Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Time to Change
I've used the refrain as an email signature for the last several months, part ode to campy pop and part reminder to myself of the existential inevitablity of change. Those Brady kids can get deep.
Artist: The Brady Bunch
Year: 1972
Rating: Luke Hot
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Blue Bayou
Hit me suddenly after making a phone call on a job inquiry, sipping my second cuppa coffee.
Artist: Linda Ronstadt (original 1963, by Roy Orbison/Joe Melson)
Year: 1977
Rating: Luke Hot
Friday, March 18, 2011
Ruby Tuesday
Ain't life unkind?
One of my all-time faves. Starting to amass a fine collection of Stones tunes here at The Songs In My Head. I just had to go back through the old entries and look for new video links, 'cause YouTube had yanked a bunch for copyright infringement. Gah.
Artist: Rolling Stones
Year: 1967
Rating: Hot!
Note: If you happen to be clicking about the site and see any more video links that have been pulled and are no longer working, please email me at soozzip at gmail dot com. See Help with Edits for details!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Over the Hills and Far Away
One of my favorite Zeppelin songs, probably one that many a high school boy back in the day would've said was one of their "girlie" tunes. In fact, the last time I heard it on the radio, several months ago in the car with Scotty, I believe his sentiment on the acoustic intro was, "Wow, that's gay!"
The above performance is great, though the audio level is low. Best with headphones!
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Year: 1973
Rating: Hot!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Someday Someway
It's those upbeat love songs with a tinge of anomie that get me every time. Thank you, Mr. Crenshaw.
Artist: Marshall Crenshaw
Year: 1982
Rating: Luke Hot
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wonderful Tonight/Stuck On You Mash Up
This morning, I woke up with a perfectly blended mash-up of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" and Lionel Richie's "Stuck On You." It was prompted by last night's re-watching of the Friends episode where Monica and Chandler get engaged; they dance to the Clapton song over the end credits. These songs have always been glued to each other in my head. Maybe it's the relatively similar tempo, key, and song structure, but whenever one of them enters my consciousness, the other one seamlessly follows.
In fact, I often play, in my mind's music studio, the intro guitar riff to "Wonderful Tonight," then go right into the first verse of "Stuck On You," then back into Clapton's riff unconsciously before my brain recognizes that I'm melding the two songs. You know, now that I'm listening close, the guitar riffs actually sound almost identical.
There's a further twist in this mental mash-up of mine: at certain points when these songs have appeared in my head historically, I have also searched my '70s/'80s mental catalogue of radio hits, always with the nagging sensation that there was a third song stuck to "Stuck On You" and "Wonderful Tonight." I'm realizing now, though, as I play these songs side by side, that this "third" song is probably just a mental creation, my brain explaining the cognitive mystery of why these songs also sound like some unidentifiable country tune that I want to attribute to someone like B.J. Thomas or Gordon Lightfoot. As Lionel Richie's image knowingly tips his ten gallon hat to us from the cover photo of his 1984 single, I'm guessing that my brain was just trying to explain why I'm hearing what is essentially a country-pop song written by an R&B legend. Kind of awesome how the brain compensates and creates "realities" that don't exist.
Artist (Stuck On You): Lionel Richie
Year: 1984
Rating: Warm
Artist (Wonderful Tonight): Eric Clapton
Year: 1977
Rating: Cold
In fact, I often play, in my mind's music studio, the intro guitar riff to "Wonderful Tonight," then go right into the first verse of "Stuck On You," then back into Clapton's riff unconsciously before my brain recognizes that I'm melding the two songs. You know, now that I'm listening close, the guitar riffs actually sound almost identical.
There's a further twist in this mental mash-up of mine: at certain points when these songs have appeared in my head historically, I have also searched my '70s/'80s mental catalogue of radio hits, always with the nagging sensation that there was a third song stuck to "Stuck On You" and "Wonderful Tonight." I'm realizing now, though, as I play these songs side by side, that this "third" song is probably just a mental creation, my brain explaining the cognitive mystery of why these songs also sound like some unidentifiable country tune that I want to attribute to someone like B.J. Thomas or Gordon Lightfoot. As Lionel Richie's image knowingly tips his ten gallon hat to us from the cover photo of his 1984 single, I'm guessing that my brain was just trying to explain why I'm hearing what is essentially a country-pop song written by an R&B legend. Kind of awesome how the brain compensates and creates "realities" that don't exist.
Artist (Stuck On You): Lionel Richie
Year: 1984
Rating: Warm
Artist (Wonderful Tonight): Eric Clapton
Year: 1977
Rating: Cold
Monday, March 7, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
New Mystery Song!
Hello, readers!
Mystery songs are always fun entries, 'cause you get to play along at home! Here's a tune that has been in my head on a regular basis for years; I have no idea what it is. My best guess (though this could be way off!) is that it infiltrated my brain waves at some point when I was in college or just after, so perhaps between 14 and 18 years ago. Because of that timing, or perhaps due to some other idiosyncratic memory association with the tune, I've long thought it may be a traditional instrumental that was repurposed by either Camper Van Beethoven or They Might Be Giants. I happen to know a founding member of Camper Van,* and whistled it for him recently. He assured me it wasn't one of their tunes. (Please do check out Chris Molla's excellent blog, by the way! It's full of fascinating discussions of music, composition, performance art, and politics and culture.)
So, if any of you out there wanna wager a guess about the origin of this song, please do! I'm so curious about it, as it is an integral part of my mental soundscape, and I whistle it, unconsciously or quite consciously, multiple times a week.
*This statement reminds me of the scene I am very fond of in Annie Hall in which the guy behind Alvie (Woody Allen) in line at the movies name-drops Marshall McLuhan, and then Alvie pulls McLuhan out of the wings to support his assertion that the guy is a pretentious nitwit. Does name-dropping Chris Molla now make me a pretentious nitwit, I wonder?
**NEWSFLASH** The mystery has been solved! Four years after posting this entry, I finally figured out how this song came into my consciousness. Check out my update right here!
Mystery songs are always fun entries, 'cause you get to play along at home! Here's a tune that has been in my head on a regular basis for years; I have no idea what it is. My best guess (though this could be way off!) is that it infiltrated my brain waves at some point when I was in college or just after, so perhaps between 14 and 18 years ago. Because of that timing, or perhaps due to some other idiosyncratic memory association with the tune, I've long thought it may be a traditional instrumental that was repurposed by either Camper Van Beethoven or They Might Be Giants. I happen to know a founding member of Camper Van,* and whistled it for him recently. He assured me it wasn't one of their tunes. (Please do check out Chris Molla's excellent blog, by the way! It's full of fascinating discussions of music, composition, performance art, and politics and culture.)
So, if any of you out there wanna wager a guess about the origin of this song, please do! I'm so curious about it, as it is an integral part of my mental soundscape, and I whistle it, unconsciously or quite consciously, multiple times a week.
*This statement reminds me of the scene I am very fond of in Annie Hall in which the guy behind Alvie (Woody Allen) in line at the movies name-drops Marshall McLuhan, and then Alvie pulls McLuhan out of the wings to support his assertion that the guy is a pretentious nitwit. Does name-dropping Chris Molla now make me a pretentious nitwit, I wonder?
**NEWSFLASH** The mystery has been solved! Four years after posting this entry, I finally figured out how this song came into my consciousness. Check out my update right here!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Magic, Redux
Last in my head on May 9, 2010. It was just a few days before my mom died last year, and I felt the song to be quite poignant at that moment. Otherwise, it's just a plain old great song.
Artist: Olivia Newton-John
Year: 1980
Rating: Hot!
Artist: Olivia Newton-John
Year: 1980
Rating: Hot!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Hankerin' Somethin' fierce!
Whoa, dude. I've long known that the Saturday morning ABC animated short Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese is one of the most popularly-searched songs on my blog. A quick glance at my blogger stats tells me just how popular it is!
Yep, seven out of the top ten key word searches refer to this post. Looks like I'm #3 on Google if you're searching the term hanker for a hunk of cheese and #6 for simply the word hanker. Weird. Wish I were higher up in the results for "songs in my head" or "earworms."
Marketing, schmarketing.
Yep, seven out of the top ten key word searches refer to this post. Looks like I'm #3 on Google if you're searching the term hanker for a hunk of cheese and #6 for simply the word hanker. Weird. Wish I were higher up in the results for "songs in my head" or "earworms."
Marketing, schmarketing.
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