Showing posts with label music humour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music humour. Show all posts

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Musical memories from 1964

 It is coming up to the 60th year since my high school graduation. Many of my current friends graduated high school in 1964. This playlist is for them.

Top 60 Pop Songs in 1964 taken from https://playback.fm/charts/top-100-songs/1964 

No.

Artist

Title

1

Roy Orbison

Oh, Pretty Woman

2

The Beatles

I Want to Hold Your Hand

3

The Beatles

She Loves You

4

The Beatles

I Feel Fine

5

The Animals

House of the Rising Sun

6

The Beatles

A Hard Day's Night

7

Gigliola Cinquetti

Non Ho L'Eta Per Amarti

8

The Beatles

Can't Buy Me Love

9

The Righteous Brothers

You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

10

Louis Armstrong

Hello Dolly

11

The Supremes

Where Did Our Love Go

12

Manfred Mann

Do Wah Diddy Diddy

13

The Supremes

Baby Love

14

The Beatles

Twist & Shout

15

Johnny Rivers

Memphis, Tennessee

16

Millie Small

My Boy Lollipop

17

The Beatles

Please Please Me

18

Mary Wells

My Guy

19

Dean Martin

Everybody Loves Somebody

20

The Shangri-Las

Leader of the Pack

21

Roy Orbison

It's Over

22

Martha & The Vandellas

Dancing in the Street

23

The Four Seasons

Rag Doll

24

Dave Clark Five

Glad All Over

25

Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto

The Girl From Ipanema

26

Jim Reeves

I Won't Forget You

27

The Beach Boys

I Get Around

28

The Beatles

I Should Have Known Better

29

Bobby Solo

Una Lacrima Sul Viso

30

The Beatles

Love Me Do

31

The Searchers

Needles & Pins

32

The Supremes

Come See About Me

33

Salvatore Adamo

Vous Permettez Monsieur

34

The Kinks

You Really Got Me

35

Siw Malmqvist

Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht

36

Peter & Gordon

A World Without Love

37

The Newbeats

Bread & Butter

38

The Beatles

I Saw Her Standing There

39

Dixie Cups

Chapel of Love

40

The Honeycombs

Have I the Right

41

Dionne Warwick

Walk On By

42

The Beatles

All My Loving

43

Swinging Blue Jeans

Hippy Hippy Shake

44

The Drifters

Under the Boardwalk

45

Dave Clark Five

Bits & Pieces

46

The Rolling Stones

Time is On My Side

47

Terry Stafford

Suspicion

48

The Rolling Stones

It's All Over Now

49

Ronny

Oh My Darling Caroline

50

Lucille Starr

The French Song (Quand Le Soleil Dit Bonjour Aux Montagnes)

51

Bernd Spier

Das kannst du mir nicht verbieten

52

Gianni Morandi

In ginocchio da te

53

Peter Lauch & die Regenpfeifer

Das kommt vom Rudern, das kommt vom Segeln

54

Elvis Presley

Ain't That Lovin' You Baby

55

Barbra Streisand

People

56

The Rolling Stones

Little Red Rooster

57

The Kinks

All Day & All of the Night

58

Julie Rogers

The Wedding

59

Jay & the Americans

Come a Little Bit Closer

60

The Beatles

Long Tall Sally

 

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Songs tell stories

Music can tell stories and many songs do just that, here are some songs that have just enough fact in them to be called accurate. Information from Weird History
‘Buffalo Soldier’ By Bob Marley
What It’s About: "Buffalo Soldier," tells the story of African American cavalry and infantrymen who fought for the United States during the late 19th century. Largely tasked with securing the expanding American West, Buffalo Soldiers fought against Native Americans during the American Indian Wars until the 1890s and in the Caribbean as part of the Spanish-American War in 1898.
What It Gets Right: Bob Marley and the Wailers correctly describe the Buffalo Soldiers as "taken from Africa, brought to America," with many of the men having formerly been slaves.
Where It Falls Short: "Buffalo Soldier" accurately depicts the circumstances and activities of its namesake group. Just as the song indicates, Buffalo Soldiers did fight in conflicts like the Battle of San Juan Hill. The poignant lyrics point out how Buffalo Soldiers went from "Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival" in servitude only to take up arms "in the war for America."
'Hurricane' By Bob Dylan
What It’s About: Released in 1975, Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" recounts the unjust prosecution and incarceration of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Carter, a boxer from New Jersey, was convicted (twice) of a triple homicide in 1967, ultimately spending 19 years in jail for crimes he didn't commit. While Carter wasn't released from prison until 1985, his case received widespread attention during the 1970s.
What It Gets Right: Dylan had Carter's autobiography in hand when he wrote "Hurricane," a resource that allowed him to draw upon the titular figure's view of events. The names in the song refer to real players like Alfred Bellow and Arthur Dexter Bradley - two career criminals who claimed to have seen Carter at the scene of the crime. All the names are real, which was controversial, with bartender Patty Valentine suing the singer for defamation of character.
"Hurricane" includes lyrics that reflect the social context within which Carter was accused and convicted, an issue that remains at the forefront of conversation in 2020: "If you're Black you might as well not show up on the street/Less you wanna draw the heat."
Carter and his fellow defendant, John Artis, were initially detained simply because they were in a car that resembled the one involved in the shooting. Even after a witness failed to identify them as the offenders, they remained under suspicion.
Where It Falls Short: Dylan calls Carter a “Number one contender for the middleweight crown," a designation that remains somewhat unclear. While he did fight for the middleweight championship against Joey Giardello in 1964, Carter won four fights in 1966 and was ranked fourth in the world.
'The Battle of New Orleans' By Johnny Horton
What It’s About: The Battle of New Orleans was fought in January 1815 - two weeks after the War of 1812 had officially come to an end. Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans," tells the story of the conflict, a decisive battle that resulted in outmatched US soldiers soundly defeating their British counterparts.
What It Gets Right: The ragtag group of American forces at New Orleans in 1814 was equipped with whatever weapons they could find, including the "squirrel guns" referenced by Horton. As British troops approached, soldiers led by future president Andrew Jackson "stood beside our cotton bales," an accurate description of the fortifications built around New Orleans.
Where It Falls Short: At the time of the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson was a major general, not “Colonel Jackson," as indicated in the song. Jackson was a major general in the Tennessee militia as early as 1802 and received a commission as a major general in the US Army until 1814, largely due to his successes during the War of 1812.
'Smoke on the Water' By Deep Purple
What It’s About: The fire that broke out at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland on December 4, 1971, resulted from an incident during a Deep Purple concert. As Deep Purple played their song "King Kong," a concert-goer purportedly fired a flare gun, setting a nearby wooden roof on fire. The fire was devastating for the casino, although there were only minor injuries reported.
What It Gets Right: As witnesses to the entire event, Deep Purple got the details right when they wrote "Smoke on the Water." The casino called the "gambling house" did burn down as "Funky Claude was running in and out pulling kids out the ground." The Claude in question was Claude Nobs, co-founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, who helped rescue some people in the fire. As the band looked out across Lake Geneva, they very literally saw smoke on the water.
Where It Falls Short: Widely believed to have been started by a flare gun - a fact included in the song - there was some dispute over the cause of the fire. Concert-goer Peter Schneider asserts that the fire actually started by a "boy throwing lighted matches in the air, and one of them got stuck on the very low ceiling... So, the fire started right above where the boy was sitting on the low-lying ceiling beams."

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Rockin' Rollin' Rockabilly

Growing up Rockabilly was one of my favorite types of music. I was shy in school, so I never learned to dance, but I would go and watch the dancers at the shows when the stars would come to town. I finally got over my shyness in my first year of University and learned to dance. 

Not as good as these couples but watching them brings back some great memories. Enjoy the dancing in the video. I think this is based on early rock, from the fifties, not the sixties, but I could be wrong.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

The Ghost of Blood Alley, an up and coming band, worth listening to

When I was growing up and started listening to rock and roll, my tastes ran to Rockabilly. 

My favorite singers were Buddy Holly, Buddy Knox,  Carl Perkins, Johnny Horton
Eddie Cochranas I grew older my tastes ran to Credence Clearwater Revival, and  Linda Ronstadt.

All of these singers had songs that told stories, made you think and forced you to dance. These singers provided us with good time music with a story, a beat and they were fun to listen and watch.  


If you love music that speaks to you, makes you think and makes you want to dance, then I have a group that you need to check out. 

The Ghost of Blood Alley is a local Vancouver band that is exciting to watch, listen and dance to, their songs are original, enthusiastic and great music that takes me back to the time when music was storytelling.  

This groups music draws on the "roots of rock" in a real way; they appear to be drawing inspiration from the likes of Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, The Band and others who were stand bearers of good old rock and roll.

Here is a link to their latest album "Songs for Sarah "on Soundcloud, which will be posted for the next five days only.


Enjoy!



Friday, July 3, 2015

Music

Reunions bring back good memories, one of the memories brought back to me at my 50th reunion was that I had managed a rock band and I was reminded of that at my reunion. I thought I did a poor job of managing the band, but the surviving members, had different thoughts. They talked about how much fun we had. The personalities in the band were strong, the musical ability of group was strong, and I was not up to the task of managing the egos involved so we went our own musical ways.

I had to admit, we had fun, made lots of music, but we broke up after a year. I love music. and music plays an important part of my life still and I except it does for many bloomers (when we were young we were bloomers, now we are older we are called boomer's, perhaps the "l" has come off the bloom). I just came across a wonder weekly column on music that I thought I would share. The column is a weekly feature of a Blog I read called As Time Goes By (What it means to grow older). 

The column is called  Elder Music was launched in December of 2008. The weekly column is written by Peter Tibbles. His knowledge of just about every genre of music is formidable. It has been gained, he says, by sitting at home listening to music. “That's it, really,” writes Peter. “I read a lot and drink wine as well. Oh, I cook a bit so I'll have something to go with the wine."


In the 1980s and early 1990s, he was a part-time deejay on a community radio station for ten years. He was originally asked to do a Fifties rock 'n' roll and country music program. Later, he did a RandB/soul show, a “general-what-he-wanted program," also filling in for the blues, jazz and classical shows whenever those presenters were unavailable.

Peter, who worked in the IT industry, is now retired and lives in Melbourne, Australia. 

The writing is full of humour and sense of fun. You can read Peter's bio here and find links to all his columns here. If you love music, and have a sense of fun check this out. This week Peter talks about the movie and the song Unchained Melody. It was a very interesting and fun read.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Music and dancing is life

My grandson was given a guitar (actually a  ukulele) and he loves to play it and he loves the old songs, so I know Rock and Roll will never die. Long live music







Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Classical Musicians a different view

Awkward Classical Music Photos is a wonderful site that has some very interesting and unusual pictures to say the list. The following is from the web site:

This website was conceived and created in a spirit of fun and out of a love for classical music.
You know how sometimes your older brother, whom you admire to bits, sometimes embarrasses you a little by wearing those ridiculous plaid pants with the orange knee patch? You still have a lot of respect for his intellect and kindness and general awesomeness as a human being, but you can’t help laughing at how awkward he looks whenever he wears them?
This blog is kind of like that.
Inclusion in this blog in no way constitutes a statement about a person’s musical abilities, technique, expressiveness, virtuosity, depth, or any other aspect of their talent. Many of the musicians pictured on this site are performers that we admire, adore, even swoon over. Just not in certain unfortunate awkward photos.
Most pictures here are not linked to the musicians’ web page, the photographer’s web page, or other identifying page. That’s because the idea here isn’t to be mean or to badmouth people. It’s all in fun, remember?