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

I decided that I should finish my guitar themed week with an excellent self-indulgent Hard Rock guitar song. This is a nice bluesy track where you can hear Richie Sambora's chops on the guitar, plus I love the maudlin/melancholy lyrics to this one. The more I listen to this overall mostly depressing album, the more I am liking it; perhaps almost as much as their 7800 Fahrenheit album. Here is a music video with the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance of the song on YouTube. +

I really needed to add some Chet Atkins on my guitar themed week and this is a good one. It is a cover and guitar adaptation of the Boots Randolph and Spider Rich classic " Yakety Sax, which can be found here on YouTube ;" many would probably remember it from The Benny Hill Show . Here is the studio version on YouTube. +

Personally I could not let a guitar themed week go without choosing this one; it is one of my favorite songs from the band Bread. The song is about what drives a musician (The Guitar Man) to create and play his music and how he creates emotion in the listener. In this song bassist/keyboardist/guitarist Larry Knechtel provides the awesome guitar work; it is amazing to look at all artists that he has recorded with. Here is a video with the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance on YouTube. +

I was thinking about this one for my guitar theme week a couple of days ago and definitely is a song that I needed to add to my list. This instrumental song is based around a 12 bar Blues with the guitar playing lead over it. Most would probably remember The Virtues' cover of the song, which can be found here on YouTube, however I like the original just a bit more. Here is the studio version on YouTube. +

I don't believe that I could do a guitar themed week of songs without this great George Harrison track. An incredible song written by one of the overlooked Beatles and, of course, Eric Clapton's guitar work in this one is legendary. Here is the studio version on YouTube. +

Oh what the heck, I am up for an impromptu theme week: guitar songs. This song is classic Jerry Reed with some of the best guitar picking, lyrics and vocals. An absolutely incredible fun song to listen to. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance on YouTube. Here is a "Country Funk" live version on YouTube. +

The last couple of days it would seem as if I end up picking a song at zero hour instead of one that I had in mind for much of the day. For some reason this beautiful piece just seemed perfect for my mood tonight. The song is about the relationship and friendship that exists between musician and instrument. Apparently he wrote the song about the guitar that he learned how to play on; from what I understand he had lost this dear instrument and later ran across it and wrote this song on it. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance on YouTube. +