Stairway to Heaven

Yesterday was the Fairy Ball at AWT and I remarked how appropriate it was to end that show with Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.  This song is something of an anthem to my generation so I suppose that I should have expected a bit of a disconnect, especially among the younger attendees.  They seemed to be surprised by the fairy connection.  Last year I posted here about Led Zeppelin in general as one of my “Sojourns” and I linked that post last night but I felt that it might be of interest if I could fully explore the song, Stairway to Heaven.

The song was written in 1970 and Jimmy Page wrote the music on one of their now famous excursions to Bron-Yr-Aur, a manor house in the Welsh mountains where they’d go to compose.  Vocalist, Robert Plant, on hearing the music, improvised the lyrics and most of them were written and set during that session.  Plant had been reading a book, the Magic Arts in Celtic Britain by Lewis Spence (1949).

Spence’s book was a scholarly study of the magical and folk beliefs in Celtic Britain.  The book looks at many facets of this subject, including the Druids, Arthurian legend, magic and of course, fairies.  In fact, the entire subject matter touches upon the Fae in some manner or another.  Even in the segments on Arthurian legend, we look at the related fairy influence including Avalon and Morgan Le Fey. Plant has admitted that the lyrics were inspired by his reading of Spence’s book.

I think what I’m going to do is quote the song lyrics below and highlight in bold certain lines.  I’ll then address those lines and what they might mean.

Stairway to Heaven (1971), by Led Zeppelin

“There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold

And she's buying a stairway to heaven.

When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed

With a word she can get what she came for.

Ooh, ooh, and she's buying a stairway to heaven.

“There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure

'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.

In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings,

Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.

“Ooh, it makes me wonder,

Ooh, it makes me wonder.

“There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,

And my spirit is crying for leaving.

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,

And the voices of those who stand looking.

“Ooh, it makes me wonder,

Ooh, it really makes me wonder.

“And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,

Then the piper will lead us to reason.

And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,

And the forests will echo with laughter.

“If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,

It's just a spring clean for the May queen.

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run

There's still time to change the road you're on.

And it makes me wonder.

“Your head is humming and it won't go, in case you don't know,

The piper's calling you to join him,

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know

Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

“And as we wind on down the road

Our shadows taller than our soul.

There walks a lady we all know

Who shines white light and wants to show

How everything still turns to gold.

And if you listen very hard

The tune will come to you at last.

When all are one and one is all

To be a rock and not to roll.

“And she's buying a stairway to heaven.”

Discussion of the Lyrics

In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings.

One doesn’t find fairies in human civilization.  They are relegated to the forests and wilderness. This line firmly places the song’s subject in the forest.

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,

And my spirit is crying for leaving.

There is a feeling we get when looking at a beautiful sunset.  It is compounded many times when that sunset is viewed out in the wilderness.  If any feeling we universally experience can be called on to prove that magic exists, it is this feeling. It burns deep in our chests and our souls.

Our ancestors watched the sun set and it seemed to parallel the experience of death and dying.  The sun would go to the west and die.  When King Arthur fell at the Battle of Camlann (537 A.D.), he was mortally wounded but did not die on the battlefield.  He was taken, still alive, by the fairies over the sea to the west, to their island of Avalon. There he was healed and now sleeps. The once and future King sleeps and awaits the call when he will be awoken, when Britain once again needs him.

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees

Smoke rings do not occur naturally and only happen when someone smoking creates one.  They often seem magical in and of themselves. This line has always brought to me visions of some gnome at the base of a tree, smoking a pipe and blowing smoke rings, floating among the trees in the forest. I’m also reminded of Bilbo and Gandalf enjoying a good smoke together and blowing smoke rings.

And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,

Then the piper will lead us to reason.

There is an old phrase, “he who pays the piper calls the tune.”  It goes back to the Middle Ages and even the Dark Ages when pipers were used to provide music for dancing in the Hall.  The Lord or King in that hall would pay the piper; therefore they got to pick the tunes he played.  Pipes are ethereal and have a magical quality to them. One only has to think of the Pied Piper of Hamlin.  By making reference in this way, it is hard not to relate these lines to legends. There is a lesson here. If we all come together to give input in a matter, we will come up with a reasonable solution.

And the forests will echo with laughter

Often in tales of fairies, they are heard but never seen. The forests echoing with the sounds of laughter just comes right out and invokes images of fairies hiding deep within.

If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now,

It's just a spring clean for the May queen.

A “hedgerow” often refers to the line of shrubs and greenery that lines the side of the road.  This line makes you think of a “bustle” or rustling within these shrubs as you walk past.  It’s nothing to worry about, it is just the fairies at work, putting things in order (a spring clean) for the May Queen.

The May Queen is an interesting bit of folklore that has evolved from the concept of the fairy folk. Some would say that the Fairy Queen and May Queen are one in the same.  Sir James Frazer in his iconic book, the Golden Bough, links her with the worship of the tree spirits.

The piper's calling you to join him,

We are back to the piper.  He now calls you to join the dance and you fall under the spell of his pipe.  Could this be in the Fairy Circle, deep in the forest?

There walks a lady we all know

Who shines white light and wants to show

We are now forced to deal with the “Lady,” who has been mentioned and alluded to throughout.  Was she just a lady?  Was she the Queen of the Fairies or was she something more?  We now learn that she “shines white light.”  Who else can this be but the goddess, Arianrhod?   She is the personification of the night sky and the full moon, whose light is often described as silver or white.  Arianrhod has many connections to the fairies and many would argue that the Goddess is the Lady referred to throughout the song.  I should also mention that the Welsh goddess, Rhiannon, would also fit as she is also a Celtic Moon Goddess.  The Goddess motif also relates directly to Heaven.

I have been listening to this song since it was first released in 1971 and it remains one of my favorites.  I’ve also read the Lewis Spence book referenced above.  These interpretations are my own but you will find that I am not alone in my views. But maybe it is best not to forget what Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page, said about it in 2003:

“The wonderful thing about "Stairway" is the fact that just about everybody has got their own individual interpretation to it, and actually what it meant to them at their point of life. And that's what's so great about it. Over the passage of years, you know, people come to me with all manner of stories about, you know, what it meant to them at certain points of their lives. About how it's got them through some really tragic circumstances ... Because it's an extremely positive song, it's such a positive energy, and, you know, people have got married to [the song].”

The song is in and of itself timeless.

What About the Devil?

Jimmy had always had an interest in the occult and was a big fan of ceremonial magic, especial the works of Aleister Crowley.  In 1970 Jimmy bought Crowley’s old manor on Loch Ness, Boleskine House.  This created speculation that he was dabbling in the Black Arts, including that he had sold his soul in a pact with the Devil for Led Zeppelin’s success.

There was supposedly further proof of this in that if you played Stairway to Heaven backwards, the line, “There’s still time to change the road you’re on,” becomes, “Here’s to my sweet Satan.”  When this sort of thing is usually done, it is done by recording something forward and then overdubbing it into the recording backwards.  It is called “backwards masking” and many bands did this.  I don’t think this was a product of that process and it is just coincidence it says anything backwards.  I’m sure if I played enough records backwards, I could find the line, “Donald Trump is smoking dope in my hovercraft.”  Where do people find the time?

Enter Disney

The original master tape of Stairway to Heaven was remixed by Disney’s Sunset Sound Studios in 2014.  Nothing has been added or taken away, but 21^st century technology has been used to allow you to hear the song in a new light.  You hear nuances that you never knew were there.  I recall hearing songs on AM radio and then being amazed when I finally heard those same songs from a record played on a high fidelity stereo.  The difference was night and day, yet it was the same recording.  This new version has done it again.  It’s like the recordings I’ve been hearing all these decades were the AM radio version and this new Disney version is what I should have been hearing all of these years. 

I will play this version to end my show this Wednesday, 2-4 PM at AWT.  I normally stream at 128Kbs but on Wednesday, I will up my rate to 192 Kbs, the highest the server will allow to assure you the highest sound quality.  I recommend headphones and turning it up for this grand finale!

In the 1970’s, Stairway to Heaven became a very popular slow dance number at high school dances across the country.  This may have contributed to its popularity with a generation as it became “THE” dance of the night at eight minutes long in school gyms everywhere. For me, it became special because it was filled with beautiful pagan imagery that sang to my soul.

The Middle of the Road

The most famous band you’ve never heard of (if you live in the United States)…

It was the summer of 1979 and I remember I was on the air filling in on a lazy Saturday afternoon at the radio station.  After the station ID tape finished playing and I flipped the switch on the board to turn on my microphone.  The red light over my head shined brightly, indicating that my voice would be going out to our listeners.

“You are listening to [call sign] FM and this is [Sue Mowadeng].  I’m opening up the request line at 555-7273.  If there is something you want to hear, give me a call.”

I had already flipped the switch starting the turntable and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick kicked in as I stopped talking with, “I want you to want me!”

It didn’t take long for the light on the phone to flash.  The ringer had been disabled on the extension in the control booth for obvious reasons.  I answered it and on the other end was a woman with what I thought might be a Spanish accent.  She told me that she loved our station and the music that we played but she hadn’t heard one of her favorite songs since she had moved there.  She wanted me to play Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by the Middle of the Road.  I had never heard of this song or this artist but I was confident that if it was a fan’s favorite that we had in back in the music room.  I promised to play the cut.

While Cheap Trick played, I quickly checked the music room and found no sign of anything by the Middle of the Road.  DJ’s normally live for these opportunities to brighten someone’s day.  We feel the pain when we can’t fill a request and must disappoint someone.  Furthermore, I didn’t know who she was so I couldn’t call her back, and there were guidelines on how we were to conduct ourselves on the air and we were never to apologize for glitches, not having a song, etc.  I felt badly for the poor woman out there somewhere listening and waiting for me to play her song.  I broke in a few songs later and said something similar to this…

“Here at [call sign] FM, we play all facets of rock and roll, from oldies to classics, to the latest releases and your favorites, so there is no middle of the road here, you get it all.”

I hoped that the listener caught on to my cryptic phrasing.  So, who were these guys?

I asked my relief and he had never heard of them.  None of my fellow DJ’s knew who the Middle of the Road was.  I told the story to our Music Director and he was intrigued.  He went through all of his sources and found one album on the RCA label, the Best of the Middle of the Road, but it was not currently distributed in the United States.  At least I knew they existed and I wasn’t the brunt of some practical joke but I was now very intrigued.

Remember, back at this time there was no internet and one couldn’t just Google “Middle of the Road” and find their songs on YouTube.  Months later, talking to friend from Latin America, I got more of the story.  Apparently they were really big all over the world except in the United States.  My friend described them as “international sensations.”  They were like ABBA before there was ABBA.  The fact that I had never heard of them, made them forbidden fruit and I wanted them even more. 

Click to enlarge

 It was maybe a year later that I located a copy of the Best of the Middle of the Road and ordered it from West Germany.  I remember unwrapping it when it came and putting the record on my turntable.  I put the needle down on the first song on the first side and finally heard the request of that listener from that day a year before, Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.  I finally understood what my friend meant by, “ABBA before there was ABBA.”

Fact: Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by the Middle of the Road remains one the top 30 all-time selling singles in the world, selling over 10 million physical copies.

This is proof that four very talented young Scottish musicians could be famous all over the world, yet remain unknown in the United States of America.

This puts them on a list with the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Ke$ha, Celine Dione, the Macarena and Whitney Houston, just to name a few.  “Chirpy” comes in just after Hound Dog by Elvis Presley and comes in just ahead of I’m a Believer by the Monkees.  Who are they?

Let me tell you the story…

The band we know as the “Middle of the Road” or MOTR came together under the name of “Part Four” in 1967 in Glasgow, Scotland.  There were brothers, Ian McCredie (guitar) and Eric McCredie (bass), along with Ken Andrew (drums).  Rounding out this quartet was female vocalist, Sally Carr, whose amazingly unique voice gave the classic lineup of MOTR their unique sound.  (Actually, they played for a short while as “Part Three” before Sally joined.)

In early 1970, they took up an offer to play in South America under the name, “Los Caracas.”  After South America, they found their way to Italy and changed their name to “Middle of the Road.”  Italy was only meant to be a stop over and they were working there in clubs, trying to save enough money to get back to the UK and establish themselves on home soil.

Los Caracas 1970

 While playing clubs in Italy, freshly back from South America, this Scottish group was discovered by an RCA Italia executive who happened upon their show.  He invited them to Rome to record some demos.  They made quite a smash among the people at RCA Italia and soon found themselves backing such names as Sophia Loren.  Their producer, Giacomo Tosti, was looking for material the group could record and he came across a Brit, Lally Stott.  Lally had a song that Tosti thought had potential and he had a new Scottish group that he thought would be just right for the task.

Anyone by Sophia Loren with MOTR backing her

 When MOTR heard the song, they thought it sounded like a kiddie song and they had no interest in it, fearing it would hurt their career…  all except Sally Carr who thought the song was cute and that they should do it.  Finally, the guys relented, provided there was plenty of Bourbon in the recording studio when they did it.  There was and soon they had a finished recording of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.  After hearing their record, they were sure that they would never be able to show their faces in public again as serious musicians, especially in their native UK.

They need not have worried and were never relegated to doing children’s parties.  If you have been reading so far, you know how successful Chirpy became.  They rocketed up the pop charts worldwide and followed up with other hits like Soley Soley, Sacramento (A Wonderful Town) and Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum, which was not a kid’s song but one about a feud between two clans, MacGregor and MacDougal, in their native Scotland.

MOTR showing some of their Gold Records

 Despite becoming international superstars, they remained unknown in the States.  I have not figured out exactly why this is but they did have a chance in 1972 until it was taken from them.  They were one of the featured musical performers at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.  Anyone alive back then recalls how those Olympic Games were marred when Palestinian terrorists took eleven members of the Israeli Olympic Team hostage.   The two day standoff in the Olympic Village ended with all eleven hostages being killed and several of the terrorists.  The coverage of those events diminished other highlights in the media, like Soviet gymnast, Olga Korbut’s amazing performance or American swimmer, Mark Spitz’s unprecedented seven Olympic gold medals, in which he also broke seven world records.  The terrorist tragedy completely eclipsed the musical acts, like MOTR.

Sally left the band in 1977.  Her mother had died and she could no longer stand performing live, especially having to sing their signature song, Chirpy. She had trouble with the lines, “where's your momma gone,” or “Woke up this morning and my momma was gone.”  MOTR continued to record and do concerts with a new female vocalist and fellow Scot, Lorraine Felberg.

Sally went on to marry sports announcer, Chuck Young, in 1978 and they had one child, Keith, in 1980.  They were getting pregnant at about the time I was taking the request at the station for the group I had never heard of.  She and her husband separated in 1984 (they never divorced) and Sally became a single mom to her son, Keith.  It wasn’t until he was eleven years old in 1991 that she would return to singing.

In January 2001, Keith was killed in a motorcycle accident and Sally found herself alone.  Eventually, she would find herself singing and performing again.  Though she was not part of MOTR, she was in demand as a solo act, performing her old songs.  She now found strength and comfort in songs like Chirpy where they once caused her anguish.

In 2012, Sally Carr collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage and almost died.  Her recovery has been plagued with setbacks but she has returned to singing and performing.  Ian McCredie & his son Stuart, along with drummer Stephan Ebn and female vocalist Lorna Osborne, continue on as the Middle of the Road today.  Their touring schedule for 2018 can be found on their website.

Last June, three of the original four members of MOTR (Eric McCredie was replaced by Ian’s son, Stuart McCredie) took to the stage for a reunion in Germany.  It was recorded in this amateur video shown below.  Sally’s vocals start out a bit rusty but definitely improve towards the end and she starts to sound like the Sally we all remember.  The cerebral hemorrhage could not keep her down.

Fun Facts…

Fun Fact #1: Sally Carr once turned down an offer from Playboy Magazine to appear nude in their publication.

Fun Fact #2: Sally Carr once dated Brian Connolly, lead singer for Sweet.

Fun Fact #3: In 1974, Neil Henderson left the Bay City Rollers to join MOTR as a fifth member for some time.  He supposedly did not like the direction BCR was going, wearing matching plaid jumpers on stage, etc. and was looking for a change.

In Closing…

Normally, for a post like this, since it is not a sojourn or memorial, I would play maybe five songs by the group.  In the discussion at the Club that led to this, there seemed to be an overwhelming desire to have a full two hours of MOTR.  Please join me on Monday, February 12, from 7-9 PM SL time at a Woman’s Touch as we remember this amazing group that most of us have never heard of.

MOTR Today

Collage Solution (2017... Hail and Farewell)

Here is the solution for the previous post's game.

Click to Enlarge

1. Fats Domino (1928-2017)

2. Glen Campbell (1936-2017)

3. David Cassidy (1950-2017), The Partridge Family

4. Jim Nabors (1930-2017)

5. Walter Becker (1950-2017), Steely Dan

6. Chester Bennington (1976-2017), Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots

7. Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

8. Cuba Gooding Sr. (1944-2017), The Main Ingredient

9. Chris Cornell (1964-2017), Soundgarden

10. J. Geils (1946-2017)

11. Della Reese (1931-2017)

12. Greg Allman (1947-2017), The Allman Brothers Band

13. Rosie Hamlin (1945-2017)

14. Tom Petty (1950-2017)

2017... Hail and Farewell

Click to enlarge

UPDATE (January 1): In the last few days since I’ve written this, we have lost two more.  I should have known better than to tempt fate by saying, “The good news is, as of this writing, we have lost no one during the month of December.”  It has also been brought to my attention that I missed one significant one we lost back in June.  I have added the three names to the list in red.  I have also made a few other changes, mostly to programing notes concerning tomorrow’s show, also in red.

Last year, at the end of 2016, we had lost so many people that I was moved to write a blog post and do a special set.  The post started with a spoof magazine cover showing the Grim Reaper as Time’s Person of the Year.  After all, the Reaper had had an amazing year, claiming 33 significant people in the music industry during 2016.  You can read that post from last year, and see the mock Time Magazine cover, here.

I thought for sure that we had had a better year and I was shocked when I compiled the list.  Last year, I fit the entire list into a two hour show.  This year there were 44 names and I’d need to start the show early.  I’ll point out some of the more interesting ones then give a complete list in the order we lost them.

We lost Tommy Allsup who was a guitarist for Buddy Holly and the Crickets.  Everyone still talks about that fateful day, the day the music died in 1959, the day of the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens (of La Bamba fame) and others.  As people discuss it, they often tell the story how there was one seat left and two people, and a coin toss decided the fate of Ritchie Valens.  He won the toss and was on the plane and lost his life with the others.  It was Tommy Allsup who lost that coin toss and remained behind.  He lived another 58 years and went on to work with other greats like Roy Orbison, the Ventures and Willie Nelson.  He was 85 years old when he died on January 11.

We lost two founding and long standing members of the Allman Brothers Band this year.  On January 24^th, we lost drummer, Butch Trucks.  He was with the band throughout its entire history starting in 1969.  We lost the band’s namesake, Greg Allman on May 27^th.  The other Allman Brother, Duane Allman, was killed in a motorcycle crash back in 1971.

The last day of January saw the death of John Wetton.  He was a critical member of a number of successful bands, which include Asia, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and others.

On February 5^th, Sonny Geraci, the vocalist for Climax, passed away.  Who can forget his amazing voice on Predacious and Few, which came out in 1971 and climbed to #3 on the charts?

Chuck Berry passed away on March 18^th.  There is not much I can say about this legend that hasn’t already been said.  Maybe Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones put it best.  On hearing of Berry’s death, he tweeted, "One of my big lights has gone out.”

We lost Rosie Hamlin on March 30^th.  Though she is relatively unknown today, she was the front woman for Rosie and the Originals.  The band had a big hit, Angel Baby, in 1960 when Rosie was just fifteen!  The song made it all the way to #5 on the charts and she became the first Latina to be featured on American Bandstand with Dick Clark.  At 15, she not only sang the song, she co-wrote it.  John Lennon has cited this song as one of his favorites and he released a cover of it in 1975. It has been covered by many others, including Linda Ronstadt.  Hamlin maintained an almost cult like following within the Latino community and she was the first Latina ever honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.  For these reasons, she earned a place in my collage at the top of the page.

J. Geils was a staple of rock music through the 70’s and 80’s.  He seemed to just get more successful with age, breaking into video during his later career and releasing his biggest hit, Centerfold, in 1981.  It was on his tenth album, out of a total of eleven.  He died on April 11^th.

Cuba Gooding Sr. died on April 27^th.  Today he is probably best known as the father of actor, Cuba Gooding Jr., but he had a successful career in the early 70’s as the lead singer for the Main Ingredient.  He had five Top 10 hits, including Everybody Plays the Fool, which reached #2.

After finishing a concert with his band, Soundgarden, on May 18^th Chris Cornell decided to hang himself in his hotel room.  He is considered one of the chief founders of the Grunge movement in the Seattle area in the 80’s and 90’s.  He was just 52 years of age.

About two months later on July 20^th, Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and the Stone Temple Pilots also decided to commit suicide by hanging.  Linkin Park was an incredibly successful band and won many awards including, MTV Music Awards, American Music Awards and one Grammy. He has the unfortunate distinction of being the youngest on our list this year at only 41 years old.

Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010 and we watched him slowly fade away.  He continued to tour with his kids, whom he relied on to function, until he was no longer able to continue a couple of years ago.  His body finally gave out on August 8^th.  He was a Beach Boy for a brief time and was an inductee of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

We lost Fats Domino on October 24^th.  He was a pioneer of Doo Wop and early Rock and Roll with such hits as I’m Walkin’ and Blueberry Hill.  He was 89 years old.

Della Reese was an amazing woman.  She had a successful music career and got a Grammy nomination for her 1959 hit, Don't You Know, which rose to #2 on the charts.  She went on to star in major motion pictures and had a television career that included both an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for her role as Tess in Touched by an Angel.  We lost Della on November 19^th.

Okay, who didn’t have a crush on David Cassidy at some point?  He was both an actor and a singer, and came to fame as Keith Partridge on the Partridge Family television show.  The show ran from 1970 to 1974 and portrayed a family that was also a rock band.  When I was young, he was the epitome of what the young generation was and his loss on November 21^st really drives home the point that we are getting old.  David was 67 years young.

Rosie Hamlin wasn’t the only former teen star to leave us this year.  On November 24^th we lost Mitch Margo, the lead singer for the Tokens.  He was only 14 when their hit, the Lion Sleeps Tonight, went to #1 on the charts in 1961.

Many of us are old enough to remember Gomer Pyle, who worked at the gas station in Mayberry on the Andy Griffith Show.  Gomer was played by actor, Jim Nabors, and became even more famous when he got his own series in which he joined the Marines. Nabors played the bumbling simpleton to the hilt and surprised the world with his singing voice during one particular episode.  “Did that voice came out of that buffoon?”  He went on to record several gold records and became a fixture at the Indianapolis 500 motor race, where each year he would open the festivities by singing (Back Home Again in) Indiana.  Jim Nabors left this world on November 30^th.

Maybe 2016 was the surge of death that it seemed to be and it just extended into this year a little.  We lost twelve alone in January.  If we could just move January’s totals to 2016, the numbers would be 45 lost in 2016 and only 32 in 2017.  We had a bad March with six deaths and November saw seven check-out, so November seems to be another rise.  The good news is, as of this writing, we have lost no one during the month of December.

Game: In the list below there are 14 names in green.  They correspond to the 14 photographs I used to create the collage at the top of this post.  Can you match up the names to the photos above?  I’ll post the solution in the comments after I do the “Hail and Farewell” show on January 1.

Here is the complete list of the 44 that we lost this year:

Sylvester Potts, (died Jan. 6) singer, songwriter and member of the Contours (1938-2017)

Peter Sarstedt, (died Jan. 8) award winning folk singer and songwriter; had #1 hit in the UK with his song, Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)? (1941-2017)

Tommy Allsup, (died Jan. 11) guitarist for Buddy Holly and the Crickets (1931-2017)

Steve Wright, (died Jan. 16) bassist for the Greg Kihn Band (1950-2017)

Mike Kellie, (died Jan. 18) drummer for the V.I.P.’s, Spooky Tooth and the Only Ones (1947-2017)

Joey Powers, (died Jan. 20) had a single Midnight Mary that hit #10 on the charts in 1964. (1934-2017)

Pete Overend Watts, (died Jan 22) bass player for Mott the Hoople (1947-2017)

Bobby Freeman, (died Jan. 23) He had two Top 10 singles including Do You Want to Dance in 1958, which climbed to #5. (1940-2017)

Gil Ray, (died Jan. 24) drummer for Game Theory and the Loud Family. (1956-2017)

Butch Trucks, (died Jan. 24) drummer for the Allman Brothers Band (1947-2017)

Geoff Nicholls, (died Jan. 28) keyboardist for Black Sabbath (1948-2017)

John Wetton, (died Jan. 31) bassist and keyboardist for Asia, Mogul Thrash, Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, and Wishbone Ash (1949-2017)

Steve Lang, (died Feb. 4) bassist for April Wine (1949-2017)

Sonny Geraci, (died Feb. 5) lead singer for the Outsiders and Climax (1947-2017)

Clyde Stubblefield, (died Feb. 18) drummer for James Brown (1943-2017)

Jim Fuller, (died Mar. 3) known as the “Godfather of Surf Music” and front man for the Surfaris (1947-2017)

Tommy Page, (died Mar. 3) known for his #1 hit single in 1990, I'll Be Your Everything (1970-2017)

Joni Sledge, (died Mar. 10) vocalist for Sister Sledge (1956-2017)

Chuck Berry, (died Mar. 18) singer and guitarist (1926-2017)

Sib Hashian, (died Mar. 22) drummer for Boston (1949-2017)

Rosie Hamlin, (died Mar. 30) front woman for Rosie and the Originals (1945-2017)

David Peel, (died April 6) front man for David Peel and the Lower East Side Band (1942-2017)

Bob Wootton, (died April 9) guitarist for Johnny Cash (1942-2017)

J. Geils, (died April 11) front man for the J. Geils Band (1946-2017)

Cuba Gooding Sr., (died April 27) lead singer for the Main Ingredient (1944-2017)

Clive Brooks, (died May 5) drummer for progressive rock band, Egg (1949-2017)

Chris Cornell, (died May 18) lead singer for Soundgarden and Audioslave (1964-2017)

Greg Allman, (died May 27) front man for the Allman Brothers Band (1947-2017)

Rosalie Sorrels, (died June 11) folk singer (1933-2017)

Gary DeCarlo, (died June 28) member of the band, Steam, and writer of Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye (1942-2017)

Chester Bennington, (died July 20) lead singer for Linkin Park and the Stone Temple Pilots (1976-2017)

Michael Johnson, (died July 25) had a hit single, Bluer than Blue, that went to #12 in 1978 (1944-2017)

Glen Campbell, (died Aug. 8) rock, folk, country and pop singer (1936-2017)

Sonny Burgess, (died August 18) rockabilly singer, guitarist and front man for the Legendary Pacers (1929-2017)

Walter Becker, (died Sept. 3) guitarist, bassist and one half of Steely Dan (1950-2017)

Tom Petty, (died Oct. 2) front man for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1950-2017)

George Young, (died Oct. 22) member of the Easybeats and Flash and the Pan, co-writer of Friday on my Mind (1946-2017)

Fats Domino, (died Oct. 24) piano player and early Rock and Roll pioneer (1928-2017)

Robert Knight, (died Nov. 5) had a hit in 1967 with his song, Everlasting Love, which climbed to #13 on the charts (1945-2017)

Fred Cole, (died Nov. 9) singer and guitarist; member of the Lollipop Shoppe, Dead Moon, and Pierced Arrows (1948-2017)

Warren “Pete” Moore, (died Nov. 19) singer, songwriter and founding member of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles; wrote the vocal arrangements for every one of their hits (1938-2017)

Della Reese, (Died Nov. 19) singer, motion picture and television actress (1931-2017)

David Cassidy, (died Nov. 21) actor, singer, guitarist and member of the Partridge Family (1950-2017)

Mitch Margo, (died Nov. 24) vocalist for the Tokens (1947-2017)

Jim Nabors, (died Nov. 30) actor and singer (1930-2017)

Curly Seckler, (died Dec. 27) played guitar, banjo and mandolin, member of Lester Flatt’s & Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys from 1949 onward (1919-2017)

Rose Marie, [real name: Rose Marie Mazzetta] (died Dec. 28) Vaudevillian, singer, comedienne and actress, started her recording career in 1932 under the name, “Baby Rose Marie,” starred on the TV show, the Dick Van Dyke Show, last living artist to chart before World War II (1923-2017)

So, someone will inevitably ask, “What are the criteria for getting on the list?”  I can start that answer with this; these are the ones that I know about.  I may very well have missed someone.  The second factor is that I must know about them musically.  I either know the person, their song or their band.  They are not listed here unless I am familiar with at least one of those three things.

Join me this coming Monday night, New Year’s Day, at AWT from 6:00 to 9:00 PM as we say a final Hail and Farewell to those we lost in 2017.  Please note that this will start an hour early and go three hours, as I play one song by each artist in the order they are listed.

Note (12/31/21017):  I will start at 6:00 PM slt, but I don’t have a full three hours of “Hail and Farewell,” so I will kick off by counting down the top five hits of 2017 first.

"If there's a rock and roll heaven, well you know they've got a hell of a band."

 The Righteous Brothers, 1973