Which one is your favorite? - LXXII -

Here is a great song from the 80s with equally great lyrics. It is a song by the English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It was the first single from her 1985 album Hounds of Love, released in the United Kingdom on 5 August 1985. It was her first 12-inch single. It was the most successful of Bush's 1980s releases, entering the UK chart at number 9 and eventually peaking at number 3, her second-highest single peak.

Here is the song for this week;

"Running Up That Hill"

Thie song is about making a deal with God to swap lives with another person. Bush explained in a 1985 interview: "It's about a relationship between a man and a woman. They love each other very much, and the power of the relationship is something that gets in the way. It creates insecurities. It's saying if the man could be the woman and the woman the man, if they could make a deal with God, to change places, that they'd understand what it's like to be the other person and perhaps it would clear up misunderstandings. You know, all the little problems; there would be no problem."

Bush's record company wanted to release "Cloudbusting" as the first single, but Kate convinced them to release this instead. Since they had already renamed her song, it was considered a compromise.

This was Bush's biggest hit in the US. She is very popular in the UK, but remains mostly unknown in America.

The song was originally written using a Fairlight synthesizer.

The music video featured Bush performing an interpretive dance with dancer Michael Hervieu. The video was directed by David Garfath while the dance routines were choreographed by Diane Grey. Bush and Hervieu are shown wearing grey Japanese hakamas. Bush wanted the dancing in "Running Up That Hill" to be more of a classical performance as she he felt the art was being cheapened by the newer crop of talent on MTV.

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Theo Bleckmann - "Running Up That Hill"

• First Aid Kit - "Running Up That Hill"

• Placebo - "Running Up That Hill"

• Within Temptation - "Running Up That Hill"

• Ellevator - "Running Up That Hill"

• Georgia - "Running Up That Hill"

• Mozartine - "Running Up That Hill"

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 - CXII -

It appears to be that the Covid restrictions are being reviewed all around the world and easing is on the way. Obviously, everyone will agree that it was about time but still need to be careful especially before the vaccination. On the other hand, this seems to be a fair decision for the businesses and people trying to make a living in the most affected sectors. Please support your local businesses and help them to overcome this terrible situation with relatively minimal impact.

As Toba Beta once said;

“Being cautious ain't merely look after myself, 

but also keep me away from others' carelessness..."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Andra Day - "Strange Fruit/Tigress & Tweed Medley"

• The Be Good Tanyas - "Waiting Around to Die"

• Erykah Badu - "On & On"

• AKKU Quintet - "Deep Sea"

• Mammal Hands - "Black Sails"

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? - LXXI -

There was breaking news in the music world during the week. The enigmatic and highly influential French electronic music duo Daft Punk was splitting. Founded by the former indie-rock bandmates Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter in Paris in 1993, Daft Punk won six Grammy Awards; collaborated widely, with artists from Giorgio Moroder to the Weeknd; and influenced many producers, D.J.s, rappers and pop stars. That's why I chose a popular song from Daft Punk for this week's post.

Here is the song for this week;

"Get Lucky"

The first single from Daft Punk's fourth studio album Random Access Memories features American rapper and record producer Pharrell Williams on vocals and studio legend Nile Rodgers of disco pioneers Chic on guitar. Speaking to Rolling Stone about his work on the French duo's record, Nile Rodgers said: "About a year ago, I get a knock on the door - first a virtual one and then a real knock - from Guy-Manuel and Thomas. The collaboration felt so unbelievably natural that it made me realise that I need to be in the studio with people. I love partnering with people. And then from that moment, a windfall of recording started happening. I just started going in with whomever I could."

Before its release as a single, "Get Lucky" was featured in television advertisements broadcast during Saturday Night Live, after which Rodgers and Williams announced their involvement in the track. Small excerpts also appear throughout the promotional video series The Collaborators.

"Get Lucky" is a disco song with lyrics that, according to Williams, are about the good fortune of connecting with someone, as well as sexual chemistry. After it leaked in mid-April, the single was released as a digital download on 19 April 2013. "Get Lucky" has since received acclaim from critics, and has spawned num erous cover versions and parodies. The single reached the top ten in the music charts of over 32 countries, and has sold more than 9.3 million copies.

The song won awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, during which Stevie Wonder joined Rodgers, Williams and Daft Punk onstage to perform the song.

The song broke Spotify streaming records on the day of its release. It achieved the highest number of streams on the Swedish online music site in 24 hours in both the UK and US. It became Daft Punk's first UK #1 single.

This song is a prime example of Daft Punk's move away from pure House to more of a funk-style in the album Random Access Memories, following a popular song structure (verse, chorus, middle 8, etc.) rather than the typical EDM structure (intro, build-up, drop, breakdown, drop).

For 2017 Bastille Day, a French military band performed a medley of the song along for French president Emmanuel Macron and his guest, the American president Donald Trump, at place de la Concorde in Paris.

Here are the 7 versions I picked for you;

• Thomas Dutronc - "Get Lucky"

• Biffy Clyro - "Get Lucky"

• Daughter - "Get Lucky"

• The Struts - "Get Lucky"

• Halestorm - "Get Lucky"

• Wilco - "Get Lucky" 

• Scary Pockets - "Get Lucky"

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 - CXI -

I have subscribed to a streaming service called "MUBI". It is a movie platform and you can watch (well mostly) true cinema from new and/or award-winning directors. It is a curated streaming service, which offers an ever-changing collection of hand-picked films, introducing one new film each day. I suggest you take a look and maybe try it for a week for free. I am sure you will be addicted...

As Jean-Luc Godard once said;

“Photography is truth. 

The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second."

Here is the list for this weekend;

• Portico Quartet - "Prickly Pear"

• Kelly Lee Owens - "Corner Of My Sky"

• Elsa Hewitt - "That Thing"

• Gusgus - "Over"

• Soccer Mommy - "Night Swimming"

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? - LXX -

This week's song is from the 60s but most of you will remember it from the 1991 Alan Parker movie "The Commitments"... It is a rhythm and blues (R&B) song written and first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965. It was released on the Blue Rock label in May 1965 with "Sir Mack Rice" as the artist.

Here is the song for this week;

"Mustang Sally"

It gained greater popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it the following year on a single, a version that was also released on the 1966 album, The Wicked Pickett.

Rice was visiting singer Della Reese, who was considering buying a new Lincoln Continental for her drummer and band leader Calvin Shields for his birthday. Rice and other band members were teasing Shields about the pending gift, and Shields replied that he did not want a Lincoln; he wanted a Ford Mustang. Rice had never heard of the Mustang, which had just come out, but he teased Shields about wanting a smaller car. He decided there might be a song in the situation, changing it to be about a woman who doesn't want to do anything but ride around in her new car. Rice called the early version "Mustang Mama," but changed the title after Aretha Franklin suggested "Mustang Sally" because he used the name Sally in the chorus.

Rice got part of the chorus from the children's game song (recorded by various artists) "Little Sally Walker," versions of which include the lyrics "Ride Sally ride, wipe your weepin' eyes," with variations. His variation goes, "All you wanna do is ride around, Sally/Ride, Sally, ride/One of these early mornings/You're gonna be wipin' your weepin' eyes."

Here are the 6 versions I picked for you;

• Wilson Pickett - "Mustang Sally"

• The Commitments - "Mustang Sally"

• Buddy Guy - "Mustang Sally"

• Los Lobos - "Mustang Sally"

• Bruce Springsteen, Chaka Khan & John Fogerty - "Mustang Sally"

• The Coasters - "Mustang Sally"

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.