THE MUSIC LED THE WAY … YES IT DID

All songwriters and musicians have influences it might be Beethoven or Bach or it might be Stills and Mitchell … but we are all influenced by the music that came before us, that we listened to, that has left an impression on hearts, brains and ears. In some eras the music also influenced society and our social structure, in that sense probably none more so than the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s. That is certainly the music that I grew up with and has influenced me as a songwriter and a person and as I observed at the time, society.

I wrote a song which was on my first CD THE HIPPIES WERE RIGHT titled The Music Led The Way it remains one of my favorite “children”. Most of my musical influences make an appearance in the song Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, The Eagles, Bob Dylan and of course the Jefferson Airplane. Others appear who whilst they are not necessarily songwriters or musicians that have been a big influence on my music they certainly were an influence on others and society The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Carol King etc.

At that time the music was all we had, played on 4 and 8 track tape players in the car and on vinyl at home and listened to on FM Radio or enjoyed live at concerts. There was no internet, no MTV, no Spotify just the music. I think that is the reason that the music had such an influence on society and us Baby Boomers or the Woodstock Generation, it was what we had and it was a shared influence something that held us together as a generation. I suppose much like the internet holds so much influence on today’s society the music was our “internet” we were mostly all connected to it … though we needed nothing more than a radio to be “plugged in” and we could take it just about anywhere as well.

Here is that song have a listen see if it brings back a few memories to us Baby Boomers, and our children as well because as we were raising our children that was the music in the background. The Music Led The Way.

The music was almost like a conduit from what was happening all around us at the time Vietnam, social enlightenment, the environment, drugs, being a young person, love, relationships, authority and civil rights … to the songwriters then back to the listeners … much like the internet today but with a bit less bullshit and advertising. Ohio, Big Yellow Taxi, Volunteers, Tuesday Afternoon, The Times They Are A Changing etc they spoke to us converted ideas in to tangible reality it was something we understood … it meant something.

My song is not only about how the music influenced me but how it influence others, society, the times and about how it held us together … it led the way. A line in the song goes “On a clear night at County Line the 8 tracks howled and wailed” imagine this a place where you could gather somewhat removed from authority and carry on (some out there will know, will have experienced, will have been there or in a similar place). That place for us was a beach referred to as County Line, basically on the border between Los Angeles County and Ventura County not much of a beach but a big sand dune on the opposite side of the Pacific Coast Highway … and as it turned out because it was far from the administrative centers, not patrolled by any authority other than the California Highway Patrol. Summer nights young people from all directions flocked to County Line music playing everywhere, pot smoking, dancing, talking and more were taking place there, it was a sight and sound to behold … the music led us there.

Yes the music led the way back then and for many of us like myself it is still ringing in our ears still influencing how we live our lives … it’s on CD now but it is still there. Enjoy the music.