Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 6/15: Lisa Loeb, “Stay (I MIssed You)”
Using popular hits in TV ads is nothing new, but I’m frequently surprised at the songs that turn up in commercials. This tune, for example, an inescapable hit in 1994, and singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb are now peddling car insurance for Geico. The connection to car insurance is tenuous — Loeb sings the song’s first line […]
Song of the Day 6/13: The Band, “Up on Cripple Creek”
For no other reason than this video from the Ed Sullivan Show of Nov. 2, 1969, popped up on my YouTube feed. “Up on Cripple Creek” had just been released as a single, with what’s clearly a video, not a live performance, to promote it. The song was a mainstay of The Band’s concerts, and […]
Song of the Day 6/10: Cab Calloway, “The Reefer Man”
With Delaware lawmakers debating a marijuana legalization bill, it seems worthwhile to remind them that cannabis wasn’t always illegal, and its effects weren’t considered dangerous until a wave of refugees from the Mexican Revolution in the 1920s prompted anti-immigrant forces to agitate against the “marihuana” they brought with them. When Cab Calloway, a guy whose […]
Song of the Day 6/9: The Posies, “Solar Sister”
In popular memory, grunge is the rock genre that represents the ’90s, but that obscures the reality — the ’90s were rock’s last hurrah in large part because multiple genres still sold enough records (and there still were “records” to sell) to land recording contracts. One genre that thrived was power pop — well, thrived […]
Song of the Day 6/8: Gene Chandler, “Duke of Earl”
Americans seem fascinated with British royalty, but they don’t understand much about it. Consider, for example, the “Duke of Earl.” There is, of course, no such thing — in the hierarchy of British peerage, a duke is below only a prince, while an earl is a separate title two ranks lower. That fact did nothing […]
Song of the Day 6/7: Bing Crosby, “Swinging on a Star”
Does this song still turn up on children’s albums? When I was a kid, back in the Pleistocene, you heard it frequently because its sarcastic lyrics encourage little ones to go to school, exhibit good manners and not be a sneak. As an adult, I identify more with the last verse, especially when I read […]
Song of the Day 6/3: Paul McCartney, “Another Day”
When the Beatles broke up in 1970, fans blamed Yoko Ono first and foremost. But the band member who took the most heat was Paul McCartney, mostly because he was the first one to publicly announce his departure. Critics soon made him a whipping boy because his first solo album, a low-key, mostly acoustic set, […]
‘Bulo’s Fave Tunes: May 2021
So much great music this month, I plan to keep commentary to a minimum: Liked this comment: “I’m gonna get married AND divorced to this song and then let it haunt me for the rest of my life”:
Song of the Day 5/31: “Taps”
The 24 notes of this bugle call might be America’s most recognizable tune. Veterans are most familiar with it from its daily sounding at 2100 hours, or lights out — its original use when a Union Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield adapted it for his brigade in 1862 from an earlier bugle call known as “Scott’s […]
Song of the Day 5/30: B.J. Thomas, “[Hey Won’t You Play] Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song”
Pop, county and gospel singer Billy Joe Thomas died yesterday at age 78, three months after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Though he’s most famous for his pop hits “Hooked on a Feeling” (No. 5, 1968) and “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” (No. 1, 1969), Thomas started out as a country singer […]
Song of the Day 5/28: Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides, Now”
I’m going to guess this is Chris Coons’ favorite song. He’s looked at the issues from both sides now, and still somehow he really doesn’t know Republicans at all. Before Judy Collins recorded it in 1967 — actually, before it was released as a single in 1968 and reached No. 8 — Joni Mitchell was […]
Song of the Day 5/27: Everclear, “Santa Monica”
I’ve been on a bit of a ’90s kick lately — I’m more and more convinced that decade was rock music’s last hurrah — and this tune has gotten lodged in my head, so an [[[EARWORM ALERT!]]] is in order. By late 1995, when this song from “Sparkle and Fade” broke out on Alternative Rock […]
Song of the Day 5/26: Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
I wanted to follow up yesterday’s examination of “We Built This City” with another tune that turns up high on most lists of Worst Songs Ever, so I offer this wildly popular No. 1 hit from 1988, the first and still the only a cappella song to top the charts. Nobody has ever been able […]
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