Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 9/30: Death Cab for Cutie, “Summer Skin”
From 2005’s “Plans” LP, this is Ben Gibbard’s elegy for summer, youth and innocence. It was never released as a single, but it’s one of the strongest tracks on an album best known for “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”
Song of the Day 9/29: The Changin’ Times, “Pied Piper”
Nothing says “we’re copying Bob Dylan!” quite like calling your folk-pop duo The Changin’ Times, and reinforcing it by using “masquerade” in the first line of the lyrics of your groovy tune. The song was co-written by Artie Kornfeld, who went on to be the musical director of the legendary Woodstock Festival. The song did […]
Song of the Day 9/27: Jackson C. Frank, “Blues Run the Game”
Jackson C. Frank was an American folk singer who, like Paul Simon and a few others, moved to London shortly after the “British Invasion.” He met Simon there and impressed him so much that Simon offered to produce an album for him. It was released in 1965. This is the title track, which Simon and […]
Song of the Day 9/24: Gillian Welch, “Elvis Presley Blues”
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings released this song on her second album, “Time (The Revelator),” and the sparse arrangement and their muted harmonies perfectly captures the sad ending of a legend whose greatest triumphs were long behind him. The song is much admired but seldom covered. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, even playing it acoustic, […]
Song of the Day 9/23: David Allen Coe, “You Never Even Called Me By My Name”
Ken Burns’ multi-part documentary on country music, still airing on PBS stations, hasn’t reached the end of the ’60s yet, so I don’t know if it’s going to address what by its own account is the greatest country and western song ever written. Steve Goodman and John Prine wrote it in 1971, and Goodman included […]
Song of the Day 9/22: Jim Pepper, “Witchi-Tai-To”
Jim Pepper was a tenor saxophonist of Native American heritage who played in a group called the Fresh Spirits, considered the first jazz-rock fusion band, but he’s best remembered for this song, based on a peyote ceremony chant he learned from his grandfather. This version, from Pepper’s first solo album in 1971, was a popular […]
Song of the Day 9/21: Cracker, “Eurotrash Girl”
Back when people bought their music on CDs — ‘memba them? — bands started to have fun with the format by including hidden tracks after the end of the listed program. It quickly reached the point of absurdity, as bands would put lots of blank tracks before the hidden song, but sometimes it was worth […]
Song of the Day 9/20: Billy Harner, “Sally Sayin’ Somethin”
If you didn’t live in the Philadelphia area, you might not know this Northern Soul classic, but it was all over WIBG in the summer of ’67. It also charted in New York and LA, but failed to break out nationally. It probably didn’t help that Harner was such a big draw at the Jersey […]
Song of the Day 9/18: Wilco, “Everyone Hides”
Wilco has a new album, “Ode to Joy,” set for release early next month, and the band released a new video for a not-quite-new song to promote it. Band leader Jeff Tweedy pointed out that it’s “the first promotional video to feature Wilco as a living breathing band of humans in close to 20 years.” […]
Song of the Day 9/17: Luna Lee, “La Grange”
Her name is Luna Lee, and she’s playing a traditional Korean stringed instrument called a gayageum. She has a whole YouTube channel devoted to her covers of classic rock songs, everything from Jimi Hendrix to Nirvana. I picked this one because 1) I love this song and 2) her solo pays a nice tribute to […]
Song of the Day 9/16: The Cars, “You Might Think”
Ric Ocasek, who died in New York at age 75 over the weekend, is a good example of never giving up. The Cars weren’t his first band, or his second, or his third. He and Benjamin Orr had bands in Columbus, Ohio, and Ann Arbor, Mich., before moving to Boston and hooking up with local […]
Song of the Day 9/15: Mavis Staples, “Wrote a Song for Everyone”
Mavis Staples can make any song sound like gospel music. This John Fogerty song was an under-appreciated deep track from CCR’s 1969 “Green River” LP until Mavis recorded it for her 2010 “You Are Not Alone” album. The only nod to anything religious is a line in the second verse, “If you see the answer, […]
Song of the Day 9/14: Eddie Money, “I Think I’m in Love”
Eddie Money, the classic-rock hitmaker from the ’70s and ’80s, died yesterday in Los Angeles, age 70. Born Edward Mahoney in Brooklyn, he ditched a would-be career as a New York cop and moved to California, where he came under the wing of legendary promoted Bill Graham and hit the big time with the self-penned […]
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