When I was sixteen and a long way from home, out in the wilds of Montana or Wyoming or some such, I was fishing around on the radio trying to bring in some distant station when I first heard Barry McGuire's EVE OF DESTRUCTION. It was late at night and the station was fading in and out and I was straing to hear, rapt by the music and when the harmonica accompanyment came in, WOW! The combination of factors gave such a desolate and mournful feeling.

I also wanted to include Middler's THE ROSE for consideration.