There are a few movies that I never grow tired off. The Blues Brothers, The Great Escape, and The Italian Job (1969 version) rank amongst my favorites and require a compulsory viewing at least once a year. One thing common to the three aforementioned titles are the soundtracks are all very good. Of course, with The Blues Brothers, the soundtrack is the movie. The other two movies, and I would also like to add a third, a 1955 WWII movie, The Dam Busters all contain unforgettable theme music. Look them up and let me know your favorites!
In case you didn’t already know, Superbowl XLIV is this weekend. The New Orleans Saints face up to the Indianapolis Colts, a match up between this season’s most winning-est teams. In this footage taken from the long-lost 1983 archives, soul singer Aaron Neville is joined by five Saints Footballers, John Hill, Dave Waymer, Brad Edelman, Louis Oubre, and Reggie Lewis.
The controversy this year seems to be surrounding off the field matters – a Pro Life TV Commercial (I say good for CBS and Tim Tebow to make their voice heard on this issue – we could do with more role models in Sports like this), and the ownership of “Who Dat?” The NFL recently claimed ownership of the “Who Dat” trademark, along with the Fleur-de-Lis logo and the team’s colors, but have now backed down on this claim. Seriously, what were they thinking? The Fleur-de-lis is a centuries old emblem found on numerous coats of arms, and the Who Dat? phrase was first heard late in the nineteenth centruy, decades before the the Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 in the first NFL game in 1920.
“Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?”
Geaux Saints!
The other day, I subjected myself to one of the worst 30 minutes of music listening I have had in 2010. Purely for research purposes, I played through Ringo Starr’s latest album, “Y Not”, and my ears were very disappointed with my decision to do so. It seems that whenever I hear one of Ringo’s songs he is always reminiscingm about his days as a beatle (”When we was Fab” is one of his previous songs). On this record, we hear “Peace Dream”, in which Paul McCartney joins in on bass guitar – an obvious tribute to fellow Beatle John Lennon. I wasn’t able to pull the track from my usual source on Grooveshark (I guess they are in agreement with me and wouldn’t wish harm on anyone by making this available), but the YouTube video above should work.
Ring Starr, (real name Richard Starkey), drummer from The Beatles first started making solo records in 1970. “Y Not” is his 15th record, and I am surprised at how much publicity it has received. Sure, Ringo has been acting a little crazy of late with his talk show antics (he walked out on Regis & Kelley in 2008 because he did not want to perform a shortened version of his song), but why should all this bad press translate to a better than average performance in record sales. That’s right, “Y Not” debuted in the Billboard Charts at No. 58, which is his highest entry since 1976.
“Who’s Your Daddy” is more of a Joss Stone song, with Ringo on backing vocals – I’m not sure why it was placed on to his album. This is the most cringe-worthy song I have heard in a long time – seriously, why would anybody want to listen to a 69 year-old man saying “Who’s your daddy” to a woman still in her 20’s… it makes me shudder. Why someone such as Joss Stone, who has had enormous singing success in the UK, would be willing to perform with Ringo is a question I would love to know the answer to. Why, why, why!? Maybe she is a huge Beatles fan? Either way, Ringo still remains the least gifted Beatle when judging talent – perhaps he ought to go back to narrating Thomas the Tank Engine?.
February 3rd, 1959 – The Day The Music Died. Buddy (Charles H. Holley) Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P “Big Bopper” Richardson tragically were called away from this World when their plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa. The three rock and roll musicians had been part of a Midwestern tour covering 24 cities in three weeks. Buddy Holly chartered the ill-fated plane to transport his band members and himself from Clear Lake to Moorhead, Minnesota. Holly’s band members ended up trading their seats – The Big Bopper, who was suffering with the flu requested a seat on the plane (the tour bus lacked heating), and later, Valens would win a coin toss for the remaining seat.
Don McClean, as you can guess within the lyrics to “American Pie” pays his tribute to the trio of prominent rock and roll stars. McClean, before becoming an established singer/songwriter was a newspaper delivery boy, and you can only imagine what he felt as he delivered the news on that sad February morning in 1959 with perhaps, the beginnings of his famous ode forming in his head. McClean goes on to reference many more references to rock and roll music throughout the song – he didn’t want to miss anybody out, which explains the length of the song… Bob Dylan (The jester), The Monotones, James Dean, Elvis, The Beatles, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, Woodstock, Janis Joplin are all referenced in the 8+ minute song.
I just got done reading a far-fetched science-fiction/horror/action novel by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child title The Relic. The story is based around a ‘creature’ lurking around the depths of a natural history museum, and occasionally murdering anyone unlucky enough to cross paths with it. To be more descriptive, per DNA analysis, the ‘creature’, known as Kothoga, is part human-part lizard, needs to feed on a specific plant, and originated from a hidden plateau in the Amazon rainforest.
The final twist (read on at your own peril) in the story explains that Kothoga used to be human, but was forced-fed a drug infused plant by a lost Amazonian tribe, and over time the drug created a metamorphose, creating a monster with unmeasurable strength and intelligence, complete with claws and scales. Like I said, far-fetched. Anyway, it reminded me of Queen’s dally with punk-rock with their song “Sheer Heart Attack”, not because it frightened me so much, but because the song contains the lyric
It was the DNA, that made me this way
So there you go. Literature has made itself a home on A Track A Day.
ZZ top l-r, Dusty Hill, Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard
Well, I know this song pretty well, and know ZZ Top wrote and sing it, but what I didn’t know were the names of the three members of ZZ Top. I know of their beards (how is one able to sleep with such long facial hair), their tendency to always wear sunglasses in public (though my guess is they are probably not of the cheap variety) and their wardrobe of biker leathers. But what I didn’t know were their names… Billy Gibbons (lead guitarist and lead singer, killer beard), Dusty Hill (bassist, killer beard) and Frank Beard (drummer, no beard). So whilst two out of three ZZ Toppers possess a killer beard, one is beardless but goes by the name of Beard.
The Yardbirds - Birdland. Released 2003, 36 years after their previous record
The Yardbirds started the careers of three of the most influential guitarists of all time, namely Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. The trio never shared the stage together (what a super-group that would have been), though Beck and Page did combine to play a lead guitar duo for a brief stint of time. The Yardbirds with Jimmy Page would eventually disband and form Led Zeppelin, who briefly called themselves The New Yardbirds in 1968.
Smokestack Lightning is an early Yardbirds song, when the lineup included Eric “Slowhand” Clapton on lead guitar, Jim McCarty on drums and Keith Relf on vocals and harmonica. Paul Samuel-Smith on bass-guitar and Chris Dreja complete the line-up of the band during the 1963-1965 period of the band. The song is a cover of a 1956 Blues song by Chester Burnett, otherwise known as Howlin’ Wolf. The title of the song comes from watching the sparks fly out of trains as they pass by at night. The Yardbirds version of Smokestack Lightning is reworded slightly, to give more of a structure to the song. Clapton was at the time a Blues-purest, and would leave the group as The Yardbirds progressed to a more Rock orientated sound in the mid 60’s (For Your Love, Heart Full of Song).
Jim McCarty and Chris Reja went on to reform the band in 1992, and The Yardbirds are still touring to this day – check out their website for more details.
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