Feeling young

Thomas Wolfe famously taught us that we can't go home again. True enough, but sometimes we can recapture a feeling that is so like what we once had that it’s downright spooky.

In the fall of 1968 I was a VISTA volunteer in Aurora, Illinois, having dropped out of Notre Dame. I was back on campus for a football weekend and after the game a bunch of us ended up in somebody’s dorm room. I know my future roommate, Dave Denmark, was there and I think TMcD was there as well; we were perhaps ten people.

Hey Jude had just topped the American charts and was quickly becoming a lot of people’s favorite Beatles song. We played it that afternoon and ended up arms on shoulders, in a circle, singing along. The more the ending, “Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, Hey Jude” played, the louder we got. The music stopped but we kept on.

It became an iconic moment for a group of friends. I know I'm not the only one who remembers it.

Last night in Tarrytown, New York, I had a wonderfully similar experience. The song this time was Happy Together by the Turtles. Listen to it here to remind yourself of the ending. Eight hundred of us were on our feet singing "Bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah bah, bah bah bah bah. . ." over and over at the top of our lungs. As Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere and the Raiders) had said earlier, “rock and roll keeps us young.” It sure felt that way.

The occasion was the return of the Turtles' Happy Together tour. This year’s version featured the Buckinghams (Don't You Care; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; Hey Baby; Susan; Kind of a Drag); the Cowsills (The Rain, the Park and Other Things; We Can Fly; Indian Lake; Hair); the Grass Roots (I'd Wait a Million Years; Sooner or Later; Let's Live for Today; Temptation Eyes; Midnight Confessions); the Association (Windy; Never My Love; Everything That Touches You; Cherish; Along Comes Mary); Mark Lindsay (Action; Just Like Me; Hungry; Arizona; Good Thing; Indian Reservation; Kicks) and the Turtles (She'd Rather Be With Me; You Baby; It Ain't Me Babe; Eleanor; Happy Together).

The backing band – lead and bass guitars, drums, keyboard -- was excellent throughout; the quality of the groups kept getting better. Only the Buckinghams sounded like they needed more rehearsal time. The Cowsills – yes, the Cowsills, models for TV’s the Partridge Family – were probably the best vocally. The Association sounded great, but Cherish was a bit of a reach fifty years later.

The Turtles, aka Flo and Eddie, brought their zany comic style to a wonderful ending. From their classic version of Dylan’s It Ain't Me Babe to the rousing Happy Together closure where they brought everyone back on stage for a singalong, it was another great Sunday night in Tarrytown's hundred and thirty year-old music hall.

I haven't put up links to all these songs because they're readily findable on YouTube. I'll point you to three I particularly like: We Can Fly, Let's Live for Today and You Baby. The last has the best line of the night:

A little ray of sunshine

A little bit of soul

Add just a touch of magic

You've got the greatest thing since rock and roll

I liked almost all of the songs I heard. I didn't know the theme to TV's Love American Style, sung by the Cowsills, but I knew all the rest, with all their words, except for Temptation Eyes by the Grass Roots. Somehow I missed that one.

But now you tell me: what was the song that brought a lump to my throat? Put your guess in the comment section below, or send me an email. How well do you know this cynic named Walter?

The Buckinghams

The Cowsills

Hubba!

And hubba again!

Free at last, free at last . . .

I would have liked a bigger majority, but I'll take it!

Hammond B3 Heaven

What do songs as diverse as Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life, Spencer Davis’s Gimme Some Lovin’, Santana’s Black Magic Woman, Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone, Three Dog Night’s Eli’s Coming, the Beatles Let It Be and Booker T and the MG’s Green Onions have in common? Answer: the distinctive, soulful sound of the Hammond B3 organ, a staple on dozens of soul, rock and pop hits over the last fifty or more years. (You can check out the sound by clicking on Green Onions above).

Last year the Hammond Company launched its Hall of Fame and the freshman class included rock legends Al Kooper, Billy Preston and Steve Winwood, jazz greats Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Fats Waller and rock blues giant Gregg Allman. The aforementioned Booker T. Jones was also in the group, as were eighteen others.

Felix Cavaliere, leader of the (Young) Rascals made the cut. Last night I heard him fronting his current band through a parade of Rascals hits, standing, as ever, behind his beloved Hammond B3. My Notre Dame buddy John Burrows and I were there, at the Tarrytown Music Hall. It was an epic night!

At 72 Cavaliere’s voice isn't what it once was but his musicianship is intact and that B3 sounded terrific. His band features lead and bass guitars, a drummer and a back-up vocalist. I wish I could tell you their names because they were all excellent.

From the opening In the Midnight Hour to the closing Good Lovin’ we were treated to ninety minutes of (mostly) non-stop hits, including A Beautiful Morning, You Better Run, Mustang Sally, I've Been Lonely Too Long, How Can I Be Sure, People Got To Be Free and the immortal Groovin’. The audience was mainly people our age but, singing along and pumping fists, we were kids again.

I return next week to Tarrytown to hear the Turtles, the Buckinghams, the Association, the Grass Roots and Mark Lindsay. A completely different trip down memory lane.

Probably not as loud, probably not as intense.

Then

Now