I knew this theme would lead to a very difficult selection process for me. There are just too many songs to choose from. I had to settle for the sounds that echoed through my house while I was growing up. I had many brothers and their taste was a bit hippyish. I remember they had their BDCY meetups once a week upstairs in their room with all their gang members and I could always hear some choice cuts drifting down the stairs along with the waft of wacky tobacco.
I supposed they helped form my taste in music and every time I hear these songs it brings me right back to those Wonder years. These songs are like the wallpaper of my formative years. When I hear them now, to be honest, I can't imagine a world without them. They were some natural phenomena that I am sure everyone can relate to.
Wish you were here by Pink Floyd
This whole album is amazing but the title track and its guitar riff has always had me wanting to learn the guitar. I have tried once or twice and could get the chords but my clumsy fingers butchered it. Sometimes it is best to leave certain things to the professional.
What I most like about Floyd is that they never seem to be in a hurry. If a track it 5 minutes that's cool but if it takes 15 minutes to tell the story of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, so be it.
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin
I am sure people who work in guitar shops hate this song. It seemed that there was always some long hair adolescent trying out guitars using this for a sound check. Like an opera in a song, it has several movements but we are here for just the acoustic. Which is sublime,
I wrote in my last post on my blog about how I am not a big fan of the electric guitar. The post was about Jimi Hendrix who for me was the master of the electric. I usually lose interest in Stairway to heaven when it starts getting heavy. Maybe that is just me.
Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
I noticed that @blanchy featured Paul Simon a few weeks back. He and Garfunkel are two that always bring me back to my childhood. Their music is beautiful but under the hood, there is a sadness that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe that is why it feels so full of emotion. It is like there is a contradiction in theme and music.
I went for this version of the song because we get to see Simons's wonderful guitar work and how they both still have fantastic harmonies after all these years.
Meant to be
It was a hard choice to make this week. I can't imagine a world where these songs don't exist. I know a piece of music is just the stringing together of certain notes that we all have access to but the way these musicians strung them together sounds like they just picked these riffs out of the air. Like they were always there.
Bonus Track
Well since I mentioned my brothers I have to say something about my sister's influence on my musical taste. There was some crossover but they would also be listening to Abba who most of my brothers didn't know what all the fuss was about.
Chiquitita by Abba
I'll leave you with this track, again starting with a simple guitar riff and building to a sound with lots of giddy-up. The video also has a snowman which is always good in my book.
Be sure to check out my post about Jimi Henrik. Happy Tuesday.