May 9 – Get Your Music Maps Out!

Maybe we should sing him a song, he’s the Piano Man… and that song would be “Happy Birthday to You”. Billy Joel turns 75 today. And despite only putting out a couple of new songs in the last 20 years, he remains as popular as ever – CBS gave him a primetime special a few weeks ago, to air much of one of his famous Madison Square Garden concerts. (They botched it and took some heat for ending it prematurely, while he was just going into “Piano Man” but the thought was there.) We’ve looked at his life before, and some of his better works, today let’s look at another one of his songs that’s become a classic and shows what he does best – play memorable songs that tell a little story on his piano.

“Vienna” was never released as a single, but was one of his most popular tunes off The Stranger, the album that vaulted him from “one hit wonder singer” (upto that point the song “Piano Man” was all that most had heard from his first four albums. The Stranger changed all that with different-sounding radio hits “Only the Good Die Young”, “Just the Way You Are” and “Movin’ Out.” It would go on to sell over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. Little surprise then that even the album cuts would become popular. “Vienna” was the b-side to the hit “Just the Way You Are” and is in a pretty limited group of his songs that features an accordion. How popular is it? It’s now the fourth most-streamed one of his songs on Spotify. Not bad for an obscure album track nearly 50 years old.

He said that he loved the city of Vienna when his dad took him there as a kid, but it was really a metaphor for growing old… decently. “We treat old people in this country pretty badly,” he’s said “we kinda kick them under the rug and make believe they don’t exist . (The Austrians) don’t feel like that.” He says it was trying to point out “you don’t have to squeeze your whole life into your 20s and 30s trying to make it… getting in the rat race and killing yourself.” Pretty mature thinking for someone who was only in his early 20s at the time.

Anyway, clearly “Vienna” is one of Billy’s more timeless tunes… and it’s also one of many songs in rock/pop with a title that is a city name. In fact, it’s one of the Shining City Singalongs Seven … songs named for a city. Shining City Singalongs. You might not want to say that fast five times. And Joel wasn’t the only one who found inspiration in Austria’s big town. There was also

Utravox, with their song “Vienna.” The title track off their fourth album, the 1980 song didn’t get much notice here but in Europe was their biggest hit, going to #2 in Britain and earning them their only gold single there. It went to #1 in Ireland and the Netherlands. Oddly it peaked at #8 in Austria! Like Joel’s song, it features a prominent piano and has a European feel. They were trying to make a song that sounded like it could have come from a 19^th Century composer and the lyrics were Midge Ure’s. He liked Vienna but had mixed influences for it, ranging from mishearing “Rhiannon” as “Vienna” and an old movie set there.

Moving East from there… far east!… we come to “Tokyo”, Japan’s largest city and the name of another 1980 single, that from disgruntled Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. It became his second top 50 hit at home, and was loosely based on his visit to Japan. “It does describe some of the things that I saw and felt” when there he says. “Gray suited businessmen pissing against the walls”, “noise and smoke and concrete seem to be going on forever”… he should be writing for the Japanese tourism bureau. He did note that it “is no attempt at giving a fair or objective portrait of that city,” adding “the Japanese of course are extremely hospitable.”

There we had a Canadian writing about an Asian city, how about Canadians writing about one of their own? You got it – “Montreal” by Blue Rodeo. The country-rockers wrote the downbeat reminiscence of a romance long gone – which happened in the cosmpolitan Quebec burg – for their third album, 1990’s Casino.

Speaking of casinos, you might find a few in the next city. “Atlantic City” was a real change of pace for Bruce Springsteen‘s singles. The acoustic song failed to even chart at home in the U.S., it wasn’t what people were expecting after “Hungry Heart” and “Badlands” I guess! It was from his homemade, sparsely-recorded 1982 album Nebraska, and shows it’s not all fun and games behind the neon signs and roulette wheels! The crime show Cold Case based an entire episode once on the song, using lots of Bruce’s music. One suspects the song might have gotten an even frostier reception in New Jersey were it not written and performed by their favorite musical son.

Another coastal city of the States, another one with some deeper meanings. Jimmy Webb wrote great songs about a lineman in a certain Kansas town and about flying off to Arizona’s big city, and one just named for a beach town in Texas. “Galveston” was made into a big hit for Glen Campbell, and it hit #1 on country charts as well as #4 overall in the U.S. The great 1969 song utilized some of his fellow Wrecking Crew members like Joe Osborn and Leon Russell behind him and was written as a sort of anti-war message; it tells of a young man being sent off to war (presumably to Vietnam) dreaming of getting home to Galveston and his girlfriend. Oddly it was first done by the Ukulele man, Don Ho, and Campbell came to hear it through him.

Going inland from there, we come to an interesting Southern city – half is in Arkansas, half is in Texas. Which is probably why it’s called “Texarkana”... but why R.E.M. named a 1991 song that is more of a mystery! The top 10 radio hit doesn’t mention the city although apparently in cryptic singer Michael Stipe’s original lyrics it did mention leaving Texarkana and seeing the county line. It’s said they wrote it in the city and kept the name even after they changed the words. Another oddity – it is the only one of their hits (this not an official single, but played as one by many stations) that Mike Mills sang rather than Stipe.

Texarkana – one of the Shining City Singalongs Seven! There you have it. Which cities did I miss? “Houston” (another R.E.M. song)? “Kansas City”, made popular by the Beatles early on? Or another city Billy Joel immortalized in song, “Allentown”? What’s your favorite song named for a city?

April 8 – Some Watchers Of The Skies Music

From Eagle Pass, Texas to Cape Breton Island in easternmost Canada, it’s going to be a dark day. Literally… for about four minutes. Of course, in case you’ve been on a total media break for the last month, a total eclipse of the sun is due to occur this afternoon across places like San Antonio, Waco and Dallas, Texas, Joplin, Missouri, Cincinnati, Ohio, Buffalo, New York and on into Atlantic Canada. So, if you’ve got your dollar store welder’s glasses ready to go out and take in the once in lifetime (or at least a decade probably) event, why not listen to some appropriate music. And for starters, what could be more appropriate then “Eclipse” by Pink Floyd? It has to be on top of the Solar Eclipse Seven.

The track is the final one on their classic Dark Side Of the Moon, although as you likely know most of the record segues from track to track so identifying it precisely is a bit challenging. Many radio stations play it with “Brain Damage” together. Written and sung by Roger Waters (though David Gilmour took over the vocals on live shows once Waters said “adios”), it notably has someone at the end pointing out “there is no dark side of the moon really!”. That voice was Jerry O’Driscoll, who watched the door at Abbey Road studios!

From there, what’s worse than a total eclipse of the sun? How about a “Total Eclipse of the Heart”? Sounds serious…and it made some serious money for Bonnie Tyler, being a #1 hit in the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and more. The almost operatic song was written by Jim Steinman, and originally intended for Meat Loaf to sing, but he and Steinman were quarreling at the time, so it went to Tyler. A platinum single with over one billion views on YouTube. Her gain, Meat Loaf’s loss and it’s hard to imagine anyone doing it better than Bonnie… although given the title, wouldn’t it have been fun to see it done by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts?

When the moon goes in front of that sun, we may see a tiny rim of light around it, in all likelihood…I’m not an astronomer. Anyway, that would seem like it’s a “Black Hole Sun”. So let’s give a listen to Soundgarden‘s biggest hit, their first Mainstream Rock chart-topper. The 1994 song went to #12 in the UK and #5 in Canada; at home in the U.S. it wasn’t released as an actual single, so it didn’t make the Hot 100 but it clearly was one of the biggest radio hits of the Grunge era. As for what it means, Chris Cornell said he was half-listening to the radio one day in his car and the DJ was talking and talking and said something he heard as “Black Hole Sun.” He thought it’d be a great song title and he wrote it in about 15 minutes.

Maybe it’s the dark side, maybe it’s “The Bad Side of the Moon”. The song was one of the first written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and although it wasn’t initially on his early albums, it was put out as the b-side to the 1970 single “Border Song.” It’s remained obscure to many, but not in Canada where April Wine had a 1971 hit single (hitting #16 there) with their rockin’ take on it. A place where hornets flock like hummingbirds… that would be a bad side!

Well as the eclipse turns towards “totality”, the daylight’s gone and suddenly mid-day is “On the Dark Side” . Which is also the name of the great 1984 breakthrough hit for hard-working Rhode Island rocker John Cafferty who wrote it and who initially went under the alias Eddy & the Cruisers, since that was the name of the fictitious band in the movie it appeared on. Later releases changed it over to the real name, John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band. On the dark side for John, though he had another lesser hit off the soundtrack, “Tender Years” and a couple of brushes with success after, it was his only top 10 hit.

Well now, when it’s totally eclipsed and dark, take a look at the midday stars and sing along to Jonathan Edwards debut smash, “Sunshine”… because “Sunshine’s go away today…”. The song the folkie wrote as a Vietnam protest tune hit the American and Canadian top 5 in 1971.

Well nothing lasts forever, at least not an eclipse. Nor the Beatles time together, but suddenly, wait…”Here Comes the Sun”! The song was one of two standout George Harrison tunes on Abbey Road, written by George while relaxing in Eric Clapton’s garden one day and sung by him too. Interestingly, John Lennon didn’t play on the song, he’d been in a car accident shortly before they recorded and was resting up that day.

So there you have it, a Solar Eclipse Seven for the day. Any others to squeeze in there ? “Moon Voices” by Max Webster? “Watcher of the Skies” by Genesis? U2’s “Staring at the Sun” (a bad thing to do by the way!)? Enjoy the list, and the sky spectacle. And of course, if the weather’s inclement, there’s always this to bring a smile to your face!

February 8 – Go To The Speed-along Seven

On our other post today, we looked at one of Motown’s biggest hits, “Stop! In the Name of Love” by the Supremes…perhaps the ultimate example of a “stop” song. But that got us thinking, what about “go” songs? So, just to give green lights equal time with the red light, here are the Speedalong Seven , songs about “go”ing!

“Go” Tones on Tail. You can’t get more direct than that for the theme can you? The 1984 song from the Bauhaus spin-off and Love & Rockets predecessor wasn’t a big hit but got people dressed in black “go”ing on the dance floors for many years to come.

“Go Now” Moody Blues. All systems were “go” for the Moody Blues as this single, a cover of a song by Bessie Banks was picked by future-Wing Denny Laine as a “can’t miss” hit and he was right. In 1964 it got them noticed, and actually went to #1 in the UK, #2 in Canada.

“Go Your Own Way” Fleetwood Mac. One of the gigantic foursome of singles off the mega-selling Rumours, it was the only one of them written by Lindsey Buckingham, who got to show off his guitar skills a bit on it. Written as a sort of “sayonara” to bandmate and girlfriend Stevie Nicks, she didn’t like it one bit. But she probably liked that it was their first American top 10 hit and went 4X platinum in Britain1

“Every Time You Go Away” Paul Young. It made people want Paul to stick around a bit! His only North American #1 hit and gold single, the 1985 song was a cover of a little known Hall & Oates song from five years prior.

“Don’t Go Back To Rockville” R.E.M. A rare song of theirs which Mike Mills apparently wrote the lyrics to (they shared writing credits on all their songs but singer Michael Stipe generally penned the words), it reflected his real-life disappointment at a summer girlfriend taking off with her family to Maryland, some 500 miles from Mike and his band. At least he got one of the best songs on their sophomore album, Reckoning, off it.

“Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” The Clash. An odd-sounding little ditty really, from the Clash’s last important album, Combat Rock, it featured lyrics penned by Mick Jones of the band, obstensibly about his then girlfriend Ellen Foley, but arguably reflecting his indecision about his future in the band. Joe Strummer got Texan Joe Ely to sing some goofy-sounding Spanish lyrics behind the main song and Levi’s inadvertantly got the song to #1 in Britain, eight years after it was released, by using it in a commercial.

“The Show Must Go On” Three Dog Night. The California group’s last top 10 hit, from 1974, had been a hit earlier that year for Leo Sayer (who co-wrote it) in Britain. However, they looked at it more optimistically than Leo,he sang “I won’t let the Show go on” whereas the dogs thought “I Must Let The Show Go On”. He didn’t like that change, but the fans did, and while the show did go on for Three Dog Night, the crowds got smaller from there on.

So there you have it – the Speedalong Seven, songs about “go”ing! What do you think? If you have any I missed, please do GO on and let me know!

December 28 – Chilton, And The Esteemable Seven

Remembering a guy whose name isn’t widely known by the public, and whose voice is only known for one song by most … but was wildly influential to a lot of very successful bands like R.E.M., the Bangles and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Alex Chilton was born this day in 1950, but sadly passed away young, in 2010. Perhaps that’s fitting in one way – he also started young.

Chilton was a Memphis high school student when he was recruited by the Boxtops to be their singer. It’s hard to imagine that he was only 16 when he gruffly rolled through their massive 1967 hit, “The Letter”. It ended up not only going to #1 in the U.S. and Canada, but being the second-biggest hit of that year. The Boxtops time in the sun was brief however, and by 1971 had started his own band, the too-optimistically named Big Star. Although they only put out three albums in the ’70s and none of them sold well, their jangly rock, partly inspired by the Byrds, was critically acclaimed and a big fave of many more successful bands like those mentioned. They may have loved Chilton’s music (and the Bangles covered his song “September Gurls”) but ’80s garage rock band The Replacements went one better, writing a song called “Alex Chilton.” Chilton and the Minnesota band had been friends, and he helped produce their 1985 album, Tim.

Having a song named for you is quite an honor, and Alex is in the list of the Esteemable Seven Songs with other musicians in their title. With it are these musical tips of the hat:

“Calling Elvis” – Dire Straits. One of the biggest bands of the late-’70s and ’80s had their last big hit, in the ’90s, singing one for one of the biggest stars of the ’50s and ’60s. Like many Dire Straits songs, Mark Knopfler got the inspiration for the 1991 single from a real-life occurrence. His brother-in-law had trouble getting through to Mark on the phone, and when he did, said to the guitar great he was more difficult to get in touch with than Elvis Presley! So Knopfler ran with it, writing a song from the perspective of a fan who doesn’t believe “the King” is dead.

“Moves Like Jagger” – Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera. The smash 2011 hit (it went diamond in both the U.S. and Canada) pays tribute to those distinctive stage struts of one Mick Jagger. Singer Adam Levine of the band says “Jagger has the moves like Jagger! …There’s something about the way he moves that is uniquely his and hard to imitate, but also accessible and silly and fun.” Over ten million fans apparently agreed and found Maroon 5 accessible and fun.

“Jackie Wilson Said” – Van Morrison. Jackie was called “Mr. Excitement”, a soul singer who scored six R&B chart-toppers in the ’50s and ’60s, including “Higher and Higher” which was a top 10 singles charter. His voice was loved, and influenced the Irish bard, so he wrote a song in his honor. Although it missed the charts altogether in Britain and barely made a dent here, a decade after, in 1982, Dexy’s Midnight Runners covered it and made it a top 5 hit in the UK.

“When Smokey Sings” – ABC. Another great soul/R&B singer got honored in the ’80s with a complimentary song about him. This time it was Smokey Robinson, the Motown great who was the subject of the hit by British blue-eyed soul act ABC…who apparently heard violins when he sang. They even imitated the bassline of one of his best songs, “The Tears of a Clown.” Smokey said of it, “of course, that’s a form of flattery and I really appreciate it.”

“The Ballad of John and Yoko” – The Beatles. We’ve seen songs written about, and immortalizing other musicians, here’s one about himself! John Lennon wrote this song about the problems he and Yoko Ono had actually arranging their wedding. It was one of the Fab Four’s final singles, coming out in 1969, originally as a 7” and soon after, on the compilation album Hey Jude. Calling it “the Beatles” was a tiny bit of a stretch actually; only John and Paul appear on it (McCartney actually played drums!). Calling it a hit isn’t though; it was their last #1 song in Britain until earlier this year when “Now & Then” got there again!

“I like Chopin” – Gazebo. We’ve looked at six songs written in honor of contemporary musicians, here’s one for a more timeless one. Apparently Italy’s Gazebo liked 19^th Century classical composer Chopin, and he and Pierluigi Giombini wrote this lushly elegant piece of new wave in his honor, although despite the name, it doesn’t copy Chopin’s musical style. It was one of the decade’s biggest hits, especially in Europe where it topped the charts in 15 countries , 40 years ago.

November 23 – Thank You From A(lanis) To Z(Z Top)

Was it for her fans that had pushed her previous album past 20 million in sales by that point and jumped her from a teeny-bopper popular in Ottawa into the hottest female musician on the planet? Maybe not, but either way, Alanis Morissette had another biggie this day in 1998, with “Thank U”. In fact it was just days away from going to #1 in her native Canada, making it her fifth such success. It would stay on top well into 1999. And for you English teachers out there, her seeming Prince infatuation (ie – the spelling, substituting a letter for a word) seemed to cool after awhile; later compilation releases generally spell the song as “Thank You.”

Young Alanis had had a turbulent but gigantic decade, going from a teen sensation in her hometown and minor Canadian dance-pop star to an international powerhouse and symbol of female angst and anger with Jagged Little Pill. “Thank U” was the lead single off her follow-up, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. She had taken some time to get in touch with herself and calm down a bit. She said she’d been run ragged for some time, touring, recording, doing interviews, videos and was worn out, so “I took a year and a half off and basically learned how to (take a deep breath). I was just left with an immense amount of gratitude.”

Although the album didn’t match the previous one, it still sold in the millions and the song got nominated for a Grammy, for Best Female Pop performance. She lost to, “isn’t it ironic”… fellow Canadian Sarah Mclachlan.

It’s a nice song, and sounded like a happier Alanis than the one worrying about whether the new girl did something to her ex in a movie theater, from three years before. And a good one for the day, as it’s Thanksgiving in the U.S. So, first – happy Thanksgiving to you! And yes… I’m Canadian, I know for us the day went by last month and for Brits, let’s say, it’s only a day three weeks after Guy Fawkes Day. But the idea of thankfulness is universal and shouldn’t be restricted to a single day. That in mind, it got me thinking of the other greats about “thanks”. Here are the Sublime Seven Songs of Thankfulness, with Alanis batting lead-off.

“Thank You” – Dido. Not the same song as Alanis’, but a beauty from a beauty, dare I say from two years later. Dido’s 2000 love song, thanking you “for giving me the best day of my life” skyrocketed her career and even more so when Eminem incorporated it into his rap hit “Stan.” Dido’s own song made it to #3 in the U.S. but spent 40 long weeks on the chart and ended up among the year’s top 10, going gold… and platinum in her own UK. Platinum records for until then unknown singers – guess that’s something to be thankful for!

“I Thank You” – ZZ Top . And we thank you ZZ, for the beards, and the blues rock and , oh yeah, those videos that made MTV. This slower, more bluesy number came from Deguello, in 1980, before they became the girls’n’cars’n’fuzzy guitar sensations, and was only their second American top 40 hit.

“Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” – Sly & the Family Stone. You can give thanks for not being an English teacher when this came out… if Alanis’ use of “U” got your goat, well, don’t get you started… Who cares about the spelling though, when the song is so good? And a good sentiment too – who doesn’t want to be accepted for who they are? It was Sly’s second of three #1 singles in under a year, and was sometimes noted for Larry Graham’s early use of “slap bass” on it.

“Thank You For Being A Friend” – Andrew Gold – Gold was, well “gold” in the studio in the ’70s, playing everything from guitars to drums to bagpipes… yes, bagpipes… with aplomb, more often than not for Linda Ronstadt. But he had a couple of biggies himself, this one reaching only #25 in the U.S., but immortalized a little after its 1978 chart history when the sitcom Golden Girls adopted it for their theme. On anyone’s list, friends should be high on the chart for things to give thanks for.

“Thank God I’m a Country Boy” – John Denver. In 1975, round-glassed Johnny could also give thanks for being the most successful country-crossover artist of the era, with this being his third chart-topper in under a year and his fifth gold one. A fun, great song – and fun, great, music should make you thankful, I daresay.

“Gratitude” – Earth, Wind & Fire – the title track from a 1975 live album, even if it lacks the word “thanks”, no denying the great feel of the song with it’s “we just want to give you gratitude, yeah!” theme.

As I do you too, for taking time to read my music posts and take time to let me know what you think. Even if it’s a normal workaday Thursday for you where you are, country boy or city gal, I wish you a happy one and one where you will eat well and be surrounded by people you care about.

November 7 – Lorde, That’s Good. The Sovereign 7 Royally Good Songs

We’re wishing a happy birthday to New Zealand’s favorite musical daughter, Ella Marija Yelich-O’Connor… better known as Lorde. She turns 27 today The young lady with the fine voice and bookish manners signed to Universal Music when she was just 13 and by 16 put out her first full-length album, Pure Heroine. It had a worldwide hit in “Team” but was put over the top (5X platinum in the U.S. for example) by the striking single “Royals”. The song’s been called “the anthem for millennials” and was one of the biggest worldwide hits of the past decade, going to #1 in her homeland, Australia, Canada, the U.S., UK, Ireland and more.

Oddly, the Kiwi got the initial idea for the song when she saw a picture of baseball superstar George Brett – a 1980s player for the Kansas City Royals. The name “Royals” was written across his jersey and she just thought it was a great title. Lyrically, she basically wrote it as a protest against some of her soon-to-be peers – big rock or rap stars. She thought they behaved badly, as if they were kings or queens instead of ordinary people. Whether it was a message that was received and resonated, or if it was just a catchy-sounding song with a chorus you could sing along to, it worked. And since it’s her birthday, yesterday we looked at an album by Queen and Netflix is teasing us with snippets from a new season of The Crown which comes out next week, what better time to look at The Sovereign Seven – The Best Songs About Royalty!

Lorde is in with her song, but let’s not forget these six:

“King For A Day” – Thompson Twins – the Brit trio followed up their huge Into The Gap album with Here’s To Future Days in 1985, which included this joyous-sounding top 10 single with Tom Bailey suggesting if he was a king, he’d pull a King Edward and quit…just to be with you.

“King Harvest Has Surely Come” – The Band – one of Robbie Robertson’s best compositions played to perfection by Richard Manuel and the rest of Canada’s gift to Americana, coming from their second, self-titled album. And when the harvest is good, what farmer wouldn’t feel like a king… for at least a day!

“Wheat Kings” – Tragically Hip – more Canadian content (hey they still put a picture of the King on their coins!) sounds rather like the last one but was actually closer to Lorde’s in original inspiration. The Wheat Kings are Canadian junior hockey team which have been kings of their league five times, most recently in 2015. The stirring country-rocker actually is about a man falsely imprisoned for murder in their country however.

“King In A Catholic Style” – China Crisis – the 1985 British top 20 hit was produced by Walter Becker, in one of the first things he did when returning to music after quitting Steely Dan five years prior. We’re not quite sure what a King in a Catholic Style would be, but it sounds extravagant…probably more so than say, a King in a Mormon style!

“Dancing Queen” – Abba – if Lorde’s is an anthem for millennials, this one is a pop anthem seemingly for any generation! The quintessential piece of Sweden’s most successful musical catalog, the song listed by Musicguard as the top “floor-filler” dance track of all time was actually performed – twice – by them for Sweden’s actual queen!

 “Ice Queen” – The Stranglers – a bit of Aural Sculpture, the Meninblack at their most electro-European sounding, but could they start to melt her icy exterior when they were dealt in… to whatever the game might have been? One of only a handful of their songs with a horn section included – a fittingly palacial flourish!

So there you have it – our Sovereign Seven Royally Good Tunes. What do you think? Are we jokers for forgetting “Killer Queen”, or “Court of the Crimson King”? What other songs take the crown to your ears?

October 19 – Picture Having 7 Great Songs About Photography

Ringo Starr was fast out of the gates after the Beatles broke up, putting out two albums of cover songs in 1970 followed by a couple of standalone hit singles, “It Don’t Come Easy” and Back off Boogaloo.” But by 1973, he was ready to show what he was capable of with a new album with a few original songs of his. What he could also do was still get along with his ex-bandmates, more than any of them it would seem and his Ringo album contained a John Lennon song (“I’m the Greatest”), a Paul McCartney one (“Six O’clock”) , and one co-written by former Beatles road manager Mal Evans (“You and Me”). Oh, and George Harrison. Just as Lennon and both Paul and Linda McCartney appeared on some tracks of the album, so too did George, playing guitar and adding backing vocals on several songs including one which debuted in Britain 50 years ago today. “Photograph” was released in Europe this day in 1973, a week or so after its American debut and just ahead of the release of the album itself.

“Photograph” was written by George and Ringo together about two years prior, when they were vacationing in the Mediterranean on a yacht with their wives. Clearly, it was a high point on the record and just a flat-out good single. Billboard applauded its “stunning production” and predicted it would soon be a #1 song. It became his first #1 song in the U.S. (and one of three of his to go gold), Australia and New Zealand and his second #1 in Canada. Years later, allmusic applauded it as “among the very best post-Beatles songs by any of the Fab Four.”

Who doesn’t relate to the psychological impact a great photo can have on a person? Much like that of a great song. It got me thinking, there’ve been a lot of songs written about photography. Ringo’s “Photograph” has to be one of the best … and with that in mind, we present it and the other Shutter Speediest Seven! Seven great songs about photography!

“Kodachrome” Paul Simon -from the same year as Ringo’s hit, Rhymin’ Simon presented a catchy ode to nostalgia… and the most popular professional film of the day to capture the memories on. One of his best melodies as well as lyrics, happily Paul has lived on long after Kodak discontinued the slide film.

“Photograph” Def Leppard. Jumping forward about a decade, the British rockers made their presence known in North America with this rocker that expands on Ringo’s theme. They have a photograph, and that’s nice but touching a photo isn’t as satisfying as touching the person!

“Photograph” REM with Natalie Merchant. The Georgia lads and their head maniac (out of 10 000) friend were at their best in the early-’90s and recorded this great poignant one about finding an old photograph and wondering just who that faded beauty was and what her life was like. Amazingly, it was initially discarded by REM, but found its way onto a later benefit album. (Honorable Mention to their song called “Camera”).

“Kamera” Wilco. They spelled it weirdly and the song is quite different, but hey just as you have abstract pictures, you can have abstract songs… possibly about abstract pictures. Who knows? We do know it was one of the highlights on their great Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

“Girls on Film” Duran Duran. Hey, if you were about 20 years old, a sexy heartthrob singer, what would you want to document on your Kodachrome? One of their better early songs and the video that made a lot of equally young men decide all of a sudden that they too wanted their MTV!

“Gentlemen Take Polaroids” Japan. Sort of the flipside to the Duran one, classy Japan suggest you might not want to share too much with the good folks down at the One Hour Photo, because yes, they looked at your pictures rolling by in the machine. Fine, atmospheric song that either wins points or loses a few by sounding like a Roxy Music knockoff.

There you have it – the Shutter Speediest Seven, songs about photography. What do you think? Should the Verve Pipe’s “Photograph” have made the list? Jim Croce’s “Photographs and Memories”? The Cure’s “Pictures of You”? Any others I missed? Making the list turns out not to be such a “snap”!

September 26 – Olivia & The Silver Screen Seven. Magnificent!

Today we remember the great talent that was Olivia Newton John, who was born this day in 1948 (in England – there’s a great trivia bit for you. She moved with her family to Australia when she was five), which means it would have been 75 today. Sadly she succumbed to cancer last year after a more than decade long struggle with it.

When one thinks of Olivia, there’s a pretty decent chance they think of her as “Sandy”, the object of John Travolta’s affection in Grease. It opened her up to a whole new audience both in the music world and in Hollywood. And when you think about her music, it’s likely songs from that album never take long to pop into one’s mind. She in fact had hit records from two different movies she made, that one and the less-critically-adored Xanadu. She collected two gold and two platinum singles from those soundtracks in the U.S. alone. Which leads us to another totally arbitrary, but very right , list – the Silver Screen Seven! Seven of the most stellar songs ever made specifically for a film. Thus, pre-existing ones brought in aren’t included. With that… roll that reel!

“Goldfinger” – Shirley Bassey, 1964. Love him or hate him, James Bond was known for stylish suits, martinis shaken not stirred … and great theme songs in his movies! Would seem wrong not to include at least one, and it’s hard to top this one from the third of the countless instalments, with the rock-solid performance that showed why Bassey was already a star in her UK.

“To Sir With Love” – Lulu, 1967, from the movie of the same name. A brilliant finale to a powerful movie; a song that managed to outsell singles by the Beatles and Stones that year. Like ONJ in Grease, Lulu actually acted in the move, as a high school student who is smitten with her dignified and patient teacher, Sidney Poitier. Fittingly, she was still a teenager when she recorded it. A powerful, touching, almost sexy performance makes the song stand out by itself… and maybe gave Sting enough nightmares to write “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” in response?

“If I Can’t Have You” – Yvonne Elliman, 1977. Disco had reasons enough to be disliked, but at its best, it was great music that stands the test of time as well as many of the sounds from the ’70s. And the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack was disco at its best. The Bee Gees and RKO Records mixed together pre-existing tunes and new ones, this falling into the latter category. There’s a strong case to be made for the ones by the Gibb Brothers themselves – “Night Fever” especially, but this scorching song of unbridled desire stands tall on every measure of a tune.

“Hopelessly Devoted To You” – Olivia Newton John, 1978. Let’s keep the string of female singers going here with her shining solo moment from the aforementioned Grease. You didn’t have to like poodle skirts or John Travolta’s greasy hair to appreciate this love song of universal appeal. Worth noting, the two mega-hits off the soundtrack, this one and “You’re the One That I Want”, were both written by her friend John Farrar with her specifically in mind.

“Magic” – Olivia Newton John, 1980. Hey, it’s her birthday! And the song was much better than the movie it came from, Xanadu.

“Don’t You Forget About Me” – Simple Minds, 1985. A great orphan song that finally found a forever home, so to speak, grudgingly with the Scottish band and went on to become easily their best-known and biggest-selling song. Made for The Breakfast Club, legend has it filmmaker John Hughes and his team wanted Bryan Ferry to sing it. He turned it down. So too did Billy Idol. Seemed no one wanted the song. Somewhere down the list, he phoned up Jim Kerr and his band, who accepted the job, although not as happily as fans accepted the song.

I almost cheated and put in another John Hughes movie song here, “Pretty In Pink” by the Psychedelic Furs, since they recorded the version used in the movie specially for it. But since the song was out years earlier and Hughes even got the inspiration for the move from it, we’ll move on to

“To Live and Die In L.A.” – Wang Chung, 1985. An oft-forgotten theme to an oft-forgotten gritty movie about the underside of life in the City of Angels; it was best known for starring William Petersen before his CSI days and a long car chase. It showcased the bouncy, synth-pop British band and let them go in a darker, more melancholy direction that showed no matter how many people wang chung tonight, it’s not always fun! The song should have gotten higher than the #41 it hit in the States.

So there you have it , the totally arbitrary Silver Screen Seven! Wot! No Beatles? Were Beatles songs written for movies, or movies written for their songs? No Celine Dion? Let’s hear from the headphones Siskels and Eberts out there …

September 8 – Pink, And The Splendid Seven Colors!

Happy birthday to Alecia Hart. She’s 43 today, a veritable toddler in today’s music world…and better known to you as Pink. The lass was born near Philadelphia this day in 1979 and has established herself as quite a multi-media star since her first record came out in 2000. Since then there’ve been nine studio albums, including 2012’s #1 The Truth About Love, which went triple platinum… a rarity for any record by last decade. She’s scored four American #1 singles, including the multi-platinum party anthem “Raise Your Glass.”

Yet she’s probably only the second best artist with “Pink” in their name. That one would have to go to a certain British band that took us to the Dark Side of The Moon and then built a Wall back in the ’70s. It got me thinking … about the colorful names in music. So with no more ado, I present the totally arbitrary Splendid Seven… musical acts with colors in the name. I’ll go for one of each color. By the way, curiously enough Pink formed a short-lived group with Canadian Dallas Green! Let’s get this list party started with

Pink Floyd – it was a pretty weird name for a prog rock band, and for years people were asking “which one’s ‘Pink’”? Then Roger Waters would sue David Gilmour claiming he was Pink, it would seem. Courts disagreed. But it hardly matters. The niftiest name color-wise put out some of the greatest records ever,

Blue Rodeo – somehow, “Yellow Rodeo” or “Barbie-pink Rodeo” wouldn’t have worked. But the best shade of “blue” in musical names has to be the largely downbeat, low-fi Toronto country-rock act that have captivated Canadian audiences now for 35 years.

Al Green – the Reverend earned quite a bit of “green” with his fantastic voice and wonderous soul love songs like “Let’s Stay Together” which no doubt left other singers a little “green” with envy.

Andrew Gold – thank YOU for being a friend Andrew, especially to Linda Ronstadt! Gold earned himself some of the metal he’s named for with his singles “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You For Being A Friend” (the ‘GOLDen Girls’ theme, as it turned out) but also helped lovely Linda by playing just about any instrument imaginable behind her on her big 1970s hits.

Red Rider – for awhile they were “White Hot” coincidentally. The Canadian act of the ’70s and ’80s gave us Tom Cochrane and came up with an intriguing mix of rock genre sounds that in the wrong hands might have sounded like it was made by… the “Lunatic Fringe”?

Deep Purple – the color of smoke over the water at night perhaps? Brit rockers considered one of the first ever Heavy Metal bands had some major talent from Richie Blackmore to Jon Lord to Roger Glover and so many more. Surprisingly, they took their name from a 1930s Big Band song, which is fitting because there was more to them than just straight head-banger music.

White Stripes – featuring Jack and Meg White, of course. They could have expanded their name and been the “Red and White Stripes” since they utilized both colors extensively in their clothing and album art. When one thinks of “white stripes” one might think of skunks… but these White Stripes’ take on old-fashioned garage rock didn’t stink at all!

There you go, the Splendid Seven colorful musical names. What do you think? Who are on your list? Should “Yello” have made the cut, despite them dropping the “w” from the name? Guess there’s no “black and white” answer to the topic!