Just the Way You Are

When I was a surly teenager, I thought Billy Joel was crazy not to want "clever conversation." Now that I'm an adult, and have absorbed a fair share of snark in my life, I have more appreciation for the simplicity and comfort of "just want(ing) someone I can talk to."

Artist: Billy Joel
Year: 1977
Rating: Warm

Note: For the last several days, I thought the only song that would EVER be in my head again was White Winter Hymnal (the song I blogged about on 8/31). I really like the song, but it was getting violently overpowering in my head.

You May Be Right

I've always identified with this song, even though I never rode a motorcycle in the rain.

Artist: Billy Joel
Year: 1980
Rating: Hot!

Deacon Blues

Ever felt like the exquisite ruler of all things destined to fail?

They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues

So smooth, and yet, so steely.

Artist: Steely Dan
Year: 1977
Rating: Luke Hot

Harden My Heart

Video is here. (And do click on the link - it's well worth it, complete with fire jugglers and bitchin' sax solo!)

This is one of the most surprising songs to hit my mental jukebox in some time. It's in my unconscious exclusively due to radio play in my formative years, and I didn't even remember the band's name before searching for it on the google. It's interesting thematically, when paired with the uncertainty of Will Anything Happen?, and yet, I'd like to think that what I'm doing in my life is opening my heart, not hardening it. Maybe my unconscious is telling me to protect myself.

Artist: Quarterflash
Year: 1981
Rating: Warm (Lukewarm with an extra dose of warming irony.)

Just the Two of Us

Wow. Not a song I would usually associate with my mental soundtrack, but here it is, in its sappy sweet ode to dyadic love! Sadly, the memorable Bill Withers vocal seems unavailable online. But the video here is Grover Washington, Jr., the composer, on sax, and Zach Sanders on vocals, who does a very nice job.

Artist: Grover Washington, Jr. and Bill Withers
Year: 1981
Rating: Warm

The Entertainment Tonight Theme

This song was burning in my head this morning, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was from. I knew it was some sort of TV talk show theme song, but I haven't watched this kind of shit in decades. My first hunch was that it was from the local CBS-affiliate Evening Magazine with Jan Yanehiro and some interchanging cast of nebbishy blond guys. Strike One. Then I thought it might be the Siskel and Ebert theme, but wrong again. It hit me as I was walking home from my quick outing to the mailbox on the corner, and thanks to the magical internets, we now have the winner. Ah, Mary Hart and John Tesh.

Year: 1984
Rating: n/r

Perfect Way by Scritti Politti/Digging Your Scene by the Blow Monkeys

Two songs have been entering consciousness the last few nights just as I hit the pillow in a melange of mid-eighties madness.

This one by Scritti Politti blends a rather sophisticated lyric which is by turns Lacanian and Derridean...

I don't have a purpose or mission
I'm empty by definition
I got a lack girl that you'd love to be

...into the most commercial, poppiest musical composition. Most of the song seems more a stream of consciousness, alliterative mish-mosh, but lyricist Green Gartside throws in the deconstructionist rhetoric whenever he gets a chance. Bully for him!

Year: 1985
Rating: Warm
Note: Do you like the anime? Couldn't find another video for it, but this is kinda fun!



This one by the Blow Monkeys (awful band name!) is cute, but way simpler (and whinier) lyrics

Tell me why is it I'm digging your scene
I know I'll die baby.

Year: 1986
Rating: Warm

Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty

Well, since I've blogged about Summer Breeze, I'd Really Love to See You Tonight, and now this gem by Gerry Rafferty, I have covered what may well be the Trifecta of Mellow Gold hits that grace and/or haunt my internal landscape. Yet somehow, there are always more, as if the fount of '70s sensitive dude rock were an infinite source of smoothness.

Year: 1978
Rating: Hot!

Do You Believe In Love? by Huey Lewis and the News

Oh, the corny but irresistible power of Huey Lewis & the News. This song was never one I paid much attention to, but it sure is catchy and doo-woppy. I think these guys did a great job being earnest while not taking themselves too seriously. It's not high art, but it's solid pop.

Year: 1982
Rating: Warm