Sing The Blues

Growing up, my parents infected me with their musical tastes- or almost all of them, anyway. I'll never have my Dad's obsessive love of Pink Floyd- and I still don't understand my mother's love of Jethro Tull or weird, obscure British groups from the 70s like Wishbone Ash. But there are certain things I do remember:

Listening to Pink Floyd's Pulse (the live album) on every single vacation we went on. That was Dad's driving music-- he did throw in Led Zeppelin every now and again, but Pulse always came first.

Mom and UB40. Mom loved operas (something she had picked up from her mother) as a kid, I couldn't understand that. I never understood what they were saying and I didn't like classic music. Now, much to my horror, I'm starting to realize how beautiful some of that music actually is (Death Scene from Madame Butterfly, Carmen... argh...) But one album she used to play all the time was UB40s Labour of Love. I didn't realize this until later, but I think it's a cover album of reggae classics they put together- Red, Red Wine- Cherry Oh Baby, Johnny Too Bad... for some reason it stuck in my head and I love it.

And of course, Derek and the Dominoes. When I was young and foolish, I used to think that the unplugged version of 'Layla' which was polluting the radiowaves of my early 90s youth was the coolest song ever. It was slow, blues filled jam and it just sounded good. My parents couldn't stand the unplugged version and I never knew exactly why until I started seriously listening to Derek and the Dominoes.

The unplugged version, sucks. When some crappy music magazine released a list of the 100 Best Guitar Hooks of all time, I was shocked, in fact, offended that Layla didn't make the Top 5- instead, Guns and Roses 'Sweet Child of Mine' took top honors, which to me was idiotic. Not true at all- Layla wins, hands down.

Then of course, you watch too many Vh1 specials and you learn what the song is actually about. Clapton had (at the time) a thing for George Harrison's wife (true story!) who divorced Harrison and married him two years later. Whether you think about Harrison's wife or just unrequited love in general (which is what I think the song is more universally about) I think the original captures the pain and the ache of that feeling better than the pale, crap Unplugged version of it does. The guitar hook is kick ass and although the last half of the song seems to drag on forever, at the end of the day, to me, anyway, it's totally worth it. 'Layla' ranks right up there with 'Stairway' as some of the best almost 10 minute songs EVER.

But the amazing thing is: the whole album- 'Layla and Assorted Love Songs' is actually incredible. The guitar work, the whole bluesy feel to it- I just put the whole damn album onto my iTunes. And it rocks- everyone should own it- if not listen to it at least once.