Sam Cooke's birthday

Today would have been soul singer Sam Cooke's birthday were he still alive. He has long been one of my favorites, so now seems as good a time as any to listen to a few of his songs. Enjoy!


First, one of his most well-known songs, the civil rights anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come." Allegedly he was inspired to write the song after hearing Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind."



Here's a short clip of him performing "You Send Me" on the Ed Sullivan Show.



Lastly, it may not be the best quality, but I love this cover of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"



And as an added bonus, here is Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists) covering "Cupid" along with Laura Gibson.

Bob Dylan makes coolest music video ever

Bob Dylan, apparently not content to rest on his laurels as one of the greatest songwriters ever, decided to make one of the coolest music videos ever. The video, for "Like A Rolling Stone," allows the viewer to surf through 16 different channels while the song plays. You can watch sports highlights, shopping shows, cartoons, The Price Is Right, or a number of other things, but the catch is that regardless of which channel you turn to, the people are mouthing the words to the song. The video doesn't appear to be embeddable, but you can click here to watch it. Enjoy!

This week in music (Week of 4/24/2012)

New release of the week – The Great Despiser by Joe Pug

Sometime last year, I fell in love with Joe Pug's 2010 album "Messenger," so this is one of the albums I was anticipating the most in 2012. Fortunately, it seems that anticipation was well placed because the more I listen to "The Great Despiser, the more it goes from an album I like to an album I love.

If you're not familiar with Joe Pug, you can check out my previous post on him, but basically if you are at all inclined to enjoy folk-type music you should check him out. My favorite song on the new album is actually a cover by an artist named Tex Thomas. When I saw Joe Pug live he said the song was originally a postcard that Tex Thomas was writing to his brother in jail. However, before he mailed it his manager saw it and told him he should turn it into a song. Fortunately he listened (and later Joe Pug introduced more people to the song) because I cannot get enough of it, and I have a feeling it will be one of my favorite songs of the year.

Unfortunately, I can't find a studio version to share, but here is a pretty good live version. Plus once you go purchase his new album, you can just listen to it on there!




Other notable releases

The more widely publicized release is Jack White's solo album "Blunderbuss." I've never really gotten very into Jack White or his various projects (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather), but that may be partially because I haven't spent a ton of time listening to him. I enjoyed my first couple listens to "Blunderbuss," so maybe it'll grow on me even more and cause me to dive into his catalog more.

Also released this week was the self-titled album by Diamond Rugs. This is another super group of sorts featuring the lead-singer of Deer Tick. The last such project was Middle Brother, which produced my favorite album of 2011. After a couple listens to Diamond Rugs, I haven't quite jumped fully on the bandwagon (possibly because of sky high expectations), but if you enjoy raucous alt-country/indie rock songs about getting drunk and other debauchery you could do worse than this album. Here is one of their songs that actually reminds me of The Velvet Underground quite a bit:




Miscellaneous News and Notes

Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients were announced yesterday, and Bob Dylan was one of the recipients. From the press release:

One of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century, Dylan released his first album in 1962. Known for his rich and poetic lyrics, his work had considerable influence on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over the past five decades. He has won 11 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award. He was named a Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Art et des Lettres and has received a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. Dylan was awarded the 2009 National Medal of Arts. He has written more than 600 songs, and his songs have been recorded more than 3,000 times by other artists. He continues recording and touring around the world today.

I may be a bit biased because I love Dylan, but it seems like a good choice to me. "Blowing in the Wind" is one of his contributions to the civil rights movement. It's hard to find actual Dylan recordings to post. Fortunately, Sam Cooke did an amazing cover of it:

50 Year Anniversary Of Bob Dylan's First Album

Apparently it has been exactly 50 years since Bob Dylan released his first album on March 19, 1962. The 70 year old singer/songwriter is still putting out new music and touring after all these years, which may be ever more impressive than 34 studio albums and countless other bootlegs, compilations, and live records. I saw him about a year ago and can attest to the fact that he can still rock out on stage even now. His first album didn't receive much attention, but the first (slightly more than) four years of his career were insanely prolific. He released seven albums in the first four years and three months. If those were all duds, that would be one thing, but it included Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, which both cracked the top 10 of Rolling Stones' greatest records of all-time. Also in that span is The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home, which both cracked the top 100 of that same list.

I'm an unabashed Dylan fanatic, and I'm endlessly fascinated by both the man and the legend that he has carved throughout his career. Several years back I picked up a book of interviews that he did. The book is several hundred pages long, and I don't think I've made it through, but few people could be as compelling as he is in interview after interview (although Tom Waits gives him a run for his money). I know his voice or style can rub people the wrong way, but you have to admire his staying power and the way he has inspired countless numbers of people.

In honor of this 50 year anniversary, here is a song from one of those early albums. My favorite Dylan album, Blood On The Tracks, wasn't released until 1975. My favorite Dylan song has been about 15 different songs and changes far too often to really pick one. However, one favorite that has remained constant is my favorite lyric of his. That is courtesy of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" from Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The line is:

I ain't sayin you treated me unkind
You could have done better, but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
Don't think twice, it's alright

I can't really say why I love the line so much. I think it's something about how he feels slighted but has decided to let bygones be bygones and move on. Considering how downright brutal and bitter songs like "Idiot Wind" and "Like A Rolling Stone" can be, whoever inspired this particular gem got off easy. It is really hard to find Dylan songs online, so I couldn't find the original, but this one will do:



A while back, I asked on Facebook what everyone's favorite Bob Dylan song is. The responses were Hurricane, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Tombstone Blues, and I Shall Be Released. Most of those are songs I wouldn't have even thought to consider, but given how many songs the man has recorded over his 50 year career, it's not surprising to see so many different choices. If anyone else cares to contribute their favorite Bob Dylan song in the comments, I'd love to hear it.

My 100,000th Scrobble on Last.fm

This milestone kinda snuck up on me. I knew it was coming up, but when I plugged in my iPod it had 130 or so backed up which left me 17 short of 100,000. Despite there being little logic, reason, or real importance behind it, I decided I should make sure my 100,000th song was a good one. However, deciding on one single song to take that importance was too much for me to handle, so I figured I'd pick 5 songs I love by artists I love to sandwich #100,000. So... here they are:

99,998 - Skinny Love by Bon Iver
This song was the song that inspired my first ever blog post. It's my most scrobbled song on Last.fm, and just a song that makes me stop and take notice every time I hear it. I still hate that I haven't seen Bon Iver perform live, but I did see Justin Vernon perform with his old high school jazz band a few years back, which remains to this day my favorite concert I've been to. All in all, a perfect song from a perfect album.



99,999 - The Gardner by Tallest Man On Earth
This song is apparently my 6th most scrobbled. It's my favorite song by Tallest Man On Earth, and I'm sure I could just listen to it on repeat and never get tired of it. I love the progression of the lyrics throughout the song. It was also one of the first several songs I based a blog post around.



100,000 - Poison Cup by M. Ward
The big round number... Well it pretty much had to be by M. Ward. I've played his songs more times than my second and third most played artists combined. He is without a doubt, far and away, absolutely, positively my favorite artist (I thought about throwing more descriptors in there, but was having a hard time coming up with them). I've got plenty of reasons for that, but the rest of it is just one of those things that probably can't be explained. His music just connects with me in a way that no other artist's music does. My favorite song of his changes from time to time (with about 10 other potential #1s), but Poison Cup is such a fantastic lead track on Post-War, which just so happens to be my favorite album. A more than deserving track number 100,000.



100,001 - The Twist by Frightened Rabbit
I guess this one is a little bit of a dark horse here in the big 5. It is (only?) tied for 19th among my most played songs. With that being said, Frightened Rabbit really forced its way into my top artists over the last couple years. Midnight Organ Fight is in my top 3 or so favorite albums ever and at times feels like it could be #1. I think I've listened to it on every car trip over 3 hours or so that I've made in the last 3 years (and there have been a lot of them). This is another album where my favorite track changes all the time. There are 5 others I could have chosen to represent Frightened Rabbit that would have seemed just as appropriate.



100,002 - Tangled Up In Blue by Bob Dylan
Picking 5 songs instead of one was supposed to make this an easier endeavor, but I still feel bad not including Tom Waits or Hanalei, but at least Waits got the blog named after one of his song. As for Hanalei, until he/they can come up with a reliable way of convincing me they are still a band, they'll have to deal with it. Anyhow, I got introduced to Dylan in undergrad and shortly after really jumped right in with my listening. Obviously I didn't get to experience growing up during the height of Dylan-mania (which I like to think I would have been drawn to instead of The Beatles or Stones or whoever else), but I find myself endlessly fascinated by the man (which I satisfied through books and movies) and the music (which I satisfied through, well, the music). Getting a chance to see him perform last year was really fantastic even if he is getting on in years. There are other Dylan songs I could have picked, but I didn't. Tangled Up In Blue it is.



If anyone managed to stick around through that, thanks for indulging my overinflated sense of significance that I assign to something so trivial as a number on a web page adding another digit.

If you guys had to choose 1 song, or 5 songs (or any other number that you deem to be appropriate), which songs would you choose?