Which one is your favorite? - LXIII -

This week I chose a song from Paul Simon released in December 1975. It was the second single from his fourth studio album, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), released on Columbia Records. Backing vocals on the single were performed by Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, and Phoebe Snow. The song features a recognizable repeated drum riff performed by drummer Steve Gadd.

Here is the song for this week;

"50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"

One of his most popular singles, "50 Ways" was released in December 1975 and began to see chart success within the new year. It became Simon's sole number-one hit as a solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and was his highest position in France, where it peaked at number two. Elsewhere, the song was a top 20 hit in Canada and New Zealand. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting sales of over one million copies.

Following Simon's divorce from first wife Peggy Harper, Simon opted to take a more humorous approach to document the incident. He recorded the song in a small New York City studio on Broadway, and built the song around the drums in order to "avoid clutter".

In a 1975 interview published in Rock Lives: Profiles and Interviews, Simon told the story of this song: "I woke up one morning in my apartment on Central Park and the opening words just popped into my mind: 'The problem is all inside your head, she said to me...' That was the first thing I thought of. So I just started building on that line. It was the last song I wrote for the album, and I wrote it with a Rhythm Ace, one of those electronic drum machines so maybe that's how it got that sing-song 'make a new plan Stan, don't need to be coy Roy' quality. It's basically a nonsense song."

According to Simon's younger brother Eddie (from the same interview), Paul made this song up while teaching his son how to rhyme. Even though he didn't take the lyrics too seriously, it's an interesting song, particularly for those who feel trapped in bad relationships.

Paul Simon may have sung that there were 50 ways to leave your lover, but he listed only five, which are:

1) Slip out the back, Jack

2) Make a new plan, Stan

3) You don't need to be coy, Roy, just set yourself free

4) Hop on the bus, Gus

5) Drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free

We still await the other 45! He left plenty of room for a sequel, but never followed up.

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Tok Tok Tok - "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"

• Sidsel Endresen & Bugge Wesseltoft - "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"

• Lyle Lovett - "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover"

• Rag'n'Bone Man - "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

• Miley Cyrus - "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

• Sophie Milman - "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

• Lee Lessack & Johnny Rodgers - "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - CIII -

Here is the last week of the year. A year we can say many words about. As the Coronavirus pandemic ripped through the planet, isolating us to levels not seen in generations, music always brought us together and let us breathe in these difficult times. A big kudos to all the musicians that created during the year. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas if you are celebrating.

As Confucius once said;

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which 

human nature cannot do without."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Wynton Marsalis - "Jingle Bells"

• Siti Muharam - "Machozi ya Huba"

• Angel Bat Dawid - "What Shall I tell my Children who are Black"

• Les Robots - "Ode to Yull Brynner"

• Sharon Van Etten - "Blue Christmas"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - LXII -

This week we have a Leonard Cohen song from 1974. The song is probably the most notable Cohen composition in the album called "New Skin for the Old Ceremony". It refers to a sexual encounter in the Chelsea Hotel, probably New York City's most famous Bohemian hostelry. For some years, when performing this song live, Cohen would tell a story that made it clear that the person about whom he was singing was Janis Joplin. Cohen would eventually come to regret his choice to make people aware that the song was about Joplin, and the graphic detail in which the song describes their brief relationship. In a 1994 broadcast on the BBC, Cohen said it was "an indiscretion for which I'm very sorry, and if there is some way of apologizing to the ghost, I want to apologize now, for having committed that indiscretion.

Here is the song for this week;

"Chelsea Hotel #2"

According to Ira Nadel's 1996 Cohen memoir Various Positions, the singer finished writing "Chelsea Hotel #2" at the Imperial Hotel in Asmara, Ethiopia. Cohen himself said the same thing but this argument was challenged by Ron Cornelius as you will read below...

The Chelsea Hotel in New York city is where Cohen lived when he wasn't at his home in Montreal or his cottage on the Greek Island of Hydra. He chose the Chelsea because he heard he would meet people with a similar artistic bent, which he did.

Introducing this song in concert, Leonard Cohen sometimes admitted that he wrote it about a very brief affair he had with Janis Joplin in 1968, explaining that she came to the Chelsea Hotel looking for Kris Kristofferson, and when they ended up in an elevator together, he told her that he was Kristofferson. She knew he wasn't, but figured he would do on this particular evening. "We fell into each other's arms through some process of elimination," Cohen said.

Joplin left in the morning, and he saw her only a few times after that. She eventually did find Kristofferson, and recorded his song "Me And Bobby McGee," which became a #1 hit when it was released after her death. However as stated above, in his later years Cohen apologized to the public to reveal this.

Ron Cornelius is a guitarist who played on sessions with many artists, including Johnny Cash, Loudon Wainwright III and Bob Dylan. Before branching out into production and music publishing, he served as Leonard Cohen's band leader for four albums. Ron gave us this response regarding his role in writing this song: "He claims that I helped him with a chord change in writing an earlier version of this song. The truth is that I co-wrote the song with him on an airplane (8 hours) from New York to Shannon, Ireland. The reason it has a #2 behind it is that he tried to cheat me out of my share by recopyrighting it that way (he changed nothing) - it was just 'Chelsea Hotel.' Anyone can check out the writer credits by contacting BMI to get the truthful writer credits. I ran his band for a long time (worldwide), played on his records, and have nothing but honest input to look back on - Leonard can't say that!!!"

Later on, the song's name was converted to just "Chelsea Hotel" with many covers...

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Lloyd Cole - "Chelsea Hotel"

• Maryanne - "Chelsea Hotel"

• Rufus Wainwright - "Chelsea Hotel" 

• Lambchop - "Chelsea Hotel #2"

• Meshell Ndegeocello - "Chelsea Hotel"

• Lana Del Rey - "Chelsea Hotel No 2"

• Regina Spektor - "Chelsea Hotel"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - CII -

Literally the last two weeks of 2020. I don't know how you feel about this year but I might remember it as a stolen year from our lives. On the other hand, it is a year that also taught us a lot about the importance of health, supporting one and other, and ruling out one's priorities for the good of greater communities. It sure caused us to miss many things especially in the area of art and travel, but thanks to the adaptability capacity of most, people could enjoy themselves via digital during these tough times.

As Nicholas Sparks once said;

“Life, he realized, was much like a song. 

In the beginning there is mystery, in the end, 

there is confirmation, but it’s in the middle 

where all the emotion resides to make 

the whole thing worthwhile..”

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Jo Lemaire & Flouze - "Je Suis Venue te Dire Que je M'en Vais"

• Artemis - "The Sidewinder"

• Röyksopp - "What Else Is There?"

• Hope Sandoval w. Massive Attack - "Four Walls"

• Gevende - "Ağlaya Ağlaya"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Which one is your favorite? - LXI -

Another hit coming from the 60s that has been covered by many times and especially one version you can hear below was one of my top songs in the 80s. The song is a Latin soul tune that was written as an instrumental by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick, and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man. The lyrics were written for it shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.

Here is the song for this week;

"Yeh Yeh"

This version of the song was taken to the top of the UK Singles Chart in January 1965 by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, breaking The Beatles' long-term hold on the number one spot of five weeks with "I Feel Fine", and a month later appeared on the US Billboard pop singles chart to peak at #21. The US single edited out the saxophone solo break. Interviewed after the 2003 Jools Holland Spring Hootennany, where he had played a "dynamite version" of the song, Fame explained that the arrangement had been written by Tubby Hayes.

This song hit #1 in UK due to heavy airplay at Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station broadcasting from ships in international waters.

In the US, the song was featured in a Chrysler commercial.

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Matt Bianco - "Yeh Yeh"

• Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames - "Yeh Yeh"

• Hugh Laurie - "Yeh Yeh"

• They Might Be Giants - "Yeh Yeh"

• Diana Krall (feat. Georgie Fame) - "Yeh Yeh"

• Beefy & Mustin - "Yeh Yeh"

• Karrin Allyson - "Yeh Yeh"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - CI -

As the holiday season draws on, the covid issue really begins to disgruntle everyone. It is terribly boring not to be able to make travels or even plans for New Year's eve. Everyone's fed up with it but please be careful at least until the vaccine arrives at a health center near you... In the meantime stay with music and enjoy staying at home...

As Ray Charles once said;

“Music is powerful. 

As people listen to it, they can be affected. 

They respond.”

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Brittany Howard - "History Repeats"

• Róisín Murphy - "Narcissus"

• Lizzo - "Good As Hell"

• Tomeka Reid Quartet - "Old New"

• Black Midi - "Ducter"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.

Lost in technology or technology lost in music?

I was happy to see that Nils Frahm released an album last week called "Tripping With Nils Frahm". It is an album recorded live in a venue that I adore in Berlin. The iconic "Funkhouse" is a former GDR broadcast center built in the 1950s, located overlooking the River Spree in Berlin's east. The product of joint efforts by architects and acousticians to create a world-class broadcasting campus, the multi-purpose venue houses spaces dedicated to recording symphony orchestras, choirs, chamber and jazz ensembles, pop music and radio plays. 

The album consists of 8 tracks all recorded live during Nils Frahm's performances in December 2018. I think this recording is the pinnacle of his live recordings, even better compared to "Spaces". 

In my opinion, what makes Nils Frahm so ethereal and emotional is that he creates this atmosphere (I also had the chance to watch him live and what I am about to tell is more obvious in a live setting) via accomplishing to lose all that technology behind his music. Yes, he is always surrounded by many gadgets and towers of synths with thousands of knobs, but when he starts to play, all that technology somehow disappears and you are in the middle of a sonic ocean.

This album is no different. I do not know if his style has evolved in that fashion because he was a classically trained pianist but his sound world is cruising between classical and electronic and that is what makes him so unique.

"Tripping with Nils Frahm" is released also as a movie that I believe could be a great experience to watch.

Here is a trailer for you;

Let's finish with Nils Frahm's own words and listen to a great piece from the album...

"I think music can be the most beautiful drug experience of your life — it is almost like an addiction," Frahm says. "And also, the word 'tripping' came because I'm on this trip for the last 10, 11 years where I'm traveling the world to make my show. And so all of this became so intense that I thought, 'Yeah — it's a trip."

"Fundamental Values" by Nils Frahm

Which one is your favorite? - LX -

The song of the week is a rock single written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker and first recorded by the Arrows in 1975. It is a song that is best known by one of its covers that was recorded six years after the original.

Here is the song for this week;

"I Love Rock 'n' Roll"

Merrill explained in a Songfacts interview how this song came about: "That was a knee-jerk response to the Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'N' Roll.' I remember watching it on Top of the Pops. I'd met Mick Jagger socially a few times, and I knew he was hanging around with Prince Rupert Lowenstein and people like that – jet setters. I almost felt like 'It's Only Rock and Roll' was an apology to those jet-set princes and princesses that he was hanging around with - the aristocracy, you know. That was my interpretation as a young man: Okay, I love rock and roll. And then, where do you go with that?"

The song was released as a B-side with The Arrows' "Broken Down Heart." The group was recording for RAK Records, which was run by Mickie Most. As Merrill explains, "I Love Rock And Roll" didn't suit his current tastes, as during that time Most preferred ballads and blues. Most's wife Christina Hayes encouraged him to flip the sides, but the song didn't catch on, as it suffered from a poor run of luck at the time of its release. First, it had to be re-released as an A-side. Second, the song came out during an English newspaper strike, so new songs weren't getting the exposure they'd normally get. Third, The Arrows were feuding with their record label. As a result, the song didn't chart and was banished to obscurity.

All was not lost, however, as The Arrows performed this song when they were guests on the UK TV series Pop 45. The show's producer, Muriel Young, was so impressed that on the strength of this performance, she gave them their own TV show, simply called The Arrows Show, which ran from 1976-1977 in the UK for two full 14-week seasons on the ITV network. It was this show that Joan Jett saw in 1976, which prompted her to acquire a copy of "I Love Rock and Roll" and later cover it in 1981, producing what is arguably one of the most successful covers in rock history.

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - "I Love Rock n Roll"

• Jamie Lancaster - "I Love Rock n Roll"

• Miley Cyrus - "I Love Rock n Roll"

• LA Guns - "I Love Rock n Roll"

• Hayseed Dixie - "I Love Rock n Roll"

• Britney Spears - "I Love Rock n Roll"

• Ghoti Hook - "I Love Rock n Roll"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.

Five Songs for the Weekend - C -

Here is the 100th of the "Five Songs For The Weekend" post. This means 500 songs over a period of two years. I hope each and every one of you has found at least a song you love and discovered an artist to your own liking. 

As Hans Christian Andersen once said;

“Life is like a beautiful melody, 

only the lyrics are messed up.”

Here is the list for this weekend;

• The Cinematic Orchestra - "The Awakening Of A Woman"

• Plaid - "Dancers"

• Soviet Soviet - "Ecstasy"

• Jyoti - "Bop For Aneho"

• Brian Eno - "Decline And Fall"

Hope you have a great weekend.

nb. You can open the actual youtube page by clicking the name on the upper left side of each video.