The Boney 500: Songs 272-270

[T_Bone0806]

Three more for the song list...


272. HERE AT THE WESTERN WORLD-STEELY DAN (1978)
ALBUM: Greatest Hits

Recorded during the sessions for their "The Royal Scam" album, it was left off that record, winding up on the group's
first compilation album instead. It has the same feel as "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", although I much prefer it to that
song. In fact, I like this more than anything on the album it was left off of. Go figure.




271. WEDDING SONG (THERE IS LOVE)-NOEL PAUL STOOKEY (1971)
ALBUM: Paul

The "Paul" of Peter, Paul & Mary, this was originally written for the wedding ceremony of his bandmate Peter
Yarrow. It's been played at countless weddings since. Just Stookey on this, not the whole trio, despite what
it says at the beginning of this video. Simple and heartfelt.




270. THE LIVING YEARS-MIKE + THE MECHANICS (1988)
ALBUM: The Living Years

There's that Paul Carrack on lead vocal again, who we've already saluted on this list for his work on
Squeeze's "Tempted". Here is a performance of quite a different sort, as his emotional reading of these
lyrics make it hard to avoid shedding a few tears. The church choir only adds to the powerful impact of this
song, a reminder to cherish our loved ones and mend any fences there are to be mended, before it's too late.

[Vandal]

Steely Dan's Greatest Hits was the album that started me on my lifelong love for all things Dan. Of course, like other artists and their GH albums, the songs I ended up enjoying the most were not the hits!

[TheConfessor]

271. WEDDING SONG (THERE IS LOVE)-NOEL PAUL STOOKEY (1971)
ALBUM: Paul

The "Paul" of Peter, Paul & Mary, this was originally written for the wedding ceremony of his bandmate Peter
Yarrow. It's been played at countless weddings since. Just Stookey on this, not the whole trio, despite what
it says at the beginning of this video. Simple and heartfelt.

Bonus trivia:
Peter Yarrow's bride was the niece of 1968 presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. The marriage eventually ended, and Yarrow lived for several years with a friend of mine in Austin. Stookey gave the rights for the song to ambiguously named "The Public Domain Foundation," which does not mean the song is in the public domain. Apparently the foundation collects the royalties and distributes them to charity.

[T_Bone0806]

Steely Dan's Greatest Hits was the album that started me on my lifelong love for all things Dan. Of course, like other artists and their GH albums, the songs I ended up enjoying the most were not the hits!

That's usually the case with me as well. Definitely the case with Steely Dan. I was just talking with my brother about them last week, and he said he didn't care for them all that much, that aside from "Reelin' In The Years", things like "Rikki", "Hey Nineteen" and "Do It Again" didn't do much for him. I told him he hadn't heard their best stuff by a longshot.

[T_Bone0806]

271. WEDDING SONG (THERE IS LOVE)-NOEL PAUL STOOKEY (1971)
ALBUM: Paul

The "Paul" of Peter, Paul & Mary, this was originally written for the wedding ceremony of his bandmate Peter
Yarrow. It's been played at countless weddings since. Just Stookey on this, not the whole trio, despite what
it says at the beginning of this video. Simple and heartfelt.

Bonus trivia:
Peter Yarrow's bride was the niece of 1968 presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. The marriage eventually ended, and Yarrow lived for several years with a friend of mine in Austin. Stookey gave the rights for the song to ambiguously named "The Public Domain Foundation," which does not mean the song is in the public domain. Apparently the foundation collects the royalties and distributes them to charity.

Didn't know the particulars there. Thanks for the info!

[elwoodblues]

My classic rock station thinks Do It Again and Reeling In The Years are Steely Dan's only two songs. There are at least a dozen other Steely Dan songs I would like to hear every now and then. And I had forgotten about Here At The Western World. Thanks.

[SportsFan68]

Same as Elwood, I hear a very limited amount of Steely Dan. Thanks for this.

"There is Love" was supposed to be played at my wedding to SteelersFan, but my boneheaded younger brother played only about a minute of it. He also truncated "Morning has Broken" as soon as he heard Cat Stevens' voice just because it was Cat Stevens. It's a hymn, idiot! Oh well.

I should take a hint from "In the Living Years" and forget about it.