One thing I’ll be better at blogging this year is music I hear for the first time, likely old songs, which I really like and want to share. I love it when I find new music I really enjoy, so it’s only natural to share. While the songs will often be old since I don’t care for a lot of music these days, it’s new to me.
This first entry for 2014 features Fleetwood Mac‘s Over and Over, written by Christine McVie. I just love its mellow nature that is also present in some of her other songs like As Long as You Follow (also embedded below). If what they say is true about being able to see people’s soul through their eyes, or hear it through their singing and songs, then I KNOW I love Christine McVie’s soul!
And if I were the Devil, let’s just say I’d be paying a good premium for it! LOLMuahahahaha….
Most people do not hear most of the songs they know for the first time in the year the song was released. If anyone did, I would feel very sorry for them for missing out on all the great songs of the past from before they were born, or even great songs each year they lived they would have missed.
What most people don’t do is reflect each year on the best songs they heard for the first time that year. I’ve blogged some of mine, but not all so this is my entire collection for 2010 which could fit on a CD if I made one.
After several years of discovering a ton of jazz and older music, then tunes from musicals, so that they made up most of the songs in my list for recent years (2009 list), I am back with an eclectic set that reflects my true musical tastes and philanderings across genres. I even have not only one song from the current year, but two! A song from the year of the list was something I didn’t have for several years. I did find newly released songs I liked a lot in those years, but they didn’t compare to a variety of jazz and musicals standards I discovered in those years.
But before I share my list, let me ask you the same question as I answered to write this post. What were the best songs you heard for the first time in 2010?
I’d love to know so please do leave a comment. I can add the links to videos so people can hear what you’re talking about, if you would like. But if you don’t want to do it here, maybe write a blog post like this if you have a blog, or a Facebook note or something like that on a social media platform account you have. It might just be one of the more thoughtful notes to your friends all year.
Here is my list, in no particular order of preference, with videos streaming the songs. You will need to click on the YouTube link for some videos with some weird copyright condition that only allow them to be viewed on YouTube. I hate Grown Up Corporate YouTube that’s become a wussie and lost all its edge.
I came across this song at the end of May 2010 via one of those YouTube recommendation feature (enough to blog about it). The feature where because you watched something, its algorithms think you might like something else. Every now and then, it’s good, but this was something I really liked. I just think it’s a cute song, that’s all… and I don’t even have kids. OK, maybe I was influenced by the fact it was Ernie singing it since Ernie has always been my favourite Sesame Street character. But I like the song a lot, nevertheless, and I think lots of people will, too.
I thought when I first heard that song that it’d be a great lullaby for kids, but if you play the guitar or ukulele, you can now pull it out to accompany yourself with that lullaby. Or just sing it for fun like I do.
Ernie, from Sesame Street
The hardest thing about this song is the syncopation. The breaks in the lines are a little bit awkward in places. That’s why all the dashes and commas in the tabs. If those breaks don’t feel natural, then just take a little time to learn them and try not to think about them afterwards when you play. Trust your instincts after you’ve learned where the little breaks are in the lines.
These tabs all fit on one page to avoid the inconvenience of page turns. However, the letter size tabs (8.5″ x 11″) may be too small for your eyes. If so, you can either enlarge to tabloid size (11″ x 17″) using an automatic enlarge feature on many photocopiers, or download the tabloid sized versions for printing. The tabloid size tabs can be inserted into a typical letter sized binder on the 11″ size, and folded almost in half to fit. You just open each tab to use it.
Another challenge to this song is that there are lots of up stroke chord changes, denoted by the / in the tabs. Read left to right, the line goes up like your strumming motion does. If you’re not used to this, it’s not hard to pick it up. Try it and then try not to think about it is how I’d advise you learn. Just go with the flow.
I hope you, your kids, or someone else’s kids (good for entertaining), like this song!
What were your favourite pieces of music that you heard for the first time last year?
I don’t necessarily mean music that came out last year, just that you heard it for the first time last year because it was new to you. If you care to share, you can put it in the comments following the post. I’d love to know to expand my musical horizons.
Below are a list of favourite songs I heard for the first time in 2009, enough that would fit on CD were I to have made one. Most were from musicals as I really got into them in 2009 after my classic jazz year in 2008. A few were one-off takes on television events, though, so I’ll start with one that was both. It was available on YouTube like most of my selections so I have included the videos to have the music right here for you. I also linked the songs to blog posts I did inspired by them, where I did one.
Someone Like You
from Jekyll & Hyde Linda Eder & Frank Wildhorn on 2000 PBS Special
Linda Eder delivers a loving performance of this gorgeous song with touching lyrics, accompanied by husband Frank Wildhorn, who had composed the song. (blog post)
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If You Were Gay
from Avenue Q
Rick Lyon and John Tartaglia Love and humour, not just in song but also video spoof. (blog post)
The Internet is for Porn
from Avenue Q Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon & the Guys
Possibly the funniest song I have ever heard! (blog post)
Mix Tape
from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo and John Tartaglia
A song that dragged my emotions up and down, enhanced by Stephanie’s nuances of acting while singing this song. (blog post)
As Long as You’re Mine
from Wicked Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz
An often overlooked song from Wicked that I only heard once I saw the musical, rather than hearing the more popular songs from it. However, I loved it immediately, especially the soft-spoken ending.
Academy Awards 2009 Introduction
Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway
This number was both brilliant and unexpected in being clever, funny and spectacularly performed. My intro to the full talents of Hugh Jackman. (blog post)
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Monologue Song
from Saturday Night Live November 7, 2009 Taylor Swift
How to trash everybody you want to with class and humour while being really cute about it. (blog post)
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Dark Eyes
by Bob Dylan Judy Collins
Judy Collins gives this sad Dylan song a haunting rendition. (blog post)
Better Angels
Lesley Gore
The original It’s My Party girl seriously grows up with this beautiful tune I first heard on CSI Miami (compilation video of episode shown below).
I Got a Feeling
Black Eyed Peas
Just an awesome dance song, ’nuff said cause I’m getting dancing! Best 2009 song in my opinion. (I chose the flash mob version shown on Oprah for the video cause it’s also so awesome!)
Wake-up
The Arcade Fire
I heard this song via the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are and thought they had made a pretty good choice for a theme song.
The Closest Thing to Crazy
by Mike Batt Katie Melua
Pretty much describes what feeling in love feels like to me. (blog post)
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Gayla Peevey
I heard it on a Telus commercial and loved it immediately, a bit surprised I had never heard this 1950s seasonal classic until now. (blog post)
You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick
from There’s No Business Like Show Business Bernadette Peters, Julia McKenzie, Ruthie Henshall
This is probably the ultimate example of my claim that girls have all the fun songs in musicals, and the video only emphasizes the point.
Married
from Cabaret Ron Rifkin, Michelle Pawk A charming little song about marriage. A compact version is shown below.
Mystery
performed on the show Inside the Actor’s Studio Hugh Laurie
A hilarious and charming example of how lyric writing sometimes feels like to me, trying to find desperate rhymes and more desperate words that conform with desperate rhymes. (blog post)
Love, Look in my Window
from Hello Dolly!
Ethel Merman
There isn’t a video for this one but the piece was written for Ethel Merman when she joined Hello Dolly! If you hear her perform it with the emotions she does, you’ll know why it was written for her. I can hardly keep from crying at points in it. Probably good I don’t have the music for that reason!
Digital Citizen 