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

From: Americana ; Year: 2012; Genre: Hard Rock Recently I was introduced to this new song and album from Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Essentially Americana is a collection of old traditional American tunes redone in a dark and interesting hard rock style. From what I read about it, Neil Young wanted to return some of the original darker aspects to these that have, for the most part, been relegated to being thought of as children's songs. In this classic Stephen Foster composition he really turns it into a "dirty" blues in you will. When I first heard it, it reminded me a lot of The Shocking Blue's hit song Venus , especially in the rhythm and chord progression, only this song is a bit heavier. It's definitely a neat take on a traditional classic. Here is a video with Neil Young's version of Oh Susannah on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Miles Davis - Freedom Jazz Dance My song pick two years ago today: Boston - More Than a Feeling ...

From: One Hundred Hits of Bing Crosby ; Year: 2011 (~1940); Genre: Pop For the last little bit when my song pick number happens to be the same as the year that a song was written or published I kept meaning to pick one from the pen of songwriter extraordinaire Stephen Foster . There is most likely a good chance that you haven't heard his name, but I can all but guarantee that you've heard more than a few of his compositions. He happened to pass away in the year 1864 and this song was one of many that was published posthumously. It's amazing to look at the songs he authored; many of which are known quite well today. However, even with the sheer amount of notable songs to his name when he passed away he was more or less destitute. Anyway, this is one of my favourites that he wrote and there are many versions of the song out there to pick from. In the end I decided on this one from the incomparable Bing Crosby, which is one of the best in my opinion. Hear Beautiful...