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psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day


Some Enchanted Evening – Ezio Pinza


Sunday song of the day: Today’s song is one of the high points of a classic musical set in World War II.



Shortly after World War II ended, author James Michener wrote a book set in the Pacific Theater of the war. The 1947 novel was titled Tales of the South Pacific and was the basis for the 1949 musical by Rogers and Hammerstein, South Pacific. In the play, there was a romance between a French plantation owner, Emile de Becque, and a young U.S. Navy nurse, Ensign Nellie Forbush.

When the two characters first meet, de Becque sings a song about love at first sight, entitled Some Enchanted Evening. In the original Broadway cast, Emile de Becque was played by opera singer Ezio Pinza. Before the cast recording was made in April 1949, however, Frank Sinatra recorded a version of the song in February 1949, so his recording was the first released. The Sinatra version reached #6 on the Billboard singles chart. Another 1949 recording did even better, with Perry Como’s cover reaching #1. The Ezio Pinza version also did very well once it was released, but not as quite as well as Como’s, reaching only #7.

Eventually, Hollywood made a movie of the musical. In the film, Emile de Becque was played by Rossano Brazzi. His songs, however, were dubbed by opera singer Giorgio Tozzi. Thus, in the film, Brazzi lip synchs the lyrics while Tozzi’s singing is heard. Some Enchanted Evening has been covered over 140 times since South Pacific premiered, including versions by Bing Crosby, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, The Temptations, and even Bob Dylan.

Ezio Pinza, South Pacific Broadway production, 1949



Frank Sinatra, 1949



Georgio Tozzi (singing for Rossano Brazzi), South Pacific motion picture, 1958



Tomorrow: A suitcase and an old guitar
 
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psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Born to be Alive – Patrick Hernandez

Monday song of the day: Today’s song was written as a hard rock song, but ended up being disco.



Patrick Hernandez was a French musician who in 1978 wrote a song called Born to be Alive. Originally, he meant it to be hard rock, but after shopping the song around for a while, was unable to find backing or a producer to record it. Then he met Jean Vanloo, who agreed to record it in Belgium as a disco arrangement.

Born to be Alive was finally released in 1979. It first gained an audience in France, and not long afterward became an international hit, charting at #1 in numerous countries, especially in Europe. In the United States, it made it to #1 on the Disco chart, and to #16 on the overall Billboard Hot 100 chart.

After his big hit, Hernandez released a few more records, but none were especially successful. In 1981 he left the music industry.



Tomorrow: And you touch the distant beaches
 

silentsinger

Momofuku
Jun 23, 2015
21,038
14,484
Dave's Song of the Day

Down By the Water – PJ Harvey

Saturday song of the day: No, the singer of today’s song didn’t really drown her daughter.



Polly Jean Harvey’s 1995 hit Down by the Water tells the story of a woman who drowned her daughter and now is feeling regret. It was her breakthrough hit in the United States, but the odd theme caused some peculiar theories that Harvey had actually done something similar,

Some people take songs way too literally. Mick Jagger was not born in a crossfire hurricane, John Lennon is not a walrus, and as far as I know, Johnny Cash did not shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. But apparently a few people thought Down by the Water was autobiographical. According to PJ Harvey, “Some critics have taken my writing so literally to the point that they’ll listen to Down by the Water and believe I have actually given birth to a child and drowned her.”

As mentioned, Down by the Water was PJ Harvey’s breakthrough hit in the US. She had received critical acclaim with her debit album Dry in 1992. Down by the Water was on her third album, To Bring You My Love, and the musical direction included more electronic instrumentation than her earlier work. The song was released as a single in February 1995 and rose to #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, and #48 on the Billboard Hot 100. I happened to see PJ Harvey in concert in September 1995 with Veruca Salt and Live at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland. Harvey put on a good show, and Down by the Water was one of the highlights.



Tomorrow: You may see a stranger
I completely forgot about her, she's brilliant.
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Tales of Brave Ulysses – Cream

Tuesday song of the day: Today’s song was written by an artist who was inspired by a trip to Greece.



Eric Clapton was part of several groups during his career, including The Yardbirds, Derek and the Dominos, and Blind Faith. In 1967, he was fronting the supergroup Cream, and they were working on their second album, which would become Disraeli Gears. Martin Sharp, the artist who ended up doing the album cover, told Clapton that he had written some lyrics after a recent trip to Greece. The setting had gotten him thinking of Homer’s Odyssey, and he had written the lyrics based on the story of Odysseus, although he had used the Roman name Ulysses rather than the Greek Odysseus.

Clapton took the lyrics and wrote music to go along with them, with the chords based on Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful. The song became Tales of Brave Ulysses and it was released in June 1967 as the B-side to the Strange Brew single. A few months later it was included in the November release of the Disraeli Gears album.

Tales of Brave Ulysses was one of the more psychedelic songs by Cream, and was the first time Clapton had used a wah-wah pedal with his guitar. Later he would use the wah-wah to even greater effect on White Room.

Since the song was a B-side and not a single in its own right, it did not place on the charts. The Strange Brew A-side did not chart in the United States, although it did place at #17 in the United Kingdom. Despite this, over the years Tales of Brave Ulysses has received a lot of play on Classic Rock radio and became one of Cream’s more popular songs.



Tomorrow: Took away our ways of life
 

silentsinger

Momofuku
Jun 23, 2015
21,038
14,484
Dave's Song of the Day

Tales of Brave Ulysses – Cream

Tuesday song of the day: Today’s song was written by an artist who was inspired by a trip to Greece.



Eric Clapton was part of several groups during his career, including The Yardbirds, Derek and the Dominos, and Blind Faith. In 1967, he was fronting the supergroup Cream, and they were working on their second album, which would become Disraeli Gears. Martin Sharp, the artist who ended up doing the album cover, told Clapton that he had written some lyrics after a recent trip to Greece. The setting had gotten him thinking of Homer’s Odyssey, and he had written the lyrics based on the story of Odysseus, although he had used the Roman name Ulysses rather than the Greek Odysseus.

Clapton took the lyrics and wrote music to go along with them, with the chords based on Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful. The song became Tales of Brave Ulysses and it was released in June 1967 as the B-side to the Strange Brew single. A few months later it was included in the November release of the Disraeli Gears album.

Tales of Brave Ulysses was one of the more psychedelic songs by Cream, and was the first time Clapton had used a wah-wah pedal with his guitar. Later he would use the wah-wah to even greater effect on White Room.

Since the song was a B-side and not a single in its own right, it did not place on the charts. The Strange Brew A-side did not chart in the United States, although it did place at #17 in the United Kingdom. Despite this, over the years Tales of Brave Ulysses has received a lot of play on Classic Rock radio and became one of Cream’s more popular songs.



Tomorrow: Took away our ways of life
Fuck me, Cream. I swear I'm 20 years older than I actually am, been listening to them a lot lately.
 

silentsinger

Momofuku
Jun 23, 2015
21,038
14,484
Anyone a Deftones fan? I've seen them 3 times at festivals and really didn't enjoy them, but I love watching their concerts and videos. Maybe just a bad day 3 times? Tool were terrible when I saw them at the same festival and I know they're not rubbish.
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) – The Raiders


Wednesday song of the day: Today’s song has a long history, but finally topped the charts twelve years after its first version was recorded.



Sometime in the late 1950s, songwriter John D. Loudermilk wrote a song about the Cherokee Indian tribe being forced onto a reservation. The song was first recorded by country singer Marvin Rainwater, who was one-quarter Cherokee. The 1959 Rainwater version was titled The Pale Faced Indian and contained several factual errors – such as Cherokees living in tipis – that Loudermilk later corrected.

The Pale Faced Indian did not chart, and in 1968, British singer Don Fardon recorded an updated version of the song. There were four different titles used for different pressings of the song. On most records it was titled simply Indian Reservation, and in others the title (The Lament of the Cherokee) Indian Reservation was used. Others used the title The Lament of the Cherokee Indian Reservation, with the parentheses removed. Lastly, some records bore the title The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian, with no parentheses and the final two words reversed. Despite the confusion, it was a hit for Fardon, placing at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The group Paul Revere & The Raiders, who had had several hits in the 1960s, released a version of the song in 1971. At the time, the band was shying away from their earlier campy image and were going by the name The Raiders, or in some places simply Raiders. You might be seeing a pattern here, with record labels not getting names consistently right. Their version of the song was titled Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) – sometimes without parentheses, but with consistent wording. Raiders lead singer Mark Lindsay was 1/8th Cherokee, which is what led him to suggest that the band record the song. It turned out to be a huge hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and being certified platinum for sales over two million copies. It was the biggest, but last, hit for The Raiders.

The Raiders, 1971



Don Fardon, 1968



The Pale Faced Indian, Marvin Rainwater, 1959



Tomorrow: She must have lost her way