Category Archives: Songs

Songs

H. B., Taj Mahal

19 Comments

Today is the 71st birthday of the incomparable American musician Taj Mahal.

Henry St. Claire Fredericks was born in Harlem and raised in Springfield Massachusetts, but his world turned out to be much larger than that. The wide-ranging career he has had as Taj Mahal is clear evidence that there is much to be gained by indulging a curious mind – he’s an accomplished artist and a world music scholar. The skill he exhibits today is a testament to the many influences he has absorbed along the way.

Taj Mahal drew inspiration from his father’s record collection, his stepfather’s guitar, and his neighbor’s style, just to name three things that went into the mix.

He’s also a man of the Earth, having studied agriculture in the ’60’s. Apparently he has milked many, many cows, and is one of those people who could sustain himself off the land given the right tools and enough time.

Searching for a Taj Mahal live performance on You Tube, I found this gem, which was uploaded in 2008 but it’s actually a recording made in Bonn, Germany in March of 1995.

He’s 53, but must have been spending some time out in the field, wrestling more cows. Look at those arms!

Here’s a quote from Taj Mahal’s website:

“I didn’t want to fall into the trap of complacency. I wanted to keep pushing the musical ideas I had about jazz, music from Africa and the Caribbean. I wanted to explore the connections between different kinds of music.”

How do you avoid complacency?

Songs

All Shall Be Well

67 Comments

This is the anniversary of the day in 1373 when an English mystic, Julian of Norwich, was said to have been healed of a serious medical condition after experiencing a series of religious visions. In response she started writing, and produced the influential treatise “Revelations of Divine Love.”

julian

A religious order was founded in her name. You can visit them in Waukesha, Wisconsin of all places. But this is no summer getaway to the Dells – the schedule is rather severe.

I’m not inclined to believe stories of miraculous healing, especially when the recovery was supposedly a favor granted in response to an extra measure of religious devotion. But it is encouraging to think that a sudden, positive change is possible, especially when a severe illness is diagnosed.

This experience of having multiple visions apparently took Julian to a sunny place, theologically – away from a vision of a wrathful God to one more interested in peace and love, leading to the writing of these famous lines: “Sin is inevitable, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Which led, in turn, to the writing of this song by Sydney Carter – one I know from the work of Ann Mayo Muir, Gordon Bok and Ed Trickett, but done here by a German group called the Ohrwurm Folk Orchestra. (Ohrwurm is the German word translated as “ear worm”, which describes to perfection the kind of song that gets into your head and becomes impossible to remove).

Name a song that comforts you in times of trouble.

Songs

Billy Joel’s Birthday

84 Comments

Yes, I get a kick out of Billy Joel’s music, even though it was mostly beyond the boundaries (there were boundaries?) of what we played on the Morning Show during my MPR days.

I even like Joel’s lyrics, though some passionately contend that his writing and everything else about him is terrible.

This might be true. My Billy Joel opinion is more of a feeling. He meets the man-with-two-first-names rule, which is a basic requirement for pop stars (Michael Jackson, Elton John, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, etc.).

I’m not interested in writing a defense of his sound and his style, but Joel’s songs are catchy and he’s just about my age but he still looks good, which is not that easy. Plus, I admire anybody who can play the piano and sing at the same time.

But finding the courage to say I like Billy Joel in public may be as close as I’ll ever get to knowing how it feels to be a state legislator from a conservative part of rural Minnesota who is voting for same-sex marriage today. You know you’ll get slammed for it, but what the hell? Sometimes you just have to admit that fair is fair.

Plus, he’s been around so long. Here’s one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, recorded decades apart so you can have him with a full head of hair, or without.

Been to any good restaurants lately?

Songs

R.I.P. Richie Havens

73 Comments

My favorite quote from the late Richie Havens appeared in his New York Times obituary – “I’m not in show business,” he said. “I’m in the communications business.”

Havens was a spectacular communicator, famous for improvising his way through a longer-than-expected set at the opening of Woodstock because he was already at the gig, waiting to go on fifth, and the musicians scheduled to appear ahead of him were stuck in traffic.

Maybe Richie Havens would have become famous anyway, but he got a boost from a simple matter of timing. I guess it proves you’ll never regret showing up early for an important appointment.

Here’s a song that didn’t make the cut of the video version of Woodstock, but it spoke (and speaks) eloquently to the point the anti-war protesters were trying to make in 1969.

When have you been on time when the others were not?

Songs

Disney Girls

67 Comments

People of a certain age understand the widespread sense of loss and sadness brought about by the death yesterday of forever Mouseketeer Annette Funicello.

Annette became a teenage TV idol in the ’50’s, at a time when the idea of a TV idol was still new. Today it is considerably more common for an attractive young person to have her or his real persona distributed to a global audience for profit and entertainment. Back when the Disney Corporation did this with Annette Funicello, maintaining the aura of innocence in the midst of a marketing campaign was still possible. To her credit, she was able to maintain that image in spite of the usual pressures of fame.

I was a few years too young to catch the full blast of Annette-mania among ’50’s and ’60’s youth, but when I think of her it’s not the Mouseketeers theme song that comes to mind as readily as this one – a Beach Boys classic written and performed here by one of the least-famous Beach Boys, Bruce Johnston. It comes from a BBC2 program called “The Old Grey Whistle Test.”

What kind of fantasy world would you like to live in?

Songs

Look On The Bright Side

70 Comments

Celebrated Python Eric Idle turns 70 today.

I liked the group’s TV shows and sketches, though I have an extra helping of fondness for Eric Idle’s work as a funny lyricist. His “Galaxy Song” is a long-time favorite. And as someone who enjoys the puzzle of trying to piece together a set of comical lyrics, I think I at least have an appreciation for the challenges he faces even if I can’t approach Eric Idle’s skill and accomplishments.

And really … how could anyone dream that a life of inspired clowning around would lead directly to an opportunity to play this role on a global stage?

(You’ll have to click through the link to watch it on You Tube. Thanks, Olympic Committee!)

This must not be the version we were allowed to view on U.S. television, since he casually drops what we in the American broadcast industry call an S-Bomb – an official part of the written lyrics to this song, which is why I couldn’t play it on the radio.

But the song is catchy, and our end-of-March weather is certainly changing my outlook. With the extra hours of increasingly powerful sunlight, you can’t deny we’ve turned an important corner, weather-wise.

What song do you sing when you want to cheer up a bit?

Songs

H.B., James Taylor

46 Comments

Today is the birthday of the most extravagantly talented and popular mellow-sounding person ever to record a song, James Taylor.

There is some kind of narcotic effect that takes hold when I hear him sing that I find comforting and pleasurable in the extreme.

Unfortunately, chasing after a similar narcotic effect for his own enjoyment completely derailed Taylor in his younger years and nearly took his life. He may not have made it to this 65th birthday without intervention, treatment and considerable help from family and friends. So let’s be grateful that several generations of music fans got the chance to hang onto James Taylor.

What do you listen to when you want to relax?

Songs

Dukes of Dexterity

104 Comments

Today might be Mississippi John Hurt‘s Birthday. Or not.

Many sources list the day as July 3, 1893, but there’s a tombstone in Avalon, Mississippi that claims it’s March 8th, 1892. Not that the date matters all that much. I’d be in favor of adding several dozen dates to the list to create more confusion, because any excuse to listen to John Hurt works for me.

Since Hurt was born in the 19th century, he came from a world where “digital content” was something you made with your fingers. One oft-told story is that when the classical guitar master Andrés Segovia heard one of Hurt’s solo recordings, he asked who was playing the second guitar. I like it that we get a chance to see his hands work in this video.

There is more certainty about today being the birthday of another remarkable string player – Bob Brozman. Speaking of talented hands, in this clip he’s a percussionist too.

Ten fingers in good working order – what a gift!

How do you express your dexterity?

Songs

H.B. Fats Domino

30 Comments

Today is New Orleans musician Fats Domino‘s birthday – he’s 85 today, despite rumors to the contrary that he died during Hurricane Katrina.

I’m especially happy to have him around in 2013 when everything is so dark and serious because the Fats Domino songs are full of cheerful energy and light. Even Blue Monday has a bit of a respite when we get to Saturday morning.

These tunes can lighten any mood – a handy tool to have in this week leading to the imminent sequestration debacle in Washington. It makes me want to sing.

In fact, I’m delighted to see that Fats Domino has so many memorable sequestration-friendly four syllable song titles, like Blueberry Hill, Ain’t That A Shame, Jambalaya and My Blue Heaven.

Calamity calls.
Disaster is nigh.
We’re gonna try sequestration.

We can’t raise a tax.
Too much debt on our backs.
That leads us to sequestration.

We’re gonna cut defense, the border fence, and baby’s shoes.
Let’s roll the dice. It won’t be nice. What’s left to lose?

Goodbye to your job. Don’t be such a snob.
You gotta love sequestration!

Name a song that could be adapted as a sequestration ballad.

Songs

Near Miss

83 Comments

Hot on the heels of the Holiday of Closeness, an apartment building-sized asteroid called 2012 DA 14 will make a pass at us and it has already got our attention. The experts assure us there will be no impact, which is good news since the archeological record suggests that a small rock going very fast can have a lasting effect on living things when it hits.

Today’s near miss is the closest encounter ever detected with a space object this size. For some reason the unusual proximity of this rock has me thinking about a favorite old song.

If a boulder from outer space
drew a bead on your place
You’d avoid an asteroid
close to you

If a chunk fell out of the sky
would you stop to ask why?
You’d avoid an asteroid
close to you

One thing about asteroids that’s very disconcerting,
And the dinosaurs found out that this is true.
If a rock from space collides with Earth
there isn’t very much that you can do!

That is why, when some space debris
vaporizes the seas
‘Cest la vie. That’s when I’ll be
toast to you.

So far, our scientific advances have done little more than improve the chances that we’ll know about the next asteroid impact at least a few days ahead – just enough time to panic, say goodbye, or organize a sing-a-long.

What songs are in your asteroid apocalypse playlist?