Why I Oughta...

Thirteen years ago, I wrote a blog post here on the blog where i posited that Bob Dylan was, perhaps, the best songwriter for female singer s.  What I meant was that female singers who covered Bob Dylan songs were eye-openers for me.  I included (maybe?) the most-famous cover of "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele .  But, what really has stuck with me is Sheryl Crow's version of Mississippi.   Note here:  I recognize that we're (now) in 2023 and the notion of female vs male singers (that I used initially back in 2010) might not be a valid or appropriate framework for everyone today.  That's fine.   I'm going to use that construct here - with positive intent - because I think it makes sense for this discussion.   Back then, posting musings on various topics on personal blogs were a thing 1 and that's where hot takes like this lived.  But, the conversation around my (apparently provocative) post was taking place on the Bob Dylan news/forum site:  Expecting Rai

After taking a one-year COVID-related break from The Last Waltz here on the blog for Thanksgiving (with an appropriate detour of " Whatever Gets You Through The Night" from Elton John and John Lennon ), it feels right to come back home to The Last Waltz this year.  Sort of.  Will I watch The Last Waltz?  That's my plan.  But, what's the hangup?  The Beatles Get Back is released today - Thanksgiving Day - on Disney+.   So, what lives at the intersection of The Last Waltz by The Band and Get Back by the Beatles?  It seems that it is this rendition of Hey Jude by The Beatles as performed on David Frost's Frost on Sunday.  Why this song?  First, it is a really lovely number.  But, thanks to my good friend Neil, I discovered a neat little nugget:  If you scroll ahead (or listen all the way) to around 6:19ish mark (during the nah-nah-nahs), you can hear Macca belt out some lyrics from The Weight.  "Take a load off, baby.  Take a load off, baby.  Put it back on me&q

More than 20 years ago. But still 30 years after Bob Dylan started with the song.  Want a good version?  Here's a good one.  Give it a listen.  Then go open up another tab and do something else.  Here's a particularly good part : Ophelia, she's 'neath the window for her I feel so afraid On her twenty-second birthday she already is an old maid To her, death is quite romantic she wears an iron vest Her profession's her religion, her sin is her lifelessness And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row

Crimson flames tied through my ears, rollin' high and mighty traps Pounced with fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps "We'll meet on edges, soon, " said I, proud 'neath heated brow Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth, "rip down all hate, " I screamed Lies that life is black and white spoke from my skull, I dreamed Romantic facts of musketeers foundationed deep, somehow Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now Girls' faces formed the forward path from phony jealousy To memorizing politics of ancient history Flung down by corpse evangelists, unthought of, though somehow Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now A self-ordained professor's tongue too serious to fool Spouted out that liberty is just equality in school "Equality, " I spoke the word as if a wedding vow Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger tha

Last week, my buddy Justin texted me a link and said "Here's a song for you."  It was this song - Me & Magdalena - by The Monkees.  Yeah.  The Monkees.  It is in the YouTube player above.  (If you are reading this in your email and can't see the player above, click here to see it .)  I can't stop listening to it.  I haven't even been able to check out much more of the album because I keep coming back to this one song. Have a listen.  I think you'll like it. Over on All Songs Considered , they give more background about how this album and this song in particular came together.  In honor of The Monkees 50th anniversary, they've put out a new record full of previously unreleased songs and a few new ones written for the band.  Including this song that was written by Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie.   From the story : And, though Mike Nesmith won't tour to support Good Times! — he left the band a few years back — he does appear on the

I stayed at Tokyo Disneyland until late in the evening and long enough to see their main nighttime parade called " Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights ".  We've seen the the "Main Street Electrical Parade" at WDW and we've seen "Paint the Night" parade at DLR and this is kind of a combination of both of those things.  And because of that, it is awesome.  You get all the lights and action from "Paint the Night", but you get Baroque Hoedown blasting over the speakers .  (go ahead...click that link and listen to the song.  It transports you, like it does me???) Above you see the Casey Jr. train float with Mickey, Minnie and Goof on it.  (You'll also note the 2 dudes snapping vertical video/photos.  C'mon man.  Landscape mode, dudes.  Landscape mode!) And below you see the photo, the first float is lead by the Blue Fairy from Pinnochio.  And then is followed by the locomotive and big drum you see above.  Those are fl

Chalk one up for YouTube and stumbling on new, interesting things.  I was watching a Bob Dylan/Johnny Cash "Girl from the North Country" video and then was offered up this Ray Charles video as a recommendation.  Had no idea that Ray Charles recorded an entire country record called "Love Country Style" in 1970.  Have to say that is is a pretty great cover version, eh?   My brother-in-law Shaun, who was the first person to turn me on to The Band and gave me his vintage copy of The Last Waltz also gave me a Ray Charles boxed set.  Those were among some of my most cherished ' pieces' of vinyl .  I've admired Ray and his music, but haven't gotten too far into it.  Maybe this country stuff is the ticket in? I use Google Music for all my listening needs, but I can only find this one song from a Greatest Hits compilation on there and the country album isn't available.  For those of you vinyl nerds out there, one of the ' pieces ' t

Six years ago, I wrote a post here on the blog about how (in my opinion) Bob Dylan might end up going down as one of the best songwriters for female performers .  In that post, I linked to an Adele cover of a song called " Make you feel my love ", which if you've been paying attention is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his record 'Time out of Mind'.    There are other women covering Bob's songs that are (arguably??) better than the originals by Bob.  Take a listen to Cat Power's "I believe in You" or Sophie Zelmani's "Most of the time" .  Or Norah Jone's take on "I'll be your baby tonight" .    There's Sheryl Crow who covers "Mississippi" - and I use 'cover' loosely because her version came out BEFORE Bob's did.  In fact, he wrote it for her!  Then there's maybe the best performance at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary concert (let's leave the 'My Back Pages' m

Earlier this month, I posted the little project I created about listening to Christmas music .  Well...good news for *some* of you:   there's an update .  Thanksgiving week is here, so rejoice fellow Christmas music people:  You no longer have to feel shame. Go ahead.  Play the Bing.  Feel no shame. http://www.canilistentochristmasmusic.com/

I've been listening to these two songs a bit lately.  On Google Music, the Johnny Nash (not Cash!) is listed as a Reggae song. And this song by Toots and the Maytals.   According to Wikipedia , it *is* one of their songs and not just a traditional song that they popularized.   But, it is you, indeed... You movie buffs probably remember that versions of both of these songs appeared in the Cusack movie Grosse Point Blank .  I watched part of that movie a few weeks back and remembered what a good soundtrack it had.  Then...added these songs to my 'No Stern Morning' Playlist that I use on my commutes when, as you might guess, Howard isn't on.  

Anyone who has been to Disney World has heard the song from the Main Street Electrical Parade . You know the one.  It either drives you crazy or makes you starry-eyed. It makes me smile just thinking about it. But, I had no idea that it was a *real* song - as in - it exists OUTSIDE of the gates of the Magic Kingdom.  It was/us a real song.  I came across the name of the song on a Disney message board.  It is called 'Baroque Hoedown'. It is a creation of Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gerson Kingsley back in 1967.  Here is video below of Perrey playing it at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood back in 2006.  The guy who posted the video calls it "possibly one of his most recognized songs of the twentieth century."  One dude.  With a Moog synthesizer plays this whole thing?!? From Wikipedia : "Baroque Hoedown" was created by early Moog synthesizer pioneers (and frequent collaborators) Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley (Perrey-Kingsley) in 1967.  It

Or...as The Atlantic says: 'Tangled Up In Ol' Blue Eyes" .  Yeah...that's right, Bob Dylan is making an entire record of Frank Sinatra covers.  But...not the usual ones you think of when you think of Frank Sinatra. Here's one of the tracks as uploaded on YouTube. (if you are reading in your email, the video below won't show up.   Click here to watch it .)  As David Graham on The Atlantic says:  this ain't Nashville Skyline.  But...it is something else. Sounds interesting, right?   You can read the whole story here on The Atlantic, but this passage sticks out for me.  Especially that last line: Before making Time Out of Mind, Dylan told producer Daniel Lanois , "There's some records that I really like from the '40s and '50s and I'd like for you to hear them to understand the energy of them, the beauty of them." His recent records since have included a wide range of styles: country blues, jaunty twang, folky ballads. Th

I dare you to watch/listen to this a few times right now and not want to continue to play it over and over again like I have been doing.  My buddy Adam mentioned to me that he's been listening to this thing since Christmas and I should check it out. This is from the record 'Lost on the River - The New Basement Tapes'.   (If you're reading this in your email, click here to play the video on the site .) It is the lead off track of the record that was released right before Christmas last year and that's Jim James supplying the vocals.   From Google Play :  Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes is an album produced by T Bone Burnett featuring a collective of musicians recording under the moniker The New Basement Tapes—Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford.   The album consists of a series of tracks based on recently uncovered lyrics handwritten byBob Dylan in 1967. Probably written in the period between his m

Yesterday, I posted about this Bob Dylan song that I really like and included a YouTube video embed.  If you looked closely, you'll see the worst of humanity on display at the bottom of the video. Seriously...The.Worst.

Where have I been?  Bob Dylan put out a record in 2009 called 'Together Through Life' that has evaded me for five years.  What have I been doing to ignore this?  Turns out...it charted at #1 in the US and the UK.  Really?  It is his 33rd studio album and includes his touring band and a guy named Mike Campbell from The Heartbreakers.  That's pretty cool. From Google Play : Together Through Life is the thirty-third studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on April 28, 2009, by Columbia Records. The album debuted at number one in several countries, including the U.S. and the UK. It is Dylan's first number one in Britain since New Morning in 1970.   Dylan wrote all but one of the album's songs withGrateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, with whom he had previously co-written two songs on his 1988 album Down in the Groove. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Dylan commented on the collaboration: “Hunter is an old buddy, we could probably wr

We couldn't have had a better time over the weekend at Ravinia for David Byrne.  We went up there with Nat's family and if every trip to Ravinia was like this one, I would LOVE going there to see shows.   We parked right near the main gate (we didn't arrive to a bit after six pm, so we weren't super early birds), the weather was just right (not too hot), there wasn't an opener (David Byrne went on really close to 7:30) and he didn't play forever (we were home by 10:30). From the looks of the place, I wasn't the only one enjoying myself.  There were more people standing up to dance at this show than most of the other ones I've been too.  I guess the CSO doesn't give you much to dance too (and the susher's wouldn't have it anyway, right?!). I took this photo above (click on it to get the full feel) and while it is doing some weird things (like cutting Ryan's head off - guy in red in foreground), it gives you a feel for the night. Lo

Last night, along with my sister and Equation Boy/Man, we took our five kids to see Wilco at the Kane County Cougars Ballpark.  We started in the bleachers, but after a few hours, the kids grew pretty restless and we made our way down to the field for some frolicking and running about.  We all got pretty tired, and thanks to WXRT we were able to listen to the second encore from the car.  The first one, we listened to while we hustled to our cars to beat the mad crush of Volkswagons and Suburus out of the parking lot.  

This song came on my radio when I was scrolling around and I'm (ashamed?) to say that I stuck with it.  Then re-wound and listened to it again.  Shame on me, right?

I've written about the song "Atlantic City" as recorded by The Band (the original is by the Boss) and even embedded the video a few years back in a post.   I guess I'm surprised by the lasting effect this song has had on me.  I woke up this morning with the song in my head and have listened to it on repeat a few times already.

I was driving home from Kalamazoo on Friday evening when I got burned out of Howard Stern replays.  I was driving my own car, so I had my original Sirius player with me.  With Stern only doing 3 days a week, by the time Friday rolls around, I've likely heard *most* of the bits/segments, so if I'm in the car, it is either tie for sports radio or a spin around the Sirius dial. One of my stops is Channel 31 - the Coffeehouse.  I heard this song from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and *had* to take a photo of the display so I could remember the name of the song. After my love of Christmas Village buildings , this might be my second-most-embarrassing guilty pleasure.    Here's an AMAZING live effort from Herb and the boys.