Author: mystro2b

I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash

If you read enough articles, interviews and liner notes, you can try to piece together the story of what inspired “I Walk the Line,” but Johnny Cash is a masterful storyteller. And even his good friend Kris Kristofferson has said he’s half-truth, half-fiction. The humming at the start of each verse? Cash said he picked that up from Dr. Hollingsworth, a physician in his hometown who was always humming. Then there’s lyric, `I keep my eyes wide open all the time,’ which Cash said was based on a piece of advice from a Dale Carnegie business course.

https://www.npr.org/2000/12/23/1115971/npr-100-i-walk-the-line

Mambo Italiano by Rosemary Clooney

The song was banned by New York’s WABC radio because of its suggestive lyrics. The radio station didn’t understand them and thought they might be suggestive. Clooney’s label was forced to counter with statements from a professor of romantic languages and a Catholic priest, both of whom confirmed that the Italian lyrics were “in no way offensive or vulgar.”

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/rosemary-clooney/mambo-italiano

Narcolepsy by Third Eye Blind

This is a fave among 3EB fans. Written primarily by Cadogan, who apparently has a sleep disorder, its intro features some of his smartest guitar work. It’s also a showcase for how to use contrasting sections and dynamic shifts to build a dramatic song. In the process, it surfaces how much the band’s early sound owed to Zep (that dreamy opening) and R.E.M. (the thrashing guitar chords over climbing bass). Disturbing and well-wrought, it makes you wonder what different roads Jenkins and Cadogan might explored together…if things hadn’t soured.

Citation

Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain and Tenile

My uncle died when I was 10 years old, my mother’s only brother. While we were visiting his young widow (he was only 27 when he passed away…) I had to sleep in the living room by myself. There was a stereo with this album on the turntable. I listened to this song over and over with the pair of oversized headphones plugged into the receiver.

Respighi – Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 3 “Siciliana” by Respighi (1879-1936)

Ancient Airs and Dances (Italian: Antiche arie e danze) is a set of three orchestral suites by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, freely transcribed from original pieces for lute. In addition to being a renowned composer and conductor, Respighi was also a notable musicologist. His interest in Italian music of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries led him to compose works inspired by the music of these periods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Airs_and_Dances

Paul and Silas by Jody Stetcher and Kate Brislin

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose.

Acts 16:25-26

Girl U Want by DEVO

MTV turned on Devo around 1981 and quit showing stuff and didn’t want anything to do with us and said, Unless your song’s a hit, we’re not playing your videos. What’s funny is, we never made any money, and only through publishing now, are we making money, ironically for the wrong reason.

https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/devo

Get Lucky by New Young Pony Club

Can’t remember when I first heard this track but it sounds like a band I missed out on in the 80s even though this was recorded in 2007.

Let ‘Em In by Wings

This is the ring tone for when someone calls our condo from the call box to be let into the building…

Times Like These by Foo Fighters

Billed as “the biggest ever Live Lounge,” a group of artists, including Paloma Faith, Ellie Goulding, Dua Lipa and Bastille, gathered in their homes to cover “Times Like These” as a response to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. BBC Radio 1 organized the event, calling it “the biggest ever Live Lounge.” The Live Lounge Allstars version was released on April 23, 2020, with all profits going to charities.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/foo-fighters/times-like-these