Which one is your favorite? - LIII -

Here is a song for the season. It dates back to 1945 and the original was in French. The tune was popularised by Yves Montand. It has been  a leading standard in the jazz repertoire.

Here is the song for this week;

"Autumn Leaves"

The song was composed by Joseph Kosma with original lyrics by Jacques Prévert in French, and later by Johnny Mercer in English. An instrumental version by pianist Roger Williams was a number 1 best-seller in the US Billboard charts of 1955.

Kosma was a native of Hungary who was introduced to Prévert in Paris. They collaborated on the song "Les Feuilles Mortes" ("The Dead Leaves") for the 1946 film Les Portes de la nuit (Gates of the Night) where it was sung by Irène Joachim. Kosma was influenced by a piece of ballet music, "Rendez-vous" written for Roland Petit, which was itself borrowed partially from "Poème d'octobre" by Jules Massenet.

Marcel Carné decided to use it in his film Les portes de la nuit and wanted it sung by Marlene Dietrich — who declined. In the movie, it is played by the whole orchestra, then by a harmonica, then hummed and sung briefly by Yves Montand, then sung by Irene Joachim (dubbed for actress Nathalie Nattier).

 The first commercial recordings of "Les Feuilles mortes" were released in 1950, by Cora Vaucaire and by Yves Montand. Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyric and gave it the title "Autumn Leaves". Mercer was a partner in Capitol Records at the time, and Capitol recording artist Jo Stafford made the first English-language recording in July, 1950. The song was recorded steadily throughout the 1950s by leading pop vocalists including Bing Crosby (1950), Nat King Cole (1955), Doris Day (1956), and Frank Sinatra (1957). It was also quickly adopted by instrumental jazz artists including Artie Shaw (1950), Stan Getz (1952), Erroll Garner and Ahmad Jamal (separately in 1955), Duke Ellington (1957), and Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis (together in 1958). In 2012, jazz historian Philippe Baudoin called the song "the most important non-American standard" and noted that "it has been recorded about 1400 times by mainstream and modern jazz musicians alone and is the eighth most-recorded tune by jazzmen.

Over the years since its first publication, the composition has undergone several adjustments. The verse is a 24-bar AAB form, though originally it was written in twelve bars. The AABC form chorus was originally written in sixteen bars, but is now commonly seen as a 32-bar structure. The tune is usually played in 4/4 at a medium tempo in the key of G minor, although the original edition is in A minor.

Here are the 8 versions I picked for you;

• Sarah Vaughan - "Autumn Leaves"

• Chet Baker & Paul Desmond - "Autumn Leaves"

• Iggy Pop - "Les Feuilles Mortes"

• Dee Dee Bridgewater - "Autumn Leaves"
  

• Paula Cole - "Autumn Leaves"

• Dalida - "Les Feuilles Mortes"

• Nat King Cole - "Autumn Leaves"

• Patricia Kaas - "Autumn Leaves"

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 -XCIII -

It's getting cooler and it seems that autumn is around the corner. Let's hope this corona thing will fade away before the end of the year and things will get back to normal. Just like everyone else, I  missed going to the movies and attending live concerts... I am really curious what stories or tunes will come out of this strange times we are living in...

As Slash once said;

“Whenever society gets too stifling and the rules too complex,

 there's some sort of musical explosion..”

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Massive Attack - "Teardrop"

• Florence and the Machine - "Cosmic Love"

• Gin Wigmore - "Hey Ho"

• Khruangbin - "August Twelve"

• Avalon Jazz Band - "Si Tu Vois Ma Mère"

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? - LII -

This will be the second song I chose from Depeche Mode for the covers post. Released in 1989, the song reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, it was ranked No. 368 in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Here is the song for this week;

"Personal Jesus"

It was inspired by Priscilla Presley's book Elvis And Me, where she described their relationship. Martin Gore of Depeche Mode said: "It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships - how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?"

The video was the first by Depeche Mode to get significant airplay on MTV. Directed by Anton Corbijn, it has an Old West theme, with Dave Gahan and Martin Gore as cowboys. During the heavy breathing section of the song (around 2:20), there are some tight silhouette shots of Gore huffing, and then a shot of a horse's hindquarters. "I don't know if Anton was consciously trying to be perverted, I think it was more coincidental that it happened at that point," Gore told Uncut. "These video people see things very strangely." It was a little too much for MTV, so Corbijn made an edit eliminating some of the silhouette breathing, and that was the version the network aired.

Prior to its release, advertisements were placed in the personal columns of regional newspapers in the UK with the words "Your own personal Jesus." Later, the ads included a phone number one could dial to hear the song. The ensuing controversy helped propel the single to No. 13 on the UK charts, becoming one of Depeche Mode's biggest sellers. The single was particularly successful commercially thanks to the fact that it was released six months prior to the album it would later appear on. Up to that point, it was the best selling 12" single in Warner Bros. history...

Johnny Cash did a stripped-down version (that you will hear below) on his 2002 album American IV, The Man Comes Around. Martin Gore revealed to The London Times that the band was unaware that Cash had covered this song. When they heard about the country legend's recording, the threesome was naturally thrilled. Said Gore: "I think when you're somebody of Johnny Cash's caliber, you don't ask for permission."

Here are the 6 versions I picked for you;

• Johnny Cash - "Personal Jesus"

• Richard Cheese - "Personal Jesus"

• Def Leppard - "Personal Jesus"

• Nina Hagen - "Personal Jesus"

• Marilyn Manson - "Personal Jesus"

• KO KO MO - "Personal Jesus"

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 -XCII -

Last days of summer are near and we will again be stuck indoors very soon. This means that all of us will be more exposed to Covid-19, so please be careful and wear a mask. We can overcome this threat via paying the utmost attention. Be close to the music and not to the virus...

As Leopold Stokowski once said;

“A painter paints pictures on canvas. 

But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Robert Glasper - "Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box"

• Peter Gabriel & New Blood Orchestra - "Mercy Street"

• Kurup - "Joeira"

• Elias Rahbani - "Dance of Maria"

• Cabaret Nocturne - "Blood Walk"

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? - LI -

Here is a cool disco song from 1980. The original was a big hit for Diana Ross topping the charts all over the world. It was written and produced by Chic members Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.

Here is the song for this week;

"Upside Down"

The upbeat song finds the singer sticking with a cheating lover because he keeps their romance exciting, turning her emotions upside down and inside out. Rodgers explained the tune was actually inspired by Ross' desire to experiment with her career and have some fun.

The song was issued as a single through the Motown label in 1980, as the lead single from her tenth studio album, Diana. "Upside Down" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on September 6, 1980. It also hit number one on the Billboard Disco and Soul charts. The single was released a full four weeks after the album was released. It held down the number one spot for four weeks.

Ross, who felt her voice was overshadowed by the instrumentation on some of the tracks, demanded changes from the producers. Rodgers and Edwards made minor edits to appease her and told Ross if she still didn't like the songs, she'd have to remix them herself. They were shocked when Ross actually took them up on the offer. With the help of Motown producer Russ Terrana, she remixed the entire album, adding emphasis to her vocals. Rodgers was furious but ultimately relented on the condition that he and Edwards wouldn't be credited for the new mixes.

Mercedes-Benz used this in a 2013 commercial to promote the automobile manufacturer's "magic body control" stability function, which was proven by a bunch of chickens grooving to the tune while their heads remained stationary.

Here are the 5 versions I picked for you;

• The BossHoss - "Upside Down"

• Dusty Springfield & Tom Jones - "Upside Down"

• Cuban Jazz Combo - "Upside Down"

• Sonia Stein - "Upside Down"

• Joelle - "Upside Down"

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.