Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Pete Seeger (1919-2014)
According to Ron Radosh, ". . . 'The Hammer Song,' known by most as “If I Had a Hammer,” was written by Lee Hays (not Seeger) as a song to be used in defense of the indicted Communists, and not as a clarion call for brotherhood." May of us were fooled way back when, we…
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So Long, Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger is dead at 94. Never forget, we are all just passing through. A great song, my favorite version being this one. More on Seeger on Saturday night. We'll have to get into his politics, but it would be a mistake to allow aversion to his political entanglements to detract from the enjoyment of…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: British Invasion, the Ds
Last time I left out one of the Cs, Petula Clark. A major omission, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Here's 1964's Downtown. From the sweet to the Dionysian hard core of rock and roll, Spencer Davis, Gimme Some Lovin. A great driving song. Try not to pound a hole in the dashboard. And…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: British Invasion, A – C
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the so-called British Invasion of 1964 – 1966. Here is one reasonably complete list of 'invaders.' Tonight, selections from A through C. Animals, We Gotta Get Out of This Place Animals, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood Beatles, You Can't Do That Beatles, It Won't Be Long…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Bridge Songs
In consideration of Governor Christie's troubles over a bridge, it seems more than fitting that we should devote tonight's 'show' to any bridge songs there might be, starting, naturally, with Bridge Over Troubled Waters, Simon and Garfunkel. The boys are getting old, but the magic is still there. On a lighter note, 59th Street Bridge…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Phil Everly (1939 – 2014)
Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers died on Friday at age 74. From the NYT: The Everlys brought tradition, not rebellion, to their rock ’n’ roll. Their pop songs reached teenagers with Appalachian harmonies rooted in gospel and bluegrass. [. . .] They often sang in close tandem, with Phil Everly on the higher note…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: ‘Last’ Songs for the Last Night of the Year
Last Night, 1961, The Mar-Keys. Last Date, 1960, Floyd Cramer. Save the Last Dance for Me, 1960, The Drifters. At Last, Etta James. Last Thing on My Mind, Doc Watson sings Tom Paxton Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream, Simon and Garfunkel. Last Man Standing, Ry Cooder Last Call, Dave van Ronk. "If I'd…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Politically Incorrect Tunes
No day without political incorrectness! And no night either. Ray Stevens, Ahab the Arab. Here is the original from 1962. In the lyrics there are references to two hits from the same era, Chubby Checker's The Twist (1960) and Lonnie Donegan's British skiffle number Does Your Chewing Gum Lose its Flavor? On second thought, the reference…
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Christmas Eve at the Oldies
Merry Christmas everybody. Pour yourself a drink, and enjoy. Cheech and Chong, Santa Claus and His Old LadyCanned Heat, Christmas Boogie Leon Redbone and Dr. John, Frosty the SnowmanBeach Boys, Little St. Nick. A rarely heard alternate version.Ronettes, Sleigh RideElvis Presley, Blue ChristmasCharles Brown, Please Come Home for ChristmasWanda Jackson and the Continentals, Merry Christmas…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Songs from Inside Llewyn Davis
The Llewyn Davis character in the brilliant Coen Bros. film suggests, I don't say represents, Dave van Ronk. So let's start with some tunes (not necessarily the renditions) from the movie done by the Mayor of MacDougal Street. Hang me, Oh Hang Me Green, Green Rocky Road Dink's Song. Marcus Mumford and Oscar Isaac version. …
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Friday Cat Blogging: Inside Llewyn Davis
To Scottsdale this drizzly dreary dark December morning to see the Coen Bros. latest on its opening hereabouts, Inside Llewyn Davis. A tale of two kitties is a sub-motif that symbolizes the self-destructive folksinger's troubles, but it would take a couple more viewings for me to figure it out. The film gripped me and held…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Texas Towns
A lonely soldier cleans his gun and dreams of Galveston. Marty Robbins messes with the wicked Felina in El Paso and comes to an untimely end. Dean Martin is down and out in Houston. George Hamilton IV pines after Abilene. Johnny Cash spies a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen in The Streets of…
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Bill O’Reilly, Mungo Jerry, and Immanuel Kant
Mr. Bill made a mistake the other night on The O'Reilly Factor when he said that the British skiffle group Mungo Jerry's sole Stateside hit, In the Summertime, is from '67. Not so, as I instantly recalled: it is from the summer of 1970. I remember because that was the summer I first read Kant,…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Obama Administration Theme Music
Knickerbockers, Lies Eagles, Lying Eyes Castaways, Liar, Liar Hank Williams, Your Cheatin' Heart Bobby Bare, Lullabies, Legends, and Lies President Pinocchio
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Spencer’s Picks
Spencer Case thinks I need to expand my musical horizons. I don't disagree. He writes, O.K. here are my five picks for good folk/rock music within the last ten years. First, "The Wrote and the Writ" by Johnny Flynn, an artist I've just discovered. I chose it because of the syncopated guitar and the…