Category: Song of the Day

30-Day Song Challenge #5: A Song That Needs to Be Played Loud

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I’m going to do the 30-Day Song Challenge, which has recently gone viral. However, me being me, I’m going to expand on the concept to write a few lines about each of the songs I choose and why I chose them, as each of the songs I choose I am – for one reason or another – attached to.

Antonio Vivaldi, “Winter: Allegro Non Molto”

I have been into punk rock since I was a teen and later, I also learned to appreciate and love free jazz. Besides that, I should also mention that loud is my favourite way of listening to music in general.

Yet, it would be too easy and not enough of a challenge if I didn’t go down a surprising route with this one. The fact is that my interest in music began with an early interest in classical music, which started when I was about five years old, when I watched Amadeus.

That experience ended up being a formative experience for me for a couple of reasons. One is that the depiction of Mozart in that film shaped my own personality as I got older. Secondly is that it made me love movies and music in a big way, and made me want to find out more about it via precocious research that soon, eventually, transformed into a complete love for the arts at large.

So, given my interest in classical music, I should refer to an awesome recent experience while in Venice for the first time last year, when I walked around the city listening to Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Right when “Winter” kicked in, loudly booming in my ear, I turned the corner and there was Piazza San Marco. An experience I will never forget – despite the fact that it was summer.

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30-Day Song Challenge #4: A Song That Reminds Me of Someone I’d Rather Forget

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I’m going to do the 30-Day Song Challenge, which has recently gone viral. However, me being me, I’m going to expand on the concept to write a few lines about each of the songs I choose and why I chose them, as each of the songs I choose I am – for one reason or another – attached to.

Already got stuck on my fourth entry of this list! It took me a few days to think about this one. That’s because I immediately realised that forgetting someone is a concept I am not totally down with. It’s too drastic.

Also, I really struggled to think about people who truly did me wrong in such a significant way that I would want to erase them from my memory. But I maintain that for better or worse, I would not want to forget anybody from my past. Not even those who have harmed me or whose memory I associate with heartbreak and pain.

Why? Because to me they represent moments that were integral to my evolution as a human being. I’m not saying I am perfect now; I am the least perfect person of all. But when I think about people I’d like to forget, that person is a version of myself from past situations who behaved in ways that make present-day me shudder.

Those versions of myself represent that person I’d rather forget, the person who invades my thoughts in the middle of sleepless nights. But David Bowie’s “Changes” represents my belief in the power and necessity of constant transformation. (This is also part of the reason why I tattooed Bowie’s name on my arm in the font of the Hunky Dory album where it first appeared.)

30-Day Song Challenge #3: A Song That Reminds Me of Summertime

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I’m going to do the 30-Day Song Challenge, which has recently gone viral. However, me being me, I’m going to expand on the concept to write a few lines about each of the songs I choose and why I chose them, as each of the songs I choose I am – for one reason or another – attached to.

Glen Campbell, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”

Traditionally, summer means fun to the vast majority of people. However, I have always been unable to live in the moment. Therefore, I have always accosted this season with feelings of loss and melancholia.

Therefore, the songs I associate with summer are those that evoke those feelings. The first that came to my mind was Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” who also happens to possibly be the first musicians who really made me appreciate the much-maligned country music genre.

However, it’s not so much the words of this song that made me choose it. It is the sound of the dramatic wall of strings, providing a spectacularly nostalgic backdrop, that best represents how I generally feel about the summer. (Not to mention that flute, which sounds to me like the voice of a ghost from my past.)

I should also say that I distinctly remember discovering this song the summer after I had finished my first year of college; an experience that had unexpectedly ended in disappointment. So, I could identify with the protagonist of this song leaving in a hurry because all I wanted to do was get away.

30-Day Song Challenge #2: A Song I Like with a Number in the Title

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I’m going to do the 30-Day Song Challenge, which has recently gone viral. However, me being me, I’m going to expand on the concept to write a few lines about each of the songs I choose and why I chose them, as each of the songs I choose I am – for one reason or another – attached to.

Sinéad O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2U” (1990)

Sinéad O’Connor, in the eyes and ears of many, may be a one-hit wonder. However, that is a shame, given that she has produced more than one hit throughout her troubled yet surprisingly prolific career.

Recently, she has hit the news in Ireland for a heartbreaking performance of Snow Patrol’s “Run” on TV in honor of Irish COVID-19 victims. Not bad for someone who, for as long as I can remember, has been painted in a negative light on the news for as long as I can remember.

However, if you are going to be remembered for just one song, you better make it a good one. And “Nohing Compares 2 U” is a bloody great one. Sure, Prince wrote it. But I’ve heard his version and it’s no definitive version.

However, it is the video to this song that has always truly mesmerised me. A simple yet powerfully effective close-up of O’Connor and her trademark skinhead look. She looks vulnerable yet beautiful. Recalls iconic imagery of Joan of Arc.

30-Day Song Challenge: A Song I Like with a Colour in the Title

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I’m going to do the 30-Day Song Challenge, which has recently gone viral. However, me being me, I’m going to expand on the concept to write a few lines about each of the songs I choose and why I chose them, as each of the songs I choose I am – for one reason or another – attached to.

Miles Davis, “All Blues” (1959)

Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album instantly popped in my head for this entry. I would have chosen the entire album. However, that would have betrayed the entire concept of this list.

I pretty much love each track on the LP equally. But the only reason why I chose “All Blues” over “Blue in Green” is because, thanks to Oscar Brown Jr., who added words to it later, I can sing lyrics to it whenever I get in the mood.

In fact, Chet Baker has a great version of this track – with Rachel Gould doing the singing parts wonderfully.

In any case, Kind of Blue is not just a modal jazz masterpiece. It was also the first full jazz albums I listened to from start to finish in my teens. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that. But given that I now work for an international jazz publication, that turned out to be quite an important event in my life.

Song of the Day: The Everly Brothers, “Love Hurts” (1960)

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“Love Hurts” was written by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. It was one of the many great songs they wrote for The Everly Brothers, though it is only credited to Boudleaux. Despite this being one of their finest songs, it wasn’t originally released as a single and was initially left buried in the tracklist of the famed duo’s 1960 LP, A Date with the Everly Brothers.

It is possible that the dark, sexy tones of the song discouraged producers from releasing it as a single. “Love Hurts,” in fact, is considered by many, to this day, as the ultimate anti-love. Exploring a more psychologically, painful side of love through the protagonist’s refusal of love’s common definition as a blissful state-of-being, it different from previous Everly Brothers hits – both the sweeter depiction of love offered in “All I Have To Do Is Dream” (1958) and the altogether more upbeat “Wake Up, Little Susie” (1957)

“Love Hurts” did get some minor recognition a year after its 1960 debut as the B-side to Roy Orbison’s single “Running Scared.” However, by many accounts, it was the Scottish band Nazareth’s interpretation of the song as a rock ballad 14 years later that turned it into a hit. Because it was widely unknown by then, Bob Leszczak writes that for most people, it “was a brand new song, and with this unique interpretation it truly was.”

“Some fools think of happiness, blissfulness, togetherness / Some fools fool themselves, I guess but they’re not foolin’ me / I know it isn’t true, I know it isn’t true / Love is just a lie made to make you blue. Love hurts.”

Song of the Day: The Contours, “Do You Love Me” (1962)

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Motown Records started off as a dance-oriented label, and one of their biggest smash hits was a 1962 song, “Do You Love Me,” that talks about a man who tries to regain the affections of a loved one by showing off his skills by performing several dances, including the mashed potato and the twist.

The song was written by Barry Gordy, who offered it to The Contours with the intention of giving it to The Temptations had the former group turned it down. It is worth noting that “Do You Love Me” clearly showcases Gordy’s songwriting talents, standing as a crossover of many genres, from rock and roll to soul to R&B, with this eclectic blend making it palatable across many culturally different audiences.

The Contours were a dance band from Detroit. They were initially turned down by Motown’s founder before getting a second audition for the label thanks to the band’s bass singer Hubert Johnson’s cousin, star vocalist Jackie Wilson. “Do You Love Me” was the biggest hit of their career; since debuting it in 1962, the song has been covered by countless bands and been featured in many films and TV shows – including a prominent featured spot on 1987’s Dirty Dancing, which prompted its re-release as a single.

“I can mash potatoes, I can do the twist / Well now, tell me, baby, do you like it like this?”

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Song of the Day: Paul McCartney, “Maybe I’m Amazed” (1970)

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Paul McCartney wrote “Maybe I’m Amazed” in London at the piano. While the song was finished on February 22, 1970, at Abbey Road Studios, it was actually written in 1969, just before the dissolution of The Beatles. In fact, this song is a tribute to his beloved Linda, for giving him strength after the Fab Four’s break-up.

Linda Eastman is actually the only other person featured on “Maybe I’m Amazed,” singing backing vocals. Every other sound and every other instrument here is performed by McCartney himself, though the drum parts seem very influenced by the playing style of Ringo Starr – so much so that for the longest time, I was convinced it was actually him.

The song was not originally released as a single, thought a promotional film for it was made and given its own slot as part of an episode of the famed Ed Sullivan Show. Nonetheless, it is clearly the best song of his debut solo album, McCartney, and regarded as one of his finest love songs.

“Maybe I’m a man, maybe you’re the only woman who could ever help me / Baby, won’t you help me to understand?”

Click here to buy my book of thoughts on film, Eye of the Beholder, on Amazon!

Song of the Day: Dionne Warwick, “You’ll Never Get to Heaven if You Break My Heart” (1964)

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Having established herself as the queen of unrequited love with previous recordings, it was refreshing to hear Dionne Warwick be less keen to stay with a guy who didn’t appreciate her so much by the end of a song.

Such was the case of “You’ll Never Get to Heaven if You Break My Heart,” another great collaboration between Warwick and the legendary songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. This cut marked a departure of sorts from her run of bossa nova beat hits, which culminated with the international success of “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.” It was also the song that solidified her reputation in Europe, where she would embark on a four-month-long tour.

“You’ll Never Get to Heaven if You Break My Heart” is a fascinating, quirky song not least of all because of the intriguing contrast it offers. While the dream-pop landscape deceives with its tinkling chimes, harps and bells, it’s fun to hear Warwick threaten her ungrateful love that if he will break her heart, he will essentially be faced with eternal damnation.

Song of the Day: The Ritchie Family, “The Best Disco in Town” (1976)

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The Ritchie Family was a Philadelphia-vocal group that came to prominence in the midst of the disco era. It featured Gwen Oliver and Cassandra Wooten, formerly of Honey and the Bees, plus Cheryl Mason Jacks. It was also a creation of Jacques Morali, who formed The Village People, and took its name from record producer Richie Rome.

“The Best Disco in Town” was the group’s first smash hit single; essentially, it is an infectious, fast-paced medley of some of the early hits of disco music, including references to such songs as “That’s the Way (I Like It),” “Love to Love You, Baby” and “Lady Marmelade” mixed with their own song “Romantic Love” from their then-forthcoming LP Arabian Nights.

The single became an international success and after hearing it, the group knew they had struck gold. Oliver recalled: “As much as we enjoyed all the little things that had come before, this was finally the moment where we had felt like we’d hit the jackpot and done something that had universal appeal.”

“If you make a request the DJ will do his best /To lay down your favorite song so you or baby hold on the past.”