Song a Day 2020

You are My Flower by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The album’s title comes from a song by Ada R. Habershon (re-arranged by A. P. Carter) and reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie look. Acuff described them as “a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys.” The other players were much older and more famous from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players. Many had become known to their generation through the Grand Ole Opry. However, with the rise of rock-and-roll, the emergence of the commercial country’s slick ‘Nashville Sound,’ and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years. Acuff was initially contemptuous of the project, but later relented and participated.^[3]

Every track on the album was recorded on the first or second take straight to two-track masters, so the takes are raw and unprocessed^{[citation needed]}. Additionally, another tape ran continuously throughout the entire week-long recording session and captured the dialog between the players. On the final album, many of the tracks—including the first track—begin with the musicians discussing how to perform the song or who should come in where in any given portion of a song.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Circle_be_Unbroken_(Nitty_Gritty_Dirt_Band_album)

The Perfect Me by Deerhoof

Loud and boisterous percussion, keyboards and vocals in your face. PLAY IT LOUD

The Joker by The Steve Miller Band

Steve Miller told the story of the song in an interview with Mojo November 2012: “I got this funny, lazy, sexy little tune,” he recalled, “but it didn’t come together until a party in Novato, north of San Francisco. I sat on the hood of a car under the stars with an acoustic guitar making up lyrics and ‘I’m a joker, I’m a smoker, ‘I’m a midnight toker’ came out. My chorus! The ‘some people call me the space cowboy’ and ‘the gangster of love’ referred to earlier songs of mine and so did ‘Maurice’ and ‘the propitious of love.’ You don’t have to use words. It was just a goof.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/steve-miller-band/the-joker

Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police

I know this track is pretty top 40 radio, but I still love it and the album Syncronicity. It’s a more philosophical Police and that’s okay.

Yesterday by Beatles

Paul McCartney wrote this song and was the only Beatle to play on it. It was the first time a Beatle recorded without the others, and marked a shift to more independent accomplishments among the group. While John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote The Beatles early songs together, by 1965 most of their songs were primarily written by one or the other, although they continued to credit all their songs Lennon/McCartney.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/yesterday

The Sidewinder by Lee Morgan

It was never supposed to be a hit. When his band ran out of material to record during a Blue Note date in late 1963, Morgan disappeared into the bathroom. He was gone long enough that his bandmates began to worry he would emerge too high to play, but he returned with “The Sidewinder,” a driving, ten-minute blues number scratched out on a few sheets of toilet paper.

https://narratively.com/death-of-a-sidewinder/

Too Many Dirty Dishes by Albert Collins

I first heard this song on the excellent Blues shows that plays every Sunday night here in Seattle on station KNKX hosted by John Kessler. That guitar sound fx and the wry lyrics made me smile.

The High Road by Broken Bells

The opening track “The High Road,” a schizophrenic sonic straddle across the keyboards, winds a spacey electronic back-beat  before slowing down into the calming acoustic guitar strum accompanied by Mercer’s voice to start the self titled album. As is the case on the rest of the album, slowly all the layers start to cross, a backing harmony vocal joins Mercer as the song swells with the electronic elements cascading back for a catchy introductory track.

https://glidemagazine.com/15570/broken-bells/

Who by David Byrne and St. Vincent

Two amazing artists that come together in a unique compilation worth your time. The opening sax ensemble will immediately grab your attention and not let go.

Who Did You Think I Was by John Mayer Trio

Great live album that really shows of Johnny’s guitar chops. That guitar lick is so nasty- and hard to play…