AM Radio and the Little Things

Mercy, the things you miss on AM radio.

Yes, you read that right. Not once have I ever heard this song in high fidelity. Transistors, tinny car radios, AM stations that were anything but clear-channel -- those were the only stations that would play this song after it fell from the charts. Maybe even while it was on its way to Number 1 in the U.S. I don't know; I was too young to have my own radio then.

Fast forward to the Internet and YouTube, and people from all over the world posting clips from tapes they had jealously guarded for decades. Suddenly, you can understand lyrics. Separation is often better, so you can hear individual parts.

Suddenly, you realize just how brilliant some musicians are; you realize just who some musicians are (When I grow up, I wanna play bass as brilliantly as Klaus Voormann does here).

At last, you see that every 60s band was not obsessed with maintaining a hip veneer; these guys were hip by virtue of their musical brilliance, which encompassed not only pop psychedelia, but folk, blues, and jazz. They must have known it, because they're not even trying to stare you down. They're having the time of their lives, and they want the whole world to join in.

That's what you miss on the radio.

Three cheers for the Internet, and three cheers for Manfred Mann.

This is "The Mighty Quinn".