Month: January 2019

This Song inspired by …

randydafoeLeave a comment

This Song was inspired by …

“Everyday I Write the Book“, the words to this song according to Elvis Costello were written in 10 minutes. So I might guess there was about zero inspiration and about the same ‘perspiration’ that went into this song which somewhat ironically parallels writing and romance. Many great song writers have similar experiences where a song just ‘came to them’ but for the most part I think songs have some traceable origin, some spark or idea that triggered the imagination of the songwriter(s).
If you check Wikipedia for “songs by source” there are hundreds of links, there’s one about real life events, it has 184 pages (songs) alone. As to how many songs were written with a particular person in mind that’s a more difficult number to arrive at as many songwriters don’t divulge their ‘source’. I suspect if we knew, that number would make the 184 pages look like your average shopping list compared to say the ‘Lord of  the Rings‘.  Songs also get triggered by other songs, this in particular shows up in the music composition rather than the lyrics themselves, however many times in both and as I’ve blogged previously, this sometimes also ends in lawsuits.
The need to know the origin of songs and their meaning is a great pastime for many and obsession for some. People have speculated on the muse for many songs, “You’re so Vain” written and performed by Carly Simon comes to mind, “who is she writing about?” and “is it really about Warren Beatty?” Also “American Pie” by Don McLean which might actually have books written about it, google “the meaning of American Pie” and you get 207 million results!
In 2015 Simon revealed that yes, at least parts of the song refer to Beatty, so much for that sort of non-mystery, McLean who sold the manuscript for 1.2 million thinks most of the speculation is just plain stupid. At the other end you have songs like “Brian Wilson” (1992) written by Steven Page and performed by ‘The Barenaked Ladies’ or once again Don McLean, being quite unambiguous this time with “Vincent” (1972).  For my first attempt at this I’ll wander a bit on the origins of a few songs and will revisit this topic as I could blog this alone and never even scratch the surface. Whatever the motivation is; a date, time, place, catharsis, heartbreak, rage, love, lust, hate, tragedy, tribute, autobiographical, intentional, inadvertent or a subconscious thought, these songs and others are either quite obviously or maybe even just passively connected to one source or another. Analyzing the lyrics certainly gives the most tangible ‘food for thought’ when it comes to pondering most songs.

This example provides a bit of a segue into the topic, “The Jean Genie” written and performed by David Bowie (1972) was musically influenced by this song “La fille du père Noël” by Jacques Dutronc (1966). The name possibly from French writer Jean Genet,  and the lyrics contain obtuse references to the life of singer Vince Taylor (who wrote the song he’s singing in the clip). So influences do not have to be singular.

“True” by Spandau Ballet was apparently inspired by a crush Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp had on ‘Altered Images’ singer and ‘Gregory’s Girl’ star Clare Grogan. Here is a cover by Will.I.Am & Fergie from the movie “50 First Dates” soundtrack.

“Girl From The North Country” written by Bob Dylan was partly based on “Scarborough Fair” written by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

LCD Soundsystem’s “All I Want” is a tribute to Bowie’s ‘Heroes‘ album/song with some reminiscences of John Cale.

LCD Soundsystem

“Our House” written by Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) about a moment in time during his relationship with Joni Mitchell.

“Candle in the Wind” written by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. Most will know this 1973 song was about Marilyn Monroe, and was re-written in 1997 as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, Candle in the Wind (Goodbye England’s Rose).

“I Don’t Like Mondays” written by Bob Geldof and performed by the Boomtown Rats, written about the 1979 San Diego school shooting by sixteen year old Barbara Ann Spencer.

“Maybe I’m Amazed” written by Paul McCartney about his wife Linda. One of McCartneys finest love songs which means by default; it’s one of the best songs ever written.

“Back in the U.S.S.R.” written by Paul McCartney and performed by the Beatles (1968) from the “White Album”. With influences from Chuck Berry’s “Back in USA“, the Beach Boys sound and the original concept from the I’m Backing Britain patriotic campaign, somehow McCartney comes up with a tribute to the women in the Soviet Union.

“Someone like You” written by Adele Adkins and Dan Wilson is based on Adele’s first serious relationship break-up and his subsequent marriage to someone else. BTW I just listened to “Rolling in the Deep” check out the view count, approaching 1.5 billion omg, then someone noticed my blog was slightly smaller than a speck!

“The Edge Of Glory” written by Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga), Fernando Garibay and Paul Blair. The original inspiration for this song came from the death of Lady Gaga’s grandfather, apparently she felt the look on her grandmothers face was a reflection of a of glorious and well lived life. While as with many songs the origins may not always be played out in the song, it is interesting to see the thought process at work. Of note Clarence Clemons was flown in at the last minute to record a late night and early morning saxophone session. A great country cover from Amanda Hagel.

A playlist of all the videos.

References: https://secondhandsongs.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11881-lcd-soundsystem-all-i-want/
http://www.lifebuzz.com/song-inspirations/4/

If you like my blog, please consider filling in the follow by email link at the top right hand of the page. Remember to confirm the subscription when you get the first email. Confidentiality is assured unless you are a close friend or family member then all bets are off. While I can compile data from my blog it’s not tracking in terms of anyone’s identity. For past blog posts click on the menu at the top right corner. Pass it along to a friend who might enjoy it as well! And many thanks as always for reading my blog!

Chicago

randydafoeLeave a comment

Chicago

I talked about the beginnings of the rich Blues music scene in Chicago in the “Delta Blues Part 1” in a previous post. Chicago blues evolved from the style of play brought up from the Delta starting with Big Bill Broonzy and followed by many others including the great Muddy Waters. With more; electric guitar, amplification, harmonica and with city and urban related lyrics it became a sub-genre of the Blues referred to as “Electric Blues” and also with development in St Louis “Urban Blues”.

But Chicago is home to more than the Blues though I strongly suggest checking out ‘Buddy Guy’s Legends‘, been there, got the t-shirt. When I blogged Chuck Berry I made reference to his best music coming from Chicago and Chess Records, here is a sampling of some of the more well known artists to either come from Chicago or have their musical genesis there.

Sam Cooke, while born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1931, his family moved to Chicago in 1933 where he grew up. From his early days as a Gospel singer Cooke evolved into a songwriter and record producer. There are so many amazing songs from this beautiful voice and worthy of a blog on his own. “You Send Me” written and performed by Sam Cooke (1957) was his debut single that went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and the R&B charts. His influence extended well beyond the Chicago music scene as he pioneered the “Soul” music genre. A Sam Cooke playlist.

Kanye Omari West, like Cooke was not born in Chicago (June 8, 1977, Atlanta, Georgia). His parents divorced when he was three years old and his mother took him to live in Chicago. West became involved in the Chicago Rap music business as a writer and producer (actually sampling early soul performers such as Sam Cooke) before bursting on the scene with his own vocal releases such as “Gold Digger” written by Kanye West (Ray Charles and Renald Richard due to the sampling). The song hit #1 almost across the Board of virtually every chart and was nominated for a 2006 Grammy as ‘Record of the Year’ and won for ‘Best Rap Solo Performance’. The later being a bit odd as the song featured Jamie Foxx as a guest vocalist doing Ray Charles “I Got a Woman” which was used briefly in the movie ‘Ray’.

Not surprisingly the band ‘Chicago‘ was formed in Chicago. Their fist release was under the name ‘Chicago Transit Authority’ in 1969 with a double album, this aggressive start earned them a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and over one million in sales. This single from that first album remains one of their best songs “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” written by the lead vocalist on the song, Robert Lamm. Here is a playlist of their greatest hits.

Billy Corgan who was born in Chicago had the ‘Smashing Pumpkins’ in his mind when he returned to Chicago after a brief stint in Florida. He teamed up with another Chicago native James Iha and after a chance meeting and argument at a local club, D’arcy Wretzky was added to play bass and then drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.  After five years of recording they hit #1 with “1979” (1995) written by Billy Corgan.

The Band ‘Disturbed‘ was formed in Chicago, lead singer David Draiman lived in many places before attending high school there and later Loyola University.  I used his rendition of Simon and Garfunkels “The Sound Of Silence” in an earlier post which has an astounding 481 million views on YouTube. One of the most successful Metal bands to have been formed post 2000, their first big #1 hit was another cover a 1986 song from Genesis; “Land Of Confusion“(2006), written by Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil Collins.

Jennifer Hudson was born September 12, 1981 in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in Chicago and after home sickness brought her back from Langston University in Oklahoma, she attended Kennedy–King College. You likely know she was a contestant on American Idol in 2004 and was eliminated after the Top 7 round. In 2005 she landed a role in the movie “Dreamgirls” and the rest as they say is history. ” And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger, clearly one of the best vocalists in music today.

According to Wikipedia “The name “Chicago” is derived from a French rendering of the indigenous Miami-Illinois (Algonquin language) word shikaakwa for a wild relative of the onion, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum and known more commonly as ramps. (add a ‘c’ to the last word if you eat too many). The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as “Checagou” was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir. Henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild “garlic” grew abundantly in the area.
Now the fifth largest City in North America just behind Toronto at 2.7 million and a Metropolitan area of 9.5 million it’s known for finance, commerce, industry and transportation. It seems Chicago is moving up the ranks as one of the best big cities to live in the USA.

A good place to end is with a rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago” by the Blues Brothers (first recorded by the legend Robert Johnson in 1936). Best of luck to two of the most important people in my life 💕.

References: https://secondhandsongs.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you like my blog, please consider filling in the follow by email link at the top right hand of the page. Remember to confirm the subscription when you get the first email. Confidentiality is assured unless you are a close friend or family member then all bets are off. While I can compile data from my blog it’s not tracking in terms of anyone’s identity. For past blog posts click on the menu at the top right corner. Pass it along to a friend who might enjoy it as well! And many thanks as always for reading my blog!

From the Movies (Part 2)

randydafoeLeave a comment

From the Movies (Part 2)
I mentioned some great movie songs in Part 1, but there are so many more.
One of the best songs written for a movie is “Mrs. Robinson” composed by Paul Simon. I referenced this song in the Simon and Garfunkel post but it’s worth another mention.

 As I understand the story of this song Mike Nichols the Director of ‘The Graduate’ was obsessed with the music of Simon and Garfunkel and via Clive Davis, Simon was convinced (with a $25,000 cheque) to write three songs for his new movie. Apparently “Mrs. Roosevelt” was still in the early stages of development. When played for Nichols after he was unimpressed with the first two songs, the “dee de dee dee de dee dee dee” was just filler for words not yet written. Well he liked it so much the nonsense phrasing was kept and “Mrs. Robinson” was part of the Movie. It hit #1 in both Canada and U.S. in 1968 and won two Grammys; Record of the Year and Best Contemporary-Pop Performance – Vocal Duo or Group.
Here is Frank Sinatra jazzing it up! (1969)

The fact this next song was written for a movie came as news to me, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” written by Bob Dylan. I thought this was just a track from another Dylan album. But it’s the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, ‘Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid’, it was a bomb (apparently it’s not really that bad) so that may have something to do with the fact not many people have heard of it. However the producer Sam Peckinpah loved Dylan’s soundtrack so much he gave him a part in the movie, turns out this was the only good thing to come out of the project. This song has been covered about 130 times, most famously by Guns n’ Roses in 1987 at a live concert and in studio (1990). Eric Clapton (1975), Judy Mowatt (2002) with a reggae twist. Just a note on the perils of YouTube, this song has a posting viewed 24 million times and it is not Bob Dylan singing, in fact many of the top views pass themselves off as Dylan and indeed are not. I’ve encountered this several times with other videos; sometimes it’s the pictures as well that don’t match the artists they supposedly represent. Problem is when you google this stuff these incorrect versions pop-up, I’ve tried reporting them to Youtube but nothing gets changed, I just hope people aren’t getting paid for these stunts but I suspect some are. Just so you know I vet all my posts to make sure you are getting the correct song and artist.

“Footloose” written by Dean Pitchford and Kenny Loggins, performed by Kenny Loggins from the movie of the same name hit #1 in the US, Canada and South Africa in April of 1984. The movie was remade in 2011 and the song was done by Blake Shelton.

“Men in Black” performed by Will Smith and co-written with Patrice Rushen, Terri McFadden and Freddie Washington. This song won Smith a Grammy in 1998 and was a world-wide smash hit topping “airplay charts” as it was not actually released as a single. Covered only 5 times, Forever the Sickest Kids (2008).

“Purple Rain” written by Prince and performed by Prince and the Revolution, of course from the movie, the soundtrack album hit number one on album charts and top 5 singles charts around the world and sold in excess of 25 million copies.

It won a 1984 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, the album was nominated for Album of the Year and it also won for best Soundtrack. Purple Rain also won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score in 1985. First covered by Big Daddy in 1985. A live version from Bruce Springsteen (2016).

“Jailhouse Rock” written by the dynamic duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the movie starring Elvis Presley (1957). This song was supposed to be sung as a ‘tongue in cheek’ goofy song but Elvis delivered it as a straight up rock number. (I’m sorry to go ‘all-Elvis’ on you again but watch this video, was this guy amazing or what!)

With the meaning of these lines “Number forty-seven said to number three
‘You’re the cutest jailbird I ever did see’
I sure would be delighted with your company,
Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me” apparently lost on censors at the time as after all the setting was an all male prison. This song hit #1 on just about every chart in the US and topped the list in the UK and Canada. Covered well over 200 times by Conway Twitty (1961), Jeff Beck (1969), ZZ Top (1975), Queen live in Montreal (1981) released in 2007.

A playlist of all the videos. All past videos and  playlists are available on my YouTube channel.

References: https://secondhandsongs.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2012/04/the-20-best-songs-written.html, https://www.thisisinsider.com/best-movie-songs-2018-6,

If you like my blog, please consider filling in the ‘Subscribe’ link at the top right hand of the homepage. Remember to confirm the subscription when you get the first email. Confidentiality is assured unless you are a close friend or family member then all bets are off. While I can compile data from my blog it’s not tracking in terms of anyone’s identity. For past blog posts click on the menu at the top right and scroll down. Pass it along to a friend who might enjoy it as well! And many thanks as always for reading my blog!

From the Movies

randydafoeLeave a comment

From the Movies

It is amazing how many popular songs we listen too that have originated from a movie. These songs get covered so many times they can take on a life of their own, sometimes we don’t even know what movie the song came from let alone associate it with one to begin with. One such song I recently mention in ‘Banned Songs’ was “Baby it’s Cold Outside“. Here are some other songs written specifically for a movie (not just used in a movie soundtrack), these being such a great tune artists just had to make another version and sometimes into the many hundreds. I mentioned in an earlier blog the most covered song of all-time (perhaps minus some religious and Christmas songs) was “Summertime“, but it was actually from a play that was made into a movie so I’ll attempt to stick to the movie origins only.
The number one song in this category I have already referenced in an earlier post, that being “Over the Rainbow” written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg and performed of course by Judy Garland. Another near the top of the list recently came to my attention once again, through a version from Frank Ocean in which the blended tracks gives the impression of more than one singer. He lists this song as one of his favorites to cover, “Moon River” which he recorded in February of last year.

The original version is of course from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961) starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. “Moon River” sung by Hepburn in the movie is one of the most iconic scenes in film. Written for the movie by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, it was nearly cut from the film until Hepburn found out and was quoted as saying “not over my dead body” and possibly stronger language as well, so we know how that turned out. A song covered at least 549 times according to Secondhandsongs.com. Andy Williams used this as his signature song even though it was never released as a single.
Here is a playlist of more cover versions.

“When You Wish Upon a Star” Written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for the Disney Movie adaptation of Pinocchio. Performed by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket.  One of the best covers of any song, the amazing Louis Armstrong (1968). There are well over 350 versions of this iconic song so I will provide another playlist.

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which turns 50 years old this year. Performed by B.J. Thomas, the seventh take was the one chosen for the movie with Thomas’s touch of laryngitis being just what Bacharach and David were looking for!  Covered over 350 times the actual single released hit #1 on charts around the world was a non-laryngitis version from Thomas. Ray Stevens turned the initial song offer down but later recorded it in 1970. Dionne Warwick a longtime collaborator with Bacharach (1970).

A playlist of all the videos.

References: https://secondhandsongs.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you like my blog, please consider filling in the follow by email link at the top right hand of the margin. Remember to confirm the subscription when you get the first email. Confidentiality is assured unless you are a close friend or family member then all bets are off. While I can compile data from my blog it’s not tracking in terms of anyone’s identity. For past blog posts click on the menu at the top left corner. Pass it along to a friend who might enjoy it as well! And many thanks as always for reading my blog!

Country Covers of Classic Country Songs (Part 3)

randydafoeLeave a comment

Country Covers of Classic Country Songs (Part 3)

I’ve talked more than a bit about Hank Williams and there’s certainly much more to say, here is another great song that’s been covered over 120 times. “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You)” written by Hank Williams (1951). A great cover from Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez (2005). If you are wondering where the duet idea came from here is an old television clip Hank Williams & Anita Carter (1953).

There are many great versions of this song so I’ve put together a playlist which includes Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and a home recording from Elvis Presley.Read More »