Monday, February 2, 2015

Different Drum

A few weeks ago I deconstructed a 1970's song "Peaceful Easy Feeling," giving an interpretation of the lyrics. Now doing that is risky, since the lyrics are, after all, secondary to the beat most of the time. In the interests of fair play, Sometime I'll do "Baby One More Time," one of my favorite songs when I was a girl.

But I recently came across a song from 1967, "Different Drum" by a group called the Stone Poneys (Linda Ronstadt, Bobby Kimmel, and Kenny Edwards).  Actually, in reading about it, the version that made the CD was done by the lead singer Linda Ronstadt alone. Furthermore, she had to do it cold with a different accompaniment: she had a different back-up to her solo, and they used a  complex string arrangement including a harpsichord instead of acoustical guitars.

The Stone Poneys were not the first to do the Mike Nesmith song: the original group was the  Greenbriar Boys, and Carrie Underwood was to do it at the time of Linda Ronstadt's induction into the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame. Even the Lennon Sisters did a cover of it.

The song is, briefly about a young woman telling her lover that she's not ready to settle down, but that they both will live a lot longer if they live without each other. Apparently, they discovered that women, like guys, could have commitment issues too.

Seriously, this is a great song!!!




9 comments:

  1. It is a great song!

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  2. A fine way to start Monday morning!
    Thank you, Angel!

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  3. Great memories this morning, Angel. I love Linda R's voice. Wonder if she is still performing?

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  4. this is a standard play on an oldies station that broadcasts here. :)

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  5. it was unusual in it's role-reversal.

    Thank, A





    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    <3



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  6. I haven't heard this song in a long time.

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  7. A great song, brings back memories.

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  8. This has always been one of my favorite songs, and it's on my "very best" playlist on my iPod. I agree with Linda Kay - she has a wonderful voice.

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  9. I really like this song. It's one of the rock classics. Thank you for your comments, my friends!

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