Here’s one you may not know. I had mostly forgotten about it until Alton Brown mentioned it on an episode of his YouTube show Quarantine Quitchen. I immediately went to find a video of it.
Sadly this single didn’t chart, but it was the “B” side to Run Straight Down which made it to #30 in 1989. The late Mr. Zevon is not on my “Guitar God” list. I guess I’ll have make another list for him. Yeah, he’ll rank very high on my singer/songwriter list.
I picked this video because it also has Neil Young who played on the original, and it’s live!
I had to do the grocery shopping the other day. We’re doing our best to not go too often, but as I’ve mentioned before the shelves are so low of everything it requires multiple trips over several days to get everything we need. I have gone from having to feed just me and Wifey (with son-the-younger on his days off) to feeding all three of us plus the wee bonnie lasses. From two to five mouths.
While our liquor store will deliver to us, the grocery store we prefer does not offer delivery nor pickup. So, one of us has to go shopping.
And that leads me to today’s song. Most folks that were shopping along with me were very good about maintaining that social distance. But not all.
I do hope each and everyone out there are handling this health crisis well. We are having no issues here. I have been closely monitoring everyone’s temperature daily (me twice a day – I’m a high-risk guy). I also check my blood oxygen level several times a day, just for good measure.
And since I live in #Floriduh and our good-for-nothing governor was following along with our national Dear Leader, it’s been crazy here. Yesterday I had two guys come door-to-door trying to sell something. I have no idea what as I wouldn’t open the door and just yelled at them to go away. We do, finally, have a “stay-at-home” order. It goes into effect at midnight tonight.
And that brings me to today’s tune. I think it fits quite nicely with everything that’s going on ‘round here. Plus, it needs no introduction.
Here’s one you probably don’t know. It’s from 1980 and there’s not much about this song on the web. There are several live videos and that’s about it. I played this song a lot when I was in broadcasting training. So it became a favorite of Wifey and me.
This is how this song got stuck. Yesterday Wifey and I were grocery shopping and she pointed at a certain package of cookies and started singing this. Thank you Pepperidge Farms.
In 1981, Watts in a Tank was released in the United States. The single “Sausalito Summernight” rose to #25 on the U.S.Top 40. It reached #1 in Canada. Watts in a Tank itself went up to #68 on the Billboard 200.
Another birthday for a member of my “Guitar Gods” list. Admittingly, this is a list that only exists in my head, I’ve never committed to paper, or an electronic version for that matter.
David was a late entry to this list. I didn’t really find Pink Floyd until the Dark Side of the Moon album which was released in 1973. Since then I have managed to find quite a few of their older albums. Of course, all my albums are just sitting gathering dust since I have no way to play them. I do have a turntable, but nothing to plug it into. Maybe one day.
This track is from the 1979 blockbuster album The Wall.
“Comfortably Numb” is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their eleventh album, The Wall (1979). It was released as a single in 1980 with “Hey You” as the B-side. The chorus progression and guitar solos were written by guitarist David Gilmour, while the lyrics and verse progression were written by bassist Roger Waters.
The comments on this video list Chuck Leavell as co-lead (keyboardist with the opening vocals), and Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters with back up vocals. I’m not sure, but I think you can catch a glimpse of Roger playing the acoustic guitar. Maybe someone with better eyes can verify that.
Here are a few of the comments from the YouTube page I found interesting;
The solo is not something you hear , it’s something you feel.
My dad is screaming at me from the next room to turn the bloody volume up for the Solo.
My neighbour called the police because I was playing Comfortably Numb too loud. The police arrested my neighbour.
And my favorite –
Doctor : u have 5min to live
Me : Listens to Comfortably Numb
Doctor : But that’s 9min
God : it’s okay
