Friday, April 25, 2008

Sunny Afternoon (Shut Up and Eat Your Kinks!)



The Kinks: Sunny Afternoon
(from Face to Face, 1966)

Despite the over-the-top irony of the Kinks playing "Sunny Afternoon" in a snowy field, I'm all about spring right now. The weather here has been spectacular lately. After months of dreary greys and browns, we suddenly have GREEN. Buds opening on the trees. Flowers erupting. Fragrances of honeysuckle and dogwood. An eruption of life-energy.

Campus is full of students throwing frisbees, playing guitars, and sunnying themselves on the lawn. I'm jealous, having to work in a bloody office. Having to work at all, for that matter. My youth calls to me from far, far away . . . .

So I made a new playlist. Sunny Afternoon: A Rock and Roll Soundtrack. The tunes one might have played while hanging out in the park on a beautiful, lazy day in the mid-to-late 1970s.

So, turn up the volume. Open a cold one. Toss me that frisbee. And smoke 'em if you've got 'em.

4 comments:

Jeff said...

Girls, William. Women in their warm-weather clothes... Makes life worth living. I think that's what you really meant to say.

Nice playlist. Very long, but nice. I'm looking forward to giving it several listenings. I think you have too many there to cover in one shot. I appreciated the Blind Faith, Al Green, and Bob Marley cuts in particular.

Liam said...

Yep... Spring for old men on college campuses...
Glad to see the Doors on the list. I also have to admit Kashmir was a good choice, even if it might make people vote for McCain.

cowboyangel said...

Jeff and Liam,

I think you should both be ashamed of yourselves for turning the glory of God's beautiful spring weather into an excuse for expressing your male chauvinist pig view of women as sexual objects to be gawked at.

I hadn't even noticed any women in "warm-weather clothes" on my campus. I was simply discussing young people playing frisbee in the sun. Geez.

Since when did drinking a cold one and listening to rock and roll out in the sun ever had anything to do with members of the opposite sex?

cowboyangel said...

Liam,

I never got back to you on that article about males who listen to classic rock stations leaning towards McCain. You used that article to justify your bias against Led Zeppelin in a very Hillary Clinton-esque manner, if I may say so. You presented half-truths and made them sound like fact. And you call yourself an historian! Que cara! Que verguenza!

The study said "John McCain, the Republican candidate for U.S. president, was the top pick for the Oval Office for men and classic rock partisans -- those people who tune in to stations playing music from the 'original classic rock era' of 1964 to 1975, comprised of bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd."

That would also include Lou Reed, The Velvets, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and, of course, The Doors.

Secondly, they ONLY polled people who listen to Classic Rock radio stations. And anyone who actually likes hearing Steve Miller's "Take the Money and Run" 4 times a day in between hundreds of commercials and the stupid patter of old, fat, white DJs is mentally disturbed, so, of course they would lean towards John McCain.

Your Hillary/Swift Boat tactics against Zep are truly despicable. Beware: God, who understands the cosmic significance of John Bonham's drum work on "Moby Dick," will punish you one day. You'll probably be stuck in purgatory for years, having to listen to the entire Eagles box set over and over and over.