Marley/Wonder
Happy Birthday Bob
Feb 6th
This is truly the intersection of genius.
Stevie Wonder singing Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song.’ I figured that having my favorite artist salute my other favorite artist (they’re tied for my affections) by covering one of his most important songs was a fitting way to honor his memory. Had he lived to see today, Bob Marley would have been 65 years old.
I remember how excited I was when I first bought this CD: Song Review: Greatest Hits and heard this remake. It’s at the very end of the second CD and it’s just perfect — the perfect way to do a remake. Because I believe that if you’re going to bother, you should take the song and make it your own somehow. What’s the point in singing someone’s song exactly how they did it? This is so rich and one of best remakes of a classic of ALL TIME — though I’m admittedly biased. :)
I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Birthday, Bob!
My top 5 songs for dealing with (or wallowing in) heartbreak
Apr 24th
Here they are, not necessarily in this order:
1. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” – Bonnie Raitt
2. “King of Sorrow” – Sade (I’m crying everyone’s tears/And there inside our private war/I died the night before) Need I say more?
3. “Bruised But Not Broken” - Joss Stone (Doesn’t the title say it all?)
4. “I Told You So” – Randy Travis
5. “I Believe” – Stevie Wonder (In my version I just replace “with you” and “this time” with “next time” and it becomes a pretty hopeful song… or maybe I just love Wevie Stunder so much it doesn’t matter ;)
Well, those are my top 5. You guys have any other suggestions? I could use them right about now.
What does your iPod say about you?: Great love songs
Nov 18th
OK, so I thought we’d give this another try! The first go-round was fun but I thought maybe this would be an easier entry to comment on. I’m a sucker for a great love song. Lyrics in any music are always my main focus, and this morning I was listening to the “Superfaves” playlist on my iPod and I thought it’d be cool to share some of my all-time favorite love songs with y’all, and see if you guys out there on the Internet.com had any great love songs on your iPod that you’d like to share with the rest of us. Some of the greatest music I’ve ever come across has been the result of someone else’s recommendation.
So here are a few of mine… in no particular order (except that #1 is my favorite of all time):
Nothing Can Change This Love – Sam Cooke
Feels Like Home — Chantal Kreviazuk
Can’t Get Over You — Maze
The Way You Look Tonight — Frank Sinatra
Orange Moon — Erykah Badu
Heaven Must Be Like This — Ohio Players
Make Me Whole — Amel Larrieux
Just Call My Name — Alyson Williams
He Loves Me — Jill Scott
So Amazing — Luther Vandross
I Believe (When I Fall in Love it Will be Forever) & Golden Lady — Stevie Wonder
It’s Been You — Anita Baker
Never Felt This Way — Brian McKnight
What’s on your list?
Mood Gusic
Mar 11th
Wevie Stunder.
That’s what I call Stevie Wonder… because you can make up silly names for people when you’re best friends like I am with Stevie.
Anyway, last weekend when I was in NY, I had some time to kill and I dropped by this bar in the financial district — I think the name of the bar was “Bar & Food”. At least that’s what the sign said on the outside… :) When I got in there, there was a nice little crowd at the bar and the music on the jukebox was great. As each new song came on, the older bartender guy took a lotta pride in letting everyone know that he’s the one who selected the songs… in a particular order for a particular reason. I remember hearing “Always and Forever” by Heatwave and “Johnny Was” by Bob Marley. Not sure what the narrative was supposed to be as the former is a love song and the latter is a song about a woman whose son was just shot dead in the street… But I digress… The last song that came on while I was still in the bar was one of my favorite Wevie songs ever ever. Joy Inside My Tears… Man I hadn’t heard that song in literally over a decade.
So I sang.
In full voice.
And people stared — no doubt in disbelief at my non-embarrassment . But I didn’t care. Jack wouldn’t let me care… Cause it’s a great song! Six and a half minutes of ear yummies… I loaded it on to my iPod last nite and I’ve been listening to it on repeat for the past 33 minutes. Songs in the Key of Life. If you don’t have it. Get it. Today. Cause when music hits you “there” there’s nothing better.
When I was a kid, in the house we lived in in Jersey, my Dad built these wooden bins along the walls and floorboards in the downstairs of the house. And they were filled with records separated by alphabet tabs and by genre. You could sit in the family room and literally be surrounded by music. I remember my dad putting on a record and asking, “Who’s that, Boont?” And I’d be like Count Basie or Coltrane… And sometimes he’d let me pick one and he’d play it. No matter what it was. My love for music–GOOD music–goes back as long as I can remember. And I thank my parents for it.
My Grandma used to call me the “Disco Baby” and Saturday mornings growing up meant Mom and Dad dancing to 45’s and Felix Hernandez on the Rhythm Revue on WBGO Jazz 88 in NYC. I miss those days. Not that there isn’t any good music around anymore. But it sure is getting harder and harder to find.
Everywhere is war
Feb 6th
Happy Birthday Bob!
Y’all thought I forgot. Never never ever. Every year (check for yourself) I make sure to acknowledge Bob Marley’s birthday. He is my No. 1 most favoritest musician of all time. (Stevie is No. 1 and a half.)
A lot has been made–I’ve posted it on this blog–about the video and song Will.i.am put together based on Barack Obama’s speech after the New Hampshire primary. It was/is awesome. But in case you weren’t aware, Bob Marley did the same thing decades ago with one of his most powerful songs ever — WAR. The lyrics for that song were taken directly from a speech Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie made before the United Nations. The lyrics are as follows — and they ring as true today as ever…
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war
That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man’s skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be pursued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
That hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywehre is war, me say war
War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war
And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory
Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
***Here is a link to the complete original speech, in case you’re interested.***
“T-1-shur… Rah here, rah here…”
Sep 19th
Me and my two girlfriends Angi and Jennifer were walking around the inner harbor in Baltimore this weekend before the Stevie Wonder show — yes the ticket man did come thru and yes it was the best show I’ve ever been to ever, forever… but more about that later…
This dude was walking back and forth along the pier yelling “T-1-shur, T-1-shur” over and over. My girls had no idea what dude was talking about, but after like the second or third time he said it, I realized old boy was selling:
Stevie – (T)
Wonder – (1)
Shirts… – (shur)
Bootleg souvenir t-shirts is what he was selling, but no one around us had a clue as to what he was talking about — and he was pushing around a cart full of t-shirts. Yes, really. It may have been the worst rendition of the English language I’ve ever heard.
Below is a picture from the concert taken on a cell phone. I know its poor quality and you really can’t make out anything in it, but I promise you, it’s Stevie standing on top of a piano:
Anyone who knows me knows that seeing Stevie live has been a dream of mine forever. He hasn’t toured in over a decade and let me just say that I had the time of my life and I owe it all to…
Went to a luncheon this afternoon where Tim Russert was the featured speaker. It was awesome. I’m such a huge fan. I’m really tired. Good nite.
Your two cents