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

From: Yesterday and Today ; Year: 1966; Genre: Pop/Rock Just had this one literally pop into my mind as I was making my coffee and took it as a gift from somewhere, so it is today's pick. And an excellent one from the legendary songwriting duo.   Hear We Can Work It Out on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: The Band - The Weight   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Four Tops - Reflections   My song pick 3 years ago today: Rare Earth - Hum Along and Dance   My song pick 4 years ago today: Rammstein - Radio   My song pick 5 years ago today: Matthews' Southern Comfort - Tell Me Why My song pick 6 years ago today: Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Coming My song pick 7 years ago today: Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman My song pick 8 years ago today: Meat Loaf - Life is a Lemon (and I Want My Money Back) My song pick 9 years ago today: Martin Barre - I Raise My Glass To You My song pick 10 years ago today: ABBA - Knowing Me, Knowin...

From: Help! ; Year: 1965; Genre: Folk Rock This " Dylanesque " piece from the pen of John Lennon just happened to be on my mind most of yesterday and it has persisted in my head ever since, so as I always do, I am taking it as a sign I should choose it. It has always bewildered me how The Beatles, (Lennon in particular), were/was able to cram so many interesting musical concepts into songs that are so short in length; this one being just a smidge over 2 minutes. I have always really liked this track across the board, although, I normally have to play it at least twice to get my fill so to speak.   Hear You Got to Hide Your Love Away on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Funkadelic - What is Soul?   My song pick 2 years ago today: Visage - Fade to Grey   My song pick 3 years ago today: Dream Theater - Paralyzed   My song pick 4 years ago today: The Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet - Parisian Thoroughfare My song pick 5 years ago tod...

From: Beatles for Sale ; Year: 1964; Genre: Pop/Rock Today marks the Winter Solstice here in the northern hemisphere; from here until mid June we'll start getting more daylight. I really wanted to pick a song that was more or less apropos and did not want to go into anything obscure either, so I thought I'd go with this classic one from The Fab Four. I've always loved this track quite a bit and believe it to be among the greater songs of their early years, but my only criticism it is way too short in my opinion; almost like keeping the song under two minutes was the song's most important aspect when composing/recording. This beautiful piece of music could easily be double its length and be much better in my opinion. It's almost like getting a half a bite of the best food you've ever tasted and you have to burp to see what it tasted like, thus when I listen to this one I have to replay it a few times to get my fix. I know a lot of it had to do with rules with AM ...

From: Revolver ; Year: 1966; Genre: Rock/Pop Just feels like a good day to choose a song from the pen of John Lennon and Paul McCartney; this one seemed to fit very well. This one is quite intricate in construction and moves along very well, I just wish it was a smidge longer that its just over 2:00 total.    Hear And Your Bird Can Sing on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: King Crimson - Industry   My song pick 2 years ago today: Parliament - (Gloryhallastoopid) Pin The Tail On The Funky My song pick 3 years ago today: Marillion - That Time of the Night (The Short Straw) My song pick 4 years ago today: The J. Geils Band - Love Stinks My song pick 5 years ago today: Savatage - Of Rage and War My song pick 6 years ago today: Frank Black - Headache My song pick 7 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Two Fingers My song pick 8 years ago today: Paul Simon - Hobo's Blues My song pick 9 years ago today: Megadeth - Sweating Bullets My...

From: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ; Year: 1967; Genre: Psychedelic Rock Another George Harrison composition, this one is kind of a blend of psychedelia and world music, which go pretty well together in this instance.   Hear Within You Without You on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Savatage - Labyrinths   My song pick 2 years ago today: Jethro Tull - To Cry You a Song My song pick 3 years ago today: Gentle Giant - All Through the Night My song pick 4 years ago today: Duran Duran - Save a Prayer My song pick 5 years ago today: Men Without Hats - Safety Dance My song pick 6 years ago today: "Weird Al" Yankovic - The Saga Begins My song pick 7 years ago today: The Moody Blues - Ride My See-Saw My song pick 8 years ago today: Hawkwind - Angela Android My song pick 9 years ago today: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Manic Depression My song pick 10 years ago today: Jon Oliva's Pain - Through the Eyes of the King My song pick 11...

From: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ; Year: 1967; Genre: Psychedelic Rock/Pop Listening to this record again yesterday and today; this rather strange song for some reason stuck with me, so I'm picking it. I really love the music and its arrangement the most, but the descriptive lyrics are impossible to ignore as well. Hear Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: The Who - Athena My song pick 2 years ago today: Waylon Jennings - Do It Again My song pick 3 years ago today: Forest - The Midnight Hanging of a Runaway Serf My song pick 4 years ago today: Ellis Paul - 3,000 Miles My song pick 5 years ago today: Procol Harum - Homburg My song pick 6 years ago today: Faces - Stay With Me My song pick 7 years ago today: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Oh Susannah My song pick 8 years ago today: Miles Davis - Freedom Jazz Dance My song pick 9 years ago today: Boston - More Than a Feeling My song pick 10 years ago ...

From: Help! ; Year: 1965; Genre: Rock/Pop A fun little cover tune from The Beatles which has been on my mind off and on for the last few days. Hear Act Naturally on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: Asia - Cutting it Fine My song pick 2 years ago today: Steve Vai - An Earth Dweller's Return/Here & Now My song pick 3 years ago today: KC and the Sunshine Band - (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty My song pick 4 years ago today: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) - Tramp My song pick 5 years ago today: Van der Graaf Generator - Darkness 11/11 My song pick 6 years ago today: The Police - Walking on the Moon My song pick 7 years ago today: Led Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop My song pick 8 years ago today: Émile Waldteufel - Op. 232 - Rococo-Polka My song pick 9 years ago today: Sky - Sarabande My song pick 10 years ago today: Lynyrd Skynyrd - On The Hunt My song pick 11 years ago today: Ian Anderson - A Better Moon

From: Revolver ; Year: 1966; Genre: Rock Ever since coming home last night when this beautiful track came on my playlist it's been on my mind. In my opinion this is one of The Beatles' best songs and one of my favourites from the band. Hear Eleanor Rigby on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: The Who - The Song Is Over My song pick 2 years ago today: Gloryhammer - Questlords of Inverness, Ride to the Galactic Fortress! My song pick 3 years ago today: Bob Welch - Hot Love, Cold World My song pick 4 years ago today: Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears My song pick 5 years ago today: UFO - Too Hot To Handle My song pick 6 years ago today: Stratovarius - Chasing Shadows My song pick 7 years ago today: The Beatles - Back in the U.S.S.R. My song pick 8 years ago today: Tarot - Pilot of All Dreams My song pick 9 years ago today: Muse - Knights of Cydonia My song pick 10 years ago today: Nightwish - 10th Man Down My song pick 11 years ago today: Jaco Past...

From: The Beatles (The White Album) ; Year: 1968; Genre: Rock/Pop Just a song incessantly running through my mind today; not one of my favourites from the band, but it's got a lot of charm. Hear The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: Elvis Presley - You'll Never Walk Alone My song pick 2 years ago today: Carmen - Flamenco Fever My song pick 3 years ago today: Ian Anderson - A Change of Horses My song pick 4 years ago today: Wilson Pickett - Hey Joe My song pick 5 years ago today: The Cosmic Sound Orchestra - Listen to the Beat My song pick 6 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Overhang My song pick 7 years ago today: Hawkwind - Uncle Sam's on Mars My song pick 8 years ago today: Al Di Meola - Suite – Golden Dawn My song pick 9 years ago today: Béla Fleck & the Flecktones - Sex in a Pan My song pick 10 years ago today: David Bowie - Space Oddity My song pick 11 years ago today: The Guess Who - No Sugar...

From: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ; Year: 1967; Genre: Progressive Rock/Psychedelic Rock I don't believe I've picked a Beatles song in a bit, so I believe I will since they're on my mind. Almost everybody who is or has been into rock/pop in the last 45+ years knows The Beatles' A Day in the Life . It's one of their best and interestingly arranged songs, that's for sure. Hear A Day in the Life on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: Paris - Blue Robin My song pick two years ago today: Dick Dale - Third Stone From the Sun My song pick three years ago today: Blue Öyster Cult - The Revenge of Vera Gemini My song pick four years ago today: Queen - Ride the Wild Wind My song pick five years ago today: The Steve Miller Band - Enter Maurice My song pick six years ago today: Mastodon - Capillarian Crest My song pick seven years ago today: Hot Chocolate - Brother Louie My song pick eight years ago today: Rammstein - Frühling i...

From: Let it Be ; Year: 1970; Genre: Blues Rock Listening to some of The Beatles the other day and I thought I should pick another one of their songs. This is one from Harrison's pen; it's a really bluesy track featuring mostly acoustic guitar, but I really, really like Lennon's playing of the lap steel on this track. Hear For You Blue on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: Boston - I Had a Good Time My song pick two years ago today: Sky - FIFO (suite) My song pick three years ago today: Faith No More - Easy My song pick four years ago today: Pallas - Rise and Fall, Part 1 My song pick five years ago today: Counting Crows - Mr. Jones My song pick six years ago today: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lookin Out My Back Door My song pick seven years ago today: The Grass Roots - Midnight Confessions My song pick eight years ago today: The Tornadoes - Telstar

From: Magical Mystery Tour ; Year: 1967; Genre: Pop/Rock Finally got my internet working (somewhat), so at least that's handled now, anyway, most of this morning I had this rather popular track from The Beatles earworming me, so as normal, I decided to pick it. Mostly it was their intro from the French National Anthem La Marseillaise that was stuck in my mind, but the rest of the song came along for the ride. Hear All You Need is Love on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: The Offspring - Gotta Get Away My song pick two years ago today: Band of Horses - Knock, Knock My song pick three years ago today: Three Dog Night - Heaven is in Your Mind My song pick four years ago today: Queensrÿche - One & Only My song pick five years ago today: The Spiders - Back   My song pick six years ago today: Nena - Mach Die Augen Auf   My song pick seven years ago today: The Offspring - Feelings

From: Paul McCartney ; Year: 1970; Genre: Rock For some reason I felt like listening to some early solo McCartney material this morning; I thought this one would make a great pick, it's definitely a classic. Hear Maybe I'm Amazed on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Soundgarden - Live to Rise My song pick two years ago today: Shocking Blue - Venus My song pick three years ago today: Rush - Countdown My song pick four years ago today: Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime My song pick five years ago today: The Kinks - A Well Respected Man My song pick six years ago today: Eric Clapton - Bad Love

From: The Beatles ( White Album ) ; Year: 1968; Genre: Folk Rock Last night I had this song on my mind, which is one of my favourites written by Paul McCartney; when I noticed that I hadn't picked it yet I thought I would. This is one of the prettier songs from the band; they make an incredible sound with the sparse accompaniment. Hear Blackbird on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Vaughn Monroe - (Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend My song pick two years ago today: Bob Dylan - Knockin' on Heaven's Door My song pick three years ago today: Frank Zappa - Dumb All Over My song pick four years ago today: Django Reinhardt - I'll See You In My Dreams My song pick five years ago today: Queen - You're My Best Friend My song pick six years ago today: The Zombies - She's Not There

From: Anthology 1 ; Year: 1995; Genre: Pop/Rock For those unaware, I am in the midst of picking songs whose release date coincides with my song pick number; of course today's pick number is 1995. This was amongst and probably the most notable among two of John Lennon's unreleased recordings that were reworked by the remaining members of the band and released on their Anthology discs. Ever since their release I had mixed feelings about these songs; while they were okay tracks, to me it stunk a bit of weaseling another miserable buck out of rabid fans who would probably pay top-dollar for recordings of something like Lennon burping into a microphone. At the time this was only exacerbated in my mind by them releasing the other track separately on Anthology 2 , so, to get the other song you had to buy another complete album. However, since those effected, with the obvious exception of John Lennon, had no problem with it in the end I guess it really doesn't matter tha...

From: Please Please Me ; Year: 1963; Genre: Pop/Rock 'n Roll In 1963, which is also today's song pick number The Beatles released their first full-length studio album: Please Please Me . Interestingly enough, other than the two already-released singles, (this song was one of them), the entire album was recorded in one day. While I'm more of a fan of their later work, it's still good to listen to their earlier work, when the band was blossoming; knowing where they phenomenal career would go. Hear Please Please Me on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: John Denver - Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas) My song pick two years ago today: Mykola Leontovych - Shchedryk (The Carol of the Bells) My song pick three years ago today: Steeleye Span - Edwin My song pick four years ago today: Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Savatage - Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 My song pick five years ago today: Jethro Tull - Ring Out Solstice Bells

From: Let it Be ; Year: 1970; Genre: Rock/Pop/Blues Rock I'm closing out a rather busy Sunday/weekend and am quite tired; I truly wasn't sure if I was going to get one in, but I am. Anyway, I've been having this classic Beatles song running through my mind for the last couple of days, and without any song in mind I figured I would go ahead and make it my choice for today. While Lennon and McCartney co-wrote a lot of songs, this one has a slight twist to it. It's actually two songs; the first part: " I've Got a Feeling " was written by and is rife with Paul McCartney's signature style of writing and, obversely, the second part, which is known as " Everybody Had a Hard Year " was written by John Lennon and features his distinct style. From what I understand both songs were incomplete and for what ever reason they decided to mash them up into one song. Hear I've Got a Feeling on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Joe Satri...

From: A Hard Day's Night; Year: 1964; Genre: Pop/Rock The other day whilst playing around with my guitar I stumbled upon the main riff of this song whilst warming my fingers up and within a few minutes I had it figured out; it's always fun when you can just sit down and pick a song out so easily like that. Since then I've had it playing in my head and I thought it would make a wonderful pick to close out this Sunday. Hear And I Love Her on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Al Di Meola - Alien Chase on Arabian Desert My song pick two years ago today: Alice Cooper - Go To Hell My song pick three years ago today: Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond My song pick four years ago today: The Doors - Riders On The Storm   +

From: Band on the Run ; Year: 1973; Genre: Pop/Rock I had this song running through my mind last night and, as I usually do, I thought I would add it. I would have to say that this is one of my, I dunno, let's say one of my top three songs that Paul McCartney penned. I love how they utilized the synthesizers as one of the main driving forces for the entire song. Hear Jet on YouTube. Watch a live performance circa '76 on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) - Welcome Home My song pick two years ago today: Puhdys - Alt Wie Ein Baum My song pick three years ago today: Christian Pezold - Minuet in G Major (Anna Magdalena Notebook II), BWV Anh. 114 My song pick four years ago today: Berlin - The Metro +

1640 The Beatles - In My Life From: Rubber Soul , Year: 1965 Genre: Pop/Rock I thought for sure that I had chosen this, one of my favourite tracks from the band sometime in the past, but apparently not. Even though it is crammed into a radio-friendly 2 and a half minutes, it contains just as many interesting musical ideas as some song twice or three times its length. I guess it's kind of what I've heard referred to as a "transistor glamour," i.e. something that contains everything that's needed, but is contained in a small, compact package. Anyway, although I like the entire piece, my favourite part has to be the sped-up piano solo that was intentionally written to sound in the style of J.S. Bach. Hear In My Life on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Fairport Convention - She Moves Through the Fair My song pick two years ago today: Uriah Heep - Gypsy My song pick three years ago today: T-Rex - Bang a Gong ( Get it On ) My song pick four years ago today: Sav...