I worked with this guy who claimed he had a perfect system for winning at roulette in Las Vegas. It took him 45 minutes to explain it, and I can’t remember any of it. We were having our big user conference in Las Vegas one year, and he gave someone he worked with (I worked in a different office from him) $20 and explicit instructions on how to play it. Needless to say, she lost it all on the first ball.

Anyway, I had two candidates for my Song Lyric Sunday entry yesterday. The one I didn’t use ended up being a good start for this round of YouTube Roulette. Each song led to another, and they all seemed to be from the late ’60’s and early ’70’s.

I’ll just list them out, in the interest of time…

1. The Five Americans, "Western Union"
2. Every Mother’s Son, "Come On Down To My Boat"
3. Keith, "98.6"
4. The Cyrkle, "Red Rubber Ball"
5. Cliff Nobles, "The Horse"
6. The Monkees, "Mary, Mary"
7. Harry Nilsson, "Everybody’s Talkin’"
8. Mark Lindsay, "Arizona"
9. The Fortunes, "You’ve Got Your Troubles"
10. The Grass Roots, "Midnight Confessions"
11. The Stone Poneys, "Different Drum"
12. Oliver, "Good Morning Starshine"

I’m the guest conductor this month on this weekly excursion into music, and would give you a Linky at this point if WordPress didn’t prohibit me from embedding something that requires JavaScript. However, Cathy, Stacy, or Alana can, so visit one of them and you’ll find the Linky there.

Also, if it’s not too much trouble, I have a Battle of the Bands going on right now, so if you’d be so kind and stop by there and share your opinion. Thanks!

That’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for October 18, 2021.

I’m the guest conductor this month, and I’m supposed to tell you to add your name and a link to your post to the Linky if you want to participate with us. Unfortunately, I can’t add the Linky itself to my post, but Cathy, Alana, and Stacy all have the Linky on theirs, so stop by one of their sites and add your name to their Linky, if you’ve written a Monday’s Music Moves Me post.

Anyway, I asked all the participants in this weekly orgy of music to provide "bird" songs: songs about birds, songs with birds in the name or lyrics, songs with birds in them, or songs by bands named for birds. I came up with these twelve…

1. Al Jolson, "When The Red-Red Robin Comes Bob-bob-bobbin’ Along": A 1926 song by Harry Woods. There have been numerous versions of this song, but Jolson’s might be the earliest.
2. It’s A Beautiful Day, "White Bird": It’s a Beautiful Day was a band out of San Francisco who didn’t reach the level of success that other San Francisco bands (e.g. The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane) did. This was their one big single, which reached #3 in San Francisco but only #118 nationwide.
3. The Byrds, "Eight Miles High": Moving down the West Coast to Los Angeles and a slightly more successful band, The Byrds released "Eight Miles High" in 1966. Influenced by Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane, this is generally considered the first psychedelic rock song. It reached #14 in 1966.
4. The Beatles, "And Your Bird Can Sing": From the British version of the album Revolver, it was relocated by Capitol Records to Yesterday… And Today. Written by John, who considered it "pretty paper on an empty box," it’s probably best known for the dual guitar solo that was originally played by Paul and George.
5. Arthur Lyman Group, "Yellow Bird": The Haitian song "Choucoune" is a 19th Century song by Michael Mouléart Monton based on the poem by Oswald Durant. The English version, "Yellow Bird," was originally done by the Norman Luboff Choir in 1957. Arthur Lyman, an exponent of "exotica" music, did this instrumental version in 1961, when it reached #4 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Easy Listening chart.
6. Little Jimmy Dickens, "May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose": Inspired by the comic putdowns of Johnny Carson, this was a 1965 hit for Little Jimmy Dickens, who reached #1 on the Country chart and #15 on the Hot 100.
7. Crow, "Evil Woman": The Minneapolis-based band Crow had a hit in 1969 with this song, which reached #12 on the Hot 100 and #65 in Australia. Black Sabbath covered this on their debut album. Those horns!
8. Selah, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow": Selah is a contemporary Christian trio, two of whose members from sub-Saharan Africa. "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" is a 1905 hymn by Civilla D. Martin and Charles H. Gabriel.
9. Julie Andrews, "Spoonful Of Sugar": Written by the Sherman Brothers for the 1964 Disney movie Mary Poppins. The kids are Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber, who played brother and sister in two other Disney films, The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome-Mobile.
10. A Flock Of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)": Reached #9 in the US and #1 in Australia in 1982.
11. The Beatles, "Blue Jay Way": A song by George Harrison from the album Magical Mystery Tour.
12. James Baskett, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah": From the 1946 Disney film Song of the South, it won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1947. The movie was based on the "Uncle Remus" stories of Joel Chandler Harris.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for October 11, 2021.

First of all: I am your guest conductor for the month of October, which means I should be putting the Linky here in my blog. Unfortunately, since I’m a cheapskate, I can’t embed Javascript into my posts. Therefore, if you’re participating in MMMM this week, you might want to head to Cathy’s or Alana’s and add the link to the Linky there. Thanks!

When I first heard Robert Cray’s hit single, "Smoking Gun," back in 1986, my reaction was that this was a new take on the blues, one that took Muddy, the Wolf, Buddy and Junior, and the others, and added a sense of melody, mixing in elements of soul and rock and still making it sound like something you might hear in one of the blues clubs on the South Side of Chicago. Of course, I ran out and bought the album, Strong Persuader, and played the grooves off of it, and wondered when he’d come out with another album, because I needed more.

That’s when I learned that Strong Persuader was in fact Robert’s fourth album, that there were three previous albums, two on High Tone Records and one on a small label called Tomato Records. I ran out and bought those three on cassette (remember that format?) and played them until they wore out and wrapped themselves around the capstan in my Honda’s tape deck. (See how far we’ve come?)

Anyway, Cathy played Strong Persuader on her blog yesterday (she does MMMM on Sunday), and I thought that was a great idea, so I’m playing his second album, 1983’s Bad Influence.

The track list, from Wikipedia:

1. "Phone Booth" (Robert Cray, Richard Cousins, Dennis Walker, Mike Vannice) (3:32)
2. "Bad Influence" (Cray, Mike Vannice) (2:56)
3. "Grinder" (Cray, David Amy) (4:09)
4. "To Make a Comeback" (Eddie Floyd, Joe Shamwell) (5:52)
5. "So Many Women, So Little Time" (Oscar Washington, David Amy, N.T. Clemens) (4:01)
6. "Where Do I Go from Here" (Cray, Mike Vannice, Dennis Walker) (4:03)
7. "Waiting for the Tide to Turn" (Cray, Mike Vannice, Dennis Walker) (3:31)
8. "March On’" (Cray) (2:25)
9. "Don’t Touch Me" (Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Shawn Dewey) (3:25)
10. "No Big Deal" (Cray, David Amy) (4:14)
11. "Share What You’ve Got, Keep What You Need" (Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper) (3:50)
12. "I Got Loaded" (Robert Camille) (3:37)

Album personnel:

• Robert Cray – vocals, guitar
• Richard Cousins – bass
• David Olson – drums
• Mike Vannice – keyboards, tenor saxophone
• Warren Rand – alto saxophone
• David Li – percussion on "No Big Deal"
• "Night Train" Clemens, Philip Walker, Tony Mathews – backing vocals on "So Many Women, So Little Time"

Hope you’ve enjoyed Robert Cray’s Bad Influence. That’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for October 4, 2021.

Our guest conductor for one more session, Cathy, tells us today is "National Scarf Day – Songs that express your fashion style or songs about being wrapped up in something physically or emotionally." Well, I did both, and neither. Here are ten songs that more or less fit the theme.

1. The Chieftains with Mick Jagger, "Long Black Veil": A 1959 country ballad by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin, originally done by Lefty Frizzell. The Chieftains used this as the title song for their 1995 album, where they worked with popular musicians and which is one of their best-selling albums.

2. Ella Fitzgerald, "Shiny Stockings": A standard written by Frank Foster of The Count Basie Orchestra. Video is from a 1964 appearance in Japan.

3. Marty Robbins, "A White Sport Coat and A Pink Carnation": A 1957 song written and sung by Marty. It went to #1 on the Country chart and #2 on the Billboard Pop chart.

4. Bobby Vinton, "Blue Velvet": A song written in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris, originally done by Tony Bennett in 1951. Bobby’s 1963 cover reached #1.

5. Eric Clapton, "Bell Bottom Blues": Written by Slowhand and originally done by Derek & The Dominos on their album Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs.

6. The Kinks, "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion": Written by Ray Davies and released as a single in 1966. It reached #4 in the UK and #36 in the US.

7. The Beatles, "Baby’s In Black": From Beatles For Sale in the UK and Beatles ’65 in the US.

8. The Hoosier Hot Shots, "When You Wore A Tulip": The Hoosier Hot Shots were a band who entertained on stage, screen, radio, and records from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. The song was written by Percy Wenrich and Jack Mahoney and was performed by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in the 1942 film For Me And My Gal.

9. Neil Diamond, "Forever In Blue Jeans": Neil wrote this with Richard Bennett and recorded it for his 1979 album You Don’t Bring Me Flowers. It reached #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and #20 on the Hot 100, as well as #10 in Canada.

10. Bob Rivers, "Walkin’ Round In Women’s Underwear": I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play this Christmas song (actually has nothing to do with Christmas). The comments are hilarious.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for September 27, 2021.

I frequently find new-to-me performers and decide that they’re worth sharing with the rest of you music fans who might be looking for something a little different to listen to.

A blogger I read featured The Snake Charmer yesterday. I’ve followed her for a while, and I don’t think I’ve shared her, so let’s fix that. Here’s what she’s shared on her YouTube page:

Welcome to my channel!! My name is Archy J, i play the Bagpipes, im from India. Awarded by the President of India as "India’s First Professional Female Bagpiper". I am a self taught musician and hence do not play by any rules 😉 Everything you did not know or see a Bagpipe could do, is here on my channel. I make unique versions of popular songs, movie themes, anime openings, metal songs on the Bagpipes. I play an electronic Bagpipe to be able to transcend over different genres of music & has much less limitations. Being self taught was one of the toughest thing to do for me, as i didnt have a teacher here but my determination and passion for this instrument sailed me through the impossible. This is the only "JOB" i do, and i rely on music for my income. So if you’d like to support me please try to buy my songs from iTunes, Amazon or Stream it on Spotify. If you want to get a little more personal with my career, please support me on Patreon

Here are five songs I think you’ll enjoy…

1. Pirates Of The Caribbean Theme Song: A cello-and-bagpipes duet with orchestral backing.
2. Star Wars Theme, Indian Style: She plays several songs from the Star Wars franchise backed by an Indian wedding band.
3. Irish Punjabi Party (New Way Forward): A combination of Irish music and dance, Punjabi music and dance, and rap by Raoul Kerr.
4. Wellerman Sea Shanty: Sea shanties became very popular on YouTube over the past year and a half as people looked for a way to deal with being locked up in the house. Here she adapts one for the bagpipes.
5. Amazing Grace: About the most traditional thing she has on her channel. She joins forces with a bagpipe band from Barcelona. The video features some beautiful scenery from both Spain and India.

She has all the standard social media at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Anyway, while I was picking songs for Archy, I ran across a very talented guitarist by the name of Alyona Vargasova. She’s from Krasnodar in Russia and hasn’t shared much more than that on YouTube, but has social media on Instagram, Facebook, and VKontakte, in case you use that. You can also sponsor her on Patreon. Here are five by her…

Most of these songs are originals, except for the Vivaldi piece.

1. Journey Thru The Milky Way (her first single)
2. Antonio Vivaldi, "The Four Seasons – Summer (Presto)"
3. Spiral River Of Light
4. Whisper Of Different Stars
5. Dancing With A Black Hole

You can find all of these (except the Vivaldi piece) on her EP on Bandcamp.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the music of these two talented young women. That’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for September 20, 2021.