"World's greatest bass line"

I put a link to my post about The Smiths on my Facebook profile, with this comment:

The Smiths as "the commodification of the critique of commodities." Oh shut up and dance! :-)

That led a friend to say, "What difference does it make?" And that reminded me of this story: It was sometime in the mid-eighties. I was at a party at Synergy, a co-op at Stanford, and the band was playing "Mystery Achievement," by The Pretenders. Jack Sayers was on bass, but I don't remember which of the specific bands he was in that was playing that night (Missy and the Boogiemen; The Heptiles?). And while that killer bass line was throbbing along, I found myself next to my friend Paul G., and I said to him, "World's greatest bass line!" And he agreed. A few moments later, I asked Paul, "Do you think the bassist knew it was the world's greatest bass line when he came up with it?" And Paul stopped dancing for a moment and said something like, "That's the question, isn't it? Did Rilke know how good 'The Duino Elegies' were while he was writing them? Or was he just writing them, so caught up in the act of creation that he did not think about how good they were? Does the genius know when he has produced a masterpiece?"

And then we went back to dancing!

Songs to listen to

Okay, here's my list of killer songs to listen to, again in alphabetical order (as with my songs to play list):

1. Down on the Corner, by Creedence Clearater Revival

Or when played by Blues Nettwork, a Basel blues band, with a tuba playing the bass line.

2. It's a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong

Especially at the end of the Madeline movie with Frances McDormand, when Madeline and her fellow pupils are running around overjoyed!

3. London Calling, by The Clash
4. Love Has Come To Town, by Talking Heads

What a bass line!

5. Loving Cup, by The Rolling Stones

But actually, it was Phish doing this one live that really blew my mind.

6. Morning Dew, by The Grateful Dead

Especially Terrapin Station - Drums - Space - Morning Dew in Ventura, July 22, 1984.

7. Mystery Achievement, by The Pretenders

Another brilliant bass line. Jack Sayers used to play this one brilliantly in various bands back in my Stanford days.

8. Spring and All, by Greg Brown

That's just my Greg song for today.

9. Visions of Johanna, by Bob Dylan

The Dylan song I love most at the moment, after the brilliant version in Zurich a few weeks ago.

10. Who Are You?, by Tom Waits

Or any other T. W. ballad.