Remembering the Music of the 60s

Original oil painting by Pappi, 2008 (Wikipedia)

by Anna Mundo

In today's era of Justin Bieber and K-Pop sensations, it is rarely that we find a child or teen who knows the music of the 60s.

For those who do, they definitely belong to a family who takes listening to the oldies music on a lazy Sunday a weekly habit.

The 1960s is the year where pop and rock and roll music are soaring. This is also the year where an all male pop group called The Beatles started to flourish and sweep all the girls off their feet.

Their pop-rock music has invaded the world and became the most requested songs. They are popular not just in United Kingdom but all over the world.

As time goes by, other pop artists like Cliff Richard, The Shadows and Dustry Springfield as well as Tom Jones and Petula Clark hit the music scene with their pop music too.

Along came mid-60s when the music has evolved again and folk music was introduced. Folk music utilizes traditional music and new compositions in a traditional style. It is usually played on acoustic instruments.

Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger are just among of the famous artists who pioneered this kind of music.

In 1965, rock music has emerged in different forms. Such forms include Psychedelic rock, Garage rock, Blues and Roots rock as well as Progressive Rock and Surf Rock which is considered as its most famous kind.

Surf Rock is characterized by being nearly entirely instrumental and by heavy use of reverb on the guitars.

Meanwhile, Garage Rock is a term for perception that many of the bands rehearsing in a suburban family garage. The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are just few of the well known rock icons in the industry.

During these years, the music from Brazil called Bossa Nova hit the airwaves too. The origin of this music is from the upscale neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro and it is known as a fusion of samba and cool jazz.

Some notable artists of Bossa Nova include Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto, and Astrud Gilberto.

The 60s was also the era for R&B and soul music. The record label Motown has several artists and songs that became so popular of which most of the songs are still being revived up to this day.

This is also the time where they have several songs topping the Billboard chart. Artists such as The Supremes, The Temptations as well as The Miracles, The Jackson Five, The Four Tops and James Brown are just some of the most celebrated R&B singers during that time.

It is said that the music of yesterday defines what we have today. As time passes by, the music continues to evolve and it will never stop even after the next generations. For whatever we have today, we truly owe it to yesterday's great musician with immeasurable passion for music.

Anna M is an active contributor of the magic sing and magazine subscriptions blogs. Her topics of interest also includes music in general.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Bob Dylan's "Desire": Gypsies, God, a Volcano, and a Divorce

by Garrett Sawyer

Cover of Desire

Bob Dylan's "Desire" had songs that wandered all over the map. What follows is just a sample of the wide variety of topics Dylan tackled in just one album.

It's still amazing to think that most of this album was recorded in a single tequila-ridden session in a New York studio.

One More Cup of Coffee

Dylan never seemed to run out of ways to write about his disintegrating marriage to Sara Lowndes. It could be argued that this was another.

In this song, a duet with Emmylou Harris which was written at a corner table in the Greenwich Village Other End nightclub in the summer of 1975, the singer is having a transient relationship with a girl from a family of gypsies.

He finds her intoxicating ("Your breath is sweet. Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky") but she does not return his affection because, it appears, she doesn't give her allegiance to any man.

He's about to leave her to "go to the valley below" (wherever that is) and they're pausing before he leaves, (ergo, the titled "cup of coffee"). He finds her desirable but incomprehensible ("... your heart is like an ocean, mysterious and dark").

Dylan seems to have an unusual talent for idolizing a woman in one line then criticizing her, sometimes sarcastically, in the next.

Oh Sister

How do you use God to court a girl? Dylan shows you how. Invoke the Big Man's name in your cause, implying that He would disapprove if she rejects you.

Heck, suggest that it might even be dangerous for her to cause you sorrow if He's watching. This never worked for me. Guys, I wish you better luck.

Romance in Durango

This lazy, laid back, South-of-the-border ballad is tantalizing but a bit ambiguous. He and his young lover are on the run in Mexico because he killed a man.

He doesn't explain why or what the circumstances are but he's matter of fact about the whole thing ("... what's done is done"). He's optimistic about his chances of escape and is vividly imagining how, once they've escaped, there will be drinking and celebration.

He intends to marry her in the local church. But at the last minute he's shot. He implores his love to take his gun, aim and fire where the bullet appears to have come from. Dylan leaves it up in the air whether he lives or dies, or what her fate is.

Black Diamond Bay

This song is definitely coming in from left field. A cast of colorful characters are going about their business at a tiny Island resort while, unbeknownst to them, a nearby volcano is about to blow its top.

Futility is everywhere. The casino is running full blast as one fellow with terrible luck finally wins it big but he doesn't realize that soon there'll be no place to spend his spectacular winnings.

A foreigner is busy composing his suicide note preparing to hang himself in dramatic fashion even though the volcano will soon obviate his efforts. A soldier proposes to a lovely lady just before lava insures that neither will ever have a life, together or separately.

And as a dull finale to it all the narrator (Dylan in a state of ennui, perhaps?) in the final verse watches news coverage of the complete and total destruction.

Is he affected by all this catastrophic loss of life? No. He simply turns the TV off, dismisses the story as insignificant, helps himself to a beer and laments that he was never going to go that particular Island anyway.

Sara

Dylan had written many oblique songs about his failed marriage to Sara Lowndes. This time, for once, he addresses her directly and candidly. She was even in the studio as he recorded it.

In the song he praises her as he loses her, finally pleading with her not to go. Simple, direct, straightforward and heart-wrenching. She filed for divorce a year later in March, 1977.

Bob Dylan wouldn't make another album like "Desire" for years to come. Rolling Stone would eventually rank it #174 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

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