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  • Smoke gets in your eyes…

    Smoke gets in your eyes…

    The fall weather mixed with the smoke from chimneys and fires has me thinking…

    Yesterday was Veteran’s Day. The weather here in Germany was beautiful, except for all the smoke in the air. I’m not sure what’s been going on. I did see some smoke from the trees in the forest near our home. I see my neighbor’s chimney is going already, making the air sort of misty as the smoke mixes with the fog. I’m suddenly reminded of a classic song…


    The Platters sing the classic hit, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”…

    Lately, I’m finding myself more and more nostalgic for classic hits. “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” is one of those very elegant songs from yesterday. It makes me realize I must be getting old. “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” is one of those timeless songs that still sounds great years later.


    “Smoke From A Distant Fire” by the Sanford Townsend Band was a hit in 1977, when I was a kid.

    It’s interesting to hear Helen Reddy talk about how great this band is and that Kenny Loggins endorsed them. Though I remember their 70s era hit, “Smoke From A Distant Fire”, very well. I’m not sure I remember anything else they did. So much for the prediction that they would end up being huge stars. Their follow up efforts were not as successful, though their one hit truly was a hit. It’s a song about a woman with another man on her man… an old flame, as it were.

    But just because I like music from the past, that doesn’t mean I don’t listen to newer music. Last year, Kacey Musgrave had a hit in the song, “Blowin’ Smoke”.


    Everybody likes a song about blowin’ smoke, right?

    Kacey Musgraves is, of course, singing about people who are full of shit. Her song refers to the expression, “Blowing smoke up one’s ass”… As a woman of a certain age, I can relate to that. I’ve seen it, done it, and experienced it myself many times. Though Musgraves is supposedly a country artist, I think her song has broad appeal. There’s a lot expressed in three minutes of music and it’s relatable to a lot of people, right? I may need to familiarize myself more with her music. In fact, I will confess that I just downloaded her debut album, Same Trailer Different Park.

    And then there are songs about smoking weed. I could probably devote a whole blog post to that subject, but for now, I’ll just highlight an old song by Brewer & Shipley…


    “One Toke Over The Line” is a notorious song about lighting up…

    But… as awesome as their version is, Lawrence Welk’s version is even better.


    I just love how these singers get introduced… and Welk later says it’s a “modern spiritual”.

    I can’t watch this video enough times. It never gets old.

    I would have posted this yesterday, but I was busy enjoying Veteran’s Day with my husband, who is himself a veteran. Hope everyone enjoyed Veteran’s Day too!

  • YouTube talents…

    YouTube talents…

    November is upon us and I feel the need to focus on YouTube talents today…

    One of my favorite ways to kill time is to troll YouTube for cool videos. Sometimes, I like to see if I can find old songs I thought I had long forgotten. Sometimes I get curious about a certain user’s videos and start looking though their catalog. That’s how I found my old friend, Weird Wilbur, whom I have written about several times on Pop Rock Nation. Wilbur’s songs are funny and profane and probably offend people as much as they make some folks laugh.


    “Fuck You Texas” is probably Weird Wilbur’s biggest “hit”.

    But I have also found some other talented folks on YouTube who aren’t as inflammatory as Wilbur can be. One such user is my friend George, who goes by the name “shargram” on YouTube. I first encountered George when I was looking for a video of the song, “Mary Skeffington”. I knew it as an Olivia Newton-John number, but it was also a Gerry Rafferty song. And George covered it himself and posted the video on YouTube.


    I commented on George’s video and he answered back. Now he watches my videos.

    From George’s page, I ran into a few other YouTube talents. Here’s a video by my YouTube friend, Dave, whose YouTube handle is “A297MAN104”. Dave writes and performs a lot of his own songs.


    “To A Better Place” is a song by Dave, but is sung by Steve Jackson in this video.

    Sometimes I run into YouTube talents after they leave me a comment on my own page. Here’s a video by Jonas Sköld, a guy who plays a mean guitar and sings.


    Here Jonas sings his version of “The Lucky One”, a song originally made famous by Alison Krauss and Union Station.

    I found Frets Nirvana on one of George’s videos and was impressed by his guitar playing. He’s quite the YouTube talent!


    Here’s an original composition called “Jack Rabbit”, dedicated to a recently deceased rabbit named Jack.

    I found Ken Turetzky on a Red Peters compilation album that I reviewed on Epinions.com. He sought me out and sent me more music. We have since become friends and I do enjoy his YouTube videos…


    Here’s Ken performing his ever popular hit, “My Fat Ass Itches”. There are days when I really relate to this song too well.

    Here’s a video by my friend, Tim, whom I originally met on a message board for exMormons. He and his wife, Lisa, happen to be talented animators and Tim also plays a mean electric guitar.


    A Halloween cartoon.


    Here you can see Tim jam with his electric guitar as he sings his praises to G.I. Joe…

    I myself have made some videos. I like to find songs that aren’t particularly well known and put my own spin on them. Unfortunately, I have to use pre-recorded versions of music because I don’t have any talented guitar or piano players as friends who live close to me. I often wish I had stuck with the piano lessons my mom arranged for me when I was a small child. I also don’t do well on camera, so my videos are all photos from my travels.


    Yours truly singing “Angel From Montgomery”, one of my more successful covers.

    I mostly make YouTube videos for fun and because I like to experiment with music. It’s not something I do for money, nor do I have any delusions that I’ll ever be famous. It’s just a creative outlet, much like writing. I probably shouldn’t share my videos, but every once in awhile, they lead to meeting someone cool and talented on YouTube. Of course I like it for the more established artists, too. But every once in awhile, I like to give a shoutout to people who are just hiding in YouTube’s depths, waiting to be discovered.

  • Happy Halloween!

    Happy Halloween!

    It seems obvious that I’d be wishing you all a happy Halloween today, right?

    Well, I’m sitting here in Germany, where Halloween is starting to catch on but isn’t quite the big day that it is in the United States. The truth is, I almost forgot about it. The funny thing is, last time we lived here, we did actually get some trick or treaters and we were not prepared for them. I kind of doubt we’ll have any tonight, but my husband will bring home some candy just in case.

    Anyway, in the spirit of Halloween, I thought I’d write about some of my favorite spooky songs. This post was actually inspired by a Facebook post by Don Felder, the former guitarist for The Eagles. He asked people for their favorite Halloween songs. Most folks came up with obvious stuff like “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris Pickett”…


    And of course, this song was custom made for October 31…

    I tell you what, though. When I think of Halloween, I think of a less obvious song by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. The song is called “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us”. It’s not really a Halloween song, but I think of it as one because it has such a creepy vibe to it.


    This song was written by Sam Phillips about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a gospel singer in the 30s and 40s. I’m not sure why this song is so spooky sounding, but it is… and since I bought Raising Sand in October 2007, it reminds me of Halloween.

    Speaking of spooky, the song “Spooky” ranks high up there as a good Halloween number.


    Dusty Springfield sings “Spooky” here. I like her version.

    But since I was around in the late 70s, I am more familiar with the sexy, sultry, southern rendition by Atlanta Rhythm Section.


    Listening to this makes me want to experiment a bit with this song myself.

    I actually think “Spooky” is about someone with a character disorder, but it works for Halloween anyway. Then there’s the ever popular Eagles hit, “Witchy Woman”. Again, it works for Halloween, but it’s probably a song about a woman with a character disorder.


    Cackle!

    Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat” may not be about Halloween per se, but it kind of fits the theme.


    Don’t let one cross your path!

    Probably one of the best Halloween songs I’ve ever heard is “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” by Concrete Blonde.


    Here’s a great live version of “Bloodletting” with Johnette Napolitano’s raging vocals.

    Sting has done a few Halloween worthy songs in his career, too. In fact, he seems to have a knack for writing songs that have kind of an eerie vibe to them.


    Sister Moon comes to mind…


    And so does the very creepy song, “Moon Over Bourbon Street”… Here’s a very cool acoustic version!

    And, of course, no Halloween song list is complete without this huge hit from the early 80s…


    Hope you have a “thrilling” night tonight…

    It occurs to me as I look at this list that I’m stuck in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Feel free to leave me suggestions for newer Halloween songs. I hope everyone has a great Halloween and a fabulous weekend. Don’t let the ghosts get you!