Jean, Betty, Frank, PJ, Ken, WendySue, Jen, Leah, Jack, Dawn, Anne and Geoffrey played songs about people's OCCUPATIONS.

1. Side By Side

2. Piano Man, Billy Joel, 1974 (Irene/absent)

Our playing wasn't bad, but we missed the interludes between the verses and barreled through. We tried it in one key and it didn't sound great. The next was a little better. Everyone loves easy chords, such as in the key of C, and everyone hates sharps and flats, barre chords, and other chords invented by the devil. Yet it sometimes happens that those easy chords are either not easy for the singers, or the song with those chords sounds uninteresting or otherwise lousy when sung. This is a frustration. One solution would be to become so proficient at playing that all those weird chords would be as easy as a [C] or an [Am], in which case you'd be able to use any key that suits your vocal range. This is easier to say than to do.

2. Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves, Cher, 1971 (Irene)

This was Cher's biggest hit up to that point, #1 in the fall of that year for two weeks, yet most of us did not know it. It was hard to play and didn't sound good.

3. The Lumberjack Song, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, 1969 (Irene)

Had we been really organized, one of us would have done Michael Palin's solo part, and the rest of us would have been lumberjacks. Still, it went well. The half dozen glorious Brits comprising the Pythons were geniuses. (Actually, Terry Gilliam was secretly a Yank, but they let him in the group anyway.) When Monty Python's Flying Circus came to America in the early '70s, my friends and I were knocked out. We had never seen comedy like this. It was so extreme, light years ahead of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson.

4. Handy Man, Jimmy Jones, 1960 (Jean)

Like the Cher song, here was another most people did not know, even though it was also a big hit for James Taylor in 1977.

5. The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel, 1969 (Jean)

"In the clearing stands a boxer with a fighter by his trade." What does this mean? What is this part of the song about? Also, how did they produce the sound made between "Lie la lie" and "Lie la lie lie lie lie lie"? It sounds like a beer can being opened but amplified many times. It also reminds me of the crack of a whip. Could it be as simple a hand clap? What are your thoughts?

6. The Gambler, Kenny Rogers, 1978 (Jean)

I wasn't a fan of the countrified Kenny Rogers, but we played this better than any of the previous five songs, smooth and strong.

7. Someday Soon, Judy Collins, 1969 (Jean)

Jean, Betty and WendySue were the only singers for this one.

8. Penny Lane, Beatles, 1967 (PJ)

Nice chords. We were so-so. The occupations named included a barber (showing photographs), a banker (with a motorcar), a fireman (with an hourglass) and a nurse (selling poppies). Good job, Paul.

9. Long Black Veil, Lefty Frizzell, 1959 (Jean)

This mournful ballad is about a guy wrongfully accused of murder. He has an alibi. He was romantically enmeshed with his friend's wife at the time the killing took place. But he'd rather swing from the gallows than be embarrassed, embarrass his girlfriend and enrage his pal. The cheating wife secretly visits his grave after dark. She could have spoken up to save his life but did not. The moral of the story seems to be: it is better to accept execution than to face public humiliation.

10. Molly Malone (Jean)

These were very fast changes. You could get away with playing only two chords, a [C] and a [G7] throughout.

We watch Jeopardy often. The contestants are identified at the start of the show by their name, residence and occupation. Everyone is either a consultant, an analyst, a researcher, a coordinator or any number of other vague job titles. I wonder what these people do all day at work. I'm waiting for the day when an extremely bright fishmonger gets to play.

11. If I Were A Carpenter, Bobby Darin, 1966 (Jean)

This was his last substantial hit before his untimely death at the age of 37.

12. Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis, 1956 (Jean)

It was his breakout year, and this #1 started it off. In 1956 he'd also release Blue Suede Shoes, I Want You I Need You I Love You, Love Me Tender, and Love Me, each a bestseller.

13. Leader of the Band, Dan Fogelberg, 1981 (Jean)

Here's a tribute to Fogelberg's father.

14. Please Mr. Postman, Marvelettes, 1961 (Dan)

It's a friendly [C] [Am] [F] [G7]. The Beatles also had a nice version.

15. Wichita Lineman, Glen Campbell, 1968 (Dan)

Jimmy Webb wrote this one, as well as two other Campbell hits, By the Time I Get to Phoenix and Galveston, Up Up and Away (for the Fifth Dimension), Worst That Could Happen (for the Brooklyn Bridge) and MacArthur Park (for Richard Harris.)

16. Man on the Flying Trapeze, Lyle, Lee and Leybourne, 1867 (Bill/absent)

Aside from the opening couple of lines, I don't know one more line of this famous and many-versed song.

17. Drunken Sailor (Anne)

A fine sea chanty. "Hey ho, and up she rises!" WendySue suggests we do an evening of all songs sea-related, chanties or otherwise.

18. 9 to 5, Dolly Parton, 1980 (Jack)

I envy the rare individual who likes his job. In all my working career, in various jobs, my co-workers would complain bitterly about their lot. This is Parton's anti-job song. There's a line in The Big Rock Candy Mountain where they describe a place "where they hung the jerk who invented work."

19. Travelin' Man, Ricky Nelson, 1961 (Jack)

Too bad this didn't have the chords all throughout the lyrics. We had to quit for that reason. Great song.

20. King of the Road, Roger Miller, 1965 (Jean)

I mentioned how I dislike troublesome chords. But there is a part in this song where it modulates, changes from the lovable [C] [F] [G] to the harder [Db] [F#] and [Ab]. We didn't play it like that, but that key change adds great interest and excitement to the song. This happens in the third verse when he sings, "I know every engineer on every train....."

The theme of this jam was "occupations." The theme of this song was the glory of NOT having an occupation, not paying union dues and living broke.

21. Rocket Man, Elton John, 1972 (Geoffrey/Leah)

Keep an eye out for the Elton John biopic coming out at the end of this month.

22. Stuck In the Middle With You, Stealers Wheel, 1973 (Dan)

A woman played this at the student concert in Ashokan last year, then 30 of us sang and played it at the late-evening jam and it sounded terrific. On this night, for this last song, we did a decent job, but I guess there's something about large numbers of people strumming and singing, which helps the sound. It's an instance when quantity has its own quality. Could we fit 30 people into that conference room?

For the next session, I suggested DISCO. We put it to a vote and it narrowly defeated "roundness" as a song theme. I loathed disco as a teenager. In the mid-70s it appeared to be edging my beloved rock and roll off the radio. At one time one of my sisters had a Village People album. Awful. Surely the game was lost when The Eagles (One of These Nights, 1975) and the Stones (Miss You, 1978) went disco. But 40 years have passed, and to my surprise I find myself hearing KC and the Sunshine Band, Wild Cherry, Vicki Sue Robinson, the Miami Sound Machine, Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Thelma Houston, Taste of Honey and Gloria Gaynor and feeling nostalgic about songs I once disparaged.

-- Dan.