Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for February 13th

Didn't know there were that many covers of "Lay, Lady, Lay" layin' around -- Heavy metal (maybe) started here -- B'day for Prog-Rocker-Turned-World-Artist...

2/13/1969 (50 years ago today) - Zimmy's got the most famous version (after all, he was the composer): At Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, Bob Dylan records a few different takes of "Lay, Lady, Lay", including the one that ends up on his classic "Nashville Skyline" LP (well ahead of his time...again...) -- Did you know? Dept.: The song was originally written for the soundtrack to the film "Midnight Cowboy" (with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight), but it wasn't submitted in time to be included in the movie, and has since gone on to become something of a standard really, having been covered by a truly ridiculous range of artists, including The Byrds, Neil Diamond, Melanie, The Isley Brothers, Ministry(!), Hoyt Axton, Isaac Hayes, Cher, Jose Feliciano, Bryan Adams, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Guy and Duran Duran!

2/13/1970 (49 years ago today) - On this day, notably a Friday the 13th, Black Sabbath released their self-titled debut album on Vertigo Records in Britain -- History has a funny way of making things work out: though the record was quite poorly received by almost every contemporary music critic of the time, "Black Sabbath" is now widely recognized as the first true heavy metal album. When you hold it up against some of the other releases of 1970, the 'popular ones' like Chicago II, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Elton John's debut, Grand Funk's "Closer To Home" and "Close To You" by The Carpenters...well, then Black Sabbath's 7-song 38-minute barrage was definitely a frightening experience. Which was the point.

2/13/1950 - Happy Birthday to one of rock's most ambitious and innovative musicians, Peter Gabriel, 69 years old today -- Founded progressive rock pioneers Genesis; an incredible career as a solo artist of near-unmatched influence; a fearless spokesman for the world music genre through his own Real World Records label; a human rights activist long before it was "hip" to do so (he received the Man Of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize laureates); a beyond-fantastically talented songwriter and lyricist. ***[On a personal note, Gabriel goes down on the list as one of the three best live shows I've ever seen in my life (June 19, 1993, Worcester Centrum) and I'm not even sure what the other two are. Okay, probably Hendrix. Anyway, you get the point.]***

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"Let there be no doubt about it...", xoxo!