Music

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image Out of the blue yesterday my wife asked me, “Do you like Elton John?” Well, I like pop music. I like well-written pop songs of every genre, from folk to blues to soul to country and rock. I thought I would program an hour’s worth of music, I think mostly lesser known, of a few favorites that take me out of myself and send me off looking for more of »

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured image Ammo Grrrll reflects on Alan Jackson’s THE OLDER I GET. She writes: I know that Scott covers the music beat. I’m not trying to poach on his territory, especially since he does a darn fine job with it. But every once in awhile a piece of music just seems to fit perfectly as a theme song for what’s going on in your life. This has happened to me a few »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image We went to see singer/songwriter Karla Bonoff perform at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis this past Thursday evening. Her site is here. Her upcoming tour dates are here. When the Dakota announced the show we jumped on the tickets and snagged seats at Table 150, directly in front of Bonoff. I took the photo below from our table during her first number. Bonoff performed with Nina Gerber supporting her on »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image Aretha Franklin — the Queen of Soul, as Steely Dan reminded the “sweet young thing” in “Hey Nineteen” — died in August 2018. Jon Pareles recounted her life and work in his excellent New York Times obituary. Dominic Green paid tribute to her as “simply the finest popular singer of her generation.” Dominic also wrote a brilliant review of the Amazing Grace documentary for the Spectator. Yesterday was the anniversary »

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most

Featured image I’m taking the liberty of reposting this tribute to a great song with an unusual story behind it as a break from the news of the day. Since I first wrote this 17 years ago, YouTube has become a rich musical resource that allows me to fill out the story. Stretching from Ella Fitzgerald to Fran Landesman to T.S. Eliot and Geoffrey Chaucer, this is the bare-bones version of the »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image Singer/songwriter John Sebastian celebrated his 79th birthday on Friday. Sebastian grew up in Greenwich Village in a musical family. He is saturated in American music — a multi instrumentalist whose best instrument may well be harmonica. I can pick out his distinctive harmonica sound as an uncredited session player on tracks by Tim Hardin, Tom Rush, and other mainstays of the ’60’s folk scene. Sebastian was the front man and »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image The instrumental virtuoso David Lindley died March 3 at the age of 78. He played just about every stringed instrument I know of as well as a few I don’t. His New York Times obituary by Alex Williams seems just right to me. He subordinated his talent to enhance the music of the great artists with whom he worked, Jackson Browne foremost among them. I don’t know Lindley’s work sufficiently »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image And now for something completely different, I would like to introduce readers to Benjamin Bagby. Mr. Bagby is a medievalist, musician, composer, and performer. Among other things, he has memorized and performed the epic poem Beowulf. At the bottom of this post is a video of Bagby performing Beowulf at the 92nd Street Y in August 2020. Bagby’s performance begins at about 1:50 of the video. I read Beowulf in »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image Former Beatle George Harrison would have turned 80 yesterday. He was the Beatles’ lead guitarist. In the shadow of John and Paul, he slowly emerged as a songwriter. He had great taste and a gift for three-part harmony. I would like to note the anniversary of his birth with a few of the highlights of his recording career from the Beatles’ songbook and after. Forgive me for omitting your own »

Snow days [With Comment By John]

Featured image Trip Shakespeare was a local Minnesota band that landed a record contract with A&M Records. Twin/Tone Records has posted a brief history of the band here. Brothers Matt and Dan Wilson were both Harvard guys and members of the band, which also included bassist John Munson and drummer Elaine Harris. They recorded the wittily titled Are You Shakespearienced? (Twin/Tone, 1989) and the classic Lulu (A&M) before dissolving into Semisonic. Dan »

La-la means I love you

Featured image Written by William Hart and Thom Bell, produced by Thom Bell and Stan Watson, “La-La (Means I Love You)” is a classic of Philadelphia soul, vintage 1968, and a memorable hit for the Delfonics. What a beautiful pop song. Hart sang the shimmering falsetto lead on the hit single. Do they make them like this anymore? Laura Nyro responded deeply to the song. As she did with so many of »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image The death of composer Burt Bacharach this past week gives us a fitting occasion on which to celebrate his work — work mostly with lyricist Hal David. Bacharach and David formed a professional partnership made in Cosmic American Music heaven. As Lloyd Billingsley counsels us in his brief American Greatness tribute to Bacharach: “Take a good look and listen, people. You won’t see a composer like this ever again.” For »

Burt Bacharach dies at 94

Featured image Burt Bacharach was of course the incredibly inventive composer in the legendary songwriting partnership with lyricist Hal David. Bacharach died yesterday at the age of 94. Stephen Holden’s New York Times obituary provides an excellent short course in the fruits of their partnership. I would like to quote Auden’s great elegy on Yeats: “What instruments we have agree / The day of his death was a dark cold day.” The »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image My intention this morning was to post a video of “Up, Up and Away” and leave it at that, but I can’t help myself. I love the song. When it entered the charts in 1967, I thought it stamped the arrival of a notable new songwriting voice. The songwriting voice was that of Jimmy Webb. When he celebrated his 75th birthday in 2021, I compiled the videos and comments below. »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image When Don Everly died in August 2020 I put together a set of videos with previous reflections on the music of the Everly Brothers. This is the season of their birthdays — Don was born on February 1, 1937, Phil on January 19, 1939. I thought I would use the occasion to revise it slightly and replay it one more time in the hope that it might capture the interest »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image I had intended to post a second part of my tribute to Jeff Beck before death intervened again. This morning I want to note the death of David Crosby last week at the age of 81 and post a few videos that represent early highlights of his work and provide pleasure in themselves. As in the case of Jeff Beck, my selections here derive almost entirely from the early years »

Sunday morning coming down

Featured image I have been a fan of the incredible British guitarist Jeff Beck since his work with the Yardbirds. I noted his death at the age of 78 last week. I want to add to the record with a few more glimpses of his work over the years. He had such a long career that I’d like to divide this into at least two parts and return to him next week. »