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Post by razorbacker on Sept 21, 2023 21:11:25 GMT
As we come to the end of the road, I believe this song is the perfect ending.
"I've Been Everywhere" is a song written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959, and popularized by Lucky Starr and Hank Snow in 1962.
Original singer Lucky Starr released an EP called Lucky's Been Everywhere, which contained four different versions, relating to the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, and Australia.
Geoff Mack's music publisher offered the song to Canadian-born country musician Hank Snow in 1962. Snow thought the song had the potential for the Canadian and American markets, but only if the toponyms were adapted to North America. At his publisher's urging, Geoff Mack consequently rewrote the song using a North American atlas supplied to him by the publisher.
Over the years we have heard multiple uses of this song with the most recent one happening in early 2022 when the United States Postal Service began using Johnny Cash’s version in advertisements.
Here is the original US version with a pretty incredible LIVE performance from Hank Snow.
Happy travels folks. Catch ya on the road sometime.
I’ve Been Everywhere by Hank Snow |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 22, 2023 12:03:04 GMT
Yesterday I mentioned that today we would take a different direction & begin covering music that is all about Time, the passage of Time, the seasons, the days, the years, whatever, so what better way to kick it off than with a song that speaks directly to the change in status.
"Time Has Come Today" was a hit single by the psychedelic soul group the Chambers Brothers, written by Willie & Joe Chambers. The song was featured on the album The Time Has Come in November 1967. It is now considered one of the landmark rock songs of the psychedelic era.
The Chambers Brothers were originally from Carthage, Mississippi & included George (bass & vocals), Joe (guitars), Lester (vocals, harmonica & percussion) & Willie Chambers (guitars) along with Brian Keenan (drums). This was their biggest hit single spending 5 weeks at #11 after it was edited down for radio play.
But no way do we go for the edited version. Here is the original 11 minute album version from 1967. Put on some headphones & let your soul become psychedelicized!
Time Has Come Today by The Chambers Brothers |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 22, 2023 17:27:26 GMT
I have spent the past 8-9 collecting songs about time & I wound up with just shy of 3,500, so it is appropriate to mention that when it comes to sharing them, We’ve Only Just Begun.
The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. They were born in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved to Downey, California, in 1963. Karen passed away in 1983 but Richard is still with us.
This song was written by Roger Nichols (music) and Paul Williams (lyrics).
The song debuted within a wedding-themed television commercial for Crocker National Bank in California in the winter of 1970, with Paul Williams on vocals. Hal Riney of the San Francisco-based advertising agency Hal Riney & Partners had commissioned the song to help Crocker appeal to young people.
Richard Carpenter saw the TV commercial and guessed that Paul was the vocalist (both of them were under contract to A&M Records). Richard ran into Paul on the record company's lot and asked whether a full-length version was available. Although the TV commercial had only two verses and no bridge, Williams stated that there was a bridge and an additional verse, forming a complete song, which was then delivered.
It was included on their 2nd album. The Close To You album also included the title song for which they also won a Grammy.
The song was released as a single in 1970 & got to #2 on the Hot 100 & #1 on the Easy Listening Chart. It has sold over a million copies in the US alone. It was kept out of the #1 spot on the Hot 100 by I’ll Be There from The Jackson Five & then I Think I Love You by The Partridge Family.
The song helped them to win The Best New Artist Grammy in 1971.
Any day is a good day to listen to Karen sing!
We’ve Only Just Begun by The Carpenters |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 23, 2023 11:17:23 GMT
If you are a paranormal investigator or ghost hunter, 3am is considered the witching hour. If you are Matchbox 20 & Rob Thomas 3am is considered a hit single.
The band formed in Orlando in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), and Kyle Cook (lead guitar, vocals).
They were a working band between 1995 – 2004, broke up & then reformed in 2007 & are still going.
The band has been nominated for 4 Grammy Awards but have yet to break through. They did win the Favorite Musical Group at the Peoples Choice Awards in 2004.
This song comes from their debut album Yourself or Someone Like You. It was released on October 1, 1996 & it got to #5 on the top 200. It has gone on to sell over 12 million copies in the US alone.
This was the 3rd single released from the album. It hit the top 5 on 7 different Billboard charts including #2 on the Hot 100. The single has been certified as 3 X Platinum.
The song was written by Rob Thomas, Jay Stanley, John Leslie Goff, and Brian Yale while performing together in the early 1990s band Tabitha's Secret. It was first recorded by that band on its debut EP, Tabitha's Secret?. The lyrics are inspired by Thomas as an adolescent having to live with a mother fighting to survive cancer.
3am by Matchbox 20 |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 23, 2023 17:25:50 GMT
if someone is going to put a time of day into a song or song title, midnight seems to be the most popular by far. Here is the first of many. Iron Maiden is a English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris.
The line-up for most of the band's history has consisted of Harris, lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers.
Worldwide & including all the Awards shows & ceremonies, these guys have been nominated for a whopping 458 different awards & have won 368 of them. On the Grammy side of the equation, they have 5 nominations & won in 2011 for Best Metal Performance for El Dorado.
During their career they have released 17 studio albums, 13 Live albums, 47 singles & 5 box sets. This song was included on their 5th studio album. It was called Powerslave & was released in 1984. The album charted at #12 in the US & has been certified Platinium.
The song was released as a single in August 1984 but it did not chart in the US. It is a protest song about nuclear war, & was written by guitarist Adrian Smith and vocalist Bruce Dickinson. The song title references the Doomsday Clock, which represents a countdown to potential global catastrophe. In September 1953 the clock reached two minutes to midnight, the closest it ever got to midnight in the 20th century, when the United States and Soviet Union tested H-bombs within nine months of one another.
2 Minutes To Midnight by Iron Maiden |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 24, 2023 11:17:29 GMT
I have a few songs, mostly from English bands, that highlight special trains leaving the station at certain times. Here is one of them.
The Who were formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Roger & Pete are still together & tour sporadically, Keith passed in 1978 at the age of 32, John departed, not necessarily on the 5:15, in 2002 at the age of 57.
They have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Their contributions to rock music include the development of the Marshall stack, large public address systems, the use of synthesizers, Entwistle's and Moon's influential playing styles, Townshend's feedback and power chord guitar technique, and the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an influence by many hard rock, punk, power pop and mod bands.
The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Quadrophenia was their 6th studio album it was released as a double album on 26 October 1973.
The lyrics of "5:15" describe Quadrophenia's protagonist, Jimmy, travelling to Brighton on a train. The song's writer, Pete Townshend, said of the song's lyrics:
His train journey down to Brighton, sandwiched between two city gents is notable for the rather absurd number of purple hearts he consumes in order to while away the time. He goes through a not entirely pleasant series of ups and downs as he thinks about the gaudier side of life as a teenager that we see in newspapers like the News of the World. '5:15' was written in Oxford Street and Carnaby Street while I was killing time between appointments. I must try it again sometime, it seems to work.
Chris Stainton adds the piano part to the song.
Interesting to note that this was not the 1st song about the train. There was one called On The 5:15 that goes all the way back to 1914.
5:15 by The Who |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 24, 2023 17:23:34 GMT
I reckon The Beatles need no introduction.
This was the closing song on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was their 8th studio album & was released on 26 May 1967.
This was a defining moment in pop culture, heralding the album era and the 1967 Summer of Love. It also got recognition for the medium as a genuine art form. The album spent 27 weeks at number one on the Record Retailer chart in the United Kingdom and 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 100 LPs chart.
In 1968, it won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, the first rock LP to receive this honor; in 2003, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.
It has topped several critics' and listeners' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by Rolling Stone magazine and in the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and the UK's "Music of the Millennium" poll. More than 32 million copies had been sold worldwide as of 2011, 11 million in the US alone.
"A Day in the Life" is credited to Lennon–McCartney with the opening and closing sections of the song mainly written by John & Paul primarily contributing the song's middle section.
Just as it sounds: I was reading the paper one day and noticed two stories. One was about the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash. On the next page was a story about four thousand potholes in the streets of Blackburn, Lancashire, that needed to be filled. Paul’s contribution was the beautiful little lick in the song, ‘I’d love to turn you on,’ that he’d had floating around in his head and couldn’t use. I thought it was a damn good piece of work. John Lennon The verse about the politician blowing his mind out in a car we wrote together. It has been attributed to Tara Browne, the Guinness heir, which I don’t believe is the case, certainly as we were writing it, I was not attributing it to Tara in my head. In John’s head it might have been. In my head I was imagining a politician bombed out on drugs who’d stopped at some traffic lights and didn’t notice that the lights had changed. The ‘blew his mind’ was purely a drugs reference, nothing to do with a car crash. Paul McCartney
The middle section (“Woke up, fell out of bed”) was an unfinished song fragment written by Paul, it provided a perfect counterpoint to Lennon’s languorous daydreaming.
It was another song altogether but it happened to fit. It was just me remembering what it was like to run up the road to catch a bus to school, having a smoke and going into class. It was a reflection of my schooldays. I would have a Woodbine, somebody would speak and I’d go into a dream. Paul McCartney Even though many consider this to be the best album of all time, others wonder if it is even the best Beatles album. I know, I played the hell out of it for months on end. Wore it out & had to buy another copy. A Day In The Life by The Beatles |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 25, 2023 11:26:07 GMT
Moby Grape was founded in 1966 as a part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene. The band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters.
The band name, chosen by Bob Mosley and Spence, came from the punch line of the joke "What's big and purple and lives in the ocean?"
The original band included lead guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson (both formerly of the Frantics, originally based in Seattle), guitarist (and son of actress Loretta Young) Peter Lewis (of the Cornells), bassist Bob Mosley (of the Misfits, based in San Diego), and Skip Spence (of Jefferson Airplane), now on guitar instead of drums.
This is a band that has broken up & re formed multiple times over the years & seem to be back together again since 2006. Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller & Bob Mosley are hanging together again.
This song comes from their self - titled debut album from 1967. For some reason their marketing gurus decided to release 5 singles from the album all at the same time. This was one of those songs. It seems as though over saturation was not their friend, only the song Omaha charted & it landed in the upper 80’s.
It’s too bad that they just never seemed to get the recognition they deserved. The harmonies on this song are pretty sweet.
8:05 by Moby Grape |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 25, 2023 17:57:15 GMT
We have just begun Fall. Is it to soon to be nostalgic about a Warm Summer Night?
Chic was formed in 1972 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. The two met in 1970 as session musicians working in the New York City area.
They have had many big hit singles including the #1 hits "Le Freak" (1978), & "Good Times" (1979).
The group has been nominated 11 times for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but have yet to receive enough votes to become an inductee. They officially became the most nominated act in the Hall's history to not earn induction.
They have released 9 studio albums but there was a gap of 9 years between #’s 7&8 and a hiatus of 26 years prior to their most recent release in 2018.
Risqué was their 3rd studio album, it was released on July 30, 1979. The album became highly influential not only within the Disco movement, but also in other styles such as hip hop, art rock and new wave. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 414 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
The album got to #5 in the US & has been certified Platinum. It included the hit single Good Times which hit #1 on many charts & ranks 68th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
A Warm Summer Night by Chic |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 26, 2023 11:40:06 GMT
Blondie falls just 1 minute short of adding midnight to the title of this song.
The band was founded in 1974 in New York City by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein.
They were a pioneer in the new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York City. Their first two albums contained elements of punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, they were regarded as an underground band in the U.S. until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978.
And that’s where we come in. Parallel Lines was their 3rd studio album & it was released in September 1978 & provided their breakthrough here. The album reached No. 1 in the UK & No. 6 in the US.
It has been certified Platinum in the US with sales of 1.5 million units. There are various figures about worldwide sales starting at 15 million & going up. There were multiple singles released beginning with Picture This which did not chart here in the states, I’m Gonna Love you also failed to chart, Hanging On The Telephone came next & also failed to land, all of those songs hit the charts in the UK.
They finally broke through here with the 4th single, Heart Of Glass. That one got to #1 & went on to sell over a million units. Sunday Girl came next & once again charted elsewhere but not here. Their final single from the album was One Way Or Another which got to #13 & sold 500,000 copies.
This was the only song on the album written exclusively by keyboard player Jimmy Destri. It was not released as a single.
11:59 by Blondie |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 26, 2023 17:37:01 GMT
I have 11 different offerings with the title of All Night Long. Some of them may be the same song performed by different artists, some may be completely different songs. For instance, I just bet this song by Jo Stafford is not the same song as the one by Billy Squire.
Jo Stafford was a traditional pop music singer from Coalinga, California. She passed away in 2008 at the age of 90.
Her career spanned from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. She originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist.
She had her 1st chart hit as the lead vocalist for The Pied Pipers back in 1944. She also sang with Tommy Dorsey’s Orchestra in the 40's, performed duets with Gordon MacRae and Frankie Laine, & starting in 1945, she was a regular host of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio series The Chesterfield Supper Club.
In 1961, the album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris won her her only Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, and was the first commercially successful parody album.
This song was one of her final singles, but was not a successful one. It landed at #99 in 1956. She charted just 5 times after, never getting any higher than 38.
The song was written by Chilton Price & the Orchestra was directed by her husband Paul Weston.
All Night Long by Jo Stafford |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 27, 2023 11:38:57 GMT
I don’t remember ever posting a song by someone from France, but it’s about Time to change that.
Phoenix is a French pop rock band from Versailles, formed in 1995.
Their line-up, includes Thomas Mars (lead vocals), Deck d'Arcy (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Christian Mazzalai (guitar, backing vocals) and Laurent Brancowitz (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals). Thomas Hedlund has been the band's session and live drummer since 2005.
They have released 7 studio albums, to date, with their 4th album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, becoming a major breakthrough success in 2009. The album included the song linked to here and "Lisztomania".
Not only was the album their breakthrough in the US it also won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. They beat out a pretty impressive list of competitors. There were albums by David Byrne & Brian Eno, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Death Cab For Cutie & Depeche Mode also nominated.
The album landed at #34 on the US Top 200 but hit the top 5 on the Alternative Albums, Independent Albums & Rock Albums Charts.
This song was released on 23 February 2009 as the lead single. It peaked at number 73 in Canada and number 84 in the United States, making it their first song to chart here. It also reached number one on the US Alternative Songs chart. It has been certified as a Platinum million selling single here in the states.
According to lead singer Thomas Mars, the song is about Belle Époque Paris. Mars said, "Paris in 1901 was better than it is now. So the song is a fantasy about Paris."
1901 by Phoenix |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 27, 2023 17:29:03 GMT
Here is another song title that is pretty popular. I have 8 different ones, who will do it best?
The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member, though bassist Simon Gallup has been present for all but about three years of the band's history.
They were nominated for Grammy’s for Best Alternative Album in 1993 for Wish & in 2001 for Bloodflowers, but the lost both times. In 93 they lost to Tom Waits for Bone Machine & in 01 to Radiohead for Kid A.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
The band has released 13 studio albums, 6 live albums, 2 remix albums, 7 compilation albums, 8 box sets, 12 extended plays, and 46 singles.
This song was included on their 1979 album called Three Imaginary Boys which was not released in the US until a later date. It was their debut album. At the time of this album the group consisted of Robert Smith – guitar, lead vocals, harmonica, Michael Dempsey – bass, backing and lead vocals, & Lol Tolhurst – drums.
Another Day by The Cure |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 28, 2023 11:28:52 GMT
What an incredible repository youtube has become. If it has been recorded, someone, somewhere, has made it possible for everyone to hear it for free. So many artists that I would have never have heard of are available at the click of a button, like this guy.
Kristian Matsson is a Swedish singer-songwriter who performs under the stage name The Tallest Man on Earth. He grew up in Leksand, and began his solo career in 2006, having previously been the lead singer of the indie band Montezumas. He turned 40 earlier this year.
He just released his 7th solo album two weeks before his 40th birthday. This song comes from his 2012 album, There's No Leaving Now. It was his 3rd release & his highest charting album in the US, it got to #35 on the top 200 here, but it went to 14 on the Top Rock Albums, & #2 of the Folk Albums charts. This song was released as a single, but I see no evidence of it charting.
The song includes Mats Winkvist on bass & Niclas Nordin on drums. There were just a couple of songs on the album that included accompaniment & there was a reason for it: "I wanted to build something that didn't sound like a rock band, but wasn't super minimalistic. I wanted a sound that had that brittle [quality], that feeling that it might just fall apart." Kristen Matsson.
1904 by The Tallest Man On Earth |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 28, 2023 17:15:05 GMT
When it comes to writing a song about a certain month, April ranks right at the top. There are a lot of songs about the month including 9 songs with this title. I suspect they may all be the same song with a different performer, & we will eventually find out. Here is the 1st offering.
Georges’ aunt Rosemary Clooney was a singer and actress from Maysville, Kentucky. She died of lung cancer in 2002 at the age of 74. George was a pallbearer.
She cut her first record with Tony Pastor's big band in 1947, "I'm Sorry I Didn't Say Sorry" b/w "The Lady From Twenty-Nine Palms." But she hit her stride in the 50’s. In early 1951, she had a minor hit with "Beautiful Brown Eyes", but her record of "Come On-a My House" four months later, produced by Mitch Miller, became her first big chart hit.
While her singing career lasted well into the 1990’s, her charting career was rather short lived. She had her final chart hit in early 1960 & that was a minor hit with a song called Many A Wonderful Moment that got only to #84. The coming of rock & roll was a big reason behind her demise.
The song was written in 1932 for the Broadway musical Walk a Little Faster. The original 1933 hit was performed by Freddy Martin. Count Basie recorded it in 1955 and that particular performance was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The song was written by E.Y Harburg & this version had an orchestra arrangement by Nelson Riddle. She recorded it in 1960. I don’t see any evidence that she ever released it as a single.
April In Paris by Rosemary Clooney |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 29, 2023 11:47:08 GMT
Tommy was the 4th studio album by The Who. It was a double album & was first released on 19 May 1969.
The album was mostly composed by Pete Townshend, and is a rock opera that tells the story of Tommy Walker. Tommy is traumatized from witnessing his father murder his mother's lover. Tommy's parents compound his trauma by denying the experience. Tommy begins to disassociate and becomes deaf, dumb and blind to the outside world, as the song linked to here tells us.
The album got to #4 on the top 200 in the US & hit the top 10 in multiple countries across the world. It has been certified as a double Platinum selling unit here in the states.
It is the source for multiple other performances:
In 1970 Montreal ballet group Les Grands Ballets Canadiens created the first dance-based adaptation of Tommy.
In 1971 the Seattle Opera under director Richard Pearlman produced the first ever fully staged professional production of Tommy at Seattle's Moore Theatre. The production included Bette Midler playing the role of the Acid Queen.
In 1975 the movie was released with a cast that included Ann-Margret as Tommy's mother & Oliver Reed as "the Lover", with appearances by Elton John, Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Arthur Brown, and Jack Nicholson.
In 1991 came the Broadway musical.
1921 by The Who |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 29, 2023 17:29:41 GMT
Since we have just begun the Fall season & the leaves are on the verge of changing, it seems a good time to post this song. I have 11 different versions of the song & once again, I believe they are all the same song. It was pretty popular, so who will do it best.
Bill Evans was a jazz pianist and composer, born in Plainfield, New Jersey. He must have been a troubled individual. He kicked his heroin habit, with the help of methadone, only to become addicted to cocaine. His death in 1980 was the result of was a combination of peptic ulcer, cirrhosis, bronchial pneumonia, and untreated hepatitis. He was just 51.
He was classically trained at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Mannes School of Music, in New York City, where he majored in composition and received the Artist Diploma. In 1955, he moved to New York City, where he worked with bandleader and theorist George Russell. In 1958, he joined Miles Davis's sextet, which in 1959, recorded Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz album ever.
He recorded over 50 albums as a band leader between 1956 and 1980 and also played as a sideman on nearly as many more. He broke new ground in many of his piano trio, duet and solo recordings. Several of those won or were nominated for Grammy Awards.
This song comes from an album called Portrait In Jazz Year it was released in 1960. The other members of the trio were Scott LaFaro on bass & Paul Motian on drums.
Scott Lafaor was in high demand as a bass player until his death in a car accident in 1961, he was just 25.
Paul Motian, later was a regular in pianist Keith Jarrett's band for about a decade. He died on November 22, 2011, of complications from myelodysplastic syndrome, he was 80.
The song itself was written by Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma in 1945. Even though we don’t hear them on this version, the song does have English lyrics written by Johnny Mercer.
Jazz historian Philippe Baudoin called the song "the most important non-American standard" and noted that "it has been recorded about 1400 times by mainstream and modern jazz musicians alone and is the eighth most-recorded tune by jazzmen."
Autumn Leaves by The Bill Evans Trio |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 30, 2023 11:32:57 GMT
King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn. Her real name is Mikaela Mullaney Straus. She will turn 25 in December.
She is the daughter of recording engineer Oliver H. Straus Jr. & spent much of her childhood following her father to work at his recording studio, Mission Sound. There, she learned several instruments, including bass, guitar, piano, and drums, as well as music-production techniques and insight into the music industry.
She is gay and genderqueer. Since early 2019, she has been in a relationship with Quinn Whitney Wilson, the creative director of rapper and singer Lizzo. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ pride parade, Queerty named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".
During her career she has released 2 studio albums with the most recent one coming in 2022, 2 Ep’s & 15 singles.
This was her 1st single from her 1st EP. The EP was called Make My Bed & it came out in 2015. The song is a tribute to the 1952 novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. It landed in the top 20 on multiple US charts & has been certified as a Platinum release.
The 2020 Academy Award-winning animated short If Anything Happens I Love You featured the song.
1950 by King Princess |
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Post by razorbacker on Sept 30, 2023 18:56:58 GMT
Considering there are almost 3,500 songs on my list available & that this is just the 18th to be posted, we are certainly just seeing the Beginnings of what is to come. Hey, ya can’t get to your destination without actually beginning the journey.
Before Chicago was Chicago, they recorded under the name of Chicago Transit Authority. This song comes from their self titled debut double album from 1967.
The album landed at #17 on the top 200 & has been certified as Double Platinum. It included the singles, Questions 67 & 68 which faltered at #71, then came Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is, that became their 1st top 10 hit going all the way to #7. They followed it up with the song linked to here which also got to #7 & the album closed out with a re release of the 1st single & this time it got to 24.
This song was released in 1969, but it didn’t chart until a re release in 1971, after the group had some success with other songs.
Everyone in the band has at one time or another, been credited with song writing credits. This song was written by keyboard player Robert Lamm. In an interview he said “ the song was inspired by a performance by Richie Havens that he attended at the Ash Grove music club in Los Angeles when the group moved to that area. In a 2013 interview he said he composed it on a twelve-string guitar that was missing the two low E strings.”
Beginnings by Chicago |
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 1, 2023 14:17:00 GMT
America was one of those bands that had three members all contributing to the writing & if you followed them closely enough, once the song started you could tell who wrote the song. They all had a different style. This one was written by Gerry Beckley.
The album prior to this one saw the last appearances of Dan Peek. Silent Letter was released in 1979 & was the 1st album they released as a duo of just Gerry Beckley & Dewey Bunnell. It was also the final album of 7 in a row to be produced by George Martin.
The album charted at #110. They released the singles Only Game In Town, All My Life & All Around. None of them charted.The song linked to here was the “B” side to the final single.
Even though George Martin departs, he did direct & arrange the orchestra accompaniment on this song.
1960 by America |
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 1, 2023 18:18:29 GMT
Here is another of those songs where I have multiple versions. There are 7 of them in the queue & I’m pretty sure due to the artists involved & the time frame of their careers that they are all the same song.
Cab Calloway was a jazz singer and bandleader from Rochester New York. He suffered a stroke & died five months later from pneumonia on November 18, 1994, at age 86.
Cab was Inducted into Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1987, the International Jazz Hall of Fame in 1995, & was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His biggest hit single, Minnie The Moocher, was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999 & added to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2019.
He had multiple hit singles beginning with Saint Louis Blues in 1930. This song charted at #8 for him in 1942 & he got to the top 10 just once more after this.
The song has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night.
It was one of nine songs nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Observers expected that either "Blues in the Night" or "Chattanooga Choo Choo" would win, so that when "The Last Time I Saw Paris" actually won, neither its composer, Jerome Kern, nor lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein II, was present at the ceremony. Kern was so upset at winning with a song that had not been specifically written for a motion picture and that had been published and recorded before the film came out that he petitioned the Motion Picture Academy to change the rules. Since then, a nominated song has to have been written specifically for the motion picture in which it is performed.
Cab had 1 of 5 different versions of the song to land on the charts in 1942!
Blues In The Night by Cab Calloway |
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 2, 2023 11:13:16 GMT
Gene Clark was a singer-songwriter from Tipton, Missouri. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in early 1991 & died on May 24 of that year at the age of 46 from a heart attack as a result of a bleeding ulcer. Drug and alcohol addiction were determined to have contributed to his death.
He was a founding member of the the Byrds & their principal songwriter between 1964 and early 1966. He wrote most of the band's best-known originals including "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", "She Don't Care About Time", "Eight Miles High" and "Set You Free This Time".
Gene was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 as a member of the Byrds.
During his career he released albums with The Byrds, as a member of Dillard & Clark, as a member of McGuinn, Clark & Hillman & as a solo artist.
This song comes from his 2nd solo album. It was called White Light & was released in 1971. The album did not chart & it seems as though there were no singles released. His friend Jesse Ed Davis produced the album & plays the lead guitar on this song, he also had Ben Sidran on piano Chris Ethredge on bass, Gary Mallabar on drums & Bobbye Hall on percussion.
1975 by Gene Clark |
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 2, 2023 17:37:02 GMT
Van McCoy was a record producer, arranger, songwriter and singer from Washington D.C. He suffered a heart attack in 1979. He was hospitalized and went into a coma. He died a week later at the age of 39.
By the age of 12, he had begun writing his own songs & as a song writer he has approximately 700 song copyrights to his credit. As a producer he worked with artists including Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin, Brenda & the Tabulations, David Ruffin, Peaches & Herb, Lesley Gore, and Stacy Lattisaw.
Not only was he a producer for all those folks mentioned above, but he also recorded & released albums on his own. There were 11 solo albums, 4 compilation albums & multiple singles dating all the way back to 1961. He had almost no success on the singles chart until he broke through in 1975 with The Hustle which hit the top of the charts all around the world & became his only U.S. top 40 hit.
The song linked to here was his follow up single to The Hustle. Unfortunately, it did not continue his success as it stalled out at #46. He would never get this high on the charts again.
Change With The Times by Van McCoy |
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Post by Kao on Oct 3, 2023 4:26:40 GMT
I was too old for the whole Emo scene but I've been listening to Fall Out Boy's latest album "So Much For Stardust" and there's a lot of good bops on it? I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 3, 2023 11:28:03 GMT
This song comes from the 11th studio album by Grand Gunk. No so surprising, it was released in 1976. The album was called Good Singin, Good Playin.
The band had actually broken up, but Frank Zappa talked them into another go round. He wanted to produce for them, so the band teamed up with Frank for this one.
Although the pairing seemed bizarre, Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer said, "His whole viewpoint on what rock and roll is all about is basically the same as ours.... Keep it as simple as possible and really bring the balls out of this thing." Zappa said, "All I did was, in a documentary way, make a record which tells you exactly what they really sound like. For the first time on record you can hear Grand Funk Railroad ... and they're fantastic, fan-tastic with an F three times taller than you!"
In the end the album got to #52 without producing a hit single. It also didn’t keep the band together. They decided on the first day of overdubs to split up again, although Zappa stayed until 4 a.m. trying to talk them out of it.
They would briefly get back together to release another album but it was 5 years later & by that time bassist Mel Schacher &r keyboard player Craig Frost had both departed & weren’t a part of the new album.
1976 by Grand Funk |
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 3, 2023 17:43:23 GMT
Duke Ellington has to have been one of the most awarded individuals of his era.
He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1971, the Jazz Hall Of Fame in 1956, & the Big Band Hall Of Fame in 1978. He has been given Honorary Degrees from Columbia University, the Berklee College Of Music, & Howard University. He was given The Grammys Trustee Award & a Grammy Lifetime Achievement. He has been given The Presidential Medal Of Freedom, won a Pulitzer Award & has even been commemorated on a U.S. Quarter.
He also has 9 different songs in the Grammy Hall Of Fame, including the suite from which this cut was taken.
He wrote this song in 1942 as a part of the first movement of a suite entitled Black, Brown and Beige. He was engaged for a performance at Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943, for which he wrote the entire composition (that whole concert was released in 1977 as The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943). In 1958 he revised the suite and recorded it in its entirety for that year's album titled after the suite. "Come Sunday" was originally a centerpiece for alto saxophone player Johnny Hodges.
The song has been recorded many times & the 1958 version includes a vocal from the great Mahalia Jackson.
Come Sunday by Duke Ellington |
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Post by Kao on Oct 3, 2023 18:47:44 GMT
Duke Ellington has to have been one of the most awarded individuals of his era.
He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1971, the Jazz Hall Of Fame in 1956, & the Big Band Hall Of Fame in 1978. He has been given Honorary Degrees from Columbia University, the Berklee College Of Music, & Howard University. He was given The Grammys Trustee Award & a Grammy Lifetime Achievement. He has been given The Presidential Medal Of Freedom, won a Pulitzer Award & has even been commemorated on a U.S. Quarter.
He also has 9 different songs in the Grammy Hall Of Fame, including the suite from which this cut was taken.
He wrote this song in 1942 as a part of the first movement of a suite entitled Black, Brown and Beige. He was engaged for a performance at Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943, for which he wrote the entire composition (that whole concert was released in 1977 as The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943). In 1958 he revised the suite and recorded it in its entirety for that year's album titled after the suite. "Come Sunday" was originally a centerpiece for alto saxophone player Johnny Hodges.
The song has been recorded many times & the 1958 version includes a vocal from the great Mahalia Jackson.
Come Sunday by Duke Ellington That version is God-tier. |
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 4, 2023 11:39:05 GMT
Smashing Pumpkins are a alternative rock band from Chicago. The group was formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, they have undergone several line-up changes, with Corgan being the sole constant member since its inception.
The band was inactive between 2000 – 2006 but are back up & running with a new lineup.
They have been nominated for 12 Grammy Awards & won 2. They won Best Hard Rock Performance in 1997 & 1998 for Bullett With Butterfly Wings & The End Is The Beginning Of The End, respectively.
During their career they have released 12 studio albums, 4 live albums, 1 digital live album series, 7 compilation albums (including box sets and promotional releases), 5 extended plays (including promotional releases), 55 singles (including promotional releases), 4 video albums, 37 music videos, and contributions to 5 soundtrack albums.
This song comes from their 3rd studio album. It was called Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness & it came out in 1995. It hit #1 in many countries around the world including here in the states. It has been certified as a 5 X Platinum album in the US alone. The album had 5 singles released including Bullett With Butterfly Wings.
The song linked to here was the 2nd single from the album. It got to #30 on the top 40 but hit #1 on The Mainstream Rock Chart. It has been certified Gold.
It was written as a nostalgic coming-of-age story by Corgan. In the year 1979, Corgan was twelve, and this is what he considered his transition into adolescence.
1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins |
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Post by Amy Lee on Oct 4, 2023 11:40:48 GMT
I feel an En Vogue marathon coming through. I recently watched an interview with former lead singer Dawn Robinson and learned why she left the group.
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Post by razorbacker on Oct 4, 2023 17:44:25 GMT
No one likes spending time waiting for anything, John Sebastian just needs it all to be over soon.
The Lovin' Spoonful is a folk rock band formed in Greenwich Village, in 1964.
The band was among the most popular groups in the United States in the mid-1960s and their music and image influenced many of the contemporary rock acts of their era. By 1966, the group was "one of the most highly regarded American bands", and they were the year's third best-selling act in the U.S., after the Beatles and Rolling Stones. As psychedelia expanded in popularity in 1967, the Lovin' Spoonful struggled to transition their approach and saw diminished sales before disbanding in 1968.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Due to their short term existence they issued just 5 studio album & 17 singles but compilations continue to be released.
This song comes from their album You're a Big Boy Now, which was a soundtrack album released in 1967. It contained music from the Francis Ford Coppola film of the same name. The soundtrack was composed entirely by John Sebastian. Among the cast of the movie were Gereldine Page, Rip Torn, Karen Black, & Julie Harris.
Billboard described the song as a "medium-paced rock ballad given that 'extra special' Lovin' Spoonful treatment" and should be a "smash" on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was released as a single & got to #15. They hit the top 40 just twice more after this.
Darlin Be Home Soon by The Lovin Spoonful |
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