Category: Music
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: A Temporary Retreat into the Past; Back to the Fray Tomorrow
Freddy Fender, Cielito Lindo. Tex-Mex version of a very old song. Arizona's own Marty Robbins, La Paloma. Another old song dating back to 1861. Barbara Lewis, Hello Stranger, 1963. 1963 was arguably the best of the '60s years for pop compositions. Emmylou Harris, Hello Stranger. Same title, different song. This one goes out to Mary Kay F-D. Remember…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Ramblin’ Charles Adnopoz
At a book giveaway hereabouts the other day I did snag me a copy of Dave van Ronk's memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street. I'll have to dig into it one of these Saturday nights and pull out some tunes that you've never heard before. In memory of the Mayor, here is his version of…
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Saturday NIght at the Oldies: Ordinals and Cardinals > 10
I did zero to ten a few years back. What songs can you think of that feature ordinals or cardinals greater than tenth or ten? Well, racking wracking my brains there's Connie Stevens, Sixteen Reasons. With footage from David Lynch, "Mulholland Drive." Simon and Garfunkel, 59th Street Bridge Song. What a great song! Slow down you…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Weights and Measures
The Band, The Weight The Byrds, Eight Miles High The Rolling Stones, Moonlight Mile The Who, I Can See for Miles Cannonball Adderley, 74 Miles Away. So titled because it is In 7/4 time. Dave Brubeck, Take Five. So titled because it is in 5/4 time. Cream, Spoonful. Heavy, man. The Lovin' Spoonful, Six O'Clock Gene Pitney, 24 Hours from Tulsa Beach…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Sweet and Wholesome
I once asked a guy what he wanted in a woman. He replied, "A whore in bed, Simone de Beauvoir in the parlor, and the Virgin Mary on a pedestal." An impossible trinity. Some just want the girl next door. Bobby Darin, Dream Lover. With pix of Sandra Dee. Audrey Hepburn, Moon River Gogi Grant, The Wayward Wind, 1956.…
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Remembering Harry Chapin
Excellent live version here by the late Harry Chapin (1942-1981). I heard it the other day on the radio while driving and was reminded of what a great writer and performer he was. The last verses are particularly moving: And she walked away in silence,It's strange, how you never know,But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,Such a…
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It’s Only Rock and Roll
Christopher Caldwell reviews Jann S. Wenner, Like a Rolling Stone: A Memoir at Claremont Review of Books. Theme music.
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The Everly Brothers
Tunes and commentary by Scott Johnson. With a tip o' the hat to Bro Inky.
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Dylan’s Philosophy of Modern Song
From Variety: Of the dozens or even hundreds of singers and songwriters that Bob Dylan extols in his new book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” there is one that seems to stand out even more than the others, so effusive is Dylan’s praise. This performer, he writes, is “downright incredible” and “lived in every moment…
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A Sentimental Old Song . . .
. . . and a couple of guitar slingers 'of note,' one no longer among us. Of time and the river.
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Christmas Eve at the Oldies
Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales The following selections and commentary courtesy of Edward Buckner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LndB94i2F_0 “Dieux Parmi Nous” (God among us) by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. The glorious final movement from Messiaen's nine-part La Nativité is performed by Richard Gowers on the organ of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. It is a tradition…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Tunes from Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets (1973)
Ronettes, Be My Baby (opening sequence). Rolling Stones, Tell Me (Keitel's entrance). Rolling Stones, Jumpin' Jack Flash (De Niro's entrance). Smokey Robinson, Mickey's Monkey Derek and the Dominoes, I Looked Away Marvelettes, Please Mr. Postman Little Caesar and the Romans, Those Oldies but Goodies Johnny Ace, Pledging My Love Paragons, Florence
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Tom Merton, Baez, Dylan, and Ry Cooder
Thomas Merton, though 51 years old in 1966, was wide open to the '60s Zeitgeist – all of it. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume Six, p. 93, entry of 10 July 1966: Borrowed a record player and played Joan Baez over again — and now really know "Silver Dagger" (before I had the melody confused with "East…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Torch Songs
"A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on." (Wikipedia) Sarah Vaughn, Broken Hearted Melody. YouTuber comment: "Late 1959. I was in 4th grade, listening to KFWB Los…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Rock and Roll Apologetics
A curious sub-genre of meta-rock devoted to the defense of the devil's music. The Showmen, It Will Stand, 1961 Bob Seger, Old-Time Rock and Roll But does it really "soothe the soul"? Is it supposed to? For soul-soothing, I recommend the Adagio movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Adagio molto e cantabile. Rolling Stones, It's Only Rock and Roll (but I Like…