Part Three as I pick two songs from every year of my life based on the songs that were important to me at the time or have had a lasting impact on the me. The ground rules are in the first entry; part two is here.

1968
“Since You've Been Gone” - Aretha Franklin
The other greatest soul singer. We did an interview in early 2008 in her hotel suite, eating chicken wings and drinking ginger ale. A week later, the L.A. Times ran an article on how she adheres to a strict diet. I'm forever grateful that I visited on her day off.

“Alone Again Or” - Love
Not sure when I first heard this but it was love (pardon the pun) at first listen. The album on which it appears, “Forever Changes,” came into my possession during college and I started accumulating other discs from the band, wondering why this group from my hometown was not more of a legend. Then it slowly started to creep out in the 1980s, this belief that “Forever Changes” was a mystical masterpiece; that the band's leader, Arthur Lee, was one of rock's forgotten men; that somehow the wrong Sunset Strip band, the Doors, had become deified over time. I met Arthur in 1993 as a journalist and we became good friends - he'd call at all hours to talk about anything from some European bookings to his ailing pet bird. He went to jail, came out and had a thorough career rejuvenation. It warms my heart to know that he did not die in total obscurity. (Irony of this is that “Alone Again Or” was written by his bandmate Bryan McLean).

1969
“Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End” - The Beatles
The first album I ever purchased with my own money. Bought it at the Northridge Kmart for $4.66 in late 1969. I always favored the B side over the A side - “Polythene Pam” is more fun than “Octopus' Garden”  - and this brings the Beatles saga to a close. It's a crime the CD does not duplicate the segue the way the album does.

Dreams - Allman Brothers Band
I am no fan of Southern Rock, but I will be a lifelong devotee of the Allman Brothers Band. To be honest, “Live at Fillmore East” was the first of their albums I acquired and did not even become acquainted with this song until their first two albums were repackaged as “Beginnings.” “Dreams” is a reinvention of the blues, one of Gregg's strongest early vocals and a dramatic tapestry of the guitars of Duane Allman and Dicky Betts and the bass of Berry Oakley. A wholly different type of complexity from any other rock music of the day, or at least so I thought — and still do.

1970
“Into the Mystic” - Van Morrison
Like this needs explaining? On a personal level, my favorite rock singer.

“Simple” - Traffic Sound
As an exchange student in Mexico City in 1972 — watching the “Immaculate Reception” described in Spanish was quite confusing — I often hung out with the eldest son of the family I was staying with. He was a serious fan of the Animals and loved psychedelic rock 'n' roll, his favorite album at the time of my visit being “Virgin” by Traffic Sound. They were phenomenally popular in their homeland of Peru, but little known elsewhere. I returned to the States in January 1973 and started looking for “Virgin,”  a quest that would take 23 years. Coincidentally, it cost $23 when I finally found a vinyl copy in Manhattan.

1971
“I Used to be a King” - Graham Nash
“Songs for Beginners,” Nash's first solo album, made me think he had more to say than Crosby or Stills. It's among the records I would say I “wore out” from so many listenings, “I Used to Be a King” battling with “Man in the Mirror” as my favorite track.

“Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys” - Traffic
Great album cover with two corners lopped off to suggest a 3-D effect. It made me fall in love with lengthy songs that have interesting twists and turns. One of life's great disappointments: The first time I saw Steve Winwood he played the tune for a mere two minutes and then stopped.

1972
“Ziggy Stardust” - David Bowie
KRLA was a great rock station on the AM dial, and for a year or so as adventurous as any FM station in the country. During that period they started playing this album “Hunky Dory” by a Brit named David Bowie, who sounded like a British folk-rocker. I bought “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” right when it came out, not realizing I was participating in the birth of glam rock. For years it stood out as anomaly in my collection as I had little use for any of Bowie’s peers beyond Marc Bolan and Lou Reed. Flash forward 26 years and I'm at a play in London. It is intermission and I get a water and avoid the crowds by hanging out in the relatively empty lobby. Standing across from me, lighting a cigarette, is Bowie. After a minute or so I figured if nobody else is going to bother him I would. We talked art, theater, music and Brian Eno. It might have been the highlight of the trip – had I not become engaged. 

“Vaseline Machine Gun” - Leo Kottke
Record fanaticism, PBS and a telephone. L.A.'s KCET used to have auctions on TV — this would last a week I think — and viewers would bid on lots by phoning in. Analog eBay. Seeing a good cause and a chance to enhance my budding record collection with albums by guitarists I barely knew, I phoned in my paltry bid on several albums from the Takoma label. I liked John Fahey, but I fell head over heels for Leo Kottke. I was actually quite nervous when I met him in 1995;  the man remains in a league of his own.