Sung by the exquisite Carmen McRae. The don’t-make-em-like-that-anymore music and lyrics are by Richard Whiting and George Marion Jr.
Richard Whiting was the father of singer Margaret Whiting and also the composer of “Hooray for Holywood” and “She’s Funny That Way.”
Thanks to WBAI’s Reggie Johnson for a great two hour radio special on Carmen McRae where I first heard these songs.
More at Carmen McRae – Topic
Reina Del Cid, Toni Lindgren, Josh Turner and Carson McKee creating their own magic with this ELO cover.
More at Reina del Cid
Monday morning, waking up in a new place with The Mamas & The Papas
Thanks to YouTuber TheFreddyShow
From the falsetto seventies, this Philly sound inspired R&B record was a million-seller hit. It’s Ted Mills who is the lead singer hitting those high notes..
Thanks to YouTuber WillFareed63
Monday morning, Dino Crocetti, aka Dean Martin, slips into something comfortable.
Thanks to YouTuber VintageComedyClips
Monday morning, Brooklyn’s own The Five Discs with John Carbone on lead. While they never had any big commercial successes, this once inter-racial group was recognized by other Doo-Woopers as one of the great purveyors of that kind of song.
Thanks to YouTuber PJDooWop
It was a “rilly biggg shoo” when Ms. Francis, and Mr. Darin sung together on Mr. Sullivan’s stage
Thanks to YouTuber The Ed Sullivan Show
A great McCartney ballad from the Revolver album.
Even John liked it.
Thanks to YouTuber CONDROTUM
Rolling Stone magazine named them the Greatest singing duo ever. They influenced everyone from the Beatles to Simon and Garfunkel. Phil and Don Everly, brothers whose artistic and business partnership was famously contentious, make some of the most beautiful harmonies ever in pop music.
They called “Let It Be Me” the most beautiful song they had ever recorded.
Click on the image to play.
Thanks to YouTuber Orvil Morris
Monday Morning, Chan Poling’s band, The Suburbs.
It’s a catchy song, but on reading about it, I found Chan dedicated the song to the memory of his deceased wife, Eleanor, the daughter of Walter Mondale, who died at 51.
Click on the image to play.
Thanks to YouTuber MN Original
Monday morning, Stevie Wonder at the age of 22 killing it on Sesame Street, of all places, with “Superstition.” Still great.
Click on the image to play.
“Superstition”
Very superstitious, writings on the wall,
Very superstitious, ladders ’bout to fall,
Thirteen-months-old baby broke the lookin’ glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don’t understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain’t the way
Very superstitious, wash your face and hands,
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can,
Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin’ strong,
You don’t wanna save me, sad is my song
When you believe in things that you don’t understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain’t the way, yeah, yeah
Very superstitious, nothin’ more to say,
Very superstitious, the devil’s on his way,
Thirteen-months-old baby broke the lookin’ glass,
Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don’t understand,
Then you suffer, superstition ain’t the way, no, no, no
Thanks to YouTuber Ryan’s Smashing Life
With the madness of the last week it’s nice to just relax and give oneself up to an artist who is totally in control of her talent.
Lady Gaga sings a jazz/pop version of the Rodgers and Hart standard that promises a lot and delivers a lot.
She sang this often on her 2015 tour, and if you look on YouTube, you can see that in every performance the vocal arrangement is different, she’s clothed in a different costume and wig, and yet every performance is right on the money. Really a rare talent.
Click on the image to listen.
Thanks to YouTuber Lucs Said
Monday morning after sifting through literally dozens of versions, band configurations, and covers, we settle on this 2013 version of the 1981 Toto song.
Dave Paich: lead vocals, keyboards and writer
Simon Phillips: drums
Nathan East: bass
Steve Lukather: lead guitar
And because here at Shalblog Industries® we use every part of the buffalo, expect more versions of it posted this week.
Thanks to YouTuber MADIM67
Monday morning, a song for misfits.
At the time, 1975, the song was a highly unlikely candidate for a pop hit. It may have been the first pop song for young women of high school age that wasn’t for the cheerleaders. It might be hard to recall now, in the age of Glee, but songs examining the inner lives of high school students who saw themselves as social outcasts were not, at the time, the common fare. Millions of young women saw themselves in the lyrics of the song, and suddenly the singer/songwriter, Janis Ian, who at age 14 had had a qualified (and often censored) hit with her song of interracial love, “Society’s Child,” was overnight an international star.
The clip above seems so raw, true, and natural that you might think it was just an amateur effort turned lucky. But Ian by that time had already had seven albums of music released and was an accomplished songwriter. It was the one time, though, she said, that she had penned a song and told her manager that she had just written a hit.
Thanks to YouTuber LittleMonster13100
Monday morning the Shirelles pop the question in the Carole King-penned pop hit.
Thanks to YouTuber Mp3SuperSound
Monday morning, Allison Young, a wonderful singer, joins Josh Turner for “Autumn in New York,” in a version you can enjoy in any season.
More at Allison Young
I can’t say I’m a huge Elton John fan, but this is one of my favorite of his–or anybody’s–songs.
Thanks to YouTuber The Dude
The Moody Blues did a great version of this song as well in 1964, but I prefer this original, with the soulful Bessie Banks, written by her husband Larry Banks.
Thanks to YouTuber Steven Michael Bogarat
The list of singers who were influenced by Roy Orbison is long. Some of those artists join him onstage here: Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, and Bonnie Raitt.
More at RoyOrbison
Peggy Lee makes time-appropriate promises we hope she can keep.
Written by Ms. Lee.
Thanks to YouTuber skorecki7
And you may notice Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, kd lang, and Bonnie Raitt accompanying.
More at RoyOrbison
Tracy Chapman was an unlikely singer/songwriter to chart in the top 10 in 1988, but there was something so pure, authentic, and truthful in her singing that this song resonated with many and, improbably, became a hit.
Thanks to YouTuber Folk & Country on MV
Monday morning, Linda Ronstadt, in the prime of her career, with Tracks of My Tears, yet another great Smokey Robinson penned song.
More at Linda Ronstadt
