Music of the Day, 13 January 2025

be a part of it all

MotD does not take requests. That would go against the premise of this little corner of Substack:

Al Bellenchia

and I write about the music that comes to mind for whatever reason on a given day. The radio station in my mind, however, has its own guidelines. They aren’t always obvious to me, and sometimes I am at their mercy.

Such is the case this morning. Reading through the comments posted yesterday, one on yesterday’s MotD gave me pause. I recognized the band’s name but no snippets of lyrics or music arose from the musical depths of my memory, so I continued about my business.

While pulling some resources from my bookmarks for an article, a line started running through my mind: “knock down the old grey wall.” It was very insistent, so I searched for it, thinking that it was a case of me mishearing a lyric. Nope! And thus it is that

Rock and Roll Girl

gets her wish.

No wonder I thought I didn’t know anything by Badfinger: I was just nine years old when “No Matter What” was released as a single from their third album, No Dice. The opening chords take me back to being a naïve kid who believed songs like this captured the reality of romantic love. Today I’m more enchanted by the songcraft.

I didn’t realize that Badfinger was a British band; that helps explain why my first inclination was that the lyric I recalled was from a Beatles song. But that didn’t seem quite right, and the music is why: Badfinger’s guitar sound seems more meaty. The song’s Wiki page states that it’s a pioneer of the “power pop” style. Not one to embrace such hair-splitting categorizations, I think it’s a solid rocker even all these years later.

The lineup for No Dice became Badfinger’s most successful one. With Tom Evans moved from guitar to bass and providing backing vocals; Mike Gibbins on drums; Pete Ham on rhythm guitar and the lead singer; and Joey Molland on lead, rhythm, and lap steel guitar and providing backing vocals on “No Matter What,” the sound is energetic and tight.

And of course I have to acknowledge the handclaps: they’re subtle at first, and then the syncopated five-clap sequence demands one’s attention for the first of two chorus repetitions that close the song. I’d forgotten about that false ending, which caught me on my first hearing today. “No Matter What” could have gone on another three minutes and I’d be totally fine with it.

It’s almost enough to restore some faith in romantic love in me. As I doubt that any musical piece has that power, I’m content to lean in to “be[ing] a part of it all.” That’s easier and would likely be more rewarding for me.