Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, August 22, 2024)
“The Hook” by Free Design . From their reunion album, Cosmic Peekaboo (released in 2001)
All the pretty young singers with their popular songs
Kind of short on meaning but the beat goes on
You really have to love them – but not for very long
They’d like to thank their managers
And fans, and friends and yawn…
Text by Bruce Gallanther (DMG Newsletter for April 14th, 2023)
“The Garden of Earthly Delights” performed by The United States Of America, released in 1968. Written by Joseph Byrd and Dorothy Moskowitz
Poisonous gardens, lethal and sweet
Venomous blossoms
Choleric fruit, deadly to eat
Violet nightshades, innocent bloom
Omnivourous orchids
Cautiously wait, hungrily loom
Text by Bruce Gallanther (DMG Newsletter for February 16th, 2023)
Photograph of The Byrds (1965): http://www.drb-fans.com/pre-drb.html, Copyright : Sony Music Entertainment, 1965 (then CBS, Inc.)
“Eight Miles High” written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn & David Crosby. Released as a single on March 14, 1966. Performed by The Byrds, from their Fifth Dimension LP,
Eight miles high, and when you touch down
You’ll find that it’s stranger than known
Signs in the street, that say where you’re going
Are somewhere just being their own
Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town, known for its sound
In places, small faces unbound
Round the squares, huddled in storms
Some laughing, some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes, and black limousines
Some living, some standing alone
Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, October 14th, 2022)
“Babylon” written by Dr. John, the Night Tripper, title track from Dr. John’s 2nd album Babylon released in 1969
Babylon
Is represented in the Bible by a stone
Babylon
Is thrown in a river and lost in a storm
Babylon
And never, never, ever again
Will anybody ever wanna call you they home
