This includes random thoughts about music.

The last episodes of two excellent series ended with very appropriate and convincing background music. The Americans ended in 2018 with With or Without You by U2 in 1987, as the two main figures/spies, Phillip and Elizaberth Jennings, rushed back to the Soviet Union, without their children. Northern Exposure ended with the rendition of Our Town by Iris Dement in 1992, in which the singer was leaving her own town, as we the audience is leaving Cicely, Alaska in 1995. (8/13/24)

The introduction to a song can add or subtract from it. Richard Carpenter’s tweaking of the beginning of one song sung by the Carpenters, made a previously recorded song much better by the adding a longer, perfect introduction in one case (a viewpoint widely held I think) and subtracting from it in another (which is my opinion at least).  The first was the extension of the great introduction in their classic hit Close to You, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, and previously recorded by Richard Chamberlain.  The second was A Song For You, written by Leon Russel and sung by him and many others. The long introduction  was laborious and lessened the song I think. Removing it (and, of course, her voice) made the Karen Carpenter version fantastic.  (10/3, 17/22)

For some time I have thought Ella Fitzgerald, Karen Carpenter and (the Israeli singer) Rita to be the best female singers, with their distinctive voices and phrasing. I still do. I have also long loved the way the female lead in the song Georgy Girl sang it with energy; she sang it as well I have heard any song sung.  This was Judith Durham of the Seekers, who, by the way, passed away two months ago. I just learned that Elton John called hers “the purest voice in popular music.” (10/3/22)

How could I not have mentioned until two, now lost, outstanding, creative, and distinctive singers/songwriters from the 1960s and 1970s, Jim Croce and Laura Nyro?! Jim Croce wrote a dozen or so classics and sang them in his distinctive manner that I love, until he died in a plane crash on his way to a gig. Currently, my favorite is I Got a Name, which is the only major song he sang that he did not write—but it sounds like a “Jim Croce song.” Laura Nyro, now pretty much forgotten except for top pop-rock musicians and her fans, wrote a series of brilliant songs, characterized by their musical novelty,  cleverness and distinctive nature. They were covered and made famous by other major singers and groups, with versions that I like, but each sounds like and seems to have the same arrangement as her version–which are quite good and which are preferred by many–but which never made the charts. I really like Wedding Bell Blues. Her creativity influenced a generation of renowned musicians. After a burst of activity at a very young age,  she became periodically inactive and then active, and died at a quite young age.  (10/25/21) Two new seder songs have been added to this site for 2022, adapted from Jim Croce and Laura Nyro songs. (3/15/22)For some time I was uncomfortable with the lyric to the 1977 disco hit Native New Yorker “To set you free from New York City” (i.e. to set the native New Yorker free from the City). Such an escape may have been widely desired during the down days of NYC of the disco era of the 1970s, but not afterwards–when the City was again viewed as a great place to live. Perhaps, times have now changed enough for this lyric to be appropriate again–but hopefully this will not be the case for long. (2/14/21)

I had thought that Clarence Clemons wrote his own solo in Bruce Springsteen’s Jungleland, and often looked for evidence for this online After learning that Springsteen kept on revising that part until it was right-I am amazed, but not shocked that he himself wrote it (as would also make sense since he is the credited songwriter). (2/14/21)

Songs and music from songs often become part of commercials and films. In yesteryear, there were also jingles from commercials and TV show themes (the best of which, I think, was that to Laverne and Shirley, which was the highlight of the show, in my opinion). At times I “hear” the tune and words to the Vita Herring jingle from the 1960s, though I have not actually heard it for decades (and I don’t mean the “Make your day a little brighter, Eat a little pickled herring from Vita” jingle.) I cannot locate the complete lyrics. It began “If you had one wish; What would you desire?; There’s a special dish; Of which I never tire; Vita herring is the name; In cream sauce or in brine.” [It continued, with less certainty about the lyrics] “Vita herring is the name; It is so Divine; Gee, I like that dish; I’ll serve it everyday; and if (are very lucky) I’ll serve you Vita pickles too”. ) (12/30/19)  (updated version 6/13/22, using the phrase “party snacks in wine” from another Vita herring commercial, and these are likley part of the uncertain lyrics) “If you had one wish; What would you desire?; There’s a special dish; Of which I never tire; Vita herring is the name; In cream sauce or in wine.’ Vita herring is the name; as party snacks in wine, I like that dish; I’ll serve it everyday; and if (are very lucky) I’ll serve you Vita pickles too”. )

Some some lyrics are bad. Some lyrics are terrible. Some lyrics are even worse. The lyric in MacArthur Park (by Jimmy Webb, sung by Richard Harris and by Donna Summer) “Someone left the cake out in the rain; I don’t think that I can take it; ‘Cause it took so long to bake it; And I’ll never have that recipe again; Oh, no” is stupid and makes no sense, though it sounds important and I like hearing the song. (I think many share these thoughts.) (12/30/19)

Some things would appear not to mix, such as the great singer Bille Holiday and the song My Yiddishe Mameh. Billie Holiday was a jazz singer with the ultimate creamy, and very distinctive, voice. My Yiddishe Mameh was a popular and nostalgic song, about earlier Jewish life in Europe, in the 1920s and then again in the 1950s in the American Jewish (and broader American) community. Billie Holiday, whose background did not include Jewish life in Europe, sang this song in a rehearsal session in 1956, which was never released at the time, though it is now available and interesting to hear. (12/30/19)

Relatively recently I “discovered” the early 1960s singer Joanie Sommers, when I heard her renditions of One Boy and Lot of Livin’ to Do from Bye, Bye Birdie.  She was known for her one chart hit, Johnny Get Angry, and never became a big star. She had (and presumably still has) a great, textured, expressive, swinging, lively, and jazzy voice that went beyond that often needed for popular “top 40” tunes, and was major, though obscure talent. She was spokesperson singer for Pepsi, and it is ironic that the song One Boy had Coke (Coca-Cola) as a lyric.(12/30/19)

Those at the top of the game, do not follow through with some of their creations that turn out to be gems (at least to others). Years ago Bob Dylan composed but never released Rock Me, Mama (1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack sessions), influenced by lyrics of earlier jazz musicians. Ketch Secor expanded the chorus and melody, named it Wagon Wheel, and it became a hit (and very good song) for Old Crow Medicine Show in 2004 (and earlier), Nathan Carter in 2012,  and (most notably) for Darius Rucker in 2013. (12/27/19)

Almost all at the top of their profession are stars in one area and not in any other. George Gershwin was at the pinnacle of both popular and classical music. (12/17/19)

Lyrics and Grammar:  

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones is a double negative that would work be correct as I Can Get No Satisfaction or I Can’t Get Any Satisfaction (which would be a terrible title and lyric). The former works, but the emphasis of the t in Can’t followed by that in Get does sound good. (12/27/19)

Sometimes bad grammar in song lyrics is fine because it sounds better (poetic license). Sometimes good grammar sounds better. When Roberta Flack sings “And then he looked right through me, As if I wasn’t there” in Killing Me Softly With His Song, it makes me cringe; with proper grammar it sounds better: “And then he looked right through me, As if I weren’t there.” (12/20/16)

Favorite songs: (7/12/15, updated 7/21/15, updated 1/17/16, updated 12/10/21)  (There are so many from the Beatles, Dylan, The Four Seasons, …; here are some others; more on the way.)

America (Simon and Garfunkel) The lyrics and music of one pulse of America in the 1960s.

How Can Love Survive (Rogers and Hammerstein) Richard Rodgers did not include it in the movie version of The Sound of Musics (except as as part of a musical interlude) because it never became a hit.  I include because of its clever lyrics.

Jungleland (Bruce Springsteen) Clarence Clemons on sax!!!!! (and Roy Bittan on piano is great too).

Looking for Love (sung by Johnny Lee) County meets pop, great music and lyrics .

More Than A Woman (the Bee Gees version) Disco was fine, and this is an anthem.

One Fine Day (The Chiffons) The rock energy, that piano.

Rosalita (Bruce Springsteen) The youthful enthusiasm and energy.

So Much in Love (the Tymes version) Cool; soul meet doo-wop.

That Sunday, That Summer (Nat King Cole) Velvet smooth and nostalgic.

Wedding Bell Blues (Laura Nyro song, 5th Dimension and Laura Nyro versions) Great music, smart lyrics, energetic (entering and climbing higher on my list)

When a Man Loves a Woman (Percy Sledge) The heart-wrenching soul.

Without a Song (Frank Sinatra version) Great winsome song, great Sinatra.

Best “album” (in my opinion and not just my favorite): 

Porgy and Bess  (1958 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong) (12/17/19)

Songs with lyrics that are now archaic: 

The lyrics to the Rodgers and Hart song Manhattan were designed to be archaic, and archaic in the near term, and were often updated. The original 1925 version had the (Hart) lyric “Our future babies; We’ll take to Abie’s Irish Rose; I hope they live to see it close.” It later changed to “And South Pacific is a terrific show they say;
We both may see it close some day” and then to “And My Fair Lady is a terrific show they say; We both may see it close some day,” as when Ella Fitzgerald sang it.  Other song references are also long in tooth, such as those about journeying to Niagara Falls (as once once popular for honeymooners) and the pushcarts on Mott Street. In any case, Manhattan is a terrific song I say. (12/30/19)

(11/14)

Come Up to My Place (from the 1944 musical On The Town) is purposely full of references to places and events that no longer existed in 1944, including going to the “The Hippodrome” (a theater that had closed in 1939) and getting “some tickets for ‘Tobacco Road’” (a play that had closed on Broadway in 1941, with revivals that had closed in 1942 and 1943)

Tossin’ and Turnin’  (as sung by Bobby Lewis in 1961) includes “The clock downstairs was strikin’ four,Couldn’t get you off my mind, I heard the milkman at the door” (‘Milkmen’ used to delivery milk directly to your home.)

Return to Sender  (as sung by Elvis Presley in 1962) includes two examples  “Return to sender, address unknown.  No such number, no such ‘zone’” AND “So then I dropped it in the mailbox and sent it special D” (Two digit postal zones in a city were supplanted by five digit zip codes starting in 1963. ‘Special delivery’ was terminated by the U.S. Postal Service in 1997; it has been superseded by one-day mail and the like.)

The Leader of the Pack (as sung by The Shangri-Las in 1964) includes “I met him at the ‘candy store’.” (As used, it was a largely New York City term for a little store selling candy, newspapers and sundries is rarely used now.)

Brown Eyed Girl (as sung by Van Morrison in 1967): “Going down to the old mine with a ‘transistor radio’.” (now it would be integrated circuit smartphone)

Kodachrome (as sung by Paul Simon in 1973) includes “Kodachrome, They give us those nice bright colors, They give us the greens of summers.” (‘Kodachorme” was a brand name of a type of camera ‘film’ by Kodak until 2009, when cameras had film.)