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

813 ( Pearls Before Swine - Tell Me Why ) I am Just in an odd mood and I felt like adding a Pearls Before Swine song today. Their sound is very difficult to describe accurately other than perhaps "Dylan meets Donovan" with some extra Psychedelia thrown in for good measure. However, they are pigeon-holed in the Psychedelic/Folk Rock genre. This one comes off of their fourth album: The Use of Ashes , which was released in '70 and is one of my favorites in their catalogue. The YouTube video with the song has apparently been removed and there are no new ones available, sorry about that. My song pick a year ago today: Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe My song pick two years ago today: Steve Winwood & Traffic - Dear Mr. Fantasy +

812 ( S Sgt Barry Sadler - Ballad of the Green Berets ) I noticed that it was Veteran's Day and/or Armistice Day depending on where you are at; I figured that I should choose an appropriate song. Most of the morning I was trying to come up with a good pick, this one just happened to pop into my head and I thought that it was a perfect song for today. Oddly enough, the first time I heard this song was in a video game over 20 years ago; it was a strategy game on my Commodore computer called Conflict in Vietnam . I remember my mother telling me what the song actually was about, so I immediately had to find a recording. Luckily my father had the song on one of his K-Tel/Ronco super hit records or 8-Tracks. This song was co-written by writer Robin Moore, (who had written a book of the same name, which became a film starring John Wayne with this song used as the theme), and S Sgt Barry Sadler while he was recuperating from wounds incurred during service. Anyway, happy Veteran's Day! ...

811 ( Lulu - To Sir With Love ) I was playing and de-rusting this song last night, which I had not tried to play in quite a few years; the song's bass line was one of the first few that I learned. Anyway, I noticed that I had not added this one to my list as of yet, so I am adding it for my pick today. This is another song that I grew up with a lot of exposure to and came to like it quite a bit. Probably my favorite part of this song is Lulu's vocals; so powerful yet sweet as well. Here is the studio version on YouTube. Here is a live performance of the song on YouTube. Here is a more recent live performance on YouTube. Here is my pick a year ago today: Primus - Nature Boy Here is my pick two years ago today: Deep Purple - Space Truckin +

810 ( The Eagles - Outlaw Man ) I have been intending to choose this classic Eagles song for about a month now, I'm finally getting around to it today. This is more of a rocker than much of their other material at the time and there are so many excellent hooks in this song, especially in the chorus. Quite a nice song to start off a busy Monday and week. Here is the studio version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: #438 Def Leppard - Lets Get Rocked My song pick two years ago today: #70 Alabama - Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler) +

809 ( Alton Ellis - Sunday Coming ) This extremely catchy song has been perpetually stuck in my mind for about the last week ever since I happened upon a video on YouTube in which someone synced it up with the classic Disney Silly Symphony cartoon The Skeleton Dance . It just seemed like a good day to choose it because of the nice laid-back feel and it being a Sunday and all. I love almost every aspect of this one, especially the vocals and harmony; quite beautiful. Here is a fan video with the studio version on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: #437 Pat Benatar - Treat Me Right My song pick two years ago today: #69 Ronnie Milsap - Smokey Mountain Rain +

808 ( Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - Hold on Tight - Epilogue ) I was in an ELO mood today and felt like picking one of their songs; I couldn't believe that I hadn't chosen this one yet being as it is one of my older favorites from ELO. I have loved this song ever since I first heard it, which was quite a while ago. My dad had this song on many of his mix cassettes and 8-tracks, so I had a lot of exposure to it. After I discovered the rest of the album that this track was originally released on, Time , it became my favourite ELO album. It was probably the biggest hit off of the album, although there were a few other hits as well. Hold on Tight is an upbeat Rocker written in a Blues, which is the wrap-up song in the album/story, however, it is obviously an excellent stand-alone song in itself. The piece: Epilogue is the actual ending of the entire album, which is about one and a half minutes in length and sounds a bit Beatleish only with a much bigger sound. Here is t...

807 ( The Kinks - (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman ) The last couple of days I have been going over my collection of Kinks material and I decided that today is a good day to add one of their songs to the list. This one used to get a lot of radio play, but for some reason I have not heard it play on the air in about the last 10 years; at least I own the song and can listen to it at my leisure. This Disco-influenced track is very fast-paced and danceable with an awesome back-beat and bass line. It is about a normal bloke seeing the sorry state of world and his life, he wishes to have the power to fix it all, but alas, reality is what it is and as the song states: "I'd like to fly, but I can't even swim." What I like most about this song, as with most Kinks' tracks, is the descriptive lyrics from Ray Davies' pen. Every time I listen to one of his songs I am floored by the vivid pictures and scenes that he paints; he is a true musical genius in every sense of the ...