#68) "Melissa" by The Allman Brothers Band - This song is just plain haunting to me; like a stairway landing in an abandoned house...or the music you'd hear there...
Or maybe the music out in what's left of the back yard...
Or the mailbox on the corner at the end of the block...
Or the fields you pass on the highway leading out of town...
"Crossroads, will you ever let him go..."
#69) "I Ain't Living Long Like This" by Waylon Jennings - Waylon Jennings might not have been the best country artist ever, but he was one of the coolest. And one of the luckiest, for that matter, when considering the day the music died...
But mostly one of the coolest. There was never anything about Jennings to really stand out, yet his impact on country music remains as significant as anyone's. He never did anything to grab for attention, and in this way never resorted to any stereotypes. He just kind of did his thing, and you never knew what he was going to say or sing next. There are routinely surprises in his songs, things you wouldn't expect from any country artist, and some of his ballads (Outlaw Shit, and Hank Williams Syndrome, to name a few) are introspective and smart and pretty moving without trying too hard...that is, without trying to be something they shouldn't be.
Even at 64, Jennings was taken too early. So I guess I actually do think he was one of the best country artists ever.
I Ain't Living Long Like This was written by Rodney Crowell, but its driving, 18-wheeler rhythm and 'outlaw' subject matter is quintessential Waylon nevertheless. The best part of this song, befitting Waylon's deceptive simplicity, is the vulnerability, and humor, of the outlaw it concerns itself with.
"I tried to run but I don't think I can / you make one move and you're a dead man, friend..."
#70) "Screaming for Vengeance" by Judas Priest - In case I get stuck between towns in the middle of the night, I'll have this to keep me awake. Also, this ferocious thrash was pretty ground-breaking for 1982.
"Hey listen don't you let them get your mind..."
#71) "Time" by The Alan Parsons Project - When I was in 8th grade, I brought another kid to tears of laughter when I started singing the refrain of Time by Alan Parsons. This was 1986, or so; music and media were not nearly so readily accessible as they are today. It was unusual that we both remembered this 'old' song, surely having heard it very second-hand on our parents' radio once or twice, or on a jukebox somewhere when we were much younger, and the fact that I knew the song well enough to sing it, and hit that long, uprush of falsetto, had this kid in stitches.
The performance worked out well for me; he was one of the cool kids, and my social status was elevated as a result.
Nowadays, Time means much more to me than fodder for gym class clowning. If I really sit and listen to it, it sweeps my mind completely offshore. Doubtless this was the point. There had never been a song like this when it was released in 1980 (Project, indeed...), and hasn't really been one since. Almost makes me feel guilty for making fun of it so heartily.
Almost. ;-)
"Who knows when we shall meet again, if ever / but time keeps flowing like a river (on and on), to the sea...to the sea..."
