The Most Important Song I Ever Heard

During the 50s and 60s "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" was one of the most popular shows on TV. One of the stars of the show was their son Ricky who went on to have a very successful career as a recording artist.
Ricky became a teen idol and had 30 Top-40 hits. But by the mid-60s the music world had moved on without him.
On October 15, 1971, Nelson was invited to play at a Rock N Roll Revival Concert at Madison Square Garden.
By this time, Nelson had foresaken his clean-cut teen idol image and took the stage with long hair, wearing bell bottoms and a purple velvet shirt.
Nelson played his old songs like "Hello, Mary Lou" but when he played a cover version of the Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Woman," the crowd booed.
Nelson walked off the stage and refused to come back out for the finale.
This incident inspired Nelson to write the Most Important Song I Ever Heard.
The song is called "Garden Party" and talks about the concert ("I played them all the old songs, thought that's why the came") and talked about the other performers who were there and gave the crowd what they wanted, like Chuck Berry ("out stepped Johnny B. Goode, playing guitar like a ringin a bell, and lookin like he should").
Nelson was so upset about the crowd reaction that he wrote "if memories were all I sang, I'd rather drive a truck."
But it was this experience that brought Nelson to the realization (and inspired me to do the same) which is "Garden Party"'s refrain: "You can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself."



As fate might have it, the booing that prompted Nelson to walk off stage quite possibly was directed at police who had moved through the crowd. As so often happens, perhaps the greatest discovery of his life, was made by accident.

Note: This entire post is an exercise in what Nelson taught me. I'm sure few of you care about Ricky Nelson or the song that inspired me to become such a selfish prick. But I love the song, and this is my blog and you can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.

Addendum: Nelson may have cemented his status as a rock n roll legend when he died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1985 at the age of 45.