Category Archive: Modern Music
The Lonely Guy
(Photo Bert Kaufmann)
Songs in our Heart # 86 I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (written and performed by Hank Williams) (released August 1949) [Hank (17 September 1923 – 1 January 1953) wrote some sad tunes, but this is so bleak it bleeds, a classic mournful dirge that rolls along without fuss or overdone production. Give it a spin but only when you’re feeling upbeat! ” “Did you ever see a night so slow As time goes draggin’ by The moon just went behind the clouds To hide its face and cry…”
Continue Reading →Vale Tom Petty
Tom Petty (20 October, 1950 – 2 October, 2017) Yet another boy from Florida who met Elvis and fell in love with popular music (like Gram Parsons). Tom went the other way to Gram, straight rock ‘n’ roll with a bit of stoner thrown in, with a light, unpretentious but harmonious and full voice. He wrote, or covered, dark tunes such as You Got Lucky, Refugee and Don’t Come Around Here No More, and great, soaring rock anthems like Free Fallin’ (tailor-made for lads like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire to bang on their dashboards while driving America’s highways), American Girl (tailor-made for girls from psycho-films like Silence…
Continue Reading →The Fourth Man
Anton Karas, born 7 July 1906 (died 10 January 1985) The famous zither man, a reluctant star whose original score and composition fitted Carol Reed’s film, The Third Man, to a tee. There’s a lot of zither here, but it works a treat, even during the great moment where Holly Martins realises who the Third Man was…
Continue Reading →Old Man
'Old Man' (by Rembrandt)
Songs in Our Heart # 85 Old Man (Neil Young) (written by Neil Young; released April 1972) [What a pretty, simple, soulful song – ah, the circle of life…] TVC has done a “Testament” that you can warble to this lovely tune: Hey man, I’m nearly dead, Remember what the wise man said, I’m going to Heaven or Hell Or somewhere in between: Don’t think I’ll need a map When I take my little nap, I’m going to state my case Will I still be seen? I think that it won’t be so hard To be ignored at all, Somewhere,…
Continue Reading →Hound Dog
Songs in Our Heart # 84 June 5, 1956: Elvis Presley performs “Hound Dog” on the Milton Berle show and scandalises America. It’s a classic Lieber-Stoller 12-bar blues song, originally recorded by the great rhythm-and-blues singer from Alabama, Willie Mae (“Big Mama”) Thornton. But though she had a big hit with it, Elvis gave it legendary status, with truly great vocals and, on television, fast swinging hips. The hips did it, and thus America grew up, via television’s genius for soft porn, piped into her lounge rooms.
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