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This was before “Midnight Special.” This was even before “American Graffiti.” You had to live in Southern California or be an ardent music fan to know who Wolfman Jack was. Wikipedia tells me that he was also on Armed Forces Radio but that was before being a soldier was cool, back when the goal was to stay out of the army, long before the slew of Vietnam movies began. But still, “Wolfman Jack” was the third track on Todd Rundgren’s 1972 double album opus, “Something/Anything?”

It was a year and a half before “Hello It’s Me” was released as a single and became a hit. And I’ve always preferred the initial version, with Nazz. And I’m also a heretic in liking Todd’s previous album, “The Ballad of Todd Rundgren,” more than “Something/Anything?” But that does not mean “Something/Anything?” was not a masterpiece. Todd was one of a trio, including Paul McCartney and Emitt Rhodes, who did it all themselves. Although he fourth side of the album did contain a band.

The advantage of doing it all yourself is you can do it your way. With no interference. You can take your time to get it right. And today others do this, then again others buy beats, but fifty years ago home recording equipment was nonexistent, at least four tracks plus. And a record deal separated the wheat from the chaff. And speaking of record deals, Todd’s first two LPs were distributed by Ampex, a noted tape manufacturer with a fledgling record distribution arm which ultimately failed. So you couldn’t find Todd’s first two albums, and there was little promotion, but if you needed them, if you knew who he was and wanted more, you ultimately laid your hands on them, And about the time “Something/Anything?” appeared, distributed by Warner Brothers, the first two LPs showed up in cutout bins.

The opening track was made to be a hit and it was a mild one. I’m speaking of course of “I Saw the Light.” And it’s good, and it’s catchy, and I like it, but there are better numbers on the double album. As a matter of fact, the second cut on the first side, “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference,” was superior.

And on the second side there was “The Night the Carousel Burned Down,” which had the up and down feel of riding the ponies. And “Marlene,” with the lyrics:

“Marlene, Marlene

Who’d believe that you’re only seventeen

I’m in trouble if your folks get mean

And if they do

Then I don’t care if they bust me

And I guess that means that I love you”

It was a different era, but we all knew under eighteen was a problem, yet Todd admitted it, and owned it! I never heard of any prosecution. But doing research I just found out her name was Marlene Pinkard and after changing her moniker to Marlene Morrow she was “Playboy”‘s Miss April of 1974. I love the internet.

Side three had the indelible power ballad “Black Maria.” It also contained “Couldn’t I Just Tell You,” which was a single, and good, but not as good as some of the rest of the tracks on the album.

Like “Dust in the Wind,” a Moogy Klingman original on side four.

Side four also contained the memorable “Piss Aaron,” then again all the songs on “Something/Anything?” are memorable.

So you’ve got the bouncy “I Saw the Light” opening the album, and then the meaningful, mid-tempo “It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference” following it up. But then…

“Hey baby, you’re on a subliminal trip to nowhere

You better get your trip together before you step in here with us”

“Wolfman Jack” sounds like something from the early sixties, pre-Beatles. And it’s just as catchy. And a revelation after what came before, an injection of adrenaline just when your mind was drifting, thinking about past relationships. And it was the opening cut on a Spotify playlist someone sent me yesterday.

I was traipsing through the e-mail last night, I had over two hundred to go through, and unlike those who work at the company all my e-mail is directly to me, I’m not cc’ed constantly, kept in the loop on things I don’t care about. And I was intrigued by the e-mail, so I clicked and while I’m on to the next missive out of my computer speakers come the above words, and I know immediately that it’s “Wolfman Jack”! And my mood changes completely.

It was a gray day. Everyday life can be kind of boring. But then this sound emanated from the substandard speakers in my MacBook Pro and still I got it, my mood lifted, I started shimmying in my chair, this was the best I felt all day!

And of course I know “Wolfman Jack,” but listening fifty years later reinforced how great it was, how much better than today’s dreck it was. Maybe because it was channeled directly from Todd to the listener. There weren’t twenty writers. There weren’t endless remixes, comped vocals. “Wolfman Jack” was alive, even if the Wolfman himself passed away in the last century.

Maybe if you’re under thirty you don’t get it. “Wolfman Jack” is not bass heavy. It’s got more than one chord. And Todd sings as opposed to talks. And it’s not a diva-esque pop song, bland, made to pull your heartstrings. “Wolfman Jack” is a tear, a throw-off, a comet blistering across the sky which shines brightly for under three minutes then disappears. Whew!

“If you want yourself a day man well I don’t mind

You just ditch him when the sun goes down

‘Cause the moon shines bright and everything’s all right

When the Wolfman he creeps into town”

Nothing good happens during the day, unless you’re still in bed with your significant other. The sun shines bright into every corner, everybody’s working. That’s one of the reasons you become an artist, because you don’t have to work during the day. Don’t confuse this with being a businessman. For some reason they have to attend the gig at night yet be in their office early in the morning. You can only burn the candle at both ends for so long, but sometimes you want to, if you’re an artist, you want no restrictions, you just want to follow your muse.

That’s right, everything good happens at night. When the straight people retire. When everything does not have the light upon it. When you can hide in the dark and do not only nefarious things, but fun, meaningful ones too!

“Now you’ll maybe want a man who throws ’round his money

But he ain’t as cool as Wolfman Jack

You might want yourself a man who don’t act so funny

But he ain’t your fool like Wolfman Jack”

A rich man can’t compete with an artist, a musician, a performer. Come on guys, you’ve seen it, you’ve experienced it, you’re giving it your all but your heart’s desire is infatuated with the dirty, greasy, sometimes even broke, musician on stage. You’ve got no chance.

“I don’t mean to treat you evil

I’m just a good boy gone bad

But if I catch you after dark walking through the park

I’m just liable to do something mad”

There’s that after dark precept once again.

You can’t escape Wolfman Jack. You don’t want to!

And really the song isn’t about the lyrics so much as the feel, the changes. Like an amusement park ride you’re at attention, the whole time, a few minutes go by, it’s over and you ask yourself…WHAT WAS THAT?

Not that I expect that to have a renaissance. I don’t expect the younger generation to discover “Wolfman Jack,” never mind the rest of “Something/Anything?” As for Todd himself, he’s shifting the show constantly, playing to fans. Hard core fans will keep you alive, if there are enough of them.

So it’s a small movement. As is the case with so many acts of yore, assuming they’re not dead. But there are so many who can’t tour at all, the economics prohibit it, there just aren’t enough passionate fans out there.

But Todd has them.

And if you listen to “Wolfman Jack” you’ll know why.

LOVE 10cc!

Love Graham.

We toured together in Ringo’s band a few years back and I got to play those songs you mentioned with him.  Graham is an amazing talent and what a songwriter. Think of the hits he wrote PRE-10cc!  Bus Stop for the Hollies- Heart full of Soul for the Yardbirds to name 2 of many…

Also one of the nicest cats I ever met. Old school English gentleman. The opposite of me. hahaha We get on great! 10cc is doing shows with us in Europe this summer and I look forward to seeing him again.

Amazing band as well!

Luke

(Steve Lukather)

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long-time reader, first time commentor (I think… ).

I was born in the UK in the mid-60s and therefore grew up with 10cc in the 70s. I live in Norway now, on a stretch of the coastline in the south known for its temperate climate, and a couple of summers back I went to see Graham and the boys (I hope they won’t mind me calling them boys, as someone of a not-dissimilar age I practically invite its use) at one of the two towns local to me (Tønsberg, the oldest town in Norway).

It’s worth commenting that the band put on an amazing show, packed with songs that were great to hear live after so many years. The venue was not massive, but the energy and enthusiasm for the music coming from the band was palpable. I mean, why wouldn’t it be with that catalogue to call on…!? But we’ve all seen bands going through the motions and this was as far from that as it’s possible to be.

It’s quite a thing to get normally reserved Norwegian audiences to whoop and holler, but 10cc managed it on that balmy summer night.

Both band and audience could feel the benefit (sorry, not sorry).

All the best from the fjords,

Dave King

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Such pop brilliance!!

Kim Bullard

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Best thing ever. Brilliant song. Brilliant song writer.

Joe D’Ambrosio

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Always consistently great music from 10CC. And it started with Hotlegs’ fantastic ’Neanderthal Man’ – did that ever appear in the US charts?

Hugo Burnham

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Hi Bob – Have been a Graham Gouldman fan since his early songwriting days (Yardbirds, Hollies, Herman Hermits) which led me to 10cc and Rubber Bullets (great rhyme with balls and chains and balls and brains). My flatmate and I listened to the first several 10cc albums cover to cover and really locked in on the Original Soundtrack side 1 opener Une Nuit a Paris fading into I’m Not in Love. Plus the cover art was cool as well as the next couple of covers by the Hipgnosis team. Miss that fantastic LP art and packaging. Agree with you on Deceptive Bends. Thanks again for your writing and observations.

Boyd Allen

Exeter, NH

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That whole album is a work of genius. I got it in grade 9, 1978. Wore it out, got it on cassette, CD, and iTunes. Still play it. Only recently did I come to know that Graham Gouldman wrote Bus Stop, when he was just a kid. A hidden gem on Deceptive Bends is ‘I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor’ which – via clever segways in the lyrics – tells you all of the chord changes to play the song, right on time.  ‘I bought A flat, *diminished responsibility, you’re D9th person to C, to B suspended…’ Honestly, I love it.

Kind regards,

Rob Whittaker

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Nice one Bob.

10cc is one of the 10 most underrated Brit bands ever.

And Graham Gouldman should be in the Songwriters Hall of Fame For Bus Stop, Look Through Any Window, Heart Full of Soul and For Your Love alone.

Stephen Dessau

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Totally agree with you Bob, 10cc was a ridiculously good band with fantastic clever lyrics that consistently surprised the listener while beautiful melodies stuck in your head.  I bought everything they did from Rubber Bullets to Bloody Tourists.  Thanks as always for the great deep cut dives that transport us back!

 

Dan Butler

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Great props to very deserving ARTISTS.

Dennis Pelowski

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Bob,

Headline Hustler!! Holy Macca!

When they sing “under my plastic mac, under my plastic mac” … man!

Thomas Quinn

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I have always LOVED ‘Feel The Benefit’, especially the live version on the double live LP, ‘Live And Let Live’. It even has a bass solo in the coda of the song? Love the build at the end. ‘Bloody Tourist’ is a great record, too. I still pull out the 10cc vinyl on a regular basis.

bfletcher28

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HONEYMOON WITH B TROOP (from 10cc Deceptive Bends lp)

DON’T HANG UP  (HOW DARE YOU lp)

superb band

etc etc etc

Don de Brauwere

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Great to feel the love for 10cc’s “Deceptive Bends” particularly their epic closer “Feel The Benefit” which had always been a fave. These days, only Graham Gouldman remains as an original member (2.5cc) but he’s surrounded by long time compatriots who do just fine making their music sound terrific. Gouldman’s side project with Andrew Gold was also an interesting listen.

When you get a chance, put on “Blue Guitar” by Justin Hayward and John Lodge. That’s 10cc as their backing band. Oh, to think what that ensemble could have created.

Dave Logan

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“Feel the benefit” a great song.

I always liked their “Queen meets Gershwin” mini rock opera “Un nuit a Paris” too. “Pretentious? Moi?” (Fawlty Towers.)

Thought 10cc basically fell between 2 stalls.

Too poppy for the prog fans.

Too proggy for the pop fans.

It’s all folk music anyhow. “I ain’t never heard no horse sing a song” (Louis Armstrong.)

Art for art’s sake…

Mark Hudson

Schenectady, NY

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“I’m Not In Love”…had the disc on my turntable playing the morning after I broke up with my first real love post high school.  I realized she and I weren’t getting along and broke it off.  “Just because…”

“Big boys don’t cry…

Big boys don’t cry…”

It was bleak time for me…

Tim Pringle

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10cc are a band whose album tracks I’ve warmed to over the years. Their singles were some of my faves, but the ultimate jukebox of Spotify has allowed me to dip in to their catalog and fall in love with a batch of their LP.s I then started picking up vinyl copies of their albums; their s/t debut, its follow-up Sheet Music, and just last week their double live Live and Let Live ($2.50 at Arroyo Records in Eagle Rock).

Like XTC, they’re often too clever by half, taking their songs towards obscure, proggy directions, and obscuring their insane facility crafting hooks. But that’s also the point. They don’t always make it easy for you, and their knotty, intricate songs reward repeat listens.

I included “Honeymoon With B Troop”, also on Deceptive Bends, on a playlist, and have listened to the track over and over.

Come to think of it, guess I have to buy that album one on vinyl too.

Michael Krumper

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The “young” fellow in 10CC (i.e. the one who isn’t in his seventies) is a guy called Iain Hornal. I don’t know him or anything, but he’s also a touring member of ELO when the play live, so you know he has to be a bit good, and he has a couple of solo albums that well worth checking out – the latest one is here:

The title track is not a bad place to start to get an idea.

Matthew Best

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Deceptive Bends is among a number of vinyl albums I’ve kept from back in the day. From Good Morning Judge to Feel the Benefit, it remains one of my favorites.

A few years back I attended my third or fourth Ringo and his All Starr Band concert primarily to see and hear Graham Gouldman perform the 10cc songs.

Hoping for a 10cc tour of the States.

Andrew Paciocco

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Long time reader from France. Always listen to your great podcasts. We listened to 10cc after your podcast with Kevin Godley. I was never really a fan (aged 58 now) as I was more of a rocker at that age but I did always love Feel The Benefit…..great song and I had to explain to my French wife, the meaning of the title (I was born in Cocker country – Sheffield, up north). I think my explanation to her was, word for word, like the one below (except for the Graham bit !).

All the best – keep up the great work !
Cheers
Mark Shaw

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First of all “Feel the Benefit Pt. 1, 2 & 3” is a masterpiece that doesn’t get its due.  Still love the simplicity, but power of that guitar solo at the

end.

Side note-A million years ago, I was at Johnson’s clothing store on Kings Road in London.  I was literally the only person in the store and I was trying on some clothes when I heard voices.  Four guys walked in, and from the dressing room stall which was enclosed by the kind of doors you see in Western movies, I peered over to see Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley perusing the garments in the store.

I couldn’t believe my fly-on-the-wall perspective and what I was witnessing. If social media had been around then, a short video capturing the scene might have inspired rumors of a reunion.  It was then, after hearing the banter between the four guys for a minute or two, that I surmised that Lol and Kevin were looking at potential wardrobe for a video for their former bandmates.

Great band, in every way.  They need to come back and play in America!

Brian Diamond

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Thank you for validating my playing of “Deceptive Bends” continuously for the past 45 years.

I also owned the previous four LPs; my best friend and I thought we were in some exclusive private club where 10cc (and Roxy Music, Supertramp, etc.) existed.

I really thought that the departure of Godley and Creme would end one of my favorite bands… boy, was I wrong.

You are correct – “Bloody Tourists” is a superior LP, but for some reason I don’t revisit it quite as often.

Seeing 10cc at Santa Monica Civic in 1978 remains one of the concert highlights of my life.

Thanks, Bob

bkilgour

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I too have the full 10cc set on vinyl from my younger days. Currently laid up convalescing from foot surgery, and immediately threw on the headphones to listen to this again after so many years and feel the full benefit of your spot on newsletter. Thanks for the reminder of why these guys are so great. Have a great Monday!

Ralph Covert

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Every few months a high school buddy sends me a FB message on how he just put Feel The Benefit on his excellent stereo and cranked it to 11. We were in high school when Deceptive Bends was released and we had become album guys, through the benefit of our local still free-form FM station (circa ’78-’79). Used to cruise around in my Honda Civic with FTB at ear-splitting volume…probably at least part of the reason that I have hearing aids.

The entire album was great, if a bit clever at times (I Bought A Flat Guitar Tutor – loved it as a guitar player though). But FTB was the gem of the bunch. And you are spot on about the guitar solo. Still one of my favourites to this day. Couldn’t believe an “unkown” like Eric Stewart could deliver a Page/Clapton/Beck worthy solo like that.

Regards,

DFinley

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Hi, Bob. Thanks for your email about 10cc and Feel the Benefit. Folks interested in learning more about the band can check out the Consequences Podcast, which started out as an homage to the Goldey and Creme triple LP but morphed into all things 10cc.

Tim Wood

Chatham, MA

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Greetings Bob,

 

10cc has long been one of my favorite bands.  I was immediately drawn in by “The Wall Street Shuffle” when it was released as a single from their second album, Sheet Music in 1974.  I rushed out to buy the album and was thrilled to find that the entire album was excellent.  I subsequently bought their first album (which admittedly, was an acquired taste), and continued buying their albums until the band’s breakup.  Their tongue-in-cheek lyrics and incredible melodies have held up really well, and I frequently revisit those first six 10cc albums.  The four musicians (Lol Creme, Kevin Godley, Graham Gouldman & Eric Stewart) in the original 10cc band are simply incredible, with each player bringing extensive credentials to the group.

 

Upon first hearing Deceptive Bends, the fifth 10cc album and the first to be released after the departure of Godley & Creme, I was struck by the opus “Feel the Benefit pts 1, 2 & 3” and was amazed that rock radio hadn’t picked up on it.  We played it many, many times at Long Island’s non-commercial alternative, WUSB, Stony Brook, where we have no designated playlists (one of the few stations where truly anything goes – visit wusb.fm).  And come to think of it, I’ll be playing “Feel the Benefit” again on Saturday, April 23rd as part of WUSB’s Vinylthon  (collegeradio.org/vinylthon) on Record Store Day (recordstoreday.com/).  I can’t wait to “Feel the Benefit” yet again.

 

Thanks for the reminder, Bob!

 

P.S. I had the pleasure of interviewing 10cc’s Graham Gouldman a few years ago.  He’s a delightful chap, and it was a wonderful conversation.  BTW – Graham’s favorite 10cc albums are Sheet Music and Deceptive Bends.

 

Bob Duffy

Senior Programmer

WUSB-FM, Stony Brook, NY

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…….10cc = 4 creative geniuses under one roof……spectacular!

Tommy Allen

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“Sheet Music” was a great album. “Do the Wall Street Shuffle” is well, very today. “Three yids and a yod” they called themselves…In 1979 I got Graham to write the songs for “Animalympics” (now running on Amazon Prime) and he wrote wonderfully catchy, tuneful numbers that the animators had a great time with (one of them, Roger Allers, wrote “The Lion King”. Another (an “in-betweener”) was Brad Bird. Very talented bunch….Graham was a smart hire!

Michael Fremer

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Thank you Bob!  You thoughtfully articulated a feeling and emotion which has been buried in my memory.   I do focus on the lyrics, words and even the meaning.  A regular activity I also do with my daughter.  However, long gone are my days of laying on the floor or ground, headphones on or off, staring at the ceiling or sky, and just getting lost in the music as it “washes” through me.  You are absolutely right, “…the music sets them (us)  free:”  “They (We) don’t feel the benefit”.  So true… music heals.

Best,

Judi Helfant

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I love 10cc. I had tickets to see them in Pittsburgh back in the 1970s but the show got cancelled for reasons that I can’t remember.

I may be an old fart but I still lie on the floor and let the music take me away and now I go to the gym regularly so I’m still able to get up.

Harold Love

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“but no one lies on their bed or the floor and stares at the ceiling anymore as the music sets them free”

I still do.

Mike Marrone

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I was going to suggest that rather than being a casino, life is actually a minestrone.

Vince Welsh

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your kind words about “Feel The Benefit”.

I thought you may be interested to know where that title came from.

When I was a kid living in Manchester I would come in from the cold and immediately my mum would say “take your coat off Graham or when you go out again you won’t feel the benefit”.

Cheers,
Graham

Kevin Godley and Lol Creme left the band. But Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart soldiered on as 10cc and had their biggest hit in the U.S. ever with “The Things We Do for Love,” a one listen smash. A seeming parody of Top Forty hits, it was sing-songy, with incredible changes, incredible harmonies and even great lyrics…”You think you’re gonna break up, then she wants to make up.” I was living that at the time. And I was proud one of my favorite acts was now known by everybody. Well, there was that forever hit, “I’m Not In Love,” but that was the kind of track people could see as a one hit wonder, whereas “The Things We Do for Love” was right in 10cc’s wheelhouse, smart and funny yet catchy, like “Rubber Bullets” from their very first album, never mind the prescient non-hit from their second LP, “The Wall Street Shuffle.”

So I bought “Deceptive Bends,” the LP containing “The Things We Do for Love,” immediately, which I would have done sans hit, I owned all of 10cc’s LPs. And to be honest, I prefer the follow-up, “Bloody Tourists,” which opens with “Dreadlock Holiday,” but also contains “Old Mister Time,” but I played “Deceptive Bends” over and over, I know every lick, including those contained in the almost twelve minute opus that closes the album, “Feel the Benefit ((Pts. 1, 2 & 3)).”

And just a few days ago I received an e-mail from a guy ironically named Graham which said:

“I went to see 10cc play last night in Guildford, England.

I can honestly say it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to many.

An amazingly tight band, incredible musicianship and awesome four part vocals.

All the members except for one are in the 70s, my age groups I feel very inspired.

Good to know the old boys can still do it! Definitely was seeing if you have the opportunity.”

I forwarded this to the Graham in the band, Mr. Gouldman, and he sent me two reviews from the group’s performance at the London Palladium. And the second rave was from the “Daily Telegraph,” which gave the concert four out of five stars, but in typical rock scribe fashion overanalyzed the show and had to find some fault in order to maintain the writer’s credibility. And after mentioning “The Things We Do for Love,” he wrote it “sounded considerably less dated than multi-part folk-prog epic “Feel the Benefit,” and ever since then I’ve been unable to get the song out of my head. I called out to Alexa to play it last night, I woke up with the song in my brain and on this gray day it not only fit my mood, it contained the feeling of life, which is not always bright and sunny, the right musical number can lift you up and give you power to engage with the day.

But it’s really the final section that resonates, which returns to the “Dear Prudence” intro, contains all the elements of “Part 1” yet throws everything in and becomes more majestic.

There are strings, taking the number into the stratosphere, and then:

“If all the people in the world would stay together

We’re all black and white, we’re all day and night

If all the people in the world could sing together

How would it sound, what would we feel

We’d all feel the benefit”

Might sound trite today, but there was the belief that music could save the world back then, there were optimistic songs, the creators really thought they could make a difference, they knew people were listening for messages, musicians were atop the cultural totem pole, they influenced people, and not to buy products, but to think.

And right after the above words there’s a stinging guitar solo and then everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in, the coda builds and builds, and then ends suddenly.

Do I think non-fans will cotton to “Feel the Benefit” almost fifty years later? No, no one has the time anymore. They do have time for that which is immediate, like “The Things We Do For Love,” but no one lies on their bed or the floor and stares at the ceiling anymore as the music sets them free.

They don’t feel the benefit.

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