Songs About Gravity, Vol. 1

Some subjects are perfect fodder for singers and songwriters, and by the looks of it, "Gravity" is one such subject. I base this theory on the preponderance of not just songs – but great songs – which bear the word in their titles and lyrics. Here's part 1 of 2 featuring Songs About "Gravity." Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Soul Asylum  ~  “Gravity”

2)  Alison Krauss & Union Station  ~  “Gravity”

3)  The Allman Brothers Band ft. The Tonight Show Brass  ~  “True Gravity”

4)  Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth  ~  “Defying Gravity”

5)  R.E.M.  ~  “Feeling Gravity’s Pull”

6)  Emmylou Harris  ~  “Defying Gravity”

7)  Shawn McDonald  ~  “Gravity”

8)  Kerli  ~  “Zero Gravity”

9)  Big & Rich  ~  “Gravity”

10)  Sara Bareilles  ~  “Gravity”

11)  The Verve  ~  “Gravity Grave”

12)  Dolly Parton  ~  “Jesus & Gravity”

13)  Mads Langer  ~  “No Gravity”

14)  Pixie Lott  ~  “Gravity”

15)  Caleb Johnson  ~  “Fighting Gravity”

16)  Borgeous ft. Lights  ~  “Zero Gravity”

17)  Tyrone Wells  ~  “Gravity”

18)  Out Of The Grey  ~  “Gravity”

19)  Counting Crows  ~  “Like Teenage Gravity”

20)  Vienna Teng  ~  “Gravity”

“For” Songs, Vol. 1

Here begins a four-part miniseries featuring songs with the words "For" and/or "Against" in their titles. Since "For" is such a common word, my criteria for choosing these songs was that the title of the song had to begin with the word "For." I tried to do the same with the "Against" songs, but found that method too limiting, instead including songs with the word anywhere in their titles. Here's the first half of the "For" songs, and I do hope you enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Carpenters  ~  “For All We Know”

2)  Avicii ft. Alex Ebert  ~  “For A Better Day”

3)  Foo Fighters  ~  “For All The Cows”

4)  Bon Iver  ~  “For Emma, Forever Ago”

5)  The Smashing Pumpkins  ~  “For Martha”

6)  Barclay James Harvest  ~  “For No One”

7)  Paramore  ~  “For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic”

8)  Band Of Horses  ~  “For Annabelle”

9)  Kristin Chenoweth & Idina Menzel  ~  “For Good”

10)  4Him  ~  “For Future Generations”

11)  Jimmy Eat World  ~  “For Me This Is Heaven”

12)  All That Remains  ~  “For You”

13)  Paul McCartney  ~  “For No One”

14)  Nikki Yanofsky  ~  “For Another Day”

15)  Stevie Wonder  ~  “For Once In My Life”

16)  Serena Ryder  ~  “For You”

17)  The Script  ~  “For The First Time”

18)  Ray Price  ~  “For The Good Times”

19)  Luther Vandross  ~  “For You To Love”

20)  Thin Lizzy  ~  “For Those Who Love To Live”

Things These Artists Are Not (Vol. 1)

Here's a bunch of tunes about things that the singers/bands are NOT. Among these songs, you'll find artists that are not your heroes, not in love, not in the mood, not on drugs, and not sorry, just to name a few. There were so many of these "NOT" songs that I had to split the post into two parts. For those of you who care, I have included a smidgen of snarky commentary for each song. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Tegan and Sara  ~  "I'm Not Your Hero"  (Or your heroine either, for that matter.)

2)  Meiko  ~  "I'm Not Sorry"  (Unapologetic, however, she definitely is.)

3)  Sam Smith  ~  "I'm Not The Only One"  (Nope, there are definitely others, Sam.)

4)  Payton Rae  ~  "Not Your Cinderella"  (I wasn't confused. She doesn't look like Cinderella.)

5)  La Roux  ~  "I'm Not Your Toy"  (So don't treat her like one!)

6)  10cc  ~  "I'm Not In Love"  (Methinks he doth protest too much.)

7)  Stacie Orrico  ~  "I'm Not Missing You"  (That's what they all say…)

8)  Britney Spears  ~  "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman"  (So…I'm confused. What else does that leave for her to be?)

9)  Brandon Heath  ~  "I'm Not Who I Was"  (That's all well and good, but how do I stop being who I am now?)

10)  Halestorm  ~  "I'm Not An Angel"  (Maybe not, but her voice soars like it's sprouted wings!)

11)  K's Choice  ~  "Not An Addict"  (Well, not anymore, at least…)

12)  Mark Lanegan  ~  "I'm Not The Loving Kind"  (He's not the smiling kind either, it would seem.)

13)  Jennifer Hudson  ~  "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"  (And I think she means it, too!)

14)  Shania Twain  ~  "I'm Not In The Mood (To Say No!)"  (Wait, isn't that a double negative? No?)

15)  Angus and Julia Stone  ~  "I'm Not Yours"  (This is heartbreakingly sad! Cats falling out of love. *sigh*)

16)  Tove Lo  ~  "Not On Drugs"  (Apparently, drugs and love display similar symptoms...)

17)  Gloria Estefan  ~  "I'm Not Giving You Up"  (Good for you, Gloria. Get that man back!)

18)  Lil Wayne  ~  "I Am Not A Human Being"  (There are so many mute-bleeps on this song that it's impossible to discern what he's rapping about. Something tells me it wouldn't make much sense unedited, either.)

19)  Natalie Merchant  ~  "I'm Not Gonna Beg You"  (And you shouldn't have to, Natalie!)

20)  Idina Menzel  ~  "I'm Not That Girl"  (Nope, she's definitely some other girl.)

13 Different Renditions Of "Baby, It's Cold Outside"

I told ya there'd be more of these. I just didn't tell you they'd be back to back. While this song isn't technically a Christmas song, it is heard more at this time of year than any other. What I like most about it is the back-and-forth dynamics between the "wolf" vs. "mouse" male-and-female vocals (and how the whole tone of the song can change when the roles are reversed). Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé  (Cute music video!)

2)  Dean Martin  (with a Female Chorus)

3)  Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer

4)  Zooey Deschanel & Will Ferrell

5)  Lady Gaga & Joseph Gordon-Levitt

6)  Ricardo Montalban & Esther Williams / Red Skelton & Betty Garrett

7)  Selma Blair & Rainn Wilson  (Fans of THE OFFICE, take note!)

8)  Petula Clark & Rod McKuen

9)  Seth MacFarlane & Sara Bareilles  (Yes, THAT Seth MacFarlane!)

10)  Willie Nelson & Norah Jones  (An odd pairing – a great rendition!)

11)  Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

12)  Colbie Caillat & Gavin DeGraw

13)  Haley Reinhart & Casey Abrams

Oscar-Winning Original Songs

Here's a collection of songs from the past 20 years, each of which has won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. I'm not even going to front – the FROZEN song is in here, and that's pretty much why I put this post together in the first place. I haven't yet seen the movie, but everybody's talking about it and that song, and I try to stay as topical as possible in my blog posts, so…there ya go! Enjoy!  ~  JH

BLOGGER'S NOTE:  The artists listed here are not necessarily (and usually aren't) the actual Oscar-winning songwriters, but rather the performer(s) in each of the linked videos. The movie each song is from is noted in parentheses after the title, and the year of the movie's release follows is in parentheses after that.

1)  Elton John  ~  "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?"  (The Lion King) (1994)

2)  Judy Kuhn  ~  "Colors Of The Wind"  (Pocahontas) (1995)

3)  Madonna  ~  "You Must Love Me"  (Evita) (1996)

4)  Céline Dion  ~  "My Heart Will Go On"  (Titanic) (1997)

5)  Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston  ~  "When You Believe"  (The Prince Of Egypt) (1998)

6)  Phil Collins  ~  "You'll Be In My Heart"  (Tarzan) (1999)

7)  Bob Dylan  ~  "Things Have Changed"  (Wonder Boys) (2000)

8)  John Goodman & Billy Crystal  ~  "If I Didn't Have You"  (Monsters, Inc.) (2001)

9)  Eminem  ~  "Lose Yourself"  (8 Mile) (2002)

10)  Annie Lennox  ~  "Into The West"  (The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King) (2003)

11)  Jorge Drexler  ~  "Al otro lado del río"  (The Motorcycle Diaries) (2004)

12)  Three 6 Mafia ft. Taraji P. Henson  ~  "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp"  (Hustle & Flow) (2005)

13)  Melissa Etheridge  ~  "I Need To Wake Up"  (An Inconvenient Truth) (2006)

14)  Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová  ~  "Falling Slowly"  (Once) (2007)

15)  Sukhvinder Singh, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vijay Prakash, & Tanvi Shah  ~  "Jai Ho"  (Slumdog Millionaire) (2008)

16)  Jeff Bridges  ~  "The Weary Kind"  (Crazy Heart) (2009)

17)  Randy Newman  ~  "We Belong Together"  (Toy Story 3) (2010)

18)  Jason Segel, Peter Linz, Bill Barretta, & Jim Parsons  ~  "Man Or Muppet"  (The Muppets) (2011)

19)  Adele  ~  "Skyfall"  (Skyfall) (2012)

20)  Idina Menzel  ~  "Let It Go"  (Frozen) (2013)