My Kids’ Family

Yesterday I started looking at songs that celebrate America.  I choose Born in the U.S.A. not because it is a celebration of America, but because it is a celebration of the rights that we have here.  Today I want to move to music that does celebrate America.

I am choosing a pair of songs by Paul Simon.  The first is a song that has appeared in song of the day a long time ago.  In 1968 Simon and Garfunkel released their album Bookends which included the song America.  This is a great song that describes a journey of two companions in search of America.

The second song is from 1973, a few years after Simon and Garfunkel broke up.  This song, American Tune, was Simon’s writing his feelings about our country after Nixon was elected President.  Again, it is more protest than celebration, but in the end the song tells us “still tomorrow is going to be another working day…”  The world will continue to spin and America will still be here.

Both of these clips are from the 2004 Simon and Garfunkel Old Friends Tour (which I was able to see).  They still sound great and you can see that American Tune was meant to be sung by both of them.

Enjoy!

This Friday is Independence Day, so I thought a week of songs for America was a good idea.  Since I probably wont be writing on Friday, I am going to have four songs.

My first pick is Born in the U.S.A by Bruce Springsteen.  Now, this is not, as the title might suggest, a big patriotic song (although Ronald Regan would have had you believe that it was).  Rather it is a song of protest about the struggles of the Vietnam Veterans when they came back to America.  I choose to put a protest song in this group of four because the ability to write, record and sell songs such as this is what makes America great.

Enjoy!

I cannot find a youtube of this that is embeddable, so here is a link to the video.

As and extra bonus, here is how the Boss is singing this song today!

I am finally at the end of the list of my ten favorite songs from the White Album.  I ordered them in the order they appear on the album, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be Blackbird.  The song is so beautiful and simple.  I know it is a favorite of Sir Paul as well.  So before I get to the end of the list, here is a clip of Blackbird from the Movie Across The Universe.  As covers go, this one is quite good.

OK

So once again, here is the list so far.

1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
4. Happiness is a Warm Gun
5. Martha My Dear
6. Blackbird
7. Piggies
8. I will

The final additions:

1. Mother Nature’s Son
   This song probably ranks in my top 10 Beatles songs.  It is another of Paul’s and it is so simple yet so beautiful.  When I hear it I just imagine myself sitting in the country singing songs with my friends and just relaxing watching and listening to nature.
2. Revolution
   There are actually two released versions of this song.  There have been different versions of other Beatles songs that have come from rehearsals or different takes, but this is the only song that was actually released twice.  You can read about it on Wikipedia, but the first one recorded is the one that appears on the White album and was titled Revolution 1 to distinguish it from the one that was released as the B side of Hey Jude which was just called Revolution.  Personally, I like the slower version from the album.  I have both versions below.

There are precious few films or videos of the Beatles performing.  The movie Let it Be has quite a bit, and the TV documentary The Beatles Anthology has a bit more.  Beyond that there are a few scenes from televsion appearances and such.  By the time of the White ablum, The Beatles made a few promotional fils of their songs.  This is some of the earliest examples of what we would call music videos.  Below you will see the promotional film for Revolution.

Enjoy!

Mother Nature’s Son

Revolution 1

Revolution Film

One sad note about the White Album which thankfully is not too well known today is its use by Charles Manson.  I wont go into this more here, but you can read the Wikipedia article about it.

We are winding down to the end of this list of the best ten songs on the White Album.  So far we have:

1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
4. Happiness is a Warm Gun
5. Martha My Dear
6. Blackbird

Now for today’s additions.

1. Piggies
   This song that appeared in the song of the day a while back.  As I explained there, George wrote this song as a social commentary on class and corporate greed.  Unfortunately, Charles Manson took the song to be an anti-police song.  The song is one of my favorite (and one of the least remembered of George’s songs).  The use of the Harpsichord is wonderful.
2. I Will
   Paul wrote a number of songs for his wife Linda.  Two of them were Beatles songs and this is the first.  It is a beautiful ballad that is a foreshadow of what was to come for Paul and his music.

Enjoy!

As an extra special addition, here is the first take of I Will from the Anthology Album.

We interrupt One Hit Wonder Wednesday to continue the top ten songs from The Beatles White Album.  The list so far:

1.  Back in the U.S.S.R.
2.  Dear Prudence
3.  While My Guitar Gently Weeps
4.  Happiness is a Warm Gun

And today’s additions:

5.  Martha My Dear
I just like this song.  It was written by Paul, perhaps about Jane Asher (a longtime love interest of Paul’s) It has a great piano opening which appears throughout the song and a brass band as backup.

6.  Blackbird
Blackbird, also by Paul McCartney is probably my favorite song on the album.  Nuff said!

Enjoy!

Today is day two of my tour of the White album.  As I stated yesterday I am presenting my top ten list from the white album, in the order the songs are heard on the album.  Perhaps on Friday I will rank them in some way.

So far we have:

1.  Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence

and today’s picks…….

3.  While My Guitar Gently Weeps
This song is one of four songs by George Harrison that appear on the White Album.  Beginning with the Album HELP!, there would always be at least one Harrison song on each album.  This song is one of Harrison’s best known Beatles song (perhaps second only to Something).  The interesting thing about this song is that George decided to open up a book and write a song based on the first words he would see in the book.  Those were gently weeps.  This song is also the first time another artist is featured on a Beatles song (although uncredited).  Eric Clapton played lead guitar on this recording.  His being in the studio also brought a respite from the band’s bickering.

4.  Happiness is a Warm Gun
This is a John Lennon song and is a song about getting high.  The song is very complex in that it changes time signature at least 6 times during the song including 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, and 6/4.

Enjoy!