in on their world, you wanted to get closer, whereas "Angie" was obvious.

As for the second side of "Goats Head Soup," it was Johnny Winter who made "Silver Train" famous, not that he improved on it that much, the original just sounds thin, there's no punch. But "Hide Your Love" is the second side surprise, once again Mick's vocal enchants and intrigues, the way the words are thrown off, but the secret sauce is the piano, played by Jagger himself. No one ever talks about "Hide Your Love," it's one of only two cuts on the album that doesn't get its own Wikipedia page, it never got played on the radio, but if you were a dedicated fan it got under your skin and you never burned out on it. And the next track, "Winter," was also a winner, as was track number nine, "Can You Hear The Music," with its hypnotic groove, albeit also druggy and low key, akin to "The Rain Song" on "Houses of the Holy." These three cuts in the middle of "Goats Head Soup" are the heart of the LP, they're what sustains when the rest falls away, when you tire of the rest you still want to hear these three.

But not the closer, "Star Star."

This was when the Stones were the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band, the '72 tour proved it, they lived up to the hype, they were at the apotheosis and as a result of their royal status they got endless reams of hype, which the band was good at anyway, and we could not stop hearing about this song "Star Star," only then it was referred to as "Starf*cker," back when to swear on a record was still taboo. So, we anticipated the cut, promoted for nearly a year, even though it had to be renamed "Star Star," and the result was...flat. A lame Chuck Berry-influenced cut that wouldn't make anybody erect, wouldn't get the juices flowing in the most eager of groupies. There was no bottom, no punch, as for the chorus...yes, they used the f-word, but that was about the only appeal of the track, it wasn't that it was bad, but it was a throwaway, we waited for THIS?

Now the Starmaking Machinery cannot let a dollar fall by the wayside if it's there to be had, especially if you're already a star, therefore we get unnecessary product that actually impinges on the reputation of the original. Not only is the remix of "Goats Head Soup" superfluous, it's offensive. Instead of being cohesive, certain instruments stick out that were just part of the fabric of the original. God, the music business would rewrite the Ten Commandments if it thought it would move a few more Bibles. So, who is excited about this project? NOBODY! Not one single track of the remix has a million streams on Spotify, hell, five of the ten cuts don't even reach 100,000. And except for the three "new" cuts on CD2, nothing on the rest of this three CD set even breaks six figures. Then again, this is not about streaming, but sales. To collectors. God knows why. They didn't play it to begin with, like too many Stones albums "Goats Head Soup"'s sales faded nearly immediately.

But what is funny is the last CD is live, a previously much-desired recording known as "The Brussels Affair." Funny how when something is in plain sight it's not so desirable. But this is what interested me.

Unlike today's acts, the Stones were and still are rough. Today's acts are seamless, at least those that play the arenas, they believe the audience expects it. They don't wait to warm up during the set, they deliver from the first note, but not the Stones. Having said that, I must say in this case "Brown Sugar," the concert's opener, is surprisingly good. But "Gimme Shelter" contains little of the ethereality of the original and never quite gels, but thank god it's not the dud of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" later in the set, which starts off slow and...never gets going.

So, I'm going track by track, trying to get a sense of the performance, the show. "Happy"...it's full of energy but it's ragged, Keith's vocal is shouted and substandard and if you want to give the band the benefit of the doubt you can nod your head and compliment it, but in a world where there's an unlimited amount of music available at your fingertips if you can make it through once that's enough.

And I've seen the Stones kill "Tumbling Dice." On the '75 tour at the Forum. They were rough and then they finally locked on, I'll never forget it, they found a groove that's not even extant in the original. But they didn't reach that peak here.

And then came "Star Star."

Now this is the last number I'm excited about hearing, it's hard to polish a turd, but...immediately what blasts out of the speakers is a fluid guitar sound that is straight out of the Chuck Berry canon, BUT BETTER! My attention is caught immediately, I'm just waiting for this sound to come back. But really it doesn't reappear in force until the second verse.

And it's clear, this is the secret sauce, this is MICK TAYLOR!

You can make a good case that "Beggars Banquet" is the best Stones album, it's certainly the one that takes the most risks. Despite the famous openers on both sides, the high energy "Sympathy For The Devil" and "Street Fighting Man," it's the quiet acoustic cuts that seal the deal on this masterpiece.

And for all the people who laud "Sticky Fingers," my favorite is "Let It Bleed."

Neither of these albums featured Mick Taylor, but when the axeman is firmly ensconced in the band they become the biggest in the land, the biggest on the PLANET!

Then comes "Exile." Then comes "Goats Head Soup" and "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" and Mick Taylor quits. And the band is never the same. Sure, "Some Girls" is a comeback after too much middling material, and there's an occasional great track, like "Memory Motel" off "Black and Blue," but the band never reaches the height of the Mick Taylor years ever again. They let him come out on the 50th Anniversary tour to play a few numbers and he killed and he was the highlight but now when you go to see the Stones it's about getting a notch in your belt more than the actual music, who's performing on stage.

But it wasn't only Mick Taylor, it was Jimmy Miller, who could somehow channel the Glimmer Twins, get them to focus, as soon as he worked with the band they cut "Jumpin' Jack Flash," an unexpected summer smash of '68 and he worked with the act through "Goats Head Soup."

In other words, it's the little things that make the difference. This is why you don't mess with masterpieces, why you don't try to improve art. This happens all the time in the restoration of paintings. In the name of getting rid of grit and grime the end result has none of the feel of the original. Do no damage. And the same deal with remixes. Excellence is funny. Once it's perfect, you don't want to touch it. And anybody who creates and doesn't know when to stop...is not creating A+ material. A+ material is channeled from the gods, you're in a trance and when you wake up you realize if you touch what you've created again you ruin it.

Now it's not like this live performance of "Star Star" is the best thing you've ever heard. Actually, if you just cherry-pick it you probably won't be impressed. You need to start at the top, with "Brown Sugar," and then "Star Star" will jump out at you, it's a revelation. It's live performance. When suddenly the outfit fires on all cylinders, transcends, when the whole building levitates, when you leave the rest of the world behind, when the only thing that counts is RIGHT NOW, as the mellifluous sound permeates your skin and gets you jumping.

Now if you were at this show and you were a groupie, if you had access, you'd be eager to spread your legs for some of this juice.

Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist, don't bring out the politically correct police. I just point you to this article:

"The Real Penny Lane Has a Few Things Left to Say About 'Almost Famous'": https://bit.ly/2Ro4qlo

The groupies were not "Band-Aids." And they knew what they were getting into and they were PROUD OF IT! I know, that might not be the way you want it to be, but Pamela Des Barres has made a living on her groupie exploits, she's more famous than some of the musicians she bedded.

Access. That's what we wanted back then. There was no Instagram, no social media. You never got to meet anybody, never mind get backstage.

Now the lyrics of "Star Star" make sense:

https://genius.com/The-rolling-stones-star-star-lyrics

I'm not gonna recite them here, they're too dangerous, kind of like "Stray Cat Blues," Mick Jagger is fully aware of what he's singing. Then again, this song is personal even though it was broadcast to millions. Who exactly was this woman, what exactly happened? And Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen?

And rock and roll was always about sex, and the truth is so many of the legends got into the business for this very reason, to get laid, it's the only way women would find them attractive, if they got up on stage and played music.

Not that you had to be at the venue to get moist. Maybe a dark basement. Maybe a living room after dark with all the lights turned out. Maybe even a high school dance. If the right song was played, if the performance was hot enough you'd be surprised what could transpire. Never forget, music INSPIRES!

And then "Dancing With Mr. D" swings live more than it does on wax, the band is in a groove.

And then Mick rips off "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," his vocal puts the track over the top all by itself, the backup vocals are kind of lame, but when Mick comes back in, whew!

And "Angie" is more resonant live than on "Goats Head Soup." It comes alive, full-bodied, it's human.

And just when you think the band is cruising on the edge...

It doesn't.

But that moment in "Star Star," it's such a surprise.

And if you go to see the Stones today it's the same thing. They play stadiums but at heart they're a bar band, just one with much better songs. They need a few beers, some crowd energy, to find their groove, to lock it all in, and then they turn into the World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band.

It takes cojones to risk it, to play without a net, without hard drives underpinning the whole performance. It's about capturing lightning in a bottle, that's what the great records contain, lightning, as do the great live performances. And the truth is this performance of "Star Star" is about as good a live cut from the Stones released repertoire as it gets, there have been too many of these double albums that were not memorable, many only required one play, I know, because I bought them. That's the magic of Mick Taylor...the rest of the band had to keep up with him! Yes, a star lifts the performance of the rest of the group, of the team. You're inspired to be better. Sure, Mick and Keith wrote almost all of the material, and Keith has created some cool sounds, but Mick Taylor has been almost completely forgotten. Then again, he couldn't make it without the rest of the group. But it's hard to be the new guy, no matter how long you've been involved, just ask Jason Newsted, you're nearly a hired player, you constantly get crapped on, you're not allowed into the inner sanctum populated by those who grew up together, who sweated together on the road to success.

So what we've got here is a forty seven year old relic.

Don't forget, back then you had to go to the gig to see the band. You were either there or you were not. And every night the performance evaporated when the lights came back on. You weren't sure what you'd get, something subpar or the show of your life.

And it was the rock and rollers who got the girls. No one knew who ran the bank, there was no tech, there were no billionaires.

We gave it all up for rock and roll, not only the girls.

And if you listen to this performance of "Star Star," you'll know why.

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You Don't Get To

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3kili9K

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3bVaAmC

This is the best song off Kenny Chesney's latest LP, "Here and Now."

Unfortunately by writing that sentence I've immediately turned off many of my readers. They don't care about country music, they don't care about Kenny Chesney, at best they've got time for the hits, but album tracks, no way. Or else they're the people who say their album tracks are better, the ones who e-mail you their faves, many of whom don't even bother to listen to what I've written about. But in this case they should.

"I can't say that you don't hurt me anymore"

Vulnerability. Lasts much longer than the relationship. No matter whether you were the leaver or the left, when you hear what the other person is doing...it gets to you, under the skin, in a creepy way, you can talk to others about it, but they can never get it, what happened happened between the two of you.

Not that you don't try to buck yourself up, feel good about yourself, try to mentally move on, but that's impossible, despite the celebrities who jump from relationship to relationship, those are not deep, those are not bonds, and the truth is you have to mourn what you had before you can move on.

"I haven't changed enough to make me think I'm what you're looking for"

It's hard to listen to a lot of country hits. The pandering makes you wince. To family, religion, a two-dimensional lifestyle that doesn't really exist. Or else there's the mindless hedonism. All this is the opposite of country music's heritage, which was based on authenticity, it was the pop hits that were based on sheen, whereas country went straight for the heart.

"And I can't be the fix for what you're going through
Maybe I'm not the same me, but you're still the same you"

He's telling himself she's troubled, he can't fix her, but it's taking all his strength not to try once again. He's telling her he's moved on, but in a way that's protective.

"So you don't get to know what I do with my time"

You stopped calling them. You've convinced yourself they've stopped calling you. But then the phone rings, it always happens, and they want to know how you're doing, and you want to tell them, you're dying to tell them, but you know that by revealing yourself you'll just hurt that much more thereafter.

"You don't get to say you ain't doing all right"

That comes next, after you've told a bit of your story, they unload, they tell you they miss you, they need a hit of what only you offer.

"You don't get to come around saying that you want me now
You don't get to show up with that look in your eyes
You don't get to think you can take it all back
You don't get to miss that you said we never had"

They have power over you. After all, they were the one who left you, who broke it off, and with the right tonality and the right look they can seduce you, do you have the strength to say no? And if you've moved on enough, you zing them, play their words back to them, they explained why you were not what they were looking for, but now in a pinch they want to lean on your shoulder, even maybe get back together, but you don't want them to settle, nobody wants to settle, you always want to be number one.

"Did you come back 'cause I didn't break enough
Did you hear that I was happy, you just had to mess it up"

They get to move on, start a new life, make new friends, but they expect you to stay where you were, not changing, and they can come back and plug themselves into your life like two jigsaw puzzle pieces fitting together.

"Or is it just some phase you're always going through
To want what you can't have and leave it when you do"

If they can't be happy, you can't. And if you take them back suddenly they want out again, you're never enough.

"You don't get to kiss me and make it all better
You don't get to lay it all out in a letter"

The letters are the worst, the opposite of ghosting, they're testifying in permanent ink, they're trying to convince you you're necessary after saying just the opposite.

"Blame it on something, break me like it's nothing
Just to love me back together"

Excuses. Those are the worst. Where they try to convince you it was them and you should just forgive their behavior.

"And you don't get to show up with your hair hanging down
Move a little closer like you're moving right now"

Physicality. We're all just animals under the skin. We crave the human touch. And it's familiarity we're drawn to. It's hard to hold back from the closeness, it's a magnetic effect, drawing you two together, furthermore she knows what turns you on, she's got her wiles, she knows how to close you. Turning on her sexy, yet meaningful vibe, sidling right up to you and then...
Disappearing once again.

"I don't have to understand, you don't get to give a damn"

That privileged place, being your number one, the shoulder you cry on, the one who listens to your foibles, your wants and desires, that's what you long for but that's not what you can let her be, for then it's all over, you're back where you started, you have to be strong, but can you be?

"After all you put me through, no, you don't get to
You don't, you don't, you don't, you don't get to"

He's trying to convince himself. By remembering the hell she put him through. Less the turmoil of the relationship than the pulling away and the ultimate break. If she were really to be trusted, if she really loved him, she wouldn't have done this. And there are certain behaviors you should not be able to get over, never.

"You Don't Get To" is like a country song of yore in its reverse lyrics. You have to listen closely to understand what is going on. Furthermore, the protagonist evidences the opposite of today's public persona, whether it be a celebrity or just a regular person on social media. We're always putting forth our best selves, we're shaving off our edges, our vulnerabilities, it's like we're automatons, shiny, happy and beautiful all day long, even though that's not the truth, it's not the nature of the human condition, life contains ups and downs, you can try to deny this, but you're just lying to yourself. The same day you're elated can be the same day you're depressed. You can't necessarily understand, and you look to your significant other for understanding, but too often there's no one there, and you think back to who used to be, desiring their return but knowing it just can't happen. Oh, it might happen but it won't solve your problems, you'll feel good for a bit, but then you'll be back in the same rut with the same issues, why is it when you connect with an old love you quickly remember why it didn't work?

"You Don't Get To" is the tenth of twelve tracks on "Here and Now." It's buried deep, only for dedicated listeners. But if you take the time, if you're a fan, like me, it jumps out at you. Funny, it's been the same forever. You get an album, play it, and then one track jumps out, at least when we used to have time to listen to albums, never mind over and over, when music was scarce and you went deep into the well instead of partaking at the endless smorgasbord of available music.

I like to nod my head, I even like to bang my head, I like to listen mindlessly, but the tracks that mean the most to me contain an element of truth, an element of humanity, that not only can I identify with but reaches into my soul and resonates, like the singer knows something about me nobody else does, like the singer is on my wavelength, and if I just continue to listen I can make it to the next rock as I hop down the river of life.

That's "You Don't Get To."

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