Thursday, June 5, 2014

Songs With "Song" In The Title


Pardon my redundancy in the title of this post, but have you ever noticed the preponderance of songs with the word "Song" in the title? Being the neurotic that I am, I've certainly noticed. There's tons of them! But I only picked 20. And they're good ones. I think so, at least. For those of you who like commentary with your songs, I've included it here. Enjoy!  ~  JH



1)  The Cure  ~  "Lovesong"  (The crazy hair and goth makeup of the band notwithstanding, this is a hauntingly beautiful song that hasn't aged a bit in the 25 years since its release.)




2)  Weezer  ~  "Undone – The Sweater Song"  (This is one of those stupid songs that just gets in your head for a couple of decades and won't go away. Not that that's a bad thing. I couldn't include the original music video here, because of a choice word that was unfortunately included and not edited. So here's a live version on TV, minus the offending expletive.)




3)  Selena Gomez & The Scene  ~  "Love You Like A Love Song"  (For catchy pop songs like this one – which really has no substance, but is fun nonetheless – I can ALMOST forgive Selena Gomez for dating Justin Bieber. Almost.)




4)  Michael Jackson  ~  "Earth Song"  (What about this, what about that, and this, and that, asks M.J. How many years later, and most of these questions remain unanswered.)




5)  Taylor Swift  ~  "Our Song"  (Taylor haters, you're on the wrong website. I like this chick and almost all of her music. So what if she dates a bunch of jerks who break her heart – at least she cashes in on those heartbreaks by writing good songs about them.)




6)  Blur  ~  "Song 2"  (Apparently, Blur wrote this song at the height of the "grunge rock" mania to unabashedly poke fun at the genre. Instead, they created a great "grunge rock" song themselves. Woo-hoo!)




7)  T-Pain ft. Chris Brown  ~  "Best Love Song"  (Where would T-Pain be without AutoTune? Probably nowhere. But this is still a pretty good song. I apologize for the appearance of the utterly reprehensible Chris Brown in this song and video.)




8)  Sara Bareilles  ~  "Love Song"  (Sara wrote this catchy love song in order to inform you, the listener, that she is not in fact going to write you a love song. Clever!)




9)  Eric Paslay  ~  "Song About A Girl"  (This song is about exactly what its title would indicate. Eric reminds you of this fact throughout the song.)




10)  Florence + The Machine  ~  "Drumming Song"  (No drums were harmed in the making of this song.)




11)  Jake Bugg  ~  "A Song About Love"  (After you get past the somewhat grating sound of this guy's voice in the first couple of lines, you realize that the song – and its singer – are quite brilliant.)




12)  Carrie Underwood  ~  "Mama's Song"  (No Mamas were harmed in the making of this music video.)




13)  blink-182  ~  "Adam's Song"  (Contrary to popular belief, this is an ANTI-suicide song. According to the band, "the heart of the song is about having hard times in your life, being depressed, and going through a difficult period, but then finding the strength to go on and finding a better place at the other side of that.")




14)  Morgan Heritage  ~  "Perfect Love Song"  (And now for something completely different...a smooth, mellow reggae tune.)




15)  Julianne Hough  ~  "That Song In My Head"  (Well, I DIDN'T have that song in my head, but now I do. Thanks, Julianne!)




16)  Seether  ~  "Country Song"  (It's not exactly, but the video IS set in the Wild, Wild West. Which is something, I suppose.)




17)  Alan Jackson  ~  "Sissy's Song"  (Jackson wrote this song about his housekeeper, who died in a motorcycle accident. Not his sister. Sad but good song!)




18)  Ellie Goulding  ~  "Your Song"  (I know, it's an Elton John song, and I could have just as easily included Elton's version here. But I happen to absolutely adore Ellie's version, and I *might* just like it better than the original.)




19)  Matchbox Twenty  ~  "Our Song"  (This is your basic Matchbox Twenty song – not spectacular, but not bad either. They've managed to maintain their signature sound since they arrived on the scene nearly twenty years ago.)




20)  Earth, Wind, & Fire  ~  "Sing A Song"  (As the lyrics state: "When you feel down and out, sing a song. It'll make your day!" I couldn't agree more!)


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Popular Songs Of 1944

So here's where the "Wax" in Wax & Tracks comes in. These songs are from the days when music videos did not exist and the only video clips you can find of popular songs are when the songs (and their singers) appeared in a film. Therefore, most of the songs here are uploaded copies of the original vinyl records. Which is pretty cool, if you ask me. As they are for me, most of these songs may be well before your time. But they're well worth your time to listen. This is when music meant something. Not much of today's music does. Enjoy!  ~  JH



1)  Bing Crosby  ~  "Swinging On A Star"




2)  Dinah Shore  ~  "I'll Walk Alone"




3)  Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra ft. Bob Eberly & Kitty Kallen  ~  "Bésame Mucho (Kiss Me Much)"




4)  Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots  ~  "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall"




5)  The Mills Brothers  ~  "You Always Hurt The One You Love"




6)  Harry James & His Orchestra ft. Dick Haymes  ~  "I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)"




7)  Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians  ~  "It's Love-Love-Love"




8)  Nat King Cole  ~  "Straighten Up And Fly Right"




9)  The Andrews Sisters ft. Vic Schoen & His Orchestra  ~  "Shoo-Shoo Baby"




10)  Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra ft. Eugenie Baird  ~  "My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart?)"




11)  Judy Garland  ~  "The Trolley Song"




12)  Stan Kenton & His Orchestra  ~  "Artistry In Rhythm"




13)  Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five  ~  "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)?"




14)  Frank Sinatra  ~  "A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening"




15)  The Merry Macs  ~  "Mairzy Doats"




16)  Duke Ellington ft. Al Hibbler  ~  "Do Nothin' 'Til You Hear From Me"




17)  Jo Stafford  ~  "It Could Happen To You"




18)  Helen Forrest  ~  "Time Waits For No One"

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:


19)  Perry Como  ~  "Long Ago (And Far Away)"




20)  Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra  ~  "Don't Sweetheart Me"




21)  Tex Ritter & His Texans  ~  "I'm Wastin' My Tears On You"




22)  Al Dexter & His Troopers  ~  "Too Late To Worry, Too Blue To Cry"




23)  Russ Morgan & His Orchestra ft. Al Jennings  ~  "Dance With A Dolly (With A Hole In Her Stockin')"




24)  Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra ft. Carmen Castillo  ~  "Amor"




25)  Billie Holiday  ~  "Embraceable You"


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Songs With "Keep" In The Title

One might automatically think that this would be the first part of a two-parter in my never-ending series of "Opposites" music posts. However, that would not be the case. For one thing, I've done way too many "Opposites" posts of late anyway. Secondly, I couldn't think of a word that was a natural opposite to the word "Keep." But there were still lots of "Keep" songs I wanted to post. So here they are… Enjoy?  ~  JH



1)  2Pac  ~  "Keep Ya Head Up"




2)  Zac Brown Band  ~  Keep Me In Mind"




3)  Bon Jovi  ~  "Keep The Faith"




4)  The Human League  ~  "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"  (This man is wearing a lot of makeup. Hmm...)




5)  Kelly Rowland  ~  "Keep It Between Us"




6)  Sugarland  ~  "Keep You"




7)  Weezer  ~  "Keep Fishin'"  (Featuring The Muppets, for those of you who like Muppets – of which I am one.)




8)  Billy Joel  ~  "Keeping The Faith"




9)  Soul II Soul  ~  "Keep On Movin'"




10)  Reba McEntire  ~  "I Keep On Lovin' You"




11)  Needtobreathe  ~  "Keep Your Eyes Open"




12)  Wild Belle  ~  "Keep You"




13)  Curtis Harding  ~  "Keep On Shining"  (This song would be right at home with the Motown songs of old. But it's a relatively recent song.)




14)  Ricky Van Shelton  ~  "Keep It Between The Lines"  (Whatever happened to this guy? He was one of the better country singers in the '80s and '90s.)




15)  Rival Sons  ~  "Keep On Swinging"




16)  Julia Child  ~  "Keep On Cooking"  (What will they think of next?)




17)  Travie McCoy ft. Brendon Urie  ~  "Keep On Keeping On"




18)  Eddie Vedder  ~  "Can't Keep"




19)  Garbage  ~  "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing"




20)  REO Speedwagon  ~  "Keep On Loving You"  (This is one of the stupidest story lines for a music video that I've ever seen. Especially considering that the song itself isn't that bad.)




21)  Tony Bennett & Aretha Franklin  ~  "How Do You Keep The Music Playing?"  (Wow, what a duet! This is magical!)




22)  Michael McDonald  ~  "I Keep Forgettin'"  ("I just hit the east side of the LBC, on a mission tryin' to find Mr. Warren G"...Oh wait, that's a different song altogether. Sampled from this song, but not this song. Not by a long shot.)




23)  American Authors  ~  "Keep Me Dreaming"




24)  Annie Lennox  ~  "Keep Young And Beautiful"




25)  Enya  ~  "How Can I Keep From Singing?"  (That's a good question, Enya. When I figure that out, I'll let you know!)