Sound Association (1)

January 12, 2008
5:00 AM CST

This is a fun one, and one I’m going to repeat as time goes by. Here’s the setup.

Ever gone on the Intarwebz looking for one thing, and ended up in a website far, far away, with no clue as to how you got there?

I do that most often on YouTube. I’ll be listening to a song, and that will remind me of another one, or something about the song will remind me of another one, and on I go, until I pass out on my keyboard at 3am.

So sit back and go with me on one of these journeys—one I took the other night, and have called, for lack of a better term, “From Benson To Benson”. Along the way, I’ll try to explain what took me from song to song.

Enjoy the ride.

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I was watching a movie the other night, and one of the songs was George Benson’s fabulous Masquerade—I couldn’t get the tune out of my head, so off I went.

Well, one song of Benson wasn’t enough—how about a little Breezin’?

And lo, did that version boast a duet with Carlos Santana, so from there to Smooth was but a hop and a skip.

Speaking of skipping… that Cuban-style rhythm reminded me of… yeah baby, the hottest Cuban dish since pulled pork, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine doing Conga.

I really, really love the brass section in MSM, so when it comes to pounding brass, how could we forget Love Affair’s Everlasting Love?

Of course, that arrangement reminded me of one of the greatest arrangements ever recorded, Paul Ryan’s Eloise, as performed by brother Barry.

“Eloise” is an uncommon girl’s name, although in pop music it’s not so uncommon. The Hollies, for instance, did a song called Dear Eloise, but it was a sucky song. Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top was a better one—with one of the most melodic bass lines ever written.

Of course, the term “melodic bass lines” always evokes the spirit of Paul McCartney, and the Hollies even covered the Beatles’ If I Needed Someone.

Beatles songs were covered by a lot of other bands. Even the 1980s icon band Earth, Wind & Fire covered Got To Get You Into My Life—but I preferred Fantasy.

And who could talk about the 1980s without the BeeGees, and the song which can be said to be disco’s forerunner, Nights On Broadway.

And who also did a song about Broadway? Why, George Benson, of course.

Talk about going around in circles…

So there you go: a short trip around what passes for my subconscious, on a train of thought. Next week I’ll take you along a branch line.