Top 10 Songs with Really Long Intros

Thanks to Breezy over here, I am motivated to again post here.

Well, Breezy and the global pandemic!

So here are my Top 10 Songs with Really Long Intros.

My list was inspired by this song. Such a great song! I am glossing over the lyrics.

I Will Possess Your Heart – Death Cab for Cutie (intro time – 4:41)




Let's call that #1. Then let's do the rest of the list alphabetically.

Car Wash – Rose Royce (intro time – 1:02 minutes)

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? – Chicago (intro time – 2:01)

Eminence Front – The Who (intro time – 1:48)

Face The Face – Pete Townshend (intro time – 1:38)

Lazy (especially the *Made in Japan version) – Deep Purple (intro time - *6:11)

Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone – The Temptations (intro time 3:53)

Prime Time – The Alan Parsons Project (intro time – 1:06)

Theme from Shaft – Isaac Hayes (intro time – 2:41)

Where The Streets Have No Name – U2 (intro time – 1:46)

Anyone else have their own list of these or a list suggestion? Post a comment.

Top 10 Songs Featuring Harmonica

Carlos is not a fan of the harmonica or any song containing it. And I love the harmonica. 

Back in the day, my friend Matt and I each bought $60 harmonicas for the sole purpose of learning how to play - and then woo women.

It was the early 1990's.

I was still dating women then.

I still love the sound of the instrument and any song containing it. Here are my Top 10 Songs Featuring Harmonica. Enjoy. You too, Carlos!

Black Country Woman - Led Zeppelin

From Me to You - The Beatles

I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John Featuring Stevie Wonder

Isn't She Lovely - Stevie Wonder

Long May You Run - Neil Young

Piano Man - Billy Joel

Roadhouse Blues - The Doors

Running To Stand Still - U2

What I Like About You - The Romantics

 

What Would You Say - Dave Matthews Band

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I've never been a fan of Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen so I couldn't list their songs. I could have listed many more U2, Neil Young or Stevie Wonder songs. What songs are your favorites?

Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup

I was looking through my fridge and pantry tonight to see what meal I could work up for tomorrow night when Carlos comes over. (Tonight, I'm eating leftovers; Carlos is at his parent's house.)

I have carrots, celery, chicken stock, egg noodles, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, among other things. Pretending I was on an episode of Chopped...



...I came up with Chicken Noodle Soup.

 After a quick search through the Food Network's site, I found this recipe...

Chicken Noodle Soup

by Paula Deen

Ingredients

Stock:

• 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) fryer chicken, cut up
• 3 1/2 quarts water
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup cooking sherry
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, optional
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
• Seasoning salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Crusty French bread, for serving

Directions

For the stock: add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.

For the soup: bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.

Here's the link to the original recipe.

Christmas Morning Menu

For the past few years, Carlos and I have hosted Christmas Morning Breakfast - where we eat, drink and exchange presents, before heading off to the get together with our extended family. (This year, we have 36 attending.)

I thought I'd share this year's menu.

To Drink:

Coffee

Eggnog

Candy Cane Cocoa

To Eat:

Cinnamon Toast

Sausage Casserole

Biscuits

Grits and Grillades

I have seen many versions of the Grits and Grillades recipe. The one I have linked is Paula Deen's and is my favorite.

The Bangles & The GoGo's

I was listening to The Bangles recently on Songza. Here's their best song...



Watching the video reminds me of the question I had back in the late 1980's, when the Bangles were hot and when that video came out: Why can't an all-female group just play music? Why do they have to be sexualized to sell albums?

That's a question with many more questions and many more thoughts. For another post.

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We saw them a few years back at The House of Blues here in New Orleans. They're worth seeing live.

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Speaking of girl groups of the 80's and misogyny, the best GoGo's song is Head Over Heels...

FU Cancer

My Dad has been battling prostate cancer since right before Katrina (2005). The doctors removed his prostate in October 2005 and supposedly the cancer with it. His cancer returned about a year ago. He currently gets treatment five days a week.

He says, "I guess cancer doesn't grow on the weekends or holidays. And apparently you don't need a prostate to have prostate cancer."

My Dad is 76, but is quite active. I realize that I'm going to lose him soon-ish, but am not ready for that day yet.

My cousin Paul - three years younger than I am - has been battling colon and liver cancer for over three years. The doctors keep giving him a positive diagnosis - and then the cancer spreads or comes back. He's 41 years old. 41. He says that if this fifth regiment of treatment doesn't work, he's giving up. We don't believe him - and I really don't hope he's serious.

My aunt Barbara - Paul's mom, and my Mom's younger (66-year-old) sister - has been battling brain cancer for the last year. Her PET scan came back two weeks ago: The cancer has spread throughout her body. Her doctor says that she has single digit months to live. She is living with my cousin David - a doctor - and his gorgeous, patient wife Becki on the Northshore for now. The day before Mardi Gras (three days ago), however, she was admitted to the hospital for an irregular heartbeat. She was moved from the ICU to the "regular" hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

Carlos and I visited with Barbara on Ash Wednesday, while she was still in ICU. She is still Barbara, but we can tell that she is beginning to forget things: A physical therapist stopped in while we were visiting. While attempting to answer questions, Barbara sometimes deferred to Becki. Sample question: "How do you exercise daily?" Barbara wasn't sure and looked toward Becki for the answer.

Another update another day. I have more to add to this story, but I'm angry and upset right now - so have to move on.

Childhood Stories: At The Movies

Earlier this week, Carlos and I were watching a new series on the Turner Classic Movies channel called TCM's Night at the Movies, with the first episode concentrating on Thrillers.

Other episodes - that have been aired, but we haven't seen yet - are entitled:
The Horrors of Stephen King (which I'm looking forward to)
The Gigantic World of Epics

The discussion of thrillers and movies reminded me of a couple of stories from my childhood.

When my sister Christine and I were kids, our parents thought that the movie theater was a great babysitter when they got tired of us and couldn't send us off to the local swimming pool.

Our mom would bring us to Lakeside Theatre, pick out a movie, and come back for us two hours later.

I remember one specific time our mom was trying to pick a movie for us to see, she saw the title The Boys from Brazil. Since she usually picked our movies by the titles - she rarely read about them beforehand - she remarked: "That sounds like a great adventure movie."

The plot to The Boys from Brazil: "In this thriller based on Ira Levin's novel, young Nazi seeker Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) stumbles on the trail of the infamous "Angel of Death," Dr. Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck), who is planning to resurrect Hitler's vision in South America. But when Kohler shares this information with seasoned Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (Sir Laurence Olivier), Lieberman doesn't take the information seriously until he makes his own grim discovery."

I was 10 years old.

Lucky for us kids, we decided on another movie.

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Growing up, our family didn't bother with the concept of movie start times. Whenever we were ready to see a movie, we would all pile into the car, buy tickets for the movie we wanted to see, and walk into the theater. 

More often than not, we were walking into the middle of the movie. No worries. We would stay until the end of the movie, wait during the break, see the movie from the beginning to the part that we had walked into - and then leave.

I didn't realize until I was in high school that movies were much more enjoyable in order.