- Bryan Adams - Heaven - I may have had a Bryan Adams thing, but I preferred the snappier stuff
- Phil Collins - Sussudio - when I arrived at the University at Albany two years later, there was a running gag that he was actually saying, "Su - su - SUNY Albany."
- Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World - the 1985 Braves were prepared to do just that.
- Prince and the Revolution - Raspberry Beret - As I noted last year, the loss of Prince was significant to me and my generation. I went to a "Purple Rain" prom in 1985 and our high school football team fight song was "Let's Go Crazy."
- Duran Duran - A View to a Kill - with the loss of Roger Moore earlier this year, another link to our high school days is lost.
- Madonna - Angel - I take every opportunity to tell LBA and SoBA that Madonna was the original Lady Gaga.
- Mary Jane Girls - In My House - I admit that when pulling this list together, I had no recollection of this song.
- Howard Jones - Things Can Only Get Better - perhaps an anthem for today, too?
- Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine - this was definitely one of my happy place songs. These days, it's this one.
- Survivor - The Search is Over - and so is this list.
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Topping the Charts in 1985
Around this time of the month, thirty-two years ago, in 1985, the Brave Astronaut was preparing to graduate from high school (two years ago, you may recall I organized my 30th high school reunion). A week or so ago, Entertainment Weekly, put out the list of the Hot 100 Top Ten songs from June 1985.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
2016 - You Suck
On so many levels, this was not a good year. I know that I don't have to tell you all that. But with the announcement of the death of Princess Leia, Carrie Fisher, today, December 27, this was a year that sucked, truly. Let's hope that they didn't know something we didn't about 2017.
Here's a list of deaths that significantly impacted me over the past year. Unfortunately, this list is by no means comprehensive.
Literature:
Here's a list of deaths that significantly impacted me over the past year. Unfortunately, this list is by no means comprehensive.
Literature:
- Harper Lee, 89 (February)
- Edward Albee, 88 (September)
- W. P. Kinsella, 81 (September) - author of the story that became Field of Dreams
- Beth Howland, 74 (December 2015) - Vera from Alice
- Wayne Rogers, 82 (December 2015) - Trapper John McIntyre from MASH
- Pat Harrington, 86 (January) - Schneider from One Day at a Time
- Dan Haggerty, 74 (January) - Grizzly Adams
- Abe Vigoda, 94 (January) - Detective Fish from Barney Miller
- Larry Drake, 66 (March) - Benny from LA Law
- James Noble, 94 (March) - the Governor from Benson, but for me he's the Rev. John Witherspoon from 1776
- Patty Duke, 69 (March)
- Garry Shandling, 66 (March)
- Doris Roberts, 90 (April) - the matriarch from Everybody Loves Raymond
- Morley Safer, 84 (May) - 60 Minutes legend
- Garry Marshall, 81 (July)
- Florence Henderson, 82 (November) - Mrs. Brady helped raise me.
- Ron Glass, 71 (November) - from Barney Miller
- Grant Tinker, 90 (November) - Mr. Mary Tyler Moore
- Alan Thicke, 69 (December)
- Alan Rickman, 69 (January) - for me, he's always Hans
- David Margulies, 78 (January) - the Mayor in Ghostbusters
- George Kennedy, 88 (February)
- Anton Yelchin, 27 (June) - the new Chekov from the Star Trek reboot
- Gene Wilder, 83 (August) - the one and only Willy Wonka
- Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99 (December)
- Robert Vaughn, 83 (November) - I've listed him under movies for his role in The Towering Inferno (he dies in that one, too)
- Bernard Fox, 89 (December) - you know him from a lot of TV and movies. I just saw him the other night on Big Jake, one of my favorite John Wayne films
- Carrie Fisher, 60 (December)
- Natalie Cole, 65 (December 2015)
- David Bowie, 69 (January)
- Glenn Frey, 67 (January)
- Frank Sinatra, Jr., 72 (March)
- Merle Haggard, 79 (April)
- Prince, 57 (April)
- Kay Starr, 94 (November) - legendary jazz singer
- Leonard Cohen, 82 (November)
- George Michael, 53 (December)
- Meadowlark Lemon, 83 (December 2015) - star of the Harlem Globetrotters
- Andy Bathgate, 83 (February) - legendary New York Ranger
- Muhammad Ali, 74 (June)
- Joe Garagiola, 74 (March)
- Gordie Howe, 88 (June) - Mr. Hockey
- Pat Summitt, 64 (June)
- Arnold Palmer, 87 (September) - Mr. Golf
- Ralph Branca, 90 (November) - Brooklyn Dodgers player
- Craig Sager, 65 (December) - sports announcer
- Boutros-Boutros-Ghali, 81 (February) - former United Nations Secretary General
- Nancy Reagan, 94 (March)
- Elie Wiesel, 87 (July)
- John McLaughlin, 89 (August) - founder of the McLaughlin Group
- Phyllis Schlafly, 92 (September)
- Shimon Peres, 93 (September)
- Tom Hayden, 76 (October) - among other things, he was married to Jane Fonda
- Janet Reno, 78 (November)
- Gwen Ifill, 61 (November)
- Fidel Castro, 90 (November) - finally
- John Glenn, 95 (December)
- American Democracy, 226 (November)
Thursday, December 31, 2015
The 2015 Twelve Posts of Christmas #11
Remember those days when you would turn on the old transistor radio (or maybe that Panasonic clock radio, with the numbers that flipped) to listen to the top songs of the year played all day on New Year's Eve? Yep, me neither :)
Here's an a capella version of the top songs of 2015. It's pretty catchy. These kids might have something here (via BuzzFeed). Enjoy - don't overdo it tonight!
Of course, if music isn't your thing, the year end lists are everywhere. Here's one of the top 2015 movies (via kottke).
Here's an a capella version of the top songs of 2015. It's pretty catchy. These kids might have something here (via BuzzFeed). Enjoy - don't overdo it tonight!
Of course, if music isn't your thing, the year end lists are everywhere. Here's one of the top 2015 movies (via kottke).
Saturday, December 12, 2015
The 2015 Twelve Posts of Christmas #4
Today is the 100th Anniversary of the birth of the Chairman of the Board. Frank Sinatra. Growing up in my parent's home, Frank was a staple, broadcast on WNEW 1130 on your AM dial. Needless to say, Frank's Christmas music made frequent appearances on the stereo at home.
The new car at the launchpad has XM radio in it and I have been listening to the various Christmas music channels that have cropped up at this time of year. Of course, there is the local radio station that has been playing Christmas music since, I think, July. But on that station there is a greater chance of hearing this song, which is banned at the Launchpad. Mrs. BA usually promotes this analysis of the song anyway.
The new car at the launchpad has XM radio in it and I have been listening to the various Christmas music channels that have cropped up at this time of year. Of course, there is the local radio station that has been playing Christmas music since, I think, July. But on that station there is a greater chance of hearing this song, which is banned at the Launchpad. Mrs. BA usually promotes this analysis of the song anyway.
Friday, March 6, 2015
The Ballad(s) of Billy the Kid
I've started reading the new biography of Billy Joel (that was a gift to me from my sister). A few weeks ago, the list below appeared on Vulture, ranking the complete works of Billy Joel. Of course, I've seen the Piano Man in concert several times, most recently last year at Nationals Park. It is my goal to make it up to Madison Square Garden for one of his shows, where he is the "artist in residence."
From the Vulture article, it points out that "by the measure of hit-making, his stats are staggering." A profile in The New Yorker last year "pointed out that he's had 33 songs in the Top 40. That's about a quarter of the songs he's written and recorded. Most of those charted in the era when you had to sell a lot of records to get there, too."
The author of the article points out (and stipulates), "this is all one listener’s opinion. But the ranking draws on 30 years of soaking in these songs, plus multiple repeat playings of every one over the past three months. That said, appreciation does not mean blindness, and Joel himself would agree that not every song on every album catches fire (though he did light it, and we tried to fight it). A close listening to the Joel-ian canon reveals a couple of generous handfuls of greatness, forgotten cuts that deserve to be resurfaced, familiar hits that have aged poorly, and flat-out clunkers."
He further establishes the following "Ground rules: I’ve limited this to the 114 songs Joel wrote and recorded on his 12 studio albums, from Cold Spring Harbor (1971) through River of Dreams (1993), plus seven additional singles he has released over the years. (As fans know, Cold Spring Harbor was butchered on its release; I used the remastered boxed-set version to give those songs a fair shake.) I omitted Fantasies and Delusions, the wordless neoclassical album Joel released in 2001, because another pianist does the playing. I also left out his covers, a few songs he’s written that other people sang, and his recordings with the Hassles and Attila, his early Long Island bands. You gotta stop somewhere."
I've not had a real opportunity to focus on this, until now. My comments in italics.
121. “The Mexican Connection” - An instrumental that sounds like the rights-free music people use in YouTube videos. Fills up side two of the album, and does no more.
120. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” - The biggest problem song for the Billy Joel apologist, because it is highly popular and inescapably bad. So much is wrong here: boomer-generation narcissism, the tri-state-area-news myopia (“hypodermics on the shore”? Bernie Goetz?), the iffy rhymes (“James Dean” with “winning team,” among many others), the double mention of the Dodgers. Why didn’t I put it dead last? It gets one point for its classroom value: I will admit that I had to look up who Syngman Rhee was, and I learned interesting things.
I used this song in my teaching days. Take that for what it's worth. It's also fun to see live - when Billy will admit up front, "this is either going to work . . . or it's going to be a train wreck."
119. “You Look So Good to Me” - A corny ballad, justifiably forgotten. The weakest song on an album even Joel doesn’t think much of.
118. "A Room of Our Own" - The staple standup-comic territory of “Hey, men and women are different, you know?” in convenient pop-song form. Pretty bad, and on a pretty good album to boot.
The first song on the list from the Nylon Curtain, which I feel is one of his best albums and most underappreciated.
117. “All You Wanna Do Is Dance” - One a few songs on this list with misplaced reggae inclinations. Yes, everyone was doing it in 1976, but that doesn’t make it right.
116. “Root Beer Rag” - Yeah, it maybe sounded cool when your friend was banging it out on the music-room piano in the eighth grade, but put it next to the gnarly chords of some actual ragtime, and you quickly realize that a rag built mostly on a C-major triad is pretty weak sauce.
115. “Worse Comes to Worst” - Title tells you most of what you need to know. An album ballad, not worth resurrecting.
114. “You Picked a Real Bad Time” - Very slick, not very good white-guy blues. Sounds like it was cut from River of Dreams.
113. “Shades of Grey” - "Dad rock” is a cheap label, but this is pretty much it; sounds like a lot of session musicians without a center. A song that exemplifies a recurring problem on this list: memorable hook paired with dull verses.
112. “State of Grace” - After more than a few listenings in the past month, not a single lyric from this song stuck with me. Literally forgettable.
111. “Getting Closer” - Repetitive and plodding.
110. “Temptation” - A schmaltzy torch song. Lyrically slack.
109. "C'était Toi (You Were the One)" - Oh man. You hear the first verse, and it’s pretty square but okay — and then he sings it again, in French, and you cringe. (The Beatles’ “Michelle” has the same problem, by the way.)
If you're listening to Billy Joel to learn French, you're doing it wrong.
108. “Running on Ice” - Petulance on parade: “I could never understand why the urban attitude is so superior.” The piano-playing is virtuosic and showy, but the song’s ultimately a less interesting “Pressure.”
107. “The Great Suburban Showdown” - Not-terrible vision of suburban anomie, but the references — crabgrass, sitting around the kitchen — are just too unoriginal. Might’ve been a lot better with a rewrite.
106. “Stop in Nevada” - Why is a guy from Long Island writing a fake-Western song? Inauthentic, and it shows.
105. “Nocturne” - Quasi-Chopin instrumental — though there are unrecorded lyrics — that absolutely refuses to stick in the mind.
104. “Tomorrow Is Today” - Two minutes into a rather quavery M.O.R. song, a bizarre vocal break — he drops an octave and throws in an R&B turn, then snaps back to the sensitive-guy voice — feels like it fell in from Mars.
103. “Turn Around” - Another first-album ballad, probably not worth reviving.
102. “House of Blue Light” The flip side of the “We Didn’t Start the Fire” single is bar-band blues, not much more.
101. “The Great Wall of China” - Another one with a really polished hook and dull verses. Lyrics about broken friendships have a little kick, given that Joel’s had his share.
I don't mind this one
100. “Code of Silence” - Co-written and sung with Cyndi Lauper. Another one that I keep listening to, over and over, trying to like it; can’t tell you a word that stuck with me. A really solid performance of a not very interesting song.
99. “Falling of the Rain” - Screams 1971 in a weird, Pippinish-hippie way that doesn’t seem to come from a natural place for Joel: “misty satin dreams” and “wooded glades”? What would Mama Leone say?
98. “You Can Make Me Free” - An undistinguished song, and then the wildly oversung bit at the end leaves you with a flinch.
97. “The Night Is Still Young” - An odd and unique one-off recording, with Joel’s voice multi-tracked. Very typical big-’80s sound, with synths and echo that haven’t aged well.
96. “Blonde Over Blue” - Nicely written first verse about being lonely at night, but it goes boring after that.
95. “When in Rome” - I’m surprised this didn’t click as a radio hit, because it hits every mainstream note of that era — leaving it sounding a little generic today. Could be Steve Winwood; could be the Traveling Wilburys; could be almost anyone.
94. “That’s Not Her Style” - Another dated-sounding track, but the lyrics are actually pretty okay — this is (presumably) one of his Christie Brinkley songs, several of which are more charming. Might benefit from a remix.
Billy has had many muses, some of the Christie ones are the better ones.
93. “This Night” - A strong vocal performance on a mostly excellent album, but borrowing the Beethoven “Pathétique” for a melodic line was a terrible idea — it reads like a pointless play for respectability — and it weighs down the already-somewhat-leaden lyrics.
92. "She's Right on Time" - Punchy performance, but the lyrics are thin, without much staying power.
91. “Why Judy Why” - Another very early song that sounds like it was made by an entirely different person. Recording is wavery and soft, and I’d be curious to hear a cover version that perhaps brings out whatever the song has in it.
90. “Two Thousand Years” - He’s reaching for something philosophical and trying for a big idea, but it doesn’t quite get there, and the lyrics wander.
89. “All About Soul” - Another from the Depression Series that had many of the ingredients to be a hit but didn’t have the snap to get there.
88. “A Minor Variation” - Somewhat similar to “All About Soul.” More white-guy blues, decently sung, but ultimately, there are so many better blues singers that it’s hard to get excited about this one.
87. “Storm Front” - Surprising that this one didn’t end up in Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out, because it’s got a punchy, big sound that would translate well to a Broadway pit. Goes on forever, though.
86. “A Matter of Trust” - Closest thing he’s ever made to a Queen-style stadium anthem to play at sporting events, with a chorus that benefits from a lot of people singing along. Hard not to get swept up, even if it’s kinda bombastic on the album. Fun song in concert; cheesier at home.
Because it really is a matter of trust.
85. “Roberta” - Lonely guy wants to save a stripper who won’t talk to him. Surely that scene could’ve produced a song more interesting than this.
84. “Los Angelenos” - He really didn’t like L.A. very much, did he? Not terrible, but loses a lot of points for the awkward “no one ever has to feel like a refugee,” and the weird rolled-R delivery of “Mexican rrreefers.”
83. “If I Only Had the Words (to Tell You)” - A familiar genre: the longing song. This one doesn’t hold a candle to his other songs on the same turf, like, say, “Just the Way You Are.”
82. “Ain’t No Crime” - Elton-ish record with a lot of backing vocals. Not terrible, but ultimately not very interesting, either.
81. “Easy Money” - Unfortunately evokes nothing so much as Rappin’ Rodney. An extremely commercial song of the ’80s, recorded as a movie theme. An artifact of its time and place.
I agree - the co-optingby Rodney Dangerfield hurts this otherwise good song.
80. "Don't Ask Me Why" - Not bad at all, and very, very, catchy, but makes you wonder: What does this tropical-hotel setting have to do with anything? Was he on vacation?
79. “52nd Street” - Sounds like one of the Ray Charles duets without Ray. Sax licks are a little cheesy, too. But it holds its place on the album — barely.
78. “Somewhere Along the Line” - An early song from his Depression Canon, this one seems to be about anhedonia — “it’s all going to catch up to you” — but it’s musically a little flat. Might be fodder for the right cover artist.
77. “You’re My Home” - Warm, but also dull.
This was a song that helped me get through some homesickness when I was in France in 1983.
76. “Modern Woman” - Spirited, and sorta fun — you can really picture this as the music behind a quick-cut montage in an ’80s Danny DeVito movie — but the cheese factor is very high. Possibly saved by the “modern woman” throwaway at the end.
75. “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” - One that people argue over. Comes from a good place — Long Island fishermen do indeed have it tough; he probably knows some of those guys, going way back; the whole scene feels honest — but the synths and production have aged terribly. It’s 60 percent of the way to being a great Pete Seeger song, which is not a knock; a lot of people never get close to that.
As a Long Islander, I would like to see this song ranked better on the list.
74. “Christie Lee” - Yeah, it’s dated, but c’mon: If you were reading gossip columns in the heyday of Page Six, the Christie Brinkley songs (of which there are several) are pretty nearly irresistible fun.
73. “Careless Talk” - An album cut that doesn’t rise above, but it has nice bounce. Would be curious to hear it in a cabaret setting.
72. “Tell Her About It” - One of what I refer to as Joel’s Instructional Songs: records aimed directly at young people who need a boost in times of trouble. This one tells guys to risk rejection and be honest and vulnerable with their crushes, and even though you know it probably didn’t go well for some of those nerd-boy listeners, it’s a hard song to hate.
71. “Leningrad” - Yes, it’s kitsch — of course Russian people live ordinary lives too — and the music is gooey. But “We were sold a bunch of nonsense” is a thoughtful lyric in this context. (Benefits by comparison with Sting’s “Russians,” a similar, cheesier record.) Deserves to be revisited.
This song doesn't flow well for me - but I do like its message.
70. "Pressure" - You do, in fact, have to deal with pressure. Unimaginable that it’d be a hit today — this is another one that's totally out of style — but it's a particular weakness of mine, even though it’s not about much of anything besides, y’know, pressure.
One of Billy's songs that is absolutely better live.
69. "Through the Long Night" - Has a sewing-machine piano line that gets sleepy, but a nice ballad.
68. “Until the Night” - A precursor to An Innocent Man’s doo-wop songs, reaching for Elvis territory. Would have been better shorter — loses steam as the title repeats.
67. “Zanzibar” - A lot of people like this one, and would have ranked it higher. I get mostly overreach here: straining for Steely Dan complexity, in several different directions — jazz, fusion, atmospheric-cinematic — without reaching greatness in any of them.
I'm another of those that would have ranked this one higher.
66. “Souvenir” - Joel’s shortest recorded song. Nice little prelude to ... something.
65. “Travelin’ Prayer” - Another one that feels like he’s on weird unfamiliar turf, but taken as a product of the early seventies, it’s not bad at all. Fast piano, banjo, even a jaw harp. The false ending is a little cheap. A charming if dated song.
64. “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” - Another buck-up-kid Instructional, and another one that’s got some charm. Not a song you want to turn off.
This and "The Night is Still Young" appeared on one of Billy's Greatest Hits collections. This one is better and its ranking shows that.
63. “Famous Last Words” - “These are the last words I have to say”: Joel’s last song on his final studio album, apart from some one-off releases. A friendly, affectionate thanks-and-bye-for-now song, and, well, all right, it’s not side two of Abbey Road, but it’s not hateable either.
62. “And So It Goes” - A better song on Joel’s weakest album, maybe because the sentiment isn’t very complicated. Kind of a shrug, in the end, but a pretty one.
61. “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” - Nicely sung, presumably for his daughter Alexa, who was about 7 when this was recorded. Sweet if not deep; a little out of place on the album, but that’s okay.
60. “Shameless” - No piano! What? Better known, perhaps, for the Garth Brooks cover version, and if you don’t hate that Nashville sound, a good one.
59. “Get It Right the First Time” - Joel calls this the weak link on one of his best albums, and I’ll admit that it sounds like the theme to a funny-cops sitcom that never happened. But it’s no embarrassment, either.
58. “You May Be Right” - Good straight-up power pop song. “Even rode my motorcycle in the rain” is a pretty dumb line, which pulls it down on the list, and it loses a couple more points for the repeat-and-fade.
This is insulting to have this one in the middle of the pack.
57. "Sometimes a Fantasy" - He gets major points for trying to write a great phone sex song, but the result has a high ick factor, maybe because “make love long distance,” followed by pervy breathing, comes off gross rather than sexy. The unintentionally hilarious video may be affecting my judgment a little here.
56. “I Go to Extremes” - As catchy as a single ever was. Not a very interesting idea — essentially “Yeah, I can sometimes be an ass, but I’m fun, too” is a sentiment that covers about three-quarters of the population — but a well-wrought song if you accept that up front.
I would put this one in my Top 10.
55. “Uptown Girl” - It’s shlock, but — as my colleague Jody Rosen has persuasively written — there’s a place for shlock, particularly if, as mentioned above, you were there for the ’80s heyday of the Billy-and-Christie tabloid show. (Never mind that it was reportedly written about his previous supermodel girlfriend, Elle Macpherson.)
Wait, what? It's not about Christie?
54. "Surprises" - One of several Beatles tributes he’s recorded. Does that minor/major/minor/major step-down chord progression that Paul McCartney made his signature, with added George Martin shimmer. Not a song many people think of, but I like it.
53. "Where's the Orchestra?" - The performance on the album is a little low-energy, but it has interesting lyrics, with an unexpected callback to “Allentown” buried in the last verse.
There could have been a single with "Send in the Clowns" on the flip side.
52. "Scandinavian Skies" - A junkie song by a non-junkie: As far as I know, a unique idea. Points for its complexity and opacity; points off for the blatant “I Am the Walrus” echo.
51. "Allentown" - A lot of people think this is a terrible song. I disagree. Yes, the arrangement is heavy, and kind of thuds along; yes, the vocals are weirdly processed, and that shh-ooh-ah quasi-beatbox thing should go. The line “they threw an American flag in our face” is a clunker, badly misaligned with the music. But stare down the rest of the lyrics: They’re plainspoken and pretty okay. “Iron and coke / Chromium steel” is vivid, the change from “we’re living here” to “I’m living here” is thoughtful, and the last line of the verse (“I won’t be getting up today”) takes you out with a strong image.
50. "All for Leyna" - A pretty intense, pretty good stalker song. Electric and well sung, especially on the bridge.
This would be higher for me that the middle of the pack. And no I'm not a stalker.
49. “Elvis Presley Boulevard" - An offcut, rarely heard and better than you’d think; worth seeking out for a listen.
48. “Half a Mile Away” - As tight a commercial-radio song as ever recorded. Sits well on the album, though not super-interesting when taken on its own.
47. “Honesty” - Heart-on-sleeve vulnerability. I kinda like this one, but it does feel like a song a lot of people could have written.
46. “Big Shot” - Arguably the most pissed-off record he ever made, and about what? Hanging around with Bianca Jagger? Seems out of proportion to the problem. Falls down our list for that “nonononono biiiiig shottttttt didnja” line he sings toward the end, which is just ridiculous. But play it in a room full of music snobs, and they know every. Single. Word.
45. “Everybody Has a Dream” - Joel says “Get It Right the First Time” is the weak link on this album, but this is the song nobody remembers. Anthemic, a little soft. Might benefit from a less-dense arrangement with fewer layers.
44. “Weekend Song” - Another one with echoes of Elton John. Not bad at all.
43. “The Entertainer” - The Piano Man finds success! And hates his record company, and writes about it. The synths sound terrible now, and the petulance is creeping in, which does him no favors. But “Gotta have a hit / So they cut it down to 3:05” is clever, for sure.
I would put this much higher on my own list.
42. “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” - Is the end of the song, when he inserts himself, cheesy or charming? Could make a case for either; I like it. The big piano breaks are old-fashioned but not bad. Another one that’s quite a bit better in the live recordings than in the studio.
One that you need to add 10-20 notches for seeing (or hearing live)
41. “Got to Begin Again” - Another small but nicely wrought song that someone should dig up and rerecord.
40. “No Man’s Land” - A guy watches the suburbs rise around him, hates them, but stays there all the same, hating himself. Irritable Billy makes an appearance, but it’s still a solid song.
39. “Keeping the Faith” - A friendly, bright song about his teenhood. Better than you may remember, mostly for the lyrics and the enthusiasm in the vocals.
I would swap this with "The Longest Time."
38. "Goodnight Saigon" - Another argument about authenticity appears. Alright, it’s arguably bogus: He didn’t actually go fight in Vietnam. But it’s a vivid, thoughtful song about guys he clearly knew well. Can we knock it for portraying secondhand experience? It feels honest to me. Wish he’d left out the helicopters, though.
37. "Laura" - A highly conflicted mom song, and the darker counterpart to “Rosalinda’s Eyes,” as it gets at the crueler, more difficult side of Rosalind Joel. Another Beatles tribute, too, this one a gesture to the Magical Mystery Tour era.
36. “James” - Admittedly a little watery, but in the end, it’s a small, personal song about a mysterious broken friendship. Wonder who it was?
Having just started the Billy Joel biography - I can tell you who it was.
35. "Close to the Borderline" - Just about the hardest rocking-out he ever recorded, and he did it pretty well. Does not fail on the angry-young-man front. Mostly avoids the oversinging that hurts songs like “Big Shot” — he sings with more of a straight growl here, and it’s a bit better.
34. “She’s Always a Woman” - People ding this song for being schmaltzy, but I don’t think so — it wouldn’t seem out of place on several Bob Dylan records, and you’d probably think more of it then. The arrangement could, admittedly, be a little crisper.
33. “Rosalinda’s Eyes” - Just about every male singer-songwriter records a mom song; this is a good one. Doubly poignant because his mother didn’t have it so easy, and their relationship was not always smooth (cf. “Laura,” a much less affectionate view).
32. “My Life” - Chipper, maybe a little defensive, impeccably bouncy pop song with dark undercurrent. First verse is the best.
31. “Nobody Knows But Me” - A kids’ record, made for a CTW compilation album. It’s about an imaginary friend, and it’s much better than you’d ever guess.
30. “Big Man on Mulberry Street” - Is he a GoodFella, a restaurateur, just some shmo? Maybe a little too much production going on here, but a memorable, fun, remember-that-guy-Vinnie-we-used-to-know song.
29. “Everybody Loves You Now” - Super-catchy, bouncy piano, sneery. Pretty strong cut for one that few people remember.
28. “I’ve Loved These Days” - One of the better songs on this album, and I’m surprised it hasn’t become more of a standard. Bring it out at your high-school reunion, and watch the couples start to slow-dance.
27. “Summer, Highland Falls” - Everyone but me seems to single out this song as one of his very best, maybe the best. I just don’t hear it — I think it’s pretty but not great. I’ll admit that the live recordings are way better than the studio version. I’ll also give you that the piano performance is among his best. I still say “choose between reality and madness / it’s either sadness or euphoria” is pretentious undergrad stuff. We may have to agree to disagree here.
That these three songs are grouped together is a big "tell" by the author. They are very similar and personally three of my favorites. I agree with him - they are even more extraordinary live - but they should be higher, collectively.
26. “Last of the Big Time Spenders,” Streetlife Serenade A baby “Baby Grand,” unjustly ignored. Soars nicely in the chorus, especially.
25. “Captain Jack” - Piano Man Joel has said he’s tired of this one, and it does go on for too long. You can also knock ten points off for that uncomfortable “sit at home and masturbate” line, which has been filling arenas with uneasy giggles for 35 years, especially when “pick your nose” comes along a few lines later. But the big chorus is undeniable — it’s hard not to be swept along when it starts to crest.
24. “The River of Dreams” - Has more of that Innocent Man lightness and exuberance than most of the stuff on his later records, and benefits from it.
23. “Baby Grand” - The big Ray Charles duet, a bookend to “Piano Man.” A great, heartfelt performance from both of them, but the song itself is a weird extended metaphor that doesn’t entirely come off (the only one who sticks by you is your piano … or whatever it is your piano represents).
22. “Stiletto” - Another energetic R&B song. Joel’s recording is not bad at all, but if only someone like Bobby Womack had given it a whirl!
21. “She’s Got a Way” - Is it a little gooey? Is it very pretty? It’s both, and these things can comfortably coexist. A Great American Songbook song, written 20 years too late to have made it into the canon.
One of those songs that Joel wrote about his first wife, the one who took all his money. Still hard to think of anything else, when it comes on.
20. “This Is the Time” - Another ’80s-prom anthem, and I think you have to be a real churl to hate it.
19. “Prelude/Angry Young Man” - That hammered-keyboard intro is one for the ages among show-offy high-school piano students, and the song itself is a slightly more settled guy’s look at his snotty younger self. I like this one, probably more than most people do. I’m guessing that Joel also does because, even though it was never a hit, he still performs it regularly.
This is a signature Joel piece - one he uses regularly to open his shows.
18. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" - Most fans would put this one much higher on the list. It does have about the purest, cleanest production he ever had. But that whole “Hey, what about me? Why are all those CBGBs acts getting all the love?” attitude is off-putting. It’s saved (of course) by the fact that it’s funny and, here and there, pretty sly (“dance craze / anyways” is a rhyme most people would be afraid to write).
If you listen to this while cruising on the Miracle Mile, move it up 10 notches.
17. “Streetlife Serenader” - Maybe a little too long, and yes, it’s about the emptiness of pop-star-hood — “shoppin’-center heroes” — but, hey, write what you know. A sequel to “Piano Man,” once the protagonist is out of the crummy bar and has a couple of albums under his belt.
16. “The Stranger” - A little self-conscious, a little arty (that whistled intro). On multiple re-listenings, I half-expected to find it annoying, but it’s not. Has aged better than you’d think.
15. “Piano Man” - Scoff if you will, but you’ve probably just heard it too many times. “Real-estate novelist” is a great, vivid three-word characterization. (Although I recently had an argument with someone who claimed that line was junk. I, of course, was correct.)
Add one for every time you've heard this one live.
14. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” - Poorly recorded — the bass overwhelms it — and the studio cut sounds weak and wan, but underneath all that, there’s a well-wrought pop song in hiding. (He really hated L.A.) Much better in live later recordings, where the piano sounds cleaner, the violins are gone, and he sings it better.
13. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” - Only the goofy-awkward “heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack” keeps this one out of the top ten. Anthony and Mama Leone and Sergeant O’Leary are New Yorkers of a certain age, people we know well, and this is a fine three-and-a-half-minute radio drama about them.
I disagree here - I think the "ack-ack" are essential to this song and would have pushed it a few notches higher.
12. “All My Life” - The coda to his singer-songwriter career. A mature guy, doing the standards thing — except it’s a standard he wrote himself. No more chip on his shoulder, secure in his talent, out Tony Bennett–ing Tony Bennett. A keeper.
11. “Leave a Tender Moment Alone” - This is a really sweet song that nobody pays attention to. Also, arguably the best vocal recording he ever made: His voice is really supple, midway between his early quavery thing and his later baritone. Holds up, and you should go listen to it again.
10. “The Longest Time” - The most retro song on a retro album, and another affectionate tribute to the doo-wop he heard as a kid. Not profound, but a superior piece of pop craftsmanship. Not the most ambitious song; simple structure, simple lyrics, and there’s nothing bad about it.
9. "I Don't Want to Be Alone" - How’d everyone miss this? It’s an amazingly accurate (and completely unexpected) Elvis Costello pastiche, missing only the organ part. A great next-phase–New Wave pop song, one that deserves to come out of the trunk.
8. “Vienna” - A pretty song, a long metaphor for finding yourself at a crossroads in life, with a nice lilt and a restrained bit of whimsy. Unusually oblique. As a musician I know neatly put it to me the other day, “It’s what I want from him, with few Billy problems.” Cole Porter would have nodded and smiled at a line like “You can get what you want or you can just get old.”
7. “Just the Way You Are” - The straightest of straight-up ballads, I grant you, but this is Billy Joel’s “Yesterday,” and “clevah conversation” makes it all his own, because Long Island.
6. “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” - That date sounded deep in the future back in 1976, didn’t it? New York was, everyone thought, dying; amazing to think that a song could be written from the point of view of a retiree in Florida, remembering when the city collapsed. So he got the future wrong, but something about New Yorkers’ toughness still applies. And wait two years for the be-all-end-all live performance of this one, probably at Sun Life Stadium.
I agree with the author here - I would want to be at the concert in 2017 when this song gets played. Not one you hear a lot on the radio, although one of my favorites
5. “An Innocent Man” - Hard to think of a rock star as an innocent, but he really was — don’t forget that he was repeatedly conned out of millions of dollars by his managers and handlers. Another great vocal performance, on an underrated album that contains several of his best songs.
I like this song, even if he has trouble hitting the high notes anymore
4. "Sleeping With the Television On" - The best Billy Joel song that was never a hit. He still plays it in concert now and then, and has been known to introduce it as “kind of an obscure song”; it shouldn’t be. Clean power, vivid image, supple singing, tight rhythm, well-made, and bulletproof. The TV-sign-off sound effect at the beginning is the only bit of corn here; lop that off and it’s perfect.
3. “New York State of Mind” - Every era produces a couple of standards about New York City, and this one more than holds its own, between Comden and Green on one end and Jay Z and Alicia Keys on the other. Sinatra could’ve recorded it; Tony Bennett did; many others will. Impeccable.
2. “Only the Good Die Young” - None of that sour petulance here; it’s a song by a happy warrior in love and romance. Maybe Catholic girls start much too late, maybe they don’t, but either way, it’s funny as hell.
1. “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” - His longest song — it’s really three songlets, intertwined, a little seven-minute operetta — and, yes, his best. A century from now, if you want a wry but ultimately affectionate look at Long Island middle-class life circa 1976, you could do a lot worse than Brenda and Eddie, their paintings from Sears, and the Parkway Diner.
I can live with this at #1.
From the Vulture article, it points out that "by the measure of hit-making, his stats are staggering." A profile in The New Yorker last year "pointed out that he's had 33 songs in the Top 40. That's about a quarter of the songs he's written and recorded. Most of those charted in the era when you had to sell a lot of records to get there, too."
The author of the article points out (and stipulates), "this is all one listener’s opinion. But the ranking draws on 30 years of soaking in these songs, plus multiple repeat playings of every one over the past three months. That said, appreciation does not mean blindness, and Joel himself would agree that not every song on every album catches fire (though he did light it, and we tried to fight it). A close listening to the Joel-ian canon reveals a couple of generous handfuls of greatness, forgotten cuts that deserve to be resurfaced, familiar hits that have aged poorly, and flat-out clunkers."
He further establishes the following "Ground rules: I’ve limited this to the 114 songs Joel wrote and recorded on his 12 studio albums, from Cold Spring Harbor (1971) through River of Dreams (1993), plus seven additional singles he has released over the years. (As fans know, Cold Spring Harbor was butchered on its release; I used the remastered boxed-set version to give those songs a fair shake.) I omitted Fantasies and Delusions, the wordless neoclassical album Joel released in 2001, because another pianist does the playing. I also left out his covers, a few songs he’s written that other people sang, and his recordings with the Hassles and Attila, his early Long Island bands. You gotta stop somewhere."
I've not had a real opportunity to focus on this, until now. My comments in italics.
121. “The Mexican Connection” - An instrumental that sounds like the rights-free music people use in YouTube videos. Fills up side two of the album, and does no more.
120. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” - The biggest problem song for the Billy Joel apologist, because it is highly popular and inescapably bad. So much is wrong here: boomer-generation narcissism, the tri-state-area-news myopia (“hypodermics on the shore”? Bernie Goetz?), the iffy rhymes (“James Dean” with “winning team,” among many others), the double mention of the Dodgers. Why didn’t I put it dead last? It gets one point for its classroom value: I will admit that I had to look up who Syngman Rhee was, and I learned interesting things.
I used this song in my teaching days. Take that for what it's worth. It's also fun to see live - when Billy will admit up front, "this is either going to work . . . or it's going to be a train wreck."
119. “You Look So Good to Me” - A corny ballad, justifiably forgotten. The weakest song on an album even Joel doesn’t think much of.
118. "A Room of Our Own" - The staple standup-comic territory of “Hey, men and women are different, you know?” in convenient pop-song form. Pretty bad, and on a pretty good album to boot.
The first song on the list from the Nylon Curtain, which I feel is one of his best albums and most underappreciated.
117. “All You Wanna Do Is Dance” - One a few songs on this list with misplaced reggae inclinations. Yes, everyone was doing it in 1976, but that doesn’t make it right.
116. “Root Beer Rag” - Yeah, it maybe sounded cool when your friend was banging it out on the music-room piano in the eighth grade, but put it next to the gnarly chords of some actual ragtime, and you quickly realize that a rag built mostly on a C-major triad is pretty weak sauce.
115. “Worse Comes to Worst” - Title tells you most of what you need to know. An album ballad, not worth resurrecting.
114. “You Picked a Real Bad Time” - Very slick, not very good white-guy blues. Sounds like it was cut from River of Dreams.
113. “Shades of Grey” - "Dad rock” is a cheap label, but this is pretty much it; sounds like a lot of session musicians without a center. A song that exemplifies a recurring problem on this list: memorable hook paired with dull verses.
112. “State of Grace” - After more than a few listenings in the past month, not a single lyric from this song stuck with me. Literally forgettable.
111. “Getting Closer” - Repetitive and plodding.
110. “Temptation” - A schmaltzy torch song. Lyrically slack.
109. "C'était Toi (You Were the One)" - Oh man. You hear the first verse, and it’s pretty square but okay — and then he sings it again, in French, and you cringe. (The Beatles’ “Michelle” has the same problem, by the way.)
If you're listening to Billy Joel to learn French, you're doing it wrong.
108. “Running on Ice” - Petulance on parade: “I could never understand why the urban attitude is so superior.” The piano-playing is virtuosic and showy, but the song’s ultimately a less interesting “Pressure.”
107. “The Great Suburban Showdown” - Not-terrible vision of suburban anomie, but the references — crabgrass, sitting around the kitchen — are just too unoriginal. Might’ve been a lot better with a rewrite.
106. “Stop in Nevada” - Why is a guy from Long Island writing a fake-Western song? Inauthentic, and it shows.
105. “Nocturne” - Quasi-Chopin instrumental — though there are unrecorded lyrics — that absolutely refuses to stick in the mind.
104. “Tomorrow Is Today” - Two minutes into a rather quavery M.O.R. song, a bizarre vocal break — he drops an octave and throws in an R&B turn, then snaps back to the sensitive-guy voice — feels like it fell in from Mars.
103. “Turn Around” - Another first-album ballad, probably not worth reviving.
102. “House of Blue Light” The flip side of the “We Didn’t Start the Fire” single is bar-band blues, not much more.
101. “The Great Wall of China” - Another one with a really polished hook and dull verses. Lyrics about broken friendships have a little kick, given that Joel’s had his share.
I don't mind this one
100. “Code of Silence” - Co-written and sung with Cyndi Lauper. Another one that I keep listening to, over and over, trying to like it; can’t tell you a word that stuck with me. A really solid performance of a not very interesting song.
99. “Falling of the Rain” - Screams 1971 in a weird, Pippinish-hippie way that doesn’t seem to come from a natural place for Joel: “misty satin dreams” and “wooded glades”? What would Mama Leone say?
98. “You Can Make Me Free” - An undistinguished song, and then the wildly oversung bit at the end leaves you with a flinch.
97. “The Night Is Still Young” - An odd and unique one-off recording, with Joel’s voice multi-tracked. Very typical big-’80s sound, with synths and echo that haven’t aged well.
96. “Blonde Over Blue” - Nicely written first verse about being lonely at night, but it goes boring after that.
95. “When in Rome” - I’m surprised this didn’t click as a radio hit, because it hits every mainstream note of that era — leaving it sounding a little generic today. Could be Steve Winwood; could be the Traveling Wilburys; could be almost anyone.
94. “That’s Not Her Style” - Another dated-sounding track, but the lyrics are actually pretty okay — this is (presumably) one of his Christie Brinkley songs, several of which are more charming. Might benefit from a remix.
Billy has had many muses, some of the Christie ones are the better ones.
93. “This Night” - A strong vocal performance on a mostly excellent album, but borrowing the Beethoven “Pathétique” for a melodic line was a terrible idea — it reads like a pointless play for respectability — and it weighs down the already-somewhat-leaden lyrics.
92. "She's Right on Time" - Punchy performance, but the lyrics are thin, without much staying power.
91. “Why Judy Why” - Another very early song that sounds like it was made by an entirely different person. Recording is wavery and soft, and I’d be curious to hear a cover version that perhaps brings out whatever the song has in it.
90. “Two Thousand Years” - He’s reaching for something philosophical and trying for a big idea, but it doesn’t quite get there, and the lyrics wander.
89. “All About Soul” - Another from the Depression Series that had many of the ingredients to be a hit but didn’t have the snap to get there.
88. “A Minor Variation” - Somewhat similar to “All About Soul.” More white-guy blues, decently sung, but ultimately, there are so many better blues singers that it’s hard to get excited about this one.
87. “Storm Front” - Surprising that this one didn’t end up in Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out, because it’s got a punchy, big sound that would translate well to a Broadway pit. Goes on forever, though.
86. “A Matter of Trust” - Closest thing he’s ever made to a Queen-style stadium anthem to play at sporting events, with a chorus that benefits from a lot of people singing along. Hard not to get swept up, even if it’s kinda bombastic on the album. Fun song in concert; cheesier at home.
Because it really is a matter of trust.
85. “Roberta” - Lonely guy wants to save a stripper who won’t talk to him. Surely that scene could’ve produced a song more interesting than this.
84. “Los Angelenos” - He really didn’t like L.A. very much, did he? Not terrible, but loses a lot of points for the awkward “no one ever has to feel like a refugee,” and the weird rolled-R delivery of “Mexican rrreefers.”
83. “If I Only Had the Words (to Tell You)” - A familiar genre: the longing song. This one doesn’t hold a candle to his other songs on the same turf, like, say, “Just the Way You Are.”
82. “Ain’t No Crime” - Elton-ish record with a lot of backing vocals. Not terrible, but ultimately not very interesting, either.
81. “Easy Money” - Unfortunately evokes nothing so much as Rappin’ Rodney. An extremely commercial song of the ’80s, recorded as a movie theme. An artifact of its time and place.
I agree - the co-optingby Rodney Dangerfield hurts this otherwise good song.
80. "Don't Ask Me Why" - Not bad at all, and very, very, catchy, but makes you wonder: What does this tropical-hotel setting have to do with anything? Was he on vacation?
79. “52nd Street” - Sounds like one of the Ray Charles duets without Ray. Sax licks are a little cheesy, too. But it holds its place on the album — barely.
78. “Somewhere Along the Line” - An early song from his Depression Canon, this one seems to be about anhedonia — “it’s all going to catch up to you” — but it’s musically a little flat. Might be fodder for the right cover artist.
77. “You’re My Home” - Warm, but also dull.
This was a song that helped me get through some homesickness when I was in France in 1983.
76. “Modern Woman” - Spirited, and sorta fun — you can really picture this as the music behind a quick-cut montage in an ’80s Danny DeVito movie — but the cheese factor is very high. Possibly saved by the “modern woman” throwaway at the end.
75. “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’” - One that people argue over. Comes from a good place — Long Island fishermen do indeed have it tough; he probably knows some of those guys, going way back; the whole scene feels honest — but the synths and production have aged terribly. It’s 60 percent of the way to being a great Pete Seeger song, which is not a knock; a lot of people never get close to that.
As a Long Islander, I would like to see this song ranked better on the list.
74. “Christie Lee” - Yeah, it’s dated, but c’mon: If you were reading gossip columns in the heyday of Page Six, the Christie Brinkley songs (of which there are several) are pretty nearly irresistible fun.
73. “Careless Talk” - An album cut that doesn’t rise above, but it has nice bounce. Would be curious to hear it in a cabaret setting.
72. “Tell Her About It” - One of what I refer to as Joel’s Instructional Songs: records aimed directly at young people who need a boost in times of trouble. This one tells guys to risk rejection and be honest and vulnerable with their crushes, and even though you know it probably didn’t go well for some of those nerd-boy listeners, it’s a hard song to hate.
71. “Leningrad” - Yes, it’s kitsch — of course Russian people live ordinary lives too — and the music is gooey. But “We were sold a bunch of nonsense” is a thoughtful lyric in this context. (Benefits by comparison with Sting’s “Russians,” a similar, cheesier record.) Deserves to be revisited.
This song doesn't flow well for me - but I do like its message.
70. "Pressure" - You do, in fact, have to deal with pressure. Unimaginable that it’d be a hit today — this is another one that's totally out of style — but it's a particular weakness of mine, even though it’s not about much of anything besides, y’know, pressure.
One of Billy's songs that is absolutely better live.
69. "Through the Long Night" - Has a sewing-machine piano line that gets sleepy, but a nice ballad.
68. “Until the Night” - A precursor to An Innocent Man’s doo-wop songs, reaching for Elvis territory. Would have been better shorter — loses steam as the title repeats.
67. “Zanzibar” - A lot of people like this one, and would have ranked it higher. I get mostly overreach here: straining for Steely Dan complexity, in several different directions — jazz, fusion, atmospheric-cinematic — without reaching greatness in any of them.
I'm another of those that would have ranked this one higher.
66. “Souvenir” - Joel’s shortest recorded song. Nice little prelude to ... something.
65. “Travelin’ Prayer” - Another one that feels like he’s on weird unfamiliar turf, but taken as a product of the early seventies, it’s not bad at all. Fast piano, banjo, even a jaw harp. The false ending is a little cheap. A charming if dated song.
64. “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” - Another buck-up-kid Instructional, and another one that’s got some charm. Not a song you want to turn off.
This and "The Night is Still Young" appeared on one of Billy's Greatest Hits collections. This one is better and its ranking shows that.
63. “Famous Last Words” - “These are the last words I have to say”: Joel’s last song on his final studio album, apart from some one-off releases. A friendly, affectionate thanks-and-bye-for-now song, and, well, all right, it’s not side two of Abbey Road, but it’s not hateable either.
62. “And So It Goes” - A better song on Joel’s weakest album, maybe because the sentiment isn’t very complicated. Kind of a shrug, in the end, but a pretty one.
61. “Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)” - Nicely sung, presumably for his daughter Alexa, who was about 7 when this was recorded. Sweet if not deep; a little out of place on the album, but that’s okay.
60. “Shameless” - No piano! What? Better known, perhaps, for the Garth Brooks cover version, and if you don’t hate that Nashville sound, a good one.
59. “Get It Right the First Time” - Joel calls this the weak link on one of his best albums, and I’ll admit that it sounds like the theme to a funny-cops sitcom that never happened. But it’s no embarrassment, either.
58. “You May Be Right” - Good straight-up power pop song. “Even rode my motorcycle in the rain” is a pretty dumb line, which pulls it down on the list, and it loses a couple more points for the repeat-and-fade.
This is insulting to have this one in the middle of the pack.
57. "Sometimes a Fantasy" - He gets major points for trying to write a great phone sex song, but the result has a high ick factor, maybe because “make love long distance,” followed by pervy breathing, comes off gross rather than sexy. The unintentionally hilarious video may be affecting my judgment a little here.
56. “I Go to Extremes” - As catchy as a single ever was. Not a very interesting idea — essentially “Yeah, I can sometimes be an ass, but I’m fun, too” is a sentiment that covers about three-quarters of the population — but a well-wrought song if you accept that up front.
I would put this one in my Top 10.
55. “Uptown Girl” - It’s shlock, but — as my colleague Jody Rosen has persuasively written — there’s a place for shlock, particularly if, as mentioned above, you were there for the ’80s heyday of the Billy-and-Christie tabloid show. (Never mind that it was reportedly written about his previous supermodel girlfriend, Elle Macpherson.)
Wait, what? It's not about Christie?
54. "Surprises" - One of several Beatles tributes he’s recorded. Does that minor/major/minor/major step-down chord progression that Paul McCartney made his signature, with added George Martin shimmer. Not a song many people think of, but I like it.
53. "Where's the Orchestra?" - The performance on the album is a little low-energy, but it has interesting lyrics, with an unexpected callback to “Allentown” buried in the last verse.
There could have been a single with "Send in the Clowns" on the flip side.
52. "Scandinavian Skies" - A junkie song by a non-junkie: As far as I know, a unique idea. Points for its complexity and opacity; points off for the blatant “I Am the Walrus” echo.
51. "Allentown" - A lot of people think this is a terrible song. I disagree. Yes, the arrangement is heavy, and kind of thuds along; yes, the vocals are weirdly processed, and that shh-ooh-ah quasi-beatbox thing should go. The line “they threw an American flag in our face” is a clunker, badly misaligned with the music. But stare down the rest of the lyrics: They’re plainspoken and pretty okay. “Iron and coke / Chromium steel” is vivid, the change from “we’re living here” to “I’m living here” is thoughtful, and the last line of the verse (“I won’t be getting up today”) takes you out with a strong image.
50. "All for Leyna" - A pretty intense, pretty good stalker song. Electric and well sung, especially on the bridge.
This would be higher for me that the middle of the pack. And no I'm not a stalker.
49. “Elvis Presley Boulevard" - An offcut, rarely heard and better than you’d think; worth seeking out for a listen.
48. “Half a Mile Away” - As tight a commercial-radio song as ever recorded. Sits well on the album, though not super-interesting when taken on its own.
47. “Honesty” - Heart-on-sleeve vulnerability. I kinda like this one, but it does feel like a song a lot of people could have written.
46. “Big Shot” - Arguably the most pissed-off record he ever made, and about what? Hanging around with Bianca Jagger? Seems out of proportion to the problem. Falls down our list for that “nonononono biiiiig shottttttt didnja” line he sings toward the end, which is just ridiculous. But play it in a room full of music snobs, and they know every. Single. Word.
45. “Everybody Has a Dream” - Joel says “Get It Right the First Time” is the weak link on this album, but this is the song nobody remembers. Anthemic, a little soft. Might benefit from a less-dense arrangement with fewer layers.
44. “Weekend Song” - Another one with echoes of Elton John. Not bad at all.
43. “The Entertainer” - The Piano Man finds success! And hates his record company, and writes about it. The synths sound terrible now, and the petulance is creeping in, which does him no favors. But “Gotta have a hit / So they cut it down to 3:05” is clever, for sure.
I would put this much higher on my own list.
42. “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” - Is the end of the song, when he inserts himself, cheesy or charming? Could make a case for either; I like it. The big piano breaks are old-fashioned but not bad. Another one that’s quite a bit better in the live recordings than in the studio.
One that you need to add 10-20 notches for seeing (or hearing live)
41. “Got to Begin Again” - Another small but nicely wrought song that someone should dig up and rerecord.
40. “No Man’s Land” - A guy watches the suburbs rise around him, hates them, but stays there all the same, hating himself. Irritable Billy makes an appearance, but it’s still a solid song.
39. “Keeping the Faith” - A friendly, bright song about his teenhood. Better than you may remember, mostly for the lyrics and the enthusiasm in the vocals.
I would swap this with "The Longest Time."
38. "Goodnight Saigon" - Another argument about authenticity appears. Alright, it’s arguably bogus: He didn’t actually go fight in Vietnam. But it’s a vivid, thoughtful song about guys he clearly knew well. Can we knock it for portraying secondhand experience? It feels honest to me. Wish he’d left out the helicopters, though.
37. "Laura" - A highly conflicted mom song, and the darker counterpart to “Rosalinda’s Eyes,” as it gets at the crueler, more difficult side of Rosalind Joel. Another Beatles tribute, too, this one a gesture to the Magical Mystery Tour era.
36. “James” - Admittedly a little watery, but in the end, it’s a small, personal song about a mysterious broken friendship. Wonder who it was?
Having just started the Billy Joel biography - I can tell you who it was.
35. "Close to the Borderline" - Just about the hardest rocking-out he ever recorded, and he did it pretty well. Does not fail on the angry-young-man front. Mostly avoids the oversinging that hurts songs like “Big Shot” — he sings with more of a straight growl here, and it’s a bit better.
34. “She’s Always a Woman” - People ding this song for being schmaltzy, but I don’t think so — it wouldn’t seem out of place on several Bob Dylan records, and you’d probably think more of it then. The arrangement could, admittedly, be a little crisper.
33. “Rosalinda’s Eyes” - Just about every male singer-songwriter records a mom song; this is a good one. Doubly poignant because his mother didn’t have it so easy, and their relationship was not always smooth (cf. “Laura,” a much less affectionate view).
32. “My Life” - Chipper, maybe a little defensive, impeccably bouncy pop song with dark undercurrent. First verse is the best.
31. “Nobody Knows But Me” - A kids’ record, made for a CTW compilation album. It’s about an imaginary friend, and it’s much better than you’d ever guess.
30. “Big Man on Mulberry Street” - Is he a GoodFella, a restaurateur, just some shmo? Maybe a little too much production going on here, but a memorable, fun, remember-that-guy-Vinnie-we-used-to-know song.
29. “Everybody Loves You Now” - Super-catchy, bouncy piano, sneery. Pretty strong cut for one that few people remember.
28. “I’ve Loved These Days” - One of the better songs on this album, and I’m surprised it hasn’t become more of a standard. Bring it out at your high-school reunion, and watch the couples start to slow-dance.
27. “Summer, Highland Falls” - Everyone but me seems to single out this song as one of his very best, maybe the best. I just don’t hear it — I think it’s pretty but not great. I’ll admit that the live recordings are way better than the studio version. I’ll also give you that the piano performance is among his best. I still say “choose between reality and madness / it’s either sadness or euphoria” is pretentious undergrad stuff. We may have to agree to disagree here.
That these three songs are grouped together is a big "tell" by the author. They are very similar and personally three of my favorites. I agree with him - they are even more extraordinary live - but they should be higher, collectively.
26. “Last of the Big Time Spenders,” Streetlife Serenade A baby “Baby Grand,” unjustly ignored. Soars nicely in the chorus, especially.
25. “Captain Jack” - Piano Man Joel has said he’s tired of this one, and it does go on for too long. You can also knock ten points off for that uncomfortable “sit at home and masturbate” line, which has been filling arenas with uneasy giggles for 35 years, especially when “pick your nose” comes along a few lines later. But the big chorus is undeniable — it’s hard not to be swept along when it starts to crest.
24. “The River of Dreams” - Has more of that Innocent Man lightness and exuberance than most of the stuff on his later records, and benefits from it.
23. “Baby Grand” - The big Ray Charles duet, a bookend to “Piano Man.” A great, heartfelt performance from both of them, but the song itself is a weird extended metaphor that doesn’t entirely come off (the only one who sticks by you is your piano … or whatever it is your piano represents).
22. “Stiletto” - Another energetic R&B song. Joel’s recording is not bad at all, but if only someone like Bobby Womack had given it a whirl!
21. “She’s Got a Way” - Is it a little gooey? Is it very pretty? It’s both, and these things can comfortably coexist. A Great American Songbook song, written 20 years too late to have made it into the canon.
One of those songs that Joel wrote about his first wife, the one who took all his money. Still hard to think of anything else, when it comes on.
20. “This Is the Time” - Another ’80s-prom anthem, and I think you have to be a real churl to hate it.
19. “Prelude/Angry Young Man” - That hammered-keyboard intro is one for the ages among show-offy high-school piano students, and the song itself is a slightly more settled guy’s look at his snotty younger self. I like this one, probably more than most people do. I’m guessing that Joel also does because, even though it was never a hit, he still performs it regularly.
This is a signature Joel piece - one he uses regularly to open his shows.
18. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" - Most fans would put this one much higher on the list. It does have about the purest, cleanest production he ever had. But that whole “Hey, what about me? Why are all those CBGBs acts getting all the love?” attitude is off-putting. It’s saved (of course) by the fact that it’s funny and, here and there, pretty sly (“dance craze / anyways” is a rhyme most people would be afraid to write).
If you listen to this while cruising on the Miracle Mile, move it up 10 notches.
17. “Streetlife Serenader” - Maybe a little too long, and yes, it’s about the emptiness of pop-star-hood — “shoppin’-center heroes” — but, hey, write what you know. A sequel to “Piano Man,” once the protagonist is out of the crummy bar and has a couple of albums under his belt.
16. “The Stranger” - A little self-conscious, a little arty (that whistled intro). On multiple re-listenings, I half-expected to find it annoying, but it’s not. Has aged better than you’d think.
15. “Piano Man” - Scoff if you will, but you’ve probably just heard it too many times. “Real-estate novelist” is a great, vivid three-word characterization. (Although I recently had an argument with someone who claimed that line was junk. I, of course, was correct.)
Add one for every time you've heard this one live.
14. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” - Poorly recorded — the bass overwhelms it — and the studio cut sounds weak and wan, but underneath all that, there’s a well-wrought pop song in hiding. (He really hated L.A.) Much better in live later recordings, where the piano sounds cleaner, the violins are gone, and he sings it better.
13. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” - Only the goofy-awkward “heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack” keeps this one out of the top ten. Anthony and Mama Leone and Sergeant O’Leary are New Yorkers of a certain age, people we know well, and this is a fine three-and-a-half-minute radio drama about them.
I disagree here - I think the "ack-ack" are essential to this song and would have pushed it a few notches higher.
12. “All My Life” - The coda to his singer-songwriter career. A mature guy, doing the standards thing — except it’s a standard he wrote himself. No more chip on his shoulder, secure in his talent, out Tony Bennett–ing Tony Bennett. A keeper.
11. “Leave a Tender Moment Alone” - This is a really sweet song that nobody pays attention to. Also, arguably the best vocal recording he ever made: His voice is really supple, midway between his early quavery thing and his later baritone. Holds up, and you should go listen to it again.
10. “The Longest Time” - The most retro song on a retro album, and another affectionate tribute to the doo-wop he heard as a kid. Not profound, but a superior piece of pop craftsmanship. Not the most ambitious song; simple structure, simple lyrics, and there’s nothing bad about it.
9. "I Don't Want to Be Alone" - How’d everyone miss this? It’s an amazingly accurate (and completely unexpected) Elvis Costello pastiche, missing only the organ part. A great next-phase–New Wave pop song, one that deserves to come out of the trunk.
8. “Vienna” - A pretty song, a long metaphor for finding yourself at a crossroads in life, with a nice lilt and a restrained bit of whimsy. Unusually oblique. As a musician I know neatly put it to me the other day, “It’s what I want from him, with few Billy problems.” Cole Porter would have nodded and smiled at a line like “You can get what you want or you can just get old.”
7. “Just the Way You Are” - The straightest of straight-up ballads, I grant you, but this is Billy Joel’s “Yesterday,” and “clevah conversation” makes it all his own, because Long Island.
6. “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” - That date sounded deep in the future back in 1976, didn’t it? New York was, everyone thought, dying; amazing to think that a song could be written from the point of view of a retiree in Florida, remembering when the city collapsed. So he got the future wrong, but something about New Yorkers’ toughness still applies. And wait two years for the be-all-end-all live performance of this one, probably at Sun Life Stadium.
I agree with the author here - I would want to be at the concert in 2017 when this song gets played. Not one you hear a lot on the radio, although one of my favorites
5. “An Innocent Man” - Hard to think of a rock star as an innocent, but he really was — don’t forget that he was repeatedly conned out of millions of dollars by his managers and handlers. Another great vocal performance, on an underrated album that contains several of his best songs.
I like this song, even if he has trouble hitting the high notes anymore
4. "Sleeping With the Television On" - The best Billy Joel song that was never a hit. He still plays it in concert now and then, and has been known to introduce it as “kind of an obscure song”; it shouldn’t be. Clean power, vivid image, supple singing, tight rhythm, well-made, and bulletproof. The TV-sign-off sound effect at the beginning is the only bit of corn here; lop that off and it’s perfect.
3. “New York State of Mind” - Every era produces a couple of standards about New York City, and this one more than holds its own, between Comden and Green on one end and Jay Z and Alicia Keys on the other. Sinatra could’ve recorded it; Tony Bennett did; many others will. Impeccable.
2. “Only the Good Die Young” - None of that sour petulance here; it’s a song by a happy warrior in love and romance. Maybe Catholic girls start much too late, maybe they don’t, but either way, it’s funny as hell.
1. “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” - His longest song — it’s really three songlets, intertwined, a little seven-minute operetta — and, yes, his best. A century from now, if you want a wry but ultimately affectionate look at Long Island middle-class life circa 1976, you could do a lot worse than Brenda and Eddie, their paintings from Sears, and the Parkway Diner.
I can live with this at #1.
Friday, November 29, 2013
The Twelve Posts of Christmas - #1 (2013 edition)
Today is the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday for all you retail folks out there, I've been there, I understand) - the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. It is also the day that Christmas music is acceptable to be listened to in large quantities. The Brave Astronaut clan is returning from Thanksgiving celebrations with Mrs. BA's family and there will be Christmas music in the car on the way home.
Here, from BuzzFeed, is a ranking of the 30 Best Christmas recordings in the 20th Century. Comment away.
30. The Royal Guardsmen, "Snoopy's Christmas" (Christmas Bells) - one of my favorites (and a particular favorite of my brother).
29. Elton John, "Step into Christmas" - the Holiday Party for the professional organization at work is having a "British Invasion" themed party. Here's one option.
28. Alvin and the Chipmunks, "The Christmas Song (Don't Be Late)" - LBA and SoBA's exposure to the Chipmunks is confined to the newer version of the Chipmunks.
27. Jose Feliciano, "Feliz Navidad" - hey, it's catchy. In a former life, I used to be able to give someone the perpetual ear worm by mentioning this song to her. For several years, I used to give her the "Feliz Navidad" Hallmark ornament that would come out every year.
26. Carnie and Wendy Wilson, "Hey Santa" - bringing sexy to the Yuletide season.
25. Gene Autry, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Still one of the best Christmas specials out there.
24. Andy Williams, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - the crooners got a lot of play in the Brave Astronaut home growing up and Mr. Williams was very well represented. Him, along with the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Sinatra - are very high on my list of Christmas standard singers. The song of course enjoyed a rebirth in the 1990s when Staples opted to use it for Back to School shopping.
23. John Denver and the Muppets, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - also found on the Brave Astronaut iPod, I am particularly fond of Beaker's lines and the heartily delivered "BA DA BUM BUM" by Miss Piggy and finally, the entire group on the twelfth day.
22. Charles Brown, “Merry Christmas, Baby/Please Come Home For Christmas” - not really on my radar (though I've heard it before, primarily as it has been covered by many artists since Brown's original recording.
21. WHAM!, "Last Christmas" - talk about your earworms.
20. George S. Irving and Dick Shawn, “Snow Miser and Heat Miser” - from the best, IMHO, Christmas Special out there.
19. Perry Como, "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" - this one is hard, for as most of you know, Christmas was my mother's favorite holiday, so "Home for the Holidays" isn't the same anymore.
18. The Beach Boys, "Little Saint Nick" - sometimes it's hard to listen to a group so closely associated with summer sing about Christmas.
17. Frank Sinatra, "Jingle Bells" - although I like some of his others (particularly his version of Adeste Fideles), this one's fine.
16. ‘N Sync, “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” - As the songs started to come out when I was alive, I began to lose interest in those seeking to cash in on the holiday music gravy train.
15. Harry Belafonte, "Mary's Boy Child" - A little Calypso Christmas music, anyone?
14. Dean Martin, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - I mean, really, who wouldn't want to stay inside with Dino?
13. Thurl Ravenscroft, “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” - how many sizes will your heart grow this Christmas?
12. Elvis Presley, "Blue Christmas" - The King gets in on the Christmas music band wagon.
11. Vince Guaraldi Trio, “O Tannenbaum” - Linus's reading of the Christmas story from Bible still moves me.
10. Bobby Helms, "Jingle Bell Rock" - the original version of the song that has been covered many, many, many times.
9. John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” - An always timely piece of Christmas music.
8. Stevie Wonder, “Someday At Christmas” - another different tack on Christmas music.
7. Jackson 5, “Frosty The Snowman” - I prefer the Jackson boys singing about Mommy kissing Santa Claus.
6. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” - Clarence, you keep practicing, maybe Santa will bring you a new saxophone.
5. The Drifters, “White Christmas” - the list makers feel this is a better version that Bing's.
4. Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” - not one of my favorites, but here it is on the list, anyway.
3. Bing Crosby & David Bowie, “The Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth” - yes, it's totally cheesy and a little staged, but it's pretty good singin'.
2. Nat King Cole, “The Christmas Song” - who doesn't love roasting chestnuts?
1. Mariah Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” - OK, OK, don't shoot the messenger. I would have expected Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" but perhaps they didn't realize that was in the 20th Century. I mean, isn't that the biggest selling song of all time?
Well at least this song didn't make the list. What are your favorites?
Here, from BuzzFeed, is a ranking of the 30 Best Christmas recordings in the 20th Century. Comment away.
30. The Royal Guardsmen, "Snoopy's Christmas" (Christmas Bells) - one of my favorites (and a particular favorite of my brother).
29. Elton John, "Step into Christmas" - the Holiday Party for the professional organization at work is having a "British Invasion" themed party. Here's one option.
28. Alvin and the Chipmunks, "The Christmas Song (Don't Be Late)" - LBA and SoBA's exposure to the Chipmunks is confined to the newer version of the Chipmunks.
27. Jose Feliciano, "Feliz Navidad" - hey, it's catchy. In a former life, I used to be able to give someone the perpetual ear worm by mentioning this song to her. For several years, I used to give her the "Feliz Navidad" Hallmark ornament that would come out every year.
26. Carnie and Wendy Wilson, "Hey Santa" - bringing sexy to the Yuletide season.
25. Gene Autry, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Still one of the best Christmas specials out there.
24. Andy Williams, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - the crooners got a lot of play in the Brave Astronaut home growing up and Mr. Williams was very well represented. Him, along with the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Sinatra - are very high on my list of Christmas standard singers. The song of course enjoyed a rebirth in the 1990s when Staples opted to use it for Back to School shopping.
23. John Denver and the Muppets, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - also found on the Brave Astronaut iPod, I am particularly fond of Beaker's lines and the heartily delivered "BA DA BUM BUM" by Miss Piggy and finally, the entire group on the twelfth day.
22. Charles Brown, “Merry Christmas, Baby/Please Come Home For Christmas” - not really on my radar (though I've heard it before, primarily as it has been covered by many artists since Brown's original recording.
21. WHAM!, "Last Christmas" - talk about your earworms.
20. George S. Irving and Dick Shawn, “Snow Miser and Heat Miser” - from the best, IMHO, Christmas Special out there.
19. Perry Como, "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" - this one is hard, for as most of you know, Christmas was my mother's favorite holiday, so "Home for the Holidays" isn't the same anymore.
18. The Beach Boys, "Little Saint Nick" - sometimes it's hard to listen to a group so closely associated with summer sing about Christmas.
17. Frank Sinatra, "Jingle Bells" - although I like some of his others (particularly his version of Adeste Fideles), this one's fine.
16. ‘N Sync, “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” - As the songs started to come out when I was alive, I began to lose interest in those seeking to cash in on the holiday music gravy train.
15. Harry Belafonte, "Mary's Boy Child" - A little Calypso Christmas music, anyone?
14. Dean Martin, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - I mean, really, who wouldn't want to stay inside with Dino?
13. Thurl Ravenscroft, “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” - how many sizes will your heart grow this Christmas?
12. Elvis Presley, "Blue Christmas" - The King gets in on the Christmas music band wagon.
11. Vince Guaraldi Trio, “O Tannenbaum” - Linus's reading of the Christmas story from Bible still moves me.
10. Bobby Helms, "Jingle Bell Rock" - the original version of the song that has been covered many, many, many times.
9. John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” - An always timely piece of Christmas music.
8. Stevie Wonder, “Someday At Christmas” - another different tack on Christmas music.
7. Jackson 5, “Frosty The Snowman” - I prefer the Jackson boys singing about Mommy kissing Santa Claus.
6. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” - Clarence, you keep practicing, maybe Santa will bring you a new saxophone.
5. The Drifters, “White Christmas” - the list makers feel this is a better version that Bing's.
4. Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” - not one of my favorites, but here it is on the list, anyway.
3. Bing Crosby & David Bowie, “The Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth” - yes, it's totally cheesy and a little staged, but it's pretty good singin'.
2. Nat King Cole, “The Christmas Song” - who doesn't love roasting chestnuts?
1. Mariah Carey, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” - OK, OK, don't shoot the messenger. I would have expected Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" but perhaps they didn't realize that was in the 20th Century. I mean, isn't that the biggest selling song of all time?
Well at least this song didn't make the list. What are your favorites?
Friday, September 27, 2013
Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho - It's Off From Work I Am
Today is a day off of work for me. Some time ago - I came across this list of "the 20 Greatest Songs About Work." Discuss.
When I used to work in retail - I often had to work on Friday evenings and would find myself driving to the store at 5:00, when a local radio station would have it's "5:00 Whistle" to signal the start of the weekend. The program would always include a little Loverboy, which should be on this list, too.
- Tennessee Ernie Ford - "Sixteen Tons"
- Sam Cooke - "Chain Gang"
- Bob Dylan - "Maggie's Farm"
- Lee Dorsey - "Working in the Coal Mine"
- Glen Campbell - "Wichita Lineman"
- Loretta Lynn - "One's on the Way"
- Rush - "Working Man"
- Randy Newman - "Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man)"
- Johnny Paycheck - "Take This Job and Shove It"
- The Clash - "Career Opportunities"
- John Prine - "Fish and Whistle"
- Dolly Parton - "9 to 5"
- Bruce Springsteen - "Atlantic City"
- Utah Phillips - "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"
- Dire Straits - "Money for Nothing"
- The Bangles - "Manic Monday"
- Uncle Tupelo - "Grindstone"
- Steve Earle - "Telephone Road"
- Robbie Fulks - "Let's Kill Saturday Night"
- Belle and Sebastian - "White Collar Boy"
When I used to work in retail - I often had to work on Friday evenings and would find myself driving to the store at 5:00, when a local radio station would have it's "5:00 Whistle" to signal the start of the weekend. The program would always include a little Loverboy, which should be on this list, too.
Friday, September 20, 2013
The Music of Our Lives
Music, of course, plays a significant role for everyone. Much of the music we listen to and remember comes to us from a movie. When I used to buy albums (yes, I'm that old), cassettes (yes, them, too) and finally CDs - I would often purchase movie soundtracks. Even LBA and SoBA persuaded me to purchase the Cars soundtrack for my iPod.
Here's a list from BuzzFeed on "30 Great Music Moments in Movies." I've added links to videos where I could find them and included a note where the music has touched me in some way. Enjoy.
Here's a list from BuzzFeed on "30 Great Music Moments in Movies." I've added links to videos where I could find them and included a note where the music has touched me in some way. Enjoy.
Governor Gertrude Lang: Mr. Holland had a profound influence on my life and on a lot of lives I know. But I have a feeling that he considers a great part of his own life misspent. Rumor had it he was always working on this symphony of his. And this was going to make him famous, rich, probably both. But Mr. Holland isn't rich and he isn't famous, at least not outside of our little town. So it might be easy for him to think himself a failure. But he would be wrong, because I think that he's achieved a success far beyond riches and fame. Look around you. There is not a life in this room that you have not touched, and each of us is a better person because of you. We are your symphony Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life.
- “Moon River” by Henry Mancini as featured in Breakfast At Tiffany’s - Andy Williams will forever remind me of my mother - there were many Andy Williams records in our house growing up.
- “Trouble” by Cat Stevens as featured in Harold And Maude - I've actually never seen this movie and am not familiar with the tune.
- “You Should Be Dancing” by Bee Gees as featured in Saturday Night Fever - I own this soundtrack, I may like the Bee Gees more than I should.
- “Old Time Rock N’ Roll” by Bob Seger as featured in Risky Business - because, sometimes you have to say, well, you know.
- “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry as featured in Back To The Future - "Chuck? Chuck! It's your cousin, Marvin. Marvin Berry! You know that new sound you're looking for?"
- “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds as featured in The Breakfast Club - A great song, but this song is the extent of my Simple Minds exposure - movie songs can do that.
- “Twist And Shout” by The Beatles as featured in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - "This is for Cameron, who doesn't think he saw anything fun today."
- “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” by Harry Belafonte as featured in Beetlejuice - I actually prefer the Belafonte number from the end of the movie. Harry is well represented on my iPod.
- “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel as featured in Say Anything… - "I told her I loved her and she gave me a pen." For musical declarations of love at the end of movies, this one ranks higher than Richard Gere's in Pretty Woman.
- “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith as featured in Dazed And Confused - another movie that I have not seen, but the song is one of Mrs. BA's favorites.
- “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen as featured in Wayne’s World - Just the other day, LBA, SoBA, and I were recreating this scene in the car.
- “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry as featured in Pulp Fiction - wow, two for Chuck on the same list. Not a fan of this movie however.
- “California Dreaming” by The Mamas And The Papas as featured in Chungking Express - for this genre of music - I think Good Morning Vietnam (a movie I was watching again just the other day) does a better job and am surprised there are no songs from that movie on that list.
- “Rollin’ With My Homies” by Coolio as featured in Clueless - not a big fan of this movie or of this genre of music.
- “I Say A Little Prayer” by Diana King as featured in My Best Friend’s Wedding - the sing along scene in the movie is great fun. Also a soundtrack that I own.
- “Where Is My Mind” by The Pixies as featured in Fight Club - If you can't talk about Fight Club, can you talk about the music in Fight Club?
- “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons as featured in 10 Things I Hate About You - a movie I've not seen, but the song is familiar to me (I have older siblings)
- “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John as featured in Almost Famous - another soundtrack in the Brave Astronaut collection, the scene on the plane is awesome.
- “Cosmic Dancer” by T. Rex as featured in Billy Elliot - another movie I missed and the song is not in my repertoire.
- “These Days” by Nico as featured in The Royal Tenenbaums - didn't see this one, either - and also begins to prove the point - miss the movie, you don't immediately know the song..
- “Just Like Honey” by The Jesus And Mary Chain as featured in Lost In Translation - three in a row.
- “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” by Nancy Sinatra as featured in Kill Bill Vol. 1 - four, I think it's a Tarantino thing - but evidently he knows how to pick music.
- “New Slang” by The Shins as featured in Garden State - I've not seen this movie, but I own the soundtrack.
- “Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime” by Beck as featured in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind - also missed this and I'm not a fan of Beck, either.
- “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco as featured in Adventureland - the closest I got to this movie was going to the actual Adventureland on Long Island.
- “Wait” by Alexi Murdoch as featured in Away We Go - and another.
- “California Dreamin” by Bobby Womack as featured in Fish Tank - two versions of California Dreamin'? really?
- “There Goes The Fear” by Doves as featured in (500) Days of Summer - wait, this one I saw.
- “Le Temps De L’Amour” by Francoise Hardy as featured in Moonrise Kingdom
- “Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners as featured in The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - I know this song, but not the movie.
- The above quoted, Mr. Holland's Opus
- The above cited, Good Morning Vietnam
- Sister Act
- The Big Chill
- Armageddon
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Some of the Bond films, but definitely not all of them.
- The Graduate
- Holiday Inn
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The 12 Posts of Christmas (2012), volume VII
Growing up, Christmas morning would start in one of my sibling's bedrooms, where we would get our stockings from our parents - then we would gather at the top of the stairs and our father would pass by us (usually mumbling something about the ungodly hour) and go downstairs to make sure that Santa had come. In my house growing up - Santa decorated the tree on Christmas eve. One of my father's other responsibilities was to put on the Christmas music before we would be allowed to come downstairs to open our presents. Christmas music in the morning usually came from the local classical station - the pop radio stations didn't flip formats for weeks on end in those days.
I can usually restrain myself from the Christmas music shuffle on the iPod until Thanksgiving. In fact, my iPod still has "regular" music interspersed with the Christmas music but that may change in the next day or two, obviously. There are several radio stations that play Christmas music locally and I will listen to them in the car - I also have a wide selection of Christmas CDs that make the rotation in December.
So what are the Brave Astronaut's favorite Christmas songs? What are yours? Feel free to comment.
Here is the first ten Christmas songs that came up on my iPod when writing this post. (All links are to YouTube videos of the songs, when I could find them)
Favorite "Traditional" Christmas Music
I can usually restrain myself from the Christmas music shuffle on the iPod until Thanksgiving. In fact, my iPod still has "regular" music interspersed with the Christmas music but that may change in the next day or two, obviously. There are several radio stations that play Christmas music locally and I will listen to them in the car - I also have a wide selection of Christmas CDs that make the rotation in December.
So what are the Brave Astronaut's favorite Christmas songs? What are yours? Feel free to comment.
Here is the first ten Christmas songs that came up on my iPod when writing this post. (All links are to YouTube videos of the songs, when I could find them)
- I'll be Home for Christmas - Frank Sinatra
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Frank Sinatra
- The First Noel - Emmylou Harris
- Silver Bells - Vonda Shepard
- Twelve Days of Christmas - John Denver and the Muppets
- Who Comes This Night - James Taylor
- There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays - Perry Como
- Christmas Time All Over the World - Sammy Davis, Jr.
- Whatever Happened to Christmas? - Frank Sinatra
- Winter White - A Fine Frenzy
Favorite "Traditional" Christmas Music
- Adeste Fidelis (O Come All Ye Faithful) (must include the Latin)
- Do You Hear What I Hear?
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- Go Tell It on the Mountain
- It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
- White Christmas, always by Bing Crosby
- The Twelve Pains of Christmas
- Snoopy's Christmas - The Royal Guardsmen
- There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - the Michael Jackson / Jackson 5 version is currently getting a lot of play right now, it's one of Joe's favorites.
- The Marvelous Toy - The Chad Mitchell Trio (also one of the current favorites, my voice may have had a little hitch on on the final verse)
- The Christmas Song
- A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
- Baby, It's Cold Outside
- It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - we miss you Andy Williams
Monday, January 17, 2011
Breakfast for Dinner
As has been noted here before, Mondays are usually set aside for "Breakfast for Dinner." Which means pancakes and bacon. We had French Toast a few weeks ago, I would be interested in introducing waffles to the rotation, but for now, LBA's request is for pancakes.
Of course today was the federal holiday to commemorate the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King (Mrs. BA and I have a thing for this James Taylor song) and we did not have pancakes. We had a friend of LBA's over for our regularly scheduled Federally Mandated Holiday Play Date and Mrs. BA scored a big hit with an outstanding beef stew. But here is a recipe for basic pancakes - click on the link to see varieties you can make.
Basic Pancakes
- Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Whisk 1 1/4 cups milk, 1/2 stick melted butter,2 eggs and a little vanilla, then whisk into the flour mixture until just combined.
- Ladle 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot buttered skillet and cook until bubbly.
- Flip and cook until golden on the bottom.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
On the Cusp of History
So here I sit, watching game 6 of the Yankee Game - will they win their 27th World Series? Things are looking up. Mariano's in for five outs.
There are several anniversaries to mark this week:
There are several anniversaries to mark this week:
- On this date in 1979, the American Embassy in Tehran was stormed, resulting in the Hostage Crisis that lasted until the inauguration of Ronald Reagan in January 1981.
- This weekend, as was noted by Chancellor Angela Merkel during her speech to a joint session of Congress this week, the world will observe the twentieth anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall
- I previously noted (in a post here in 2007) about the premiere of Sesame Street on November 10, 1969
- On HBO this week, a new documentary will remember the election of Barack Obama one year ago.
- One of the more popular songs on the Brave Astronaut iPod is Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a coal ship, which sank in the Great Lakes on November 10, 1975.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Over the Rainbow and Under the Influence
While the BA family prepares to jet home from the SAA Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, I note two worthy anniversaries today.
- It was 70 years ago today that the MGM musical The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
- Forty years ago, in 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Long Live the 8-Track
No really.
I resisted making the switch to CDs for a long time. I had two large wooden cases mounted on my wall that contained my extensive cassette collection. Then as I finally began to migrate my cassettes to CD, I sold off my cassettes. Of course by then, the 8-track player was long gone.
Recently, I have been reconstituting by iTunes library after my computer crashed. LBA has been inquiring when "Centerfield" will be moved from my computer to my iPod (as one cannot have two iTunes libraries synched on the same iPod). Soon, my boy, soon.
- Cheap Trick to release new album on 8-track tape, via kottke.
I resisted making the switch to CDs for a long time. I had two large wooden cases mounted on my wall that contained my extensive cassette collection. Then as I finally began to migrate my cassettes to CD, I sold off my cassettes. Of course by then, the 8-track player was long gone.
Recently, I have been reconstituting by iTunes library after my computer crashed. LBA has been inquiring when "Centerfield" will be moved from my computer to my iPod (as one cannot have two iTunes libraries synched on the same iPod). Soon, my boy, soon.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Would it Have Been Anyone Else?
Two weeks ago, Billy Joel and Elton John took to the stage for the first concert ever at Nationals Park - home to the lowly Washington Nationals. Tonight, I am headed to the park for a game between the Nationals and the San Diego Padres. While I would have liked to attend the concert, the reviews were mediocre and featured a full on hissy fit by Elton John, when his piano broke in the opening set.
Shortly after I returned from a New York weekend, my cousin tagged me in a note on Facebook. I have done similar work / lists like this before, but here goes:
Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think.
Pick Your Artist: Billy Joel
Are you male or female: An Innocent Man
Describe yourself: I Go to Extremes
How do you feel about yourself: Don't Ask Me Why
Describe your current boy/girl situation: A Matter of Trust
Describe where you currently live: The River of Dreams
If you could go anywhere you wanted to go: Leningrad
Your favorite form of transportation: The Downeaster Alexa
Your best friend(s) is(are): Big Shot and The Entertainer
Your favorite color is: Oyster Bay (I'm sure it's a color - it's got to be in the blue family)
Favorite time of day: Until the Night
If your life were a TV show, what would it be called: The Longest Time
What is life to you: The Longest Time
What is the best advice you have to give: You're Only Human
Thought for the Day: It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
How I would like to die: Only the Good Die Young
My soul's present condition: Pressure
Shortly after I returned from a New York weekend, my cousin tagged me in a note on Facebook. I have done similar work / lists like this before, but here goes:
Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think.
Pick Your Artist: Billy Joel
Are you male or female: An Innocent Man
Describe yourself: I Go to Extremes
How do you feel about yourself: Don't Ask Me Why
Describe your current boy/girl situation: A Matter of Trust
Describe where you currently live: The River of Dreams
If you could go anywhere you wanted to go: Leningrad
Your favorite form of transportation: The Downeaster Alexa
Your best friend(s) is(are): Big Shot and The Entertainer
Your favorite color is: Oyster Bay (I'm sure it's a color - it's got to be in the blue family)
Favorite time of day: Until the Night
If your life were a TV show, what would it be called: The Longest Time
What is life to you: The Longest Time
What is the best advice you have to give: You're Only Human
Thought for the Day: It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
How I would like to die: Only the Good Die Young
My soul's present condition: Pressure
Friday, February 6, 2009
A 6-6-6 Meme
This was created by the venerable archivist, Terry, who blogs here. He created this meme. Here is my own take on it:
Rules: Six categories, with six entries each done in six minutes without Google (I didn't use Google, but I did consult my iPod).
Six songs with numbers in the title
Rules: Six categories, with six entries each done in six minutes without Google (I didn't use Google, but I did consult my iPod).
Six songs with numbers in the title
- 867-5309 (Jenny)
- Route 66
- One More Night
- 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
- 99 Red Balloons
- Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)
- Purple Rain
- Little Red Corvette
- Blue Suede Shoes
- Blue Bayou
- Man in Black
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Cats in the Cradle
- Honky Cat
- Me and You and a Dog Named Boo
- Free Bird
- A Horse with No Name
- Bye Bye Blackbird
- I Only Have Eyes for You
- My Eyes Adored You - "Carried your books from school, made believe you were married to me. You were fifth grade, I was sixth, when we came to be."
- Open Arms - that one's just for OC
- Ain't that a Kick in the Head
- Brown Eyed Girl - it's my ringtone when Mrs. BA calls
- Heartache Tonight
- Born in the USA
- China Grove - not here.
- America the Beautiful - though I really, really love the version below.
- City of New Orleans
- Georgia on my Mind - while I love this song, it will always make me think of this show.
- Goodnight Saigon
- Working at the Car Wash Blues
- Son of a Son of a Sailor
- Operator
- The Candy Man - but only sung by him.
- The Entertainer
- I Wanna Drive the Zamboni
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Spanning the Web . . . .
I have a bunch of random things that I have been meaning to toss out here. None, on their own, warrant a post alone, so here's the big bucket of Internet goodies.
- If you want me I am likely playing either of these two new Flash games that I tell myself, sure, I'll only play for a few minutes. Then it's midnight. Ameobas and Filler.
- From Jason Kottke (are you following him yet? Is his blog in your reader yet? Why NOT!) - his best links from 2008.
- I had grand ideas of coupling this outstanding poster with some great recipe involving Breakfast Cereal, or perhaps reconstructing Ally Sheedy's sandwich recipe from this movie. But have a look at the poster and laugh.
- I was recently on the 6th Floor Blog and they were discussing cheese. Then I saw this. I had recommended they go to Artisanal, if you have a cheese thing, you have to go - I think it's a law. Perhaps they can just get the clock. Maybe they'll buy me one.
- People wonder and marvel at the ease of the Washington Metro system. They recoil in horror at the prospect of riding the New York City subway. How do you think they'd react to a commute from Omega Centauri to Cygnus? That transfer at Galactic Center is a bear!
- One of the best gifts received by my two sons were large Scrabble tiles with the letters of their names. Thanks OSGs! Now I need one of these.
- Although I LOVE the commercial (nearly spit my drink the first time I saw it - thank God for TiVO so I could verify that they indeed had said that) - I do NOT need one of these, I think.
- One of my other favorite places to visit is Google Sightseeing. The other day they profiled the Very Large Array in New Mexico. I've been there. It's very impressive, but as Mrs. Brave Astronaut says, they couldn't come up with a better name? It's like calling Hoover Dam, the "Really Big Dam."
- Wouldn't you expect this place to be a little bit bigger? Or is it a case of "forgive me for the crudity of the model, [He] didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it?"
- Do you have any money? I would so buy this phone number. And my names not even Jenny - then again neither is the guy who currently has it. It can currently be yours for a cool quarter million dollars on eBay.
- Finally, you all know of my dental troubles. At least I'm not this kid.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Stranger in Paradise
From C in DC, here's another Friday meme. Feel free to play along. She got it here.
If someone says "is this okay" you say?
- Put your iTunes or MP3 player on shuffle.
- For each question, press the next button to get your answer
If someone says "is this okay" you say?
- Ally Ally Oxen Free (The Kingston Trio)
- Georgia on My Mind (Ray Charles)
- If I Can't Have You (Yvonne Elliman)
- Straighten Up and Fly Right (Natalie Cole)
- Old Joe's Place (The Folksmen - from A Mighty Wind)
- Yellow Submarine (The Beatles)
- Calypso (John Denver)
- Shower the People (James Taylor)
- One of These Nights (The Eagles)
- Owner of a Lonely Heart (Yes)
- Dance Band on the Titanic (Harry Chapin)
- Stay (Jackson Browne)
- I'm Still Standing (Elton John)
- Grazing in the Grass (The Friends of Distinction - from the Anchorman soundtrack)
- Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
- Come Together (The Beatles)
- Worrisome Heart (Melody Gardot)
- Buildings and Mountains (The Republic Tigers)
- What's Goin' On (Marvin Gaye)
- She's Got a Way (Billy Joel) (ouch)
- Don't Stand So Close to Me (The Police)
- We Can Last Forever (Chicago)
- Good Life (Tony Bennett)
- Lowdown (Boz Scaggs)
- The Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon)
- Crazy Love (Poco)
- Tell Her About It (Billy Joel)
- Stranger in Paradise (Tony Bennett)
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Music of My Life (at least High School)
I'm on my way to NY for the weekend to pack up my father's belongings as he prepares to move in with his girlfriend. So here's a list to make you remember days gone by. Me, I'm just scarred from the whole experience . . .
Borrowed from the Curious Child's Library Wanderings . . .
Instructions:
Borrowed from the Curious Child's Library Wanderings . . .
Instructions:
- Go to Music Outfitters and type in the year you graduated from high school (or first year, if still in high school) into the search function.
- Retrieve the top 100 songs from that year.
- Strike through the songs you hate(d), italicize the songs you like(d), bold the songs you love(d) and leave alone the ones you either don’t remember or don’t care about.
- Annotate at will.
- Careless Whisper, Wham!
- Like A Virgin, Madonna
- Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Wham!
- I Want To Know What Love Is, Foreigner
I Feel For You, Chaka Khan- Out Of Touch, Daryl Hall and John Oates - I have a friend who reads this blog and is sure to have a comment on Hall and Oates - Skate Factory, Lana, little "Private Eyes"?
- Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Tears For Fears
- Money For Nothing, Dire Straits - The video is stuck in my mind, those cartoon characters
- Crazy For You, Madonna
- Take On Me, A-Ha - C'mon who doesn't like this song, it's catchy and the new, literal version is hysterical
- Everytime You Go Away, Paul Young
- Easy Lover, Phil Collins and Philip Bailey
- Can't Fight This Feeling, REO Speedwagon - I have a friend that I wrote out the lyrics to this song for her one day - it was along the lines of a profession of love (i)
- We Built This City, Starship - I have seen references to this being the worst song every put out. But it's a little catchy
- The Power Of Love, Huey Lewis and The News - Back to the Future anyone? (i)
- Don't You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds - Only because of the Breakfast Club.
- Cherish, Kool and The Gang
- St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion), John Parr - I saw this movie long after putting Demi Moore on my list. If you have to ask, you didn't see this movie or remember the scene.
- The Heat Is On, Glenn Frey
- We Are The World, U.S.A. For Africa - I had the 45 and used to "identify" the singers as they began to sing. I could also do some imitations of them. Stop Laughing.
- Shout, Tears For Fears - Shout, Let it Out.
- Part-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder
- Saving All My Love For You, Whitney Houston
- Heaven, Bryan Adams
- Everything She Wants, Wham!
- Cool It Now, New Edition
Miami Vice Theme, Jan Hammer- Lover Boy, Billy Ocean
- Lover Girl, Teena Marie
- You Belong To The City, Glenn Frey
Oh Sheila, Ready For The World- not ready for me- Rhythm Of The Night, Debarge
One More Night, Phil Collins- Someday I might tell the bad associations I have with this song, but not today.- Sea Of Love, Honeydrippers - Come with me, to the sea. If you stop to think about it, a very dirty song.
- A View To A Kill, Duran Duran - this song is forever ruined for me by the startling image of Grace Jones in the Bond movie.
- The Wild Boys, Duran Duran
- You're The Inspiration, Chicago - For many years, they were. Now, not so much (i)
- Neutron Dance, Pointer Sisters
- We Belong, Pat Benatar
- Nightshift, Commodores - this song appealed to the history geek in me and taught me about Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson.
- Things Can Only Get Better, Howard Jones - they could, and this song would help.
- All I Need, Jack Wagner
- Freeway Of Love, Aretha Franklin
Never Surrender, Corey Hart- please, surrender- Sussudio, Phil Collins - there was a running joke about campus while I was in college, that he was really saying, "ssssSunyA!" for SUNY at Albany.
- Strut, Sheena Easton
You Give Good Love, Whitney Houston- The Search Is Over, Survivor - yes, yes it is.
- Missing You, Diana Ross
- Separate Lives, Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin - My girlfriend in college, who was later my first wife, use to sing duets like this, a la Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in "Dirty Dancing." Stop laughing.
- Raspberry Beret, Prince and The Revolution
- Suddenly, Billy Ocean
- The Boys Of Summer, Don Henley - We had a lot of Cadillacs on Long Island, but very few with Dead Head stickers on the back of them.
- One Night In Bangkok, Murray Head - really?
- If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, Sting
- Obsession, Animotion
- We Don't Need Another Hero, Tina Turner
- Material Girl, Madonna
Better Be Good To Me, Tina Turner- Head Over Heels, Tears For Fears
- Axel F, Harold Faltermeyer - only because of Beverly Hills Cop
- Smooth Operator, Sade
- In My House, Mary Jane Girls
- Don't Lose My Number, Phil Collins - Rikki, do you have it? Is the number 867-5309? Is Jenny there?
- All Through The Night, Cyndi Lauper
- Run To You, Bryan Adams
- Glory Days, Bruce Springsteen - yep, they were (i)
Voices Carry, 'Til Tuesday- not only do they carry, they hurt a little bit.Misled, Kool and The Gang- Would I Lie To You?, Eurythmics - "Would I say something that wasn't true?" Nope, not me.
- Be Near Me, ABC
- No More Lonely Nights, Paul McCartney
- I Can't Hold Back, Survivor
- Summer Of '69, Bryan Adams - This evokes more college memories than high school (i)
- Walking On Sunshine, Katrina and The Waves - Possibly one of the catchiest tunes ever issued (i)
- Freedom, Wham!
- Too Late For Goodbyes, Julian Lennon - Where have you gone, Jule?
- Valotte, Julian Lennon
- Some Like It Hot, Power Station
Solid, Ashford and Simpson- yep, like a rock- Angel, Madonna
- I'm On Fire, Bruce Springsteen - "Hey, little girl is your daddy home?" Not cool, Boss.
- Method Of Modern Love, Daryl Hall and John Oates - M-E-T-H-O-D!
- Lay Your Hands On Me, Thompson Twins
Who's Holding Donna Now, Debarge- who cares!- Lonely Ol' Night, John Cougar Mellencamp - who? Mellancamp? John Cougar? John Mellancamp.
- What About Love, Heart - I had a friend in HS who really, really liked Heart.
California Girls, David Lee Roth- Don't mess with the Beach Boys.Fresh, Kool and The Gang- stale- Do What You Do, Jermaine Jackson
- Jungle Of Love, The Time
- Born In The USA, Bruce Springsteen - C'mon, it's the anthem! (i)
Private Dancer, Tina Turner- Um, sure, nice legs, but Ms. Tina has never been my thing.- Who's Zoomin' Who, Aretha Franklin
- Fortress Around Your Heart, Sting - Hey, I had "Dream of the Blue Turtles on vinyl, baby!
- Penny Lover, Lionel Richie
- All She Wants To Do Is Dance, Don Henley (i)
- Dress You Up, Madonna
- Sentimental Street, Night Ranger
- Sugar Walls, Sheena Easton
Friday, November 14, 2008
Top 25 Documentaries
A straight up list via kottke (with a little comment) of the 25 best documentaries as rated by the International Documentary Association.
- Hoop Dreams (1994), Steve James (um, it's a basketball movie - really, number 1?)
- The Thin Blue Line (1988), Errol Morris
- Bowling for Columbine (2002), Michael Moore (possibly one of Moore's best)
- Spellbound (2002), Jeffrey Blitz (but I really prefer this movie about Scrabble)
- Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), Barbara Kopple
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Davis Guggenheim (shouldn't this be first?!)
- Crumb (1994), Terry Zwigoff
- Gimme Shelter (1970), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin (not being a huge Stones fan, I missed this. I know, ask Mrs. BA, it's one of my faults)
- The Fog of War (2003), Errol Morris
- Roger & Me (1989), Michael Moore
- Super Size Me (2004), Morgan Spurlock (I already dislike eating McDonalds - I'd never eat there again if I sat down to watch this.)
- Don't Look Back (1967) D.A. Pennebaker (so we're heavy on the musical documentaries, I see.)
- Salesman (1968), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin
- Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982), Godfrey Reggio (and if it's not music, it's death and destruction)
- Sherman's March (1986), Ross McElwee (to this day, Northerners driving to Florida have to tread carefully driving through Georgia.)
- Grey Gardens (1976), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer (Mrs. BA saw this, as did the OSGs. I passed. And will always do so.)
- Capturing the Friedmans (2003), Andrew Jarecki
- Born into Brothels (2004), Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski (this film comes very close to a point about my being able to watch films where children are in peril. Mrs. BA can't watch that stuff anymore, even the fictionalized stuff)
- Titicut Follies (1967), Frederick Wiseman
- Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Wim Wenders
- Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Michael Moore ("Now watch this drive . . ." - sigh . . . )
- Winged Migration (2002), Jacques Perrin
- Grizzly Man (2005), Werner Herzog
- Night and Fog (1955), Alain Resnais
- Woodstock (1970), Michael Wadleigh
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
What's on my iPod? - Volume II
Another blog that I frequent is David McMahon's authorblog. And this week he asked in his "Weekend Wandering," "What song brings you the best memories?" There are many answers, here are the first four that come to mind:
- Nancy by Frank Sinatra will always make me think of my mother as that was her name.
- Let's Go Crazy by Prince will always make me think of high school as it was the anthem for our football team during senior year. That and Purple Rain, for it was the song theme for the one prom I went to, where you know, prom things happened. Wink, wink.
- Save the Last Dance for Me by the Drifters was a song that I had wanted to have played at my sister's wedding because I wanted to dance with her before she left. OK, I was 11.
- Thank You by Dido will always make me think of Mrs. BA. That and At Last by Etta James. If I were making a mix tape for her, those two would lead it off.
- Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen (now that I know this song meant so much to Tim Russert, it will forever remind me of him)
- Non Dimenticar - Natalie Cole (what? it's a big album, got lots of songs on it.)
- Workin' in the Car Wash Blues - Jim Croce (although my personal favorite of his is "You don't mess around with Jim")
- Car Crash - Matt Nathanson (another iTunes free song of the week, great sound)
- Take it Easy - the Eagles (song number 21 was another Eagles tune, After the Thrill is Gone)
- The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace (um, I might have bought this song on iTunes. "Daddy was a cop, on the east side of Chicago . . . when a man named Al Capone, tried to make that town his own . . . ")
- Never Did No Wanderin' - The New Main Street Singers (from "A Mighty Wind" soundtrack. After the movie came out, Mrs. BA and I, with several others, went to the 9:30 Club to see the "concert" featuring the "bands" from the movie. It was awesome.
- Jacqueline - James Hunter (this one might have been a Starbucks free song of the week)
- Tears from a Gun - The Black Ghosts (also a free song from iTunes)
- Bye, Bye Love - Ray Charles (at least it's not "Hit the Road Jack," which is a personal favorite of LBA, who often will ask for it to be played over and over and over and over in the car)
- Crocodile Rock (live) - Elton John (someday I'll tell you about my concert experience of Billy Joel and Elton John, but not today)
- Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit) - The Noisettes (another freebie - man this is a good set of music!)
- A Pirate Looks at Forty (live) - Jimmy Buffett
- Fly Me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra
- A Most Peculiar Man (live) - Simon and Garfunkel
- Day Tripper - The Beatles (Soul Revolver does it better. Number 20 was another Beatles song, Penny Lane, which will always make me think of Kate Hudson in Almost Famous)
- Baby I'm A Want You - Bread (remember that comment about the iPod spontaneously combusting?)
- Mustang Sally - The Commitments (from the movie soundtrack)
- With Plenty of Money and You - Count Basie and Tony Bennett
- Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Colorado
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