Vintage Bruce coming right up… and it more than aptly takes the wheel from where yesterday’s slice of American dream realism – Jackson Browne’s The Pretender – left us. If there’s one song which immediately transports back to my 15…
Blog Archives
The Pretender (1976) – Jackson Browne
The Pretender is an epic song about the American dream and a person’s shifting place in it. It explores the tension between youthful ideals and the sobering realities of adult life – where dreams of love and purpose gradually give…
Rehab (2006) – Amy Winehouse
Rehab was released on English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse’s second and final studio album Back to Black. While jazz, soul, and Motown isn’t usually my go-to, I did find what she did musically in her tragically brief career so engaging. She was…
The Partisan (1969) – Leonard Cohen
The Partisan is an anti-fascist anthem about the French Resistance in World War II. From the plodding bass line commencement of Leonard Cohen’s haunting and affecting The Partison – you can just imagine the resistance fighter trudging the green fields of France as he…
Tagged with: Anna Marly, Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigeri, leonard cohen, Songs from a room, the partisan
Posted in Music
Posted in Music
Just Like a Woman (1966) – Bob Dylan
“There’s never a moment in the song, despite the little digs and the confessions of pain, when you can’t hear the love in his voice” – Paul Williams, in his book Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Book One 1960–1973 I posit that…
Rorate caeli (1673) – Gregorian Chant
My friend Bruce (from Weave a Web) recommended this chant a few years ago. I’m the least bit familiar with Catholic hymns especially one’s sung in Latin, but I like the tranquil state this beautiful devotional piece puts me in.…
A View To a Kill (1985) – Duran Duran
View to a Kill is not the typical song I would present here, but I have always had a guilty pleasure for it. Sure, it reeks of brutal 80’s synths, however it still has swagger and some heavy power unlike…
The Painter (2005) – Neil Young
I was first introduced to Neil’s album Prairie Wind when I heard it played in the Heart of Gold documentary directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia). In the documentary Neil Young performed Prairie Wind at the famous…
The Only Heartbreaker (2021) – Mitski
I really like the vibe and retro sound of this modern hit song The Only Heartbreaker. It is Mitski’s most successful in the US reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart. Mitski is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter and has been…
Livin’ Thing (1976) – Electric Light Orchestra
ELO are renowned for having catchy records and Livin’ Thing is one shining example. It that has all the vocal and instrumental hooks to keep you listening. The song just radiates as it modulates upwards into a falsetto Jeff Lynne vocal and combined…
