1967 made San Francisco the “centre of the universe” for me. All the societal restraints had been discarded and a perceived idyllic lifestyle created. “Flower Power” was perhaps the diversion necessary from the ongoing daily threat of a nuclear holocaust. I loved this song!
1960s songs
1966 … a very good year!
1966 really was an amazing year of music for me. The Seekers made a huge impact, as did The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and Simon & Garfunkel. I have to also mention The Mamas & Papas, The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Marianne Faithful …. where does it end? Well of course it doesn’t end, because there were so many other amazing recordings in 1966.
In 1966 I had started going to a local folk club so, as much as I loved the typical heavy rock sounds, I also loved a simple acoustic performance, hence my initial choice was Joni Mitchell’s “Circle Game”. However, the more I thought about it, the more 1966 has to be given to Judith Durham and The Seekers.
“Little Boxes”
I am slowly working through my old albums as I load them onto my PC, and so there are inevitably many memories being “revisited”. The album that sticks out this past week was “Pete Seeger Live”. There were no real surprises in the content given it was a mid 1960’s recording, so I happily enjoyed Pete Seeger’s take on the racial discrimination and other cultural issues of those times with “We Shall Overcome”, “If You Miss Me At The Back Of The Bus.”, “That’s What I Learned In School”, “I Ain’t Scared Of Your Jail” … and “Little Boxes”!
I remember being quite absorbed with “Little Boxes” ( I was in my late teens then), and so thought that I would find a video of Pete Seeger singing it. As is often the case, I was rather sidetracked by an unknown (to me) band singing “Little Boxes” … and showing over 14M plays, which far exceeded the Pete Seeger videos. My curiosity got the better of me and, while I was skeptical during the first few moments, I was quite impressed with how Walk Off The Earth presented the song.
I checked into the band yesterday, and was rather embarrassed to read they were from Burlington, Ont … about a 20 min drive from where we live! They’re certainly creative. What do you think?
If you liked their creativity, then here is a bonus:
“All Over the World”
“All Over the World” goes back to my late teens, and I still find it a very emotional performance. Of course, being in my late teens, and Francois Hardy singing in her pj’s on a flying bed probably helped! Continue reading
Help!
This is a call for help from any/all of you who love music of the late 60’s/early 70’s. Perhaps you lived through those years, or perhaps you were born later but can really relate to the songs of those times. Anyway …. Continue reading
A New Direction Perhaps? 