Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 12/7: The O’Jays, “For the Love of Money”
The Trump organization was found guilty of fraud and tax evasion, and though CFO Allen Weisselberg threw himself on the grenade, not a soul alive believes he did it on anybody’s orders but Trump’s. This Philly soul classic is credited to three people — it grew out of a jam session — but Kenny Gamble […]
Song of the Day 12/6: The Beths, “Expert in a Dying Field”
El Somnambulo featured a song from this New Zealand indie band’s latest album in his Best of the Month roundup when it arrived in August. Critics have categorized them as power pop because their songs have strong hooks, but they’ve also compared Liz Stokes’ vocals and songwriting to Aimee Mann’s. The title track from the […]
Song of the Day 12/5: Peter and Gordon, “World Without Love”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona When the sister of aspiring musician Peter Asher started bringing her boyfriend to hang around the house, her brother had somebody to talk music with. The bloke’s name was Paul McCartney and he had already gotten his own career off to a good start in a band he put together […]
Song of the Day 12/4: The Million Dollar Quartet, “This Train”
On this date in rock and roll history, Dec. 4, 1956, the Million Dollar Quartet — Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins — sang together for the only time, an impromptu jam session at Sun Studios in Memphis. It began as a Carl Perkins recording session, for which a still-unknown Jerry […]
Song of the Day 12/3: Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, “I Don’t Want to Go Home”
Though it was never released as a single, this became one of the defining songs of the Jersey Shore sound. Southside Johnny sells the perennial show-closer with his impassioned blue-eyed growl over a horns-plus-guitar hook. It’s as much Steve Van Zandt’s signature song as anybody’s. Van Zandt wrote it for Jersey bar singer John Lyon, […]
Song of the Day 12/2: Jordan Mailata, “Hold”
I have a strict policy on holiday music — the 12 Days of Christmas Songs. You’re probably getting as much as you can stand from other sources, so I start the solstice stuff Dec. 14 and stop on Christmas Day. To quote a sailor man of some repute, that’s all I can stands and I […]
Song of the Day 12/1: Chicken Shack feat. Christine Perfect, “It’s Okay With Me Baby”
Christine McVie, who died Wednesday at age 79, is being remembered as a pop singer and songwriter for Fleetwood Mac. Rightly so — several of the band’s best-known tunes were hers, including “Don’t Stop,” Bill Clinton’s campaign song. But before she met and married John McVie and joined his band, she was Perfect — Christine […]
Song of the Day 11/30: Stevie Wonder, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
By request of Mediawatch, in honor of El Somnambulo’s dive into New Castle County Council’s developer-funded political machine. Stevie Wonder had Top 10 hits throughout the ’60s, but this 1970 soul burner marked his first foray into producing his own material and one of his last singles while under contract to Motown. The Funk Brothers […]
Song of the Day 11/29: Jimmy Buffett, “Volcano”
Mauna Loa’s eruption brought to mind my son’s favorite Deep Thought by Jack Handy: “If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let ’em go, because man, they’re gone.” Jimmy Buffett was early in his musical transition from character to caricature when “Volcano” arrived as the title track to his 1979 […]
Song of the Day 11/28: The B-52s, “Rock Lobster”
Fox News is running out of things to freak out about. When Joe Biden put up the White House Christmas tree extra early, their “War on Christmas” standby failed, so they tried to bitch about him jumping the gun on Christmas. That fizzled, so now they’re mad about … Whole Foods deciding not to sell […]
Song of the Day 11/27: Blind Faith, “Presence of the Lord”
“Presence of the Lord,” Eric Clapton’s contribution to Blind Faith’s only album in 1969, was his first outing as a lyricist. Its message is personal, but Steve Winwood delivers it — Clapton set it in a key (A minor) above what he considered his own range. After Blind Faith’s demise, Clapton started singing it himself, […]
Song of the Day 11/26: Wilko Johnson, “When I’m Gone”
Regular readers know I consider Dr. Feelgood one of the most important British bands of the 1970s. The creative force behind the punk pioneers, guitarist Wilko Johnson (born John Wilkinson) died Monday at age 75, nine years after a cancer diagnosis gave him less than a year to live. Johnson stood out for both his […]
Song of the Day 11/24: World Party, “Thank You World”
Rather than list all the things to be thankful for, I’m going to go Karl Wallinger’s route and simply thank the world. Wallinger was World Party for most of its existence, playing all the instruments on most of the tracks on the band’s first two LPs, including “Goodbye Jumbo,” where this song debuted. He really […]
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