11 November 2021 - Jewel - You Were Meant For Me

In 1995, Alaska native Jewel Kilcher dropped her last name and her debut album, Pieces of Me.  The album was a hit and generated several singles.   This, her 2nd single from that album, would prove to be the biggest hit of her career, reaching #2 on the US Singles chart. 

The song itself seems like a sad song - it is clearly narrated by a woman struggling with a breakup she doesn't want or now regrets. It can, however, be interpreted as happy - she's getting on with her life despite these feelings, while not losing the emotion that seems sad but is more hopeful.  

10 November 2021 - Lakuna - Lemongrass

Under the Lakuna name, Newport, RI graphic artist David Narcizo has done some music - along with his wife, Melissa - that is more audio experimentation and less traditional music, but using obscure sound samples and tape loops still make for excellent and entertaining sound.  

This song, from 1999's Castle of Crime, is perhaps Lakuna's best known song. It builds from a very industrial opening into a creamy melodic center, with a stark finale.  

9 November 2021 - Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is

This 1984 song was Foreigner's biggest hit in the United States AND the UK, the two home countries of the band.  Lead singer Lou Gramm hails from the greatest city in America, Rochester, NY.  I'm not at all biased.

Gramm's soulful voice is what makes this such a great song.  It's clearly a love song - but it's a deeper love song, which goes right to the fear of that initial love - not being sure if you can face the heartache and pain that could happen, but at the same time, love finds the narrator.  Backed by the New Jersey Mass Choir, the song gets a larger-than-life feeling that matches the subject matter.   

8 November 2021 - John Waite - Missing You

This song is a complete lie.  

Well, the chorus is, anyway.  But haven't we all been there?  Our heart is broken, and we're missing someone terribly, and we're trying not to miss them, and we're insisting that we are fine and don't miss them.

Well, John Waite really was missing his lover in this 1984 #1 hit.   There is, after all, a storm raging through his frozen heart.   

John Waite extended his lie by including Alison Krause on a rerecorded version in 2007.  It hit #34 on the Country Charts.   

7 November 2021 - Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

"Mrs. Robinson" may be the song most associated with the Mike Nichols film The Graduate, but it wasn't the song used in the iconic final scene.  That song was the first Simon and Garfunkel #1 hit, "The Sound Of Silence", which Nichols convinced the duo to rerecord for the soundtrack.   Paul Simon wrote the song in the echo of his dark bathroom - hance the sound of silence.   

The song is sad and stark in its imagery, while retaining a harmonic beauty.  It picks up tempo as it roles along, ending with an abrupt deadening in tempo.   

In context, here is that last scene of the movie.  The song is slightly different in this version, and it matches the feeling of the scene - the unknown, not knowing what's next, the good and bad of the reality of what just happened hitting you.  There's some excitement to this, and at the same time, fear. 

5 November 2021 - The Pointer Sisters - I'm So Excited

This single was released TWICE - once in 1982, and once in a remixed form in 1984, when it became a top 10 hit.  Written by the three sisters, it's a song about.... being excited.  What did you think I was going to say?

In all seriousness, it's a sexually charged song, which was atypical for a girl group in the early 1980s.  This video is for the 1982 release, but is the gold standard, featuring all three sisters getting ready for a formal event.  It also matches the lyrical content of the song. 

You all came for the Jessie Spano version.  I know this.   Here it is.  

4 November 2021 - Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride

Remember when life was simpler?  Remember when songs were written just to show off a sweet new stereo?

Well, that's exactly why Steppenwolf wrote and performed this song.  Sure, there might have been some drug references in there, but at the end of the day, it was a song about a sweet new stereo.