For as long as I’ve been on the radio, and definitely for as long as I’ve been writing a blog, I will occasionally make a reference to a song being “One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded!” (GSER)
I would usually follow that by saying that I would eventually start a category for it, but then never get around to it.
Well, now I’m getting around to it!
It will pretty much follow the pattern of The Most Awesomest Song of the Day.
I’ll select a song to celebrate and then give my thoughts about it. Nothing really brand new here that hasn’t been done before. But since I have a website, I can collect them and lay out what my own greatest songs are.
My radio show, “Prime Time Theme Attic,” is on Monday nights 8PM-10PM ET but is on hiatus because of the pandemic.
Here’s the link for when the show returns: http://rdo.fm/r/4qntu )
Even though I always emphasize new music and artists, it’s always fun to take a short drive through the legendary artists, since they influenced those other artists!
But a song doesn’t have to be old or done by a legendary Theme Attic Hall of Fame member to be thus honored.
I can think of several songs that are only a few years old or less that I could identify as One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded.
This will be fun, and hopefully you will join me on my journey…at least sometimes!
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Every election, I would play “Dialogue (1 & 2)” by Chicago from their “Chicago V” album as my finale!
Featuring a conversation between a politically aware person sung by Terry Kath, and a naïve moronic college student voiced by Peter Cetera, the song was released in the heightened political world of 1972, when a vote by a young person could literally mean the difference between life and death with the Vietnam War still at peak engagement.
Terry’s character feels empathy for every injustice in the world:
“Don’t it make you angry
The way war is dragging on?
and
Don’t you ever see the starvation/
In the city where you live,All the needless hunger/All the needless pain?”
Peter’s mind numbing, vapid responses center on his disconnection from the real world, and just trusts in the President-Nixon at the time:
“…the campus here is very, very free.
Well, I hope the President knows what he’s into,
I don’t know.
Oh, I just don’t know.”
I see “Dialogue’s” theme alive and well today. The wrong thing to do is to blindly trust the President–any President. Or any person in power who continuously lies to you!
So many people on Facebook would rather avoid politics and think that, “everything is fine.”
How many times do you see “No politics.” “No covid.” “Pick a color”?
If you don’t want to talk about politics now, prior to an election, when would you?
Back to the song.
The next section of the conversation feels awkward, but maybe it was planned that way.
I can’t believe that Terry’s character would just drop the discussion after singing about it so passionately.
But he must have come to the conclusion, as in real life, that there wasn’t going to be a meeting of the minds, or that the conversation wasn’t worth continuing.
Then follows some nice, building instrumental sections where Terry Kath does a fine guitar solo as only he could do!
The horns kick in several times!
Danny Seraphine keeps driving everyone forward with his drumming!
“Dialogue 2” provides some worthy, positive, action phrases!:
“We can make it better!
We can change the world now!
We can save the children!
We can make it happen!”
The song slows and then breaks down completely into a harmonic, almost gospel, acapella section.
“Dialogue” ends on repeating the line, “We can make it happen!”
In fact, it stops in the middle of the word at “hap.”
This is fascinating!
And unusual!
I’m not sure if it was an editing mistake, and the band liked it, or if they decided to leave it up to the listener to “pick up the baton.”
Or maybe the causes need to carry on because they never can finish, or don’t always finish the way you want them to no matter how hard you try.
Regardless, the break off is both wonderful…and annoying!
I always like to believe that we can change the world and make thing better!
The song isn’t perfect, but it’s great!
One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Dialogue (1 & 2)” by Chicago!!!
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