Inspired by the December 31 birthdays of Donna Summer, The Replacements‘ Paul Westerberg, John Denver, The Guess Who’s Burton Cummings, Urge Overkill’s Nash Kato, Psy, and Sabrina Johnston.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-10-20)
Inspired by the October 10 birthdays of David Lee Roth, John Prine, Crystal Waters, Kirsty MacColl, Tanya Tucker, Mya, Ultravox’s Midge Ure, Ivory Joe Hunter, Oscar Brown Jr. and The Honeycombs’ Dennis D’Ell.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (8-20-20)
Inspired by the August 20 birthdays of Boogie Down Productions’ KRS-One, Isaac Hayes, John Hiatt, Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, The Knack’s Doug Fieger, Demi Lovato, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, Jim Reeves, Hawkwind’s Dave Brock, and Nikki Leonti.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-24-20)
Inspired by the May 24 birthdays of Bob Dylan, Patti LaBelle, Rosanne Cash, Tommy Chong, Heavy D, Cameo’s Larry Blackmon, Prince Buster, Mims, Little Nell and John C. Reilly.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-22-20)
Inspired by Earth Day and the April 22 birthdays of Glen Campbell, Ace/Mike + the Mechanics’ Paul Carrack, Peter Frampton, Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer, silverchair’s Daniel Johns, Larry Groce, Jack Nitzsche, Lipps Inc.’s Cynthia Johnson, UTFO’s Mix Master Ice, Moose Jackson and Eddie Albert.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-2-20)
Inspired by the April 2 birthdays of Marvin Gaye, Bananarama’s Keren Woodward, Migos’ Quavo, Emmylou Harris, Yung Joc, Eilert Pilarm and Leon Russell, and the passing of Cristina and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger.
Your (Almost)Daily Playlist (3-7-20)
Inspired by the March 7 birthdays of Ernie Isley, J. Geils Band’s Peter Wolf, Love’s Arthur Lee, Townes Van Zandt, and Taylor Dayne.
Throwback Thursday – 1975
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
You gotta get out while you’re young
New Jersey does not have an official state song. There have been attempts to adopt one since at least 1939, when the state’s Board of Education held a contest to find a suitable number. They named Samuel F. Monroe’s “The New Jersey Loyalty Song” as the contest’s winner, but it was not good enough to be the official state song.
In 1972, the state legislature proposed that Joseph “Red” Mascara’s “I’m from New Jersey” be the state’s song, but Governor William Cahill vetoed the measure, stating succinctly about the song “It stinks.”
In March of 1980, radio d.j. Carol Miller started a petition to have “Born to Run,” written and recorded by New Jersey’s favorite son, Bruce Springsteen, be named the state song. Three state assemblypersons drafted a resolution declaring “Born to Run” “as the unofficial *rock* theme of our State’s youth.” I’m confused to as to how an official resolution can name an “unofficial” theme, just as the state’s senate was confused as to how a song that includes the lyrics that open this post expresses pride in where one’s from. The bid died.
The song also includes these lyrics that tickle my friend Audrey so: Someday, girl, I don’t know when, we’re gonna get to that place where we really wanna go.
Oh, that place!
By the way, I got out of New Jersey when I was 24.
This week’s Throwback Thursday playlist spotlights some of the best tunes from 1975, kicking off with what is unofficially New Jersey’s unofficial state song, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.”
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Throwback Thursday – 1969
In 1968, songwriter Mark James, whose hit compositions include “Hooked on a Feeling” and “Always on My Mind,” was married to his first wife, but he still had feelings for his childhood sweetheart, who also was married. Said James, “My wife suspected I had those feelings, so it was a confusing time for me. I felt as though all three of us were all caught in this trap that we couldn’t walk out of.”
He recorded and released a song he wrote based on his situation, but it flopped.
A year later, producer Chips Moman brought the song to Elvis Presley. Elvis loved it and was confident he could make it a hit.
Elvis was acknowledged as the King of Rock and Roll. During the ten years from 1956 through 1965 he scored 33 top ten singles, including 17 #1s. Then he hit a relative dry spell, with no top tens in 1966, 1967 or 1968.
The King recorded Mark James’ song. It became Elvis’ first #1 single since “Good Luck Charm” in 1962. The song, “Suspicious Minds,” was Presley’s final #1 in the US. Between 1956 and 1969, Elvis spent 79 weeks at #1, more than any other act.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Suspicious Minds” at no. 91 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
This week, Tunes du Jour’s Throwback Thursday playlist spotlights twenty of the best singles of 1969, kicking off with Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds.”
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Throwback Thursday – The Hits Of 1977
An instrumental performed by then new Eagles member Don Felder was submitted to his bandmates Glenn Frey and Don Henley to add lyrics. The first working title the guys gave the song was “Mexican Reggae.”
Henley was determined to create the perfect song, spending eight months in the studio working on “Mexican Reggae,” which came to be called “Hotel California.” A lyric referring to the band Steely Dan was added (“They stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast”) after Steely Dan included the lyric “Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening” on their song “Everything You Did.”
In 2009, music critic John Soeder asked Don Henley about the lyric “So I called up the Captain / ‘Please bring me my wine’ / He said, ‘We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969’,” pointing out that wine isn’t a spirit, as wine is fermented whereas spirits are distilled. Soeder asked the singer/composer “Do you regret that lyric?” Henley replied “Believe me, I’ve consumed enough alcoholic beverages in my time to know how they are made and what the proper nomenclature is….My only regret would be having to explain it in detail to you, which would defeat the purpose of using literary devices in songwriting and lower the discussion to some silly and irrelevant argument about chemical processes.” Insert steely knife here!
This week for Throwback Thursday, Tunes du Jour listens to the hits of 1977, kicking off with Eagles’ “Hotel California.”
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