Had To Cry Today, Yep I Got the Faith!

Looking at that subject heading, you thought I cried today?  Had a g'shrai?

I'm talking Steve Winwood sang the life-changing "Had To Cry Today,"  the other night at The Greek.

It's already written that today will be one to remember
The feeling's the same as being outside of the law
Had to cry today
Well, I saw your sign and I missed you there

-Blind Faith

Many thanks to Mr. Bob Lefsetz who continually informs about the music industry.  He heard Steve belt this one out the other day.  About it, Bob says: 

"it connected in a way regular life never did...so as to believe that everything truly could be right with the world, that someone got it, and if we could just go on the road with the band our lives would be perfect."     -Bob Lefsetz

These are pretty powerful words.  Bob knew the scene back in '60s and, from my layperson's perspective, knows the commercialized music scene today.  Music wasn't just a magic carpet ride to an imaginary place, but the young music fans believed wholeheartedly that the music would transform their existence, their country, their planet.  The messages found in music like Winwood's are still fresh and powerful.  Maybe we're not roadies, but we can still apply these words to our daily lives.  Anyway, I like my flannel sheets from the Company Store.  They don't have those on tour.

Do you see or not see someone's sign and ever "miss you there"?

I wonder if Jason Flom, a music industry executive whose daughter I had the pleasure of teaching in the late '90s, respects Bob's insights.  I mean, I  think they're good.  I think historically Jason has been a successful outside-of-the-box thinker in the music biz.   

But, Jason was there, too, well, at least in the 70s. He gets the spirit of the '60s, for sure.  Just don't have peanuts on your breath if you ever have the chance to meet him because he's got a severe peanut allergy.  You'd know that, too, if you kept up with your New Yorker readings.

Here's an incredible preservation of Blind Faith's only live recording of "Had to Cry Today," and their first gig, to boot!

This is an important video for all peoples to view in its entirety.

 

Note Steve's purple shirt.
If you can groove along to this tune, we have stuff to talk about.

Is Suzy Greenberg a Cultural Stereotype?

 Suzy Greenberg is the name of a ficticious girl and the title of a classic old-school Phish song.  Without a doubt, she is Jewish.  I think many Phish heads aren't particularly into it because they have heard it so many times or perhaps they aren't impressed with its musicianship.  However, from the moment I first heard this tune, I couldn't help but make the direct connection to Carole Kane's character in Annie Hall.

 It is almost as if the songwriter had this clip in mind when writing Suzy:

please advance to :48



(thank you, Mr. Woody Allen, for creating such iconic Americana on the silver screen)


Here is an old performance of the song:






Some reflections on the lyrics:

•  Growing up, I was sometimes called "Loony bin"
• I am not a sociologist, rather an American Studies major (at Brandeis, like Woody Allen's cultural stereotype)
•  "She's out of her mind and she's not of this earth."  Hmm...I have been told this blog is too Loony.
• "An artist she may be, but a genius she is not."    I am not an artist, but my sister Reba is. Most definitely not a genius.
• I might walk the streets like I'm the "queen of the town" only because my Jewish/Hebrew middle name is Malka which means queen.