Song of the Day

Song of the Day (197): Got My Mojo Working – Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters first heard this song sung in doo-wop style by Ann Cole in 1956. Muddy reshaped it as a jump blues song. Released on Chess Records in 1957, the song broke through with his performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960. That’s the version I included here. From the opening piano chords played […]

Song of the Day (196): Drunken Angel – Lucinda Williams

Another gut-wrenching country blues from Lucinda Willaims. “Drunken Angel” found inspiration in the shooting and death of singer-songwriter Blaze Foley. She even captured his penchant for duct tape which held together his shows and sometimes his life. Foley died defending a friend. #Songoftheday #spreadinghappiness #lucindawilliams #drunkenangel #blazefoley YouTube: https://youtu.be/hC3Yra2nMy4?si=92AOXTLTYW8b8CFZ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3plLbnUUKpf8BSXLiIqkPx?si=0a6ea8191c704228

Song of the Day (195): Cruella de Vil – The Replacement

Mixing Disney with the Replacements turns out to be a brilliant movie. They took this song and did it up as only the placemats could. A little burlesque, a little chaos, high energy and lots of fun. The Replacements recorded their cover version of “Cruella de Vil” for “Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from […]

Song of the Day (194): Mandolin Wind – Rod Stewart

Song of the Day (194): Mandolin Wind – Rod Stewart Oh, the snow fell without a breakBuffalo died in the frozen fields, you knowThrough the coldest winter in almost 14 yearsI couldn’t believe you kept a smile In even the most wonderful live, there will come hard times. We will get knocked down. What […]

Song of the Day (193): Every Day I Have the Blues – B.B. King

Recorded in late 1954, this song became a hit on the blues charts in 1955 and a signature song for BB King. There are some great live performances including Live at the Regal and Live at Cook County Jail. I always loved seeing BB King in concert. He had such a big heart and such […]

Song of the Day (192): A Little Bit of Everything – Dawes

It’s as if Taylor Goldsmith went for a long walk in Laurel Canyon and kept peeling back the layers until he found three stories that made sense of what his eyes saw and his heart felt. It opens plaintively – heavy chords of a piano and then his Taylor Goldsmith’s voice, naked and personal. We […]

Song of the Day (191): Stone Cold Picnic – Laura Nyro

This song opens so simply – just a voice and a piano – and then explodes into a joyous celebration of sound mixing jazz, soul and enough energy to light up your town. One of my favorite aspects of this song is the way Nyro creates a new word, “surry”: C’mon, c’mon andSurry down to […]

Song of the Day (190): These Arms of Mind – Otis Redding

Luck just happens except it doesn’t. We need to put ourselves in a position for the luck to occur and then we need to take advantage of that opportunity. Let’s go back to Memphis in 1962. Otis Redding has a mob driving for guitarist Johnny Jenkins. So it happens that a recording session at Stax […]

Song of the Day (189): Going Down to Laurel – Steve Forbert

Our connections to individual songs can be intensely personal. A song might be no more than white noise to one person and yet to another it can be like a punch to the chest that stops the heart and snatches the breath. So, it is for me with Steve Forbert’s “Going Down to Laurel.” Forbert recorded […]