On August 12, 1964 The Beatles made their Hollywood debut with the opening of their first feature film A Hard Day’s Night. Captured at the height of Beatlemania, the film opened to rave reviews and was a financial and critical success. It earned two Academy Award nominations and inspired countless films, TV shows, and eventually music videos. Two notable cameos in the movie are Patty Boyd playing a blonde schoolgirl on the train and Phil Collins playing a schoolboy watching the Beatles on TV. Patty eventually married George Harrison and subsequently having an affair with then marrying one of George’s best friends – Eric Clapton. She inspired the songs “Something,” “Layla,” and “Wonderful Tonight.” Collins of course became the drummer and eventual lead vocalist of the progressive rock band Genesis.
The song and movie provide the theme of this week’s music blog, songs featuring the word Days. Accompanying the playlist Glory DAYS is a country version These DAYS, the word Day in song is reserved for another day (no pun intended, lol 😂) and another blog.
Song greats in the list include The Beatles in the title song as well as “Eight Days A Week,” Springsteen’s “Glory Days,” Wang Chung’s “Dance Hall Days,” Chicago’s “Old Days,” the Carpenters “Rainy Days and Mondays,” The Goo Goo Doll’s “Better Days,” Lifehouse’s “Days Go By,” and Billy Joel’s “I’ve Loved These Days” along with his daughter Alexa Ray Joel’s “For All My Days” among many others.
Two songs use a little artistic license, in that they don’t contain the word Days in their title, but the word figures very prominently in the song. They are Bryan Adams “Summer of ’69” with the lyric “those were the best days of my life,” and John Lennon’s “Nobody Told Me” with the lyric “nobody told me there’d be days like these, strange days indeed.” I think they were more than worthy of inclusion.
The last 3 songs are various versions of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The first is a classic version with Frank Sinatra and the Andrews Sisters. If the second by John Denver featuring Miss Piggy and friends isn’t strange enough, be sure to give a listen to the version by Bob and Doug McKenzie of Strange Brew and the Great White North fame. definitely not your mother or grandmother’s crooner Christmas carol! 🤣
As you all know by now I tend to be quite the verbose blogger. But sometimes less is more. While it is hard to truly relate what shear fervor and Beatlemania, this video truly captures perhaps the singular most important sentinel moment in the history of rock.
So on to the playlists. First the rock and pop Days playlist:
And the country Days 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.
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.
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”
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.
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.
All Soul’s Day, also known as the Day of the Dead, observed on November 2nd by Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations, is a day of prayer and remembrance for the faithful departed. Tradition to remember deceased relatives and friends often center on prayers, alms, and visits to cemeteries.
It follows the Eve of All Saints Day/Halloween on October 31st and All Saints Day on November 1st. The English word “Halloween” is a Scottish derivation of “All Hallow’s Eve”, contracted to “Hallow-e’en”, with “even” the Scot term for “eve” or evening, shortened to “e’en.”
In addition to the Christian origins of the holiday, significant influence by Celtic harvest festivals, in particular the Gaelic festival Samhain, with pagan roots. The holiday progressed toward its more common customs and appearance in the US with the arrival of Irish and Scottish immigrants in the 19th century. Traditions from all of these sources have included dressing in black, dressing in costumes, visiting and remembering the dead, jack-o-lanterns to frighten off evil spirits, imagery of ghosts, ghouls, and other spooks, as well as traveling for treats, and eventually tricks.
Thus souls figure prominent on both Halloween October 31st, and All Souls Day November 2nd. Today’s playlist “All About SOUL” is a tribute to songs featuring Soul in their title. Some great songs include Billy Joel’s playlist titles song, as “Soul Man,” “Soul Kitchen,” “Soul Provider,” “Soul Cages,” “Hey, Soul Sister,” “Beautiful Soul,” “Satisfy My Soul,” and “Heart And Soul,” of which there are several unique songs, including the Contours/Jan & Dean, Huey Lewis, T’Pau’s. And Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music” references several artists on the list, including Lou Rawls, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown.
Watching this performance of Billy Joel’s “All About Soul” I am reminded what a great live performer he is. Not even at the piano on this song, he still can hold an audience and entertain – so great!
From SNL, the Blues Brothers with their version of Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man.” Rewatching this performance I continue to be amazed by their talent and stage presence. They weren’t just actors, but talented musicians and performers. Its a shame John Belushi passed so young.
Huey Lewis might be one of my musical heroes, in that he scored a perfect 800 on his math SATs, hitchhiked from San Francisco to NYC, stowed away on a plane to Scotland, became an accomplished blues player in Madrid, where he busked to earn enough money to purchase a flight back to the states, where he enrolled at Cornell University. He subsequently dropped out his junior year to pursue music, made several album appearance playing harmonica, with the likes of Thin Lizzy, Nick Lowe, and Dave Edmunds, on his way to becoming a pop success in the mid-80s. Here he is with one of his three top 10 hits (along with “I Want A New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” and “If This Is It”) “Heart And Soul”:
Soul Train aired for 35 years, from 1971 to 2006, featuring performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. Dancers were sometimes stars, or sometimes became stars, including over the years Rosie Perez, Carmen Electra, Nick Cannon, Vivica Fox, Jody Watley, Pebbles, MC Hammer, And Walter Payton. The theme song evolved and changed over the years, but was always an entertainment spectacle:
“Soul Provider” – Michael Bolton was so popular in the late ’80s:
“Hey, Soul Sister,” one of my two favorite Train songs, along with “Drops of Jupiter” – so good:
And now for the playlist. I think it will speak to your soul 😉
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.
