As Christmas and the end of the year approaches the reflections on the year begin.

One I look forward to is Spotify’s, “Your Top Songs”, and it arrived in the Spotify App in the last few days.  Over the next couple of posts, I will run through the list.

First up is what I regard as my all time favourite song – Born to Run.  It is the title track of the album I have no hesitation in saying is my favourite album of all time.  The album version was the one featured in my most listened too, although it could just as easily have been one of the many other versions I have from Springsteen’s concerts which now are thankfully able to be downloaded. From the opening wall of sound to the end this song has it all. My most vivid memory of the song isn’t seeing it performed live but a morning recess in Year 12, when the teacher who introduced me to Bruce put the song on in the Music Centre. He had it absolutely pumping out through the school HiFi. Forty plus years on having it pumping out is the only way to listen to Born to Run.

Second and a complete change of pace are The Carpenters, We’ve Only Just Begun. Certainly a contrast from the first song on my list but still a song I don’t tire of.

Next is by Australian, music icon Brian Cadd, Ginger Man.  I’ve loved Brian Cadd from his days in Axiom and Arkansas Grass. Ginger Man is a song of its era, about times past, when we posted letters and travelling from Australia to the other side of the world, in this case, the USA was an epic journey.  The references to his  Dad and brother mythical or otherwise, are so real, I feel I am eavesdropping on a very personal letter back home. Brian Cadd a songwriter of extraordinary talent and a characteristic voice released Ginger Man in 1972, a golden period of Australian music. I have seen Brian Cadd live many, many times from the very first concert I ever went to in 1972 through to a couple of years ago when he toured with a fellow Axiom member and former lead singer of Little River Band, Glenn Shorrock.  He is a storyteller and Ginger Man is one of his best. Continue reading →