William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Love is Blue ; Year: 1968; Genre: Pop/Orchestral Off and on for some years now I've had the tune to this song running through my mind, but due to it being an instrumental and thus no lyrics to look up, I had no way of finding out what the song was or who did it. However, the other day that changed when I was going through some old Santo & Johnny records; they'd made a cover of this song and when I heard the tune I recognized it and thus had the song's title. After finding that out it was quite easy to find all of the particulars about the song. Interestingly enough, this version of the song, which I remember hearing a lot over the years was in and of itself a cover; it was originally written by André Popp and Pierre Cour . Apparently the song started its life off as an entry for the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest . That original version actually had lyrics and was sung by Vicky Leandros, which can be heard here on YouTube . However, in the end it lost the con...

K. 1a; Year: ~1761; Genre: classical/Classical Period The legendary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the year 1756, and since that's today's pick number, I thought it would be apropos to pick one of his pieces. I guess since we're talking about his birth I also thought it would be perfect to pick what is thought to be his first composition, which he supposedly wrote at the tender age of five. While it's a very short piece, (only 10 measures in length), it still is fascinating to hear the work of who would become arguably the most famous composer of all time in such an embryonic state and to hear a Mozart who was yet to developed his own style. When listening to these early pieces I can't help but envision his father, Leopold Mozart, looming over the young prodigy whilst he worked it out and wrote it down. Hear a medley of his earliest pieces, including of course this one, on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Grateful Dead - Help is...

From: Fire in the Sky ; Year: 1981; Genre: Progressive Rock After the extended weekend and all, getting another workweek started is proving itself to be more than a bit of a chore. I really didn't have a song in mind for today, however for some reason I felt like listening to something from the second wave of prog bands, (or what is referred to by some as " neo-progressive rock "); of course Quasar in one of my favourites of that ilk. While I love most of the music on this album, this epic 13 minute track is one that I particularly like. When I listen to this track I always get a feel of nostalgia; this is really the sound I grew up hearing a lot over the years. I suppose you could say the sound is a bit dated, but it's still quite excellent nevertheless. Hear Mission 14 on YouTube. Here is a live performance from last year on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Derek and the Dominoes - Key to the Highway My song pick two years ago today: David ...

From: Workingman's Dead ; Year: 1970; Genre: Rock It's Memorial Day once again and thus I'm honouring "The Dead" by picking another one of their songs for the occasion. There's something that is just fitting about sitting back on a day off listening The Grateful Dead. This is one of their more popular songs that is widely recognizable to mainstream/casual fans of The Dead. In this one they use folk hero and legendary train engineer Casey Jones for the subject matter of it, although they took some artistic liberties in the writing of the song. Hear Casey Jones on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon My song pick two years ago today: Return To Forever - The Magician My song pick three years ago today: The Gipsy Kings - Hotel California My song pick four years ago today: The Fifth Dimension - Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In +

From: Angels Fall First ; Year: 1997; Genre: Symphonic Metal/Power Metal Another day, another song picked; I guess by the very nature of this blog that's the way it's supposed to be. Anyway, throughout most of the day I've heard a lot of Nightwish; this, of course, was one of the songs I listened to today. This is one of the rare songs where you can hear bandleader/mastermind Tuomas Holopainen lend his vocals. In this one, in fact, he does a duet with their lead singer Tarja Turunen; I will say he does an excellent job of it. The Carpenter they refer to in this rather interesting and dynamic song is Saviour Jesus Christ; it seems every time I listen to it I almost always hear something different that catches my attention. Hear The Carpenter on YouTube. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Return to Forever - Sofistifunk My song pick two years ago today: Savatage - 24 Hours Ago My song pick three years ago today: The (Detroit...

From: Sweet Oblivion ; Year: 1992; Genre: Alternative Rock/Grunge I'm picking a song from yet another band that I've neglected to pick a song from in the 1750+ picks I've already made. About a year or so ago Arthur was picking a lot of '90s alternative/grunge rock, and I believe this was one of the song he picked. I have to admit that back when they were still together making music I was never really into Screaming Trees. However in the last little bit I've been going back over much of the music from that '90s Seattle "grunge" scene; while I don't like everything that the whole "grunge" scene produced, there is a lot of good music to be had. Here is the studio version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Genesis - The Musical Box My song pick two years ago today: Savatage - The Dungeons Are Calling My song pick three years ago today: Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - I'm Alive My song pick four years ago to...

From: Monster ; Year: 1969; Genre: Hard Rock As I trundle on towards 2000 songs picked some of the bands I've yet to pick a song from is staggering and amazing. I've actually been a fan of Steppenwolf for many years and love much of their music. Funny enough, other than hearing Born to be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride countless times before, I was actually introduced to the band through one of those "evil rock and roll" spiels that churches put on from time to time; get this: they actually called Steppenwolf one of "the devil's" bands! Isn't it odd how many times fundamentalist groups go out on their crusades against things that have nothing to do with what they're accusing them of and then come away with egg on their faces. You'd think that they'd learn their lesson eventually and quit being like the boy who cried "wolf," or "Steppenwolf" in this instance. ((Quietly awaits for the "pun police" to arriv...

BWV 244; Year: 1724 (revised multiple times); Genre: Baroque Period/classical Today's pick number is 1750; the year 1750 not only marked the passing of the incomparable master composer and keyboardist J.S. Bach, but also is where musical historians mark the passing of the big sounding and bombastic Baroque Period and the birth of the "absolutes" and, (as a rule), the "wallpaper music" that was the Classical Period . For the most part, just like what happens today, (like when disco fell out of favour in the late 70s and the same with glam metal in the late '80s to early '90s), musical tastes shift and with it comes new forms of music, although it was at a much slower rate. However, I doubt during the 1750s you'd see too many people waving banners and wearing shirts proclaiming things like, "The Concerto Grosso Sucks!" or smashing harpsichords as they would do now when musical tastes in the mainstream shift, although I could be wrong...

From: The Moog Cookbook ; Year: 1996; Genre: Electronic Rock/Alternative Rock This morning as I was checking out a few things online I noticed the new doodle on Google's homepage, which is a functional web-based Mini Moog Model D synthesizer. They made this doodle to mark what would have been Dr. Robert Moog's 78th birthday. After today you'll probably be able to find it here in the Google doodle archive . You can also find an instructional video here on the Moog website . Anyway, after wasting a bit of my time this morning with it, I figured it would be apropos to pick something fitting as well. Being that I'm a huge fan of progressive rock and related genres, there is a massive amount of songs and bands that I like that have employed Moog synthesizers. In the past there have been a couple of other bloggers who used to pick songs from this act, and I figured it would pick a song from them to mark this occasion. This is, of course, a cover of the hit song from T...

From: Götterdämmerung ; Year: 2012; Genre: Industrial Metal/Neue Deutsche Härte I don't normally like to pick two songs from the same band consecutively, but after listening to a bunch of Megaherz yesterday I happened to remember that they just released a new album earlier this year. Götterdämmerung is quickly becoming one of my favourite albums from the band; I'm really enjoying where their sound is at right now. Anyway, Jagdzeit was their first single off of the album, which was initially released back in December. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Alabama - Mountain Music My song pick two years ago today: Boston - Higher Power My song pick three years ago today: Fire Bomber (Hummingbird) - Seventh Moon My song pick four years ago today: Crabby Appleton - Go Back +

From: Himmelfahrt ; Year: 2000; Genre: Industrial Metal/Neue Deutsche Härte For some of last night into this morning I had some of the songs from Megaherz's Himmlefahrt album running through my mind; I thought I should take it as a sign to pick one of those songs. This is definitely an attitude song of sorts and in my opinion is one of the best songs on the album. The whole band does an excellent job on this song, I especially like Alexander Wesselsky's vocals. Hear Hurra - Wir Leben Noch on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild My song pick two years ago today: The Jimmy Castor Bunch - The Bertha Butt Boogie My song pick three years ago today: Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen My song pick four years ago today: Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Serenade To A Cuckoo +

From: Signals ; Year: 1982; Genre: Hard Rock/Progressive Rock Over the last few weeks every time I've gone about my day wearing my old, worn out Rush 2112 t-shirt I've had at least one person comment on my great taste in music. It usually leads to a 15-20 minute conversation about the band and their music. To tell the truth, it's actually been quite nice being able to strike up conversations with total strangers about music we like in common. Most of the time in the past I'd have to hear from people, mostly those into mainstream pop and related genres, saying all sorts of crap about Rush being 'overrated' and then act like their kind of mainstream pop is under attack and so misunderstood or something like that. What amazes me how someone could be into mainstream music that is loved universally by the media outlets and then have the audacity to claim that bands that have actually never caught a break from the media are the ones being mollycoddled. Ugh! In ...

From: Elvis (1997 Reissue); Year: 1956; Genre: Rock 'N Roll This morning while I was out in the garage cleaning and getting boxes ready to move this classic Rock 'N Roll tune from "The King" kept running through my mind. While I've never been a hardcore fan of Elvis, I've always liked him and much of his music as well. You have to admit the guy was the complete package; an extremely talented artist, performer, and showman. Hear Elvis' version of Hound Dog on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Tesla - I Wanna Live My song pick two years ago today: Rammstein - Eifersucht My song pick three years ago today: Duran Duran - Lay Lady Lay My song pick four years ago today: Genesis - Mama +

From: Dreamboat Annie ; Year: 1976; Genre: Hard Rock I heard this great song, which is one of my favourites from Heart, while I was driving this morning. I thought that I might have picked it at some point, but apparently I hadn't. I've always found Heart's Dreamboat Annie a rather interesting album; I've noticed that it's not too often that a band's debut album, which usually consists of unfocused material that sounds more like a hodgepodge of the band members' influential artists' music rather than their own, becomes one of their best. However, with Heart's debut album that, of course, was a completely different story; even to this day six of the album's ten tracks can regularly be heard on the radio and two of those four that don't get regular play are extensions of the title track. Talk about striking the mother lode right off the bat. Anyway, as I said before, this is one of my favourites from the band and is just as much fun to...

HWV. 57; Year: 1743; Genre: Baroque Period/classical Handel's masterpiece oratorio Samson , which was based on John Milton's drama Samson Agonistes , first premiered in the year 1743 and happened to be the same as my song number pick today, so I decided I would choose it. Handel seemed to be quite a busy man during the early 1740s; another one of his oratorios, the epic and well-known The Messiah (HWV. 56) had just premiered a year or so prior. Even though he has a huge list of great composition, which is longer than many others', his name is synonymous with The Messiah . Today if you asked someone to name one of his pieces they would of course say something like: "Oh yeah, Handel's Messiah !"; there is no mistaking that it is by far his most famous piece, and rightfully so. If you listen to this one and have already heard The Messiah , you'll hear more than a few similarities between the two pieces. However, there are quite a few of his works th...

From: Pieces of Eight ; Year: 1978; Genre: Hard Rock This morning whilst I was out and about I heard this song come on the radio and it felt like an excellent song for a Wednesday. This one, for me, exemplifies the best 'era' if you will of the band; in my opinion after Pieces of Eight , with the exception of a few songs, the band's ever softening sound couldn't hold a candle to this material. Hear the studio version of Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) on YouTube. Here is a live performance video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: April Wine - Sign of the Gypsy Queen My song pick two years ago today: Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Daahoud My song pick three years ago today: Rammstein - Engel My song pick four years ago today: Frank Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon +

From: Back Through Time ; Year: 2011; Genre: Celtic Folk Metal/Pirate Metal Yesterday evening our neighbours decided that they were wanting serenade me with their completely boring selection of music; this after doing it for 9 hours straight the day prior. Well, I decided that I would introduce them to Alestorm instead by playing the Back Through Time album just loud enough so I didn't have to hear it anymore. While they aren't horrid neighbours and I bare no malice towards them, they are rife with hypocrisy; they seem to get annoyed when they hear anyone else's music but are perfectly fine with afflicting others with theirs. Oh well, just a couple of months more and we'll be moved away and they will become someone else's problem. Maybe someone just like them will move in when we're gone; that would be the best kind of justice out there. Until then they will have learn to love Alestorm. Anyway, this is one of the many songs I like off of the Back Through...

From: The Joker ; Year: 1973; Genre: Rock I had this track running through my mind off and on for the last couple of days and I figured I would pick it today. I've seen this song being mislabeled most of the time; even through official sources, I believe it's mostly because of the opening lyrics: "Some call me the Space Cowboy ; Some call me The Gangster of Love ." In actuality, both of those titles, which the song most often gets referred to, were 'shout outs', if you will, to songs that Steve Miller had already released years before. Actually the next line: "Some people call me Maurice" is also another reference to one of his songs: Enter Maurice , which can found here on YouTube . A live version of The Gangster of Love can be found here on YouTube , and Space Cowboy can be found on YouTube as well . I've often found this rather irksome, but what can you do other than educate the uneducated? Anyway, even though this one suffers more t...

From: Dark Side of the Moon ; Year: 1973; Genre: Progressive Rock I had another song in mind for today's song pick, but as I started to make my pick this great track from arguably one of the greatest albums of all time started to incessantly play in my mind. While there is a lot I could state here about this song, it would merely end up being regurgitated facts that many others have already stated about this often analyzed album and song. Hear Time on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Rammstein - Amerika My song pick two years ago today: Cream - White Room My song pick three years ago today: Steely Dan - Deacon Blues My song pick four years ago today: The Guess Who - Laughing +

From: Doremi Fasol Latido ; Year: 1972; Genre: Space Rock/Psychedelic Rock I had my internet fritzing out most of the day; I was beginning to think that it went completely kaput on me and I was going to miss a post. Thankfully, I just now happened to check and they got it back up, so I'm quickly getting my pick in. I've been thinking about picking another Hawkwind track for a while now, so here's one off of their awesome Doremi Fasol Latido album; while it's rather repetitive lyrically to say the least, it more than makes up for any of those shortcomings musically. Hear Time We Left This World Today on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) My song pick two years ago today: The Allman Brothers Band - Midnight Rider My song pick three years ago today: Ian Anderson - Made In England My song pick four years ago today: Mel McDaniel - Louisiana Saturday Night +

From: Tower of Power ; Year: 1973; Genre: Funk/Soul I was thinking about this '70s Bay Area band the other day and noticed I hadn't yet chosen a song from the band. However, most of the songs I was wanting to pick didn't have a studio version, if even that, on YouTube. I eventually ended up picking this one, which was a fairly big hit for the band. This track has all of the excellent hallmarks of that incredible early '70s Bay Area music scene; I absolutely love the rhythm section. An excellent pick for a " Funky Friday ." Hear What is Hip? on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Hawkwind - Sentinel My song pick two years ago today: Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli (Quintette du Hot Club de France) feat. Freddy Taylor - Shine My song pick three years ago today: Alice Cooper - School's Out My song pick four years ago today: The Guess Who - Shakin' All Over +

From: Who's Next ; Year: 1971; Genre: Hard Rock Yesterday I happened to catch a classic live performance by The Who on the television; this song, written by bassist John Entwistle was among the songs performed. Hear My Wife on YouTube. Here is a live performance of the song circa '00 on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge My song pick two years ago today: Queen - These Are The Days Of Our Lives My song pick three years ago today: Megadeth - À Tout le Monde My song pick four years ago today: Booker T & The MGs - Green Onions +

From: Red Silent Tides ; Year: 2010; Genre: Power Metal I felt like listening to something a bit different from a band I hadn't listened to in a while; the Italian power metal band Elvenking came to mind fairly quickly. I thought I also go ahead and choose another one of their songs for today's pick; this one hails from their most recent Red Silent Tides album. Hear Your Heroes are Dead on YouTube. Watch the music video clip on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Mr. Big - Still Ain't Enough for Me My song pick two years ago today: Steve Vai - Celluloid Heroes My song pick three years ago today: Toto - Africa My song pick four years ago today: Santana - Stone Flower +

From: P.O.A.: Pop on Arrival ; Year: 2005; Genre: Rock Ever since I discovered this band through their songs that were used on animé soundtracks I've been delving further into their catalogue; I've enjoying what I've found. They are one of those bands that's lighthearted and pure fun to listen to; I love their stripped down rock sound and, of course, the visual silliness in their performances and videos. Anyway, here's another one of my favs off of their '05 P.O.A. album. Here is the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: "Weird Al" Yankovic - Amish Paradise My song pick two years ago today: The Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls My song pick three years ago today: Band of Horses - Our Swords My song pick four years ago today: Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok +

From: Dare to be Stupid ; Year: 1985; Genre: New Wave/Comedy The other day I saw the old Transformers animated movie, which I hadn't seen in quite a long while; it was quite a nostalgia rush. The one thing that film seems to be memorable for was for the killing of Optimus Prime as well as a few other main characters. From what I've read about it, they intended the film to be kind of a sendoff for that current line of toys, which they would be replacing with a whole new line of Transformer toys. However the backlash and outcry from fans brought that to a screeching halt. Anyway, as you would guess, this "Weird Al" track is part of the film's soundtrack; it is played at the point where the Autobots meet up with Wreck-Gar, who was actually voiced by Monty Python's Eric Idle. While this song isn't an outright parody, it's done as more of a parody of the general New Wave sound of the band Devo. As with all stuff that he penned, this one is top-notch ...

BWV 211; Year: 1732~34; Genre: Baroque Period/classical Today I happened to look through a list of music written in or around the year 1732, which is the song pick number for today, and saw this comedic pieces of music from the master composer J.S. Bach. Whoever said that classical music is bereft of hilarity or that composers were stuffy old men from history without a sense of humour have not really delved very deep into music at all. Schweigt Stille, Plaudert Nicht , (Be Still, Stop Chattering), which is also referred to as " The Coffee Cantata " is a satirical cantata about being addicted to coffee; from what I understand during that time coffee addiction was a pressing social issue. Here is a full performance of the piece broken up into four videos: Here is the first video on YouTube. Here is the second video on YouTube. Here is the third video on YouTube. - Not available in the U.S. due to copyright, sorry about that. Here is the fourth video on YouTube. -...

From: Lizard ; Year: 1970; Genre: Progressive Rock Here's an interesting one I've been wanting to pick for a while now. I love a lot about this one especially all of the interesting layers of music within, and it's a progressive rock track that clocks in at a paltry six-and-a-half minutes, so everyone should be happy with this one! ...Yeah right. Hear Cirkus, Including: Entry of the Chameleons on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Rolling Stones - As Tears Go By My song pick two years ago today: Blink-182 - Adam's Song My song pick three years ago today: Pink Floyd - Us And Them My song pick four years ago today: Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein +

From: Down on the Upside ; Year: 1996; Genre: Alternative Rock/Grunge The other day I was going over Arthur's song a day blog archive and ran into a bunch of Soundgarden he picked almost a year ago. While I've been a fan of the band's first 2 or 3 albums, after hearing the songs back then I started to take note of their later catalogue as well; especially their Down on the Upside album. Some truly excellent music. Hear Pretty Noose on YouTube. Watch the music video on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: S.M.V. - Mongoose Walk My song pick two years ago today: The Delgados - Come Undone My song pick three years ago today: The Doobie Brothers - China Grove My song pick four years ago today: .38 Special - Fantasy Girl +

From: Kimi no Tame nu Dekiru Koto (Single B-Side); Year: 2001; Genre: Alternative Rock I happened to notice that today's pick number is 1729, which is also known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number ; it is the smallest number to be expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. Well, since I have yet to pick a song from Gackt, and he does have an aptly-titled song, ( Cube ), I figured that I would again kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Hear Cube with English fan subtitles on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Fairport Convention - Meet on the Ledge My song pick two years ago today: Rush - Losing It My song pick three years ago today: The Beatles - Yesterday My song pick four years ago today: Def Leppard - Animal +

From: Sticky Fingers ; Year: 1971; Genre: Rock Whilst out and about on a short jaunt this morning I was listening to the radio and The Rolling Stones happened to come on; not this song mind you. It got me thinking about their music and I figured that I would pick one of their songs. I noticed that I had yet to pick this song yet, which is one of my many favourites from the band. Hear Wild Horses on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Rammstein - Haifisch My song pick two years ago today: Tanya Tucker - What's Your Mama's Name? My song pick three years ago today: Bad Company - Bad Company My song pick four years ago today: The Highwaymen - The Highwayman +

From: Rocket Cottage ; Year: 1976; Genre: Folk Rock/Progressive Rock It's a beginning of yet another month; boy April seemed to really fly by. Anyway, I felt like listening to some folkish music this morning and as usual Steeleye Span is always in the mix; for some reason I ended up listening to the Rocket Cottage album. This is one of Steeleye Span's heavier songs, which deviates a bit further from their normal sound. Hear Sligo Maid on YouTube My song pick a year ago today: Eddie Money - Gimme Me Some Water   My song pick two years ago today: Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat My song pick three years ago today: .38 Special - Fade To Blue My song pick four years ago today: Jethro Tull - Beltane +