84. Lovely Day by Bill Withers

"Lovely Day" by Bill Withers

Written by Bill Withers and Skip Scarborough
Produced by Bill Withers and Clarence McDonald
Released on Menagerie (December 1977)
Released as single on December 21, 1977
Peaked at #30 on Billboard Hot 100
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I remember when I first heard this song. It is a clear memory for me, but I'm having trouble finding any record of it online. Spike Lee directed a short film for The Concert for New York City. Wikipedia says it was called "Come Rain or Come Shine," and I distinctly remember "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers being the soundtrack. However, I cannot find that video anywhere online, and I cannot find any description of the video (besides the title and length). Now I'm worried that maybe it was some other video made for some other purpose made by some other person that used this song. Because I haven't been able to double check if that short film is the one I'm remembering, I'm starting to doubt my memory of the event. Memory can be a tricky thing, especially in the days we live in, where it seems like you can always just check online somewhere to find the answer.

I love and have always loved learning useless trivia. It's part of who I am. It's one of my few strengths. Every Christmas one of the gifts that I received from my parents was that year's World Almanac. I loved those things. They were full of information that I couldn't easily find anywhere else. I'd get to see which athletes had moved up the career statistical leader boards, which countries and cities were the most populous, and learn some history. It was awesome. The internet then put all of that information at my fingertips. My phone always has one tab dedicated to sports-reference.com. As much as I love having so much readily available to me, now I expect to have access to everything all the time. When the answer can't be found, it stresses me out. Now I don't always trust myself or my memory if I can't double check it online.

As annoying and frustrating as this can be sometimes, here's what I do know: I had never heard this song until I heard it on TV in my early 20's. Whether it was during The Concert for New York City or some other TV special doesn't really matter. Sometimes it bums me out to think about how I spent so long without this song in my life. It demonstrates the fractured nature of music. Had I been listening to 104.9 instead of 94.7 for most of my youth, I'd probably be lamenting how it took me so long to hear "Wish You Were Here" instead.

"Lovely Day" is a joyously brilliant song, and Bill Withers is a brilliant songwriter and performer. Bill Withers is probably most famous for writing "Lean On Me," which is an incredible song in its own right. About 15 years ago, a friend of mine and I were trying to figure out what could be considered the greatest melody of all time. While "Lean On Me" does not contain the greatest melody of all time (that's probably "Vincent" by Don MacLean), it struck me during our conversation how brilliant it is in its simplicity. It's just an ascending and descending scale. Bill Withers took those simple notes, added heartfelt lyrics, and made a timeless song of hope and reassurance.

"Lovely Day," meanwhile, is a song of pure joy and gladness, and that is what makes it my favorite Bill Withers song. While there are sad songs that I love, sometimes I need pure joy shot directly into my veins, and "Lovely Day" can deliver that every time. That is why...

Right now, "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers is (probably) my 84th favorite song of all time.

85. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd

Music by David Gilmour and Roger Waters
Lyrics by Roger Waters
Produced by Pink Floyd
Released on Wish You Were Here (September 12, 1975)
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People love to talk about and write about why Dark Side of the Moon is Pink Floyd's best album. With all the hype and mystique surrounding it, for a while I assumed that Dark Side of the Moon was the greatest rock album of all time. It's not, but when you're 15, it's easy to feel cool making that statement. When you really look at it, Dark Side of the Moon is not even Pink Floyd's best album: Wish You Were Here is. People want to keep telling me that my opinion is wrong on this, but it's not. Listen to the music, and it's clear.

Ultimately, this isn't even worth arguing about. During the 1970's, Pink Floyd produced four of the coolest and most interesting albums ever created. They wrote fantastic music and managed to put that music together on albums in ways that stretched what fans thought albums could be. Arguing over which masterpiece is "best" is not worth our time, so just let me have this.

The song "Wish You Were Here" from the album of the same name, is the first song I learned to play on the guitar. The guitar, like so many things in my life, was something I explored and poked around with, until I decided that it wasn't worth the time or effort to master. I learned a few songs, could play most of the easiest chords, learned a few tricks from friends who actually knew what they were doing, and that was it.

I could probably still pick up a guitar and play this song poorly. Doing much more than that would take a lot of time and effort and patience and love. I love listening to music, but I only like playing music. That might be a lie I tell myself to justify my lack on interest in doing the work. I will always keep two very specific memories of pure musical bliss that came from when I played saxophone in high school and college. There is nothing that I have experience that is quite like the moment when you are improvising and you really lock in with another player. It happened once with a jazz trumpet player who visited our high school and once with a drummer in my college jazz band. It was magical. We just knew we had nailed it. Both times after the performance, I shared a hug with that bandmate. What else could we do?

But I've left that behind. Those moments were great, but all that work to take that skill to the next level was never appealing enough to me, and that has been true for a lot of things in my life. I like to know about things, and I like to know how to do things. I don't like to know how to master things. Almost everything that I have enjoyed learning about or learning to do, has eventually become work. Once it starts to feel that way, my interest fades. But I can still play a poor version of "Wish You Were Here" on the guitar (except for the guitar solos).

It is a fantastic song. I love the way it was produced, so that it sounds like you found it while searching on the radio dial. The opening guitar sounds muted, like your stereo isn't working quite right, but then the guitar solo comes in at full volume and it's all good. The lyrics are sad and they feel like you almost know what they are about, but not quite. I always liked the live version of this from their Pulse album and hearing the entire crowd sing along.

I also have an odd memory about this song. During a television special in honor of those lost on September 11, Fred Durst sang "Wish You Were Here" except he totally changed the lyrics. He made it super sappy and literal and ruined a perfect song. No one cared. A couple of years later,  Cee Lo Green sang "all religions true" instead of "no religion too" during a live performace off John Lennon's "Imagine," and people lost their minds. Cee Lo didn't ruin anything, he just sang what was in his heart. I guess the lesson is, don't mess with John Lennon, but if you want to rip the soul out of Roger Waters' lyrics, have fun!

Right now "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd is (probably) my 85th favorite song of all time.