Can you tell me anything, such as date, type of music, etc., about the following records, which I found in the ten cent bin at Kiwanis Sale in Ann Arbor? (Incoming records are marked $1, after a month they go down to 75 cents, then 50, 25 and finally 10 cents, so these are either the less popular records or those produced in such volume that the market was flood with them).141 responses total.
The first ten nonclassical records in the bin: 1. Andre Kostelanetz, Wonderland by Moonlight and other songs. (There are lots of records by Andre Kostelanetz. What period was he popular during, and did he record dance music, pseudo-classical, popular songs?) 2. George Greeley and Orch. Love the World Away 3. More Sing Along with Mitch Miller and the Gang. One of many Mitch's. Includes Pretty Baby, Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee, the Whiffenpoof Song. 4. Engelbert Humperdinck. The Last Waltz, etc. 5. Bergen Sings Morgan. Luther Henderson Orchestra. (Helen Bergen) ?? 6. Harry Simeono Chorale. Battle Hymn of the Republic, No Man is an Island, and many other famous songs (and many less famous ones as well) 7. Sound of Music (one of many copies) 8. Perry Como. Let Me Call You Baby Tonight. 10. Barry Manilow. Tryin to Get the Feeling.
Andre Kostelanetz- Mid 50's, and 60's. Same with Mitch Miller. Englebert- 70's. Harry Simeon- Timeless. Perry Como- Anywhere from the 40's to the 80's. He was huge. Barry Manilow- Late 60's to mid 70's. His music died with Disco.
How many songs can people name which include the word Baby? In about 1800, Baby was not generally found in the names of songs, but Little, Sweet, Lovely, Cottage and Bonny were widely used in titles. Are there any recent songs about sweet lovely bonny little cottages?
You *don't* want to get started asking people how many songs they can name with "Baby" in the title.. Grex's disk space is, after all, finite..
But how many songs are there that use the word "baby" that are actually referring to babies? ... Never mind.
What other words are widely used in currently popular song? (Please give examples, at least five per word, with composer's name).
(Wow...even the gun-control people don't ask for that much documentation)
Time is a great filter, and it seems like lots of the filtered-out stuff is washing ashore at Kiwanis... Mitch Miller and his sing-along albums were chart-topping stuff in the pre-rock-n-roll era. Was Miller the one whose show had the lyrics on the screen, and you were invited to "follow the bouncing ball?" I believe Andre Kostelanetz performed quiet mellow instrumental music. Engelbert Humperdinck (who named himself after German composer) was a bit of a rival to Tom Jones in the sexy-crooner department. The only reasonably contemporary pop song I can think of in which the word "baby" denotes an infant human would be "Stay Up Late," by Talking Heads. Now you'll tell me it's just a metaphor.
Mark Cohn did a gospel-ish song on one of his albums called "Baby King," referring to Jesus. If I paid any attention to real gospel music, I could probably give you more examples of the same thing.
There's always Neil Sedaka's (or was it Paul Anka's?) timeless musical atrocity "You're Having My Baby"..
RE #10 Paul Anka did "Having My Baby."
Amy Grant wrote "Baby Baby" about her real life baby, although the lyrics are vague enough to be interpreted as a typical pop love tune.
Vanilla Ice did "Ice Ice Baby"
I have a song on one of my CD's titled "B-A-B-Y" by Carla Thomas. Song was written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes (a/k/a the voice of Chef on "South Park").
My baby piano (5.25 octaves) has just been tuned, so I got out some Mozart and Schubert songs for it, also The Parlor Song Book 'Sing me the songs that to me were so dear, long, long ago, long ago' (19th century songs). Not a Baby anywhere in the titles. But a few other family members: Shall I be an Angel, Daddy? Watching for Pa. Auntie. Come Home, Father. Father's a Drunkard and Mother is Dead. Let Me Kiss Him for His Mother. Dear Mother, I've Come Home to Die. Categories of songs are: Songs of Love, Songs of Battle and the Deep, Songs of Foreign Lands, Songs of the Family (Grandfather's Clock - missed that one, A Boy's Best Friend is His Mother), Songs of Childhood, Sacred and Sentimental, Rum and True Religion, Minstrel Songs, and the large category Songs of Disaster and Death. What are today's most popular categories (other than Love)? Are there any new songs composed for the over-thirties? Does anyone still sing songs for enjoyment? (The library has lots of song books). When was the last time you sang? (I sang My Country Tis of Thee Monday). Are songs of death still popular? .The Burial of the Linnet - what is the closest modern song in theme?
Songs about death are still popular (wildly popular in some groups) but their general appeal is not so strong. You won't hear them on the radio because they don't help the advertisers sell stuff..
How many songs of war can people name - Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam? I can think of When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Over There, Green Beret. Are there new categories since the 19th century? My book had no category of humorous songs, such as the one about the bikini.
I sang at Karaoke last Saturday: "Weird Al"'s "Eat It" (to
celebrate overeating at xgiving), and Kermit's "Being Green".
Blacksmith of Brandy Wine - Revolutionary War
When Tenskwatawa Sings - a reverse angel on the Battle of
Tippecanoe (The one that made Harris famous)
Dane Geld - (actually, an attempt to avoid war)
The Parting Glass - Revolutionary War
Touch a Name on the Wall (Joel Mabus) - Vietnam
Fort Sackville - War of 1812 (America vs. Brithish)
Paid Soldiers of Dorsai - from Gordon Dickson's universe
Only 100 Died (Susan Urban) - Gulf War
There's tons and tons of war songs from the Vietnam era - protest songs, etc., not to mention that Phil Ochs song about draft-dodging. One of my favorite war songs is "The Butcher's Tale" by the Zombies, about World War I (and, since it dates from the 1960's, probably an oblique comment on Vietnam).
I seem to recall that some eyebrows were raised when the Beatles decided to leaven their love-song repertoire with occasional ditties about paperback writers, lonely spinsters, and yellow submarines.
I had no idea there were Gulf War songs. Are there any songs about the events of the last ten years in E. Europe (glasnost, Kosovo, Berlin Wall)? Which local radio station might play current-events songs?
There were quite a few Gulf War songs, both of the "let's go kick butt" variety and of the "on second thought, no, let's not" variety. Moxy Fruvous' "Gulf War Song" is a personal favorite of the second kind. U2 used to put out a lot of good political songs, though I think they're doing less of that now. The cover to "Achtung Baby" - (another "baby" reference for you there) - was a picture of graffiti from the Berlin Wall. Rage Against The Machine seems to be the political-band-of-the-moment. I'm not a big fan of theirs, so I'll leave song reccomendations to someone else.
Apart from sex (love, family) and violence (war, death), another favorite category seems to be drugs, including coffee, tea, and alcohol, and tobacco. I can think of Bach's Coffee Cantata - are there other coffee songs? Jim offers They Drink a Lot of Coffee in Brazil. Tea for Two. Drink to me only with thine eyes. Days of Wine and Roses. Dry Martini, Bottle of Gin, oh what a spell you've got me in, oh my, do I...... (he continues to sing); (make that jigger of gin, he giggles). Beer Barrel Polka. "I slipped behind the barn I had my first drink of was it white lightning?" "There's no end to the number of drinking songs, I just can't recall them now." Student Prince: Drink, drink, drink....... I am also still interested in current events songs. Anything on Kosovo? Bosnia? (In English). Russia?
Other songs with alcoholic beverages in the title: "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," "Drinking Wine Spodey Odey" (Jerry Lee Lewis), and the obligatory "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)."
Alcohol by the Butthole Surfers Too Drunk to Fuck by the Dead Kennedys
Hmmm.. Never realized that "Drinking Wine Spodey Odey" was a Jerry Lee Lewis song. I'm only familiar with the Pere Ubu version..
RE #26 "Drinking Wine Spodey Odey" by Jerry Lee Lewis was a rather obscure release from 1972 or 1973.
Fear did a whole album about beer, cleverly entitled "Have a Beer With Fear."
Listen to history in song via shows like "Folks like us" Saturdays at noon on WDET, 101.9FM.
re 26 and such: I think Professor Longhair (or some name like that) did "Drinking Wine Spodey Odey" back in the 50's or so. Might have been Memphis or New Orleans based.
Professor Longhair is certainly _a_ right name; don't know if it's the one you're looking for.
What are other popular categories of song? Are people still writing songs about going away and missing or being missed? (Like If you miss the train I'm on or Carry me back to old Virginie or Freight Train). Any with airplanes? Rocket ships? Skateboards?
How about "Leaving On A Jet Plane," written by the late John Denver and performed by Peter Paul & Mary (their only #1 record, 1969)?
How many hours of songs about rocket ships do you want?
Are there really any at all? I thought I was joking.
I can think of songs about rockets, but songs about leaving on a rocket? Uh, "Rocket Man" by Elton John, I guess...
Skateboards? Hmmm, I'm sure the skaters have something out there. All I can think of is "You Can't Roller Skate In a Buffalo Herd" or whatever the title of that song is..
Leaving on a rocket: almost anything David Bowie wrote during certain phases.
Bikes: Bicycle Built for Two. Are there others? Hot-air balloons?
Queen has a song called "Bicycle Race". Soundgarden has one called "Kickstand". Overall you'd probably have better luck finding motorcycle songs than bicycle songs, though.
Odd, I don't know a single motorcycle song. Or truck song. Or snowblower song, are there any? Ski songs?
(Dukes of Stratosphear: "Bike Ride to the Moon". Combining both bicycle *and* rocket themes.. There's a song for everything at this point..)
D'oh! I was going to say that! There's tons of train songs. "Born on a Train" and "Fear of Trains" by the Magnetic Fields, "Train Song" and "Downtown Train" by Tom Waits... just to name a few.
motorcycle songs.. hmm.. Judas Priest has got to have something. What about "Leader of the Pack," an old '50s girl group song by.. ugh, forgot their name.. ? "Born to be Wild" is generally associated with a motorcycle ride, just by the lyrics. snowblower songs? hrm, hey Tim-- anything in the Dr. Demento archives? (I've been out of touch since I can't get the show here.)
"Leader of the Pack" was by the Shangri-Las, the group who perfected the three-minute-soap-opera girl-group song..
I'm pretty sure there must be a snowblower song in Bizet's "Carmen". After all, it's a tragedy about a man who struggles with "Toro"s.. :-p
Would "The Zamboni Song" be close enough?
Anybody got any *real* computer songs yet?
There's a Momus song about a girl and her iMac (told from the point of view of the iMac).
(Momus is sounding more and more intriguing the more song summaries I hear) There are plenty of evil-computer prog rock songs, notably bits of Rush's 2112 and ELP's Karn Evil Nine. Of course, you can argue that those aren't *real* computers, so it's not a *real* computer song.
It's all about the Pentiums
re. #50, I can't really endorse Momus - he's clever but very smirky and irritating. Proceed at your own risk... :)
Songs about watching TV? Listening to radio?
"Radio, Radio," by Elvis Costello! That's the only radio song you need. :)
"the radio is in the hands
of such a lot of fools trying to
anaesthetize the way that you feel.."
Man, I miss the days when Elvis was bitter, as opposed to just cranky..
"Video Killed the Radio Star" gives you radio and TV in one fell swoop. Joni Mitchell did one called "You Turn Me On: I'm A Radio". Simon and Garfunkel did a version of "Silent Night" with radio news coverage of a murder (I think) playing in the background.
Michael Mesmith did "Eldorodo to the Moon" also.
Frank's 27 foot TV.
Almost any song with 'radio' in it seems to get played by
radio stations and become popular.
Before Cindi gets to it, I can find two tunes about King Tut
and a couple about Black Holes.
re #56: Simon and Garfunkel's "7 O'Clock News / Silent Night" (on their "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme" album) features a newscast reporting on the war in Viet Nam and announcing the death of Lenny Bruce..
RE #57 I do remember the Steve Martin song "King Tut," but I'm unaware of what the second King Tut song was.
There's a band called the Music Tapes whose main guy is obsessed with the notion that televisions are actually aliens who are watching us (as opposed to the other way around). The band does several songs about televisions and their live show apparently features a TV named Static who is a fully-fledged member of the band and somehow "sings" some of the songs. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? Unfortunately, as is often the case with "high-concept" bands, the music kinda sucks.
It may just be that I've seen too many such bands but that doesn't even sound particularly intriguing..
"I Bought A Mexican Radio" is another radio song. I can't remember the band's name though.
RE #62 "Mexican Radio" was recorded by Wall of Voodoo. It was their only hit.
Yea, but it kicked ass.
Mild surprise that C.Keesan's mention in #39 of hot-air balloons didn't produce an earlier reference to a dreadful, but memorable (dreadfully memorable? memorably dreadful?) bubblegum pop song of circa 1970 that began "Would you like a ride in my beautiful balloon?"
(Perhaps you're thinking of "Up, Up and Away"? If memory serves I think that was by Marilyn McKoo and the Fifth Dimension, but as I've tried to expunge all memory of it, I could easily be wrong..)
The song about the "beautiful balloon" was indeed "Up Up And Away" by the Fifth Dimension. The song came out in 1967.
("Radio Song" by R.E.M. & KRS-One.)
That sounds like an interesting collaboration....where does the song appear?
"Radio Song" is a good track. it's on the "Out of Time" album. ["Out of Time" was the last R.E.M. album I enjoyed. "Monster" was the last one I bought, and I don't think I'll even bother to check future ones out of the library after "Up" ]
Public Enemy has a tune called "How to Kill a Radio Consultant".
Soon after the initial opening up Kit Tut's tomb in ?1922?, the media was wild with Tut fever. A pair of fellows, known as "The Happiness Boys" had a song out within weeks after the discovery of all of Tut's loot. Steve Martin was about 50 years later, again playing on Tut fever, as the treasures where touring America.
Truck Drivin' Son-Of-A-Gun ---Red Sovine
(no shortage of songs about trucks..)
Movin' On -- Merle Haggard
(Oh Lord won't you buy me a) Mercedez Benz - Janis Joplin
I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle - (?) Janis again
BTW, Ernest Hare was one of The Happiness Boys, mentioned above.
A freind from Grand Rapids, Laurel Mullendyke, wrote one of the many songs about the Challenger explosion/disaster. Her's was one of the few played live for astronaughts. It had a simple title: "Seven".
Wasn't there a song by Ray Stevens about "Etheleen the Truck Stop Queen?
Looks like I will have to come up with some more difficult topics. I had no idea so many newsworthy events turned into songs. Any songs about the flu? Wasn't 1917 the big outbreak?
(ooh....that's a tough one. none come to mind)
Cindi, lynx to home.intrnet.org/~estin/cd and take a look at Paul's CD mixes. He has quite a few almost all based on various topics, including the VIA set, which includes Via Rocket. Each of the Eclectica tend to have a theme.
make that home.intranet.org/~estin/cd
-
Thanks, Tim. I found lists of transportation songs, and songs about jobs and finance, baseball, and animals. If flu songs are not available, are there songs about other ailments: aching backs or feet, colds, broken arms, headaches, polio, tuberculosis, heart attacks, lung cancer, or AIDS? Ulcers, acne, baldness, toothache....
Robyn Hitchcock's "Lady Waters and the Hooded One" is about the bubonic plague. Depression is an illness, technically speaking... plenty of songs about being depressed! :) Or there's the Throwing Muses' "Mania." I'm sure there's other mental illness songs. John Lennon's "Cold Turkey" is about *feeling* sick, though not for reasons of illness...
Someone did a parody of "My Favorite Things" called "My Favorite Diseases."
And we have "Rockin' Pneumonia and Boogie Woogie Flu."
David Lindley has a tune about tuberculosis. Lou Reed did a tune or two about cancer on his "Magic and Loss" CD.
Is there any Y2K music? I just read that people expected the world to end not only in 1000 but in 1500 (and at various dates since).
One could make a (weak) case for TAFKAP's "1999"
And a similarl weak case for King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man"
Will Smiths "Willenium" (It's apparently about 1999/2000 <shrug>)
"Y2K," by the Apples in Stereo. I think that's a pretty strong case. :)
"Why must I be the Millennium Bug?" by the Capital Steps (great parody of "Teenager in love") Re: Way back there -- The Zamboni Song. I thought there were 2 songs with this title, one, by the Gear Box Daddies (?) about "I wanna drive the Zamboni Machine" I don't know if the second one actually exists or not. Are there any other classic "Hockey" songs, other than the Zamboni Song(s) and "Good old hockey game"?
Chuck Brodsky has a *great* hockey song.
Stompin Tom Conners has a song called "The Hockey Song". They play it before all the home MSU hockey games. (Or maybe that's the Good Old hockey game previously mentioned)
re #93: you're probably thinking of the Geardaddies, a Minneapolis-area band..
The Arrogent Worms have a tune called "Me Like Hockey".
Mike Ridley has a nifty one called "Itzusi Scores".
Check out recent Dr. Demento playlists for tunes about hockey
and Y2K.
Songs about sleeping, hibernation, dreaming (Jeannie), waking? This is a good day for going back to bed. Or resoling my boots.
95% of all the songs about being sick that I've ever heard are settings for some 1940s or '50s Broadway revue of Ogden Nash poems. Ogden Nash wrote more poems about being sick than one might easily realize. Favorite songs about sleeping: "I'm So Tired" and "I'm Only Sleeping", both by the Beatles.
"Asleep and Dreaming" by the Magnetic Fields.
Oh, how about Robbie William's "Millenium" for a Y2K song? As for dreaming songs, there's "Dream a Little Dream" by someone who's name I forget. "Keep on Dreaming" by Lisa Marie Experience.
Gosh, how could I forget "Daydream Believer"??
RE #101 The version of "Dream A Little Dream" I remember most was the first solo release from the late "Mama Cass" Elliott, shortly after the Mamas & the Papas disbanded in 1967 or 1968.
How about 'What a day for a day dream'? (by...someone. I know Vince Gill and Kermit sang it together on a muppets album!)
Lovin' Spoonful, maybe?
"Dream" songs are a lot easier than "sleep" songs. Didn't Phil Collins do some sort of asleep-at-the-wheel thing? I've got vague memories of a song where he runs over a pedestrian and drones on about how guilty he feels. I think it was him, anyway.
If he wants to feel guilty about something, why can't he pick "Su-Su-Sudio"?
Might there be any songs about money (making, spending, finding, burning...)? Or other forms of wealth. (Cattle, cacao beans.) Going broke, making a million, losing one's job, going bankrupt, etc.
Perhaps due to being perpetually short of it, XTC do a lot of songs about money, e.g. "Paper and Iron," "Earn Enough for Us," "Love on a Farmboy's Wages," and probably others that I'm forgetting. The Kinks do some songs about being unemployed. "Situation Vacant" is the only one that comes immediately to mind.
And there was Motown's very first hit record, "Money (That's What I Want)."
dealing with other forms of wealth, at least in a tongue-in-cheek way..
"My love is the Queen of the Savages,
she don't know the modern world and its ravages..
instead of money she's got yams and cabbages.
She lives in a dome. I don't think I'll ever go home."
("Queen of the Savages", yet another Magnetic Fields gem from "69 Love Songs")
resp:98 Doesn't anyone remember that fabulous tune Billy Joel composed after hearing it in his sleep? It was a hit-- can't remember the name, but it was on his 'River of Dreams' album. It sounds very dreamlike to me..
Any songs about dreaming about money?
Re#112: If I'm thinking of the same song you are, I think it's called "River of Dreams." The one with the verse that starts "In the middle of the night, I went walking in my sleep..."?
Ok, then it *was* as I figured-- the album bears the name of that song. btw, I remember it being "I go walking.."
Whatever. I haven't heard it in years.
At the library I was reading song titles and spotted one CD with songs about fried eggs, greasy chicken, and cholesterol. Are there many songs about foods which are considered unhealthy?
I think you just answered that. :-)
The Irish-American band Open House had a rather silly song about an Irish farmer, his pig and his cow, cholesterol and exercise...
Do you want Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Monty Phyton, Spam, Spam "Weird Al" Yankovic, Spam and Spam for listening?
Songs about foods which are considered unhealthy -- there are those Chenille Sisters songs about chocolate and butter.
Ooh, good. This isn't an unhealthy food, but I feel compelled to mention Poignant Plecostomus's "Potatoes: The Ultimate Whatever," since it's one of my all-time favorite titles.
Cheeseburger in Paradise Margaritaville Tequilla Sunrise OREO (by Weird Al)
(and while we're at it, Weird Al's "Fat," "I Love Rocky Road," "My Bologna," etc.....)
resp:123 Interesting that Jimmy Buffet wrote the first three songs, and that they are still very popular. I wouldn't be surprised that they comprise the bulk of his fortune.
RE #125 Didn't the Eagles record the song "Tequila Sunrise?"
sorry. It was easy to assume.
Re 122 -- Then there's the song by Cheryl Wheeler (I think) praising potatoes, to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance, with its tongue-twister refrain: PotaTO potaTO potaTO po- Tato POtato POtato POta- To poTAto poTAto poTAto PotaTO potaTO pota=TO=.
Oh, Wow.
This item still alive? Anyone else should fee free to suggest topics of songs, as I have pretty much run out.
How about songs with a color in them? We'd go on for days.. Blue (Da Ba Dee), Eiffel 65 Lady in Red, ? Purple Rain, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Blue Monday, New Order Black Celebration, Depeche Mode Dressed In Black, Depeche Mode Nights in White Satin, Moody Blues Orange Crush, R.E.M. Red Sky At Night, The Fixx (right?) Men In Black, Will Smith (actually, a serious parody of 'Forget Me Nots') Lavender's Blue, ? it's a folk song, but I'm not sure from where Silver and Gold, Burl Ives Green, R.E.M. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Crystal Gayle Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud), James Brown Ebony and Ivory, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder Yellow Submarine, The Beatles
Frankly, I doubt that Grex has enough free disk space to start listing songs of color..
Moody Blue - Elvis (originally pressed on Blue Vinyl)
Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Red Rubber Ball - (Beatles?)
Red Rubber Ball was by the Cyrkle (yes, that's the correct spelling of the band's name).
Am I misremembering or was "Red Rubber Ball" written by Simon and/or Garfunkle? (You're correct, though, that it was recorded by the Cyrkle..)
"Red Rubber Ball" was written by Paul Simon.
Yellow Ballon by The Yellow Ballon
"Dances of the Renaissance" by the Clemencic Consort; part of a package of CDs (all the rest folk stuff) which came today.
A live version of "Red Rubber Ball" is also on S&G's _Old Friends_ box set, too.
rain squall - Richard Buckner Just bought his re-released Bloom album tonight, its good stuff.
You have several choices: