Manic Monday

Departure Day

My best friend Skip's visit ended today, as I regretfully got him on his plane back home to Philadelphia this morning. We are hopeful of getting together again in Kansas City sometime in April for a Royals game or two.

Skip's plane taxis to the south end of the runway

In the meantime, I'm tickled to death he was able to come for a visit, even if the weather was shitty the whole time he was here, and even though the !@#$% Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl (Skip and I both hate the Broncos).

"You both ate a bunch of unhealthy food and drank a bunch of Scotch, am I right?"

I will neither confirm nor deny such speculation...

Wild Kingdom Bed & Breakfast Update

Things have been pretty busy lately, now that the harsh winter weather is here to stay for awhile. In addition to the usual avian customers, I spotted my little mouse friend yesterday morning, and late last night I noticed a cat I hadn't seen before having some food. When she was done eating, she actually went into the box I have tucked into the corner of the patio (with a small blanket inside) and went to sleep. That made me feel pretty good.

I do worry about my clientele in the nasty weather...

"They'd get along fine without you, you know."

Maybe, maybe not...but helping makes me feel good, so zip it...

Run for Your Life, Kid!

From the hilarious comic strip Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, which you should read every day, as I do.

Until Next Time...

As the 1980s were getting under way, I was in the market for a favorite band because my longtime favorites The Who had lost one of their founding members and gone into something of a creative funk. Unfortunately, most of what dominated the radio and pop music charts at that time didn't appeal much to me.

That changed when R.E.M. showed up. Based in Athens, Georgia, the band was something of an anomaly at the time: A classic trio + singer, their style leaned toward atmospheric arrangements and obscure (some would say unintelligible) lyrics, married to jangly guitars reminiscent of '60s folk-rock groups. R.E.M. was the vanguard of what eventually came to be called "alternative" rock. I fell for them right off the bat, and remain a devoted fan to this day, even though the group disbanded for good in 2011 (not long after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame). I was lucky enough to see them perform live in Kansas City in 2003.

Original 1981 45 rpm single sleeve

On January 8, 1981 the band went into Drive-In Studios in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to make a demo recording they hoped would attract the attention of a record label.

One of the songs they recorded that day was "Radio Free Europe," which would be released as a single in early summer on the independent Hib-Tone label based in Atlanta. The single did well enough to earn the band a recording deal with I.R.S. Records.


The band would eventually re-record "Radio Free Europe" for their first full-length album Murmur, released in 1983. The re-recorded version was also released as a single, and became the band's first chart success, reaching No. 78 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. It was also selected for the National Recording Registry curated by the Library of Congress.

For many of us die-hard fans, though, the original Hib-Tone version still has its charms. It was the recording that launched the band's career.

Today's send-off is the original version of the song as released in 1981 by Hib-Tone, along with its accompanying video (the usual '80s music video disclaimers apply). Enjoy...

Super Bowl Sunday 2016

Game Day!

It is finally Super Bowl Sunday, and my best friend Skip and I began our day with Sunday Mass, followed by a late breakfast at the Village Inn.

After miscellaneous online farting around (including me trying to get this blog entry done with Wikipedia being down), we plan to grab an early afternoon snack of dead cow at a nearby Texas Roadhouse.

Then, as the game begins, we'll nosh on various traditional favorites (Fritos, potato chips, cheese and crackers, etc.).

Those salty treats will necessitate some liquid refreshment, of course. We plan to address that with some Samuel Adams Cream Stout.

Sometime after halftime, we will conclude the traditional face-stuffing with a pizza from the Godfather's Pizza joint that is right next door to my apartment complex.

"Good Lord! You guys won't be able to move after eating all of that!"

Fortunately, neither of us has anywhere to be until tomorrow afternoon...

Super Bowl Numbering

From the delightful comic strip FoxTrot, by Bill Amend, which you should read every Sunday, as I do.

Until Next Time...

Bands that enjoy lengthy careers typically have a handful of songs that are so closely identified with them that it is all but impossible for them not to perform those songs in live concerts. Forty-seven years ago today, my all-time favorite band The Who created one of those "signature" numbers that has been a staple of their concert set list ever since.

Original 1969 album cover

On February 7, 1969 the group went in to Morgan Studios in London to begin recording "Pinball Wizard," one of the songs in the "rock opera" song cycle Tommy which guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend had been working on since 1968.

The song is about how the deaf, mute, and blind boy Tommy becomes the leader of a quasi-religious cult because of his phenomenal skill at playing pinball.



Released as a single about six weeks after the recording was completed, "Pinball Wizard" peaked at No. 4 on the British charts and at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.

The Tommy album was released on May 23, and I spent the summer of 1969 listening to it obsessively. It quickly became one of the band's most successful recordings, spending almost a year on the Billboard 200 Albums chart (where it peaked at No. 4). It will always be viewed as one of the most iconic albums in the history of rock music. I'm very grateful that the band was still performing the album in its entirety the first time I saw them live in 1970.

Today's send-off is the 1999 remaster of the original album track. Enjoy...

Heroic Deeds

Movie Night

The blog entry is a bit late today because of my best friend Skip's visit, which has altered my normal daily routine a bit.

Among other things, we decided to catch a matinee showing of The Finest Hours, the new film about an epic true-life Coast Guard rescue mission that took place February 18, 1952. It is a really fine film,
of the sort they rarely seem to make any more.

We enjoyed the film very much, but early box office returns have been disappointing, no doubt because there are no superheroes, car chases, or stuff blowing up. That seems to be what moviegoers crave these days, sadly.



I kind of like the fact that the rescue occurred on my birthday (February 18), and just a year before I entered the scene in 1953.

Among the film's many pleasures is the score by Carter Burwell. The soundtrack album from the film is this week's Music Recommendation.

A really good popcorn movie, if that term still has any meaning. Highly recommended.

"You'd never get ME to go on a boat like that. I can't swim."

Me either, old friend...

Birthday Boys

Babe in his natural element...

February 6 is a special day for me because it is the birthday of two of my heroes.

On February 6, 1895 George Herman Ruth, Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

To say that "Babe" Ruth is the greatest baseball player who ever lived is almost an understatement. Even if you want to argue that some other player was a better hitter (and with the plethora of modern statistics, some people try to make that case), none of those guys also went 94-46 with a 2.24 ERA as a pitcher.

...and Ron in his.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois.

The greatness of Reagan's political achievements are now acknowledged by all but his most unhinged critics. On his watch the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed and dissolved. The United States enjoyed an unprecedented stretch of economic prosperity as well, with the so-called "Reagan Recovery" inspiring reforms in other economies around the world.

Yup

From the wonderful comic strip Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller, which you should read every day, as I do (even though Wiley is a squishy liberal).

Until Next Time...

One of the best things about best friends in when you have similar tastes in music. That is less the case with my best friend, who finds most of the music I enjoy appalling. We do see eye-to-eye (for the most part) on classical music, though (although he isn't quite so fond of Beethoven as I am).

Skip is quite fond of Mozart's famous Requiem, which he began composing in 1791, and which was completed by another composer posthumously. It is of course one of the most beloved sacred compositions in all of classical music.

In 2001 the Rundfunkchor Leipzig and Staatskappelle Dresden produced a recording of the Requiem that is among the best I have heard.



Today's send-off is their performance of Skip's favorite section of the work, the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath). Enjoy...

Besties

Thank Jasmine It's Friday!

"Relax, I'm full. You're safe...for awhile."

Lying Around

There was a Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate Press Availability Festival of Lies last night in New Hampshire. Things were made a bit more tolerable by the absence of Martin O'Malley, who dropped out of the race recently. Having just two candidates sharing the spotlight might fool an inattentive viewer into believing the two candidates are actually in competition for the party's nomination.

Of course, since Bernie Sanders has shown no signs of actually wanting to win, this is all just theatre, and not particularly interesting theatre at that. It's an elaborate charade, intended to convince gullible voters that Hillary is actually the party's favorite. Her narrow "victory" at the Iowa Caucuses is under a cloud, and she is poised to get drubbed in the New Hampshire Primary next week, so this story becomes a harder sell every day.

"Can you believe people think we're actually competing?" "I know, right?"

The thing that bothers me the most about the Democratic "debates" is that, unlike their Republican counterparts, Bernie and Hillary never face any aggressive questioning. They lie through their teeth, and the moderators let them get away with it.

Watching this sorry spectacle put me in mind of the famous aphorism (most commonly attributed to Mark Twain, though support for that claim is sparse) "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Between these two we heard a veritable Encyclopedia Britannica of such falsehoods.

"How can you tell when a progressive is lying?"

Well, if their lips are moving, that's usually a "tell"...

Visitor

Skip shops Hobby Haven in Des Moines

I'm pretty excited today because my best friend Skip is coming for a weekend visit. He lives in Pennsylvania, so we don't get to spend much time together in person.

Skip's last visit was back in late August. We got to see Alex Gordon play for the Omaha Storm Chasers while he was on his rehab assignment there. We also got to see Cheslor Cuthbert and Christian Colon, who had key roles in the Royals' push for the 2015 World Series championship.

Skip and I are hopeful of meeting in Kansas City to see the Royals face the Mets on Opening Day April 3, but that remains to be seen.

Skip meets The Super Chief in Kansas City.

I'm not concerned about that right now,
of course. I'm just happy we get to spend Super Bowl 50 weekend hanging out. It would have been even more fun if either my beloved Kansas City Chiefs or Skip's beloved Pittsburgh Steelers had made it, but you can't have everything in life, eh?

"Let me guess...you both want the Broncos to get massacred, right?"

That would not break our hearts...

Trump On Twitter

From the pen of Lisa Benson, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

The early 1980s were not a particularly enjoyable time for me, in terms of popular music. 
The charts featured lots of Michael Jackson, of course, along with bands like Men at Work, 
Hall & Oates, Duran Duran, and other groups that featured synthesizers far more prominently than guitars. There are a few songs from that era that I enjoyed, but the overall style of the period left me cold back then, and still does today.

You could still find guitar-based rock music in record stores, you just never heard much of it on the radio or saw much of it on MTV (which was still kind of a thing back in those days).

Although that kind of pop music was never to my taste, every once in awhile a group came along whose musicianship was so impressive that I didn't mind the synth-heavy arrangements. One such group was Toto, formed in 1977 by some of the best studio session musicians in Los Angeles. Among the founding members was guitarist Steve Lukather, who has appeared on some of my favorite movie and TV soundtracks.

Original 1982 album cover

The group has sold more than 40 million records and won six Grammy Awards. The commercial peak of their career came in 1982 with the release of their fourth studio album, cleverly titled Toto IV.

The record won the Album of the Year Grammy and produced three Top 10 hits, including "Africa," the band's lone No. 1 single, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart on February 5, 1983.




Today's send-off is the official music video for the song (the usual '80s music video disclaimers apply). Enjoy...

Reruns

The Stupid Party (Again)

So, the party to which I belong has decided (for the moment) to exclude Carly Fiorina from their presidential candidate debate scheduled for Saturday in New Hampshire.

They're doing this despite that fact that she finished better than two invited participants (Christie and Kasich), and less than 1 point behind a third (Bush) in the Iowa Caucuses Monday night. She also polls better in New Hampshire than a fourth invitee, Dr. Ben Carson.

Now that Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum have ended their campaigns, there will be no "undercard" debate this time (Jim "12 votes" Gilmore notwithstanding), so if Carly is excluded the RNC is basically saying they don't think the only woman in the GOP race deserves a spot. Not a good look.

The fact that Senator Rand Paul has ended his campaign means including Carly would bring the number of debaters on the stage to eight, In 2012, the pre-New Hampshire Primary debates (there were two) included every GOP candidate still in the race at that time (six). Is the difference between having seven candidates take part and having eight really worth the PR black eye? I don't think so...

I signed an online petition urging the RNC to do the right thing, and Carly is making her case publicly but the RNC's track record of making smart decisions has not been stellar.

"Look who's talking."

Shut it...

Gun Salesman of the Month (Again)

The FBI reports that in January 2016 they conducted more background checks pursuant to gun purchases than in any previous January on record. The National Instant Background Check System broke its previous January record by more than 50,000 applicants.

January 2016 was also the ninth straight month to set a new monthly record, and it was the third straight month with more than two million background check applications.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the individual most responsible for this surge in Americans exercising their 2nd Amendment rights...

"Just fuck off, okay?"

"He's VERY persuasive, isn't he?"

On this issue, yeah...just not in the way he thinks he is...

The Defiant Ones (2016 Remake)

From the pen of Chip Bok, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

My dad played saxophone (and clarinet), so his interest in saxophone players helped shape his record collection, and thus some of my earliest exposure to music. Among the artists he enjoyed was Louis Jordan, who died on February 4, 1975.

July 8, 1908 - February 4, 1975

My dad's taste in jazz music always showed a marked preference for uptempo, swinging arrangements and small combos rather than big orchestras.

Jordan's "jump blues" was right up my dad's alley, so when I was growing up I heard plenty of the songs that earned Jordan his reputation as "King of the Jukebox."

Dad also had an impish sense of humor, and Jordan's penchant for wry (and sometimes raunchy) lyrics was a big part of his appeal.




Jordan's career suffered in the early '60s, as did the careers of many popular jazz artists from the '50s, but Jordan's career ranks right up there with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. A true pioneer.

Today's send-off is "G.I. Jive," the only one of Jordan's dozens of charting hits that reached No. 1 on the mainstream charts, a rare feat for a black artist in the 1940s.
The music is paired with photos of servicemen from that era. Enjoy...

Fallout

The Way of All Flesh

A natural by-product of primary season is the inevitable (and necessary) winnowing of the field as citizens make their will known through actual voting.

This morning brings news that Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is ending his campaign for the GOP nomination for president. I have mixed feelings about this, as I think Senator Paul is a good conservative and a strong supporter of the Constitution and Bill of Rights (you can't take that sort of thing for granted anymore with politicians, unfortunately).



I am hopeful that he will continue to advocate for those things (and, more broadly, the libertarian-conservative viewpoint) once he is re-elected to the senate.

Senator Paul's campaign was one of the ones to which I donated this cycle, and I more than got my money's worth.

The other big news this morning is asshat Donald Trump's ranting that Texas senator Ted Cruz "stole" (Trump's word) the Iowa Caucuses Monday night.

No one who has paid the slightest bit of attention is surprised that this malignant narcissist wouldn't be able to handle not winning.


After all, when he merely dropped to second behind Dr. Ben Carson in an Iowa poll back in November, he exclaimed "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" On camera.

Of course, it remains to be seen what this does to his support in New Hampshire, where he has enjoyed a large margin over Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. I would find it most remarkable if this most recent tantrum didn't damage him with GOP voters.

The best part about primary season is that, when it comes time to actually show up and vote, people tend to take things a bit more seriously. It's up to New Hampshire now to send this asshat a clear message.

"And that message should be...?"

Something like "Get lost," only with more cursing...

Feast Day

The Blessing of St. Blaise, by Pacecco de Rosa

One of my fondest memories from Catholic school growing up was the annual feast of St. Blaise, and the sacramental known as the Blessing of the Throats. If February 3 fell on a weekday, the parish priests would visit the school and perform the ceremony in our classroom.

Even today I can clearly recall
how it felt to have the crossed candles touch my throat. It gave
me a powerful sense of safety and well-being. Most parishes don't make as much of a fuss about February 3 as they once did,
which is a shame. Such ceremonial expressions of faith still have meaning.

Ockham's Razor: Popular Music Edition

From the wry comic strip Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, which you should read every day, as I do.

Until Next Time...

Since I use this section of the blog to celebrate music that figured prominently in my life, every once in awhile I have to confess to one of those "guilty pleasure" kinds of songs. We all have them, of course. I'm just more honest than most people about mentioning them by name.

In December of 1967 I was a nerdy 14-year-old who spent quite a lot of time listening
to Top 40 radio. For reasons that really don't withstand scrutiny, I became enamored of a song called "Green Tambourine" by a band from Ohio called The Lemon Pipers that started getting a lot of radio play a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Original 1968 45 rpm single in sleeve

The song is about the practice known as "busking," in which musicians perform in public spaces and accept donations. The busker will usually have something nearby in which people are encouraged to pitch in their money (a hat, an instrument case, etc.).

On February 3, 1968 the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, and the term "bubblegum music" came into the parlance to describe music of this sort, which appealed mostly to kids my age.

It was the first 45 rpm single I ever bought for myself. And yes, I actually DO have it in my iTunes folder also. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

Today's send-off is a video hastily produced by the band in an attempt to capitalize on the single's success. In fairness, a struggling band like The Lemon Pipers wouldn't have much of a budget for such a production, and it shows. The lip-syncing is pretty terrible, but only marginally worse than a lot of other videos from those days. Enjoy...

Civics Lesson

Snow Day

As it turned out, the weather here in southwest Iowa was fine for the caucuses last night. This morning was another story...

View from my patio at 9:30 AM CST

As these things go, this isn't a particularly impressive snowfall, and certainly nowhere near as bad as was predicted. We'll see if Mother Nature has any more in store for us today (the Winter Storm Warning is still in effect until 4:00 AM Wednesday), but for now things are pretty normal. Some cancellations, but a lot of business that preemptively announced closings for today are probably wishing they hadn't.

Tea Leaves

Front page this morning

So, after nearly a year of build-up, the Iowa Caucuses provided the first feedback from flesh-and-blood voters regarding the men and women running for president. And, as usual, the pollsters (who forecast comfortable victories for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton) got their asses handed to them by those voters.

Texas senator Ted Cruz easily beat Trump, who nearly fell to third place behind Florida senator Marco Rubio as well.

Meanwhile, black-eyed skank Hillary Clinton couldn't beat grumpy old socialist Bernie Sanders. She "won" the caucus by virtue of coin-tosses in half a dozen precincts, ALL of which went her way (she had her "cattle futures" luck working  last night).


Trump, as might be expected, began grumbling about the outcome this morning (after disappearing from both TV and social media last night following his concession speech). New Hampshire will be more hospitable to him, but we'll see how the voters react to his childish post-Iowa pouting. Trump's mantle as a winner has been tarnished, and that may have a lot to do with what happens next.

As for Hillary, Sanders currently leads her by more than 20 points in New Hampshire. We're not sure about the state of play in South Carolina because there have only been
a couple of polls done there since December. It will be fun to watch that race unfold. Personally, I'm rooting for Hillary Collapse 2.0.

For my own part, I enjoyed participating in the caucus, as I always do. Of course,
I didn't go by myself...

My wingman indicates his preference for Carly, with which I concurred.

I didn't expect her to win, of course, but my vote was a reward for her running a clean campaign and not going negative. She's smart, meticulously prepared, fearless, and a skillful advocate. She deserves some support for all of that, and I was happy to give it.

Turnout statewide didn't just break the previous record, it buried the pieces. At my venue, other than the larger number of participants everything was pretty normal. Except for the two women who spoke on behalf of Candidate Trump, who looked like pricey Vegas call girls, and who never made eye-contact with the audience as they read their prepared talking points. I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking there were probably several words in those remarks that neither of the women could define if you put a gun to their heads.

So the circus has pulled up stakes and moved on to the next town, and Iowa can return to something resembling normalcy, having done America the service of showing that you can, in fact, trust people to reject guys like asshat Donald Trump.

"And that he who spends the most money doesn't necessarily win."

That, too...Jeb Bush wound up winning 1 delegate (the same number as Carly got) after spending more than $15 million on Iowa...

The TrumpWits™️ Didn't Think It Through

From the perspicacious pen of Michael Ramirez, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

One of the oddities about popular music is that it is possible to be a tremendous commercial success without ever actually reaching the top of the Billboard album or singles charts very often. The British-American rock band Foreigner is a splendid example of the phenomenon.

Formed in 1976, the band has sold more than 80 million records, nearly half of that total in the United States alone. They have released nine multi-platinum certified albums, including three "hits" compilations. But for all of their success as album-rock superstars, they only ever had one record reach the top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart (their fourth album, simply titled 4, held the No. 1 position for 10 weeks in 1981).

It was a similar story with singles. The band produced nine Top 10 hit singles, but only one of them ever reached the pinnacle.

Original 1984 45 rpm single sleeve

On February 2, 1985 the group scored its only No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart with "I Want to Know What Love Is," a power ballad written by guitarist Mick Jones with some help from vocalist Lou Gramm.

Despite its popularity (the single went double-platinum), it wasn't until several weeks after its mid-November 1984 release that it finally hit the top, and it was only a brief two-week stay.

That said, the song is the biggest hit of Foreigner's career, and is a staple of AOR radio to this day.

Today's send-off is the official music video for the single, which includes footage of the New Jersey Mass Choir, which sang accompanying vocals on the recording. Enjoy...

Febu-Wary

Iowa Caucuses 2016

My caucus location, within walking distance of my home.

At long last, the time to stop yapping and actually VOTE has arrived. No more of the ridiculous polling, phone calls, mailers, and other trappings of the pre-Caucus season. After tonight, the circus will fold up its tent and move on to the next stop, New Hampshire.



The weather is still predicted to be beastly tonight, rain this afternoon (which will freeze) followed by snow, with the snow not ending until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The upper boundary of the snow accumulation forecast has been increased to 10 inches, which of course will be made worse by blowing and drifting.

Making it to the caucus shouldn't be a problem for me, as my location (New Horizon Presbyterian Church) is only a couple of minutes away by car. Easy peasy.

As for the rest of the state, I am not that worried about people who live in relatively sizable towns like Council Bluffs, but I am concerned for my friends and neighbors who live in more rural areas. Please be safe, everyone...

"If the roads are bad where you are, think about staying home."

If you're planning to caucus for asshat Donald Trump, you should stay home even if the roads are fine...

Publicity Stunt Backfires

"Yeah, that didn't go great..."

Speaking of asshat Donald Trump, he was in my town yesterday on the eve of the caucuses, and because he covets the votes of evangelical Christians (who comprise a large chunk of Iowa's GOP voters), Trump decided to stage a photo op by attending church services.

It did not go well, but that's what happens when a clueless fake tries to Christian in public, with the cameras pointing at him.

Incredibly depressing to think that anyone considers this pompous fraud to be the best choice to be our next president...

A Touch of the Poet

February 1, 1902 - May 22, 1967

On February 1, 1902 James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. He would become one of the most important poetic voices of his generation, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement,

He published his first book of poetry at age 24, and is remembered primarily as a poet, but he was extraordinarily prolific, writing novels, plays, short story collections, and non-fiction books in addition to more than a dozen volumes of poetry. He was a truly unique voice.


One of my favorites of his, "Motto," was quoted on an episode of Law and Order by
Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach):

Must Be the "Trump Factor"

From the wonderful comic strip Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller, which you should read every day, as I do (even though Wiley is a squishy liberal).

Until Next Time...

During my sophomore year of high school in suburban Kansas City I didn't drive, and didn't really have any friends who did either. That meant that during the winter months socializing was minimal, since it was often too cold and/or snowy to go anywhere on foot. And that meant there wasn't much to do on Friday nights except listen to the
Top 40 countdown on WHB, the most popular AM radio station in Kansas City.

Original 1968 45 rpm label

The Top 40 was very eclectic in those days, and part of the fun was trying to predict which songs would be the big hits. Some shot to the top of the countdown and fell off just as quickly. Others broke in near the bottom of the Top 40 and took what seemed like ages to get to the top.

Released on December 17, 1968, "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart (and the WHB Top 40) just six weeks later, on February 1, 1969.


It spent two weeks at No. 1, and it remained on the chart for another 10 weeks after that. It became the band's signature song, selling several million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-remembered songs of the late 1960s, and has been covered many times by other artists. It has also been featured in numerous movies and TV shows. It is most definitely part of the soundtrack of my adolescence.

When the band was putting together an album to capitalize on the success of the single, they created a version nearly two minutes longer than the original, but the additional material was just a bunch of aimless psychedelic noodling of the sort a lot of bands indulged in when given some measure of artistic control over their records.

Today's send-off is the shorter "radio edit" version of the song (the one with which most people are familiar). This is the sort of lip-sync video that was often be played on pop music or variety programs on TV in those days in lieu of live in-studio appearances by the artists. Enjoy...