The Song For Today, Jimmie Oliver [bill gates best books TXT] 📗

SEPTEMBER 17TH
White Punks On Dope by The Tubes (1975)
from the album The Tubes
This extraordinary song was selected for inclusion on the 'Best Punk Album In The World...Ever, Volume 1'. The trouble is that the Tubes were not exactly a punk rock band. They simply carved out their own exclusive niche. Nevertheless, 'WPOD' is a formidable and eccentric track, with all manner of splendid contributions from guitar, piano, backing vocals, and an excellent fade-out and return. This recording about poor little rich kids in desperate search for street credibility actually merits inclusion on any 'best album in the world...ever.' It is indeed one of my favourite twenty tunes. Born on this day in 1948 was the group's singer and songwriter, John 'Fee' Waybill. I particularly love the lines that state: "Sounds real classy living in a chateau/So lonely, all the other kids will never know."
{Also on this date, in 1978 Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords}

SEPTEMBER 18TH
All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)
from the album Electric Ladyland
On this day in 1970 ended the life of the gifted guitarist, Jimi Hendrix. His time in the limelight may have only lasted three and a half years, but Hendrix's inspiration has endured for three and a half decades. I am in little doubt that his tremendous re-working of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower' is not only Jimi's greatest song, but is arguably the best cover version of all time, as well as a strong challenger for the top single of the 1960s. Featuring Hendrix's use of the wah-wah pedal and a jaw-dropping intro, this track from the patchy 'Electric Ladyland' album is simply stunning. I have no hesitation in listing it amongst my three favourite songs of all time. Jimi was only 28 years old when he became the latest rock fatality.
{Also on this day, the former hostage Patty Hearst is arrested in 1975}

SEPTEMBER 19TH
Dream A Little Dream Of Me by Mama Cass With The Mamas & Papas (1968)
available on the album 20 Golden Greats
Big fat Mama Cass Elliot was born on this date in 1941 in Baltimore, Maryland. Although she made a name for herself with her great vocal performances for the Mamas and the Papas, she also scored a major hit with the supremely beautiful single, 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me'. Unless you have a heart of stone, you cannot fail to be moved by this emotional recording. The song's introduction says everything: "And now, here to sing this lovely ballad/ Here is Mama Cass." Astonishingly, the tune narrowly failed to reach either the UK or the US Top Ten.
{Also on this date, the first Glastonbury music festival takes place in 1970}

SEPTEMBER 20TH
Blank Generation by Richard Hell And The Voidoids (1977)
from the album Blank Generation
If ever there was an anthem for doomed youth, it is this one. Richard Hell wrote and performed this punk classic, as well as co-producing it with Richard Gottehrer. With such gems as "I was saying get me out of here, before I was even born", it was the kind of lyrical nihilism that Kurt Cobain would later specialise at. Kicking off with a splendid guitar intro, this is perhaps the finest punk recording to emerge from the New York punk scene. Anyhow, this is a special day in the punk calendar, because on this date back in 1976 the 100 Club in London played host to the first-ever international punk festival. Woodstock, it wasn't.
{Also on this day, in 1977 the new state of Vietnam joins the United Nations}

SEPTEMBER 21ST
The Last Resort by The Eagles (1976)
from the album Hotel California
The autumn equinox is also the anniversary of the birth of Don Felder in 1947, the guitarist in the Eagles. Their most critically acclaimed project is undoubtedly 'Hotel California'. Though the long player boasts such well-known hit singles as the title track, the excellent 'New Kid In Town', and 'Life In The Fast Lane', I prefer the lesser known album items. 'Wasted Time', 'Pretty Maids All In A Row', and 'Try And Love Again' are amongst the best songs that poured forth from any American recording studio in the 'seventies. However, the colossus of this record has to be the closing cut, 'The Last Resort'. Here the group takes a savage swipe at the white man's conquest of North America in the name of God, against an orchestral background of strings that should leave the listener in doubt that this is a grand piece of work, both thought-provoking and deserving of repeated listening. Did a better tune from any other American artist exist in the 1970s?
{Also on this date, President Yeltsin suspends the Russian parliament in 1993}

SEPTEMBER 22ND
I Love Rock 'N' Roll by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (1982)
from the album I Love Rock 'N' Roll
Joan Jett was born on this date in 1958 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Christened as Joan Marie Larkin, her four minutes of fame came courtesy of the priceless smash hit 'I Love Rock 'N' Roll'. With the assistance of the Blackhearts, Joan Jett treats us to one of popular music's great sing-along anthems that even Queen would have been proud of. This is the kind of tune that you play from behind the closed door of your bedroom, and whereupon you promptly go wild, armed with the mirror on the wall and the obligatory air guitar.
{Also on this day, Iraq invades Iran in 1980 without any formal warning}

SEPTEMBER 23RD
Begin The Beguine by Julio Iglesias (1981)
from the album De Nina A Mujer
Julio Iglesias, born on this day in 1943 in Madrid, was forced to abandon a promising career of playing football, due to a car accident, and so he turned his attention towards performing on a different stage. The Spanish superstar's change of career path would pay off handsomely when the impressive Europop of 'Begin The Beguine' reached the summit of the British hit parade towards the end of 1981. Iglesias had succeeded where the Spanish Armada had failed almost exactly four centuries earlier. He had achieved a successful invasion and conquest of Britain. If only Philip of Spain had possessed such a tune.
{Also on this date, President Marcos imposes martial law in the Philippines in 1972}

SEPTEMBER 24TH
How Do You Do It? by Gerry And The Pacemakers (1963)
from the album How Do You Like It?
Before the 2 Liverpool football clubs proceeded to dominate English and European football, the city's bragging rights revolved around the remarkable year of 1963, when the various artists of the 'Mersey Sound' took the British charts by storm. Whilst London and the home counties were coping with the trauma of political scandal and a change of Prime Minister, many uneducated lads from Merseyside were cheering the nation up with their new 'beat'. At the forefront were the Beatles, the Merseybeats, and not least Gerry and the Pacemakers. The latter were well-named because before the Lennon and McCartney songwriting axis revolutionised the world of popular music, Gerry Marsden and his merry men did indeed set the pace. I am not a big fan of the 'Mersey Sound', but I do concede that the likes of 'I Like It' and the superb 'How Do You Do It?' deserved to reach Number One. Gerry Marsden was born on this day in 1942 in Toxteth.
{Also on this day, Ben Johnson 'wins' the 100 metres at the 1988 Seoul Olympics}

SEPTEMBER 25TH
Moby Dick by Led Zeppelin (1969)
from the album Led Zeppelin II
This instrumental was the penultimate track from Led Zeppelin's seminal second album and it showcased the talent of John Bonham at the drums. This piece was used for the BBC programme 'Top Gear' many years ago. Today however is a sad anniversary in the story of arguably the world's best-ever rock band, because on this date back in 1980, big Bonzo Bonham literally drank himself into an early grave. After Ian Curtis's suicide in May, this was the second time in the year that a ground-breaking act were obliged to stand down, after the death of a band member, on the eve of a tour of the United States. John Bonham was found dead at the age of only thirty-two, after a phenomenal vodka drinking binge at the home of Jimmy Page, whose own guitar work had also made a massive contribution to the 'Moby Dick' recording.
{Also on this date, 38 Irish republicans escape from the Maze prison in 1983}

SEPTEMBER 26TH
Avalon by Roxy Music (1982)
from the album Avalon
Born this day in 1945, former art college student (and pottery teacher) Bryan Ferry is that most unique of specimens: a sophisticated Geordie. Seriously though, Ferry has pursued a twin track approach to his musical career. On the one hand, with Roxy Music, he has been at the heart of a pioneering art-rock group. On the other, as a solo artist, he has had a knack of selecting classic records and then courageously re-interpreting them, with mixed results. In conjunction with his band Roxy Music, Ferry has sang his way through several special tunes, notably 'More Than This', 'Oh Yeah', and 'Street Life'. However, I have a strong liking for the ambient 'Avalon', which was the perfect antidote to endless chart songs that were performed at an unrelenting pace. 'Avalon' embodies Ferry and his outfit. It's cool, laid back, sophisticated, and too good to ignore. It ought to rank among the ten best British singles of the 'eighties.
{Also on this day, Canada's Ben Johnson is stripped of his gold medal in 1988}

SEPTEMBER 27TH
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974)
from the album Not Fragile
Today marks the anniversary of the birth in 1943 of Mr. Randy Bachman in Winnipeg. His Canadian combo narrowly failed to achieve a UK Number One with the ultimate, timeless rock anthem, 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet'. The favourite song of spoof disc jockeys Smashy and Nicey contains amusing lyrics (written by Bachman himself) and features the kind of guitar chords that render it a must-have for any self-respecting music collector. There weren't many better tunes than this American chart-topper in the rocking