I'll Show You My "Savage Breast," If You Show Me Yours

An old saying claims that ‘Music has charms to soothe the savage breast.’

Personally I’ve never been around a savage breast, but I have seen photos of them in some old National Geographic magazines when I was a kid. (Don’t judge me! I was a lonely fat kid.)

And speaking of music, I have a little musical quiz for you today.

Okay, see if you can guess what this song is:

Dum diddy dum dum, dum dee dee dum dee dum.
Dum dee di dum dum, dum dee dee dum dee dum
Doo dee di dum da dee, did dee di di dee dum.
Dum do da dood diz, di da day diddy do.

Well? Did you guess it?

I know, it’s almost too easy!

For those that didn’t get it, it’s…..

....wait for it.....

“Nights In White Satin” by the Moody Blues.

Oh yeah….I can see a lot of facepalming going on out there now. Don’t worry. I know some of you probably live in areas where classic rock music goes against God’s wishes isn’t available or is outlawed by the town council.  I bet if you talk to the Reverend and state your case that might change.  But I digress.

If you hadn’t guessed, in a bit of a departure for me (I know, another one!) I am taking this blog in a decidedly musical direction and sharing with you some of the musicians and bands that make my heart go “sklurg sklurg ziggety tik brepibsty.”

I know, weird huh? I am having it checked out by a cardiologist.

Anyway, this is all courtesy of my good friend and bloggy buddy Tom at Reinvention: The Journal of a Dog-Lover, Book-Reader, Moviegoer, and Writer who tagged me with a musical meme. In accordance with said meme there are a series of 15 questions concerning my musical interests that I have to respond to.

It is not an easy meme. Some of the questions really make you think. And I am woefully out of practice in that regard. Nonetheless, I will attempt to answer the best that I can. If anyone else would like to pick up this meme and share your answers with the rest of us that would be really cool.

But first I have to tell you that despite having a varied or eclectic taste in many types of music, I do not care for or listen to country music. I know many of you, especially those of you in the South, are probably stunned by this, but it’s true. And no, I don’t listen to western music either. No country and western at all. I grew up in a household where “Hee Haw,” a weekly country music program hosted by Buck Owens and Roy Clark, blared out of the television every Saturday.  As a small child, what chance did I have but to sit through it and suffer in silence?

Thankfully, most of the brain cells grew back.

A wonderful comedian and actor, Bob Newhart, once said "I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.' " For those of you country music fans, please don’t feel slighted. I don’t like NASCAR either, so you see it’s really my problem. Please feel free to post your own music meme and list your favorite country singers and groups.

So let’s get on with it!

1. Open up your iTunes, music player, spin the CD, whatever, hit shuffle and tell us what is the first song to play? I did a shuffle on my mp3 player and the song that popped up was “The Needle And The Damage Done” by Neil Young.

2. Name your top five favorite bands/musicians of all time. This was really a lot harder than you think because I think they change for me almost weekly, but here goes:

1. The Beatles
2. Ray Charles
3. Stevie Wonder
4. Pink Floyd
5. Chris Botti

3. What was your first CD to own? (or 8 track, record, cassette, or mp3 for the newbies) The first ever recorded music I ever had was an album and I bought it with my money. It was “The Stranger” by Billy Joel. (My second was “52nd Street”, also by Billy Joel. Yeah, pianos rock!)

4. Of all the bands/artists in your cd/record collection, which one do you own the most albums by? It was close, but my Beatles cd’s just barely edged out my Herbie Hancock and Diana Krall cd’s.

5. What was the last song you listened to? It was “Stronger” by Kanye West. I had it on my mp3 player as I worked out at the gym. If you haven’t tried it, it’s a great song for running on the treadmill!

6. What song would you say sums you up? Sadly, I would have to say it is “Still Crazy After All These Years” by Paul Simon. For obvious reasons.

7. What’s your favorite local band or band that originated from your hometown/local area? This wasn’t an easy choice as there are literally dozens of great bands from the S.F. Bay Area (Grateful Dead, CCR, Journey, Jefferson Airplane, Steve Miller, Huey Lewis & The News, etc.) but I would have to say my favorite band from this area is Santana.

8. What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever been to? There have been many at some great venues, but I would have to say without a doubt that The Who at the Alameda County Stadium in Oakland is probably the one concert that I will never forget.

9. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day? Another really tough one! I’d like to pick the brains of so many (ie. David Byrne, Michael Stipes, Neil Diamond, David Bowie, etc.) to find out where they got their inspiration and hear their stories of the road and stuff like that, but if I had to limit it to one person then I think I would choose Eric Clapton. And maybe we could even jam. Don’t laugh. You haven’t heard me on Kazoo yet.

10. What was the greatest decade for music? Not even close. The sixties!  Groovy, baby, yeah!

11. What is your favorite movie soundtrack? This was a really hard choice because there are some good ones out there that have great songs that bring back lots of cool memories (“Forrest Gump,” The Big Chill,” “The Graduate,” “American Graffiti,” etc.) but I chose “What Women Want.” I know it might seem strange to my peers, who like me grew up amid disco and groups like Aerosmith, but nobody exudes cool like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr.

12. What’s the most awful cd/record/etc. you’ve ever bought? Okay, in my defense, it was in the clearance bin marked down to next to nothing and it looked interesting. It is a parody band of the Beatles starring Eric Idle of Monty Python fame. The band is called the Rutles. The music is not really bad, but parodying the Beatles just seems so…I don’t know…sacrilegious!



13. What’s your favorite band t-shirt or poster? This was a tough one because I really liked the art from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, but I have to give credit where credit is due and acknowledge the pure artistry of the Grateful Dead.

14. Rolling Stones or The Beatles? Seriously? Everyone knows when it comes to this question that the real deal has to be The Beatles! While the Rolling Stones are a more rockin’ band, I have to pick the Fab Four because their music was transcendent and the finest ever created, in my humble opinion.

15. What is the one song you would most like played on your birthday? While on a romantic date? And finally what song would you like played at your funeral? For my birthday I would say “Birthday” by The Beatles. For a romantic date I would pick “Something” by The Beatles. (Are you sensing a trend here? Can’t help it…they rock!)  As for my funeral, I think I would like Frank Sinatra’s classic “My Way” to be my swan song.

(Rejected ideas: “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen, “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees, “Happy Trails” by Van Halen and “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC.)

And anyone who tries to sneak in “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” will be dealt with harshly in the next life.