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

From: He'll Have To Go ; Year: 1960; Genre: Country/Pop Today would've been my Grandmother's 90th birthday; she passed away almost 6 years ago now. I have probably have stated this in another post when I chose a song from Jim Reeves, but he was her favourite singer. Couldn't think of a better pick for today than one of his most famous hits.   Hear He'll Have To Go on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Herbie Flowers - Don't Take My Bass Away     My song pick 2 years ago today: Neil Young and the Shocking Pinks - Wonderin'   My song pick 3 years ago today: Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio - For Those Who Like To Groove   My song pick 4 years ago today: Dio - Sacred Heart   My song pick 5 years ago today: Brave Belt - Dunrobin's Gone   My song pick 6 years ago today: Hawkwind - The Watcher   My song pick 7 years ago today: Styx - Can't Find My Way Home My song pick 8 years ago today: Return to Forever - Theme to the Mot...

From: Tall Tales and Short Tempers ; Year:1961; Genre: Country Had this one pop into my mind today and thought it would be an apt pick for today. For me the freezing temperatures, obscene amounts of snow, and darkness exemplify this time of year. No picturesque Norman Rockwell paintings and such, not that I mind that idealized image, but reality has always been different. Anyway, this is another tragic tale concerning a horse and rider succumbing to the ills of wintertime whilst traveling to the man's lover's house during a nasty blizzard. As always, "Gentleman Jim" delivers a perfect vocal performance with all the emotional gusto he was known for. My Grandmother, who was a huge fan of Jim Reeves, had an observation about this song: Being raised in both Colorado and Idaho on farms and ranches she said that there would be absolutely no way the horse, Dan, would stop just 100 yards from the destination. Apparently in her experience with horses they know exactly where t...

From: Distant Drums ; Year: 1966; Genre: Pop/Country If my Grandmother were still with us she would now have just celebrated, I believe, her 88th birthday. She passed away three years ago in May, every since around her birthday I think about her a lot. As I have probably said at some point prior, Jim Reeves was her favourite musical artist, and I just felt like going over one of his songs. Anyway, when I heard his rendition of Distant Drums , which is a song I am definitely familiar with, I knew it was today's choice. Roy Orbison actually recorded the first version of the song, but Jim Reeves' is the one that hit it big. From wot I understand, he recorded a private version of it for Cindy Walker , who was the author of the song, shortly after Roy Orbison's. However, Jim Reeves and others apparently did not want the song released and it stayed a private recording until after his tragic death it was "dusted off" with overdubs added, was released and became one of h...

From: Greatest Hits, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline ; Year: 1982 (1961); Genre: Country For some reason I had this song running through my mind, so as usual I went ahead and picked it. This is kind of an interesting one in that both artists had not recorded the song in the studio and had been dead for nearly 20 years when it was made and released. Actually both had recorded their own separate versions of the venerable standard in the early 1960s, but through recording wizardry they were able to mash the two versions together to make a duet out of it, which is still, I believe, one of the most famous versions. Hear a the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Soundgarden - Worse Dreams My song pick two years ago today: Hawkwind - Quark, Strangeness and Charm My song pick three years ago today: Steve Vai - Call it Sleep My song pick four years ago today: John Denver - Calypso My song pick five years ago today: What Made Milwaukee Famous - Idecide My song pick ...

1203 Jim Reeves - It's Nothin' to Me For the last few months or so I've been teaching my Grandmother how to play the bass guitar. She is probably one of the biggest Jim Reeves fans in existence, I was greatly exposed to his music through her whilst I was growing up and has continued throughout my life thus far. Anyway, this is one of Jim Reeves' songs that she had me learn so I could in turn teach it to her. I've noticed that there are quite a few mixes and versions of this song recorded by Jim Reeves out there, but the version that I'm talking about here in particular is the version off of his Tall Tales and Short Tempers album circa '61. I have noticed quite a few of his songs are sad ones mostly are about tragedies of varying kinds. The song in particular is quite catchy and is about lust, jealousy, anger, and the tragedies therefrom; you know, that same subject matter some of the best songs in existence came out of. My one sticking point with this song...