"Cool" Songs

Let's take a brief respite from the "Lonely" Songs series to appreciate some truly "Cool" Songs. A hundred of them, in fact. Spread out over four posts, but still... Enjoy!  ~  JH



1)  Echosmith  ~  "Cool Kids"

2)  Gwen Stefani  ~  "Cool"

3)  Jonas Brothers  ~  "Cool"

4)  Bing Crosby & Jane Wyman  ~  "In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening"

5)  Blake Shelton  ~  "Sure Be Cool If You Did"

6)  Tones And I  ~  "Ur So...Cool"

7)  Demi Lovato  ~  "Cool For The Summer"

8)  Stevie Wonder  ~  "Be Cool, Be Calm (And Keep Yourself Together)"

9)  Tigers Jaw  ~  "Cool"

10)  John Michael Montgomery  ~  "Cool"

11)  Anthony Hamilton ft. David Banner  ~  "Cool"

12)  Le Youth  ~  "Cool"

13)  New Edition  ~  "Cool It Now"

14)  Soul Asylum  ~  "Cool"

15)  Troye Sivan  ~  "Cool"

16)  Joe Nichols  ~  "Hard To Be Cool"

17)  The Veronicas  ~  "Dead Cool"

18)  Daya  ~  "Cool"

19)  Jennifer Love Hewitt  ~  "Cool With You"

20)  Sabrina Carpenter  ~  "Take Off All Your Cool"

21)  Alesso ft. Roy English  ~  "Cool"

22)  Tori Amos  ~  "Cool On Your Island"

23)  The Beach Boys  ~  "Cool, Cool Water"

24)  Boston  ~  "Cool The Engines"

25)  Yumi Zouma  ~  "Cool For A Second"

"Block" & "Charge" Songs

Even though it really isn't my favorite sport, I sorta miss watching basketball games. I particularly enjoy seeing people getting fouled. I dunno why. These songs are inspired by my slight affinity for basketball and two things that happen a lot in any given game: "Blocks" and "Charges." Enjoy!  ~  JH



1)  Jennifer Lopez  ~  "Jenny From The Block"

2)  311  ~  "Charge It Up"

3)  The Church  ~  "Block"

4)  The Band CAMINO  ~  "Free Of Charge"

5)  Warren Zevon  ~  "Tenderness On The Block"

6)  Shandi Sinnamon  ~  "Charles In Charge"  (Yep, it's the theme song from the -- beloved? benign? banal? -- '80s sitcom starring Scott Baio.)

7)  Rosemary Clooney & Bing Crosby  ~  "Let's Take A Walk Around The Block"

8)  Keb' Mo ft. Rosanne Cash  ~  "Put A Woman In Charge"

9)  Alice Cooper  ~  "Prettiest Cop On The Block"

10)  Shirley Caesar  ~  "No Charge"

11)  Matt and Kim  ~  "Block After Block"

12)  Great Lake Swimmers  ~  "One More Charge At The Red Cape"

13)  The Coasters  ~  "Riot In Cell Block Number Nine"

14)  Faster Pussycat  ~  "Charge Me Up"

15)  Stacy Lattisaw & Johnny Gill  ~  "Block Party"

16)  Albert Collins  ~  "Master Charge"

17)  The Chiffons  ~  "My Block"

18)  Nneka  ~  "In Charge"

19)  Marshmello  ~  "Blocks"

20)  SLVR  ~  "Charge"

21)  The Chemical Brothers  ~  "Block Rockin' Beats"

22)  Yinka  ~  "Take Charge"

23)  Wrabel  ~  "11 Blocks"

24)  DJ Finest  ~  "Charge"

25)  TryHardNinja  ~  "In Charge"  (And finally, a song with both words in it. The chorus begins: "In charge of building the world / Lay down the blocks and watch it grow...")

Songs About Heaven & Hell, Vol. 2

Might as well go ahead and get Vol. 2 (and final) out there, as it's a direct bookend to the previous post. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Emeli Sandé  ~  "Heaven"

2)  Pistol Annies  ~  "Hell On Heels"

3)  Donna Summer & Brooklyn Dreams  ~  "Heaven Knows"

4)  Pantera  ~  "Cowboys From Hell"

5)  Bing Crosby  ~  "Pennies From Heaven"

6)  Passenger  ~  "Hell Or High Water"

7)  Beyoncé  ~  "Heaven"

8)  George Strait  ~  "You Gotta Go Through Hell"

9)  Coldplay  ~  "Hurts Like Heaven"

10)  AC/DC  ~  "Hell's Bells"

11)  Warrant  ~  "Heaven"

12)  Stryper  ~  "No More Hell To Pay"

13)  The Cure  ~  "Just Like Heaven"

14)  Brandy Clark  ~  "Love Can Go To Hell"  (WOW! Okay then!)

15)  Eurythmics  ~  "Heaven"

16)  Cher  ~  "Hell On Wheels"

17)  Guns N' Roses  ~  "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"

18)  The Who  ~  "Heaven And Hell"

19)  Eric Clapton  ~  "Tears In Heaven"

20)  The Jam  ~  "Private Hell"

21)  Maria McKee  ~  "Show Me Heaven"

22)  Eric Church  ~  "Hell On The Heart"

23)  Bruno Mars  ~  "Locked Out Of Heaven"

24)  Alice In Chains  ~  "Private Hell"

25)  Black Sabbath  ~  "Heaven And Hell"

25 Different Versions of "Silver Bells"

There are many, many ways in which a classic Christmas tune can be ruined by a bad arrangement or a dreadful singer. But these are not those. These are 25 great renditions of an iconic tune. Feel free to pick and choose as you please. I hope you will...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Meaghan Smith  (This young woman has an "old soul" and makes adorable music.)

2)  Twisted Sister  (Let's go ahead and get the weirdest one out of the way early. Actually, the song itself isn't that weird, but boy-oh-boy is this video a piece of work!)

3)  A Few Good Men  (I miss the '90s!)

4)  Bob Hope & Marilyn Maxwell  (Apparently, this is "the original" version...at least according to the YouTube poster.)

5)  Tony Bennett  (*Almost* nobody does it better than Tony!)

6)  The Polyphonic Spree  (This is a truly unique arrangement. It's great!)

7)  Clay Aiken & Megan Mullally  (Nice duet by an Idol and a comedienne.)

8)  The Temptations  (What makes this version different than all the rest? It's all about that bass!)

9)  Bing Crosby  (Of course, Bing is a part of this collection. I mean, how could he not be?)

10)  Amy Grant & Marc Martel  (The Queen of Christian Contemporary pairs up with the Man Who Would Be Queen in this apt duet. There's a bonus song at the end that you're sure to either love or detest.)  

11)  John Legend  (The Sexiest Man Alive – LOL! – takes on a Christmas classic – and KILLS it!)

12)  Elvis Presley  (This post would be incomplete without The King!)

13)  The Supremes  (I've never heard this version before, but they more than do it justice.)

14)  Don Ho  (Let's add a little tropical flavor to the mix!)

15)  Jim Nabors  (Gomer Pyle shore could sang purdy! Shazam!)

16)  She & Him  (If you don't recognize her from the album cover, the "She" in She & Him is Zooey Deschanel from the movie Elf, another Christmas classic.)

17)  Harry Connick, Jr.  (Classy, swinging version. I would expect no less from Harry.)

18)  William Shatner  (If you ever wanted to hear a dramatic reading of a Christmas song, you're about to. This isn't a great version, but it's certainly one-of-a-kind!)

19)  Brenda Lee  (Can't go wrong with Brenda Lee at Christmastime!)

20)  Andy Williams & The Osmonds  (This is the kind of treacly crap that quickly becomes irksome during the holiday season. But dang, that Andy can sing!)

21)  Love And Theft  (I'm mostly unfamiliar with this band, but I like them a lot!)

22)  Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors  (Gorgeous harmonies and instrumentation!)

23)  Stevie Wonder  (Good stuff!)

24)  Johnny Mathis  (The man's voice is like honey! So smooth!)

25)  Gloria Estefan  (Let's spice it up a bit for the grand finale!)