The second coolest saxophonist of my lifetime…

Does the start of another week leave you needing a hug?  Well, allow The Nest to be the shoulder to lean your ear upon, because it’s Monday!  This is the day each week we give a little pick-me-up to another unloved song that got unfriended from our memories out of that giant happy place of lost hits we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive!  DJ Scratchy is always there to be your friend with benefits, while the Sponkies leanr about friendship from some old Care Bears cartoons.  Meet your new musical BFF…

While rock and roll loves its guitarists, vocalists, drummers, and even the keyboardists and bassist out there… the brass section that’s helped carry many a snappy tune remains largely anonymous.  Almost every group from the 70’s and 80’s had someone wailing on the saxophone during the intermezzo…. but can you even think of any of their names?

What’s your name again, Big Guy?

In the thankless world of rock saxophonists, Clarence Clemons‘ name stood nearly as large as the man himself did.  A mainstay in Bruce Springsteen’s E. Street Band, Clemons was easily the second best known member of the group, and the one saxophonist that just about everyone could identify by name.  The Big Man even did something that probably no other musician that was a band’s saxophone player has ever done before…. he had a solo hit of his own!

Well, kinda solo…..

Released on Clemons’ 1985 solo album Hero was this nifty little duet he did with 70’s soft rock superstar Jackson Browne, “You’re A Friend Of Mine.”  The song hit #18 on the charts, and featured a video that made the rounds of MTV back in the day and is as cute and sappy as the song itself.  Actress Daryl Hannah, who was Browne’s girlfriend at the time, sang the backing vocals on the song and appeared in the video with a classic 80’s camcorder.  Narada Michael Walden, the song’s writer, also appears in the video playing drums and wearing a Bluto shirt…

Well blow me down!

I’ll have another forgotten classic for all my friends out there next Monday…