Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Mind Running In Circles (Again)

So last night I was in my car running errands and Manfred Mann's version of "The Mighty Quinn" came on that great oldies station (they play the stuff that KOOL 108 used to play before they made the move towards later-sixties and seventies tunes to appease baby boomers) that is now on 740 AM. I had one of those epiphanies where I said: "Why have I never paid attention to this tune before - it's fucking great!" And then I proceeded to sing along; grinning the whole time and thinking of my pal David, who when told that Dylan wrote this golden oldie said (in complimentary terms): "Dylan. This sounds like the weird stuff he typically comes up with."

I came home and downloaded it and have played it a million or so times in the past 24 hours. Then I read up on it: the lead singer in Manfred Mann's band at the time was Mike d'Abo. Not only is he the father of Olivia d'Abo, the actress who portrayed Kevin Arnold's ultra-hotttt sister in The Wonder Years; but he also wrote "Handbags and Gladrags." That tune was a gem on Rod Stewart's first album and decades later (in a version that is not Stewart's) became the theme song for the original UK version of The Office - one of the few great sitcoms that makes you cringe in familiar embarrassment while you watch, just like The Wonder Years did.