28 July 2023 - Elvis Presley - In The Ghetto

My parents were country music fans and we listened to it in our family van all the time.

One of the cassettes my parents had was a Mac Davis compilation.  Included on this was a song called "In The Ghetto", a very sad song about a child who grows up poor and completes a vicious circle of violence and poverty.  

It would be many years before I learned that was an Elvis Presley song.

It would be a few years after that before I learned that Mac Davis actually wrote the song and was covering a song HE wrote - a year after Elvis turned it into a hit song.

This was Elvis's first release after his 1968 comeback special - and it ended up being a worldwide hit.  It remans to this day one of my favorite Elvis Presley songs (don't tell my parents).  

27 July 2023 - Sinead O'Connor - Take Me To Church

I felt this was a good bookend to yesterday's post - because it came from the other end of Sinead O'Connor's career.  This song was the big single from her 2014 album, I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss, which would be her last.  

I actually found this song hoping to post a cover of hers that wasn't a Prince song over on Totally Covered.  I thought this was the Hozier song.   

It is not the Hozier song.   Sinead O'Connor wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the music for this one.  

The video, directed by James Lees, is particularly striking for me.  It superimposes images of Sinead O'Connor from her "Nothing Compares 2 U" video over her in the present day - with hair (that she removes at approximately 2:00 in the video - it's a wig).  

I encourage you, however, to pay attention to the lyrics.  It's raw and honest performance by O'Connor.  

26 July 2023 (Special Edition) - Sinead O'Connor - Mandinka

I really REALLY REALLY dislike having to do special edition posts.  

For those new to the blog, I do these when a musician passes away, so, you can probably figure out what's going on here.

This song was Sinead O'Connor's third single, and her first in heavy MTV rotation, from her debut album, The Lion and The Cobra, which is fantastic.  It's a straightahead rock song, and it led to her becoming an international superstar and being in the position to tear the pope's photo in half on Saturday Night Live. 

"Fight the real enemy." - Sinead O'Connor

I was supposed to see Sinead O'Connor live in 1995, as part of the Lollapalooza tour.  She departed about a week before I was scheduled to attend.  I'm sorry that I never got to see her live, Her eccentricity and raw spirit are going to be missed in the music world. 

26 July 2023 - Nanci Griffith - It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go

The late Nanci Griffith was quite possibly the greatest songwriter of her generation.  She released so many critical acclaimed albums throughout her long career.

At the time of its release in 1989, Storms was not one of those albums.  It was a huge departure for her stylistically - from country-folk to a more pop-folk sound, including this song, which ended up being one of the biggest personally recorded hits she had in her career (Bette Midler had a much bigger hit with one of her songs, and frankly, so did Kathy Mattea).  Critics did not like her change in style, which didn't stick, but also, these were still great songs that told great stories.  

And this song tells a fantastic story, and it does so beautifully.

And the lyrics are so poignant, even today, more than thirty years on.  Few songs give me actual chills - but this one does.  

"This will always be my, uh, my personal best favorite" - Nanci Griffith

"If we poison our children with hatred

Then, the hard life is all that they'll know" - Nanci Griffith

25 July 2023 - The Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice

Remember when the (Dixie) Chicks got in a fight with George W. Bush over the Iraq War.

1) They were right (and I'm pretty sure he'd agree now).

2) This better-than-it-should-be song, which was extremely controversial at the time of its release, ended up being one of their biggest hits.

This song hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006 and REENTERED in the top 10 in 2007, after the song won three Grammys, including Song and Record of the Year (the two biggest awards).  Co-writen by the Chicks (they changed the band name in 2020 to avoid association with the Dixie Swastika) and Dan Wilson (the lead vocalist of Semisonic), it is an angry song.  Anger does, however, bring about good music.  

It was an extremely controversial song.  Controversial songs can be good songs, though, and in this case, it is.

I considered including their Grammy performance, which was excellent, but their performance on the TV show VH1 Storytellers was even better and more sublime.

24 July 2023 - Kelly Willis - Take Me Down

As I write this, there is a country song with a lot of controversy surroudning it (mostly based upon its music video).  It's a big hit song.  It's also not very good.  

By the way, I am presently sitting in a small town, saying that, so you could say I tried it ina  small town.  (I feel like that joke isn't going to make sense in a month).

So, at a loss on what to write, I decided to do a week dedicated to country music that doesn't suck.

Of course I'm opening the week with Kelly Willis.  I've written about her before, but everything I've written this far is about her MCA years.  Her three albums for MCA were excellent but poorly marketed.  Her first album for Rykodisk, on the other hand, What I Deserve, was very well marketed.  Its first single, today's song, is excellent, much like her earlier work, and actually got label support.

The song would go on the broad critical accalaim, as would the album, and deservedly so.  Co-written by Kelly Willis and Gary Louris of the Jayhawks, it is now a part of the American music fabric.

Of course she performs the song live.  And it's delightful.

 

21 July 2023 - Billie Eilish - my strange addiction

My Strange Addiction is an American documentary television series that premiered on TLC on..... no, wait.  I mean, that's true, but that's not what this blog is about.

Let's, instead, talk about Billie Eilish's strange addiction..... The Office.  Not that this song is about that - it's probably more tightly tied to the TLC show and perhaps a romantic addiction.  However, this song opens with a sample of Season 7, Episode 17 of The Office, titled "Threat Level Midnight" and contains other sample throughout.  It is a must-see episode that was requested as a going-away gift for Steve Carell.

The song was written and produced by Finneas O'Connell, Billie Eilish's brother.  They are frequent collaborators, and this song might be their high water mark.  It was a mid-level hit - peaking at #43 on the US charts and a top 10 hit elsewhere.  

By the way, their mom, Maggie Baird, once had a voice role on The Office.  Season 4, Episode 18, "Goodbye, Toby (part 1)".  She's the one on the phone with Phyllis when she's asking about an anti-gravity machine.

This isn't an official video for the song.  No such video exists.   However, Billie Eilish has fans, and they made a pretty good video that includes a lot of The Office clips, too.  

This is a song she clearly loves performing live - and the crowd, who knows all the words, love it, too.