Arts and Entertainment
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 […]
Song of the Day 10/13: Angela Lansbury, “Beauty and the Beast”
Angela Lansbury, who died at age 96 on Tuesday, always played older than she was. MGM frequently cast her as a 40-ish woman, usually a villain, while she was still in her 20s. When she was nominated for an Oscar for her role as a villainous mother in “The Manchurian Candidate,” she was only three […]
Song of the Day 10/12: The Flamingos, “I Only Have Eyes For You”
I always thought of this as a quintessential doo-wop song, because the Flamingos version is the only one I had ever heard. That’s because I was never a fan of old movies, so I had never seen the 1934 Busby Berkeley musical “Dames,” in which Dick Powell sings it to Ruby Keeler. Several big bands […]
Song of the Day 10/11: Audience, “You’re Not Smiling”
Audience was a short-lived British band that got lumped in with progressive rock because of the their unusual instrumentation. Formed in 1969, they had no lead guitarist — their rhythm section was fronted by vocalist Howard Werth, who played an amplified nylon-string acoustic guitar, and Keith Gemmell, who played tenor sax and flute, often supplemented […]
Song of the Day 10/10: Link Wray & His Ray Men, “Rumble”
In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s put a dime in history’s jukebox to play the only instrumental ever banned by American radio stations. Link Wray, a Shawnee from North Carolina, changed rock guitar forever in 1958 when he strummed some power chords and poked a pencil through the speaker cone on his amp to […]
Song of the Day 10/7: Cab Calloway, “Have You Ever Met That Funny Reefer Man”
Cab Calloway recorded this in 1932, before cannabis was banned nationwide. Joe Biden didn’t undo that 1937 all by himself yesterday, but pardoning everyone convicted of simple possession is widely seen as a big step towards legalization. You can tell because stocks in marijuana companies went quite a bit higher.
Song of the Day 10/6: Sinéad O’Connor, “All Apologies”
With all the attention to mental health these days, it would seem like a perfect time for a critical re-evaluation of Sinéad O’Connor, whose public behavior had people calling her crazy when Britney Spears was still in the Mickey Mouse Club. “Nothing Compares,” the new documentary on O’Connor’s rise and fall, covers O’Connor’s early history, […]
Song of the Day 10/5: Loretta Lynn, “The Pill”
It’s hard for those born later to understand the profound change the oral contraceptive pill brought to society in 1960. Some Christian conservatives haven’t gotten over it yet. Loretta Lynn, who died yesterday at 90, was a conservative Christian, but in 1972 she recorded this paean to The Pill, and she sang from personal experience […]
Song of the Day 10/4: Jean-Luc Ponty, “New Country”
Maybe you recognize his name from his time playing with Frank Zappa and Elton John 50 years ago. Or maybe you heard him with John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, or Chick Correa, or Bela Fleck, or on his LPs and gigs with Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola. Jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty sure has gotten around, spreading […]
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