“Following the ascension of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” to #1 in early February, the Beatles held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for three and a half solid months—longer than any popular artist before or since. Over the course of those months, the Fab Four earned three consecutive #1 singles (a record); held all five spots in the top five in early April (a record); and had a total of 14 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-April (yet another record). But just when it seemed that no homegrown act would ever stand up to the British invaders, one of least likely American stars imaginable proved himself equal to the task. On May 9, 1964, the great Louis Armstrong, age 63, broke the Beatles’ stranglehold on the U.S. pop charts with the #1 hit “Hello Dolly.”” via An unlikely challenger ends the Beatles’ reign atop the U.S. pop charts — History.com This Day in History — 5/9/1964.
Go for Baroque!
Lately I’m having a real hard time listening to music. I’m one of those people who find ‘deep meaning’ in songs and while my wife is away some songs make me feel happy, but others can make me feel a bit melancholy. I love Pandora and I use it while I’m working to build a radio stream around a song an artist or a genre to set a mood while I’m working on a site or doing other technical work. Today I’m going for Baroque…
“Responses to music are easy to be detected in the human body. Classical music from the baroque period causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, baroque music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music affects the amplitude and frequency of brain waves, which can be measured by an electro-encephalogram. Music also affects breathing rate and electrical resistance of the skin. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.” via Music and the Brain.
Listen to this…
See what I mean? You feel better already don’t you. Look into Pandora while you’re at it — it’s free if you don’t want to use it on your phone but I gladly pay the $36 annual fee…
Song for you far away…
…”Sitting here all alone is bringing it on again, I’m gone again.
Sitting here thinking of you is driving it home again.
This is a song for you far away, far away. This is a song for you far away from me.
Open the door it takes me back, oh it takes me back.
Mention your name and I’m gone again, oh I’m gone again.
This is a song for you far away from me, far away from me.”
via James Taylor :: Song for You Far Away Lyrics – Absolute Lyrics.
Maybe I’m amazed…
This one goes out to my beautiful wife…
“Maybe I’m a man and maybe I’m a lonely man
Who’s in the middle of something
That he doesn’t really understand
Maybe I’m a man and maybe you’re the only woman
Who could ever help me
Baby won’t you help me understand…”
via Paul McCartney :: Maybe Im Amazed Lyrics – Absolute Lyrics.
Presty the DJ for May 7
The number one album today in 1977 was the Eagles’ “Hotel California”. More at Presty the DJ for May 7 | The Presteblog.
Songbird…
One of the best lovesongs ever…
With A Little Help From My Friends
“What do I do when my love is away.
(Does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(Are you sad because you’re on your own)
No, I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm, get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm, gonna to try with a little help from my friends”
via WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS LYRICS – THE BEATLES.
If I can’t have you…
The number one British album today in 1977 was the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” via Presty the DJ for May 6 | The Presteblog.
Gene Vincent records “Be-Bop-A-Lula”; This Day in History
“When a music critic wants to indicate that a song lacks lyrical sophistication, he or she will often refer to its lyrics as being of the “moon in June” sort. It’s a label left over from the Tin Pan Alley era, when even great composers like Irving Berlin churned out a hundred uninspired Moon/June tunes for every highly original classic like “Blues Skies” or “Puttin’ On The Ritz.” If rock and roll has an equivalent in the area of clichéd lyrics, it is probably “Baby” and “Maybe”—a rhyming pair made most famous in the smoldering early-rock classic “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, by the rockabilly legend Gene Vincent on this day in 1956.” via Gene Vincent records “Be-Bop-A-Lula” — History.com This Day in History — 5/4/1956.
Don’t Give Up…
…has been one of my favorite love song duets since 1986 when the album first came out. I love the ‘dialogue’ between the two lovers. Here are both versions…
Which one do you like better? I think I’m partial to the first…
This Day in History; James Brown is born…
“”Soul Brother #1,”The Godfather of Soul,” “Mr. Dynamite,” “Sex Machine,” “The Minister of the New New Super Heavy Funk.” These are some of the names by which the world would eventually know James Joseph Brown, Jr., the revolutionary musical figure who was born on this day in 1933. The story Brown himself would often tell is that he appeared stillborn when he first came into the world, but that an aunt attending his birth managed to breathe life into him.
Long before he changed the course of 20th-century popular music and crowned himself “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” little James Brown may well have been the hardest working boy in Augusta, Georgia, where he was sent to live with his Aunt Honey Washington at the age of six. He’d spent the previous several years with his father, James, Sr., who scraped out a meager living selling pine tar to the local turpentine factory in the woods of Barnwell County, South Carolina, just down the Savannah River from Augusta. James’s mother had left with another man when James was only four, and while Aunt Honey would play something of a maternal role for James, the fact that she ran a brothel and sold moonshine for a living made for anything but a traditional upbringing.” via James Brown is born — History.com This Day in History — 5/3/1933.
Thanks for the happy memories, Presty. I grew up listening to WLS and I agree — it WAS great. Now I think WXRT in Chicago is the best station in the world…
Click ‘read more’ for the rest of Presty’s musical selections — follow his blog while you’re there. btw, here’s my favorite clip…
Today is the 52nd anniversary of what I used to consider the greatest radio station on the planet in its best format:
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Madman Across the Water
Is there anything better than vintage Elton John? I think not! Elton John — Madman Across the Water (Live) – YouTube. Here’s the original… Continue reading “Madman Across the Water”
My Love’s Leavin’…
My love is leaving today…
…for a two week trip to Italy; Rome and the Amalfi coast — a gracious gift from her sister. Fortunately for me, I think she’ll return. Hope so anyway. Me? I’m stuck in Algoma with 4 boys and a business to run [not to mention pregnant sheep that might deliver any day]. In her honor, here are three versions of the first love song I ever ‘gave’ her way back in 1987… Continue reading “My Love’s Leavin’…”
Don’t Give Up (You’re on the Right Track)
Go to the source: Don’t Give Up (You’re on the Right Track) [BLOG] « Positively Positive.
Or, enjoy this song from one of my favorite musicals, Pippin:
Or this one from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, one of my all time favorite duets and love songs…
Howlin’ for You
This is a test post of the new Spotify shortcode capability…
Ryan Star – Brand New Day (studio version)
Dream
Send me a sign
Turn back the clock
Give me some time
I need to break out
And make a new name
Let’s open our eyes
To the brand new day
It’s a brand new day
via Ryan Star – Brand New Day (studio version) – Lie To Me theme song – YouTube.
I loved Lie to Me and I love this song, too! Crank it! Want more Ryan Star? Continue reading “Ryan Star – Brand New Day (studio version)”
[Some of] My Favorite U2 Videos…
It’s no secret that I’m a U2 fan and have been for decades since the first time I saw them live and in concert in Justin Hermann Plaza in San Francisco in what became known as the ‘Save the Yuppies’ Concert…
Here are some of my my all time favorite U2 songs in video…
Radiohead’s “Creep,” Sung by Prince and Carrie…
Going viral now… Warning: NSFW!
Manolakos’s version does what covers ought to do; it picks up a song that has sunken into throwback territory, dusts it off, and treats it like a classic.
The New Yorker – Radiohead’s “Creep,” Sung by Prince and Carrie….
Losing My Religion
“Oh life, it’s bigger
It’s bigger than you
And you are not me”
Bright, shiny objects! 
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