#52: "He doesn't need the spotlight. He just glows."

[Couch Tomato]

Strummer that was beautiful.

I just heard twitter is overwhelmed as well.

[Scarlett]

Strummer that was beautiful.

Yes it was. Thanks, strummer! Glad to see you posting again.

Couchie, I meant to say this earlier -- Yay for the Storm and couchienephew!!!

[Couch Tomato]

Thanks Scarlett..and I think you might enjoy this tidbit. Well first of all when he came over this morning he was still wearing his Storm jersey. But when I go over this evening to celebrate my niece's 7th birthday -- what do I find the 10 year old little league champ doing? KNITTING!! He loves it. He's making a blanket. LOL. I love that kid.

[Scarlett]

he came over this morning he was still wearing his Storm jersey. But when I go over this evening to celebrate my niece's 7th birthday -- what do I find the 10 year old little league champ doing? KNITTING!! He loves it. He's making a blanket. LOL. I love that kid.

Your nephew is one amazing kid! He'll surely be successful in life, whatever he chooses to do!!!

Didn't address the book 'report' earlier because I was trying to pretend I didn't see it. I know that during droughts everyone is eager to share whatever news is available. However, I feel that we're doing ourselves a disservice by getting into all the twisted processes through which a product goes in order to reach us. To paraphrase a well-known saying, if I had to watch them being made I probably would never eat sausages nor obey the law.

'course if it were Clay making the sausages or trying to lay down the law, it'd be a completely different story! *congratulates self for managing to work 'Clay', 'sausages' and 'lay' into a valid sentence*

[lilyshine]

True confessions time. I never listened to pop music in the 80s (or 70s or 90s). I wouldn't recognize a Michael Jackson song if it bit me. I only know Clay's versions.

Your stories about his music and some of the news reporting (non-smarmy type) have moved me. I feel as if I missed a bit of history. I could have been living on the other side of the moon, for all I know about pop culture.

Couchie, your nephew sounds like my son. When I owned a needlework shop, as a 10yr. old, he would help customers with needlepoint or cross stitch problems if I were busy!

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

113 Days until The BAF Gala!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[luckiest1]

I loved the song Ben, because I had rats as pets. We called one Ben in honour of the song. My dad was allergic to cats and dogs so we had a series of rats (seeing as how they only live 3 years on average). When I got married, I had the photographer take a picture of me in my wedding dress, holding my rat.

As for Michael Jackson, I loved his duets with Paul McCartney. I love the video to Say Say Say, it's so much fun. I love The Girl Is Mine. I was thrilled when Clay and Ruben covered it. I was shocked to hear the news yesterday.....he just seemed far too young to die. I'm sorry that he will not see his come back, because I'm sure it would have been very successful for him. I have not turned on the TV or radio because I don't want to hear all the garbage they are probably saying. Sure he was a strange man, but we all know not to believe everything we hear. I give him the benefit of the doubt.

I have been up off and on all night with a sick puppy dog. She got into something at the park yesterday and has been throwing up, and is very lethargic. I think I'm going to call the vet when it opens and see if they can fit her in today, to ease my mind. In the meantime, I need to get to work. Ugh. TGIF people!

[ldyjocelyn]

I saw this tribute piece to Michael from NPR this morning, and I thought it the best of all I've read so far.

It's also interesting to turn on both MTV and VH1 this morning and watch his old videos. Who knew they showed videos?

to strummer....

I totally forgot as well to congratulate couchie's nephew and family (especially the proud aunt!)!

Oh, and jmh -- so much WORD to your last post.

[aikim]

I never turn the TV on anyway...unless Clay has an appearance on one of the morning shows, but I actually considered it this morning and then decided it was too much like stopping to gawk at an accident.

I watched a couple of videos last night...I think I prefer to remember him in his prime. Watching those videos, I am actually a little glad those London concerts didn't happen...not sure if he could really capture what was.

Kim

[merrieeee]

Again I am home waiting on the electrician and I have not turned the tv on either. Don't want to see the circus I guess.

I am actually a little glad those London concerts didn't happen...not sure if he could really capture what was.

I saw Frank Sinatra at the end of his career with my MIL. She was thrilled because she remembered him "when"! I was not impressed at all. He had to read a teleprompter for My Way and even then didn't get the words right. He was just old. She was a huge fan of his and this was her first time to see him live. She was so happy at the end of the night but for me it was meh!

Will we be like that with Clay?

[aikim]

Again I am home waiting on the electrician and I have not turned the tv on either. Don't want to see the circus I guess.

I am actually a little glad those London concerts didn't happen...not sure if he could really capture what was.

I saw Frank Sinatra at the end of his career with my MIL. She was thrilled because she remembered him "when"! I was not impressed at all. He had to read a teleprompter for My Way and even then didn't get the words right. He was just old. She was a huge fan of his and this was her first time to see him live. She was so happy at the end of the night but for me it was meh!

Will we be like that with Clay?

I have thought about that; the idea of a 50 0r 60 year-old Clay singing "Invisible" just sounds creepy to me. I have a problem with celebrities, whether it be an actor, singer or athlete trying to re-capture their hey day...sometimes it is better to just bow out gracefully.

Kim

[djs111]

oops

[SueReu]

Liney23 I just saw your post (actually, I saw it earlier but just couldn't get past that picture of Clay in the black leather jacket, also one of my favorites!!)

Thank you for the welcome and thank you about the montages!! I'm going to try to post more often (fair warning all).

My DH saw Roy Orbison right before he passed away. While he was not at his peak (that would be Roy, not my husband) my DH was so thankful he got to see him. I think if you truly love someone, age doesn't matter. I think sometimes you sit there and relive the past. While I have zero desire to go see The Rolling Stones, I can understand people wanting to see them to try to recapture that special something.

When Bruce Springsteen performed this year at the Super Bowl, my eyes didn't see a 60 year old man, my eyes saw the same performer who I had the pleasure of seeing in 1978, in a 3,000 seat venue, about 10 rows back back from the stage (and I've seen him many times since, but that one just holds a special place in my heart).

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll be around when Clay's 50 or 60 and still touring (it's a sad sad situation), but if I AM I'm sure I'll be right there and enjoying every second of it (plus the fact I've never seen him perform Invisible live)

[keepingfaith]

This is kind of long, but I thought it was interesting and I've done some editing of the narrative ... NPR's list of the 100 most important American musical recordings of the 20th Century (alphabetically):

"Adagio for Strings"

Samuel Barber wrote this classical piece for string quartet, and it was first performed in 1938. Now a standard short piece for orchestra, "Adagio for Strings" endures in part due to its appearance in two well-known film soundtracks -- Platoon and The Elephant Man.

"Ain't That a Shame"

New Orleans rhythm & blues piano legend Fats Domino.

"Alexander's Ragtime Band"

Irving Berlin tune that launched the era of American popular song.

"All or Nothing At All"

Frank Sinatra's version of this heartfelt ballad was actually a commercial flop when first released in 1939, selling fewer than 8,000 copies.

"Appalachian Spring"

Aaron Copland once confessed that his famous composition -- written for a Martha Graham ballet -- really had very little to do with Appalachia or spring. Many critics contend it is his best work and arguably the best dance composition ever created by an American composer.

"As Time Goes By"

Unforgettable ballad, written by a 26-year-old Tin Pan Alley writer named Herman Hupfeld in 1931, and made famous by its central role in the 1942 film Casablanca.

"Back in the Saddle Again"

The tune that became "Singing Cowboy" Gene Autry’s theme song.

"Blowin' in the Wind"

Dylan's anthem of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 60's.

"Blue Moon of Kentucky"

Bill Monroe first recorded this hit in 1946.

"Blue Suede Shoes"

Carl Perkins song developed a mutating life of its own as the first million-selling, triple-play crossover that moved from the top of the country charts to those of rhythm & blues, and then pop.

"Body and Soul"

Coleman Hawkins recorded "Body and Soul" in 1939, it instantly became one of jazz's most influential performances.

Born to Run (Album)

The seminal 1975 Bruce Springsteen album. The title track took the 24-year-old Springsteen six months to write and at the time, he described it as his "shot at the title."

A Chorus Line (Musical)

This 1975 show changed the course of musical theater by dispensing with elaborate sets, costumes, and big stars, and involving a gritty element of realism previously absent on Broadway.

"Coal Miner's Daughter"

Loretta Lynn's remembrance of her Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, upbringing.

"Crazy"

This 1961 hit, written by Willie Nelson and sung by Patsy Cline, is the number one jukebox single of all time.

"Django"

Jazz classic written by pianist John Lewis, leader of The Modern Jazz Quartet. Lewis wrote the tune as a tribute to the late gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt.

"Dream a Little Dream of Me"

The 1968 recording of this song by Cass Elliot and The Mamas and the Papas sold nearly 7 million copies nearly forty years after its composition by two little-known musicians.

Drumming

Composed by Steve Reich in 1971, this work is considered a masterpiece of minimalism -- a musical genre that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and is best described as stripping music down to its most basic elements, like a tone or a pulse, and then reworking it altogether through the repetition and overlapping of that single motif.

Fiddler on the Roof (Musical)

Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wrote the lyrics and music for Fiddler on the Roof, which hit Broadway in September 1964.

"Fine and Mellow"

CBS's 1957 broadcast The Sound of Jazz invited a number of famous jazz musicians to perform on live television. The list included Billie Holiday, whose performance of this song lives on in the annals of great jazz and live-performance history.

"Fire and Rain"

The pop standard from James Taylor's 1970 debut album, Sweet Baby James, was the artist's poignant attempt to deal with a friend's recent suicide and his own struggle with drug abuse and mental illness.

"Foggy Mountain Breakdown"

Written by banjo picker Earl Scruggs, this song was arguably the first tune that introduced wide audiences to bluegrass music. Popularized in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, the song established the leadership role of the banjo.

"4:33"

Elusive musical composition written by avant-gardist John Cage. The piece, premiered in 1952, directs someone to close the lid of a piano, set a stopwatch, and sit in silence for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Musicians and critics alike initially thought the piece a joke. But its premiere pianist, who never played a note, calls it his most intense listening experience. "4:33" speaks to the nature of sound and the musical nature of silence.

"Give My Regards to Broadway"

Featured in the 1904 musical Little Johnny Jones, a show which quickly flopped, this tune was penned by George M. Cohan, the successful actor, composer, and musical producer at the turn of the century.

Gone with the Wind (Film Score)

The music from one of the most popular American films of all time had a tremendous impact on movie scores in the decades following its 1939 release. Max Steiner's work is instantly recognized today and is emblematic of both musical scoring and the cinema itself.

"Good Vibrations"

Written by Brian Wilson, this song epitomized the sound of garage-band rock and featured a theremin, prototype for the modern synthesizer.

Graceland (Album)

Paul Simon traveled to South Africa in 1985 after hearing a friend's tape of music from the country. His trip would become a cultural, political, and personal journey. After 10 days of working with local musicians, Simon returned to New York with several South African artists to produce an extraordinary juxtaposition of rhythm and story-based lyrics.

Grand Canyon Suite

Born in New York, Ferde Grofe quit school at 13 and set off across the country on a series of odd jobs. He first saw the Grand Canyon on a 1916 trip with other workers and completed the Grand Canyon Suite in 1931.

"Great Balls of Fire"

Jerry Lee Lewis singing what was called "the devil's music."

"The Great Pretender"

One in a series of chart-toppers in the 1950's by The Platters.

Guys & Dolls (Musical)

Based on Damon Runyon's short story The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown, this musical centers on the character of Nathan Detroit, the organizer of the oldest-established, permanent-floating crap game in New York.

"Hellhound on my Trail"

Robert Johnson blues classic. Johnson was a somewhat mysterious figure among Mississippi Delta blues musicians, who only recorded a few songs and established plenty of myths, including the story that he sold his soul to the Devil at the Crossroads.

"Hello, Dolly"

Louis Armstrong thought so little of the song when he recorded it in late 1963, that when fans first clamored for it at his shows concerts year later, he had to ask a sideman what they were talking about. Armstrong rarely listened to popular radio, much preferring tapes he carried with him everywhere.

"His Eye is on the Sparrow"

By the mid-1950s, a woman with "a voice like an angel" had emerged as a leading light of American gospel music. Mahalia Jackson fashioned a string of hit songs out of gospel standards, from "Move on Up a Little Higher" to "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands."

"Hoochie Coochie Man"

When it came out as a single in 1954, this song, written by Willie Dixon and tracked by Muddy Waters, hovered near the top of the R&B charts for 13 weeks.

"Hound Dog" & "Don't be Cruel"

First released in 1956 on opposite sides of one 45-rpm record, Elvis Presley's two hit singles shot to the top of the popular-music charts and fostered the birth of rock and roll.

"I Got Rhythm"

George and Ira Gershwin's classic.

"I Walk the Line"

Johhny Cash's first big hit.

"I Wanna Be Sedated"

The debut album by The Ramones, one of America's first widely recognized punk rock bands.

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"

Hank Williams song which, recorded in 1949, foreshadows Williams' death at age 29.

"In the Mood"

Glenn Miller's 1939 recording of the swing classic.

"(Goodnight) Irene"

This sentimental tune was a favorite of the folk and blues artist Leadbelly. In 1950, Pete Seeger revived the song and turned it into a major pop hit.

Kind of Blue (Album)

Critics and jazz fans alike consider Miles Davis' Kind of Blue an improvisational tour de force.

"King Porter Stomp"

Jelly Roll Morton wrote "King Porter Stomp" back in the early 1900s, when he was just a teenager playing piano in the clubs of his hometown, New Orleans.

"Koko"

Charlie Parker and his group were attempting a cover of the popular jazz tune "Cherokee" when the session producer asked Bird to do a different song due to copyright issues. His variation became "Koko," a song that almost single-handedly gave rise to bebop.

"La Bamba"

An old Mexican wedding dance with African roots, the song was given a rock and roll twist by Richie Valens and was released in 1958 on the flip side of the 17-year-old's second hit, "Donna." The B-side recording was messy and expected to be used only as filler and forgotten. But "La Bamba's" unexpected success made it the first Latin crossover hit in rock and roll history.

"Let's Stay Together"

When a young Al Green met with Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell, Mitchell realized the great potential in Green's seductive voice (while all Green wanted was to be liberated from his only big hit, "Back Up Train"). They turned the idea of soul music on its head in 1971, with the release of "Let's Stay Together" (after more than 100 takes).

"Light My Fire"

In 1965, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, and the late Jim Morrison came together in Venice, California, as The Doors. Their sound drew from a variety of influences, including jazz, blues, classical, British psychedelic rock, and the surf music of Southern California. Two years later, they recorded "Light My Fire," a seven-minute opus that many in the music industry were convinced could never achieve success at that length. But by July 1967, it was the number one song in America.

"Like a Rolling Stone"

Bob Dylan's raucous performance of this song on an electric guitar with The Band at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival made Joni Mitchell say "The American folk song has grown up."

A Love Supreme (Album)

Classic 1964 recording by John Coltrane. Trane's four-part jazz masterpiece was a soul-searching attempt to express his faith in God through music following a long battle with drug and alcohol abuse.

"Mack the Knife"

The swinging tune made popular in the United States by Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin is actually an import from a rather bleak German musical, The ThreePenny Opera. Kurt Weill provided the music with lyrics by playwright Bertolt Brecht.

"Maybellene"

Chuck Berry's 1955 song was recorded the first time he entered a professional studio, while he was working at his father's construction company and training to be a hairdresser. His daring mix of blues, R&B, and country led to a rock n' roll song, and "Maybellene" became a tremendous crossover hit.

"Mood Indigo"

Duke Ellington was a master at creating an element of surprise in his compositions. The unique voicing of instruments on "Mood Indigo" is an example of the composer's subtle sophistication.

My Fair Lady (Musical)

Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's "perfect musical," which opened on Broadway in 1956.

"My Funny Valentine"

With the music of Richard Rodgers and the lyrical wit of Lorenz (Larry) Hart, this song orginally came from the 1937 musical Babes in Arms.

"My Girl"

This 1964 song is so universally popular that when the Temptations tried to cut it from their standard concert set a few years ago, audiences booed them. R&B legend Smokey Robinson wrote it specifically for the group in collaboration with Barry Gordy, head of Motown Records.

"Night and Day"

One note, repeated 35 times over eight bars of music. That's the unlikely beginning to one of the greatest love ballads ever written. Cole Porter once claimed to have referenced a Moroccan prayer call when writing the song, or the melody might have come one night at New York's Ritz-Carlton hotel, the lyrics working themselves out on a Newport, Rhode Island, beach, the next day.

"A Night in Tunisia"

Straddling swing and bebop, trumpet sensation Dizzy Gillespie "lived in a dream for a moment" during a break from a 1942 New York performance. The melody he knocked out at the piano became "A Night in Tunisia" and marked the arrival of Afro-Cuban rhythms in American jazz.

Oklahoma! (Musical)

The Broadway musical Oklahoma!, premiered in 1943, and was expected to flop. Richard Rodgers wrote it without his long-time lyricist Lorenzo Hart (its librettist, Oscar Hammerstein, was only, at that time, famous for his failures). The show did a little better than expected: it launched a revolution in American musical theater and turned a huge profit.

"Once in a Lifetime"

From the 1980 Talking Heads album, Remain in Light, this song marks a change in the way bands wrote songs: jamming in the studio, recording the product, and creating tunes around improvised minimalistic riffs which caught their ears on the playback.

"One O'Clock Jump"

Recorded in 1937 by the Count Basie Orchestra. With its driving rhythm section, "Jump" became Basie's signature theme, and the band played it at the end of their performances for more than 50 years.

"Oye Como Va"

Written by the late Latin jazz percussionist Tito Puente, "Oye Como Va" reached its widest audience when it was recorded by the San Francisco rock band Santana. Their 1970 album Abraxas spent six weeks at the top of Billboard's Album Chart and thirty weeks in the Top Ten.

"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"

James Brown was a concert sensation in during the early 1960s. But until "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" climbed the charts in 1965, he was largely unknown to white fans. The song, Brown's first Top Ten hit, was a metaphor for the changing times. It also represents Brown's first attempt to capture the rhythms of his live performances in a studio recording.

"Peggy Sue"

Buddy Holly's classic tune "Peggy Sue" didn't begin life as a keeper at all. It wasn't until the Crickets added a few paradiddles and changed the chorus from "Cindy Lou" to "Peggy Sue" that the song finally made it out of the studio onto the charts.

Porgy & Bess (Opera)

Classic Gershwin brothers opera. Based on a story by DuBose Heyward, it was first performed in October 1935 and was orinally met with mixed reviews. Its tunes have developed such acclaim, however, that often virtuosos like violinist Jascha Heifetz transcribed them as instrumental encores, and people still whistle them today.

Psycho (Film Score)

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho created an entertainment sensation: no one could be seated after the film began, the star of the movie was killed ten minutes into the story, and the stark black-and-white images served to heighten the film's chilling plot. Using only strings due to a tight production budget, composer Bernard Hermann created a soundtrack to accompany the horror on screen that was equally terrifying.

"Purple Haze"

Guitarist Jimi Hendrix wrote Purple Haze on December 26, 1966, during a gig at a club in London. He said that the lyrics were based on a dream he had after reading a science fiction novel.

"Rapper's Delight"

Unforgettable rap classic.

"Respect"

Aretha Franklin's powerful anthem, written and first recorded by the late Otis Redding.

"Rhapsody in Blue"

George Gershwin's most identifiable masterpiece. At age 25, Gershwin took only three weeks to compose one of the most enduring pieces of American music.

"Rock Around the Clock"

Bill Haley was a Swiss yodeler from the Philadelphia suburbs who, at the very least, made an unlikely rock star. When the tune was released in the soundtrack for Blackboard Jungle it went on to sell over a million copies.

"'Round Midnight"

Thelonious Monk probably composed this song in 1938. Monk soon became known as a great jazz innovator, one of a small group of musicians who were part of the bebop revolution of the 1940s.

"Route 66"

Bobby Troup wrote it, Nat King Cole sang it, and it became a classic.

"St. Louis Blues"

W.C. Handy, a middle-class African American, wrote "St. Louis Blues" in 1914, a time when Tin Pan Alley's popular songs began to fuse with folklore to explore the blues, the form that led to the full-fledged birth of American jazz.

Showboat (Musical)

Written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, Showboat opened on Broadway in 1927 and presented a challenge to the average musical, which, at that time, was little more than frivolous entertainment. Kern and Hammerstein conceived of a musical hybrid -- a show that marries opera and musical comedy with songs that function as narratives and themes both dramatic and comedic.

"Sing, Sing, Sing"

On January 16, 1938, Benny Goodman and his musicians took to the Carnegie Hall stage for the first swing music concert in the hall's history; for scholars, the concert would eventually mark the birthplace of the genre's legitimacy. "Sing, Sing, Sing," was the program's last number and what Goodman called a "killer diller."

"Singin' in the Rain"

The song appeared in a total of seven MGM musicals, including an Academy Award-winner and a movie in which it was the title song. The question that remains, however, is one about the song's origins, which are shrouded in folklore. When the song was actually written, and for what purpose, remains unknown, even though it is sometimes called Hollywood's finest work.

"Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay"

Otis Redding's last and biggest hit, finished by co-writer Steve Cropper of Booker T & the MG's after the singer's untimely death.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"

The 1991 song that shot Seattle rock band Nirvana to the top of the charts. Written by Nirvana frontman the late Kurt Cobain, its quick popularity marked the rising appeal of so-called "grunge" music, which, produced over the synthesized sounds of late-1980s pop, changed the direction of rock and significantly influencing the "alternative" culture of the 1990s.

"Stand By Your Man"

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman...and sometimes it's hard to figure out how a song will affect the public. Tammy Wynette and producer Billy Sherrill cut "Stand By Your Man" in just a few minutes to wrap up a 1968 album. Wynette, who wrote the song, never really liked it all that much, even though it became her signature tune. Feminists didn't like it, either, and the artist had to defend the song the rest of her life.

"Star Dust"

Written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1927 while he was attending Indiana University, the song started off as an up-tempo dance instrumental but later, as its popularity grew, lyrics were added and the rhythm of "Star Dust" slowed to a ballad. By the end of the 1930s, the tune was a certifiable American classic.

"Symphony of Psalms"

Igor Stravinsky wrote his "Symphony of Psalms" in 1929 for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony. In 1999, Time magazine named it the best piece of the century.

"Take Five"

The best-selling jazz single of the century came very close to not getting released at all, but "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet turned out to be one for the ages.

"Take My Hand, Precious Lord"

Gospel's most-recorded song held an important place in the culture of black Americans -- it was played at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Take the 'A' Train"

In 1938, Billy Strayhorn, a Pittsburgh soda jerk, drugstore delivery boy, and composer in his free time, knocked out this classic. When he swung a meeting with jazz great Duke Ellington, however, a professional composing career finally became a reality. With vision, Ellington turned his song, about one of New York's unreliable subways to Harlem and Sugar Hill, into a famed jazz standard.

Talking Book (Album)

Transformational Stevie Wonder album, a touchstone for the artist that he has often referred back to throughout his long career. It represents Wonder's professional and musical coming of age in the early 1970s when he abandoned the Motown hit-making formula that had defined his sound and witnessed the emergence of his more holistic approach to making records as a singer, writer and producer.

Tapestry (Album)

With her husband, Gerry Goffin, Carole King started out as a songwriter in the Brill Building, penning hits for artists Little Eva, Aretha Franklin, and others. King didn't sing her own songs until after her divorce, but when she did, she sold 15 million copies.

"Theme from Shaft"

In 1969, Isaac Hayes was the top songwriter for soul label Stax Records in Memphis when an opportunity came to audition for the lead role in a new movie about a tough black police detective. At first, he patiently waited for a call-back, but finally telephoned the production's casting agent who kindly told him the bad news -- Richard Roundtree had been chosen for the part. The good news was that Gordon Parks wanted Hayes to score the film, resulting in his number one hit.

"This Land is Your Land"

Woody Guthrie was originally from Oklahoma, but he loved traveling: he walked, hitch-hiked, and rode the rails all around the country. He was also a prolific writer, and scribbled the words to "This Land Is Your Land" down on a loose-leaf sheet of paper in 1940. Guthrie recorded the song for Mo Asch, founder of Folkways Records, in New York City in 1944, but the song wasn't released until 1951. By that time, "This Land Is Your Land" had become something of a leftist national anthem, sung at rallies, political events, and in schools.

"Tom Dooley"

This traditional folk song was made a hit by The Kingston Trio in 1958, but its roots hail from North Carolina nearly a century earlier. The title character was hanged for the murder of a woman named Laura Foster.

The Velvet Underground and Nico (Album)

Critics have long marveled at how the influence of this 1967 album is so remarkably out of proportion with its sales figures. The radical debut LP of the group was led by rock pioneer Lou Reed and pushed toward fame by pop art legend Andy Warhol.

Warner Brothers Cartoon Music

The musical scores of Carl Stalling, who worked for Warner Brothers during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, were fast, complex, and adventurous, and borrow from a variety of genres including classical, pop, folk, and jazz.

"We Shall Overcome"

"We Shall Overcome" began life as a work song and was then adopted by organized labor before becoming a civil rights anthem in the early 1960s.

"West End Blues"

Joe King Oliver wrote the song, but it was Louis Armstrong's 1928 recording that put the it in the jazz pantheon.

West Side Story (Musical)

The work of four men, West Side Story married popular jazz and Latin rhythms with a classical score. Composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, and playwright Arthur Laurents all had a hand in the 1960s Broadway smash.

"What'd I Say"

Pianist/composer Ray Charles' famous 1959 song which, Charles maintained, was really "about nothing" -- the lyrics "don't make sense," he said, and reduced to a call-and-response exercise between soloist, singers, and audience. Improvised on stage one night while on tour in 1959, the song was considered his trademark.

"What's Going On"

This 1971 song begins with the friendly, bustling sounds of a Vietnam veteran's homecoming party, but, all the while, an uneasy vibe lurks beneath the good times. The veteran was Marvin Gaye's much-changed brother Frank and "What's Going On" reflected a similar change in the singer's career. His personal life and the nation's struggle to come to grips with divisive social issues made Gaye realize that singing simplistic love songs for Motown Records was something he could no longer do.

"White Christmas"

A big part of this Irving Berlin song's success was its inclusion on the 1942 playlist of Armed Forces Radio and it ushered in the era when performers became more popular than songwriters as the main creative vehicle for American pop music -- Tin Pan Alley had passed into history.

"Wildwood Flower"

The song, like many recorded by the country music group The Carter Family, was passed down from generation-to-generation, without the benefit of written lyrics. Though its words are peculiar, its melody has kept the song popular and it has been recorded by many artists over the years.

The Wizard of Oz (Film Score)

The film's songs were written by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Yip Harburg, and the score by Herbert Stothart. "Over the Rainbow" was almost taken out of the film after several test screenings.

http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/list100.html

ETA: This list should be amended by NPR to include something by Michael Jackson. Whittling it down to WHICH song would be the issue, I suppose. But no way MJ should be excluded when they put "4:33" on the list!! That's SAD!

[treenuts]

Thanks, kf, that was really interesting! But do my eyes deceive me? *note: eyes are tired and old and it's quite possible they do*

NO Beatles or BB King? NO Stones? WTF? But they include Nirvana??? I call bullshit

<snip> 'course if it were Clay making the sausages or trying to lay down the law, it'd be a completely different story! *congratulates self for managing to work 'Clay', 'sausages' and 'lay' into a valid sentence*

*sniff* You make me proud!!

[djs111]

I think this list is all about songs, and not about performers.

It was Michael that was iconic, not any of his songs in particular.

If this was a strictly pop list, then yeah, he and the Beatles - and especially the Stones, they are my favorite band by miles and miles - should be on it.

I do love about 75% of the list!

[jazzgirl]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times is an incredibly gifted writer. This is his Michael Jackson memorial:

The boy who never grew up:

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

by Roger Ebert

Michael Jackson was so gifted, so lonely, so confused, so sad. He lost happiness somewhere in his childhood, and spent his life trying to go back there and find it. When he played the Scarecrow in "The Wiz" (1978), I think that is how he felt, and Oz was where he wanted to live. It was his most truly autobiographical role. He could understand a character who felt stuffed with straw, but could wonderfully sing and dance, and could cheer up the little girl Dorothy.

We have all spent years in the morbid psychoanalysis of this strange man-child. Now that he has died we will hear it all repeated again: The great fame from an early age, the gold records, the world tours, the needy friendships, the painful childhood, Neverland, the eccentric behavior, plastic surgery, charges of child molestation, the fortunes won and lost, the generosity, the secrecy, the inexplicable marriage to Elvis's daughter, the disguises, the puzzling sexuality, the jokes, and on and on.

I never met him. My wife Chaz did, a long time ago when she was part of a dance troupe that opened some shows for the Jackson Five. What she remembers is that he was -- a kid. Talented, hard-working, but not like other kids. That's what he was, and that's what he remained. His father Joseph was known even then as a hard-driving taskmaster, and was later described by family members as physically and mentally abusive, beating the child, once holding him by a leg and banging his head on the floor. Michael confided to Oprah that sometimes he would vomit at the sight of the man.

Families are important to everyone, and to African-Americans they are the center of the universe. A census is maintained that radiates out to great-nieces and nephews, distant cousins, former spouses, honorary relatives, all the generations. Communication is maintained, birthdays remembered, occasions celebrated. Important above all are parents and grandparents. Family was a support system from a time when slave-owning America refused to recognize black families. Family was the rock.

Michael Jackson doesn't seem to have had that rock. His father seems to have driven him to create an alternate universe for himself, in which somewhere, over the rainbow, he could have another childhood. He named his ranch Neverland, after the magical land where Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, enacted his fantasies with the Lost Boys. I wonder if we ever really understood how central that vision was to Jackson, or how literally he tried to create it.

I have no idea whether Michael abused the children he "adopted." It is possible those relationships were without sex; he seemed frozen at a time before puberty. Whether he touched them criminally or not, it is easy to see what he sought: To create, with and for these Lost Boys, a Neverland where they could imagine together the childhood he never had.

Mixed with that was perhaps a lifelong feeling of inadequacy, burned in by the cruelty of his father. That might help explain the compulsive plastic surgery, the relentless rehearsal, the exhausting tours, the purchase of expensive toys, the giving of gifts.

The scene everyone remembers from "The Wiz" is Dorothy and the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion dancing and singing down the Yellow Brick Road. They were off to see the Wizard, and a wonderful Wizard he was, because of the wonderful things he does.

In the story, the Wizard is a lonely little man hiding behind a curtain, using his power to create a wonderland. Now Michael Jackson will never be able to tell us what he was hiding behind his curtain. But because of his music, we danced and sang.

I saw Frank Sinatra at the end of his career with my MIL. She was thrilled because she remembered him "when"! I was not impressed at all. He had to read a teleprompter for My Way and even then didn't get the words right. He was just old. She was a huge fan of his and this was her first time to see him live. She was so happy at the end of the night but for me it was meh!

Will we be like that with Clay?

I saw Frank at the same time too. He seemed so dependent on Frankie Jr. But, I was so happy to see him before he passed, that whether he was at the top of his game or not, didn't really matter to me.

keepingfaith, loved the list! Thanks for posting it.

[Couch Tomato]

Thanks LdyJ -- after reading your post I turned on BET and have been watching lots of commercials LOL and Michael Jackson videos. I haven't seen Thriller in a long time. I remember I was living in LA at the time it came out so I first saw Thriller in the movie theater. I think he was trying to qualify for an academy award or something so it had at a run at a few theaters. I remember I sat through Fantasia twice (not my thang) so I could see the video twice. It was fun seeing the cheapie Off the wall videos. I want to see more of the Jackson 5 stuff too. I also remember staying up late to watch his videos ..what was that Friday Night videos or something like that. That was before I had MTV.

[treenuts]

His father Joseph was known even then as a hard-driving taskmaster, and was later described by family members as physically and mentally abusive, beating the child, once holding him by a leg and banging his head on the floor. Michael confided to Oprah that sometimes he would vomit at the sight of the man.

One thought might be that he tried to change his looks so as not to resemble anything of his father. So he would not see any reflection of him when he looked into a mirror. Both physically and metaphorically speaking.

[ldyjocelyn]

Yes, couchie, that was "Friday Night Videos." For us poor schmucks who couldn't get calbe.

But then, a few years later, my dorm got cable, and we could watch MTV to our heart's content. I remember when the Thriller video premiered -- they showed it every hour, on the hour, for 24 hours straight.

What I remember most about Michael Jackson is this: When Thriller came on MTV during that last year of college for me, someone would yell that it was on throughout the hallways. Then, at approximately 8 minutes into the video, we'd all turn on the TV, watch the dance sequence, and then turn it off again. We all had it timed to see just the dance sequence!

[aikim]

Thanks for posting that Jazzgirl; I truly hope Michael is at peace now.

Deepak Chropra's tribute to Michael, it is quite moving:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopr...i_b_221268.html

Kim

[keepingfaith]

Thanks, kf, that was really interesting! But do my eyes deceive me? *note: eyes are tired and old and it's quite possible they do*

NO Beatles or BB King? NO Stones? WTF? But they include Nirvana??? I call bullshit

No Beatles or Stones because they aren't American. Yeah, no BB King, but Robert Johnson the father of Delta Blues is there and rightly so. (And, my son would consider the list total bullshit if it DIDN'T include Nirvana. He became interested in popular music because of Nirvana.)

In a sense, all lists are bullshit, especially those spanning every genre, but they can be interesting to read -- on slow days.

[treenuts]

No Beatles or Stones because they aren't American.

Yes, of course you're right and thanks. Someone else has pointed that out to me as well. It's funny how I just felt it was an obvious omition because they were such an integral part of what I have come to know as American music and culture. Strange how that happens. LOL

So why wasn't MOAM included on that list then? *ducks & runs away fast*

[00lsee]

When I heard that Michael Jackson had died, I admit that my first reaction, after surprise/disbelief, was RELIEF! I immediately thought that his death would at last allow people to admire and love him again. Not the strange, possibly perverse person he had become in adulthood, but the amazing and iconic artist they remember from his, and their, 'younger days'. Or the artist they first learned about from his old videos, without really being aware of his career rise and fall or who he had become in later years. I'm watching "So You Think You Can Dance" again this season...and even now, all these years later, some of these young dancers say that Michael Jackson first sparked their desire to become dancers. That's a piece of his legacy his shocking downfall could not totally destroy.

While he still lived, his physical appearance, his money woes, and his scandals were a constant reminder that the "Old Michael" was no more. The present-day Michael Jackson was irrevocably tainted, making it difficult for people to express positive feelings about him without adding disclaimers. Now that his life has ended, the artist he once was can be mourned and acknowledged and, yes, loved again. Even a successful come-back tour could never have accomplished that. So yes, in a way...relief.

They say that the music people gravitate back to in their adult lives is what they heard as teens/young adults. I was the perfect age to be imprinted by Michael Jackson. His music played in my bedroom and then my dorm room and then on my car radio as I drove around as a young married woman. Some of his songs literally take me back to certain times, because they are inextricably linked to the soundtrack of my young life.

I sometimes call myself a 'child of the 80's'...and as such, Michael is unavoidably jumbled in with all of my favorite groups and singers from those years. Other baby boomers may have similar recollections. I mean, the high school band played "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" for the drill team to dance to! "Thriller" was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money.

When his personal life regrettably overshadowed his music, I reluctantly let him go, but that young woman I was never forgot the young man he once was. Before the criminal allegations, before the overt weirdness, before the worst of the physical transformations he went through, he was once both brilliant and beautiful. THAT'S the Michael Jackson I will remember. THAT'S the Michael Jackson I, and many other fans, have missed for years and years.

Of course people are free to have a negative opinion of him...free to find him reprehensible and repulsive as a person...and if he did the things he was accused of, I hope his victims find peace. I'm not blind to any of those disturbing elements of his life, nor am I excusing any criminal behavior. What I am trying to do is to describe why the 50-year old Michael Jackson who died and the bad or just plain weird things he may have done in his adult life are somewhat compartmentalized in my mind from the "Michael Jackson" I'm thinking about today. That Michael is forever young, forever singing and dancing.

As for Farrah Fawcett, I'm sorry her life and death will be overshadowed by the sensationalism of Michael Jackson's passing. She was the reason I and all my friends had feathered 'wings' in our hair as teenagers. I watched a retrospective about her last night, having missed "Farrah's Story" when it came out, and I was reminded all over again how much I admired some of her work and how much I enjoyed "Charlie's Angels". Hey, I loved "Magnum P.I." and "Miami Vice" back in their heydays, too! Her courage and will to live is an inspiration.

She deserved a lengthier tribute than fate allowed, but then again, so did Ed McMahon. We were hardly beginning to walk down those memory lanes when this spectacular "third of three' came about.

I watched a biographic special about Michael Jackson a long time ago...and it really did illuminate why and how his personality might have become fractured, as it apparently did. I have compassion for that sensitive child who was savagely and callously damaged, just as I have compassion for anyone else damaged by the person he later became. Somewhere in between, his life affected me in a happy way, and for that, I can remember him with fondness.

[merrieeee]

I am sitting here today feeling profoundly grateful that Clay has not achieved the kind of superstardom that MJ did.

I have been reading some of the stories of how his life was.....even his bodyguards would not let him go out. It's no wonder he had mental issues.

Clay can still go out and even though he may be recognised it's not a mad house.