25 January 2021 - Noel Harrison - The Windmills of Your Mind

There's a lot you can say about Noel Harrison.   He was the son of Rex Harrison.  A champion of the giant slalom, Harrison went to two Olympics.

And his performance of this song won the 1968 Oscar for Best Original Song.  Featured in The Thomas Crown Affair, it is by far the biggest hit he ever had.  Here's a little bit of trivia for you - the 1967 Oscar for Best Original Song went to "Talk To The Animals" from Doctor Dolittle.   The performer on that song?  Noel's father, Rex Harrison.  

Enjoy one of the greatest songs written for a movie (according to the American Film Institute - that isn't just me making up superlatives).  

22 January 2021 - R.E.M. - Crush With Eyeliner

When Michael Stipe wrote this song, it is said he was inspired by the over-the-top style of the legendary New York City band The New York Dolls.  The song is fuzzy and glam-pop inspired....

...but can we talk about the video for a second?  Michael Stipe famously hated to lip-sync his songs for videos, and he was pretty bad at it.  So, for this video, he set it at a Japanese karaoke bar and had other people do the lip-sync for him!

I don't like posting stuff from Top of the Pops, because that show has a famous policy against live performance, instead forcing artists to lip-sync.  They aren't usually that fun.  But combine that with how terrible Michael Stipe is at lip-syncing, mostly because he hates it... well, yeah, it's entertaining this time.

Contrast this with live R.E.M., who are clearly enjoying the performance more....

21 January 2021 - Smash Mouth - All Star

I saw Smash Mouth live.  It was a miserable rainy day.  They didn't really seem to be enjoying themselves until this song.  

The song, featured prominently in the movie Mystery Men (hence the "superheroes" at the beginning - it is unclear why Janeane Garafalo did not appear), was one of the biggest hits of 1999.  And let's face it - it's darned catchy.  Heck, we could have even posted it in Positive December!

The band's hits might be in the past, but they are very much in the present.  Here they are performing the song live in 2015.

20 January 2021 - Fitz and the Tantrums - HandClap

I don't know if you were aware, but Fitz and the Tantrums are pretty sure they can make your hands clap.

The song is actually a love song - with the vocalist trying to convey enthusiasm with.... hand claps. Clearly pop and soul influenced, the song is immediately catchy and is used to get crowds fired up at sporting events everywhere to this day.  

19 January 2021 - Ednaswap - Torn

I loved having a cowriter on this blog, as well as my sister blog, Totally Covered.  Scott was an awesome partner, and we are still great friends.  He's welcome to come back and write for us anytime.

Today, I am going to tell you how we came to have the 2nd blog.

You see, Natalie Imbruglia had one big hit song in the United States, and on March 5, 2012, Scott wrote all about "Torn".  Someone made a comment that the song was a cover - which Scott had not mentioned, even though he was aware.  Since we knew we love covers, we started the 2nd blog the next week.  Yes, this one is far busier now, but I still post there as well, and you should check it out.  

The song was written by members of the band Ednaswap.  TECHNICALLY, theirs wasn't the first released version, but since they wrote it and did perform it prior to selling the song to other artists BEFORE recording it themselves, I felt they earned their place here.  

So, here you are.  Enjoy Ednaswap.  

18 January 2021 - Matchbox Twenty - Push

So you aren't hearing it, are you?  The D-A-B-F#-G-D-G-A progression doesn't exist in there at all.   I didn't hear it at first myself.  

Because Rob Thomas wrote it in a different key. Canon in F#?  Hear it now?

Well, because it was in a different key, I didn't post it last week, but I felt it was worthwhile to mention that.  

The song itself is not at all about abusing women, as a lot of people assume - if anything, the narrator of the song - be it Rob Thomas or whatever character he wrote - is the one on the receiving end of abuse.  The more likely interpretation, however, is that it's just about an adult relationship, with give and take, where there are good and bad times.  

To his credit, Rob Thomas, who not only wrote but sings the song, throws his heart and soul into the song.  Here he is with Matchbox Twenty (not 20.  They changed their name to spell out the number) in 2012, performing the song live.  

15 January 2021 - The Beatles - Let It Be

We could not end D-A-B-F#-G-D-G-A without including the single most iconic interpretation of the song in the modern era.  The song itself is an absolute masterpiece, as many Lennon/McCartney compositions were - but in this case, Paul got some help from Johann at the beginning.  

McCartney accomplished this chord progression on piano at the beginning of the song in a unique way, however.  His right hand was playing the chords.  His left was playing single notes.

The first four bars of "Let It Be"

Lyrically, the song was imagined during some hard times Paul's parents were having.  It's meant to be a comforting song - and the song nails that.

This particular version is what became the "Naked" version of the song, released in 2003.  This was originally produced by George Martin.

Compare that to the original SINGLE version - not the album version.  The SINGLE version - which was produced by Phil Spector.  We didn't lose the Canon, but we did gain a Wall of Sound.