Songs About Yesterday, Vol. 1

Today begins a new 6-part series. I know what you're probably thinking. Groan! Not another miniseries! But this one's going to be good, I promise. Turns out, in all the music blogging I've done over the past few years, I've never dedicated a set of songs to the subjects of "Yesterday," "Today," and "Tomorrow." It's high time I did so. There are so many wonderful songs to choose from which contain one or more of these words in their titles, so I had to include a bunch. There's 40 songs for each word, split up into posts of 20 each. We begin with "Yesterday." Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  The Beatles  ~  “Yesterday”

2)  Leona Lewis  ~  “Yesterday”

3)  30 Seconds To Mars  ~  “From Yesterday”

4)  Foreigner  ~  “That Was Yesterday”

5)  Boyz II Men  ~  “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday”

6)  Black Country Communion  ~  “Song Of Yesterday”

7)  Chad & Jeremy  ~  “Yesterday’s Gone”

8)  George Jones, Jamey Johnson, & Blackberry Smoke  ~  “Yesterday’s Wine”

9)  Carpenters  ~  “Yesterday Once More”

10)  Jethro Tull  ~  “A New Day Yesterday”

11)  Stevie Wonder  ~  “Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday”

12)  Toni Braxton ft. Trey Songz  ~  “Yesterday”

13)  Spiral Starecase  ~  “More Today Than Yesterday”

14)  Guns N’ Roses  ~  “Yesterdays”

15)  Tony Bennett ft. Buddy Rich  ~  “Yesterdays”

16)  Fink  ~  “Yesterday Was Hard On All Of Us”

17)  My Chemical Romance  ~  “The Kids From Yesterday”

18)  Spooky Tooth  ~  “That Was Only Yesterday”

19)  Lifehouse  ~  “Yesterday’s Son”

20)  Ryan Adams  ~  “Like Yesterday”

"Blood," "Sweat," & "Tears" Songs

Here's a bunch of songs with the words "Blood," "Sweat," and/or "Tears" in their titles. Because, why not? Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Mutemath  ~  “Blood Pressure”

2)  Jimmy Eat World  ~  “Bleed American / Salt Sweat Sugar”

3)  Eric Clapton  ~  “Tears In Heaven”

4)  NONONO  ~  “Pumpin’ Blood”

5)  Simple Minds  ~  “Sweat In Bullet”

6)  Smokey Robinson & The Miracles  ~  “Tears Of A Clown”

7)  Morcheeba  ~  “Blood Like Lemonade”

8)  Eric B. & Rakim  ~  “Don’t Sweat The Technique”

9)  Boyz II Men  ~  “Tracks Of My Tears”

10)  Ellie Goulding  ~  “My Blood”

11)  Ween  ~  “Don’t Sweat It”

12)  The Rolling Stones  ~  “Out Of Tears”

13)  Ron Pope  ~  “Tears Of Blood”

14)  C + C Music Factory  ~  “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”

15)  Amy Winehouse  ~  “Tears Dry On Their Own”

16)  Indigo Girls  ~  “Blood And Fire”

17)  Inner Circle  ~  “Sweat (A La La Long)”

18)  Kylie Minogue  ~  “Tears On My Pillow”

19)  Joey + Rory  ~  “Are You Washed In The Blood?”

20)  Lowkey ft. Klashnekoff  ~  “Blood, Sweat, & Tears”

21)  Alicia Keys  ~  “Tears Always Win”

22)  Norah Jones  ~  “Young Blood”

23)  Meiko  ~  “Deep Sweat”

24)  Leeland  ~  “Tears Of The Saints”

25)  Paloma Faith  ~  “Blood, Sweat, And Tears”

Popular Songs Of 1996, Vol. 1

OK, now we're getting into my wheelhouse, the soundtrack of my youth. In particular, the soundtrack of my freshman year of college. So...the sentiment is strong with these songs. Therefore, this will be a four – count them, four – volume post. Carried away much? Yup. But who cares? In the mid-'90s, these songs could not have been avoided, even if you tried (and I didn't, really). So what are we waiting for? Let's go!  ~  JH

1)  Spice Girls  ~  “Wannabe”

2)  The Fugees  ~  “Killing Me Softly”

3)  Los del Rio  ~  “Macarena”

4)  Oasis ~  “Wonderwall”

5)  The Smashing Pumpkins  ~  “1979”

6)  “Weird Al” Yankovic  ~  “Amish Paradise”

7)  Céline Dion  ~  “Because You Loved Me”

8)  Deep Blue Something  ~  “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”

9)  Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men  ~  “One Sweet Day”

10)  Dave Matthews Band  ~  “Crash Into Me”

11)  No Doubt  ~  “Don’t Speak”

12)  311  ~  “Down”

13)  Shania Twain  ~  “You Win My Love”

14)  Dog’s Eye View  ~  “Everything Falls Apart”

15)  Gin Blossoms  ~  “Follow You Down”

16)  OMC  ~  “How Bizarre”

17)  Alice In Chains  ~  “Heaven Beside You”

18)  Melissa Etheridge  ~  “I Want To Come Over”

19)  Sheryl Crow  ~  “If It Makes You Happy”

20)  Brooks & Dunn  ~  “My Maria”

21)  Aaliyah  ~  “If Your Girl Only Knew”

22)  Foo Fighters  ~  “I’ll Stick Around”

23)  Goo Goo Dolls  ~  “Long Way Down”

24)  Björk  ~  “It’s Oh So Quiet”

25)  Alanis Morissette  ~  “Hand In My Pocket”

“Oil” & “Water” Songs, Vol. 1

Here's a collection of songs that don't mix well together. Why not? Because some of them have the word "Oil" in their titles, while some bear the word "Water." Worse still, some have both the words "Oil" AND "Water" in their titles! The horrors! There were too many good ones that qualified to just make one post, so Vol. 2 (of 2) will happen next time. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Lights  ~  “Oil And Water”

2)  Boyz II Men  ~  “Water Runs Dry”

3)  Cariss Auburn  ~  “Oil On Water”

4)  Travie McCoy ft. Jason Mraz  ~  “Rough Water”

5)  Horsehead  ~  “Oil And Water”

6)  Florence + The Machine  ~  “What The Water Gave Me”

7)  Nipsey Russell  ~  “Slide Some Oil To Me”

8)  Live  ~  “Run To The Water”

9)  Erja Lyytinen  ~  “Oil And Water”

10)  FKA twigs  ~  “Water Me”

11)  Suburban Tribe  ~  “Oil And Water”

12)  Deep Purple  ~  “Smoke On The Water”

13)  Lost Hollow  ~  “Water & Oil”

14)  Eddie Money  ~  “Walk On Water”

15)  Foals  ~  “Snake Oil”

16)  The Doobie Brothers  ~  “Black Water”

17)  Dolly Parton  ~  “I’ll Oil Wells Love You”

18)  BANKS  ~  “Warm Water”

19)  Lame Dudes  ~  “Mojo Oil”

20)  Art Garfunkel  ~  “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

Dazzling Duets By Dynamic Duos: The 1990s

Here's part 2 in a 4-part series featuring classic duets. These songs are all from the 1990s, which may very well be the best decade in history for duets – in my opinion, at least. How many of these do you remember fondly?  ~  JH

1)  Tim McGraw & Faith Hill  ~  "It's Your Love"  (Something about a love song sung by real-life lovers – a husband and wife, in fact – makes it all the more…lovey-dovey? Maybe so, maybe not. But this is a cute song either way.)

2)  Céline Dion & Andrea Bocelli  ~  "The Prayer"  (It doesn't get much more powerhouse than this. Great song by two all-time greats.)

3)  Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey  ~  "Endless Love"  (This rendition and the Lionel Richie/Diana Ross version are both outstanding. Instead of choosing between one or the other, I decided to include them both. The original song will appear in the '80s edition of this series.)

4)  Brandy & Monica  ~  "The Boy Is Mine"  (Catty? Oh, yes! Enjoyable? Absolutely!)

5)  John Mellencamp & Me'Shell Ndegeocello  ~  "Wild Night"  (This song brings back some memories. Why? Because MTV played the crap out of it back in '94 or '95. And for good reason – it's a fun song!)

6)  Reba McEntire & Vince Gill  ~  "The Heart Won't Lie"  (I can't remember whether someone suggested this song, or if I just found it. Either way, it's a good one.)

7)  Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole  ~  "Unforgettable"  (Ah, the power of technology! Natalie Cole sang this iconic duet with her father who, at the time, had been dead for a quarter of a century. And she won three Grammys for it, to boot!)

8)  Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey  ~  "When You Believe"  (Remember The Prince Of Egypt? That animated musical movie about the Exodus from the late '90s? Yeah, me neither. But I do remember this song from its soundtrack quite well.)

9)  Clint Black & Lisa Hartman Black  ~  "When I Said I Do"  (Here's another sweet love song by a real-life husband and wife. I wonder how many wedding ceremonies or vow renewals included a rendition of this song?)

10)  Anita Baker & James Ingram  ~  "When You Love Someone"  (I'm sure James Ingram has had a nice solo career, but I know him best for the classic duets he's a part of. This is one of those. Another classic duet of his will appear in the '80s post.)

11)  Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson  ~  "Scream"  (Stop pressurin' me! I'm trying to think of something original to say about this classic brother-sister duet.)

12)  Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams  ~  "I Finally Found Someone"  (I remember this movie not at all. The song, however, is still good some 15-20 years later.)

13)  Tony Bennett & k.d. lang  ~  "Moonglow"  (Oh, look! Another Tony Bennett duet! Yeah. What's your point? It's good, isn't it?)

14)  Céline Dion & Peabo Bryson  ~  "Beauty And The Beast"  (If James Ingram is the king of duets, then Peabo Bryson is the emperor. This is just one of three great songs on which Peabo teamed up with [better-known] singers in this post alone.)

15)  Elton John & George Michael  ~  "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"  (This is actually an older song of Elton John's, but George Michael covered it live and brought Elton onstage to sing it with him in the '90s, and the live version became a smash hit. And why not? It's pretty awesome!)

16)  Patty Smyth & Don Henley  ~  "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough"  (This song will sound every bit as good fifty years from now, and will probably be better then than most songs on the radio. It's sad that some folks today may never have heard it before, or may have even forgotten it exists. Don't be one of those people!)

17)  Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry  ~  "7 Seconds"  (This is one of those nifty songs I discovered years and years after it was released, and I like it. Do you remember it from when it came out originally?)

18)  Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville  ~  "All My Life"  (Great song by a great couple of singers.)

19) Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle  ~  "A Whole New World"  (Don't you DARE close your eyes!)

20)  Céline Dion & R. Kelly  ~  "I'm Your Angel"  (I forgot about this song. I liked it then, and I still do. Take a listen!)

21)  Vanessa Williams & Brian McKnight  ~  "Love Is"  (This is another great collaboration that I'd forgotten about. Amazing stuff!)

22)  Whitney Houston & CeCe Winans  ~  "Count On Me"  (CeCe gives Whitney a run for her money here, and that's saying a LOT!)

23)  Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men  ~  "One Sweet Day"  (I looked it up, and apparently this does count as a duet, even though one of the two "artists" is a vocal group. Either way, I would have included it because it's fantastic!)

24)  Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack ~   "Tonight I Celebrate My Love"  (I was singing Peabo's part of this song at the top of my lungs in the shower yesterday morning, after having heard it a couple of days before. Is that TMI?)

25)  Céline Dion & Clive Griffin  ~  "When I Fall In Love"  (This is a timeless classic that deserves multiple listens. But for now, why not at least give it one?)