Pink Floyd | Take It Easy

A man with blonde hair and a blue jumpsuit, holding a guitar with his foot on a higher step, dimly lit by a streetlight in an urban street

This week’s prompt for Song Lyric Sunday – one of Jim’s own, I think – is to play songs that have been preserved in the National Recording Registry. This necessitated some research! I had heard of this, but as the ‘nation’ was the USA it wasn’t something with which I was familiar. Wikipedia to the rescue: The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.” The Registry was established in 2000, and recordings have to have been made at least ten years prior to their inclusion. There is, as you might expect, a long list of entries, and it is a fascinating mix of music and other sound recordings, including for example some early efforts by Edison. There are many bands I like on the list, so my only problem was whittling it down to a manageable number. One thing that struck me was that the list isn’t just American recordings: it is sufficiently inclusive to recognise that contributions from elsewhere meet their criteria by what they have done for American cultural life. So of course I’m going with those – I’m playing three by some of the British entrants on the list.

Davis Bowie’s album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars is where I’m starting. Even that gave me a choice to make, as it is a great album with many great tracks. I’m playing my favourite:

And the lyrics:

Didn’t know what time it was, the lights were lowI leaned back on my radioSome cat was layin’ down some rock ‘n’ roll“Lotta soul, ” he saidThen the loud sound did seem to fadeCame back like a slow voice on a wave of phaseThat wasn’t no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive

There’s a starman waiting in the skyHe’d like to come and meet usBut he thinks he’d blow our mindsThere’s a starman waiting in the skyHe’s told us not to blow it‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhileHe told meLet the children lose itLet the children use itLet all the children boogie

I had to phone someone, so I picked on youHey, that’s far out, so you heard him tooSwitch on the TV, we may pick him up on channel twoLook out your window, I can see his lightIf we can sparkle, he may land tonightDon’t tell your papa or he’ll get us locked up in fright

Starman waiting in the skyHe’d like to come and meet usBut he thinks he’d blow our mindsThere’s a starman waiting in the skyHe’s told us not to blow it‘Cause he knows it’s all worthwhileHe told meLet the children lose itLet the children use itLet all the children boogie

La, la, la, la, laLa, la, la, laLa, la, la, la….

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: David Bowie

Starman lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

That was a performance on the BBC’s weekly show Top Of The Pops, which had been required viewing for me ever since it began on New Year’s Day 1964. You may have wondered who those kids were dancing like automatons in the background: it was seen as very cool to get a ticket for the show and to be featured dancing, not that many of them were much good! Starman was released as a single in April 1972, ahead of the Ziggy Stardust album which came out in June. The album peaked at #5 in the UK and #21 in the US, and has to date sold more than 1.5m copies here – a huge achievement in our market. As a single, Starman got to #10 here and #65 in the US, but it has been a steady seller over the years, currently standing at more than 1.2m UK sales. This was the time when I left school and started that year’s summer holiday job. The plan was to earn enough to set myself up with some spare cash for when I started university that October, but this was one of the albums I bought which depleted those funds a bit! It was worth it, though: I played the album to bits and still love it to this day. I saw Bowie in 1973 during his tour promoting this album and its follow up, Aladdin Sane – one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.

My second tune for today is from an album of similar vintage. It is Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, and this is my favourite from it:

The album was released in March 1973, peaking at #2 here in the UK but topping the charts in the US and Canada. It is one of the biggest selling albums of all time, with more than 45m copies worldwide. It has gone 15x Platinum in both the US and the UK, for sales of 15m and 4.5m respectively: staggering numbers! Money was released as a single in the US in May 1973, in a shortened version which took out sax and guitar solos. It got to #13, and that shortened version is the one in this promotional video. The full length version of the song is even better, though.

Unlike today’s two other songs, my final selection is in the Registry as a song in its own right, not as part of the album it was on. By any criteria this is an all time rock music classic, and it gives me the chance to play this stupendous live performance. Yes, it is a cover, and no, it doesn’t include the original band members, but the three who are still with us were the focal point of the show, and in keeping with today’s theme the performers are mostly Americans:

That was, of course, Stairway to Heaven played by two of Heart and a cast of thousands, as part of the December 2012 event at The Kennedy Centre which honoured Led Zeppelin, among others. I have played this video several times before, and have devoted a whole post to it, as it represents for me everything that is good about music, particularly the emotions and joy it can bring us. The drummer was Jason Bonham, son of the band’s late drummer John Bonham, and his interchange with Robert Plant at the beginning is down to Robert having invited him to attend the show in his father’s stead, but Jason said he had to decline as he was already booked to play a show for that evening. The sheer delight on both their faces is wonderful. The song is still one of the most recognisable rock tunes, and is one of those that has been banned in many guitar shops as the owners are fed up hearing poor attempts at its intro by customers! It was released on Led Zeppelin IV in November 1971: this has become the band’s best selling album, at over 37m copies worldwide, 24m of those in the US and 1.8m in the UK. It went to #1 in the UK and Canada, and to #2 in the US and many other countries – surprisingly, perhaps, a little low given that 24m figure!

That’s all for today. I’m grateful to Jim, as always, for hosting SLS and for introducing me to the USA’s National Recording Registry and broadening my knowledge. And I’m pleased to see that we Brits have made some contributions over the years to the cultural life of the US – I think the same can definitely be said for the reverse of that!

See you on Tuesday 😊