I’ve been thinking about some of the famous duos that emerged in the 20th century: Batman and Robin, Ross and Rachel, Lennon and McCartney, Jagger and Richards, Montana and Rice, Mantle and Maris, Martin and Lewis, Lucy and Desi….They cut across the panorama of popular culture.
How many of them lasted? Okay, Batman and Robin – but they’re fictional. And Ross and Rachel’s reunion was a put up job for ratings – and they’re fictional (sigh of relief). Jagger and Richards haven’t really been a dynamic duo since, arguably, It’s Only Rock and Roll (I don’t want to hear about Some Girls – the biggest song from that album was a disco tune). The rest, whether we like it or not, are relegated to “that dustbin” we call history.
Why bring this subject of duos up? It’s the 35th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. And of the forming of the unlikely duo – who became stars as a result of their reporting on that seemingly petty offense that led to the resignation of the guy who’s keeping George W. Bush from achieving the top spot as “worst U.S. President of all time” – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
Editor and Publisher offers an article on Bernstein on the occasion of this, to him at least, star-crossed anniversary.
Categories: Journalism, Music/Popular Culture
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
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Sam, you ignorant slut…
Just because a record came out when you were in high school doesn’t mean it was a great record. (“Boston II,” anyone?) “Some Girls” only looked as good as it did because the albums before, “Goat’s Head Soup” and “Black and Blue,” sucked so damned bad, and “Emotional Rescue” came right after. “Beast of Burden” is not an album. It’s a song….A great song I’ll readily grant, but one song….Too much studio jamming, not enough song writing….
“Sha doo bee” – please – sing a goddam song, Mick….Leave rapping to the professionals….
I guess you hit a certain age and the memory starts to slip. So let me remind you about a few pretty great tracks off of Some Girls:
When the Whip Comes Down
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
Some Girls
Far Away Eyes
Respectable
Before They Make Me Run
Beast of Burden
Cheap shots are unbecoming in one well past 40….
I’m unconvinced. I granted “Beast of Burden.” The rest of these are tracks that merely harken back to earlier, greater ones:
When the Whip Comes Down – Midnight Rambler, Star, Star
Just My Imagination – Ain’t too Proud to Beg, Route 66
Some Girls – Honky Tonk Women, Sweet Virginia
Far Away Eyes – Country Honk, Dear Doctor
Respectable – Under My Thumb, Miss Amanda Jones, Back Street Girl
Before They make Me Run – You Got the Silver, Happy
I’m glad Keith got his shit together and they got some decent work done after the crappy previous efforts. But they just weren’t the transcendent band they’d been by the time of “Some Girls.” And they never were again. They’ve had moments, but not albums.
I don’t get some of your parallels (“Some Girls” = “Honky Tonk Women” and “Sweet Virginia”?) and in some cases can’t imagine that you’re exalting clearly inferior songs (“Far Away Eyes” is their all-time high-spot in that particular genre of song). And it’s just remarkable to me to hear you downgrading songs that I KNOW you love.
I think you’re just trying to start an argument. And that ain’t how I roll.
*waits for you to pull the lever*
hahahaha!
allow me to quote from a famous journalist:
“The prevailing quality of life in America – by any accepted methods of measuring – was inarguably freer and more politically open under Nixon than it is today in this evil year of our lord 2002.”