Jimmy Ruffin

I wanted to be sure to note the death of soul singer Jimmy Ruffin on Monday. The older brother of Temptations singer David Ruffin certainly wasn’t one of Motown’s biggest songs, but he did record “What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted”, one of the greatest Motown singles ever.

#7 Canadian Railroad Trilogy -- Gordon Lightfoot (1967)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzo6Otpgj-E

This song is the masterpiece of Lightfoot’s illustrious career, which is certainly not damning with faint praise. The song was actually commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) for a special New Year’s Day broadcast kicking off Canada’s centennial year. It’s an extremely ambitious work, with three distinct parts (hence the “Trilogy” in the title), with the initial two reprised at the end. Starting with the opening line – “There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run” – Lightfoot describes the majestic beauty of his native land, the excitement of its growth and development, and the promise that the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad would bring. Many might have stopped there, leaving things in a feel-good, heart-warming bowl of mush. Gordon, however, spends much of the song recognizing and celebrating those who were on the front lines of the operation, and shying away from neither the physical (“Swingin' our hammers in the bright blazin' sun … bendin' our backs till the long days are done”) nor emotional (“Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping beyond the dark oceans in a place far away”) costs. And I don’t think anyone else would have ended a commissioned song for a government agency with the line “Many are the dead men, too silent to be real.”

With apologies to Little Feat, Warren Zevon, Steve Goodman, and many others, this one gets my vote for the best train song of all time.

#8 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' -- The Righteous Brothers (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbg1gkWb0Wo

Phil Spector may not be the world’s most saintly human being, but he certainly could produce great records, and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil could write great songs. Put them together and add the Righteous Brothers to the mix, and you have one of the all-time classics of the rock era. The Righteous Brothers had a few other great tracks during the year or so they spent with Spector, and did some nice work afterwards, but they never surpassed this one; they own the song to such an extent that it makes the 1980 Hall & Oates remake, along with every other version ever recorded, completely and utterly gratuitous.

Serendipity #26

1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Richard Thompson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5V0RkCIaXo

Heard 11/13/2014 around 6:00, at Potbelly (Rockville)

The Chad Mitchell Trio and Friends: The Farewell Concert, Bethesda Blues & Jazz Club, 11/15/2014

The Chad Mitchell Trio was one of the better-known groups of the late-fifties-early-sixties folk music revival, although they never achieved the crossover success that was enjoyed by The Kingston Trio or Peter, Paul and Mary. (They actually recorded “Blowing In The Wind” before PP&M did, but their record company didn’t want to release it, and the rest is history.) The current incarnation includes original members Chad Mitchell and Mike Kobluk, who alternated on lead vocals, along with Ron Greenstein. There’s a lot of biographical material on their web site, and a nice third-party take on their career by MTV.

The show was, in a word, wonderful. They did a nice mix of material, and the voices of Chad and Mike are amazing for anyone, much less for a couple of guys born in the 1930s. The set list, which I believe I have correct, is below. After they finally left the stage, the organizers ran some video highlights of their career, after which all of the evening’s musicians came back on stage to send everyone home with “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream”.

Note that this was actually only their penultimate performance; they will be doing their “Farewell At Sea” on a Traveling Troubadour cruise in March. 

Chad Mitchell Trio set list:

1. Mighty Day
2. My Name Is Morgan
3. Alma Mater
4. Four Strong Winds
5. Blowing In The Wind
6. The Tarriers Song
7. The Whistling Gypsy
8. The Sinking Of The Reuben James
9. What Did You Learn In School Today
10. Business Goes On As Usual / Johnnie (my personal favorite)
11. Vaichazkem
12. Unfortunate Man
13. Tell Old Bill
14. James James Morrison Morrison
15. Lizzie Borden
16. The Marvelous Toy 

Three acts opened the evening. CMT contemporaries The Gaslight Singers started things off with two songs, followed by local duo Side by Side, who did a well-received seven-song set, highlighted by a couple numbers I hadn’t heard them do before (Donovan’s “Catch The Wind” and Del Shannon’s “Runaway”). Tom Paxton then wowed most of the crowd with a ten-song performance including the classics “The Last Thing On My Mind” and “Ramblin’ Boy”.

This was our first trip to the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club, which is the latest reincarnation of the old Bethesda Theater. There is still some theater-style seating in the rear, along with a bar, although the front two-thirds or so is filled with tables, most of which seemed to accommodate four people. You can take the “filled” literally, as the tables were placed so close together that getting in and out was quite a challenge. Fortunately the sound was good, as was the food (we tried the seared grouper and stuffed chicken breast), although at $24-26 the entrees were more expensive than at other venues we’ve visited recently.

#9 A Change Is Gonna Come -- Sam Cooke (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs

This classic civil rights anthem, which wasn’t released as a single until a few weeks after Cooke’s untimely death in December of 1964, is in the National Recording Registry maintained by the Library of Congress. It’s also been recognized as one of the greatest songs of all time by NPR and Rolling Stone magazine, and is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Hard to believe, then, that RCA Victor threw it out there as the B-side of the record (“Shake” was the A-side), and it only reached a modest #31 on the Hot 100.

Serendipity #25

Unchain My Heart – Ray Charles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp_bI2vU7dE

Heard 11/10/2014 around noon, at Zoe’s Kitchen (Kentlands)

Stevie Wonder “Songs in the Key of Life” Tour, Verizon Center, 11/9/2014

The legendary Stevie Wonder doesn’t tour all that often, and I had never seen him live, so it was a no-brainer to get tickets for the Washington stop of his latest tour, which was dedicated to performing the entirety of his Songs in the Key of Life album. The three seats we wound up getting (Section 211, Row L, 10-12) turned out to be not bad at all. They were relatively far back (right side facing the stage, probably at around what would be the far goal line for hockey), but at the end of a row, with an unobstructed view of the stage and video screen, and in the last row of the section, so we could stand up at will without having any guilt feelings about blocking anyone else. Getting in and through security didn’t take all that long, and even the Metro on the way home was surprisingly uncrowded, especially since the concert appeared to be sold out. 

Needless to say, the show (which ran close to 3 hours) was fantastic. Wonder started by joking about “losing his voice” and having to cancel the show, and gave special thanks to band members Greg Phillinganes and Nathan Watt, both of whom were also on the original recording. He and his large cast of musicians (including horns, a string section, and backup singers) launched into “Love’s in Need of Love Today”, which is the first track of Side 1 of the album. The crew then moved through Sides 1 and 2 of the first record in the set, winding up with the first two songs from the 4-track bonus EP, “Saturn” and “Ebony Eyes”. After intermission, they resumed with the crowd favorite “Isn’t She Lovely”, where Wonder featured his now grown-up daughter and backup singer Aisha Morris, who inspired (and appears, as a baby, on the original). After finishing up Side 3 (the first side of the second full-length record in the set), Wonder wisely chose to do the two remaining songs from the EP (“All Day Sucker” and the instrumental “Easy Goin’ Evening”) before moving on to the final side, concluding with the favorites “As” (which I’m still puzzled was not titled “Always”) and the driving “Another Star”, which fortunately was long enough to give Wonder time to introduce all the numerous members of his backup ensemble. After the lengthy standing ovation had died down, he teased the crowd by playing the first few bars of “Do I Do” and “Master Blaster” before sending everyone home happy with a full performance (and crowd singalong) of “Superstition”. 

Stevie alternated between keyboards, standup vocals, and harmonica throughout the evening, and seemed to be in fine voice throughout, despite his joking around at the beginning. Highlights included several appearances by special guest India.Arie (in a variety of colorful outfits), and the one-two punch of his #1 hits “Sir Duke” and “I Wish” near the beginning.

#10 Brian Wilson -- Barenaked Ladies (1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zsxbB8WS8

Semi-biographical ode to the troubled musical genius of the Beach Boys – great enough that Brian Wilson himself started doing a cover version of the song in concert. I don’t often listen to the Washington rock station (DC 101), but for some reason I had it on one night in the late 1990s and they played the live version of this from BNL’s Rock Spectacle album. This is definitely one of those songs where the live version far exceeds the original studio recording, so much so that it’s the version that the band included on their best-of compilation.

Serendipity #24

Silver Lining – Rilo Kiley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVtSSCzASR0

Heard 11/5/2014 around 12:15, at Boston Market (White Oak)