Category: Monday’s Music Moves Me

Monday’s Music Moves Me: Summer 2019 Playlist!

Summer playlist time again! I was initially going to use my playlist from last year, but said “nah, that’s cheatin’.” My next thought was to do the #1 hits from a random summer, such as 1974, but the more I did, the more I realized I’d already done that and you probably were sick of the songs. So I created a new playlist with summerlike songs. Some of them aren’t specifically summer songs, but they work.

  1. The Jamies, “Summertime, Summertime” Brother and sister Tom and Serena Jameson had a minor hit with this in 1958, when it reached #26. After a bunch more records that didn’t go anywhere, the re-released it in 1962, and it reached #38.
  2. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, “Summer Nights” From the 1978 movie Grease, which was based on the musical of the same name. John and Olivia, as Danny and Sandy, are talking about their summer vacations, totally unaware that they’re talking about each other.
  3. Johnny Rivers, “Summer Rain” Johnny’s tribute to the summer of 1967, also known as The Summer Of Love. I was in San Francisco that summer, but only being 11, I didn’t partake in any of the festivities, so to speak…
  4. Kool & The Gang, “Summer Madness” A great instrumental that still gets a lot of play on Smooth Jazz stations, from their 1975 album Spirit Of The Boogie.
  5. Ramsey Lewis featuring Earth Wind & Fire, “Sun Goddess” Some more Smooth Jazz from a couple of Chicago acts. Title track from Ramsey’s 1975 release.
  6. Martha & The Vandellas, “Dancing In The Street” Summer’s here and the time is right… From 1964, when it went to #2.
  7. Linda Ronstadt, “Heat Wave” This could have been a Martha & The Vandellas twofer, then I remembered that the lovely Ms. Ronstadt had done it as well. 1975 is well represented in this list: this is from her Prisoner In Disguise album from that year, and reached #5.
  8. The Motels, “Suddenly Last Summer” From Berkeley, California, these New Wavers reached #9 in 1983 with this one.
  9. The Trashmen, “Surfin’ Bird” You have to include a surf tune if you’re talking summer, and The Trashmen are considered the greatest landlocked (they’re from Minneapolis, Minnesota) surf band ever. This is a combination of two R&B hits by The Rivingtons, “Bird Is The Word” and “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”. This went to #4 in 1963.
  10. Corey Smith, “The Baseball Song” Baseball players are sometimes referred to as “the boys of summer,” right? Corey’s from outside Athens, Georgia, which we all know by now is a sort of hotbed of musical activity. After graduating from UGA, he taught Geography, History and Guitar at North Gwinnett High School (the other side of Atlanta from me) until he decided to make music his life.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for June 24, 2019.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, Michelle and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Monday’s Music Moves Me: Follow-Up

Thought it might be good to follow up on some of the artists that I’ve profiled here and introduce a couple you might not have heard of.

  1. Leonid & Friends, “Spinning Wheel” Having conquered the Chicago catalog, they’ve moved on to cover Blood Sweat & Tears. Lead singer Vasily sounds like Russia’s answer to David Clayton-Thomas.
  2. Maneli Jamal, “El Cielo in Zihua” Maneli has been moving right along, this time adding a little flamenco styling.
  3. Tina Guo, “God Of War Main Theme” Tina’s been traveling a lot, and I think she and her fiancé have set a date. Hasn’t affected her cello or erhu playing, and she’s still quite attractive.
  4. Lari Basilio, “Five-Two” Here Lari is demonstrating a new set of Seymour Duncan pickups, but as you can tell, she’s still sounding great.
  5. Covet featuring Yvette Young, “Falkor” Yvette and Covet are still out there cranking along. She took time early this year to go play the guitar in the snow.
  6. Angelina Jordan, “Shield” Angelina is 13 now, and still has a remarkable voice. She’s also writing some songs, including “Shield,” which she came out with late last year. She’s finding her own voice, and what a voice it is.
  7. Jamie Dupuis, “Only Time” Jamie’s keeping on keeping on, mastering the harp guitar. This is a beautiful cover of a beautiful Enya song.
  8. Emil Ernebro, “Misty” One of our new artists, although he’s been around for a while and has a sizable library on YouTube, about half of which is recordings of songs, the other half being instructional videos. Emil is from Denmark and interprets songs of all genres, such as his reading of Errol Garner’s “Misty.”
  9. Lindsey Stirling, “Roundtable Rival I think I did a song of Lindsey’s a while ago, and said at that time I should feature her. Few have mastered the art of dancing and playing the violin like she has, and like Tina Guo she takes a rock attitude to a classical instrument.
  10. Ruby Jay, “Young Love” You might have seen Ruby Jay as Holly Hobbie on Hulu, and you’ll definitely see her this fall in the new CBS show The Unicorn. I’m very impressed by her: at 14, she’s an actress, model, dancer, singer and songwriter. When I was 14 I was tripping over my own feet.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for June 17, 2019. We love you, Marie, and hope you’ll be back with us soon!

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, Michelle and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Monday’s Music Moves Me: Happy Birthday, Marie!

Today is Marie’s birthday! Who’s Marie? Our very own Xmas Dolly, of course! Here are The Crests, from 1958, “Sixteen Candles.”

For your birthday, Marie, I made you a playlist of songs that start with “J,” which is what you wanted, right? Went a little crazy here, but I think you’ll like it…

  1. The Rolling Stones, “Jumping Jack Flash”
  2. Van Morrison, “Jackie Wilson Said”
  3. Thin Lizzy, “Jailbreak”
  4. Elvis Presley, “Jailhouse Rock”
  5. Eagles, “James Dean”
  6. Oliver, “Jean”
  7. John Lennon, “Jealous Guy”
  8. Louis Armstrong, “Jeepers Creepers”
  9. Tommy Tutone, “Jenny *867-5309)”
  10. Allman Brothers, “Jessica”
  11. The Archies, “Jingle Jangle”
  12. The Bee Gees, “Jive Talkin'”
  13. Kool & The Gang, “Joanna”
  14. Sammy Davis, Jr. & Laurindo Almeida, “Joey, Joey, Joey”
  15. Stevie Winwood, “John Barleycorn Must Die”
  16. Pentatonix & Dolly Parton, “Jolene”
  17. John Fred & His Playboy Band, “Judy In Disguise”
  18. Lesley Gore, “Judy’s Turn To Cry”
  19. The Pointer Sisters, “Jump (For My Love)”
  20. Harry Nilsson, “Jump Into The Fire”
  21. Louis Prima, “Jump, Jive & Wail”

Again, Happy Birthday, Marie! That’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for June 10, 2019.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, Michelle and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Monday’s Music Moves Me: RIP Leon Redbone

Dickran Goballan, better known as Leon Redbone, died last Thursday from complications related to dementia. He was 69. He was certainly one of the more distinctive performers, with his gravelly voice, Panama hat, and dark glasses, but under all the trappings he was a great guitarist and a man who had a great love for music from an earlier era. I can’t claim to be an expert on him, since I only had one of his albums (1988’s No Regrets), but I just loved the way he sang and his choice of material. Here are ten videos that I offer as a tribute to a fine musician and a real character.

  1. “Laughing Blues, Polly Wolly Doodle, Auld Lang Syne” Johnny Carson loved Leon and had him on The Tonight Show on a few occasions, including one year on New Year’s Eve. You might recognize some of the musicians backing him, including Doc Severinsen on trumpet, Tommy Newsom on clarinet, Ross Tompkins on piano, and Ed Shaughnessy on drums. Johnny calls him over after the first couple of songs and asked him to do “Auld Lang Syne.” Since Leon wasn’t sure of the words, Merv Griffin, who was a guest that night, prompted his way through it.
  2. “Marie” Leon made an appearance on a show called Wylde Rice (about which I know next to nothing) in 1980 and played this. I dedicate it to our Fearless Leader, Marie Moody aka Xmas Dolly, who has been dealing with life and hasn’t joined us in a few weeks. We love you, Marie, and hope you come home soon.
  3. 1982 Budweiser beer commercial You know me and commercials…
  4. “Shine On, Harvest Moon” Before I had heard Leon for myself, an acquaintance mentioned that she had seen this weird guy singing this one. The first time I saw him on a TV show, he sang this, and I knew who my acquaintance was talking about.
  5. “Champagne Charlie” Title track from his 1978 album.
  6. Theme to Mr. Belvedere You know me and TV themes… From the 1985-1990 series that starred Christopher Hewett, Bob Uecker and Ilene Graff.
  7. “Ain’t Misbehavin'” The “Fats” Waller classic.
  8. “Are You Lonesome Tonight” A favorite of mine from No Regrets. I think I like his version better than Elvis’s. Don’t kill me.
  9. “Mr. & Mrs. Used To Be” Also from No Regrets, a duet with Lori Lynn Smith. Their voices are perfect together.
  10. “Frosty The Snowman” From his 1987 album Christmas Island, a duet with Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John. I’ve played this a couple of times before, mostly at Christmas. I first heard it when I was out of town on business and feeling down. It cheered me right up.

Fare thee well, Leon Redbone. YouTube has a channel dedicated to his music (which has been renamed the “Leon Redbone Tribute Channel” since Thursday) that has all of his recorded music available for streaming.

That’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for June 3, 2019.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, Michelle and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.

Monday’s Music Moves Me: Oh, Hell No!

Michele chose “songs about heaven or hell” as the theme for today’s M4, but I’ll be honest: songs about hell bother me. So I’ve foregone songs about hell and instead give you ten songs about heaven, only one of which mentions that other place.

  1. Three Dog Night, “Heaven Is In Your Mind” A song originally found on Traffic’s debut album, 1968’s Mr. Fantasy. I’ve always preferred the way Three Dog Night does it.
  2. Bryan Adams, “Heaven” This song was included on his 1984 album Reckless and was the third single from it, and it reached #1 in 1985. It was Bryan’s first #1 hit.
  3. Heaven Sent commercial I had to include this, because it has one of the greatest lines I’ve heard: “Suddenly, you’re an imp wearing angel’s wings.” Heaven Sent, for those of you too young to remember, was a light fragrance intended mostly for teenaged girls.
  4. Bob Dylan, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” From Dylan’s 1973 soundtrack album for Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. Dylan had a small role in the movie. It was a Top 20 hit in most of the world, reaching #12 in the US (#10 according to Cash Box) and #5 on the AC chart.
  5. a-ha, “Mother Nature Goes To Heaven” I think the only song by a-ha that I was familiar with was “Take On Me,” and that was more for the videography than the song itself. Nevertheless, they continue to record and appear in concert. “Mother Nature Goes To Heaven” is an album track from their 2009 release Foot Of The Mountain.
  6. Louis Prima, “Pennies From Heaven” A standard from 1936 that was recorded by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and too many others to name. Louis Prima gives it his inimitable treatment.
  7. Maurice Chevalier, “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” From the 1958 movie Gigi. Maurice Chevalier was a classic, as was the movie and the song. Just to show you how times have changed, there were several comments on YouTube that suggested it was a song about pedophilia. As my mother (God rest her soul) would say, “Oh, for God’s sake!”
  8. Chris Rea, “Tell Me There’s A Heaven From Chris’s 1989 release The Road To Hell. I fought with myself over whether to include this, then I realized I couldn’t not include it. It’s a little heavy and a bit of a tearjerker, but a beautiful song nevertheless.
  9. Fats Domino, “My Blue Heaven” Another standard, this one from 1927. Fats’s version was released in 1957 and was a two-sided hit with “I’m In Love Again”; it reached #19 on the Billboard Top 100 chart (this was before the Hot 100) and #5 on the R&B chart.
  10. Ozark Mountain Daredevils, “If You Wanna Get To Heaven” From 1974 and their eponymous debut album, it reached #25 on the Hot 100. The line “If you wanna get to heaven, you gotta raise a little hell” is my lone concession to the theme.

And that’s Monday’s Music Moves Me for May 27, 2019. Have a good Memorial Day and remember the men, women, and animals who gave their lives for this country.

Monday’s Music Moves Me is sponsored by X-Mas Dolly, Callie, Cathy, Alana, Michelle and Stacy, so be sure and visit them, where you can also find the Linky for the other participants.