The Hammond Organ

Yes I too love this instrument, in fact I have a hammond plugin to my piano software, which means I can turn my piano into a hammond at will. So what are your fave hammond tracks? In addition to Me and Bobby McGee? I'd go for :

Geen Onions - Booker T and The MG's
A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
That's What I Say - Ray Charles
Fix You - Coldplay (only coz it's a great song - the hammond is merely ok)

Billy Preston did some great keyboard work on The Beatles "Let It Be" album, especially with "Get Back", but I'm not sure if he used a hammond.

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I didn't much get into The Allman Brothers - in my head they are in the same category as The Grateful Dead, which is probably incorrect. Interminably long jam sessions, great if you are playing but ... I'd rather be playing than in the audience. I like Skynard better but I'm only really familiar with "Freebird" and "Sweet Home Alabama" - the latter is a prime example of triple lead guitar playing, and a song which I very much like, my daughter likes it too after hearing Marge Simpson singing it in one episode of The Simpsons. Triple lead is very common with modern bands due to overdubbing techniques, they don't actually have three lead guitarists, they just record another guitar track and add it to the song. There is true triple lead and there is also something I could call "two-lead reinforcement" - this is where you play a lead and then over-dub record it again, being as true to the original lead as possible, you can never get it exactly the same and the differences lend gravitas to the original lead - a very common trick these days.

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I heard that about Frank Sinatra, but I heard it slightly differently in that the orchestra had to work really hard to see where Frank was going and accomodate, but your description from Quincy Jones sounds more feasible. I never knew Quincy worked with Frank, I had him down as a Motown Man, a producer for Michael Jackson in particular.

Sidebar: Listen to the start of "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" by The Jackson 5 for true production genius from Quincy, that song explodes out of the blocks.

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which Im certain.

I've lived a life thats full.
I've traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I've loved, Ive laughed and cried.
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

In the past we've discussed how we both like "The Summer Wind" (who hasn't known the one that got away?) "My Way" is a classic that people want to hear everywhere I go. It's one of those "rising up" songs the way Frank sings it, which is a great interpretation. Everyone wants to do it "their way", just look at teenagers, it's what humans always struggle for, it's part of our illusion of freedom. It's probably anti-Christian if you really think about it - "I did it my way, not God's way". At the end of life as the singer faces the final curtain (the finality of it possibly meaning no afterlife), he's not saying "I repent forgive my sins" he is saying "I rely on myself and kneel for no-one". Do you think the song is anti-Christian in any way or that it just ignores Christianity? (Or something else)

Note: "Or something else", the elusive third option, or "c" ; that, as I have said before, is missing from C.S.Lewis literature. Without "c" you are left with just my options, wouldn't you say?

Talking about kneeling, it's now a sin to do so in Church. I mean, how are people going to get their beauty sleep now? These people are crazy nuts, see here. Another blow for organized religion, it's a good job that God is above all religions wouldn't you say? :-)

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Giving up motorbike riding as a child is on the way ... now there are at least two possible reasons for this

1. Motorbike riding is expensive and takes away $$$ and new kids cost money
2. Motorbike riding is dangerous and you could orphan your new kid

#2 is definitely true, I mean just look at what happened to The Allman Brothers lineup.

So when the dutch responder said:

That's bollocks

I kind of agree with you, it was more of an "it's a shame" sentiment than calling the poster an idiot, but my guess is that he was also suggesting that the original poster had

a) Not thought things through completely
b) Was being bullied by institutional feminazism - ie. being forced to do something that he didn't want to do by the wife/partner

I suspect that the ducth guy was thinking (b) - possibly due to some bad experience he has had himself with women in this area - and is telling the woman invloved that it's rubbish to suggest the man should give up his sport for the arrival of a new kid. Ok it costs, but not THAT much for something the man enjoys, and getting out of bed in the morning is dangerous anyway. PS. What are you giving up Mrs? :-) That's my guess of where the dutchman was coming from. Did you think that at all?