Category Archives: Music on Mondays
Music on Mondays — City of New Orleans
Since this past Saturday was National Train Day, I thought I would share my favorite train song for today’s Music on Mondays.
“City of New Orleans” by Arlo Guthrie
Reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart in 1972
The City of New Orleans was introduced to the rail-traveling public on April 27, 1947, by the Illinois Central Railroad.
It covered 921 miles between Chicago and New Orleans in 15 hours and 55 minutes, and making it the longest daytime schedule train in the nation.
Maximum speed was 100 miles per hour in some areas, and it averaged almost 60 miles per hour for the distance.
In 1971, Amtrak was created to operate all passenger trains in the United States and currently operates the City of New Orleans on a daily 19-hour schedule covering 934 miles and 22 cities.
In 2011 (the most recent year for which data is available), the City of New Orleans carried 233,318 passengers, providing Amtrak with revenue of $17,743,443.
Train 59 leaves Chicago at 8:00 p.m. and arrives in New Orleans at 3:32 p.m. the next day. Train 58 leaves New Orleans at 1:45 p.m. and arrives in Chicago at 9:00 a.m. the next day.
Memorize the song, get yourself a reservation on the City of New Orleans, and join fellow passengers singing their way between two great cities!
A 15-second flash video from National Train Day follows, showing Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Train 565 northbound from San Diego meeting an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner southbound from Los Angeles about halfway between San Juan Capistrano and Irvine.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
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James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — Everybody must get stoned
This is not the San Diego that I’ve come to know and love.
I consider myself a “sun bunny.” If you keep me south of Interstate 10, I’m pretty happy.
San Diego gets an average of 10½ inches of rain EACH YEAR! Ninety percent of it falls from the sky from around December 15 to around February 15. The other ten percent falls during the other 305 days of the year. Today some of that “other ten percent” is falling.
I remember when my brother moved here from New Orleans in 2002. It did not rain during his first 185 days here. He was complaining about the lack of rain, clouds, lightning, thunder. For Christmas I bought him a CD of rain and thunder sounds. He didn’t think that was funny. I don’t know where he is now; we’ve been estranged since December 7, 2003.
Here are a few of my favorite rain songs so that you can suffer with me in the rain!
“Rain” by The Beatles, 1966
“Let It Rain” by Eric Clapton, 1972
“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” by B.J. Thomas, 1969
“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35″ by Bob Dylan, 1966
For the record, I’ve never been stoned.
I did take a hit one time at a Chicago & Dr. John concert in 1972 in Corpus Christi, Texas. That was enough to convince me that “everybody” was not going to include me.
“Here Comes The Rain Again” by The Eurythmics, 1984
“Have You Ever Seen The Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970
“The Rhythm Of The Rain” by The Cascades, 1962
“Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain” by Willie Nelson, 1975
“Who’ll Stop The Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969
Of course, here in San Diego, when it does rain, it’s rarely for more than a couple of hours. Now that I’m finished with all the rain songs, guess what’s peeking out from behind the clouds? That’s right! Mr. Sun. So…………………………….
“Here Comes The Sun” by The Beatles, 1969
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — Are I not a great teacher?
In October 2012, I gave up on Cox Communications cable, which I had subscribed to for 18 years, and switched to AT&T U-verse. I took the U200 package which gave me 200 channels — 130 more than Cox — and also took the second-highest high speed Internet. I find the AT&T U-verse high speed Internet to be consistently faster at all hours of the day than was Cox. I got all of this for a price that was $40 a month LESS than Cox.
One of the channels that I “watch” a lot is Channel 500, MC Music Choice. I only discovered it a couple of weeks ago. Turns out that Channel 500 is a lot more than just one channel. Clicking on Channel 500 offers additional channels starting with 5101, Hit List. 5102 is Hip-Hop and R&B, 5103 is MCU, 5104 is Dance/Electronica, 5105 is Rap, 5106 is Hip-Hop Classics, etc., up to 5146 which is Spanish language Romance music. There is classical, country, pop, swing, blues, jazz, gospel, soul, Christian, Toddler Tunes, Stage & Screen, and my favorite channels:
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5112 Classic Rock
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5115 Metal
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5119 Soft Rock
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5121 90s
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5122 80s
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5123 70s
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5124 Solid Gold Oldies (50s & 60s) — My favorite since this one plays The Beatles.
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5125 Party Favorites
I like to fall asleep to music, but I’ve found that I can’t fall asleep to Channel 5124 because I keep hearing music that I’m familiar with but which is not in my own collection. I have to get up and put the song title and artist in my Buy spreadsheet in Excel. Once I buy it, it gets highlighted in a book, “Top Pop Singles 1955-1996″ by Joel Whitburn. I quit buying the upgrades after 1996 because I really don’t like what passes for music now.
As I was highlighting music that I have, I noticed that Whitburn includes some trivia about the group or the song. One of the songs that I highlighted this morning was “SOS” by ABBA. I have a complete collection of ABBA music so I didn’t have to buy any. However, “SOS” and ABBA have a bit of trivia associated with the song: It’s the only Billboard chart hit where both the name of the song and the name of the artist are palindromes.
Here is “SOS” by ABBA:
“SOS” was ABBA’s third hit. Their first was “Waterloo” and their only #1 hit was “Dancing Queen.” My favorite, however, is “Fernando.”
So for today’s Music on Mondays, you not only got some great music, you learned in a relatively easy and painless way what palindromes are! Are I not a great teacher?
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — When the night is cloudy
In September 1965, while living in Brigham City, Utah, my parents put me in the Thomas D. Dee Memorial Hospital in Ogden, Utah, about 20 miles away. I don’t know if they put me there voluntarily or whether the State of Utah took possession of me and placed me there because my parents could not control me. I was a serious juvenile delinquent — arson, breaking & entering, burglary, robbery, forgery. You name it, and except for rape and murder, I did it by the time I was 11.
At the time, The Dee, now called McKay-Dee Hospital Center, had one of the nation’s only behavioral health care programs for youth.
While I was in the Dee, I met Barbara Hunt, an 18-year-old woman from Bakersfield, California. She also was a ward of the hospital. Barbara befriended me and introduced me to The Beatles who had recently invaded America. Sounds bad, but it was a great invasion!
Throughout the years after my wise old grandmother adopted me in December 1965, I discovered that The Beatles had music which could meet the emotional needs for any mood I was in. Love? In My Life. Too much work? A Hard Day’s Night. A need to rock ‘n’ roll? Revolution, Helter Skelter. A need to sing? The Ballad of John and Yoko. On and on.
This past week after the Boston Bombings, I have been listening to a lot of Beatles. Since our Music on Mondays post two weeks ago involved The Beatles’ arch-rival, The Rolling Stones, Zoey the Cool Cat suggested we listen to some Beatles today. Here are my three favorite Beatles songs for when I’m a little down and depressed, when the world doesn’t seem quite right, when the most vile and evil people seem to take over, even if only for a while.
Help, I need somebody
Help, not just anybody
Help, you know I need someone, help
When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me
And now my life has changed in oh so many ways
My independence seems to vanish in the haze
But every now and then I feel so insecure
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me
When I was younger so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round
Help me, get my feet back on the ground
Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, ooh
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Yeah there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Ah let it be, yeah let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
And when the night is cloudy
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music,
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Yeah let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah let it be
Oh there will be an answer, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be
There’s a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — Brown sugar and rough justice for those honky tonk women
On this date in 2006, The Rolling Stones performed in concert at the Grand Stage Theatre in Shanghai, China.
It was their first appearance ever in mainland China.
Their playlist for the concert had to be pre-approved by Chinese censorship authorities, and three songs were banned from the performance: Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, and Rough Justice.
Wouldn’t it be great to be a Chinese music censor and sit around all day listening to such bad music?
Just for you today on Music on Mondays, here are those three songs:
“Honky Tonk Women” was released as a single in the United Kingdom on July 4, 1969, and a week later in the United States. It peaked at #1 in the UK and the US.
“Brown Sugar” was the Stones’s follow-up single to “Honky Tonk Women,” released almost two years later, on April 16, 1971. It hit #1 in the US and #2 in the UK.
I was not familiar with “Rough Justice,” having lost track of the Rolling Stones in April 1993 when I came to San Diego. Just never hooked up with them again. It was released on August 22, 2005, and hit #25 in the US and #15 in the UK. “Rough Justice” was one of the three songs performed by the Stones at Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006, in Detroit, Michigan, although the ABC television censors bleeped out the word “cocks” in the broadcast.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays (4/1/13) — I’ll make you a believer
Each time a musical group that I follow comes out with a new album/CD/song/collection of music, I’ll take some time not only to buy it but to check to see what older music I don’t have that has been released as music downloads. I’m not buying any CDs or imports, or other stuff like that, regardless of how good the music might be. I got some good older music this week from The Village Stompers, Pink Floyd, and U2.
I also got Depeche Mode’s newest collection, titled “Delta Machine.” There are two versions of the collection, one costing $10.99 and one costing $14.99. I bought the expensive one which provided me with almost one hour and twenty minutes of great Depeche Mode music. So far there isn’t anything that really creates a rumble like “Personal Jesus” and “Violator” did back in 1990.
I haven’t listened to “Delta Machine” enough times to tell you what my favorites are, so since many of my Christian friends celebrated Easter yesterday, I though we’d take a trip into the past — just like Easter! — and have a listen to “Personal Jesus,” one of my favorite Depeche Mode songs.
The funny thing about “Personal Jesus” is that it received heavy airplay at the dance clubs I was inhabiting back in 1990 and it was funny, weird, ironic, to see folks grinding it out — dirty dancing! — to their own personal Jesus.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — And the jukebox kept on playing….
When I left College Station, Texas, on April 15, 1993, I had over 5,000 vinyl albums, about 1,000 vinyl 45s, and about 100 CDs. I took the 100 CDs with me in my 1989 Mustang GT and headed for somewhere not Texas. I drove over to Shreveport, Louisiana, up to Omaha, Nebraska, and Fargo, North Dakota, over to Seattle and Vancouver, and down to Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco, Bakersfield, and finally San Diego.
I stayed in San Diego and never went back to Texas. My two office managers, Nick Nichols and David Leese, and an old friend, Bill Bammel, sold everything I had and sent me the money. I understand that the vinyl records wound up at a used record store in Austin, Texas.
Here in San Diego, I restarted my music collection but with just CDs. I don’t even have the CDs anymore, just 58,000 music files. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of music on those vinyl records that has not been released on CDs or as any form of digital music. George Harrison comes immediately to mind, and how you can have music missing in the digital world from such an important musician as George Harrison is beyond me.
For today’s Music on Mondays, I’d like to share my newest digital file, bought for 99¢ last night and downloaded at the same time. It also is a song that has only recently become available as a digital download. It’s “Summer Rain” by Johnny Rivers. I’ve been singing it all day today during my hike, my home inspection, and my home inspection report.
Summer Rain taps at my window
West wind soft as a sweet dream
My love, warm as the sunshine
Sitting here by me
She’s here by me
She stepped out of a rainbow
Golden hair shining like moonglow
Warm lips, soft as her soul
Sitting here by me, yeah
She’s here by me
All summer long we spent dancing in the sand
And the jukebox kept on playing
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
We sailed into the sunset
Drifting home, caught by a gulf stream
Never gave a thought for tomorrow
Just let tomorrow be, now
Let tomorrow be
She wants to live in the Rockies
She says that’s where we’ll find peace
Settle down, raise up a family
One to call our own, yeah
We’ll have a home
All summer long we spent grooving in the sand
Everybody kept on playing
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
Winter snows drift by my window
North wind blowing like thunder
Our love is burning like fire
And she’s here by me, yeah
She’s here with me
Let tomorow be
“Summer Rain” was released in late 1967 and spent ten weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #14. It also would show up as a track on the 1968 album “Realization.”
If the name Johnny Rivers sounds familiar to you, you’re probably familiar with his bigger hits:
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“Memphis” (1964, #2)
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“Maybelline” (1964, #12)
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“Mountain of Love” (1964, #9)
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“Seventh Son” (1965, #7)
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“Secret Agent Man” (1966, #3 and one of my wise old grandmother’s favorites)
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“Poor Side of Town” (1966, #1)
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“Baby I Need Your Lovin’” (1967, #3)
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“The Tracks of My Tears” (1967, #10)
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“Rockin’ Pneumonia/Boogie Woogie Flu” (1972, #6)
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“Swayin’ ToThe Music (Slow Dancin’)” (1977, #10)
Johnny Rivers was born on November 7, 1942, in New York City but raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His birth name is John Ramistella. He was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame but, sadly, has not been inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays (3/18/03) — It’s rag time!
On this date in 1911, Irving Berlin copyrighted one of the biggest hits of the early 20th Century.
Prior to digital music downloads, there were vinyl records. They came in four flavors: the LP (long-play album), the 45 single (two songs, one on each side), the EP (extended play, which usually had four songs, two on each side), and the 78 (single or album).
Prior to vinyl records, though, music hits were determined by how much sheet music was sold. People would buy sheet music and learn the music on the piano. Then they would play the music for family and friends, who then would go out and buy the sheet music and learn it themselves.
I admit that I’m not one of those who miss vinyl records. I diligently cared for my records since I had over 5,000 of them at the end of my vinyl collecting career in 1993. Unfortunately, as much as I lovingly cared for them, they were always warping, getting scratched, even cracking or breaking! Whenever I had social events (known as parties back in those days!), I would find records the next morning that had wine, beer, margaritas, even peanut butter! on them. I can tell you that out of those four, peanut butter was the worst.
The song Irving Berlin copyrighted was “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band” sold over 1.5 million copies during the first 18 months after its release.
Berlin went on to write songs that are much more familiar than “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” most notably “White Christmas,” “God Bless America,” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
Even though Bing Crosby took “White Christmas” and made it an ongoing Christmas classic, with the fame and fortune that such a classic brings, Irving Berlin probably made more money from the copyright royalties on “White Christmas” than Bing Crosby did.
If you remember when Whitney Houston died last year, her songs received a great deal of airplay. Unfortunately, Houston’s estate made very little off of that airplay since she didn’t write her own songs.
Back in the 1950s when rock ‘n’ roll was getting started, there were singers and there were songwriters. That’s why you can look at an old Billboard music chart from the ’50s and ’60s and find multiple renditions on the chart of the same song but by different singers. Singers would buy songs from songwriters and record them, hoping to top the charts with their versions.
In the early 1960s, Paul McCartney and John Lennon of The Beatles were among the first combination singer-songwriters, recognizing that the real money was in royalties, not initial song sales.
I have always loved ragtime music, and the world finally caught on in 1973 when Paul Newman and Robert Redford starred in “The Sting.” Music was by Marvin Hamlisch (1944-2012) and featured ragtime music written decades earlier by Scott Joplin (c. 1867-1917). Here are my two favorite Scott Joplin tunes, performed by Scott Joplin on piano:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — Happy 59th birthday to Opie/Richie/Ronnie
March 1 was a big birthday date in the world of music.
Justin Bieber celebrated birthday #19,
Roger Daltrey of The Who and “My Generation” had birthday #69,
and Ron Howard had birthday #59.
Wait!
How did Ron Howard get into the world of music with the Beebs and Daltrey?
You don’t remember the movie “The Music Man” from 1962? It was one of my four favorite movies when I was growing up, the others being “Babes In Toyland,” “Old Yeller,” and “The Sound of Music.”
And, yes, that is the same Ron Howard who starred as Opie in “The Andy Griffith Show” and Richie Cunningham in “Happy Days.” It’s also the same Ron Howard who directed “Splash” (1984), “Coccoon” (1985), ”Backdraft” (1991), “Apollo 13″ (1995), “A Beautiful Mind” (2001; for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director), “The Da Vinci Code” (2006), “Frost/Nixon” (2008), and “Angels & Demons” (2009, among many others.
Here is a short one-minute clip from “The Music Man,” featuring eight-year-old Ron Howard singing “Wells Fargo Wagon:
And here is a clip of Ronnie singing “Gary, Indiana,” also from “The Music Man”:
If you have never seen a musical — they are few and far between nowadays, although “Les Miserables” did quite well — I can highly recommend “The Music Man.” It’s just plain fun.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Music on Mondays — Margaritaville, margarita pies, and margarita home
Long-time readers know that I have a lot of music and that I listen to it in chronological order, from 1932 (my oldest recording) to the present. I have classical, pop, metal, alternative, country, opera…. Currently I’m in December 1989.
How appropriate, then, that the first song on my playlist after returning from an 8-mile mountain hike in the boondocks yesterday was “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)” by Garth Brooks. Unfortunately, the original song is not on YouTube, just a bunch of bad cover versions and a couple of live versions by Brooks.
In keeping with the mountain hike theme, though, I’ll let you guess what I did when I got home:
And for those of you who would like to try something different, try a margarita pie. Maybe after a few margarita pies, you’ll be ready for a margarita home. Just $365,000! And right here in San Diego!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
