Category Archive: Modern Music
Piece of My Heart
(Photo of Janis in New York by Elliott Landy)
Songs in Our Heart # 29 Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin version) (Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns; released August 1968) [Sheer talent, raw power, high octane emotion.]
Continue Reading →Wuthering Heights
(Image of Kate by Stephen Luff)
Note bSongs in Our Heart # 28 Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush) (Written by Kate Bush; released January 1978) [pure pop + grand old novel + jazz ballet = hit.] Note also the superb homage to Kate by Adelaide Ladies on their “Wuthering Heights Day” in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens:
Continue Reading →Hurt
(photo by Joel Baldwin)
Songs in Our Heart # 27 Hurt (Johnny Cash version) (Written by Trent Reznor; released 2002) [The Man in Black’s parting shot, a guilty gift to the world. He had such a great gift for songs of real people in extremis – Folsom Prison Blues, I Walk the Line, etc. Yet this is a wonderful song per se, originally performed by The Nine Inch Nails, and though Cash loved its anti-drug message, actually, the meaning is so much wider. Note that the original video with the Cash version is worth buying – it wonderfully complements Cash’s great delivery of the…
Continue Reading →Friday on My Mind
Songs in Our Heart # 26 Friday on My Mind (The Easybeats) (Written by Harry Vanda and George Young; released November 1966) [Also covered by David Bowie. It has an aura of suppressed violence.]
Continue Reading →A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life...(photo by Graham Crumb)
Songs in Our Heart # 25 A Day in the Life (The Beatles) (Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; released 1 June 1967) [The first pop anthem, weird and wonderful. 50 years on, it is still singular, with unique structure, drug-and-pop-culture-drenched imaginings, the mix of classical and pop instrumentation, and that final strident, ominous, lingering chord of E major, using the great Daniel Barenboim’s grand piano.]
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