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Fingertips – Pop/Rock Songs Featuring Harmonica

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On June 22, 2023

In Theme Playlist

June 22, 1963, little Stevie Wonder first entered the US singles chart. His song, also featuring a young Marvin Gaye on drums, was not only the first live non-studio musical recording to reach No.1 , it also made him the youngest solo performer to ever reach No.1, actually only 12 years old when the song was recorded.

His song provides the theme for today’s blog and playlist, songs that feature the harmonica. Harmonica, also known as the French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used prominently in folk music, jazz, country, classical music, and rock.  The most common type of harmonica is the diatonic, though the chromatic is used as well, made most famous by none other than Stevie Wonder.  The instrument is played using the mouth, lips, and tongue.  Frontiersmen Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid played the instrument.

Songs 1-6 Stevie, including the blog title song “Fingertips” which still holds the record for the youngest solo performer at the age of 13 to have a No. 1 single, 7-18 and 162-182 Stevie guest musician, collaborating with the likes of Chaka Khan, Eurythmics, Paula Abdul, Dion Warwick, Elton John, Sting, Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Snoop Dogg, Jason Derulo, Johnny Mathis, Peter Frampton, John Denver, Carley Simon, Barbra Streisand, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Rod Stewart, Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight, and Frank Sinatra.

Stevie Wonder “Isn’t She Lovely”

Dionne Warwick “That’s What Friends Are For”

Eurythmics “There Must Be An Angel”

Artists with several songs on the list include: The Beatles with “Love Me Do,” “From Me To You,” “Should Have Known Better,” and “Rocky Racoon;” Led Zeppelin with “When the Levee Breaks,” “Bring It On Home,” and “Nobody’s Fault But Mine;” Bruce Springsteen with “Thunder Road,” “The River,” “The Promised Land,” “Spare Parts,” as well as the Yardbirds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, J. Geils Band, and Elton John with several songs on the list, and Billy Joel with “Ballad of Billy the Kid,” “Piano Man,” and “Leave a Tender Moment Alone.”

Billy leads us to another prolific artist well versed in the use of harmonica. Billy Joel was my very first concert as a teen. The second time I was him was at his Evening of Questions & Answers Tour in 1996. He referenced the first time he ever saw Bob Dylan perform live. Seeing Bob wearing his neck rack to hold his harmonica a young Billy thought “what’s wrong with his neck?” 😭

Billy has recorded a few of Bob’s songs, including “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and “Make You Feel My Love,” featuring a bit of harmonica as well.

Another landmark date in harmonica and music history is April 24, 1961, the day Bob Dylan participated in his first professional recording session, playing harmonica on the song “Midnight Special,” with folk singer Harry Belafonte. Bob obviously went on to record many folk and blues songs featuring the harmonica as well using the diatonic harp as his instrument of choice. More than a handful of his songs appear in the playlist, including perhaps my favorite Bob Dylan song “Baby Let Me Follow You Down.” Here is Bob playing “Hey Mr. Tambourine Man,” neck rack and all. It doesn’t look like there’s too much wrong with his neck. 🤣

Other notable popular songs featuring harmonica include Supertramp’s “Take The Long Way Home,” Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” The Hollies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” The Young Rascals’ “Groovin’,” The Carpenters’ “Rainy Days & Mondays,” U2’s “Trip Through Your Wires,” Romantics’ “What I Like About You,” Culture Club’s “Karma Cameleon,” Blues Traveler’s “Run Around,” The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin’,” Sting’s “Shape of My Heart,” and Canned Heat’s “On The Road Again.” Grunge and alternative music bands Alice in Chains, Temple Of The Dog, Pearl Jam, Motorhead, Foo Fighters, and Dave Matthews Band as well as metal greats Guns ‘N Roses, Poison, Motley Crue, Great White, and Black Sabbath even made the list.

I can’t recall the recent TV show I was watching, but one of the lines in it was something along the line of “who listens to Supertramp these days?” Well I still do, lol 🤣. Here is a classic Supertramp great from their blockbuster 1979 release Breakfast in America with an unforgettable harmonic intro, “Take The Long Way Home”

Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” a classic harmonic intro, and perhaps one of my favorite Boss songs.

Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” is perhaps one of the more recognizable harmonic songs in pop music of the 70’s. His version is not available on Spotify, as her removed it during COVID as a form of boycott of the Joe Rogan misinformation podcasts.

I loved the Carpenters back in the 70’s. Here with yet another great harmonica intro from the 70’s, “Rainy Days and Mondays”

Flash forward to the 80s with the Pretenders “Middle of the Road”

Huey Lewis offers some Americana harmonica with “Heart of Rock & Roll”

Motley Crue entertains us with a little harmonica amist their metal with their cover of “Smokin’ In The Boys Room”

And what an interesting decade the 80’s were, check out INXS “Suicide Blonde”

Then moving to the 90’s perhaps no one epitomized harmonica in pop music at the end of the 20th Century as Blues Traveler, here with their classic “Run Around”

And perhaps one of the most beautiful songs with significant, haunting harmonica presence is Sting with “Shape of My Heart”

Also featured in the blog is the harmonica great Larry Adler, who started his career as a penniless urchin on Vaudeville, starting his professional career at 14.  Included is much of his exceptional Gershwin tribute album “The Glory of Gershwin,” featuring songs by Sting, Elton John, Cher, Kate Bush, Meat Loaf, and Peter Gabriel, among others. Selections from this album round out the playlist. Here the he accompanies Kate Bush on “The Man I Love.”

On to the playlist:

I hope that this music and my blog truly serve as a “revival: a new presentation of something old,” a springboard to return to the music of your youth, or perhaps to find artists you want to discover anew.  Rediscover the passion of music in your life.

Live in the moment.

Enjoy the moment.

Love the moment.

Listen to the MUSIC!

GO Now – “Go” Songs

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On June 2, 2023

In Word Playlist

On June 2, 1984, Wham! Had their first UK No.1 with “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.” George Michael received inspiration for the song from a scribbled note by his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley which read “wake me up before you you go.” Playing off the erroneous inclusion of “you” twice in the note, George included “go” twice in the lyrics. The song, a homage to the upbeat music of the 50’s and 60’s, made Wham! an overnight sensation.

George’s Go serves as springboard for today’s playlists “GO Now.” Artists often suggest where or how to go.  The Cars simply appealed “Lets Go,” Prince “Lets Go Crazy,” and the Raspberries “Lets Go All The Way.” Both the Del Vikings and Expose implored “Come Go With Me.” While The Moody Blues urged “Go Now” and Fleetwood Mac furthered “Go Your Own Way,” instead KC & The Sunshine Band begged “Please Don’t Go,” and Van Morrison in agreement pleaded “Baby Please Don’t Go.” And given I went to Rockville High School, I always laughed at the advice of REM “Don’t Go Back To Rockville” (and waste another year…) 🤣 Yet Eddie Money insisted “I Wanna Go Back.” But Chuck Berry felt he had “No Particular Place To Go” and Meat Loaf was “All Revved Up With No Place To Go,” And hearts and love often are in the crosshairs – Elton John “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” Bread with “Let Your Love Go,” The Supremes “Where Did Our Love Go,” Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On,” and Alan Jackson “I’ll Go On Loving You.”

In 1984, Purple Rain, one of the greatest musical films, with the album Prince’s first No.1 on the charts, spawning two No.1 hits “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy.” Interestingly the title track, “Purple Rain” stalled out at No.2 on the charts, kept off by none other than Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.”

What an interesting decade the 80’s was. Check out Rick Ocasek and the Cars with “Touch and Go.”

Super early REM’s their career, this relatively unplugged version of “Don’t Go Back To Rockville” is a gem. So different from their later highly polished pop work:

Early in her career, Mariah Carey with “Can’t Let Go.” Is it me, or does Mariah sound a lot like Whitney here?

And one of the most beautiful country songs ever recorded, Alan Jackson’s “I’ll Go On Loving You.”

If you’ve watched Live from Daryl’s House, give it a look. But beware, it can be a rabbit hole you don’t want to go down, as it can be a huge time suck, though so worth the time spent. Here Cee Lo Green performing the Hall & Oates classic “I Can’t Go For That”

While a mega hit for Paul Young in 1985, Daryl wrote and first recorded “Every Time You Go Away” in 1980 with his bandmate John Oates. Here he performs it live on his show:

And another flashback to the 80’s, Expose’s “Come Go With Me.” I saw them 30 years or so later at Mohegan Sun performing this along with their other hits “Point of No Return,” “Let Me Be The One,” and “Seasons Change.”

And how could I not include Whitesnake’s iconic video “Here I Go Again” with their vixen Tawny Kitaen, who also appears in their videos “Still of the Night” and “Is This Love?” as well as the movie “Bachelor Party.”

And one of the most fun feel good songs ever in a musical “We Go Together.” How young John and Olivia were!

So in terms of the playlist, in the words of *NYSNC and Bowling For Soup, “Here We GO”! – Enjoy!

I hope that this music and my blog truly serve as a “revival: a new presentation of something old,” a springboard to return to the music of your youth, or perhaps to find artists you want to discover anew.  Rediscover the passion of music in your life.

Live in the moment.

Enjoy the moment.

Love the moment.

Listen to the MUSIC!

ROLL With It – “Roll” & “Rolling” Songs

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On May 21, 2023

In Word Playlist

On May 21, 2011 Adele scored her first No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Rolling In The Deep.” Topping the charts in over 20 countries, it became the best selling digital song over by a female artist in the US. It serves as a springboard for today’s music blog, songs containing “Roll” or “Rolling” in their title. “Rock & Roll” songs are excluded, as they are addressed in a forthcoming blog. Here is the sultry songstress after her extreme makeover.

“Rolling In The Deep” – Adele (London Palladium, November 6, 2021):

The title of the blog is a nod to Steve Winwood’s 80’s great of the same name, “Roll With It”:

Interestingly, perhaps to avoid the possibility of a lawsuit, as Ed Sheeran recently battled, Winwood’s publisher eventually credited Motown songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland with co-writing the song due to its resemblance to Junior Walker’s “(I’m A) Roadrunner.” You be the judge, but I suspect you’ll agree with the similarity.

“(I’m A) Roadrunner” – Junior Walker & The Allstars

That leads me to a little aside on song similarities. There are only so many chord combinations and progressions that can create great music. I would suggest that as long as entire songs and melodies aren’t lifted, some resemblance is almost inevitable from time to time. Perhaps, when realized, artists should just give a nod to the other songwriters and be done with it. Here are the Sheeran-Gaye songs for your consideration. I didn’t even hear the similarity initially, as the melodies are entirely different, but the exact same cord progression for several the measures are hard to argue with.

Recently deceased Gordon Lightfoot noticed in 1986 the similarity in several bars of his “If You Could Read My Mind” and Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love Of All.” Listen to his lines “And you won’t read that book again because the ending’s just too hard to take” and her lines “I decided long ago to never hide in anyone’s shadow.” Since listening to these 2 songs with that knowledge, if trying to sing one of the songs I can’t keep the other from blending in. Gordon dropped a plagiarism lawsuit when realizing how much it was weighing on Whitney.

And as I have discussed in a previous blog, the bass riff from Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” is lifted from Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” a totally reimagined cover of Joan Baez’s awful original, unrecognizable as the same song (also addressed in my previous blog on covers, “Cover Me.” And while we’re on Led Zeppelin, did Robert Plant steal the opening guitar riff of “Stairway to Heaven” from Spirit’s “Taurus”?

And many songwriters do borrow, sample, and appropriate, usually giving credit to artists they have ripped off – think Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” steeling Queen’s “Under Pressure,” MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” borrowing from Rick James “Supe Freak,” or Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” and it’s “Sweet Home Alabama” guitar riff, even nod to the song in the lyrics, as well as borrowing piano licks from Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves Of London.”

And even Robert Plant himself recorded the song “Tall Cool One” that sampled guitar riffs from “Black Dog,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “The Ocean,” “Custard Pie,” and lyrics from “Black Dog.” He even enlisted his former Zep bandmate Jimmy Page to play the riffs. I guess that way he didn’t have to worry about suing himself or the band suing him 🤣. 

One interesting a-ha (not the 80’s band of the same name, though they do appear in the Stolen and Sampled Songs playlist) moment I had in college was listening to Billy Joel’s “This Night” from his Innocent Man album. When listening, the melody of the chorus kept running around in my brain, when I finally realized it was directly lifted from Ludwig von Beethoven’s Second Movement of his Pathetique Sonata. I confirmed it by pulling out and listening to my Beethoven album (yes I had Beethoven albums in college, and remember this was pre-internet search capabilities). Then I frantically pulled out the vinyl album’s liner notes, incredulous that my beloved Billy would plagiarize. But there it was in black & white, something to the effect of “All music & lyrics by Billy Joel except chorus to ‘This Night’ by L.V. Beethoven.” Good job, Billy!

And speaking of Gordon and Billy, in the wake of Gordon’s death, Billy Joel posted a tribute and offered that he wrote his songs “You’re My Home” and “She’s Always A Women” trying to emulate the sound of Gordon Lightfoot. I can’t listen to these songs any longer without hearing Gordon’s voice singing them. I wish he would have covered them during his lifetime. It would have been cool.

Here’s Billy’s playing tribute to Gordon at a recent Madison Square Garden concert with Gord’s classic “Sundown.” He modulates his voice to sound a bit like the Canadian crooner:

Continuing to go down the rabbit hole, you again be the judge, does this Barbie song sound like Pink Floyd’s “The Trial”?

Barbie as the Princess & The Pauper with “How Can I Refuse”

Does this sound like The Trial to y’all? I remember how 15 years ago, when I was 7, I was telling my dad that the song he was playing in the car (The Trial) was from my Barbie movie and he was telling me no way it would be in a Barbie movie 😹 we then fought about it the entire ride lmao
by u/complejodedios in pinkfloyd

Now for Floyd song:

And for that matter, does “The Trial” sound like Jesus Christ Superstar’s “Pilate and Christ,” also a trial?

Here is the bonus playlist of Stolen and Sampled Songs for your listening pleasure. You be the judge of song similarities of the first portion of the playlist, the songs I have referred to listed at the very beginning, and then enjoy sampled songs as well to complete the playlist:

Now back from our trip to Wonderland to the theme of the blog – Roll songs. Here are some notable songs and videos:

“Shake, Rattle & Roll” – Bill Haley & The Comets, with such a great glimpse into the 50’s:

“Roll On” – Kid Rock, with some cool locales in the Music City, the home of Motown, his hometown Detroit:

“Like A Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan, back in the early days, a cool trip to the 60’s:

“Cover Of The Rolling Stone” – Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, while not my favorite Dr. Hook song, it was catchy and definitely got a fair amount of airplay in the 70’s, and you gotta love the attire:

“Rolling Stone” – Lainey Wilson. I can’t believe I saw her at the Beaufort Water Fest 2 years ago as the warm up to Rodney Atkins for like $20. Talk about a steal – both in price, and her stealing the show. Now she’s one of the hottest things in country:

So while Credence Clearwater Revival originated, and Tina Turner covered admirably, if not quintessentially, John Krasinski took “Proud Mary” to a new level.  If you haven’t seen John’s performance, this is a “must watch.”

So yet another rabbit hole. For those not familiar with John’s show “Lip Synch Battle,” here is one of the most outstanding performances from the show, Joseph Gordon Levitt with Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation”:

However, nothing can top Tom Holland’s performance, channeling Gene Kelly and Rihanna with “Singin’ In The Rain/Umbrella”:

So back to the playlist. There are some great “Roll” songs. I’m reserving “Rock & Roll” for a later blog, with several playlists of its own. Enjoy the music, roll on:

I hope that this music and my blog truly serve as a “revival: a new presentation of something old,” a springboard to return to the music of your youth, or perhaps to find artists you want to discover anew.  Rediscover the passion of music in your life.

Live in the moment.

Enjoy the moment.

Love the moment.

Listen to the MUSIC!

Get LUCKY – Luck & Lucky Songs

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On April 21, 2023

In Word Playlist

On April 21, 1962, Elvis Presley started a 2 week run at No. 1 on the US singles chart with “Good Luck Charm,” his fifth US No. 1 of the 60s, following 1960 hits “Stuck On You,” “Now Or Never,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” and “Surrender” in 1961. His 50s No. 1s included all from 1956 “Heartbreak Hotel,” “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog,” “Love Me Tender,” and in 1957 “Too Much,” “All Shook Up,” “Teddy Bear,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Don’t,” with 1958’s “Hard Headed Woman” and 1959’s “A Big Hunk O’ Love” rounding out the decade. His last but not least No. 1 was 1969’s “Suspicious Minds.”

Elvis’ song serves as the springboard for this week’s word themed playlist “Get Lucky,” songs containing the word Luck or Lucky. In addition to the Elvis No. 1 and the obvious nod to Daft Punk’s playlist title song, Lucky and Luck greats include Emerson Lake & Palmer’s “Lucky Man,” Jason Mraz and Colby Cailat’s “Lucky,” Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky,” Madonna’s “Lucky Star,” Paul McCartney’s “With A Little Luck,” Rod Stewart’s “Some Guys Have All The Luck.” My artistic license song is Dan Fogelberg’s “Hard To Say” which starts “Lucky in love, well maybe so…” – such a great entrance to a song.

Included is a thoroughly depressing song by John Lennon and Yoko Ono called “Luck Of The Irish,” tongue-in-cheek about the struggles of the Irish and Ireland. I felt it my duty to follow it with some more uplifting more traditional Irish “Luck Of The Irish” songs.  Some trivia regarding “Luck of the Irish” origins:

During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth. Over time this association of the Irish with mining fortunes led to the expression ‘luck of the Irish.’ Though some suspect it was actually an act of derision suggesting luck and not hard work and prowess was instrumental to their success. However today the phrase truly captures the sense of national pride of those of Irish heritage, as demonstrated by the sea of green at every St. Patricks Day celebration.

A few fun Lucky videos include:

Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat’s “Lucky. Interesingtly, Colbie auditioned unsuccessfully twice for “American Idol.”  They even rejected her rendition of her self-penned eventual massive hit “Bubbly.” Another huge miss was AI’s passing twice on Hillary Scott, who would go on to win 5 Grammys in 2011 alone, including record of the year, with Lady A(ntebellum). I guess Simon Cowell & Co. are not aways the best judge of musical greatness.

Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” previously reviewed in my March 11, 2023 blog “All About That Bass” demonstrating “Get Lucky’s” similarity to Chic’s “Good Times”:

An oldie but goodie from the Material Girl with “Lucky Star,” off her 1983 eponymous first album. Groundbreaking at the time, changing the musical landscape. She has evolved with the times over the years, reinventing herself, but perhaps no persona better than the original:

And if featuring one of my faves Amy Grant isn’t enough, any music video that has kids eating ice cream, having fun drawing with chalk, making “snow angels” in the sand at the beach, romping around in the water, and twirling and dancing in the sand is pretty great in my book:

Now on to the playlist:

I hope that this music and my blog truly serve as a “revival: a new presentation of something old,” a springboard to return to the music of your youth, or perhaps to find artists you want to discover anew.  Rediscover the passion of music in your life.

Live in the moment.

Enjoy the moment.

Love the moment.

Listen to the MUSIC!

Flute Thing – Pop & Rock Songs Featuring Flute

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On March 31, 2023

In Theme Playlist

Twelve years ago today, March 31, 2011, the Australian band Men At Work lost the appeal against a ruling that their now 40 year old 1983 hit song “Down Under” was plagiarized from the folk tune “Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.”  More than a baseless allegation, it’s an argument that appears beyond ridiculous.  You be the judge:

Men at Work Flautist Greg Ham, depressed and dejected in the wake of such accusations, no longer laughing in the old gum tree, died soon thereafter in 2012, perhaps of a broken heart.  Their song serves as a springboard for today’s playlist “Flute Thing – Pop & Rock Songs Featuring Flute.”  Speaking of copying, the Beastie Boys “Flute Loop,” borrows the flute line from Al Kooper’s playlist title song “Flute Thing.”  I suppose they credited the sampling, making it legal and acceptable.

So songs you know and love prominently featuring the flute include Firefall’s “You Are The Woman,” The Mamas & The Papas “California Dreamin’,” Canned Heat’s “Going Up The Country,” this video a cool glimpse into the early ‘70s:

The Beatles “The Fool On The Hill” and “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” The Rolling Stones “Ruby Tuesday,” Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See,” one of the best known flute intros to a popular song:

as well as their “Heard It In A Love Song” and “Fire On The Mountain,” and several songs by Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, Genesis, and Traffic.  Flute seems to have been a popular instrument among progressive rock bands of the ‘70s.

Other bands of the ‘70s explored the flute as well, including Heart with “Dreamboat Annie,” Eric Burdon’s “Spill The Wine,” The Association’s “Along Comes Mary,” The Guess Who’s “Undun,” and Manfred Man’s “The Mighty Quinn.”  Of note, another ‘70s song, Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” also appropriately on the list, also makes the list of songs with great piano solo, saxophone solo, flute work, and bass line, appearing on my playlists highlighting songs prominently featuring each of those instruments, making it in my humble opinion one of the most musically well-rounded songs ever recorded.

A few sleeper songs include Bob Seeger’s “Jody Girl,” such a beautiful song, and Cat Stevens “Katmandu.”  And for better or for worse, who can forget Van McCoy’s “The Hustle.”  I remember that song being played as a highlight, or perhaps lowlight of our sixth grade dance. And of course there’s this, one of the most epic flute solos to start a song (click hot link below):

On to the playlist:

I hope that this music and my blog truly serve as a “revival: a new presentation of something old,” a springboard to return to the music of your youth, or perhaps to find artists you want to discover anew.  Rediscover the passion of music in your life.

Live in the moment.

Enjoy the moment.

Love the moment.

Listen to the MUSIC!

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