Willie Simpson

Category: Youtube Favs

  • Paul McCartney Cries Listening to John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy"

    In part 20 of my youtube favorites countdown, we delve a bit into the sadder side of Beatle history with a clip of Paul McCartney reflecting on the life of his then recently deceased pal John Lennon.  Now, when most people think of Paul’s reaction to John’s death, they either think of this clip where…

  • The Liberal, SNL

    Woohoo, another comedy video sets off part 19 of my youtube countdown.  This one, “The Liberal,” is from the height of the Reagan universe in the mid 1980s.  It starts off with one of SNL’s greatest dopey theme songs sung by what sounds a chorus of Phil Hartmans.  Anyway, the political themes and jokes expressed…

  • The Unicorns, Tuff Ghost

    If you’ve been visiting my site, you realize that a lot of my youtube favorites come from another era.  Well here’s one from a more recent time.  Part 18 of my countdown continues with the Unicorns, Tuff Ghost.  Hailing from Montreal, the now defunct Unicorns were fronted by silly pop geniuses Nick Diamonds (real name…

  • The Who, I Can't Explain

    I open part 17 of my youtube countdown with a very serious question, what the hell was going on in England in the 1960s?  The ratio of incredible music and cool bands to the rest of universal history makes one wonder about the nature of quarks, quasar radiation, and folded cosmic fabrics.  What the heck…

  • James Brown, Please Please Please

    Welcome to part 16 of my youtube favorites countdown.  In this edition we’ll be bringing down the house with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.  Helped out by his Famous Flames, this performance of Please Please Please, is from the TAMI rock show, a 1964 concert movie.  This performance, considered by Prince to be the…

  • Motorhead, Let it Rock!

    Part 15 of my youtube favorites continues with Motorhead covering Chuck Berry’s Let it Rock on the old David Letterman show.  Now, you’ve probably never heard of Let it Rock.  It’s one of Chuck’s lesser known tunes.  It’s basically Johnny B Goode with different lyrics and no choruses.  But the lyrics are amazing, featuring an…

  • Bill Haley and the Comets, Rock Around the Clock!

    Part 14 of my youtube favorites countdown clicks off another rung, this time with Bill Haley and the Comet’s Rock Around the Clock!  This live clip, from 1956, features Bill and his band absolutely shredding their iconic classic with total disregard for the world they were changing.  Considered one of the first true songs of…

  • John Lennon, Cold Turkey

    Part 13 of my youtube favorites countdown continues with the hard-blues psyche fest, John Lennon’s Cold Turkey.  Just around the time the Beatles broke up, John Lennon set loose a blistering array of personal/emotional/political singles; Instant Karma, Give Peace a Chance, and this immortal classic, Cold Turkey.  John wrote the song about his experience in…

  • Eternity, the Game Show!

    Christopher Walken once claimed that he speaks the way he does because he constantly keeps waltz time in his head.  It explains a lot.  But perhaps nothing can explain this incredible sketch from SNL, which is also part 12 of my youtube countdown.  Written in SNL’s golden age, this sketch is what happens when you…

  • The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove

    As part 11 of my youtube favorites rolls on, we reach the slightly stranger section of my favorites list.  From here on out you’re gonna see more odd videos like this “peppered” in with the more traditional music videos and performances.  This is a video someone made of an original Sgt. Pepper vinyl’s inner groove. …