Inspired by the May 21 birthdays of Ronald Isley, The Notorious B.I.G., Sugababes’ Mutya Buena, Carl Carlton, Leo Sayer, Justice’s Gaspard Augé, Fats Waller, Marcie Blane and Anjulie.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-9-20)
Inspired by the passing of Little Richard and the May 9 birthdays of Ghostface Killah, Sam & Dave’s Dave Prater, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Billy Joel, Andrew W.K., Hank Snow, The Housemartins/The Beautiful South’s Paul Heaton, The Crickets’ Sonny Curtis, The Ventures’ Nokie Edwards, Cyrkle’s Don Dannemann, Clint Holmes and Tommy Roe.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (4-12-20)
Inspired by the April 12 birthdays of David Cassidy, Saint Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell, Herbie Hancock, Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, Steppenwolf’s John Kay, Mellow Man Ace, Everclear’s Art Alexakis, Pat Travers, Tiny Tim, Hot Butter’s Stan Free and Get Wet’s Sherri Beachfront.
Your (Almost)Daily Playlist (2-11-20)
Today’s playlist is inspired by the February 11 birthdays of Sheryl Crow, D’Angelo, First Choice’s Rochelle Fleming, Gene Vincent, Brandy, Sergio Mendes, Bobby Pickett, Leon Haywood, City Girls’ Yung Miami, and Gerry Goffin (former songwriting partner and husband of Carole King).
20 Duets
Duets. Twenty of ’em.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Throwback Thursday – 1994
Some years ago I played Beck’s “Loser” for my 94-year-old grandfather. He didn’t care for the lyrics. “I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?”
“That’s why so many young people commit suicide,” he argued.
Hearing “Loser” and the rest of Beck’s major label debut album, Mellow Gold, didn’t make me want to kill myself. Quite the opposite. He brought and continues to bring so much joy into my life.
Beck’s “Loser” kicks off this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist, spotlighting the year 1994.
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A Mothers Day Playlist
It’s Mothers Day weekend. Today’s playlist consists of songs about mothers. Not mothers like Shaft, a bad mother shut-your-mouth. Real mothers.
Happy Mothers Day!
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50 Songs Named After Real People
Today is the birthday of two music icons – Jam-Master Jay of rap pioneers Run-D.M.C. and disc jockey Wolfman Jack. Besides their place in their history of rock and roll, both men have another thing in common – they were the subjects of songs. That inspired me to put together today’s playlist – songs named after real people.
I found fifty songs whose titles are actual people. Actually I found more than fifty, but I didn’t want to subject you to Chiddy Bang or Mac Miller. I made a few rules for myself:
1) The title can’t have words besides the person’s name, hence no Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” or Sleater-Kinney’s “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.”
2) The title has to be the full name the person is known by, so no “Springsteen” by Eric Church or “Jessica” (about Jessica Simpson) by Adam Green. Allowed are “Galileo,” “Joan of Arc” and “King Tut,” as that is how most people identify Galileo Galilei, Joan d’Arc and Tutankhamun.
3) The song doesn’t have to be about the person after whom it is titled, so “Jack the Ripper” and “Rosa Parks” are in.
4) The track has to be on Spotify. This means I left out Bob Dylan’s “George Jackson” and Hoodie Allen’s “James Franco.”
Amazingly for a playlist based on such a goofy concept, it holds together quite well, if I say so myself.
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Your Day Of Happiness Soundtrack
Today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness. Our soundtrack kicks off with The Turtles’ “Happy Together.”
Ironically, this is not a happy song.
Written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon, the song is about a one-way love affair. The singer imagines being with the girl to whom he’s singing. He’s in love with her and thinks if they were to be together the skies would be blue. He imagines how the world would be – so very fine – if they were a couple.
She doesn’t feel the same way. When this sinks in to our narrator, he makes small talk. “So how is the weather?” he asks, alternating that line with his repeated sentiment that they would be so happy together.
The song opens on a minor chord, which has a more melancholy sound than a major chord. The chorus – “I can’t see me loving nobody but you for all my life” – opens with a major chord, and the instrumentation is appropriately louder and joyous, the celebratory sound matching his feelings of ecstasy as he imagines his fantasy life with this woman.
For younger folks reading this, there used to exist public phones where one could insert a dime to make a three-minute long local call, hence the lyric “If I should call you up, invest a dime.” If the song were written today, this verse may go “If I should call you up, use up minutes from my cell phone plan / And you say you belong to me, I am your man / Imagine how the world could be, I’m hungry for flan.” Not as strong. Now I’m hungry for flan.
The Turtles recorded “Happy Together” in January 1967. Two months later it knocked The Beatles’ “Penny Lane” out of the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on top for three weeks.
Enjoy your Day of Happiness. May all your loves be requited loves.
An Atheist Jew’s Guide To Christmas Music, Part 3
You may have heard that last week on Fox Megyn Kelly said the real title of the song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” is “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and He’s White and Just Because It Makes You Feel Uncomfortable Doesn’t Mean It Has To Change.” She also said “Here Comes Santa Claus” is actually “Here Comes Santa Claus and He’s White and Just Because It Makes You Feel Uncomfortable Doesn’t Mean It Has To Change.” She was fine with “White Christmas.”
Kelly, who is white and just because that makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change, will enjoy today’s playlist. It’s part 3 of An Atheist Jew’s Guide to Christmas Music. (Click to listen to parts 1 and 2.) She may take issue with an atheist Jew selecting Christmas songs, but she’ll be happy I’m white, just like Santa and Jesus and Frosty and Rudolph. Artists on today’s playlist include such great white folks as Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, James Brown, The Jackson 5, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Rufus Wainwright, The Supremes, Eagles, Whitney Houston, The Temptations, Paul Simon, Pearl Jam, Boy George, Elvis Presley and Joan Jett, among others. There are classic songs and some you may not have heard before. I doubt Kelly is familiar with Pansy Division’s “Homo Christmas” and she may not like what the band suggests one does with a candy cane, but just because that makes her feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change. Besides, Pansy Division is white, just like everyone is at Christmas time.
Enjoy! May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white with a capital W.