Tag Archives: songwriting

525,600 Minutes

12 Tuesday Jun 2018

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students sing “Seasons of Love” from the play Rent.

It gave me the chills watching it.

Thanks to YouTuber CBS

A World Without Love

11 Monday Jun 2018

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Monday morning, Peter and Gordon’s 1964 terms of endearment are seconded by the Austrian MonaLisa Twins.

The song was written by Paul McCartney, who was dating Jane Asher, Peter’s sister.

More MonaLisa Twins at MonaLisa Twins

 

‘Taint Nobody’s Bizness If I Do: Jimmy Rushing

04 Monday Jun 2018

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Monday morning, Jimmy Rushing’s upbeat version of a song more usually associated with Bessie Smith, Jimmie Witherspoon, and Billie Holiday.

Thanks to YouTuber K Lou

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

28 Monday May 2018

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Monday morning, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart’s band, Eurythmics, with their world-beating song. According to Ever-Reliable Wikipedia, Lennox claimed “The lyrics reflected the unhappy time after the break up of [their former band] The Tourists…’Sweet dreams are made of this’ is basically me saying: ‘Look at the state of us. How can it get worse? I was feeling very vulnerable. The song was an expression of how I felt: hopeless and nihilistic.’ Stewart however thought the lyrics too depressing, and added the ‘hold your head up, moving on’ line to make it more uplifting.

“Lennox also said that people had misinterpreted lines like ‘Some of them want to use you … some of them want to be abused’ to be about sex or S&M when that was not the intent.”

Thanks to YouTuber Adriano Celentano

Rainy Days And Mondays

21 Monday May 2018

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In 1972, while visiting California, a friend of a friend got me into an A&M recording session. The singer in the studio was Paul Williams who was primarily known at the time as a songwriter for other singers, notably The Carpenters. They had just had a big hit with one of his songs, so Williams decided to record an album of his own version of his songs. This was the song he was working on the day I visited. It’s a perfect Monday song.

Thanks to YouTuber  marvin santiago

I’ll Be Back–Again

14 Monday May 2018

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Monday morning, The Austrian MonaLisa Twins again with a very good cover of The Beatles’ “I’ll Be Back.”

I always liked this song because it seemed to be structured differently from a lot of the pop songs of the time. There was a haunting quality to it as well. I never had enough musical knowledge to understand what was really going on, but these paragraphs from Wikipedia made it clear:

“Unusually for a pop song it oscillates between major and minor keys; it appears to have two different bridges and lacks a chorus. The fade-out ending also arrives unexpectedly, being a half stanza premature.[3]

The metric structure also is unusual. The verse is in 6-measure phrases in 4/4 time. The first and third bridges have a four-measure phrase in 4/4 followed by a phrase with 2 measures of 4/4 and one of 2/4; the second bridge has a 4-measure phrase followed by 5 measures of 4/4 and one of 2/4.”

More MonaLisa Twins at MonaLisa Twins

Good Vibrations

30 Monday Apr 2018

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Monday morning, the theremin calls, and you’re swept into one of the most innovative and influential popular rock songs of the 60s.

Carl Wilson on lead vocals. The song was produced by the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson from countless short pieces of tape, and many session musicians were used as well.

There’s an excellent description of the song’s history, as well as a musical deconstruction, and how the song changed the history of the pop single, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Vibrations

Thanks to YouTuber tabouriefilms

Ya Got Trouble!

23 Monday Apr 2018

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Monday, Professor Harold Hill, as incarnated by the unmatchable Robert Preston,  both creates and solves a pressing need, in the manner of flim-flam men and politicians everywhere.

“River City ain’t in no trouble…”

“Then we’re going to have to create some—we must create a desperate need in your town.”

Thanks to YouTuber BravoDivine

“Even My Old Man Looks…Good”

16 Monday Apr 2018

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Monday, I had Friday on my mind.

The Australian Easybeats’, with their hit 1966 pop song that had something extra-Kinksish about it.

Got to love the energetic joyous performances.

Thanks to YouTuber рлин Вълчев

I Never Cared For You

12 Thursday Apr 2018

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Willie Nelson, with his beloved guitar, Trigger; Emmylou Harris assisting on vocals; and Willie’s sister, Bobbi, on keyboard. The poignant lyrics are by Mr. Nelson.

More Willie Nelson at WillieNelsonVEVO

Hang on Sloopy

12 Monday Mar 2018

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Monday morning The McCoys urge Sloopy to hang on.

The woman in the video is Liz Brewer who was once married to the lead singer of the McCoys, Rick Derringer.

Who was Sloopy? So far I’ve tracked down four stories:

  1. One of the credited co-writers claims that he wrote the song while in Cuba, and any attractive women there would be called a Sloopy.
  2. Sloopy was the nickname of jazz singer Dorothy Sloop who was a girlfriend of one of the writers.
  3. Jean Sloop was the name of an Ohio waitress who claims to be the inspiration.
  4. A businessman in St. Louis claimed that when he was just a kid in high school he wrote the song and sold it on the cheap to the credited writers. Rick Derringer seems to most believe this story—but he still doesn’t know why the high school kid used the name Sloopy.

Thanks to YouTuber TransatlanticMoments

Hard Work

05 Monday Mar 2018

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The alarm clock rings Monday, and you’re ready to tote that barge, lift that bale.  John Handy’s 1976 surprise hit jazz recording in its original longer album version.

  • John Handy – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, vocals
  • Hotep Cecil Barnard – keyboards
  • Mike Hoffmann – guitar
  • Chuck Rainey – electric bass
  • James Gadson – drums
  • Eddie “Bongo” Brown – congas, percussion

Thanks to YouTuber Marc Leroy

God Only Knows

29 Monday Jan 2018

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Monday morning, giving thanks: Brian Wilson’s beautiful song.

Covered by the Austrian MonaLisa Twins, who really are; with Dad, Rudolph Wagner, on bass.

More MonaLisa Twins at MonaLisa Twins

 

“Everybody Is Everybody Else”

25 Thursday Jan 2018

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More than the great subway settings and the heartfelt sentiments, this Roy Zimmerman tune is probably the only song you’ll hear today that uses the word Weltschmerz. (For those like me, who had to look it up, ever-reliable Wikipedia tells us that Weltschmerz means “world-weariness, the kind of feeling experienced by someone who believes that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind.)

More Roy at RoyZimmerman

Life After Love?

22 Monday Jan 2018

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Okay, Monday morning, granted that maybe you have the Bob Mackie gowns hanging in your wardrobe, like Cher; and granted that maybe you have the glam wigs sitting on your dresser, like Cher; and granted, too, that maybe you even have the adoring audience, like Cher; but what you don’t have, Buddy, that Cher has, is the set of freakin’ dancers, bouncing insanely above you, suspended on bungee cords.

Cher with the first ever auto-tuned hit.

Thanks to YouTuber CherLiveInConcert