Greatest Song Evah 1/3/25
What’d I Say
That opening chord progression on the Wurlitzer is one of the most iconic moments in early rock & roll. From there we have 5 minutes of Ray Charles giving the world an absolute tour de force performance. His keyboard work is as good as it gets, and he conveys raw sexuality in his vocals, especially in the second part of the song in which he trades lines with The Raelettes. A few simple “heys” and “hos” can say so much.
This is the song from which Charles finally broke out of the cocoon of strict R&B stardom into mainstream success. It was his first top 10 hit on the pop charts, and deservedly so. It was a major step forward sonically and it still sounds modern even though it’s now more than 65 years old. By the time I was old enough to know who Ray Charles was he had long since become a safe, middle of the road artist. Hearing What’d I Say for the first time was an eye opener. (Ear opener?) It was when I finally recognized what a groundbreaker he was, as well as such a vital link in the development of rock & roll.
That’s worth bringing up because we’re only a few weeks away from the release of the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ballot along with the tiresome arguments over what is and what is not rock & roll. But just listen to that riff and try to tell me that it is not rock & roll, even though you are unlikely to hear a Perfect Album Side of Ray Charles on your local classic rock station. A Hall Of Fame without the likes of Ray Charles is not an institution worthy of its name. Now, if you agree that Charles is the textbook definition of a Hall Of Famer, then why should the Hall not also include those who have directly followed in his footsteps even if they’re not old white guys playing guitar? That ends today’s edition of Steve’s Soap Box.
The Ballot Countdown
Newcomer #1 Ichiro Suzuki - Not there was ever any doubt that he would top this list. You can make the argument in favor of his induction without needing to recite a single stat. Just close your eyes and picture him; the images he created on the playing field were indelible. What was most memorable? Was it the way he almost seemed as if he was running at full speed when he swung the bat, already halfway up the baseline when he made contact? He wasn’t really, but people will tell tall tales of his exploits in the same way that earlier generations spoke of Cool Papa Bell. Or how about the way he would cut off a ball in the gap and then fire a laser to throw out a base runner foolishly attempting to advance to third?
Fine, you want to talk statistics, I’ll talk statistics. He reached 3000 hits even though he didn’t come to America until his age 27 season. Topping 200 hits in 10 consecutive seasons will do that, and he holds the single season record with 262 in 2004. His trophy case is overloaded; winning both the MVP & Rookie of the Year awards in 2001, along with 10 Gold Gloves, 2 Silver Sluggers, & an All-Star Game MVP award.
His historical importance should not be overlooked either. Before he crossed the Pacific the conventional wisdom was that sure, Japanese pitchers have proven that they could succeed in the majors, but hitters would have no chance. Ichiro immediately proved that that theory was complete nonsense, and he paved the way for other Japanese hitters to follow in his footsteps. The only real question is, will he be unanimous? I care and don’t care about it at the same time. On one hand, it’s not as if a unanimous vote would “prove” that he was greater than the likes of Mays or Aaron. On the other hand, his credentials are so obvious that I would love to hear the explanation from any writer who passes him over. (I actually wouldn’t. There’s contrarianism, and then there’s indefensible stupidity. Rejecting Ichiro would be the latter.)
Holdover #1 Carlos Beltran - Beltran was the very definition of the term 5-tool player. Before a knee injury robbed him of his speed, there was nothing he couldn’t do on a baseball field, and he did it all exceptionally well. He had the perfect combination of power and speed - he has the highest career stolen base percentage for anyone with more than 300 steals - and provided elite defense in center field. He was a player who was so smooth that the game almost appeared effortless for him, a trait that was at times detrimental to his reputation. Outside observers sometimes accused him of not trying, or not playing with passion. What they didn’t understand was that he rarely had to run hard to catch up with a fly ball; he glided to the spot and made difficult catches look easy.
His national coming out party came in the 2004 postseason. After toiling in relative anonymity in Kansas City (despite winning a Rookie of the Year award he had a low national profile being that those Royals teams were not very good), a midseason trade sent him to Houston where he went on to put up a playoff performance for the ages, hitting 8 homers in 12 games. That was only one of many spectacular Octobers in his career; his postseason OPS was 1.021. That’s even the case in the playoff year that contained his One Fateful At Bat. He hit 3 home runs in the 2006 NLCS. To reduce his entire career to the moment he was frozen by a perfectly placed curveball is nonsensical.
He was no longer the same player after his knee troubles, but he remained productive enough to be valuable. More than 2700 hits, 400 home runs, and 1500 RBI are impressive enough without even taking his defense and baserunning into account. It adds up to a bWAR of 70.2 & that is HOF worthy.
My Fake Ballot
As for whom I would vote for if I had an actual ballot: My final choices shouldn’t be a surprise if you have been following along. The rules allow a voter to choose up to 10 names; there have been recent years in which there were more than 10 deserving candidates on the ballot, so tough choices were necessary. That’s not the case now. I would not fill out all 10 spots if I don’t think that there are that many who have cleared my bar. I would go with 6 this time:
Carlos Beltran
Felix Hernandez
CC Sabathia
Ichiro Suzuki
Chase Utley
Billy Wagner
As for what will happen when the results are announced on January 21? Allow me to put on my Kornacki hat as I await the results from Maricopa County. The Ryan Thibs tracker makes it look like Suzuki, Sabathia, and Wagner will all get the call. Beltran is currently trending above 75%, but history shows there is always a big drop in support from voters who keep their ballots private. A guy generally needs to be above 81% in the public ballots to feel safe, and Beltran is not there. But he is gaining support; an election in 2026 appears likely.
The 2024 Critic’s Consensus Part 1
When I recently brought up the old Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll it inspired me to take a crack at replicating it myself. Those polls were valuable in introducing me to music that I would not have normally heard on the radio. At least a couple of times a year the poll would lead me to a great artist whom I would not have known about otherwise. For those unfamiliar with the survey, Robert Christgau would survey more than a hundred music critics nationwide and ask them to submit their 10 best list of the year. The format required them to not only rank them 1-10, in addition each critic had 100 points that they could distribute among the 10 albums however they wished. Christgau would tally the points and present the list.
So I went through a handful of 2024 best albums list that assorted platforms put out: Billboard, Flood, Metacritic, Paste, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Stereogum. In each case these were put together by staffs & not by individual critics so these all come with some sort of consensus voting. I used a simple points system; taking the top 50 from each survey and assigning 50 points to #1, 49 to #2, and so on. So here is the first part of a mashup of multiple critic’s polls. I have not yet listened to all of these, hopefully I will find a few hidden gems; maybe you will as well. There are actually 41 entrants here as there was a 3-way tie for #39. Voila!
39. (Tie)Wild Pink - Dulling the Horns
39. This Is Lorelei - Box For Buddy, Box For Star
39. Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat
37. (Tie) Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor
37. Future & Metro Boomin - We Don’t Trust You
35. (Tie) Kali Uchis - Orquideas
35. Mabe Fratti - Sentir Que No Sabes
34. Los Campesinos! - All Hell
33. Jack White - No Name
32. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
31. Ariana Grande - Eternal Sunshine
Next set of 10 on Monday.
Prepare For Chaos
One story that fascinated me from years ago concerned the 2000 election, and what would have happened had recounts and lawsuits stretched into Inauguration Day. Briefly, there was a plausible scenario which could have resulted in Larry Summers taking the oath of office in 2001. Well, it’s unlikely but we could be looking at something similar this year.
There is a non zero chance that Mike Johnson does not have the votes to be elected Speaker today. The House cannot conduct any business until a Speaker is chosen, and if the nonsense stretches out like it did 2 years ago the House will not be able to count the Electoral College votes and certify the election on January 6. If that extends all the way through to January 20…
Joe Biden will need to vacate office on the 20th regardless if there is a replacement or not, and therefore Kamala Harris will no longer be Vice President or next in the line of succession. Since there would be no Speaker in this scenario, next in line is Senate President Pro Tempore. With the GOP having regained control of that chamber, on January 20, the Senate President Pro Temp, and possible 47th POTUS, would be Charles Grassley! The rational part of my brain says that not even the most extreme members of the current GOP caucus would let it that dysfunctional. Counterpoint: have you seen the irrational manner in which so many of those people operate? I wouldn’t put anything past this generation of the Republican Party.
50 Years Ago - Live-Action Saturday Morning TV
Saturday morning TV has produced dozens of series with multi-generational appeal, but those are the exception. The vast majority came and went in one season, and as a result have been forgotten by those who were not in the target demographic at the precise moment of airing. Like a lot of people for a period of about 5 years my Saturday morning routine was to park myself in front of the telly after downing a bowl of Cocoa Krispies. Any Saturday morning show was a major part of my life, but if a show aired either before or after I was between 6 & 11 it would mean nothing to me. So let me take a look at some of these shows which quickly came and went (live action only). If you are around my age you might recognize some of these. If not, you are probably thinking that I am making these shows up. Trust me, these were all real shows and I have the opening credit sequences to prove it.
There is some odd area of my brain that retains the most useless information. Why do I remember the theme song of a dumb 1975 kids show which only lasted one season? Yet for some reason the theme song of The Ghost Busters intermittently pops up in my head. It’s not as if it was even a particularly catchy song, but “I’m Spencer. He’s Tracy.” “I’m Kong.” STILL lives rent free in my head. Why?
The Ghost Busters almost sounds like a live action version of Scooby Doo in that detectives investigate crimes which inevitably involve monsters with the aid of an animal sidekick. Except instead of a snack craving Great Dane, the animal in question is a gorilla, or more accurately a guy in a gorilla costume. And instead of a quartet of meddling kids the detectives were portrayed by Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch, giving the youthful audience the F Troop reunion they were all waiting for. I kid; F Troop reruns were running in syndication at the time, and more importantly usually in that crucial late afternoon time slot. You know, when kids were saying “Mom, I’ll get to my homework as soon as my show is over!” Lots of children were happy to see Agarn & O’Rourke together again at last.
No year can go by without a new contribution from Sid & Marty Krofft. In 1975 there were two. First was The Lost Saucer, starring Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors as a pair of aliens who visit Earth and accidentally take off while a young boy and his babysitter are still on the spaceship. The ship’s controls get damaged, so they can’t find their way back to Earth to return their passengers home. Wacky hijinks ensue. Like with most Krofft productions the actors play it big; a Krofft show is never the place to look for subtlety.
The Kroffts clearly had an outer space obsession in 1975, because that year also saw the debut of Far Out Space Nuts. This one starred Bob Denver, who accidentally hit the launch button on a rocket ship that he and his coworker were cleaning up. The two were launched into space, and you guessed it, it was time for even more wacky hijinks. Of the two shows, Lost Saucer is the one that I remember better.
Finally, Isis premiered in 1975. It served as a companion show to Shazam!, which had debuted the year before. Like its predecessor, it was a superhero show with roots in ancient mythology, Egyptian in this case. Like its predecessor, it had a very low budget, and it showed. Unlike its predecessor it was not derived from existing comic book IP, Isis was a brand new character created for this series. Unlike the other 3 shows that I discussed today, this one actually made it into a second season. So there’s that.
Closing Laughs
Tomorrow is the official 2nd anniversary of Tending The Herd. Sincere thanks to all of you who have been here for the fun, whether you are an OG subscriber or a relative newcomer. Have a great weekend everyone, and I will see you on Monday.
