Category: music

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acoustic guitar Arts & Entertainment Interviews music Rock N' Roll songwriting

The Story Behind Jackson Browne’s ‘Somebody’s Baby’


Well, here we go again–another Jackson Browne song. I tried not to do it, but when no songs came flying into my head, I went to Jerry’s Guitar Bar for inspiration. And there it was–a brand new Jackson Browne lesson. I just couldn’t resist.

“Somebody’s Baby” is reminiscent of a fifties Rock and Roll song. Only, it’s much better. Like they always said on American Bandstand, “It has a good beat.” For “Somebody’s Baby, the beat is better than just “good.” The song has a driving, get-up-and-dance beat. The lyrics are also clever, as is customary for any Jackson Browne song, and the melody is captivating.

Now, here’s the rub. “Somebody’s Baby” is atypical of a Jackson Browne song. The only reason he wrote it is because his friend, Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire), asked him to write it with Danny Kotchmar for Crowe’s film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Kotchmar wrote the framework for the song, and Browne finished and recorded it for the movie.

Jackson Browne tried to distance himself from the song because he felt it was “too commercial.” But too many people liked it, and Browne eventually recorded the hit song on one of his albums. Here’s the man himself playing the song.

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Arts & Entertainment Interviews issues life music

The Pretender: Dreams Versus the Monotony of Compromise


This song is about a man who gives up his dreams to live a life of routine monotony due to the crushing necessity of earning a living.

In a 1997 interview with Mojo magazine, Browne said of this song: “I’m a big fan of ambiguity and its bountiful rewards, and ‘The Pretender’ is two things at once. It’s that person in all of us that has a higher ideal, and the part that has settled for compromise, like Truffaut says, there’s the movie you set out to make, and there’s the one you settle for. But in a more serious sense, ‘The Pretender’ is about 1960s idealism —the idea that life is about love, brotherhood, justice, social change, and enlightenment. These concepts were prevalent as our generation reached its stride, and later, we settled for something quite different. So when I say ‘Say a prayer for The Pretender,’ I’m talking about those people who are trying to convince themselves that there really was nothing to that idealism.” (excerpt from an article by SongFacts.com)

The boldface type is about a lyric in the song I could relate to most, since I lived through that period: “I want to know what became of the changes we waited for love to bring. Were they only the fitful dreams of some greater awakening?”

Here’s my cover of “The Pretender.”

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acoustic guitar artist profiles Arts & Entertainment folk guitar folk music Folk Song Covers music

An Insight Into Jackson Brown’s Unique Music


Jackson Browne’s guitar techniques, lyrics, and melodies stand apart from the crowd. What he says through his music is sometimes searing, sad, and occasionally, happy. However, all of Browne’s songs have something in common: an incredible sensitivity and beauty.

Browne wrote “These Days” when he was only sixteen years old. Despite his youth, Browne demonstrated a keen sense of heartbreak. I’m not sure how a sixteen-year-old could feel the depth of emotion and remorse expressed in this song. If we assume Jackson experienced and gave voice to the words and tone of “These Days,” then he was wise beyond his years and deeply rooted in himself from early on.

The song had its first release when a protégé of Andy Warhol named Nico picked it up on her “Chelsea Girl” album. Brown played acoustic guitar in the background. “These Days” gained wider recognition when several artists subsequently covered it.

Brown eventually released his version of the song in 1973 on the album “For Everyman.” He rewrote “These Days” to make it more optimistic. In his own words, Jackson remembers, “Over the rest of my teenage years and into my 20s, I developed a kind of optimism, a kind of resoluteness, so I changed [one verse] to: ‘I’ll keep on moving, keep improving.’ That’s more to me what life is made of, the idea that I’ll get through this, I’ll continue looking.”

I’ve always wanted to play this song the way Jackson Browne does. Thanks to my friend Jerry Lambert, I can now do it. Here’s my cover.

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Arts & Entertainment folk guitar music relationships

The Story Behind Bob Dylan’s “Girl From The North Country”


“Girl From The North Country” is another one of those songs that popped into my head from out of nowhere. I can’t decide if it’s a message from the Beyond or just a little piece of my subconscious rising like a sunspot from the deep layers of my skin with aging. Whatever the case, “Girl From The North Country” is one of Dylan’s earliest recorded songs, written in England in 1961 and released in 1963. Listening to it now, I find the ballad enchanting.

As a young adult, I followed Dylan’s work tangentially only because it was prominent in the mainstream. Lately, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for Dylan’s music and the man himself. I’ve covered several Dylan songs in this blog, including “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “My Back Pages,” and now this one.

“Girl From The North Country” is a beautiful ballad recounting a lost love. Many believe the woman in the song is Suze Rotolo. At the time, Dylan had just dropped out of college to pursue his musical career in New York City. Rotolo had just graduated from high school and entered the Greenwich Village folk scene. Their first meeting took place at the First Riverside Church concert in New York City. Dylan described the meeting in his memoir: “Cupid’s arrow had whistled past my ears before, but this time it hit me in the heart, and the weight of it dragged me overboard.”

Eventually, the couple lived together in Greenwich Village and then grew apart when Dylan went to England, and Rotolo went to Italy to continue her education.

After some time passed, Dylan went to Italy to find Retolo. At the same time, Rotolo returned to New York City. The couple finally reunited and lived in Dylan’s apartment until their final breakup.

The album cover of Dylan’s second album, Freewheeling, features Dylan and Rotolo walking arm in arm down a Greenwich Village street.

Here’s my cover.

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acoustic guitar Arts & Entertainment current events music Politics

The Political Impact of Paul Simon’s Music


Born to Jewish Hungarian parents in Brooklyn in 1941, Paul Simon grew up to be one of the foremost musicians of our time. He is best known for his albums with childhood friend Art Garfunkle, but I believe Simon’s solo work is where he really shines.

“American Tune” is a fine example. With its melody, guitar picking, lyrics, and overall artistry, the song comes together as a masterpiece. “American Tune” expresses the recording artist’s political disappointment in the early nineteen-seventies. The nineteen-sixties bloom of racial equality, love, and peace had already blossomed and faded.

While my favorite recording artists continued to produce heartfelt, meaningful, and exquisitely beautiful folk and folk rock music, America’s social and political evolution stalled. With the election of President Richard Nixon in 1972, the glowing hope and ideals of the prior decade receded into the background.

Paul Simon artfully captures the undercurrents of this period in this remarkable song. Despite its melancholy tone, I am deeply moved by the beauty of the words and music.

“American Tune” popped into my head unexpectedly and without warning. It literally came “from out of nowhere.” I think it did because we are about to take another evolutionary backward step under the Trump administration.

Please enjoy my cover of Paul Simon’s moving song.

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acoustic guitar Arts & Entertainment inspiration music

The Uplifting Legacy of Nanci Griffith’s ‘Once in a Very Blue Moon’


Nanci Griffith introduced her third album with its title song, “Once in a Very Blue Moon,” on the Austin City Limits TV show in 1984. She sang to a live audience with her typically bold and beautiful voice, which continues to endear this singer/songwriter to millions of people around the world after her passing.

This poignant song could easily sound sad, but not the way Nanci performs it. With her crystal-clear voice, it actually sounds uplifting. A quality comes through Griffith’s songs. It sounds to me like “nothing will ever get me down.” I’m sure Ms. Griffith endured many hardships and obstacles in her life, but she always came out on top. I dedicate my cover to the memory of this inspiring woman.

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acoustic guitar Arts & Entertainment folk music inspiration music

The Incredible String Band: Cover of “Painting Box”


The Incredible String Band burst onto the folk music scene in 1966 with the release of their first album, aptly named “The Incredible String Band.” As an avid lover and consumer of folk, I had never heard anything like their songs. The band started out as a trio composed of Clive Palmer, Robin Williamson, and Mike Heron. Williamson and Heron composed most of ISB’s music. Palmer eventually dropped out, replaced by other musicians and the girlfriends of Williamson and Heron.

Signed by Electra Records, the group produced seven albums for the label, most notably their first four, which included “The Five Hundred Spirits or the Layers of the Onion” and “The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter.”

Through intermittent tours and appearances at prestigious venues like the Albert Hall, The Incredible String Band gained worldwide fans and international recognition from their humble beginnings in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Listen to Mike Heron’s lilting, whimsical “Painting Box” to get a sense of The Incredible String Band’s multifaceted musical range. Here’s my cover.

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acoustic guitar artists Arts & Entertainment music

Acoustic Guitar Cover of Bob Seeger’s “Against the Wind”


“Against the Wind” is regarded as one of Bob Seeger’s best songs. The lyrics are replete with the songwriter’s reflections on his youth, past relationships, and music career. The metaphor of running against the wind came from Seeger’s high school days, where he ran on the track team.

Seeger created his eleventh album, “Against the Wind,” intending to record hit songs. In other words, the artist wasn’t overly concerned with aesthetics. He wanted to make a commercially viable collection of songs, leaving it up to Capitol Records which ones to release as singles. Along with his Silver Bullet Band, Seeger certainly succeeded.

“Against the Wind” has been described as a bittersweet cross between country and rock music. The song holds an attraction for me as I look back on my life from the perspective of a 75-year-old. I’ve published eleven novels and recorded innumerable songs. Has any of it made a positive and significant impact on the world? Perhaps in a very small sense, the answer is “yes.” But the results have been far below my expectations.

I’m sure we are all, in one sense or another, running against the wind. There are things we turn away from that must be confronted. There are obstacles we must overcome if we are to move forward. Seeger ends this song with a determination to keep running against the wind no matter what it takes. I offer my cover in the same spirit.

Recorded with Audacity software–Absolutely the best free recording software out there.

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artists Arts & Entertainment music songwriting

Acoustic Guitar Cover: Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”


John Fogerty

John Fogerty wrote this song, in part, for his son, Josh. Josh was three years old at the time, and John could barely wait for his son to hear him sing the song on the radio, especially the part that goes: “Doot doot doo lookin’ out my back door.”

In the song’s chorus, a passing parade is mentioned. Fogerty says the lyric is inspired by a Dr. Seuss book he read as a child, “To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street.”

Some people say the lyric “Won’t you take a ride on the flying spoon” is a reference to cocaine or heroin. Fogrety vehemently denies this. He discouraged drug use by any of his band members, saying drugs interfered with their music and their jobs.

Credence Clearwater Revival gained prominence in the late 1960’s. The band split up acrimoniously in 1972. John Fogerty is still performing as of this writing.

Here’s my cover of this fun song.

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acoustic guitar artists Arts & Entertainment music

A Beautiful Ode to Life: “Silent Sunlight”


Cat Stevens ( Yusuf Islam) has never publicly said what this song is about, so we are left to offer our own interpretations.

When I read the lyrics, I get a picture of a farmer of indiscriminate age waking up at the crack of dawn and looking out through a window at his fields. At the very instant when the sun rises, there is barely sound. Our farmer reflects back on his youth and how it felt every day to awaken with a song in his heart and the dreams he envisioned to pursue.

The last refrain floated into my head from out of nowhere:

“There’ll be the evening,

In the end,

But ’till that time arrives,

You can rest your eyes,

And begin again.”

The lyrics are beautiful and express the child-like innocence found in many of Cat Stevens’ songs. I interpret this last refrain to mean: Take advantage of and be grateful for every moment you are alive.

Here’s my cover.