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Songs that have many meanings to you

memories of Scudder Hall

sister sledge.we are family For the prompt “A song that has many meanings to you,” I tried to stay within the sprit.

Hang On to Your Life – Guess Who (#43 in 1971) – A rock song,. the album version of which ends with Psalm 22. Yes, I’ve added it to a Biblical mixed tape.
Harvest Moon – Neil Young (1992). For a previous relationship, I considered this “our song,” complete with dancing. Still makes me slightly misty-eyed.
When Love Comes to Town – U2/B.B. King (#68 in 1989)- the BB elements make it one of my favorite U2 songs.
Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’Connor (#1 for four weeks in 1990) – Prince wrote this and his version is very good. But this take moves me greatly.

Losing My Religion – R.E.M. (#4 in 1991) – As a Christian, I relate to this a LOT, actually.
Celtic Rock – Donovan (1970). This reminds me of gatherings of my friends in the Mid-Hudson of New York State, and specifically of Scudder Hall, my dorm as a freshman in college at New Paltz.
Let My Love Open The Door – Pete Townshend (#9 in 1980). Townshend used to complain that people thought this was a romantic love song when it was supposed to be about a higher power.

King Harvest – The Band (1969) – The last song from one of my favorite albums from high school days. A friend of mine edited the high school yearbook and on the page for the band was a picture of The Band.
Levon – Elton John (#24 in 1972). I’m not sure WHAT this song is about, and I’m OK with that. It’s either named for Levon Helm of The Band or not.

We Are Family – Sister Sledge (#2 for two weeks pop, #1 RB in 1979). Strong affiliation with the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, the team with Dave Parker and Willie “Pops” Stargell. I rooted for them against the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, and the Pirates came back from a 3-1 deficit to win.
Elvis Is Dead – Living Colour (1990). Some folks said that a black band shouldn’t be doing rock. Living Colour ignored that talk.

Songs that make me think about life

Gloria Gaynor has a new album

gloria gaynor testimony With the prompt, “A song that makes you think about life.” I think, “Yowza – LOTS of songs fit into that category.” Such as these:

Until I Die – Beach Boys. It’s such a lovely song about mortality. Someone once suggested my church choir ought to sing it. The song’s theology doesn’t quite mesh for that to happen.
“I’m a cork on the ocean
Floating over the raging sea
How deep is the ocean?
I lost my way”

Cancer – Joe Jackson. It’s such a CHEERY song for such a terrible disease that has claimed the lives of several people I have known.
“No caffeine, No protein
No booze or Nicotine”

Church – Lyle Lovett. A rebellious song about Sunday morning service. And the damn thing makes me hungry to boot.
“And the preacher he kept preaching
He said now I’ll remind you if I may
You all better pay attention
Or I might decide to preach all day”

How Cruel – Joan Armatrading. I’ve referred to this song more than once on this blog.
“I heard somebody say once I was way too black
And someone answers she’s not black enough for me”

The Ostrich – Steppenwolf. From that first album.
“But there’s nothing you and I can do
You and I are only two”

Logical Song – Supertramp – I saw someone slagging it on Facebook recently; reason enough to include it.
“I said, watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical
Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal.”

I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor. Here’s a Rolling Stone article and a CBS News piece , both from June 2019, with her promoting her new gospel album, Testimony. She turns 70 on September 7, 2019.
“Weren’t you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I’d crumble
Did you think I’d lay down and die?”

Fight the Power – Isley Brothers. Self-evident.
“Time is truly wastin’
There’s no guarantee
Smile’s in the makin’
You gotta fight the powers that be”

The Message – Grand Master Flash & the Furious Five
“It’s like a jungle sometimes
It makes me wonder how I keep from goin’ under”

Leslie Green and Larry Graham

“Dig a little deeper”

As you may recall, my sister Leslie had a terrible bicycle accident on June 4, 2018. In case I had forgotten, she recently sent me a picture of her, taken about day 12 of her month-long stay in the hospital.

After a few more operations and treatments, she is well on the road to recovery. She’s not 100%, but she is SO much better.

Besides the accident being all sorts of scary, that narrative all but obliterated the great time she and her daughter Rebecca Jade had just a couple week earlier. Rebecca was touring on a fortnight of cruises with Dave Koz and his band throughout Scandinavia, starting in Copenhagen.

Leslie participated in the “So You Think You Can Jam” talent contest. She has been singing about as long as I’ve known her, from the MAZET Singers in AME Zion Church in Binghamton, to various school choirs, to the Green Family Singers. She performed in a bunch of gigs in the Northeast – Crystal Ship! – and then for over a half dozen years in Puerto Rico.

She STILL sings in church and occasional local gigs. Every interview that Rebecca Jade has done, she’s rightly credited her mom to get her to sing harmonies as well as the melody.

When Leslie and Rebecca got to jam with Larry Graham, that was very cool. Larry, in case you didn’t know, was the bass player for Sly and the Family Stone. Then he fronted his own group, Graham Central Station.

So, for Leslie’s XXth birthday, I thought I’d link to some Larry Graham music. Happy birthday, sis. Enjoy the tunes.

Sly and the Family Stone

Dance to the Music, #8 pop, #9 RB in 1968 – “I’m gonna add some bottom”
Everyday People, #1 for four weeks pop, #1 for two weeks RB in 1969
Sing A Simple Song, #89 pop, #28 RB in 1969 – “I’m walkin’, walkin’ walkin’, walkin’, walkin’ in the street”
I Want to Take You Higher, #38 pop in 1970, #24 RB in 1969 – “Music’s gettin’ longer too”

You Can Make It If You Try – “Dig a little deeper”
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), #1 for two weeks pop, #1 for five weeks RB in 1970
Everybody Is a Star, b-side, 1970 “‘Til the sun that loves you proud When the system tries to bring you down”
Family Affair, #1 for three weeks pop, #1 for five weeks RB in 1971

Graham Central Station

We’ve Been Waiting
Can You Handle It, #49 pop, #9 RB in 1974

Chart action per Billboard; RB = R&B/soul

Fly me to the blue moon of Kentucky

Piano Sonata No. 14

christmas 2015 full moon In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, some songs about earth’s natural satellite. There are a LOT of songs about the moon. Here’s a list from Ranker.

I decided to just pick the songs I knew and which came to mind, by the artists I most associate with performing them. Many folks covered Moon River and Blue Moon, e.g.

Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest, #13 in 1973; couldn’t remember the group’s name
Moondance – Van Morrison, #92 in 1977; this was overplayed in my listening circle, to Stairway to Heaven proportions, but it’s a great song
Moonshadow – Cat Stevens, #30 in 1971. Now going by Yusuf/Cat Stevens
Walking on the Moon – Police
Moon River – Andy Williams. I used to watch his variety show in the 1960s. This track from Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer was his signature song

Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra; he also recorded Full Moon and Empty Arms (1946); and The Moon Was Yellow (1962)
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater revival, #2 in 1969. CCR also had #2 hits with Proud Mary, Green River, Travelin’ Band, and Lookin’ Out My Back Door. But the band never had a Billboard #1 hit single.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Judy Collins
Blue Moon of Kentucky – Bill Monroe
C Moon – Paul McCartney and Wings

Old Devil Moon – Frank Sinatra; he also did songs featuring the sun and the stars; what celestial guy
Moonlight in Vermont – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Man on the Moon – REM, #30 in 1993 from the movie about the late comedian Andy Kaufman
Blue Moon – the Marcels, #1 for three weeks pop, and #1 for two weeks soul in 1961
It’s Only a Paper Moon – Nat King Cole

Moonlight Sonata – Piano Sonata No. 14 -Beethoven
Moonlight Mile – Rolling Stones, from Sticky Fingers, my RS album of my college years
Moonlight Seranade – Glenn Miller. I can hear the announcer’s voice, even now.
Moonlight Bay – Doris Day
Kiko And The Lavender Moon – Los Lobos. I had this on a future Saturday list, but opted for it here.

A song you’d sing a duet in Karaoke

Joan Baez. Bill Wood The prompt was: A song you’d sing a duet with in Karaoke. Hmm, I do sing, but I’ve NEVER sung Karaoke; never been that drunk, I suppose.

The answer would be anything for which I can sing harmony. I love singing harmony far more than the melody. I tend to hear it instinctively, the bass line for sure, but also some alto parts.

As noted, I want to sing the Jermaine parts for the Jackson Five.

Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and the Pips. I always wanted to be a Pip. I mentioned this five years ago:
“In 1977, the Pips (minus Gladys) appeared on comedian Richard Pryor’s TV special that aired on NBC. They sang their normal backup verses for [the song]; during the parts where Gladys would sing, the camera panned on a lone-standing microphone.”
This routine slayed me. I haven’t seen it in decades, yet it still makes me laugh, and I cannot explain why.

You Can Make It If You Try – Sly and the Family Stone. The Larry Graham part is low in my range, but I’d sing it anyway. There’s a whole family of shared vocals, including by the Temptations and Prince that would make the list.

Shredding the Documents – John Hiatt. That Beach Boyesque part
Long May You Run – Neil Young. Especially that Beach Boys reference
In My Room – the Beach Boys

Help – the Beatles. This is something I have actually sung with my daughter. She in turn taught it to a friend of hers. I was VERY proud; inculcation completed!

Shower the People – James Taylor – the standard harmony, but also the lower vocal near the end
Church – Lyle Lovett
The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel, excluding that verse added for the live album (“after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same”

I should throw in a couple songs I actually HAVE dueted on, primarily with my sister Leslie, lo those many years ago:

So Soon in the Morning – Joan Baez and Bill Wood
Go Where You Want To Go – the Mamas and the Papas