I didn’t know…

It is said that there comes a point in one’s life when one feels that one “knows it all”. It soon follows that life/experience confounds such an illusion by proving repeatedly that one knows less and less with the further passage of time. I don’t think I ever reached the first state of being but I am most assuredly on course in the latter. I’m reminded of a short memorized passage from my youth…

The more you study

The more you know

The more you know

The more you forget

The more you forget

The less you know…

The less you know

The less you forget

The less you forget

The more you know…

why study?

I say all this by way of introducing two things I did not know until recently… and thought I’d commit these to a post before they were forgotten.

A. Blame Sirius XM

We purchased an automobile recently which came with a free trial membership for Sirius satellite radio. I must admit it has been enjoyable… (Sixties on 6 [one of the many channels] has allowed me to wallow happily in the music of the decade on many a drive). But I’ve also visited other decades and other musical genres as well. While listening to one of the classical music channels, I came across this selection…

Doesn’t it drive you crazy when you recognize a tune but don’t remember where you’ve heard it before? Such was my annoyance that I mulled over this mystery while I was shaving… and (mirabile dictu) it eventually came to me. And, through the magic that is YouTube, I undertook a search and here’s what I found… a 1967 mashup of Ding Dong The Witch is Dead (from The Wizard of Oz) and the Bourée (or Bourrée… from Terpsichore Suite ) by Michael Praetorius. The band is The Fifth Estate and their song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. And I do remember the song…

But can you dance to it? This should answer that question…

Or perhaps you just want to go Psychedelic!

B. The Association Dubuque Blues

Because most of my playing (piano) is done by ear, I often explore parts of songs I’ve heard and try to interpret them on piano. Often they remain “parts” because I’ve lacked the time or patience to learn a difficult chord progression or melody. Consequently even some of my Association favs are not played in their entirety. Now I’ve mentioned Dubuque Blues in at least four previous posts.

The song is found on the band’s “The Association” album (aka Stonehenge). Released in 1969, the album ranks as one of my personal favourites. In 1969 Jules (Alexander) has just returned to the group following a sabbatical of several years. Russ (Giguere) hasn’t yet left to pursue a solo project. And Brian (Cole) is still alive. The album also sees the band exercising more control in production. The songs cover a diversity of musical styles, most written by the members themselves. Although the album received considerable critical praise at the time, it did not achieve the commercial success that their previous albums enjoyed. Case in point… Dubuque Blues (written by Jules, who also sings the lead) was released as a single from the album with Are You Ready (written by member Larry Ramos) as its B side. It never reached the Billboard Hot 100 (and only charted #84 on Cash Box).

To save you searching the song from previous posts, here’s a live performance with Jules on lead…

Here’s the “I didn’t know” part… I wasn’t quite sure about the chord progression at the end of each verse and the song’s final chord. In recently revisiting Dubuque while fiddling on the piano, I determined to work out those kinks so that it felt comfortable playing beginning to end. What follows is (more or less) my interpretation of the song…

So… now I have (until I forget them) two things which I didn’t know (but now I do). The struggle continues…