Tag Archives: pop

Let It Be Me: The Everly Brothers

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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

Turn The Radio On

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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

“When You Believe In Things You Don’t Understand, Then You Suffer”

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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

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered

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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

Africa: Toto

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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

At Seventeen: Janis Ian

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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

Only The Lonely: Roy Orbison…& Friends

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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

Fast Car

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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

“Jimmy Mack, You Better Hurry Back”: Martha And The Vandellas

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Monday Morning, Martha and the Vandellas put out the call.

Why Berry Gordy named the group The Vandellas seems to be a mystery, but they charted 26 hits in just nine years.

Thanks to YouTuber SuperCanopus

Kissing Other People

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I was at a dance theatre concert the other day, and this was one of the songs they danced to in the program. I thought it was a cute pop song, and the accompanying official video by Lennon Stella even more cute.

More at Lennon Stella

“I Wonder How Your Engine Feels”

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Monday morning, Josh Turner and his mucho-talented friends steal a lesser-known Simon and Garfunkel song, “Baby Driver,” and joyride.

Keyboard – Adam Saxe, Vocal – Taylor Bloom, Vocal – Ben Cooley (with the grey hat), Guitar – Josh Turner, Bass – Marc Encabo, Percussion – Bob Sale

More at Josh Turner Guitar

Ooh Baby Baby

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Monday morning, loosen your tie with the man, besides Berry Gordy,  most responsible for the success of Motown, the brilliant singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson.

Gotta love the swivel 1.0 choreography for the Miracles, too.

Thanks to Youtuber QuentinCoxBOI