Dueling HIts - Willie Nelson | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: I have initiated this new segment on BCN, where I determine the Best Music Ever ... and, 'with a little help from my friends'. I do this from my opinion, for what that is worth, where I will measure the best music that I am familiar with.

    I do this for two reasons: 1) I want to expose the best music that I know to the rest of us. 2) Popular Music today may be the very worst it has ever been, and that is saying much, since I lived through Disco.

    For a list of all of the contributions to this series, please click here.

    As previously mentioned, there will be others who share their favorites with our BCN readers, in particular here, Bobby Tony.

    I bought Willie Nelson's Stardust album (1978) for my mom and dad because it included several of my dad's favorite songs. He had sung them to me and my brother all during our youth.



    After listening to the album, he said that guy sings pretty good and he has the right tempo. I had intentionally not let dad see the album, but after hearing the album, I showed him the back of the album and the picture of Willie. His only comment was Boy he is a bilious SOB.

    The album was produced by Booker T. Jones, better known from his group Booker T. and the MGs and their signature song Green Onions. I never showed him a picture of Booker T, dad was definitely old school.

    My favorite tracks are hard to pin down but Side 1 tracks 3, 4 and side 2 track 5 are among my favorite. That leaves seven songs, which I love but I was told I had to limit my choice to three.

    Dad was an Irish tenor and his rendition of "All of Me" was a hit in the song fest we had in the old Atlanta neighborhood. The neighbors would gather around and all sing the old songs but none of them tried to compete with the old man on that one.



    I have a few songs on my ITunes / IPhone playlist that I use when I am having a down day and Willies' "Blue Skies is one of them. The upbeat tempo is a lift, which changes to a melancholy finish, which satisfies the Irish in me.

    I cannot play Side 2 track 5 without thinking of dad singing this to my mom many times. Some One to Watch over Me could have been written for my parents. Mom did watch over dad for 67 years of marriage until she passed in 1999, then it was my turn until he passed in 2005. I do not think I measured up but I damn sure tried.



This post was re-edited to include in the Dueling Hits series.