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.
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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When CDs took over the music world, I continued to buy vinyl for several more years.
My approach was simple: I would buy what was available that interested me.
As artists switched over to the new medium, I became less infatuated with new releases.
I’m not sure if it was because I couldn’t buy them on vinyl, or because I didn’t find them interesting enough to care.
However, I still had that music obsession that has consumed me to this day, so I began to look backwards in music, since those albums were still available.
I began to explore the Classic Jazz years as well as 50’s Rockabilly and R&B artists.
Although that kept me going for several years, I realized that I was missing the new music.
At that time, I was holding back the inevitable tide, and seemed rather old fashioned doing so as I clung to my vinyl LPs, and would not succumb to the CD frenzy taking place around the world.
That musical dam finally broke in 1991 when I bought my first CD, “The Rhythm of the Saints” by Paul Simon.
I was crazy about “Graceland!”
I still am!
And, of course, my fervor carried over to an intense desire to hear Paul Simon‘s new musical explorations!
It wasn’t available on vinyl, so, I had to surrender to CDs.
Once I did, it became quite easy to catch up to what I had missed the past several years.
My favorite track on “The Rhythm of The Saints” is a beautiful story song, “Born at the Right Time!”
My interpretation is, it tells the story of both an unnamed boy and girl using parallel lyrics:
“Down among the reeds and rushes/
A baby boy was found/
His eyes as clear as centuries/
His silky hair was brown.”
Simon takes the story of Moses and converts it into a universal story for any boy.
The chorus is a very touching description of how each child starts out. They are a blank slate that needs love to survive. The lyrics are as perfect as their innocence!:
“Never been lonely/
Never been lied to/
Never had to scuffle in fear/
Nothing denied to/
Born at the instant/
The church bells chime/
And the whole world whispering/
Born at the right time.”
The multi genre musical mixture of Zydeco/African/Island and who knows what other style is in there, and it feels perfect for this lazy river groove!
I love the accordion, percussion, and Adrian Belew’s guitar!
The harmonies are heavenly!
My son was born first, so one would think that I would associate this song with him.
And I do think of both of them when I hear “Born at the Right Time.”
But I have linked it more to my daughter as Paul changes the gender for the final verse.
Before he gets to that, he adds these extra lines that weigh heavy in my mind:
“Too many people on the bus from the airport/
Too many holes in the crust of the earth/
The planet grows/
Every time it registers another birth.”
In a world whose population has multiplied more than 2 and 1/2 times since I was born, in my mind, another child in the world is a reason for a reflective pause of concern.
That was only a pre pregnancy discussion and it was tossed out once we were expecting what turned out to be a baby girl.
I am choking up as I’m writing this because the lyrics break me down on the second pass:
“But among the reeds and rushes/
A baby girl was found/
Her eyes as clear as centuries/
Her silky hair was brown.Never been lonely/
Never been lied to/
Never had to scuffle in fear/
Nothing denied to.
Born at the instant/
The church bells chime/
And the whole world whispering/
Born at the right time!”
As a parent, a child arrives so trusting and without prejudices or biases.
The world would be so much better if all experiences remained in that innocent state.
And I have to think that for most people in the world, we can all identify with a child being born when the church bells chimed, and that they were “Born at the Right Time!”
One of the Greatest Songs Ever Recorded is “Born at the Right Time” by Paul Simon!!!
(My story continues after the song!)
Here’s a picture of my daughter.
I ran across this other photo after one that I had posted months ago.
She’s like the child in the song.
She never was “daddy’s girl.”
I used to joke that she was a Velcro baby because she would fight to hang on to my wife if I was supposed to take care of her or do something with her.
My children were almost no maintenance kids and I have always felt that they were better than I deserved.
But my little daughter has turned into an engineer!
And even though she was a Velcro baby, I love her, and I am very proud of her!
And I’m glad that she let me be part of her world!
She was “Born at the Right Time!”
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#BornattheRight Time #PaulSimon #TheRhythmoftheSaints #PhilMaq #OneoftheGreatestSongsEverRecorded #GSER
