In the States this is Labor Day Weekend and most of us get a holiday on Monday. So……. this week we honor working men and women that make this county what is today by focusing on songs about the life of working class people. I hope you enjoy these songs.
As always, let me know what you think and let me know what your favorite “working” songs are.
This week our word of the week is Hurricane. Unfortunately, we currently have Hurricane Isaac headed into the Gulf of Mexico. Don’t know for sure which direction it will head at this point but it certainly has everyone’s attention. So….while we are watching to coverage of Isaac, and keeping our finger’s crossed that it doesn’t cause any significant damage, let’s listen to some of the best Hurricane songs ever recorded.
After listening to the music, please take the time to read my note after the last song in the post. Have a great weekend!
Hurricane Carter – Bob Dylan
Rock You Like a Hurricane – Scorpions (with full orchestra)
This week our word of the week is Ghost. I don’t know if I believe in Ghosts but I am certainly not willing to rule out the possibility. Whether real or not, Ghosts have certainly inspired a lot of great music over the years. Today I present you with my favorite ghost songs.
After listening to the music, please take the time to read my note after the last song in the post. Have a great weekend!
Ghost – Indigo Girls
Ghosts – Dan Fogelberg
Ghost Riders In The Sky – The Outlaws
Ghost of Cape Horn – Gordon Lightfoot
Ghost On The Canvas – Glen Campbell
Personal Note
In case you have not heard, Glen has Alzheimer’s and this song is from what will be his last album. He meant a lot to me when I was first getting into music and including his last song in this post is my personal tribute to him.
In the late 1960s, as a teenager, I absolutely loved Glen and bought all of his singles: Gentle on My Mind, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, and Galveston. During this time, he had a variety show on TV that I looked forward to watching each week. He featured great musical guest on the show each week and by exposing me to this variety of performers he helped to expand my evolving musical tastes. In addition to his musical guests, Glen sang a couple of songs each week and I never tired of listening to his great voice. I am happy to say that that voice has survived the intervening years as evidenced by this video!
As I have learned more about music history, I have grown to appreciate Glen’s skills as a musician. He was a popular LA session musician in the early 60s, one of a group of players that came to be known as The Wrecking Crew. They played on some of the biggest hits of that time supporting performers and producers as diverse as Rick Nelson, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Phil Spector. In 1964-1965 Glen actually toured as a member of the Beach Boys replacing Brian Wilson when he quit touring to stay in the studio.
Glen…..we will miss you. Thanks for your wonderful music over the last 50 years!
Last Friday the word of the week was Weekend in celebration of the one thing that I look forward to all week long.
This week we deal with the fact that weekends never last and we are always faced with their inevitable end which is marked by…….Monday.
I hope you enjoy these songs…once again I think there is something for everyone in this post! I focused on collecting mostly live videos which I think are a lot more entertaining.
Have a great weekend!
Monday Monday – The Mamas and Papas
Rainy Days and Mondays – The Carpenters
Manic Monday – The Bangles
Is It Really Monday – David Crosby
Blue Monday – Fats Domino
Be sure to come back and visit the blog on Tuesday! The Long Song Tuesday post will be my favorite Monday song of all time.
Fun Fact: On the Bangles album, Different Light, the song Manic Monday was credited to Christopher. Do you know who really wrote it?
I don’t know about you but weekends are what make the rest of the week bearable for me. So…..on a Friday night in North Alabama, “weekend” seems like a good choice for the Friday word of the week. Since a weekend is nothing without Saturday and Sunday I am throwing them in for no extra charge……that is just the kind of guy that I am.
I worked hard on this post and we have some great songs. There is truly something for everyone so I hope you take the time to give them a listen as you kickoff your weekend!
Oh…you want to know my favorites? Be sure to checkout:
Barry Manilow-Weekend In New England (I know, I know….but this is a great song!)
Jefferson Airplane-Won’t You Try Saturday Afternoon (from Woodstock)
Velvet Underground-Sunday Morning (great Lou Reed vocal from 1966)
Weekend
Saturday
Sunday
Tom Rush – Rockport Sunday
Be sure to let me know your favorite weekend songs!
It is a rainy day in northern Alabama so nature has declared the word of the week for me. As with last week’s word, my iTunes library has a plethora of songs about rain. It’s pretty interesting to look at the views on rain expressed in songs: some people have colored rain (Red Rain – Peter Gabriel), some people want to go in the rain (In The Rain – The Dramatics), some people want to stop the rain (Who’ll Stop The Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival), and so on….
Enjoy the music…let me know if you have a favorite “Rain” song. There are some interesting surprises in the tracks below so be sure to listen.
Be The Rain – Neil Young
Save the planet for another day
“attention shoppers, buy with a conscience and save”
Save the planet for another day
“save alaska! let the caribou stay”
Don’t care what the governments say
“they’re all bought and paid for anyway”
Save the planet for another day
“hey big oil, what do you say?”
We were runnin’ through the night
Never knowin’ if we would see the light
Paranoid schizophrenic visions
Livin’ in fear of the wrong decisions
We got to wake up
We got to keep goin’
If they follow us
There’s no way of knowin’
We got a job to do
We got to
Save mother earth
Be the ocean when it meets the sky
“you can make a difference, if you really try”
Be the magic in the northern lights
“six days….six nights”
Be the river as it rolls along
“it has three eyed fish and it’s smellin’ strong”
Be the rain you remember fallin’
“be the rain, be the rain”
Yeah rain was fallin’ and we’re soakin’ wet
Hail is beatin’ down on our heads
The wind is blowin’ through our hair
Faces frozen in the frigid air
We got to get there
Alaska
We got to be there
Before the big machines
We got a job to do
We got to
Save mother earth
Dream the hunter on the western plain
“the birds are all gone, where did they go?”
Dream the fisherman in his boat
“he’s comin’ home empty, he’s barely afloat”
Dream the logger in the great northwest
“they’re runnin’ out of trees, they got to give it a rest”
(there’s no other way to cut it)
Dream the farmer in the old heartland
“corporate greed and chemicals are killin’ the land”
Next mornin’ sun was up at dawn
She looked around and earth was gone
Dark visions he had last night
He needed peace, he needed light
He heard the rumble and
He saw the big machines
The green army rose
It was a bad dream
He had a job to do
He had to
Save mother earth
Be the ocean when it meets the sky
“greek freighters are dumping crap somewhere right now”
Be the magic in the northern lights
“the ice is melting!”
Be the river as it rolls along
“toxic waste dumpin’ from corporate farms”
Be the rain you remember fallin’
“be the rain, be the rain”
Save the planet for another day
“be the rain, be the rain”
Be the river as it rolls along
“be the rain, be the rain”
This is probably the word that all of us heard most often often as kids. I recently looked at my iTunes library and I have almost 200 songs that start with Don’t…can’t be a coincidence!
Enjoy the music…let me know if you have a favorite “Don’t” song.
Don’t Be Denied – Neil Young
Don’t Fear The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right – Bob Dylan
Don’t Keep Me Wondeing – Allman Brothers Band
Don’t Let It Bring You Down – Neil Young
Any suggestions for Word of the Day for next Friday?
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