The Song For Today by Jimmie Oliver (free ebook reader for ipad TXT) 📖

the last project that Jim Morrison and his Doors completed before the lizard king's mysterious death in Paris several months later. The album has many items that deserve attention. The title track is clearly a highlight of the group's entire catalogue, while the blues of 'Been Down So Long' is equally impressive. However, the show is stolen by the final two items: 'The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)' and the marvel that is 'Riders On The Storm'. The latter includes the lashing of rainfall as a sound effect along with thunder to complement the awesome music. It was entirely fitting that the final piece on the last product of the brief but eventful career of Jim Morrison should be 'Riders On The Storm'. One witness and willing accomplice in the storm that was Morrison was an LA man, John Densmore, who drummed for one of the west coast's greatest acts. Densmore was born this day back in 1944.
{Also on this day, the people of Ukraine vote for independence from the USSR in 1991}

DECEMBER 2ND
Night Fever by The Bee Gees (1977)
from the album Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Soundtrack
I have just been privileged enough to hear this song on the radio a few hours prior to writing this. The Gibb brothers emerged from a relatively barren spell with the hits, 'How Deep Is Your Love' and 'Jive Talkin', and it was their presence on the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack that catapulted them to new heights. 'Night Fever' is one of the outstanding dance-floor tunes of pop history. Reinforced by an excellent orchestral accompaniment, this single occupied the highest perch on the Billboard chart for a mere eight weeks. British record buyers were no less impressed and helped the group return to Number One for the first time in ten years. It is the kind of item that ought to be played alone behind closed doors, whereupon the listener takes to the living room floor and moves their body accordingly. On this day in 1976, the Bee Gees played a gig at Madison Square Garden and then donated the proceeds to a fund for New York police officers.
{Also on this date, in 1988 Benazir Bhutto takes office as Pakistan's Prime Minister}

DECEMBER 3RD
Running Away by Bob Marley And The Wailers (1978)
from the album Kaya
On this date in 1976, gunmen entered the home of Bob Marley at 56 Hope Road, Kingston, in Jamaica and attempted to assassinate the reggae superstar. The singer's apparent allegiance to one of the two rival political parties may have resulted in representatives from the other warring faction trying to silence him. Rumours persisted thereafter about the identity of the culprits and their motives, but Marley escaped with minor injuries and soon appeared defiantly at the Smile Jamaica concert. Nevertheless, Marley was obliged to flee into temporary exile in London and Miami until the 'heat' of the Jamaican political climate had cooled down. Whilst abroad, the legend recorded the popular 'Exodus' and 'Kaya' albums. The latter yielded the track 'Running Away' in which the composer mocks himself for abandoning his native land. The words of this song remain powerful for any listener who is running away instead of confronting personal demons. Marley eventually returned in April 1978 in triumph, when he united Jamaica's two rival political leaders at the One Love peace concert.
{Also on this day, war erupts as India invades East Pakistan in 1971}

DECEMBER 4TH
Please Let Me Wonder by The Beach Boys (1965)
from the album The Beach Boys Today
Born this day in 1944, Dennis Wilson was the only genuine 'beach boy' in that he was the only member of America's most famous singing family who actually negotiated the waves as a surfer. 20 years later and the group were starting to slowly withdraw from their surfing sound in favour of more moody and sensitive pop songs. One example is the superb 'Please Let Me Wonder', which could have sat very comfortably amongst the assembled brilliance that was the 'Pet Sounds' album of the following year. The oldest of the Wilson brothers was Brian. He was socially gauche but musically gifted, the polar opposite of Dennis. The gift that was Brian's voice is a major blessing on this obscure gem.
{Also on this date, in 1991 the US hostage Terry Anderson is freed after 7 years in Beirut}

DECEMBER 5TH
Seven O' Clock News/Silent Night by Simon And Garfunkel (1966)
from the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme
Few recordings in popular music can attain jaw-dropping status, but this powerful piece does precisely that. Whilst the duo plough through a semi-silent version of 'Silent Night', a news announcer reveals the bad happenings that afflicted that particular day (believed to be August 3rd 1966). Mention is made of the death of the comedian Lenny Bruce from an overdose of narcotics, whilst the listener's attention is drawn to the running sore of the Vietnam War, with the yet to be disgraced Richard Nixon reportedly claiming that opposition to the conflict was the greatest single weapon working against the United States. The standout news item refers to the indictment of the serial nurse killer, Richard Speck in Chicago. Whilst Simon and Garfunkel sing "sleep in heavenly peace", the contrast with the turbulent news bulletin is very noticeable. On this day in 1991, the notorious Speck died, one day shy of his fiftieth birthday.
[Also on this day, the Argentinian military junta is dissolved in 1983}

DECEMBER 6TH
It's Over by Roy Orbison (1964)
from the album More Of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits
Today's tune is highly appropriate, given that the life of the Big O, Roy Orbison, ended on this date in 1988 in Tennessee after a massive heart attack. 'It's Over' was the second and arguably the best of Orbison's three British Number Ones of the 'sixties. The song's theme of the end of a love affair was characteristic of Orbison's subject matter from other such sad tunes as 'Crying' and 'Only The Lonely'. Orbison had been previously engaged in the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, but now at the age of fifty-two, it was indeed over for this particular Wilbury.
{Also on this date, the Altamont music festival descends into chaos in 1969]

DECEMBER 7TH
Time by Tom Waits (1985)
from the album Raindogs
The singer and songwriter Tom Waits is very much an acquired taste. Take for instance one of his major albums, 'Raindogs'. The items are an exercise in gritty realism, based on low-life characters for whom there is no happy ending. Such was the lack of sunshine in his output that he would never be regarded as 'easy listening'. For a man whose commercial appeal appeared to rest between nil and zero, Waits reaped the royalties when Rod Stewart converted 'Downtown Train' into a smash hit. A particular favourite of mine from the aforementioned long player is 'Time'. I recently chanced upon another cover of a Waits tune when the blonde chanteuse Xanda Howe completed a decent attempt at 'Time'. This day in 1949 was the 'time' when young Thomas Alan Waits appeared on planet earth for the first time, in California.
{Also on this day, in 1997 the Scottish footballer Billy Bremner dies, aged 54}

DECEMBER 8TH
Love by John Lennon (1970)
from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
If December 7th is a date of infamy in American history, then December 8th 1980 has a notoriety of its own. Late on that winter's evening when John and Yoko Lennon returned to the Dakota building in New York from the recording studio, Mark Chapman stepped forth and shot dead his hero from whom he had obtained an autograph earlier in the day. Although Lennon was no saint by any stretch of the imagination, it was incredibly ironic that the author of such anthems as 'All You Need Is Love' and 'Give Peace A Chance' should be violently gunned down. A decade earlier, John's solo debut album with his Plastic Ono Band contained memorable pieces, such as 'Working Class Hero', 'Mother', and 'God'. It is the project in which the ex-Beatle, under the influence of primal therapy, bares his soul to the world. The long player also yielded the supremely beautiful 'Love'. Armed merely with a piano and simple but effective lyrics, Lennon touches the soul. Sometimes the best songs are simple ones. Ten years later and one of the greatest icons of the 20th century was dead at the age of forty.
{Also on this date, Greek voters in 1974 choose to abolish their monarchy}

DECEMBER 9TH
I'm The Urban Spaceman by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (1968)
from the album Tadpoles
Their oddball repertoire and explorations of English eccentricity meant that it was always going to be an uphill struggle to take the Bonzos too seriously, but the outfit did have the last laugh when the Paul McCartney-produced 'I'm The Urban Spaceman' landed in the Top Five towards the end of the 'sixties. One such urban spaceman, Neil Innes, was born on this date in 1944 in Essex. Innes went on to deliver musical contributions for his buddies in Monty Python's Flying Circus, culminating in the establishment of a mock Beatles group, called the Rutles, in which Innes and Eric Idle offered their own take on Beatlemania (with George Harrison's blessing), producing such spoof efforts as 'All You Need Is Cash'. Cash was temporarily plentiful after the success of the 'urban spaceman' one-hit wonder.
{Also on this day, in 1990 Lech Walesa won the Polish Presidential election}

DECEMBER 10TH
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding (1968)
from the album The Dock Of The Bay
Here is another dark day in which 'the music died', this time for the premier soul artist, Otis Redding. Redding followed the likes of Buddy Holly, Patsy Cline, and Jim Reeves in having his life terminated by an aeroplane catastrophe, when he crashed into Lake Monona in Wisconsin, aged only 26. For those who subscribe to the theory that death can be a very good