TSotD (The Song of the Day) » Blues

Could this be my new most favorite band I only *just* heard for the first time. Yes it could. Yes… it… could. I've listened to three songs, once each, and liked all three. A good omen.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Indie Folk

Click here for more info on Angus & Julia Stone – Down The Way – "Big Jet Plane".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Angus & Julia Stone - Down The Way

Etta James – "At Last" (1961)

TSotD — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:00:17 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVI254QGSQ4

I dedicate this song to G. As G might say, Etta James is "romantical". "A Sunday Kind of Love" (which was the song of the day a year ago) is kinda-sorta "our song", but "At Last" is a runner up for sure.

Why today? Today is our wedding anniversary. We had decided on the Summer Solstice to be the day, so June 20th it is, when the day is longest, the trees are flush with new leaves, the oppressive heat of summer has yet to come (usually), and if we're lucky the fire flies are just making their first appearances and the black raspberries are just ready to be picked. (June is one of my favorite months of the year).

The funny thing about our anniversary this year is I am not sure if G realizes it is today. I know she knows it is coming soon, but she keeps referring to me going off to do Father's Day things with my family, on my own. I wanted to surprise her with dinner plans, presents, etc. so I played along. I don't know if she is just playing dumb and seeing if I will forget OR maybe she has secret plans OR maybe she has actually forgotten herself, even though a week ago we both stood in the kitchen and remarked that Father's Day falls on our anniversary. I guess I'll find out later!

Right now I'm going to sneak out to get her favorite breakfast, which many would probably find disgusting, the "McGriddle" from McDonalds. Whenever she eats, she likes to mix all the flavors on her plate together so she can experience the whole meal in a single bite. The McGriddle is the same idea but in a hand held breakfast sandwich form. She is too funny!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Soul

Click here for more info on Etta James – At Last! – "At Last".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Etta James - At Last!

George Thorogood and The Destroyers – "I Drink Alone" (1985)

TSotD — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:36:34 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXMAOgEIq4

G's away, off to play,
so I'll be drinking alone, sitting…waiting by the phone.
Time for some blues to wash it all down. No energy to walk about town.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Blues

Click here for more info on George Thorogood and The Destroyers – Maverick – "I Drink Alone".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

George Thorogood and The Destroyers - Maverick

Leonard Cohen – "Everybody Knows" (1988)

TSotD — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:35:59 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q63plx5NClI

I heard a Leonard Cohen song in a coffee shop on the radio today. I thought I knew it and could find it with ease, but no. After listening to several I must give up and go with one I know. Actually I hope everybody knows this one!

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Folk Rock

Click here for more info on Leonard Cohen – I'm Your Man – "Everybody Knows".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man

Elvis Presley – "Blue Christmas" (1957)

TSotD — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:29:28 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUyuGFoiWJ0

I tried to put up some more decorations tonight but I am feeling a bit down. G is out and about and I am tired from work. I think I have a little cold or something, so I just don't see the point of it tonight. It is snowing, but what fun is the snow when you have no one to share it with? It is a blue pre-Christmas night for sure.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Christmas

Click here for more info on Elvis Presley – Elvis' Christmas Album – "Blue Christmas".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Elvis Presley - Elvis' Christmas Album

Bob Dylan – "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964)

TSotD — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:26:41 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEzoH_wLpmM

I know the times have been "a-changin'" my whole life, but for the past few years it seemed more noticeable. Perhaps it is because my life is not changing so much lately. G and I have settled down a bit in our house and our town, but the rest of the world is truckin' on with the changin'. It is an odd sensation though. Sometimes I feel a bit stuck in time.

The cultural changes are tough to keep up on. They always have been. You stop paying attention too long and poof you realize you're wearing something that is so out of date you look bad (and not in a good way). Or you say something that is no longer politically correct or deemed inappropriate. Or you hear about something that everyone else knows about but you have no clue. Getting older sucks, yet I can't say I was ever on top of it all anyway.

Then to make "the changin'" worse, I see a lot of global trends that are changing in the wrong directions. e.g. pollution, population, over consumption (of energy especially), etc. I've felt that way this entire decade. Humanity generally has its head stuck up its ass and there will be a dramatic wake up call eventually. I'm sure of it. Bigger than 9-11. Bigger than Katrina. Bigger than the recession. Bigger than all of that.

I'll keep watching the changing the best I can, but I'm definitely going to take a break from time to time to listen to some classics. If there is one thing that is certain, it is change.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Folk Rock

Click here for more info on Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin' – "The Times They Are A-Changin'".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'

Bill Withers – "Lean on Me" (1972)

TSotD — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:43:59 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p-uKLF-gNQ

I went to my yoga class this morning, and I finally think I felt my mind and body were quiet and I did not need to struggle to keep them quiet. So frequently I have been unable to stop the flurry of things I should be doing, concerns, hopes, and fears from flying through my thoughts even when in "Tadasana" in the stillness of a morning yoga class. Today it was no issue. All was quiet.

On the way home I was thinking about how I use to just do yoga at home and it was good, but never quite as satisfying. I use to resist the assistance of others, in yoga and in most things, but I have accepted that sometimes I need help to get where I want to go. My yoga class is just one example. I started humming this classic, "Lean on Me" as I walked home. If we all lean on each other, then we become a forest, right?

(OMG, yoga… Tadasana… forests… perhaps I am a hippie… an intellectual hippie though. Oh and I shower daily, so there!)

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Soul

Click here for more info on Bill Withers – Still Bill – "Lean on Me".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Bill Withers - Still Bill

Joe Cocker – "With A Little Help From My Friends" (1969)

TSotD — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:14:03 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJWxPE8G2c

I had a little help from my friends on this one when they pointed it out to me last night. The video above is of Joe Cocker's well known performance at Woodstock in 1969. What is different about the video above from the original live recording is someone has added lyrics matching what it sounds like Joe is singing. e.g. A couple lines are…

Oh baby, hoggify
All I need is my butt and I

Too funny!

You can listen to the original recorded album version, where Joe has a little bit more diction, here:

http://www.imeem.com/joecocker/music/k-lrf97r/joe-cocker-with-a-little-help-from-my-friends/

I'd like to also point out that although Joe Cocker's rendition is famous, the song was originally written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released on The Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Joe's cover is good, but so is the original. It is difficult to say which one I like more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmOtWyjs8iU

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Blues-Rock

Click here for more info on Joe Cocker – With a Little Help from My Friends – "With a Little Help from My Friends".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Joe Cocker - With a Little Help from My Friends

Etta James – "A Sunday Kind of Love" (1961)

TSotD — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:59:07 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=07DNiPodVdc

I dedicate this song to G for 3459 days together.

…who, by the way, got me this sweet new iPod Nano 4G (AKA 4th Generation for you non-iPod users out there) after my 1G's battery bit the dust and replacing the battery appeared to be unlikely. G is so sweet to me!

My Hot New Green iPod Nano 4G with 16GB

Also, although Etta James covered this song, originally written in 1946 by Barbara Belle, Anita Leonard, Louis Prima, and Stan Rhodes, this version is the one to know and love, just like G.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

I also suggest the music genre:

Soul

Click here for more info on Etta James – At Last! – "A Sunday Kind of Love".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

Etta James - At Last!

The Rolling Stones – "Paint It Black" (1966)

TSotD — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:56:42 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BhHTA6Gzn0

It is funny how such an influential band can sound so tame today. It is also odd to me to listen to The Rolling Stones at all because I really haven't done it all that much. They just aren't as interesting to me as they seem to be to many others. I don't know why, so today I was listening through a couple of their albums to try to understand. This song has got to be my favorite by them and I do like it A LOT.

I'm sure part of the problem is I have like 3 albums and they have released like 5,000,000 at this point. Okay… so 25 albums. Still. I need a "best of" or perhaps some suggestions or something. I feel like I must be missing out because they are so revered and loved… so undeniably influential, and yet I feel like "eh, sure… I like a couple songs". Or are they overrated? Thoughts? Anyone?

PS: Perhaps my ambivalence is because I am sick today (which is also the reason this post is coming out in the late afternoon instead of first thing in the morning and why I have yet to post my Album of the Week).

Click here for more info on The Rolling Stones – Aftermath – "Paint It Black".

The MP3 may be purchased here…

The Rolling Stones - Aftermath