Happy New Year

2011 – Happy New Year.

My favourite thing as a kid was listening the countdown on January 1, sometimes December 31, of the best of the year.

They still do it of course, but I’m far from that these days, and I have been for longer than I care to think about. There are reasons for than, besides just old-fogeyness, and I may get into that at some point, but for now I’m going to do my own top 10, but not of songs of the year.

There was a news article recently about how Canadians are per capita the biggest YouTube watchers of any G7 country, and I take my share of the credit. I don’t watch what everybody else watches, I promise you, but it matters not; I do my share to bring up the average.

So here, with no further ado, are 10 of my favourite YouTube videos, 10 of the many that have made it to my favourites list, and I have to admit that I’m partial to videos of live performances (or fake live performances, I’m not fussy) or videos that give us more than just the bare music. We are, after all, meant to sit and watch these…

• Days Like This by Van Morrison – I love the way Van Morrison uses a horn section and the way he uses his voice, and the way he uses them together. I love the way that he’s made a career out of singing songs of joy and happiness, (when he’s not whining about being rich and famous) without ever sacrificing his artistic integrity. He may be a miserable man (so I’ve heard, lawyers keep away please) but his music reaches a place in my heart that surprises me every time. This isn’t a song that I’ve paid a lot of attention to, but I like this video (I just discovered it this evening, one of those “recommended for you” videos), I like the black and white, and I love the way that he is twice the age of anyone else in the band and how little it matters.

• Two Beds And A Coffee Machine by Savage Garden – Savage Garden is / was an Australian duo who were big for about 5 minutes. Most of the stuff on their 2 CDs is likeable but forgettable pop. But this song is something else. The subject isn’t all that common in pop music (think of another song anyone?) and it would be incredibly difficult to pull off, but they do it, nothing maudlin. All they had to do was throw in an electric piano and it would have thrown the song into saccharine hell, but as it is, especially the strings, and especially the cellos, it’s all too human and all too sad. And the video? The guy that did it got an amazing amount of positive feedback, well deserved.

• Only You by Ringo Starr – Lightening things up… This is obviously a promotional video, and what we see has obviously nothing to do with the song per se (flying saucers?), but this is here for one reason: Harry Nilsson. He does all the background vocals, and that’s him in the bathrobe, reading the magazine and smoking. Harry, RIP.

• Diamonds And Rust by Joan Baez – Yeah I know she can be insufferable, and I know she’s been known to be strident, and I know she’s not for everyone’s taste. But when she’s good she’s very very good. And on this video she’s very good indeed. The song is one the best she’s written, and the performance shows her at her elegant best. And yeah I know she squeaks the guitar strings, so she’s no Jorma Kaukonen ok?

• Stay With Me by The Faces– Rockin’ it up… The song was always one of my favourites, and the video reminds us that Rod Stewart used to sing some damn fine rock and roll, and he that he used to have a splendid time doing it.

• Some Of Shelley’s Blues by Michael Nesmith – Well into middle age, here is the former Monkee, who didn’t so much outgrow his Monkee persona as anticipate his later musical identity even while a Monkee, doing the song that was done so well by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, with David Letterman sitting behind him looking out of place at his own desk, doing what he (Nesmith, noth Letterman) does best, singing and playing. Honestly though, it was hard for me to decide between this and Different Drum, but I went for this one because as much as I love watching Nesmith do Drum , and as much as I love the original Stone Poneys version , it’s a song about rejection, so I went for the positive. (But notice how cleverly I got the link in anyway…).

• הלילה הוא שירים by Chava Alberstein – Forgive me this indulgence. The title of the song (pronounced "halayla hu shirim") translates literally as “the night is songs,” which makes no sense in English, but the real meaning is something like “the night is full of music.” I can get into that. This is from 1977, which, I’m ashamed to say, is the last time that I was in Israel, and I bought the album with this song as a souvenir, because they were playing this song on the radio a lot. This shows an incredibly beautiful performance; Chava looks radiant, the shot of the oboist off the top is cinematic brilliance, and the fact that it’s in black and white is a reminder that while Israel is one of the most technically advanced countries in the world, it’s not always kept up with availability of luxuries (like colour cinematography – this is late 70s remember). And the song? The song is beautiful. I know you probably don’t understand the lyrics, but take my word for it…

• Your Mother And I by Loudon Wainwright III – I wrote about this already, so maybe this is cheating, but here it is again. It just hits too close to home…

• Foolish You by Kate & Anna McGarrigle – The late Kate McGarrige happens to be ex-wife of Loudon from the last entry, the “Mother” of Your Mother And I. That’s not her singing, though, that’s Anna. Kate is playing the banjo in the corner. No matter, this is the McGarrigle Sisters at their best.

• A Song For You by Ray Charles – A special friend sent me this, and that’s reason enough to include it here.

The Temptations

Imagine the ignominy of having a hit single, only to have another group usurp your name and run away with it.

So it was with The Temptations, a white doo-wop group who put exactly one record into the pop charts, only to have Motown foist the better known Temptations on the world a few years later.

Interesting, because the English Drifters had to become The Shadows (The US already had The Drifters), and decades later, the American group Bush had to call themselves BushX when members of the long-defunct Canadian group Bush obtained an injunction against another Bush in Canada.

But The Temptations, nobody made a fuss, and now any mention of The Temptations brings to mind My Girl, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Psychedelic Shack, Ain’t Too Proud To Be, that kind of thing. Any reference to the other Temptations has to be qualified with “white group,” or “New York group” or “the group that did Barbara.”

I got their one and only hit from The Doo Wop Box.

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The Temptations:

• Barbara – This is a text book example of doo wop. I don’t know how authentic it sounded when it was a hit in the summer of 1960, but now it could serve as a stand in example of the genre, except for one thing – the lead singer has a Nashville accent. I had a classmate in grade 6 named Barbara. She was contemptuous of me at first, but we were friends by the end of the year. In grade 7 she was in an all girls’ class, and after that she left the school, and I never saw her again. “Barbara my love…

Brenda Lee

Burton Cummings dreamed of Brenda Lee; he sang about it on Dream Of A Child. That must be worth something.

She is country, primarily, but she had more pop hits than country hits, and she did it without compromising. For the record, she had a total of 50 records on the Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973, but most of those songs appeared between 1960 and 1965. Some of them even pop up now and then on oldies radio (which is all internet based now) and not just I’m Sorry.

My collection comes from The Brenda Lee Story Her Greatest Hits, and various random singles that I picked up at various random places at various random times.

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Brenda Lee:

• Comin’ On Strong – Plays on the dichotomy between weakness and strength – it’s heartache that’s coming on strong, and most of us would think of heartache as a kind of weakness. From the fall of 1966.
• Break It To Me Gently – Maybe that’s the Burton Cummings connection – Break It To Her Gently was the lead off track on Dream Of A Child. And we all know that there’s no way to do it gently. A song of desperation. From the winter of 1962.
• That’s All You Gotta Do – It’s all so simple in pop music isn’t it? Only a few needs here, and nothing about taking out the garbage, but that rock and roll saxophone is all I need. Brenda's supercharged vocal doesn’t hurt either. From the summer of 1960 and flip side of I’m Sorry.
• I’m Sorry – Her best known song, it hit number 1 in the summer of 1960, and kicked her career into high gear. It’s not The Platters record. But she’s just as sorry, and I can’t imagine what she’s done – or, rather, I can, and it’s scary. And if I’m right, then the song just won’t do it.
• It Started All Over Again – More heartache, more not moving on. The B side of Heart In Hand, from the summer of 1962.
• Heart In Hand – I’m Sorry redux, from the summer of 1962.
• Is It True – A song about trust, and lack thereof, the lyrics notwithstanding. She confronts the whole rumour thing with the force of a hurricane. The drums help. From the fall of 1964.
• The Grass Is Greener – It always is, isn’t it. From the fall of 1963.
• Ride Ride Ride – Spunky, from the winter of 1967.
• Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree – When rock and roll was still learning how to deal with the holiday season, Brenda came along and showed everybody how to do it. From December, 1960.
• Jambalaya (On The Bayou) – Brenda’s take on this oft-recorded Hank Williams country standard was her first release. She was 12, and that was in 1956. No other song about food is quite that popular.
• Emotions – Not the Samantha Sang song. From the winter of 1961.
• Just Out Of Reach – A hit for Solomon Burke, and covered by Percy Sledge and a host of others.
• Anybody But Me – The flip side of Fool #1, from the fall of 1961.
• We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, And Me) – Kind of gimmicky this one, isn’t it. A hit years earlier for The Ink Spots.
• Thanks A Lot – From the winter of 1965.
• I Want To Be Wanted – Straight and to the point. – From the fall of 1960.
• You Always Hurt The One You Love – A dubious prospect, and a hit for Clarence Henry.
• Too Many Rivers – A broken relationship. They can’t always be fixed, can they. From the summer of 1965.
• My Whole World Is Falling Down – “I’m losing my baby,” she sings. Trust me, it only seems like it now, your world will be fine. From the summer of 1963.
• Fool #1 – A song about falling for the wrong guy. From the fall of 1961.
• Johnny One Time – I have to admit, this is unintentionally hilarious. I mean really, Johnny One Time? It’s such a damn good record though, that you move past all that and into the realm of raw emotion. From the spring of 1969.
• All Alone Am I – Another of her heartbreak ballads, this one from the autumn of 1962.
• Sweet Nothin’s – Cute, with cheesy organ. From the spring of 1960, this actually hit before I’m Sorry.
• As Usual – From the winter of 1964.
• Dum Dum – They’re just singing words, not some kind of insult. From the summer of 1961.
• You Can Depend On Me – I’ll always be there for you. The Spinners did something similar on I’ll Be Around, and Chicago did it with Call On Me. From the spring of 1961.
• Losing You – From the spring of 1963.

Dante & The Evergreens

Wikipedia, more unhelpful than usual, suggests that the Dante of Dante & The Evergreens (real name Donald Drowty) went on post-group to a successful award-winning songwriting career, but it fails to enlighten us further. What songs did he write? He doesn’t even have his own write-up. Google isn’t even helping me on this. So I can’t help you.

The group lost out in the Alley-Oop sweepstakes to The Hollywood Argyles, and besides Alley-Oop, they had one more hit on the top 100 called Time Machine, presumably not the Grand Funk song.

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Dante & The Evergreens:

• Alley Oop – Hero worship of the strangest kind. Alley-Oop was the name of a newspaper comic strip, before my time thank you very much, about a cave man. I’m not sure why Alley-oop got the honour, as opposed to, say, Mr. Abernathy or Scamp or Mary Worth. Maybe it was the monster killing thing. This is normally what one would call a novelty record, and while it’s usually the competing version by The Hollywood Argyles that ended up on the loony-tune albums, this record ends up in the same stylistic place. It was The Argyles who hit number one with this, the Evergreens’ version stalled at number 15, if you can call reaching number 15 on national top 100 “stalling.” From the summer of 1960.

June, 1960

• Happy-Go-Lucky Me - Paul Evans
• Wonderful World - Sam Cooke
• All I Could Do Was Cry - Etta James
• Hand In Hand With You - Bobby Curtola
• Bye Bye Johnny - Chuck Berry
• Because They're Young - Duane Eddy
• Alley-Oop - The Hollywood Argyles
• My Home Town - Paul Anka
• Rockin' Good Way - Brook Benton & Dinah Washington
• I'm Sorry / That's All You Gotta Do - Brenda Lee
• Alley-Oop - Dante & The Evergreens
• Jealous Of You - Connie Francis
• Train Of Love - Annette
• Pennies From Heaven - The Skyliners
• Big Boy Pete - The Olympics
• Down Yonder - Johnny & The Hurricanes
• Mule Skinner Blues - The Fendermen
• Theme From The Unforgiven - Don Costa
• Theme For Young Lovers - Percy Faith
• Runaround - The Fleetwoods
• My Tani - The Brothers Four
• Johnny Freedom - Johnny Horton
• Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
• Please Don't Tease - Cliff Richard & The Shadows

Ella Fitzgerald

This is an abridged version of a box set called The First Lady Of Song. I did the abridging, and I still have 180 minutes of Ella.

Ella had a quite a few pop hits prior to 1955, and more after on the adult contemporary and R & B charts than on the hot 100, where she only had 4 records, two of which are on this collection.

If you know Ella Fitzgerald, there’s not much I can tell you. If you don’t know Ella Fitzgerald, then ditto.

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Ella Fitzgerald:

• Perdido – Ella? Ella? You there Ella? Quite a bit of the song goes by before she makes her (unquestionably regal) entrance. Quite the showpiece, recorded live.
• Too Darn Hot – How the climate interferes with romance. Possibly the only song ever written that refers to the Kinsey Report.
• Miss Otis Regrets – A tale of high society, heartbreak, violence, mob murder, and tea.
• April In Paris – A jazz standard, and a hit for Count Basie in 1956.
• Undecided – Also done by The Ames Brothers.
• Can’t We Be Friends? – With Louis Armstrong. A song about romantic exasperation.
• Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered – Love and unmitigated lust. I like the Doris Day version, but Ella’s is earthy where Doris is dainty.
• Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin – Rocking in the old rocking chair…
• I’m Just A Lucky So And So – Also done by Chuck Berry and Mose Allison.
• A-Tisket A-Tasket – A remake of one of her signature songs.
• Air Mail Special – A scat special.
• I Won’t Dance
• Summertime – The Gershwin classic, with Louis Armstrong.
• Oh Lady Be Good
• More Than You Know
• Lush Life – Social disease…
• Blue Skies – Great stuff by Irving Berlin. My favourite recording of this is by Dinah Washington.
• Swingin’ Shepherd Blues – The Moe Koffman hit with words.
• These Foolish Things – by Joni James originally. Also done by Etta James and by Bryan Ferry.
• Travelin’ Light – Not the Cliff Richard song.
• You’re An Old Smoothie
• Makin’ Whoopee – The Tin Pan Alley standard.
• How Long Has This Been Going On – Quite a while apparently…
• Mack The Knife – Her biggest pop hit, from the spring of 1960. I don’t care for the way she does this, and I wonder why they put this out as a single.
• How High The Moon – A big hit for Les Paul & Mary Ford, and a less big hit for Ella in the fall of 1960.
• Black Coffee – Done well by Peggy Lee before her, and by The Pointer Sisters after. Ella’s version is suitably smoky.
• Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow – Cheerful, cheerful, cheerful. Also done my Vaughn Monroe, and a million others.
• Get Happy – Judy Garland did this.
• Heart And Soul – So many did this; a pop hit for The Cleftones and for Jan & Dean.
• (If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have To Swing It
• A Night In Tunisia – Jazz standard. Check out Dizzy Gillespie.
• I Can’t Get Started – The frustration of everthing-works-for-me-but-this.
• Don’t Be That Way
• After You’ve Gone
• Hernando’s Hideaway – Ella’s rendition of this brings out all the underworld seediness.
• A Fine Romance - Also done by The Ames Brothers, a wonderful song of frustration.
• Deed I Do
• Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya
• Can’t Buy Me Love – Ella takes on The Beatles, in her own inimitable style.
• Day In, Day Out
• Here’s That Rainy Day
• (I’ve Got) Something To Live For
• You’ve Changed – Good enough, but Billie Holiday’s version was heartbreaking.
• Jazzy Samba – I prefer the instrumental.
• It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing – Indeed it doesn’t..

Liberace

I found both albums, Liberace’s Greatest Hits, and The Best Of Liberace, at Pyramid Records at around the same time, and I couldn’t decide which one to keep, so I kept both, and here they are. The only song that both collections had in common was I’ll Be Seeing You, and one was vocal and one instrumental, so not even that counts.

This is a gargantuan collection by one of music’s oddest performers, way too much Liberace considering that for all the greatest hits and best of of the titles, the only record of his that was anything like a hit any time from 1995 on was Unchained Melody, which reached number 20 on the UK charts in the summer of 1955, and which isn’t included on either LP.

It’s easy enough to say that Liberace is an MOR version of Little Richard; he was certainly flamboyant enough. But the resemblance is superficial; There was no way Liberace could express that kind of character in the type of music he did; Richard’s persona went right through the recordings. Adult contemporary just isn’t a medium for expressing extremeness.

And no, his first name was not Harold.

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Liberace:

• I’m Always Chasing Rainbows
• Warsaw Concerto
• Johnson Rag
• Tchaikovksy’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – He does the intro.
• I’ll Be Seeing You – A relatively rare vocal, and the truth is that he couldn’t sing all that well.
• Beer Barrel Polka
• “Moonlight” Sonata – Beethoven.
• El Cumbanchero
• Cement Mixer – Humour, of the lame variety.
• Moon River – Mancini.
• Mack The Knife – Weill and Brecht.
• Over The Rainbow – From The Wizard Of Oz.
• Theme From A Summer Place – A hit for Percy Faith.
• Near You – A hit for Roger Williams.
• Schubert’s Serenade – Shubert.
• September Song
• Greensleeves
• Never On Sunday – From the movie.
• Love Letters – A hit for Ketty Lester, and later for Elvis.
• Love Is A Many Splendored Thing – A hit by The Four Aces.
• Tammy – A hit for Debby Reynolds, and for The Ames Brothers.
• More (Theme From Mondo Cane) – A hit for Kai Winding.
• Bewitched
• Fascination - A hit for Jane Morgan
• Little Things Mean A Lot – A hit for Joni James.
• Gigi – A hit for Vic Dana.
• Third Man Theme – From the movie.
• I’ll Be Seeing You – Instrumental.
• Intermezzo
• Me And My Shadow – Vocal.
• As Time Goes By – From Casablanca.
• Charade – Mancini.