Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll-Required Listening

For this blog assignment we had to choose three songs from the required listening list on Spencer’s blog and write about them. I have chosen Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”, Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”, and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”.

“Eve of Destruction”-Barry McGuire




This is probably my favorite song on the entire list. It has a somewhat faster pace then most of the other 1960’s folk rock songs I think the lyrics are brilliant. It almost seems like a protest song although it’s much more ‘mellow’ then what we consider ‘protest songs’ to be today. My favorite part is “You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’”. I think this speaks a lot about how the youth of America felt back then, a sense of duty to do anything they could to help their country. And in a way, it seems kinda messed up that they can go and fight and yet their opinion is never heard about whether we should even go into war.


“Big Yellow Taxi”- Joni Mitchell


I’ll admit it; I thought the Counting Crows did this song originally. I suppose it shows my musical ignorance where anything pre-1990’s is concerned. This is one of my dad’s favorite songs (though he neglected to mention she did it originally) and I’ve always kinda liked it (to the point of getting vastly annoyed when people assure me the song’s title is “They Paved Paradise”). However, this version stands out to me in a different way then the CC version. In the CC version, things are a lot faster and much more focused, making this piece much more of a ‘song’. Joni Mitchell’s version is somewhat ‘dreamier’, her voice is softer and more emotional, and it really helps the spirit of the lyrics come out more. If the CC version is like a ‘song’, hers is more a like poetry with music.

“Superstition”- Stevie Wonder


This is a song I’ve heard countless times over my life and have really never paid much attention to before (except to note that the song was called “Superstition”). Now that I’ve heard it again, and gone back and read the lyrics, the meaning is starting to become a little clearer to me. I’m undecided as to whether I actually like the song or not but he makes some interesting points (among various references to old wives tales) such as ”When you believe in things that you dont understand, Then you suffer, Superstition ain’t the way, yeh, yeh”.