Inspiration always hits when you're busy doing something else. When you're not paying attention. When you need an excuse to divert you from the tedium.
I'm busy packing for my trip to Vail. At least I'm ATTEMPTING to pack for my trip to Vail. And, while I'm running around my house, trying to get my shit together, I'm letting my Top 200 Most Played tracks in my iTunes library play at random.
I'm hearing the most AMAZING things. Peter Gabriel's "I Have The Touch". Stories' "What Comes After". The Silencers' "Answer Me". But what stopped me in my tracks, what made me put fingers to keyboard, was Crosby-Nash's "Lay Me Down".
Thirty five years ago, Crosby, Stills & Nash were the biggest act in the land. Loved by musos as well as the casual listener. It was because of the SOUND! It soothed us, it opened doors in our mind, it INSPIRED us.
The sound this act made is no longer hip. It's not on Top Forty. Although Led Zeppelin has been revived, and the Doors too, CSN has been fading into the woodwork.
But two years ago, Crosby and Nash got together to cut a track with the essence of their heyday. And seemingly nobody heard it.
That's the crime of today's music business. There's no room for what isn't obvious, for what isn't hyped. That's what we're hoping is changing. That there's room for the different, the CREAM to rise to the top.
I heard "Lay Me Down" on XM. But, two years ago, not even a couple of million people had subscriptions. And there are over a hundred channels. And Mike Marrone has a playlist of 5,000 plus songs in his Loft library. Oh, you only need to hear "Lay Me Down" once to be infected. But how many people HEARD IT?
There's something I hate about the summer. In that it's not winter. I'm finally back into the skiing groove. I've finally got my equipment right. And now the season is ending. I don't want to wait MONTHS to be able to act on the inspiration and hit the slopes. Oh, I'll be able to go to Mammoth til the 4th of July, but what about those endless months thereafter, til November? Life's an endlessly spinning cycle, that becomes overwhelming the older you get, and then you hear a song and everything is right in the world.
Driving to go hiking two years ago in the warm months, I heard "Lay Me Down" for the first time. Hearing it now makes me believe that the summer will be okay. That I'll cope.
I want you to hear it.
Unfortunately, the way the music world works, you can't. Isn't it amazing that the labels are trying to sell you all this shit, but you can't hear it? They want you to PAY first. That's RIDICULOUS! It's not the seventies anymore. With a plethora of FM stations playing a broad swath of material, EVERYTHING good. Now, something can be truly great and most people are never exposed to it. And that's a TRAGEDY! Because music is the grease that makes life work.
You should be able to hear anything I write about, anything a friend tells you about, INSTANTLY! Not for free, you should be paying for this service. Ten or fewer dollars a month. And then music would be healthy. The power would be wrested from the traditional gatekeepers, the heyday would return, music would rule. Isn't it funny that those in charge don't want this?
Still, you can hear a 47 second snippet of "Lay Me Down" on Crosby-Nash's Website. You'll miss the exquisite guitar work, but you'll get the idea.
Go to: http://crosbynash.com/. Click on "Recordings" on the left-hand side. Of the six albums that appear, click on the one in the upper left-hand corner. THEN, when a picture of this album takes over the screen, click on the left-hand side once again, on "The Songs". Then, click on "Lay Me Down". THEN, click on the little speaker icon next to the lyrics.
Obviously somebody fucked up here. Somebody is Web clueless. At LEAST have the music available to hear on your homepage, on the DEFAULT page. But, despite the labyrinth, now, assuming you've got RealPlayer installed, listen to the tune.
You'll think it's 1970 all over again.
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