Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers via last.fm

"Leather and Lace" is my favorite track on Stevie Nicks' solo debut.

But it's not the best.

"Leather and Lace" has that vibe that's fallen by the wayside, you know, the one where a woman in a long dress takes you into the dell and reveals her inner truth as you stare into her eyes and fall in love. Today's female artists are in your face, competing with the men, kicking you to the curb, or so wimpy as to be disposable, completely irrelevant.

But as much as I love "Leather and Lace"'s intimate feel, its circular nature, what puts it over the top comes halfway through, when Don Henley starts to sing:

"You in the moonlight
With your sleepy eyes
Could you ever love a man like me"

This is who we wanted to be. A sweet man, with substance inside, a certain solid quality. And you could infer a sexual meaning to what I just said, and maybe that's just the point. Sex today is portrayed as rough, you take your woman, or vice versa, but reality is more about those who are self-conscious, yet are finally honest with another human being and end up connecting, coming inside.

Take that either way you want to. Metaphorically or sexually. That's just the point. When done right, sex is an opening up, a connection. But our society is too fearful to portray it that way. Movies are laden with special effects, but sometimes songs get it right. And "Leather and Lace" does.

The reason "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" triumphs is not because of Tom Petty's vocal, however great it might be, but the riffs, the underlying song. It's Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers backing Stevie Nicks, as she reveals her frustration with a certain intimacy, that doesn't want for power.

"Baby you'll come knocking on my front door Same old line you used to use before"

Truth. She's busting him.

But that's not the complete story...

I had to go to the bathroom. Which is why I entered City Market solo. Felice, her brother and my two college buddies were ensconced in the store, deep into the belly of the beast, long after dark, when the food emporium was almost empty, except for the catatonic cashiers up front.

And I hear something in the background, over the sound system, a record playing.

It's like the song scooped me up and took me for a ride.

Suddenly, there was a bounce in my step. I'd missed the explosive opening riff. But that groove was so wide, it swallowed me whole, carried me away.

"Leather and Lace" is a great song.

"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" is a classic.

Not something they sing on "American Idol", not something that can be sanitized and sung at pep or political rallies. It sits at the nexus of rock and roll and its audience. When the most important item you owned wasn't your cell phone, but your stereo. You came home and CRANKED IT!

Yes, I turned up "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" so loud the neighbors freaked. But who could resist? You just wanted to get closer, you just wanted to be enveloped.

As necessary as Ms. Nicks is to this rendition, it's Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers who shine. What mutation happened on stage, in rehearsal, that made them come up with this sound? Yes, it's uniquely theirs... They listened to the same British Invasion tracks we did, but with these influences they created something unique. That nestled perfectly alongside the rest of the FM hit parade. Bands didn't go to Timbaland to get the same sound as every other outfit, they crafted their own!

"It's hard to think about what you've wanted It's hard to think about what you've lost"

You bet. That's what I told Ron the night before. Life was about closing doors. Yup, as you're watching TV, as you're wasting time, doors are shutting behind you like crazy. There goes your chance to be a movie director, there goes your chance to be a famous author, there goes your chance to have kids. They tell you life goes by fast, but they don't tell you how hard it is to accomplish a single thing. They don't tell you how hard it is to be a rock and roll star, one with a career, who lasts.

I don't want to think about what I wanted. It freaks me out to think about what I've lost. But when I heard "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" in the supermarket Friday night my life worked. By spending those endless hours listening to the radio, the stereo, digging ever deeper, I'd come across this great record, which I'd played so many times it was in my DNA, to the point when it came over the sound system the other night it was better than being greeted by an old friend, it was like being welcomed by God.

Yup, that's what's in those rock and roll records.

Don't listen to the charlatans telling you to go to a house of worship, where you'll be instructed what you can and cannot do.

Rock and roll is a big tent. It allows all comers. Any height, any skin color. Just put on the record and turn it up. You'll see something that eludes every edition of the Bible. You'll see life itself, in all its glory, the warts and the inspiration.

Screw instant stardom. Tom Petty played more gigs in bars than most people in today's hit parade have played in their entire lives. Malcolm Gladwell said the Beatles were so good because of all that wood shedding in Hamburg? Tom Petty and his band are so freakin' great because of all those hours in Gainesville. Listening to the radio. Practicing. Gigging.

We baby boomers know the difference. Because when the Fab Four hit, we all picked up instruments, formed bands. But we gave up when it got tough, we went to college, but Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers PERSISTED!

Detroit Breakdown

Image via Wikipedia

If you know where to surf on the Web, you can find downloadable concerts.

Conventional wisdom is young people don't care. Maybe that's only because they've never seen an act as vibrant as the J. Geils Band live.

Before they shortened their name to "Geils". Before they switched labels and started making MTV fodder. Before they sold their souls and went extinct.

It was a local thing. Nothin' but a party. Nothin' but a house party.

But back in the early seventies, a party wasn't enough. You needed a record. On wax, the J. Geils Band rarely triumphed. But live, they kicked ass. Would the J. Geils Band be gigantic today?

I was surfing my usual sites and I found a live recording of the J. Geils Band from April 25th in Detroit this year. This I had to check out.

I downloaded the cuts from the Who's 1969 fall tour first. Then I took all twenty four live cuts here. From the second show that evening. Which, according to the blurb, sold out in fifteen minutes.

Is this true? Who knows, Detroit was always a rockin' town, a big J. Geils market, and there's no label hype. Meanwhile, who even knew that J. Geils was on tour?

If you Google, you find a band site that hasn't been updated in a decade. Literally.

Search a bit farther, and you can see they're playing a casino on New Year's Eve. They opened a new House of Blues in Boston earlier in the year. Funny how time makes those memories fade away. Of how you hated each other, of how you disagreed. But the good memories, the good times, they remain. When it was all about the music. Before money fucked the whole thing up.

Now I know the big thing on Hollywood Boulevard these days is clubs. You overpay for drinks to bump asses to records. Huh? What would happen if the assembled multitude saw a great live band?

I'm not talking about Phish. I'm not talking about the Dave Matthews Band. I'm not talking jam. I'm talking sharkskin suits, I'm talking sunglasses, I'm talking R&B. If you were a great R&B band today, could you make it?

Used to be about the records. You needed an album and hopefully a hit single in order to make it. But if you've got a killer live show today, would that be enough?

I think so!

The energy is enough.

This is the opposite of canned music. This is pure power, pure sweat. This is the kind of event you drag your friends to. It's just that prior to the Internet, it was hard to spread the word. You had to rely on in-person conversation, the telephone, but today you can testify online and ZILLIONS can hear you. And we're all looking for something great. And when we find it, we tell everyone we know.

In other words, does the hit single NO LONGER MATTER?

Let's be clear. A hit pays dividends. But it won't get hardly anybody to come see you live. Even if you've got a string of them, people don't consider Top Forty artists to be credible. Which is why you're better off with one Michael Buble than anybody in the Top Ten. People go to see Buble to hear a crooner. He's nailed this market. How about R&B? Do you think it can't be replicated?

You can't get players who know more about technology than music. You've got to find people who live to listen, who don't know html, but can transpose keys on their instruments on the fly. People who know the history of music, not the history of Apple products. Oh, there's nothing wrong with bleeding in a bit of technological know-how, it's just that if this is done right, IT SELLS ITSELF, THE MUSIC COMES FIRST!

People want to get closer. A beautiful girl doesn't have to advertise. Boys flock around her. She may be an airhead, there may be little substance, but true greatness draws people in. And R&B is a proven genre. Mix it in with a bit of rock and roll, and you've got the J. Geils Band.

If J. Geils were starting today, they'd be monstrous. Word would spread from campus to campus. Their live business would be amazing. And who'd care about the record business...you can't make any real money selling records anymore anyway! And, this type of music doesn't get any radio play. And it's only idiots and casual music fans who listen to the radio. The hard core is on a personal adventure, a quest to find something great.

I'd love to tell you this show kills. But it's just a bit off. Could be the recording. Maybe I can't hear the organ enough, maybe J. Geils' fills aren't mixed up front. But OH THE ENERGY! You wouldn't walk out, you'd move and groove.

"They're dancing on the ceiling
They're dancing on the floor
People everywhere comin' through the door They know there's a party goin' on Do the dancin' romance all night long I know it's cold outside C'mon baby, I'll keep you satisfied All you gotta do is move Every time you feel that groove

It ain't nothing but a party
It ain't nothing but a party
It ain't nothing but a party
It ain't nothing but a house party"