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The song starts with a heartbeat, in honor of Lem.

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An eight piece lounge act from Austin, Texas covers one of my favorite old Black Sabbath tunes:

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Actually, they're pretty good. I'd pay money to see that.

Here's a great (1970) version of the original:

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Black Sabbath's guitar player, Tony Iommi, was very original and inspired. But he nearly quit playing as a teen after losing two fingertips in an accident. A coworker urged him on, playing a Django Reinhardt recording for him:

My friend said, 'Listen to this guy play,' and I went, 'No way! Listening to someone play the guitar is the very last thing I want to do right now!' But he kept insisting and he ended up playing the record for me. I told him I thought it was really good and then he said, 'You know, the guy's only playing with two fingers on his fretboard hand because of an injury he sustained in a terrible fire.' I was totally knocked back by this revelation and was so impressed by what I had just heard that I suddenly became inspired to start trying to play again.  link

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Overheard at Lem's:

This is one of those songs that has that build-up thing going. I don't know if there is a word for it, but it's when a song builds real nice to where it just gets you going and pulls you along with a kind of growing anticipation. Often these songs don't deliver after the build, but this one does. Another one is "Roadhouse Blues" from the Doors. I think these kind of songs are often what we think of as "road songs". I do have a weakness for them.  Link

The Doors' L.A. Woman is even better as a "build-up song." It's probably the best example of an orgasmic phase and refractory phase parlayed into song. Even if you've heard the song a million times, listen again beginning around the 5 min mark--the part where Morrison intones "Mr Mojo Risin" (anagram for Jim Morrison).

The video is pretty interesting too--kudos to the maker.

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I put the lyrics after the jump, in case any are unclear.

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My memory is clear on where I first heard this song. I was with my older brother at some stereo shop in Madison. It could have been at the brand new West Towne Mall. In those days (1973), stereo shops always had the latest albums to show off the latest equipment. That's where I (we) first heard it. My brother bought it. The one thing I recall about the album jacket was the gold-embossed lettering of the band's name and the "Queen Crest" (designed by Freddie Mercury). Anybody else out there seen one of those? 

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They'd Love To Change The Word:

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You couldn't even write a decent hippie/protest song these days without the PC police jumping down your throat.

Hyperbole?

Offensive lyrics after the jump:

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According to the Wiki, The Hollies never officially broke up; this makes them one of the longest lived rock and roll bands. I do wonder who takes that cake. Suggestions? The Rolling Stones date from 1962 but so too do The Hollies. Surely Dick Dale predates them, but he's more or less a solo act.

I've embedded the lyrics after the jump, in case you've ever wondered WTH the song was supposed to be about.

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"What's a Basketball Jones?

That's simple. A basketball jones is when you love basketball so much that you are like a junkie."