Song of the Day

Song of the Day (188): Diamonds and Rust – Joan Baez

Joan Baez is known mainly for her interpretation of other people’s songs as well as covering traditional tunes, yet her most well-known song is one she wrote, “Diamonds and Rust.” Written in the mid-1970s, it is a meditation on her relationship with Bob Dylan, a relationship in the news again because of the biopic, A […]

Song of the Day (187): Raglan Road – Van Morrison and the Chieftains

This song breaks my heart every time I hear it. One of those songs where I stop everything, compelled to listen, helpless in the spell of the song. This song first took life as a poem written by Patrick Kavanaugh in the 1940s inspired by his doomed love for Hilda Moriarty, he is a 40-year-old […]

Song of the Day (186): The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Growing up in rural Virginia, Hornsby witnessed ugly instances of racial injustice, horrors that left a profound mark. Those memories welled up to inspire this song. His piano playing and the multi-instrumental work of David Mansfield (guitar, mandolin, violin) make for a smooth and infective melody that almost masks the bite of the lyrics nor […]

Song of the Day (185): Pump It Up – Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Elvis worked up this tight band and showed up on the sidewalk outside a Columbia Records A&R meeting to make them listen. This song is like a jolt of electricity, packed tight with words, pounding beat and passion. Elvis dressed in his thin lapels and skinny tie looking like a nerd but coming off like […]

Song of the Day (184): Day of the Locust – Bob Dylan

The day after Christmas, I took my bride to a pleasant hotel in Princeton, New Jersey for a spa day and a mini-retreat. We took time to catch our breath and look at the year ahead. Wandering around the college town had me thinking of connections to Princeton like Paul Jargowsky, a dear friend and […]

Song of the Day (183): White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes

Here’s a wonderfully rich song with layers and layers of sound topped off by a vocal that comes on like a round. The narrator watches a pack of children in the snow with glimpses of a summertime future when they are no longer together. There’s a beauty in the children in the snow and a […]

Song of the Day (182): Twistin’ the Night Away – Sam Cooke

Backed by the Wrecking Crew – famed studio musicians – Sam Cooke cuts loose on this song that wants to keep the party going. Everybody wants to be at that party. Cooke has fun teasing the gay dance club scene at a time when it was still illegal to be a homosexual. Cooke recorded this […]

Song of the Day (181): New Year’s Day – Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift channels her inner Joni Mitchell on this song about what comes after the celebrations. She captures that depleted feeling when you’ve been up all night and walk through the detritus of the party – the empty bottles, the glitter on the floor. And she captures the vulnerability of the passion and connection yet […]

Song of the Day (180): New York, New York – Frank Sinatra

It is New Year’s Eve and for many years now, they play this song when the ball drops in Times Square at midnight to bring in the New Year. Written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the song first appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film “New York, New York” sung by Liza Minelli. Sinatra first performed […]