Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 10/28: Cliff Nobles, “The Horse”
A lot of people ignore the lyrics in popular music, and there’s good evidence they’re onto something — some songs do better with the vocals removed. That’s what happened to Cliff Nobles, whose single “Love Is All Right” is a footnote to the 1968 hit “The Horse.” You can’t really call it “his” hit, because […]
Song of the Day 10/27: Jerry Lee Lewis, “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”
Jerry Lee Lewis has become Schrödinger’s Rock Star — TMZ didn’t know if he was alive or dead until somebody checked. The tabloid-on-a-computer site apologized yesterday for taking the word of somebody claiming to be Lewis’ representative and reporting that Lewis had expired at age 87. You can’t kill the Killer that easily — he’s […]
Song of the Day 10/26: The Beatles, “Yellow Submarine (Songwriting Work Tape / Part 1)”
The Beatles recorded output apparently will be mined for sales until the last Boomer is buried, if not beyond. Recent years have seen the serial remastering of the band’s catalog, a project overseen by Giles Martin, son of legendary producer George Martin. The latest album to get the treatment is “Revolver,” the group’s 1966 great […]
Song of the Day 10/25: Ernie K-Doe, “Mother In Law”
Talk about being cancelled — when’s the last time you heard a mother-in-law joke? The meddling mother-in-law is a trope as old as comedy, and back when more risqué topics were off-limits it was frequently employed. Mothers-in-law were milked for laughs routinely by comedians and sitcoms, but it wasn’t until 1961 that New Orleans composer […]
Song of the Day 10/24: Calum Scott, “Dancing on My Own,” Tiësto remix
MAGAts can rage against social change, but they’ve already lost the culture wars when a bunch of guys are dancing around, spraying each other with champagne, while singing the gay anthem “Dancing on My Own” — and the scene isn’t a Rehoboth Beach nightclub but a baseball clubhouse. Baseball is a conservative sport, but there […]
Song of the Day 10/23: Herbie Hancock, “Watermelon Man”
Herbie Hancock’s “Head Hunters” LP, released in 1973, might be the best jazz fusion album ever; certainly it’s the funkiest. It was the best-selling jazz album ever, peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard album chart, until George Benson’s “Breezin’” surpassed it three years later. One of the LP’s highlights was a song that had […]
Song of the Day 10/21: Frank Zappa and the Mothers, “Call Any Vegetable”
Queen-killer Liz Truss was doomed from the moment the Daily Star livestreamed her photo next to a head of lettuce, with a caption asking which would last longer. The smart money was always on the lettuce — one wag wanted to know how it voted on Brexit, leaf or romaine? — because vegetables have been […]
Song of the Day 10/20: Fine Young Cannibals, “Social Security”
Republicans think old people have too much money and rich people don’t have enough, so they’ve promised to cut Social Security if/when they get back into power. Bitter white people will vote for them anyway. Fine Young Cannibals released this song as the B-side to “Good Thing,” the second No. 1 single from their 1989 […]
Song of the Day 10/19: The Philadelphia Orchestra, “1812 Overture”
H/t Ben, who requested this last month. It was 210 years ago today that Napoleon began his devastating retreat from Moscow, an anniversary not observed by the French. Seventy years later Pyotr Tchaikovsky debuted this commemorative piece, scored for orchestra and artillery, for the dedication of a church that celebrated Russia’s victory, which was achieved […]
Song of the Day 10/18: Pixies, “Gigantic”
I admit it, I miss the ’90s. Yeah, I know this song came out in 1988 on the first Pixies album, “Surfer Rosa,” but the post-Replacements sound they helped pioneer, with its distorted guitars and quiet-loud-quiet dynamics, came to dominate the indie-rock music of the early ’90s, so I mentally file it there. This was […]
Song of the Day 10/17: Mom’s Apple Pie, “I Just Wanna Make Love to You”
People today remember the rock-with-horns fad mostly for the first few albums by Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears, but lots of imitators sprang up in their wake in the early ’70s. Mom’s Apple Pie was one that came and went pretty quickly, and even in its day was better known for the cover of […]
Song of the Day 10/16: Johnny Rivers, “The Poor Side of Town”
Johnny Rivers had a lot of hit records — 26 singles in the Top 40, nine of them in the Top 10. Almost all of them were covers, frequently with the Wrecking Crew as his backing band, and most of them charted higher than the originals. But he only reached No. 1 once in a […]
Song of the Day 10/15: The Ohio State University Marching Band, “Michael Jackson Tribute”
College football has a lot to answer for — looking at you, Herschel Walker — but it has some benefits. Top of the list for me: marching band halftime shows. Here’s a classic performance by a marching band perennially ranked among the country’s best: an MJ medley highlighted by the Gloved One’s moonwalk about four […]
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