A Ride On A Magic Bus

Introduction

I will be honest, I am struggling to write at the moment, and for some reason, a bus-related playlist jumped into my mind.

The word bus is a contraction of omnibus which is Latin for "for all", and the original passenger vehicles were referred to as omnibuses (is that the correct word.

This is, of course, a great idea, but to start with, there are only two songs that I can recall easily, so they will be the ones to kick off this playlist for my 3,160th Vocal publication.

The Who - "Magic Bus" from "The Who Sell Out"

This has an almost Bo Diddley type rhythm, which allowed them to extend it to eight minutes or so when they played it live. A quote from the YouTube link:

I recollect they hired a bus and drove it around London as a publicity stunt. It was all decked out in weird stuff and there were farm animals on it as well as the band...

The Move - "Omnibus" from "Shazam"

Roy Wood has always been a clever writer, managing to find the word "terminus" to rhyme with "omnibus". A talented multi-instrumental musician and with Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan saw the Move evolve into the Electric Light Orchestra.

The Steve Gibbons Band - "No Spitting On the Bus" from "Down In The Bunker"

Similar in form to The Who's "Magic Bus", this doesn't seem to have aged at all, and I probably heard this said on the school buses as a teenager. Another great song that just came to mind while I was out walking.

The Hollies - "Bus Stop"

I don't know if this sounds a bit stalkerish now, but maybe that's just a sign of the times. It is still a great song, some amazingly complex guitar runs. Composed by Graham Gouldman wo also composed songs for The Yardbirds and later became on quarter of the excellent 10CC.

Paul Simon - "Trailways Bus" from "Songs From The Capeman"

Some wonderfully descriptive words about a bus journey from Paul Simon. A journey through North America, with a reference to Kennedy's assassination. Then the border guards get on the bus looking for "illegal aliens", which is too close to what is happening in the USA today.

I don't have this album, I intend to rectify that soon.

Soul Coughing - "Bus to Beelzebub" from Ruby Vroom

This sounds like a soundtrack for a Hieronymus Bosch painting, and is from and excellent album that I reviewed here.

This is what I said about this song here:

The music that brings this in is almost like Bertolt Brecht on Speed. Mike Doughty's almost spoken words are dark poetry without actually being dark but still sounding very frightening. This is a prime example why this album has got me completely hooked.

Muddy Waters - "Bus Driver" from "Hard Again"

Some great blues from Muddy Waters and full of single entendres, but the guitar playing is superb.

Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers - "The Wheels On the Bus" from "Rock and Roll With The Modern Lovers"

I was in two minds about including this, but I love Jonathan Richman, and this is just so damned funny and you could play to your little kids as well.

ZZ Top - "Waitin' for the Bus" from "Tres Hombres"

I always loved the fact that Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill sported those huge beards, and the drummer, Frank Beard, didn't. This is a standard slice of ZZ Top and does not disappoint, and it's a good way to close this playlist.

Thank you for reading, listening, and I hope you found something that you like.