Soul Train oozed cool from the moment it started to the minute it finished. Soul Train taught me more about music than 1,000 music classes ever could. Soul Train showed me a world of color that I had never seen before.
Understand, I'm not talking just about peoples complexions, though that was an important part of it, especially growing up in the early days of MTV, where they basically only played white, European new wave bands. And Michael Jackson. No, I'm talking about the talk, the clothes, the dancing, even the stage design and lighting. Everything was just more brilliant on Soul Train that it ever was on American Bandstand.
And, finally, it allows me to give the last word for Tribute Week to Mr Cornelius himself, who had the coolest closing lines ever spoken:
"...and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace... and SOUL!"
Eddie Cochrin's Summertime Blues, The Lovin' Spoonfuls Summer In The City, The Isley Brother's Summer Breeze and Banarama's Cruel Summer together make a pretty great into to the genre of the Summer Song.
And that's obviously because it is my favorite of all the seasons. I dislike winter. Like Los Angeles, it is too cold and too damp. Fall is interesting, poetic and beautiful in it's own right, but like Spring it seems a transitional season. You are passing through, rather than arriving at a destination. Winter arrives. So does Summer.
The other thing is that I'm fascinated about how vastly differently Summer is viewed. For many, it represents youth, fun and abandon. For more mature artists, like Don Henley, they are able to take that and show that Summer, obviously, is also transitional. And the youth and fun of one time doesn't necessarily translate well to the winter of our years. Or, our generations years.
Here is one for all those who see the Deadhead stickers on Cadillacs. Don't look back. You can never look back.
