Runnin’ Around – Colbie Caillat (2009)
Put the Message in the Box – World Party (1990)
Both heard 2/7/2014 shortly after 1:00, Wegman’s in
Germantown
Friday, February 7, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Serendipity #6
Legend in Your Own Time – Carly Simon (1972)
Hospital Food – David Gray (2005)
Passionate Kisses – Mary Chapin Carpenter (1993)
A tripleheader, heard 2/6/2014 shortly after 6:00 at
Jerry’s Subs in Rockville (Fallsgrove)
#83 This I Swear -- The Skyliners (1959)
Although
some (including Wikipedia) would call them a doo-wop group, “harmony group” or “vocal
group” seems like a more appropriate term. Regardless, the Skyliners were
great, whether doing material they wrote themselves such as “Since I Don’t Have
You” and this classic, or standards such as “Pennies from Heaven.” Picking one
favorite from these three was not an easy task. According to the liner notes
from manager and lyricist Joe Rock from their Greatest Hits CD, the “very
creative vocal arrangement [made] the bridge of [This I Swear] too difficult
for other groups to copy. With the several later remakes of the song, no one
had been able to figure out who goes where vocally in the bridge…”
#84 Anchorage -- Michelle Shocked (1989)
2013 was
not a particularly good year for Barack Obama. It was a bad year for just
about everybody associated with Washington’s NFL team. But it may have been
even a worse year for singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked.
Not
following either Michelle or entertainment world news all that closely, I didn’t
become aware of this until recently, when I was trying to find “Anchorage” on
YouTube. (Michelle apparently doesn’t like to have her material out there, so
no link to the song from here.)
So maybe
there is something to GrooveLily’s “Screwed-Up People Make Great Art.” It’s a
shame, because she put out some great music in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Serendipity #5
Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy (1976)
Heard 2/1/2014 around 12:15, outside the National Museum
of Crime & Punishment, 7th Street NW (Washington DC)
Friday, January 31, 2014
#85 It Takes Two -- Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock (1988)
In his
writeup of this song (which he has at #956), Dave Marsh provides a great
description of dueling “best singles” lists developed by Rolling Stone magazine in 1988 and Spin magazine in 1989. The latter had “It Takes Two” at #1; Marsh
quotes rock critic David Hinckley characterizing the pick as “the equivalent of
a three-year-old shooting his mother with a squirt gun in order to get her
attention.”
OK, so I
wouldn’t put this at the top of my list, but it nevertheless is among the best
of the classic hip-hop tracks.
#86 Wide River To Cross -- Diana Krall (2012)
Some songs
take a while to grow on you, and others grab you immediately. This was one of
the latter for me; I’ve been in love with it since the first time I heard it on
mvyradio, which has been playing it relatively often.
Written by
alt-country legends Buddy and Julie Miller (it appears on Buddy’s 2004 album Universal United House of Prayer), it
certainly has to be in contention for greatest “River” song ever, along with “Many
Rivers to Cross” (Jimmy Cliff), “Too Many Rivers” (Brenda Lee), and quite a few
others.
As good as
Krall’s recording is, there is also a stunning version online from the 2012 Stand Up for Heroes concert, featuring Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Afghanistan
veteran Timothy Donnelly. Have your handkerchief and checkbook handy.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Great musical minds think alike?
Back in
1994, one-hit wonders US3 had a top ten hit with a song called “Cantaloop,”
which was sort of a hip-hop take on Herbie Hancock’s “Canteloupe Island.” I
hadn’t heard the song in a long time, although I had bought the CD when it came
out.
This past
Friday, David Dye on WXPN played the song to begin his 5-7 pm “Funky Friday”
show. Later that evening, several songs into his weekly show, Weasel featured
the same song.
Coincidence?
I think not.
Pete Seeger
Rolling
Stone ran a nice story on Pete Seeger’s death yesterday at the age of 94. WXPN’s
David Dye also posted some nice reflections.
WXPN’s
“Select-A-Song” set this morning is below. (Seeger didn’t write “This Land Is
Your Land,” but frequently performed the Woody Guthrie classic.)
- Pete Seeger - We Shall Overcome - Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits
- The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn! - Turn! Turn! Turn!
- Pete Seeger - If I Had A Hammer (the Hammer Song) - If I Had A Hammer: Songs Of Hope And Struggle
- Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings - This Land Is Your Land - Up In The Air (Music From The Motion Picture)
- Tommy Sands, Dolores Kean & Vedran Smailovic - Where Have All The Flowers Gone - Where Have All The Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger
When I
first got seriously into music in 1965, the record that I put on my Christmas
list was the Byrds album Turn! Turn!
Turn! Mom & Dad got me a Herb Alpert LP instead (could have been
worse), but my aunt and uncle came through.
Playlist for another frigid day
The Coldest Night of the Year – Bruce Cockburn
10 Degrees and Getting Colder – Gordon Lightfoot
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out – Bruce Springsteen
Snow Queen – Blood, Sweat & Tears
California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & The Papas
The Warmth of the Sun – The Beach Boys
Under the Boardwalk – The Drifters
On and On – Stephen Bishop
Heat Wave – Martha & The Vandellas
Heatwave – Iain Matthews
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