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Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Prince
Part 39 of my youtube countdown is loaded with star power. In it, you’ll see a Prince, a King, and a Godfather, the Holy Trinity of R&B, dance, funk, and soul. In 1983, at a James Brown concert, we have the Godfather calling to stage the King of Pop in all his pre-insane person glory. …
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George Harrison, Paul Simon, Here Comes the Sun
For part 38 of my youtube countdown, I have another fantastic George Harrison duet. This time its with Paul. No not McCartney, but SIMON! This version of George and Paul tackle George’s incomprehensible 1969 stunner, “Here Comes the Sun.” The occasion was Saturday Night Live and the results were breathtaking. George hits all his acoustic…
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George Harrison, Bob Dylan, If Not For You
The hits keep rolling, and for part 37 of my youtube countdown I present this incredible and rare video of George Harrison and Bob Dylan playing Bob’s “If Not For You.” Holy shit, where to begin. First of all, this was a rehearsal for George’s “Concert for Bangladesh” show, the first rock charity show ever. …
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Willie Simpson, I Threw it All Away
This will be the last Dylan song I perform for a while. In my experiments with recording myself for youtube this week, Bob just offered the perfect songs for me to play with. This one, I Threw it All Away, from his Nashville Skyline record, I just couldn’t pass up. It is one of my…
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Bob Dylan & Eric Clapton, Crossroads
Part 36 of my youtube countdown rolls on with a performance of Robert Johnson’s ‘Crossroads Blues’ by Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. I’ve been in a real bluesy mood this week, and a clip like this really hits the sweet spot. The song, a gem in Robert Johnson’s absurdly mythological repertoire, is heavily electrified by…
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Willie Simpson, Positively 4th Street
My performance of Bob Dylan’s Positively 4th Street. This one has WAY better audio this time because it dawned on me to use a real mic. Expect my videos to get much better in the future when I get more confidence recording these things, though I like the little rasp I’ve got going here. I…
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Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones
In part 35 of my youtube favorites countdown, we take a trip to rock school. In our lesson we’ll look at two thunderously classic clips. The first features the immortal Muddy Waters leading his band through his genre defining blues cut “Rollin’ Stone.” This song, as you probably know, was the original inspiration for the…
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Matthew Sweet, We're The Same and Girlfriend
Welcome to a special Two for Tuesday of my youtube countdown. This is part 34, and today we are featuring two fantastic clips from 90s indie rocker Matthew Sweet. The first is “We’re the Same.” I love this video and song. It’s such a classic tasteful 90s rock song. A perfect 60s throwback featuring a…
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The Police, So Lonely
Part 33 of my youtube favorites countdown continues with The Police’s excellent music video for “So Lonely.” Released in 1978 from their brilliant Outlandos d’Amour album, “So Lonely” is an example of their classic punk/reggae hybrid formula. Sting went so far to say that the chorus was ripped directly off of Bob Marley’s “No Woman…
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Willie Simpson, Buckets of Rain
As promised, my performance of Buckets of Rain by Bob Dylan. I played it on my Epiphone Casino because the mic picked it up better. Also, I did it in Open E tuning, so that’s why I’m looking at my guitar so much, to make sure I’m playing the right chords. I hope to have…
