Archive for October, 2010
Susan Werner: I Can’t Be New
This multi-talented songwriter channeled Cole Porter and George Gershwin to write an album of pitch-perfect tunes primed for the Great American songbook. Susan Werner’s talent knows no bounds.
Take Me Out To the Ball Game
Jack Norworth never cared much for baseball, but he wrote a song about the game that sports fans have been belting out for 102 years
41 Years Since Paul Pronounced Not Dead
Did McCartney die in 1966? His mere presence on earth 44 years later would seem to suggest the answer is no. Yet this granddaddy of rock urban legends persists.
Chelsea Morning
Last week’s poll results for your favorite Joni Mitchell song is “Chelsea Morning” … good choice! When asked the story behind that 1967 song, Joni told the Los Angeles Times: “I wrote that in Philadelphia after some girls who worked in this club where I was playing found all this colored glass in an […]
(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay
Here’s the story behind “Dock of the Bay” in Steve Cropper’s own words: One of the things that’s unique about “Dock of the Bay” is that almost every time Otis [Redding] came in to work, to write with me and to record, he would always go check into the hotel or motel first, get settled […]
Ellis Paul: The Day After Everything Changed
The newest release from one of America’s most talented songwriters. Ellis Paul is nothing short of a national treasure.
Suzanne Vega
Known the world over, the often sampled but never duplicated sultry-voiced singer-poetess Suzanne Vega is a true pioneer. Over pancakes at Tom’s Diner in Brooklyn, Suzanne Vega & host Richard Julian swap stories about strange encounters with Van Morrison; discuss the darker side of the music business and why she’s now heading up her own […]
Autumn Leaves
It’s a tale of two torch songs. The original, written in French as “Les Feuilles Mortes” (literally, “Dead Leaves”) was a dark lament of lost love and regret. The translated version, “Autumn Leaves,” touched on the same theme, but in a gentler, more wistful way.
Feel-Good Story From O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Last week’s poll of your favorite soundtrack had O Brother (33%) in first place over The Big Chill (21%), Saturday Night Fever (13%), Tommy, The Graduate and Purple Rain (8%), and Grease and Spinal Tap (4%). The O Brother soundtrack, which won the album of the year Grammy in 2002 and has sold almost 8 […]
Stars Behind Bars: Chuck Berry
If you read the biography on Chuck Berry’s official website, you will find no mention of the word prison. This bit of revisionist history glosses over the fact that the rock pioneer has been incarcerated three different times.