Like many of you, my parents were Simon & Garfunkel fans. I grew up listening to their Greatest Hits on repeat. So, for a lot of us, this song is like a big ol' bowl of comfort food.
Now that I'm an adult, and I know that the song was, in Paul Simon's words, inspired directly by "Mary Don't You Weep", a pre-Civil War spiritual about the Bible story of Lazarus being raised from the dead, I hear it a lot differently. Originally written for guitar, Paul Simon moved it to piano to keep the gospel feel and message.
And can we talk for a minute about Art Garfunkel's powerful voice that completely OWNS this song? It's an instrument in and of itself.
10 April 2020
10 April 2020 - lovelytheband - broken
Lovelytheband has been around since 2016. This, their debut single from 2017, remains their only US Top 30 hit (although they get a lot of rock and alternative radio airplay with subsequent singles). If you're only going to have one hit, though, it should be a gem like this one!
The lyrics themselves aren't terribly wholesome at first - it's a late night pickup - but it gets sweeter as it goes along, as our two characters discover that they're both broken, giving them a connection and something to grow on. It's a beautiful synth-pop modern love song.
So, what if you took away the synth - does the pop-rock vibe still work for this song? Thankfully, lovelytheband gives us the answer to this question in this live performance.
It does, if you were wondering my opinion.
The lyrics themselves aren't terribly wholesome at first - it's a late night pickup - but it gets sweeter as it goes along, as our two characters discover that they're both broken, giving them a connection and something to grow on. It's a beautiful synth-pop modern love song.
So, what if you took away the synth - does the pop-rock vibe still work for this song? Thankfully, lovelytheband gives us the answer to this question in this live performance.
It does, if you were wondering my opinion.
09 April 2020
9 April 2020 - Daddy Yankee & Snow - Con Calma | Daddy Yankee & Snow feat. Katy Perry - Con Calma
I bet you all thought my first Daddy Yankee post would be "Despacito", didn't you?
No.
This re-imagination of Snow's "Informer" is somewhat spectacular, and Daddy Yankee had the presence of mind, as well as the respect for those who came before him in reggaeton to INCLUDE Snow in this. It would become a minor hit in its own right.... and the biggest selling Spanish-language single for the first half of 2019.
....but a Katy Perry remix shot this into the top 40, making Snow a THREE hit wonder..... and this a Hall of Fame post. See if you can catch all the callbacks to Teenage Dream.
The Katy Perry version received some bad reviews - one writer implied that the person who suggested it might be trying to sabotage her career (Pitbull, for the record, and he isn't) , but a largely Spanish-language song reached the top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 - so I think there's some credibility to the collaboration.
I mean, it can't be worse for her career than her decision to a an American Idol judge....
No.
This re-imagination of Snow's "Informer" is somewhat spectacular, and Daddy Yankee had the presence of mind, as well as the respect for those who came before him in reggaeton to INCLUDE Snow in this. It would become a minor hit in its own right.... and the biggest selling Spanish-language single for the first half of 2019.
....but a Katy Perry remix shot this into the top 40, making Snow a THREE hit wonder..... and this a Hall of Fame post. See if you can catch all the callbacks to Teenage Dream.
The Katy Perry version received some bad reviews - one writer implied that the person who suggested it might be trying to sabotage her career (Pitbull, for the record, and he isn't) , but a largely Spanish-language song reached the top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 - so I think there's some credibility to the collaboration.
I mean, it can't be worse for her career than her decision to a an American Idol judge....
08 April 2020
8 April 2020 - Collective Soul - Shine
Of course we're all looking for a sign. We're all in this crazy quarantine, and we all want out. Collective Soul spoke to this long before all our worlds changed. And they wrote a song about Heaven letting light shine down.
That doesn't mean they're a Christian hand. This is a label they fought for years - but the chorus is "basically a prayer". That's not me saying that. That's Dean Roland, who is in the band - and the brother of the guy (Ed Roland) who sang and wrote the song. At any rate, it's an uplifting song from a period when the dark angst of grunge ruled the day.
That doesn't mean they're a Christian hand. This is a label they fought for years - but the chorus is "basically a prayer". That's not me saying that. That's Dean Roland, who is in the band - and the brother of the guy (Ed Roland) who sang and wrote the song. At any rate, it's an uplifting song from a period when the dark angst of grunge ruled the day.
07 April 2020
7 April 2020 - Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
It isn't often that a huge hit song features a deep baritone on lead vocal. This one, the only American hit by Canadian band Crash Test Dummies, is the only one I can think of. However, for this band that had six Top Ten hits in Canada, it stalled at #14 in their home country.... so it was a disappointment.
It is widely considered to be a bad song - frequently featured on bad song lists - but I disagree. All three verses speak to various reasons for isolation - and the chorus is a sad resignation. It's a deeper song than it gets credit for.
Plus, it's nice to hear a popular song that I can actually sing along with.
The third verse does get a little flack for being anti-church - and it's always been my belief that it is specifically directed at one Christian denomination, and not church in general. Vocalist Brad Roberts seems to clarify in this 2010 live performance..... when he whispers the name of a specific denomination during that verse...
Clearly, they cared about not offending fans, especially when they were big hitmakers - so they did have an alternative third verse about a kid whose mom threw out his tonsils in a jar. Check it out below.
It is widely considered to be a bad song - frequently featured on bad song lists - but I disagree. All three verses speak to various reasons for isolation - and the chorus is a sad resignation. It's a deeper song than it gets credit for.
Plus, it's nice to hear a popular song that I can actually sing along with.
The third verse does get a little flack for being anti-church - and it's always been my belief that it is specifically directed at one Christian denomination, and not church in general. Vocalist Brad Roberts seems to clarify in this 2010 live performance..... when he whispers the name of a specific denomination during that verse...
Clearly, they cared about not offending fans, especially when they were big hitmakers - so they did have an alternative third verse about a kid whose mom threw out his tonsils in a jar. Check it out below.
30 March 2020
30 March 2020 - Boston - More Than a Feeling
We all wish we had Brad Delp's voice here.
I do, anyway.
He didn't write the song, though. Tom Scholz - the true brains behind Boston who went so far as to invent equipment to create their unique sound without synthesizers - wrote it - about the feelings an old song can bring back. It is no coincidence that the guitar riff at the chorus is oddly reminiscent of "Louie, Louie".
You never heard that before, but you do now, don't you?
It isn't the old song referenced, though. That would be "Walk Away Renee" by the Left Banke, a song that lyrically inspired this one.
The song itself is very complex and took Scholz several years to complete. It features a dramatic key change between verse (D Major) and chorus (G Major), with a significant falsetto - which brings us back to Brad Delp's vocal range, which was incredible....
....and a power he still had almost thirty years later. I marvel to this day at the emotion he brought to his performance. Sadly, Delp died of an apparent suicide in 2007. Here's one of the last performances I could find of him performing the song that made him a legend.
I do, anyway.
He didn't write the song, though. Tom Scholz - the true brains behind Boston who went so far as to invent equipment to create their unique sound without synthesizers - wrote it - about the feelings an old song can bring back. It is no coincidence that the guitar riff at the chorus is oddly reminiscent of "Louie, Louie".
You never heard that before, but you do now, don't you?
It isn't the old song referenced, though. That would be "Walk Away Renee" by the Left Banke, a song that lyrically inspired this one.
The song itself is very complex and took Scholz several years to complete. It features a dramatic key change between verse (D Major) and chorus (G Major), with a significant falsetto - which brings us back to Brad Delp's vocal range, which was incredible....
....and a power he still had almost thirty years later. I marvel to this day at the emotion he brought to his performance. Sadly, Delp died of an apparent suicide in 2007. Here's one of the last performances I could find of him performing the song that made him a legend.
29 March 2020
29 March 2019 - Kansas - Hold On
I rarely post on a Sunday, but this song seemed appropriate.
Kansas was already a pretty popular band when they released Audio-Visons in 1980. This song, the first single from that album, was a top 40 hit, is my favorite Kansas song, and it is a beautiful song with a beautiful story.
Kerry Livgren - the violinist and one of the leaders of this band - discovered Christianity in the late 1970's. He wrote this song to try to convince his wife to also convert to Christianity. It was successful, by the way - she did convert and they are still together.
Example: in the third verse, you will hear the line "Outside your door, He is waiting, waiting for you.". Note the capitalized "He" - the song is about putting faith in God.
However, this caused some discord in the band - that led to lead vocalist Steve Walsh leaving the band (he would return in 1985 after Livgren left). So, a new vocalist was found - John Elefante. Those familiar with Christian rock know that he had a pretty successful solo career post-Kansas. Livgren didn't know of Elefante's Christianity when the hiring occurred - but that drove the direction of the next several Kansas albums.
This version I post is of Elefante-era Kansas. It seemed appropriate.
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