Well, I've Never Been To Spain, But I Have Been To A Three Dog Night Concert!

One

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
`Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number, worse than two

It's just no good anymore since she went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

One is the loneliest, number one is the loneliest
Number one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest, one is the loneliest
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

Do you remember your first rock concert? I do. Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum, summer 1970, Three Dog Night. I wore a lime green polyester bell-bottom pant suit with a psychedelic scarf. I thought it was just the coolest thing. My ears rang for about an hour afterward, and my body buzzed ( no, not from MJ) from the vibrations of the music. I think the general admission tickets cost $10.50 each. Oh yeah. Three Dog Night produced the most top 10 hits from 1969 to 1974. They are still touring and playing to old farts like me trying to recall a youthful event. Long live the live band musicians and vocal talents of the Woodstock and Viet Nam era!

Later concerts would enthrall me with the music of Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zepplin, Leon Russell, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Kenny Loggins, Linda Ronstadt, and Chicago, to name a few. Much to my regret, I never was able to hear the Beatles or the Stones live while in their prime. The era of great rock bands may be over, but modern technology lets me slide a little silver disc into my cd player and hear them almost as good as then. Close my eyes, free my mind, and I can be there - for a little while. Dylan Thomas got a few things right:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Now, if I could only find my old Bic lighter...