Is not "'Till I Gain Control Again" by Rodney Crowell just the best song ever written and one of the most fantastic recordings? It's a number I've played innumerable times with various bands over the years, but I've never really thought that much about it before. I was playing a random playlist this morning and "'Till I Gain Control Again" jumped out like the "sun over the mountain tops". The original recording is so simple, just acoustic guitar, drums and Crowell's vocals, there's not even a touch of reverb and yet it is so powerful. It just goes to show what you can do with a fantastic song, it doesn't need any decoration, it speaks for itself. Like any great song it can also be a framework for other artists to build on. Van Morrison did a version recently, which is quite cool, especially the piano playing from the great Geraint Watkins.

There are a couple of other songs that fall in the same category as Crowell's classic I think. That is the category of "mind blowing song – 3 chords, 4 max – keep it simple". One is John Prine's "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness". Prine's original version is so pared down it's almost a throw away track. Yet it is surely his best known song and truly an all time classic. Nancy Griffith did a version a while back which was cool as well. In fact, it reminds me that I have a little "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness" story. I was playing piano and guitar on a tour with Slim Whitman, George Hamilton IV and Sandy Kelly. We were doing some dates in Ireland and had a day off in Dublin and had been put up in a nice hotel in town. Well, musicians with nothing to do for a night and a hotel bar is a dangerous combination. Sure enough we spent all night drinking. Next morning, well afternoon, we all staggered up the road on a mission to find some chips to soak up all the Guinness. We came across a back street chip shop, wandered in and started ordering food. The woman behind the counter kept looking at Luce, the drummer on the tour. She then looked him in the eye and drawled "You play drums?". Luce looked quizzically at the woman with the chip scoop and replied "Rachel?". It turned out it was Rachel Peer-Prine, John Prine's ex-wife and the inspiration for "Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness"! Luce and her had met on a tour a few years before when Rachel was playing bass for the Everly Brothers. Anyway, Rachel came back to hotel bar that afternoon and we all had a few beers. As to what she was doing serving chips in Dublin I don't think we ever worked it out...

The other song I was thinking of in this category is Amie Rigby's "Don't Ever Change". Just beautiful. Try listening to that without a tear in your eye. I went to see her play live in Leicester a while back and she was just great. So funny as well – she could be a stand up comedian! I particularly remember her song she'd written about a break up from a man's point of view – "I Hate Every Bone In Your Body Except Mine". Classic!