O/T The Music Thread

You must really dig “Ariel”. I’m not spoofing you, I dig it. The fellow that recorded it, Dean Friedman, is still
Writing music and performing is bigger abroad than he is here. A one hit wonder state side.

He was born in Paramus, NJ and me ruins the fountain in Paramus Park (now dismantled) in the song, leaving to speculation that the song which rose to # 17 on US Cash Box and remained on the charts for 5 weeks may be autobiographical. If so, I regret nevef having been to Paramus and met this cute little Jewish chick who wore a peasant blouse “with nothing underneath”. Such a vision I have of that.

The lyrics just flow so smoothly until the bombs bursting in air. Strange how a story can be concluded with a clever repetition of Ariel, but it does tie the package up snugly, letting you know the story is over. Was this a one night stand. Did they have a longer relationship? Did the protagonist marry the little fox? Well, he’s not telling, is he?…


youtu.be/ONXQbbJJLuM?si=lBbqCrVzNnDj12R0

Wasn't that was the episode with "Sweet Billy"?

Hey Inger, sorry for the delayed response.  It's been a busy Labor Day Weekend, but I wanted to mark this post until I had time to respond.  Like now.

I'm always glad to find other people who remember and like "Ariel."  Even though it sold fairly well, it's like it disappeared from peoples' memories.  That song was kind of an inside joke song for me and a girl I was dating at the time in the spring of 1977.  In fact she was the last girl I dated before it got to be commitment time with the eventual Mrs. Pipps.

Anyway, as luck would have it, just last July as we were slogging our way up the Garden State Parkway on the way to Saratoga Race Track, we passed through Paramus and saw the sign for Paramus Park.  Much to my surprise, it turns out to be a shopping mall, not a municipal park as I had believed.  I gave a brief history of the song to Mrs. Pipps, who feigned polite interest in the subject, and then we focused on other issues like lunch.

I think I may have commented on my tangential connection to Dean Friedman years ago.  Sometime back in the 90s, when everyday use of the internet was just settling in and I was amazed at what this "search engine" thing could do, I noticed that he had one of those "Website" thingies.  So I wrote him a note saying how much I liked the song and asked him to answer a question I had about Ariel "working for friends of BAI."  I had no idea what that was, I just assumed it was some Commie front organization luring in naive idealists to do their dirty work.  Much to my surprise he wrote back almost immediately and explained that this was a reference to WBAI, a public radio station in New York which like all such stations holds regular begathons.  So I was right, it was a Commie front organization.

In any event, I thanked him and went on about my life -- we were living in LA at the time -- and for some reason he put me on his mailing list and I kept getting notices about his upcoming appearances, nearly all of which were in the lower Hudson Valley/Catskill region of New York.  I guess business was slow for him back then, because he would write to me personally and ask when I could come to watch him perform.  I explained that it was not really convenient to come from LA to see him perform at the Poughkeepsie Center For the Performing Arts.  He kept sending reminders of where and when he was performing -- none of these places was closer than 2,500 miles away -- until finally, as happened often back then, we changed service providers and Dean was thrown off the trail.

Be that as it may, it's a charming song with a nice story and I hope he found his Ariel.

Strange. I’m not a big Dream Weaver fan. It’s an alright song, and it’s nice enough. What’s strange is that I referenced that song today, even sang the opening stanza….

Good artist. RIP…

A mysterious departure:

Jim Sullivan

Jim Sullivan was all set for the biggest gig of his life. Being a songwriter as well as a guitarist, the rockstar had released two main albums before he went MIA. He was a man of talent and surely would have made it to the big leagues, but alas, fate had something else in store for him. In 1975, Sullivan was headed to perform in Nashville, Tennessee.

The 6’2” singer’s Volkswagen was found empty in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. All of his stuff including his guitar that he loved so dearly was found in his tidy motel room. With no sign of the man himself, the world was left baffled about what had happened to Sully. Rumors suggest that he just chose to leave the singing life, but his close ones believe he still would not have left without his guitar...

It made me smile too, Matt.  I have always thought that Tom Jones could have been a very good, maybe moderately successful blue-eyed soul singer -- he has the vocal chops for it -- but instead chose to become an international celebrity and sex symbol doing junk like "Daughter Of Darkness" and "She's A Lady" and "Delilah."  I guess it's hard to blame him.  He was definitely one of Elvis's favorites, but Elvis could have pretty bad taste too.

I think I bought every record The Wicked Pickett ever made, at least up through the early 70s, even his covers of "Hey Jude" and "Sugar Sugar" and the forgettable "Mini-Skirt Minnie."  I loved that gritty Memphis-Muscle Shoals brand of soul, although it was less commercially successful than the Motown/Philly/Chicago varieties.  I put Otis Redding at the top of that pile, then maybe Percy Sledge, then Pickett.  That's Booker T and the MGs, minus Booker T, doing the instrumental backing on "Midnight Hour."

A random connection -- both Tom Jones and Wilson Pickett had Top 40 hits with songs about Green Grass -- Jones in 1966 with "The Green Green Grass Of Home" and Pickett in 1970 with "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You."   Today's useless piece of information.