Don’t look now, but it’s the return of the Friday Random 10. Ten songs selected at random from my family’s, um, eclectic iTunes library. Notice how I say “my family’s” library, so as to deflect questions about why there are so many kids’ songs or Glee stuff coming up.
Candles (Glee cast version); Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers
I have to focus this time on the first one in the list, John Mayer’s “Daughters”. People have many different opinions about John Mayer, not all of them good, but I’m a big fan — and mainly because of this song. Mayer has a sort of reputation as a womanizer but his insights on girls and parenting in this song…
Friday Random 10 has slipped out of the rotation lately, so let’s fix that. Hitting the random shuffle button on the iPhone, we have…
Delia’s Gone (Johnny Cash, American Recordings)
Guide Vocal (Genesis, Duke)
All Your Love (Otis Rush, Essential Chicago Blues)
Why Should I Feel Lonely (Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Unclassified)
Catch Me If I Try (David Wilcox, East Asheville Hardware)
House of Tom Bombadil (Nickel Creek, Nickel Creek)
Digital Man (Rush, Signals)
Fei Hua Dian Cui (Lui Pui-Yuen, China: Music of the Pipa)
Turn the Page (Rush, Hold Your Fire)
A Little Bluer Than That (Alan Jackson, Drive)
Here’s the video for “Delia’s Gone” (#1 on the list). The song is a classic “death ballad”, one of the standard idioms of country and folk music. And yet, when it came out in 1994, none of the country music stations on radio or TV wanted to play it because…
Friday music time again, and just about the only thing I’ve had time to post this week due to classes starting back:
Texas Flood (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Greatest Hits)
40 Days (Third Day, Come Together)
Who’s Been Talkin’ (Howlin’ Wolf, His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary)
Man in the Green Shirt (Weather Report, Best of Weather Report)
Waiting on the World to Change (John Mayer, Continuum)
Where You Are (Rich Mullins, The World As Best As I Remember It v. 1)
Heavy On My Mind (Back Door Slam, Roll Away)
Try (John Mayer Trio, Try! (Live))
Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman) (Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II)
Doing It To Death (James Brown, The CD of JB)
Normally I would take one of the entries in the list that gets my attention and do a video focus on it. This time… Well, the classic Led Zeppelin chestnut “Living Loving Maid” (#9) makes me think of the fantastic…
Without The Light (Kelly Joe Phelps, Roll Away the Stone)
Partita #3, Menuet II (Paul Galbraith, Bach: The Sonatas and Partitas)
Tenderoni (Chromeo, Fancy Footwork)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles, White Album)
Jump Up! (Imagination Movers, For Those About to Hop)
Birdland (Weather Report, Best of Weather Report)
Get Up, Stand Up (Bob Marley, Legend)
Territories (Rush, Power Windows)
The Remembering (High the Memory) (Yes, Tales from Topographic Oceans)
With My Own Two Hands (Jack Johnson + Ben Harper, Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies)
Lots of good stuff to feature here this week — the Bob Marley piece is an especially welcome reminder of warmer climates right now, as it’s 15 degrees and snow on the ground here in Indiana. But in the spirit of 80′s music started last week, here’s a live version of Rush doing “Territories” (#8). Watch it for no…
Bad Dream (Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, Essential Chicago Blues)
All About Love (Earth Wind & Fire, Essential EWF)
No Such Thing (John Mayer, Room for Squares)
Look Mama (Howard Jones, The Best of Howard Jones)
Brick House (The Commodores, 20th Century Masters)
The Red Plains (Bruce Hornsby & The Range, The Way It Is)
How Do The Fools Survive? (The Doobie Brothers, Minute By Minute)
Soul Power (James Brown, The CD of JB)
A Venture (Yes, The Yes Album)
Kiss Your Tears Away (The Smithereens, 11)
I think Howard Jones is a genius and doesn’t get nearly the appreciation he deserves, so here’s the video for “Look Mama” (#5). It’s vintage 1985, complete with big hair, but that’s part of the charm.
I just realized that last week’s Friday Random 10 was dated 1/1/2009. I guess it’s taken a week for the New Year to become natural to write. Anyway, here’s this week’s selection:
“Black Cow” (Steely Dan, Aja)
“Remember” (Wes King, A Room Full of Stories)
“For Real” (David Wilcox, East Asheville Hardware)
“How Mountain Girls Can Love” (Ricky Skaggs, Ancient Tones)
“She’s Nineteen Years Old” (Muddy Waters, His Best 1956-1964)
“Pleiades” (King’s X, Gretchen Goes to Nebraska)
“Te Deum” (Choir of King’s Choir, Cambridge; John Rutter Requiem)
“Clean My Room” (Imagination Movers, Juice Box Heroes)
“Superharp” (James Cotton, Essential Chicago Blues)
Samba de Bênçä0 (Maria Bethânia, Toquinho, & Vinicius de Moraes, Days in Mar Del Plaza)
Steely Dan as the first selection, two weeks in a row? Hmm.
Although it’s tough to pick from a list including classic rock,…
No re-start of this blog would be complete without a return to the Friday Random 10 feature, where I pull off 10 random songs in a row from the iPod and do some kind of video focus on one song or artist that shows up. Here you go:
“Black Friday” (Steely Dan, Katy Lied)
“Broken” (Jack Johnson, Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies (Curious George soundtrack))
“Hammer to Fall” (Queen, Classic Queen)
“The Dancing Flowers” (The Wiggles, Whoo Hoo Wiggly Gremlins)
“Work in Progress” (Alan Jackson, Drive)
“Let Everything That Has Breath” (Phillips, Craig, and Dean, Let My Words Be Few)
Jon McLaughlin is perhaps the least-well known of the musicians in this list. He’s an outstanding local musician — straight out of Anderson! — whose piano-based pop is exceptionally well-crafted and who’s been blessed with national exposure lately. Here’s a…
I haven’t done one of these in a while, but today I’m wearing out the iPod (still haven’t pulled the trigger on the iPod touch) as I grade, so:
1. Treasure of the Broken Land (Mark Heard, High Noon)
2. Welcome to the Occupation (REM, Document)
3. Five Per Cent for Nothing (Yes, Fragile)
4. Good Morning Good Morning (Beatles, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band)
5. Take Five (Dave Brubeck, Ken Burns Jazz: Dave Brubeck)
6. Alaska (UK, UK)
7. Pressing My Way (Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Live at the Wetlands)
8. Light in Your Eyes (Sheryl Crow, The Very Best of Sheryl Crow)
9. Things We Said Today (Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night)
10. Fields of Glass (Nashville Mandolin Ensemble, Plectrasonics)
Two songs with the word “Five” in their titles — what are the odds of that? What other songs feature odd primes in their titles?
I am a mathematician and educator with interests in cryptology, computer science, and STEM education. I am affiliated with the Mathematics Department at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. The views here are my own and are not necessarily shared by GVSU.
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