Hail and Farewell, part 1

It sure seemed like 2016 was a great year for the Grim Reaper - I'm not actually sure if this was really true or if it was just a reflection of the fact that my generation has far more days behind us than ahead of us. But still...  Even Abe Vigoda couldn't survive 2016, We lost iconic sports legends  (Gordie Howe, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer) and entertainment  figures (Garry Shandling, Alan Rickman.)  2016 was the year that accomplished what even the CIA couldn't do, by dispatching Fidel Castro.

But it sure seemed like musicians were especially singled out.  It was enough to make a humble guitar player look both ways, twice, when crossing the road. Dale Griffin from Mott the Hoople, Glenn Frey from the Eagles. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Bernie Worrell and Henry McCulloch. Lonnie Mack and Leon Russell. Maurice White and Natalie Cole. Alan Vega and Paul Kantner. The legendary Scotty Moore. The great Guy Clark. The peerless George Martin.

Everyone's mileage will vary, but some will loom larger than others. Prince burst into massive stardom roughly the same time as Michael Jackson, in 1983-84. I always preferred Prince, of course. He could do bad-ass rock'n'roll whenever he felt like it, he didn't have a whiff of the Motown assembly line to him, and he never stopped being a working musician. Jackson lived for another 27 years after Thriller, and in that time he released three new records. Three! Prince released at least 30, and who knows what still sits unreleased in his legendary archives. The only reason people like me, who didn't know them personally, ever cared about these guys was the music they made. Prince never forgot that, and never stopped being a musician. I always admired that about him.

And Merle. I wonder sometimes what the Hag thought of that whole "outlaw country" movement that started up in the early 1970s, with Willie and Waylon and their chums. Merle Haggard didn't play San Quentin.  He lived there for two years, having been a thief and a robber since the age of 13. He was paroled when he was 23, started writing songs, and the rest is history, as they say. If you don't love Merle Haggard, you don't like country music. He's part of the foundation, him and Hank and Possum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOWlP5Vfyfc