Petula Clark, Downtown, A Sign of the Times

Posted in Petula Clark on October 4th, 2012 by Willie

Normally, when you think about the end of the baseball season, you don’t think about Petula Clark, but I do. I’m a rabid New York Mets fan, and when I was a kid, I had a VHS of “Amazin Era,” a film about the history of the New York Mets from 1962-1985. I watched that tape endlessly, over and over, and the soundtrack from that tape just fills me with that special brand of nostalgia. As the Mets season came to another disappointing finish yesterday afternoon, I randomly stumbled on the old Petula Clark song “A Sign of the Times.” This song was featured prominently in the “Amazin Era” tape, and its etched in the loops of my childhood memories. Now, those who read my website know that when I’m posting songs from the 60s, they are usually the absolute best songs of the era; the most artistic, the most serious, the most life changing. Petula’s 60s output doesn’t live up to those standards, but she WAS a product of the most glorious time in pop music, and as a consequence, her cheesy music still IS powerful. “Downtown,” made famous in modern times as a minor subplot in a Seinfeld episode, is an example of this. Its about a lonely woman who just travels to the city to see a movie to lift her spirits. Its totally dumb, but the melody, and Petula’s singing are out of this world. The same goes for “A Sign of the Times,” a sterling diamond of a song. To me, and I know this is borderline insanity, but “A Sign of the Times” was exactly the type of song Paul McCartney was writing in early 1967. It has an awesome vintage British feel that has proven incredibly hard to replicate by anyone since that era. So, sit back, and enjoy these two hunks of 60s confectionery sugar.

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AC/DC Week, Hells Bells

Posted in AC/DC, Youtube Favs on July 16th, 2011 by Willie

And thus the bell tolls for the end of AC/DC week, and what better way to close it out then with “Hells Bells” from Back in Black. A lot of my fellow baseball fans know this song mainly from all time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, who used the song whenever he entered a game for the San Diego Padres.  Other people might recognize the song from their astral dream journeys to Hell…hah!  Did you know that bell that starts the song off chimes exactly 13 times?  Freaky right?  This song, like the “Back in Black” song itself, is another tribute to Bon Scott, funny because all his tribute songs are the darkest nastiest jokes about him being some evil ghost or him burning in eternal hellfire.  Maybe they were happy he got “dragged to Hell.”  Probably not, they loved him, but the song is amazing piece of exciting heavy metal drama, and the perfect cap for what has been a memorable week of AC/DC ass kickery.  To all the AC/DC fans around the world, and all fans of hilariously to the point rock and roll, this is Willie Simpson signing off, and I’ll see you down the road…(i.e. tomorrow.)

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