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

950 ( Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode ) Finishing out my Voyager Spacecraft " The Sounds Of Earth " Golden Record theme week with the sole representation on the record of Rock 'n Roll: Chuck Berry's incomparable " Johnny B. Good ." Although there would have been another Rock song on it if Carl Sagan had his way; he was really hip on getting The Beatles' " Here Comes the Sun " on the record, however EMI blocked it even though the band was apparently in favour of the idea. While doing this theme week I happened to remember a Saturday Night Live skit about the Golden Record in which a they proclaimed something to the effect of "The aliens have received the record and have asked for more Chuck Berry." Anyway, I could easily do another Golden Record theme week with the remaining songs, but it is nice to get back to picking random songs again. Here is a recording of the song on YouTube. Here is a live performance on Y...

949 ( Lorenzo Barcelata - El Cascabel ) It's a bit late and I am feeling under the weather, so I am making this post a bit shorter. This is day 6 of my songs off the Voyager Spacecraft's " The Sounds Of Earth " Golden Record . This beautiful piece of Mariachi music represented Mexico on the Golden Record. This is such an amazingly beautiful song in so many ways. Here is a recording on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Jethro Tull - Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die My song pick two years ago today: The Platters - Twilight Time +

948 ( Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven - Melancholy Blues ) I couldn't let this theme week go without picking the featured Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong piece from Voyager Spacecraft's " The Sounds Of Earth " Golden Record. I can't help but get a smile on my face when I hear him play; he's certainly one of the greatest of the last Century. Here is a recording of the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Lynyrd Skynyrd - That Smell My song pick two years ago today: Pink Floyd - Brain Damage/Eclipse +

947 ( J. S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 870 from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book No. 2 ) Out of all the artists featured on The Voyager Spacecraft's " The Sounds Of Earth " Golden Record , Bach makes the most appearances having three compositions featured. The Well-Tempered Clavier is considered along with many of J.S. Bach's collections of music to be some of the most influential in history. Here is a recording of the song performed by Glenn Gould on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell My song pick two years ago today: The Spencer Davis Group - Give Me Some Lovin' +

946 ( Gorō Yamaguchi - Tsuru No Sugomori (Crane's Nest) )   This selection off of the Voyager " The Sounds of Earth " Golden Record is an very beautiful, ethereal piece of music played on a bamboo flute played by master flautist: Gorō Yamaguchi. This Honkyoku was a representation of Japanese music on the record; it was one of the songs to help give an idea of the diverse music from our planet. Here is a recording of the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: M83 - Don't Save Us From The Flames My song pick two years ago today: Heart - Dreamboat Annie +

945 ( Igor Stravinsky - Rite of Spring - Sacrificial Dance ) For day two of my theme week of music contained on The Voyager Spacecraft's " The Sounds of Earth " Golden Record I decided on this rather raucous classical piece. I have almost chosen this one on quite a few occasions in the past, but never got around to it. This was written as a ballet with theme being centered around a supposed Pagan ritual where a young girl dances herself to death. It is one of the few classical pieces which caused a riot; it happend upon its premier in 1913 Paris. However some have argued that it was not the music which caused it and there were other factors at work. Most today would probably remember this piece from Disney's Fantasia; it was the fourth piece to be featured. Here is a recording of the Sacrificial Dance section on YouTube. Here is the piece from Disney's Fantasia: Part 1 , Part2 , and Part 3 . My song pick a year ago today: KISS - Detroit Rock City ...

944 ( Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground ) I'm venturing into a theme week; the theme: my favourite songs featured on The Voyager Space Probe's " The Sounds of Earth " golden record. I have already chosen at least a couple featured on record to my list, one being the first song I chose: J.S. Bach's 2nd Brandenburg Concerto , movement #1, and my twentieth pick: Mozart's " Queen of the Night Aria ." Suffice it to say if I had not already chosen them they would be featured this week. Anyway, this Gospel/Blues is simply a beautiful song. It features Blind Willie Johnson playing the slide guitar with him vocalizing along with the it. The song was apparently recorded in the mid-late 1920s. From what I have read, the team that gathered the songs led by Carl Sagan chose this track to express the human aspect of loneliness. To think, a humble Blues guitarist's composition might be one of the first pieces of music a...