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have licensed“ Lust for Life” for commercials. Has no one listened to the lyrics( which were lifted, in part, from William S. Burroughs)?( For the record, Royal Caribbean did change out some of the lyrics.)
If“ Lust for Life” doesn’ t bring me into the light,“ Starman” will. It’ s not the slightly weird space lyrics that make this song work for me( what was it with early 70s Bowie and all the space stuff?), but Mick Ronson’ s iconic guitar riff following the chorus. He made that Les Paul sing like a symphony of Ziggy Stardusts. And amazingly, given the company he was keeping( including Lou Reed and Ian Hunter), was a devout Mormon throughout his playing life!
Another strange six degrees of musical separation: Mick Ronson played lead guitar for a time on Bob Dylan’ s Rolling Thunder Revue tour( in 1975 / 76). In some of the images accompanying a bootleg from the tour, Ronson seems to be sporting his“ Spiders from Mars” garb, in sharp contrast to the backdrop of the poncho- and flannel-clad hippies around him.
Don’ t even get me started on Bob Dylan ….
Michael White’ s
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- Michael White
Whether escaping to far-off destinations or making a two-hour local fish drive near my home in Bozeman, Montana, I’ m pretty much always game to hit the road. These days my passion to hit the water is fueled as much by the road trip as it is the fish... especially if I have a few buddies along.
Maybe it’ s as simple as the sharing an exciting chat about our upcoming days at a great destination. Maybe it’ s the thrill of exploring new water. Maybe it’ s just having friends to pass the time, which is certainly not the case most often for me— you see, I’ m a sales rep in the hunting and fishing world so I drive about 40,000 miles a year … alone. Alone in my truck. Alone with my podcasts. Alone with my SiriusXM. And always— even before podcasts and pick-and choose radio— alone with a massive catalog of music.
By massive, I mean 240 gigs embedded in my truck and cranked out of an audiophile’ s dream system. Two-hundred and forty gigs, consisting of 74,606 songs, by artists spanning all genres. That many songs gets the road-trip crew singing, laughing and scanning the touch-screen head unit for all manners of musical proclivity. That music always seems to perfectly fit the occasion, brighten the mood, and melt the miles away.
In many cases there are no random selections— I’ ve already built playlists, and some I’ ve kept forever:“ Road Trippin’”;“ Killer S ** t”;“ Gangsta”; and“ Super Sounds of the 70’ s” to name only a few. Sometimes, however, I’ ll curate a new set for a special trip:“ Dean Driving”;“ BC Bash”;“ These Are The Breaks.” Years after a particular trip I might visit one of these playlists and it takes me right back to that great time in life and reminds of the people I shared laughs and the water with.
Like anything, there are rules to follow when you start one of these big road trips. First, always keep some random music playing low and in the background for at least the first half-hour. Take this time to chat about all the fun and exciting fishing on the horizon. Discuss those new flies, rod setups, lines, waders... talk about all the recent fishing that’ s been going on. Then, when the conversation slows, bring out your inner Wild Cherry and“ play that funky music white boy.”
If I were to build a basic, but diverse crossgenre list— one to get the trip started, inject energy, and keep it going— here’ s what I would download and play at volume.