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Songs by Month

  • Thread starter Thread starter Louie
  • Start date Start date
  • Watchers Watchers 5
Louie said:
Thanks for sharing, that is a unique song theme.

For the life of me I can’t think of a single January song. A wedding in January never would have occurred to me.

All I can think of is freezing my fingers huddled around a little hole chopped in the ice for countless hours, sharing coffee from a thermos spiked with peppermint schnapps to warm up. That was back when the ice got thick enough for crazy people to drive their cars out on the lake in January.
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Well, it seems you're in good company 😄




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OMG, I almost forgot to make a February post, which would've been a shame because I actually have a song for this month that's genuinely one of my personal favorites.

It happens to be by the same artist as my January pick. It's one of their better songs and one that helped propel their career. This gets picked a lot at song jams with my buddies:

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I have a "21 Pilots" playlist on Pandora, which plays a bunch of alt rock stuff, but also injects some adjacent things. A lot of Chris Stapleton, for instance, which I assume is because on other playlists (Zappa, 70s Soul, whatever), I must have clicked the Like button when his songs randomly appeared. (I prefer Pandora over Spotify or Apple for these sorts of radio playlists, because it seems a little more random. At my age, having heard every one of my favorite songs at least a thousand times, I'm all for "Throw in something completely unexpected.")

Anyway, as I keep clicking Like on various tracks, this Playlist is now a messy merge of alt rock, modern pop (Benson Boone, Bruno Mars) and modern country. It's bizarre, but I like it. Mostly, though, it's giving me an even greater appreciation of country. Especially the less twangy modern stuff.

This track in particular (Morgan Wallen: "Smile") is really cool, and the lyric is so simple, but powerful. (It's cued up to 1:10, so you con't have to watch the looooong setup):

 
Mike Greene said:
I have a "21 Pilots" playlist on Pandora, which plays a bunch of alt rock stuff, but also injects some adjacent things. A lot of Chris Stapleton, for instance, which I assume is because on other playlists (Zappa, 70s Soul, whatever), I must have clicked the Like button when his songs randomly appeared. (I prefer Pandora over Spotify or Apple for these sorts of radio playlists, because it seems a little more random. At my age, having heard every one of my favorite songs at least a thousand times, I'm all for "Throw in something completely unexpected.")

Anyway, as I keep clicking Like on various tracks, this Playlist is now a messy merge of alt rock, modern pop (Benson Boone, Bruno Mars) and modern country. It's bizarre, but I like it. Mostly, though, it's giving me an even greater appreciation of country. Especially the less twangy modern stuff.

This track in particular (Morgan Wallen: "Smile") is really cool, and the lyric is so simple, but powerful. (It's cued up to 1:10, so you con't have to watch the looooong setup):

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Beautiful arrangement, song, and singing. There are definitely some country treasures out there.

But I gotta ask, how does this song tie in to the month of March for you?
 
March is an easy one for me: Waters Of March by Antonio Carlos Jobin, who wrote versions both in Portuguese and English.

This song used to be part of my wife's live set, and I always loved hearing her perform it. Unfortunately, she never recorded it, at least not yet.

There are many great versions out there - here's one by Al Jarreau and Oleta Adams:

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Nekujak said:
But I gotta ask, how does this song tie in to the month of March for you?
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Acchhh! We need to be more careful about who we allow on the forum, starting with a requirement that members be able to read! :grin:

In my defense, I did understand what this thread was about ... when it started. But as you proabably guessed, I forgot (even with the title serving as a reminder) and just posted a random song that I've been liking lately. Oops.

Okay, so now I need to search through my John Phillips Sousa catalog...
 
I saw these guys play live recently (Count Basie Orchestra), and became aware of this fantastic arrangement of April In Paris. I heard the song growing up, but it remained in my peripheral awareness, and I suppose compartmentalized as a song "from another era". But hearing Count Basie live playing this (one of their signature arrangements it turns out) was a “wow” and goosebumps experience. All those horns, some of the best musicians in the world, breathing that music to life, the air in the room alive with charged particles.

Still, the melody is different than any other standard tune that comes to mind from the Great American Songbook. The opening motif is made from three adjacent chromatic notes for one thing, which has always been mysterious and kind of corny at the same time combined with the broad triplet rhythm. If I wrote that motif, I probably wouldn’t have followed through spinning it into a finished melody and song. Just goes to show how melodies work on different people in mysterious ways.

with Sammy Davis Jr.


original instrumental (faster tempo)
 
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Just wanted to add a small contribution to April In Paris...

Back in the 90s, during my hour-long commute to work, I often listened to a local jazz radio station, and one morning, a version of April In Paris came on that totally knocked me out. When the DJ came back on and announced the details, I immediately pulled over and wrote it all down. The next day, I rushed out to pick up the album, and became immersed in the delightful musical world of the amazing Kurt Elling and pianist Laurence Hobgood:

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In addition to April In Paris, the other April song that immediately comes to mind is this tender ballad by Simon & Garfunkel. As I was searching for a link to share, I didn't realize the interesting (at least to me) little journey I was embarking on...

The only version of this song I was familiar with is on Simon & Garfunkel's second album. It's one of the few songs by the duo that Art sang by himself:

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But then, I was surprised to discover that a year earlier, Paul Simon recorded the song on a solo album he made while living in England! I'm embarrassed to say that after decades of being a diehard Simon & Garfunkel fan, I was completely unaware of this album, which also contains several other tunes that would later be retooled on Simon & Garfunkel albums.

I actually prefer Paul Simon's performance. Garfunkel's vocal is definitely "pretty", but I find Simon's vocal to have more passion and emotion:

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But wait, the story doesn't end just yet. There's also another version of the song (sung by Garfunkel) that appears in The Graduate:

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Nekujak said:
When the DJ came back on and announced the details, I immediately pulled over and wrote it all down.
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Gotta love when that happens.

That is indeed a fantastic version by Kurt Elling. Shines another golden light on the song, and IMHO also updates the song to a modern esthetic. Of course the vocal is top drawer--and the bass vamp, overall feel, piano playing in general—loving it.

Blue Note label. Will be crate digging for a vinyl of that album.
 
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