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Pop Rock Nation

Category: Videos

  • Let it snow!

    Let it snow!

    As I watch tiny flakes fall from the German sky, I think to myself… “Let it snow!”

    Snow shouldn’t excite me as much as it does. I still can’t help but feel excited when I see it, though, especially since I’ve been living in warm places for the past five years. Not counting Thanksgiving 2014, when my husband Bill and I ran into an aberrant snowstorm that dumped a couple of inches in Virginia, I haven’t really seen much of the stuff in years. Now that we live in Germany again, I’m thinking to myself “Let it snow!” I’ll just sit in the house and snuggle with my dogs… and listen to music, of course. Lots of artists have recorded the song, “Let It Snow”, which usually gets played at Christmas time.


    A classic version by Dean Martin.

    This song isn’t really a Christmas song, though, is it? Do they even mention the big winter holiday at all in this song? I don’t think so. Why shouldn’t we sing it in January or February, when snow may be more likely to fall?


    Michael Buble updates “Let It Snow”, along with some manly sounding backup singers.

    I think it works even better with a woman singer…


    Maybe not Jessica Simpson, though… What the hell is she doing to this song?

    I’m kind of partial to the song, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. You can have a lot of fun with the suggestive lyrics if you have the right partner. The first time I heard this song, it was sung by James Taylor and Natalie Cole, who sounded fine together but didn’t seem to have much chemistry.


    Lady Gaga sings with Joseph Gordon-Levitt… Do they have chemistry?

    It’s kind of cool that Lady Gaga and Joseph Gordon-Levitt traded roles, but I’m not so sure they pull it off. Hmm, now that I think about it, it’s kind of a creepy song. Basically, one person is trying to talk the other to sticking around for some nookie. A little date rape, perhaps?


    Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw sing… after Colbie hawks her Christmas album.

    And here’s a very cute version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by the Hound + the Fox.


    These two have chemistry! So cute, despite the song’s date rape theme.

    Even I get into the act on this one. I recorded this version with a SingSnap member named Outnumbered 321.


    Nobody’s ever sung this to me for real, though. No one I ever dated could sing worth a damn.

    Sadly, since my husband is currently in hot and sunny Chad, I won’t be snuggling with anyone on this snowy day. Bah humbug!

  • Funeral songs…

    Funeral songs…

    I don’t mean to be a downer, but I’m in the market for some funeral songs…

    Over the past week or so, I’ve been dealing with some unfortunate family business. It’s the kind of business that affects every family eventually. My father is on his death bed, after several years of suffering from Lewy body dementia. The disease has been devastating and it’s robbed him of so many things. He used to be a great singer but his voice was ruined after a surgery after which he spent weeks in a coma and was therefore intubated. He used to love to exercise, but the Parkinsonian effects of his disease robbed him of being able to walk much. He used to love people, but the dementia made him less tolerant of others. He lost much of his autonomy and gained hallucinations, irrational thinking, and the need to sleep most of the time.

    About ten days ago, he stopped eating and complained of a stomach ache. My mom got worried. She called an ambulance and they went to the closest hospital, where a doctor determined that my dad’s gallbladder was inflamed. A decision was made to remove the organ. I found out about the surgery after it had already happened. When I heard about it, I had a sinking feeling that this could be end up being my father’s undoing. I told my husband, Bill, that we might need to make a quick trip to Virginia, which is where I’m from and where my parents still live. Sure enough, by the weekend we were on our way, since after the operation, my dad had trouble breathing and had to be intubated.

    I saw my dad on Sunday, after my mom made it clear that she wasn’t going to go to great lengths to save him from death. Not that I blame her for that… My dad wouldn’t want to be kept alive artificially and, when I saw him, I didn’t think he looked happy or comfortable. My mom confided to me that he had expressed a desire to be done with the disease. Fortunately, my sisters and I are all in agreement with my mom about the right thing to do for my dad.

    My dad loves music. In the community where I grew up, my dad was a well known star of many choral groups. He sang a lot of solos and always had some sort of gig going on. I didn’t become a singer until I was 18 and in college. I think I knew I liked music and was naturally good at it, but I didn’t want to compete with my dad or be compared to him. But I know I get a lot of my love for music from both of my parents, my dad especially. My sister said he had seemed to perk up a little when she played some music for him. I told her I had a few songs that I had recorded. She said I should play them for him. I did.


    I played this song first.

    My dad’s eyebrows raised a little as I played this. My sister said I should play another. For some reason, I ended up playing my version of “Bein’ Green” for my dad. I don’t even know if he knew that song, even though I was a young girl when it was popular. My sister encouraged me to sing along with my recording, but all I could manage to do was hum… and even that was choked up with emotion.


    There’s something about this song that makes me emotional.

    I came home yesterday. My dad was taken off the ventilator and my mom requested that it not be reconnected. I was told that he wasn’t doing so well without the ventilator, but I haven’t heard any news that he’s gone yet. It’s just a matter of time, though.

    My sister asked me to make her a CD with some of my recordings on it, so I’ve been gathering them… and even recorded a couple of new ones today. The ones I did today are a bit funereal. But then, my dad won’t have an actual funeral. My mom has arranged for his brain to be studied at Harvard University, so it may be some time before he’ll be ready for a memorial service. And given that I have to move to Germany by August, I don’t know that I’d be around for it anyway. So I thought I’d post a few songs I would play for my dad if I could plan the music for his service.


    Alison Krauss and Union Station singing “Heaven’s Bright Shore”.


    “The Far Side Banks of Jordan” performed by The Cox Family with Alison Krauss… I heard this one about twenty minutes after I lost my beloved beagle, MacGregor, and it gave me peace.


    And “I Will See You Again” which is so much like my parents’ relationship…

    A few weeks ago, I recorded a song that was written and originally performed by Karla Bonoff and later covered by Linda Ronstadt. I knew about it some time ago, but only recently rediscovered it. If I could, I’d play this when remembering my dad…


    This is my version of “Goodbye, My Friend”, but you can easily find the original and Linda Ronstadt’s version on YouTube.

    Like I said, I’m sorry to be such a downer today. Music is like a salve at times like this, even if funeral songs make me cry.

  • Icky songs from the 80s…

    Icky songs from the 80s…

    Just the other day, while riding in the car with my husband, I was reminded of just how many icky songs there are out there…

    You’d think in this day and age, as Miley Cyrus twerks with Robin Thicke and shows us her tongue, people would have a rather high “ick” tolerance. And maybe they do. I can’t speak for everyone, especially as I’ve become middle-aged and decidedly uncool. Actually, I don’t think I was cool even when I was a young lass, but that’s beside the point. What I’m thinking about today is icky songs from the 80s. There were a lot of them back in the day.

    I started thinking about icky songs while listening to my iPod. A song from 1983 started playing. It was Kenny Rogers, back when he was still more or less “flavor of the month” and he was singing a song called “Scarlet Fever”. You’d think this was a ditty about a devastating communicable disease, but actually it’s about an underaged exotic dancer named Scarlet. Kenny sings the part of a horny middle aged man who went to the club where she was performing. There he was, lusting after a woman who looked 25, but he was told that she was just 16. The lyrics suggest that the guy just watches and appreciates her dance moves, but I think we know what he did when he went home.


    In 1983, this song was okay… but today, people would probably be scratching their heads and saying, “Eeeew.”

    After listening to this happy go lucky song about a middle aged man lusting over a teenager, I started thinking of other icky songs. One that popped into my head was Nick Gilder’s 1979 hit, “Hot Child In The City”. This was a one hit wonder about a guy who notices a hot young thing, loose and alone on the streets. I loved this song when I was a little kid, but now it kind of makes me cringe a little. It still has a great rock beat, but it’s basically a song about a mysterious girl who makes grown men lust after her.


    Keep your mind out of the gutter, you perverts!

    Sheena Easton had a hit song in 1984 called “Sugar Walls”. I always thought this song was kind of nasty. It was written by Prince during his nasty years and supposedly refers to the walls of Sheena’s vagina.


    This is a far cry from “Morning Train”, isn’t it?

    Benny Mardones had a hit with his song, “Into The Night”, which originally hit the charts in 1980, but made a comeback in 1989. I don’t know why this song became popular again since, to me, it sounds very much like a hit from 1980. But people apparently loved it, despite the lyrics about a guy lusting after a sixteen year old.


    It should be noted, Benny Mardones was 33 years old when this song originally charted. That doesn’t mean he was chasing teenagers, but still… eeew!

    The Police had a famous song in 1981 about a teacher tempted by a teenager… It’s one of their best songs in my humble opinion. Granted, The Police aren’t the ones chasing the young girl, though Sting was a teacher at one time. Perhaps this song was inspired by those days he spent in the classroom. In 1986, it was remade into an equally creepy slower version. For awhile, I liked the 1986 version better, but then I wised up.


    Lots of raw testosterone in this video…

    The Police had another creepy but awesome song in their 1983 hit, “Every Breath You Take”. That song was presumably about a woman who was fully grown, but the subject of a man’s relentless obsession.


    This song never gets old.

    In contrast to The Police and their brand of raw maleness, we have George Michael’s cool, obsessive, and slightly creepy number from 1987, “Father Figure”. I always liked this song, even though it’s definitely kind of icky.


    This video is high on estrogen… and rich with supermodels… George Michael was very much into sex in the 80s.

    And finally, there’s Madonna’s “Open Your Heart”. On the surface, this song doesn’t seem that icky… It’s the video that kind of skeeves me out. A young boy watches as Madonna gyrates and spins tassels on her boobs. Then, at the end of the video, they seem to strike up a playful friendship.


    Compared to “Sugar Walls”, maybe this is pretty tame… Still, I wonder how people would react if Madonna were an exotic male dancer and a young girl was in the role of the voyeur.

    Despite the ickiness of some of these songs, I like all of them. I guess that makes me a pervert.