#2 - Bernadette

Bernadette (1967)

by The Four Tops

from the album “Reach Out”

Such a good song. I think I like it as much for the fact that it was a big hit but not quite big enough that it still gets played all the time (at least here in KC). In fact, it’s one of those Motown songs that I haven’t heard a million times. That by itself makes it kind of special. I hear it every once and a while and think, I should move that onto a playlist. Heard it last week while we were watching Zodiac and then, oddly, it popped up at lunch yesterday at a restaurant. Anyway, all the key Motown ingredients are there, classic Holland-Dozier-Holland writing, kick ass Funk Brothers tunes backing it up, and the Four Tops riding over top of it. Oh, and about the Funk Brothers…if you haven’t seen the very awesome movie “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” you need to, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t enjoy it. Back to the song, I love the plaintiff wail of the single “Bernadette” wailed towards the end of the song after the bit of silence…so good. Also, if you have itunes, do yourself a favor and make a genius playlist with this one. It came up w/ all sorts of great Motown & other soul stuff (I’m listening right now and “Do you Love Me” by the Contours just came on) and we’ve had some Aretha, Otis & Martha and the Vandella’s going on prior to that. Classic Motown on a Sunday morning.

Mp3

wiki

What type of music will this be...?

I guess I don't really know. Generally I would say eclectic. That's probably also is the best way of describing what kind of music I like. I do know I want to keep it mixed up and yet balanced. Maybe an oldie (and how broad is that category these days) this week, something newer (the past few years) next week... maybe I hear something in the middle of the week that jogs a memory of a song from college or I happen to be out somewhere and a big band song I like is on so I throw that up there as well. Nothing off limits is what I'm thinking. I probably won't do too much rap; or too much of anything for that matter. Not that Hip Hop's not great, just that not as many of my friends and family would be interested enough to listen to it. I'll prob throw a few in there though if I have a good story or think enough would like it. I also probably won't do too much country - just because I don't have that much and don't listen to it much. I guess I would kind of like to aim this at someone who listens to pop radio (or used to) but feels like there is a lot more out there that they should/could be listening to but who doesn't have the time or care to buy and listen to whole albums to get the 1 or 2 good songs off of them. Especially when they have friends who listen to tons of music and have tons of music and could probably give them some good suggestions. "Good suggestions" beings completely subjective. But then, hey, it's not like you can't give it a listen before you go out and get it (however that may be) now-a-days on the interwebs. Happy listening.

#1 - Dinner Bell

Dinner Bell
by They Might Be Giants
From the Album Apollo 18

So this is #1...why is that? Well, read the about post for one. "Dinner Bell" by They Might Be Giants just happens to be a great song though as well. Like lots of their songs it’s short but good. It will be very tough for me to not put lots of TMBG songs up here but I’ll try to refrain. This song though is very entertaining and I’m sure you can read a lot into it if you want (these are entertaining) but to me it’s just pure fun and I’m not going to try and analyze it beyond the whole Pavlov dog thing. I’m assuming that’s why my friend Katrina liked it (and some of the other songs on the excellent Apollo 18) so much on that trip up to Lincoln a long time ago– she has excellent taste and at the time it made me give the album another listen and made me like it even more. I’m going to do that again tomorrow. The whole album is awesome and I highly recommend it if you like They Might Be Giants at all.

You tube of the song in concert

Fun facts about the song

What's this blog about...

So what’s this blog about huh? Well, yesterday I was sitting at my desk at work and I had my ipod on listening to some tunes and I thought I'd try and do go full random and just have it shuffle all songs. Anyway a song ("Dinner Bell" by They Might Be Giants) popped on. Great song by a great band, cool enough, but really nothing momentous right? I agree, except for the fact that I had just (finally) gotten on Facebook like 6 days before and had just been talking to my friend who I hadn't talked to in waaaay too long. Well, oddly enough, this song, for me, is kind of linked to her... and that's where this blog comes in.

Now, I really don't know if she remembers how or why when I hear that song I usually think "hey, that's that song that she really liked when we were driving up to Lincoln that one time to see a Nebraska game". It was a long time ago and things get kind of fuzzy around the edges, ya know. So I really could be remembering it a bit wrong… What I do know is that none of that really matters. What matters is that when I hear that song, that’s what I think of...and that's cool. The thought then occurred to me, and this happens quite often when listening to music, that next time I saw her I should share that memory with her.

This is the point where I would normally have gotten back to work and next time I saw her I will have forgotten all about it. But... the thought also occurred to me that if I had a blog that would totally be something to post about. In fact, wow, you know that happens to me all the time. Then my brain hopped to the fact that this really kind of dovetails well with another thought I'd been having recently. That being, when I hear a song I often think, "I wonder if my friends have that song?" or "I wonder if so-and-so likes that song as much as I do" or "I should remember to tell what's-her-name about that song".

Well here's my chance. What if I just started a blog, mostly for my friends and family, where each post was about a song I loved (or at least thought was worth owning, hearing or listening to) and why? Free form, could be my story of how I "found" that song for myself, what associations I have with it, who told me to check it out, why I used to hate it, how and why it "grew on me", you name it. Either way, I was getting it out there and not just forgetting about it as so often happens.

Basically I'm thinking about each song on here as a sort of musical (stereo) postcard that I'd want to send to all of my friends. My hope is that they go out and get the song, drop it in their itunes, put it on their ipod (or however they're doing music for themselves nowadays), listen to it, and hopefully find it as entertaining as I do. In addition, if it can expose them all to some music they haven’t heard or get them (and me for that matter) excited about music we already have, then all the better.

Anyway, here’s my music postcards…I hope you like them. But if you don't, I’m fine with that too.

- Joe A. Sands (JAStereo)