Tag Archives: song of the week

Song of the Week – Deeper Well, David Olney

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Today’s SotW was written by guest contributor, Michael Paquette.  Michael and I have known each other for over 40 years.  Our friendship has been based, in large part, over our mutual love of music.  When he was in college at Brandeis University, he had a radio show called Excuse Me While I Play The Blues that incorporated music by some of the great artists that inhabited the Austin music scene he experienced and enjoyed when he lived there in the late seventies.  He still finds the time to go to shows and favors folk and Americana.  That will be clear when you read his post.

David Olney was a Nashville singer-songwriter for nearly five decades.  He passed away on January 18th while on stage in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.  He was a giant among the musicians in the Nashville scene.  “As soon as he moved into a room, he had a charisma that I would liken to Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson. Oh, Olney’s here,” said musician/journalist Peter Cooper. He was admired by the brilliant songwriter Townes Van Zandt.  Even the Rolling Stones were compelled to attend one of his shows. His songs were covered by many renowned artists including Linda Ronstadt, Steve Earle, Del McCoury, and Slaid Cleaves.

Olney’s songs always make you feel something — sorrow, nostalgia or just the need to smile.  This song, “Deeper Well,” that was covered by Emmylou Harris on her transcendent 1995 release Wrecking Ball, is a dark and dirge-like composition performed here with Blair Hogan.

The “deeper well” in this song appears as the young man who seeks love in a deep, dark place.  It could also be a metaphor for making a deal with Satan in exchange for the inspiration for his music, much like Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil Blues.”

Well, I did it for kicks and I did it for faith
I did it for lust and I did it for hate
I did it for need and I did it for love
Addiction stayed on tight like a glove
So I ran with the moon and I ran with the night
And the three of us were a terrible sight
Nipple to the bottle, to the gun, to the cell
To the bottom of a hole of a deeper well

On the night he died, Olney was performing on stage with Amy Rigby.  She wrote on her Facebook page that “he stopped, apologized and shut his eyes. He was very still, sitting upright with his guitar on, wearing the coolest hat and a beautiful rust suede jacket…”  But he wasn’t sleeping.  An attempt was made to revive him, but he just drifted off.  Olney was 71.  A gentle and well-loved soul, the world has lost a great one whose music still inspires.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Little Bit O Soul, The Music Explosion; The Little Darlings; The Ramones

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Today’s SotW is the next installment of the Evolution Series.  Let’s start with the most popular version of the garage classic, “A Little Bit O Soul” by the Music Explosion.

The Music Explosion was a band out of Mansfield, Ohio.  In 1967 they left Ohio for New York to work with the Kasenetz-Katz production team that became the leading purveyors of “bubblegum music” with groups like The Ohio Express (“Yummy, Yummy”), 1910 Fruitgum Company (“Simon Says”, “1-2-3 Red Light”, “Indian Giver”) and Crazy Elephant (“Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’”).

The Music Explosion’s recording of “A Little Bit O Soul” reached #2 in 1967.  I loved it as an 11-year-old and still love it now.

But most have never heard the original by The Little Darlings, from Coventry England.

It was written for them by Ken Lewis and John Carter in 1965.  These British songwriters also penned Herman’s Hermits’ “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (another favorite of mine), and they sang back up on The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” as The Ivy League!

The Little Darlings’ version of “Little Bit O Soul” is rougher and dirtier than the Music Explosions’.  It is the type of “nugget” that would later influence the early punk rockers.

So it’s no surprise that The Ramones latched onto it and laid down their own version on 1983’s Subterranean Jungle.

Now when your girl is gone and you’re broke in two
You need a little bit o’ soul to see you through
And when you raise the roof with your rock ‘n’ roll
You’ll get a lot more kicks with a little bit o’ soul

Ain’t that the truth!

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Criminal, Fiona Apple

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When Fiona Apple sings “I’ve been a bad, bad girl,” I believe her.  The opening line from her 1997 hit, “Criminal”, is chilling.  Then she goes on…

I’ve been careless with a delicate man
And it’s a sad, sad world
When a girl will break a boy
Just because she can

That’s downright scary!!!  As is the chorus:

What I need is a good defense
Cause I’m feelin’ like a criminal
And I need to be redeemed
To the one I’ve sinned against
Because he’s all I ever knew of love

The song’s wicked sexy lyrics have a wicked sexy musical vibe to go with it.  (The controversial, official video is pretty sexy too.)  The opening bass groove sounds like a carnival version of Albert King’s blues classic “Born Under a Bad Sign.”

The jazzy romp builds to a lyrical climax, then continues for almost 2 more minutes with an Egyptian motif on organ and some dissonant chords banged out on the piano.  A very cool way to bring it all back down.

“Criminal” won a Grammy in 1998 for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Last year Apple announced she would donate the royalties she earns from “Criminal” to  While They Wait, a social service agency that helps immigrants and refugees applying for asylum or other legal relief.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Bastille Day, Rush

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Today’s SotW was drafted last night after I learned that Neil Peart, of Rush, died earlier this week, on January 7th.  Now I have to confess, Rush is NOT one of my favorite bands.  But I respect what they contributed to the history of progressive rock music and I especially respect Peart’s mastery of the drums and his knack for writing intellectual lyrics.

Today’s SotW is “Bastille Day,” Peart’s tribute to the event that kicked off the French Revolution.

Some of the song’s lyrics are as relevant today as they were when Peart wrote them in 1975.

There’s no bread, let them eat cake
There’s no end to what they’ll take
Flaunt the fruits of noble birth
Wash the salt into the earth

Lessons taught but never learned.
All around us anger burns.
Guide the future by the past.
Long ago the mold was cast.

Peart was known for using an elaborate drum kit.  And he used it to its fullest extent.

He died of glioblastoma (brain cancer) at the age of 67, in California.

So, here’s to Neil Peart – drummer, lyricist, novelist and father.  May he rest in peace.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Only the Strong Survive, Jerry Butler

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‘60s soul man, Jerry Butler, earned the nickname “Ice Man” for his cool, baritone vocals.  He began his recording career with Curtis Mayfield’s Impressions in 1958, but quickly quit that group for a solo career.

By 1968, Butler found himself on Mercury records, working with writers/producers Gamble and Huff, later of Philadelphia International fame.  They helped Butler reach his apex with The Iceman Cometh album.  It contained two of Butler’s best known recordings – “Hey, Western Union Man,” and today’s SotW, “Only the Strong Survive.”

“Only the Strong Survive” reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Black Singles chart in early 1969.  It is another in the long line of songs whose message resonated as a ‘60s civil rights anthem.

The spoken word intro (similar to Clarence Carter’s “Patches”) offers mama’s words of wisdom:

I remember my first love affair
Somehow or another the whole darn thing went wrong
My mama had some great advice
So I thought I’d put it into words of this song
I can still hear her sayin’

But the payoff is in the chorus, where mama’s message goes beyond how to deal with a break up.  It is a more universal life’s lesson.

Only the strong survive
Only the strong survive
You’ve got to be a man, you’ve got to take a stand
So I’m telling you right now only the strong survive
Only the strong survive
Hey, you’ve got to be strong, you’d better hold on

Elvis Presley released his popular version of the song on his 1969 long player, From Elvis In Memphis.  That’s the one that also included the hit “In the Ghetto.”

The Iceman is the perfect companion for a dark winter’s day.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – New Year’s Eve, Van Duren

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One of the “best albums you’ve never heard” is Are You Serious? (1977), by Van Duren.  Especially if you are a power pop fan (as I am).  There isn’t a self-respecting list of the greatest power pop albums of all time that doesn’t include Are You Serious?.  But that should be no surprise given that Duren came from the same Memphis scene that birthed Big Star.

The smart, pop of the tracks on Are You Serious? will remind you of Duren’s contemporary, Emitt Rhodes.  And like Rhodes, Duren played most of the instruments on the album — in fact pretty much everything except drums.

So the date on the calendar compels me to choose “New Year’s Eve” as today’s SotW.

It’s a love song that recounts a relationship that starts at a teenage New Year’s Eve party.

The rest of the album is equally as infectious and should be auditioned by all SotW readers.

Duren followed up his debut with another fine record – Idiot Optimism.  But due to some shady business involving his recording studio owner and producer, Scientology, and bad luck, Idiot Optimism languished in the vaults until it was finally released in 1999, 20 years after it was finished!

A documentary was released this year called Waiting: The Van Duren Story.  It was made by two Australians — Wade Jackson and Greg Carey – who discovered Are You Serious? and wanted to learn the story about the album’s obscurity and Duren’s abandoned career.  They tracked down Duren and convinced him to cooperate with their project.

I haven’t seen it yet.  It’s not currently screening anywhere, isn’t streaming on Netflix and isn’t for sale on DVD.  But I will watch it as soon as it is available.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Something to Believe, Weyes Blood

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Titanic Rising, the 2009 album by Weyes Blood (Natalie Laura Mering) is receiving huge plaudits in the year-end polls for Best Albums of 2019.  Paste recently placed it at #1!  I like the album, but I don’t love it.  Some of the atmospheric noodling on it just bores me.  But the album does contain one of my favorite songs of the year – “Something to Believe.”

“Something to Believe” starts of sounding like The Carpenters, but hipper.  But the simple piano based ballad develops into so much more.  There’s a haunting slide guitar that perfectly hits the mark.  And the production expands into a fully orchestrated arrangement with Mering’s vocals soaring above it all – Court and Spark era Joni Mitchell like.  This is no doubt partly in credit to Foxygen’s Jonathon Rado, who co-produced the album.

Lyrically, Mering calls for the need for connection to other people.

Give me something I can see
Something bigger and louder than the voices in me
Something to believe

On a side note, the name Weyes Blood was inspired by the Flannery O’Connor novel Wise Blood, so I assume that’s how the band name is supposed to be pronounced.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Harmony Hall, Vampire Weekend

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Well, we’ve reached December and the year-end is right around the corner.  For me, that means it is time to start thinking about my favorite songs and albums of the year.

An easy call for me is to include Vampire Weekend’s 2019 release, Father of the Bride.  I’m sure I’m not alone.  After waiting 6 years for this long-player, their fans were starving for some new music from the group.  I remember going onto Spotify that May day it was released and seeing that several of the friends I follow were all listening to it simultaneously.

I wanted to make a cut from Father of the Bride a SotW earlier in the year, but I couldn’t decide which song to pick.  Would it be “This Life,” or maybe “Sunflower?”  I’m going to go with the first single they dropped from the album – “Harmony Hall.”

This track is 5 minutes of crisp, clean music that exudes a Grateful Dead, jam band vibe – especially with the guitar figure that starts around 3:45.  They even make judicious use of the vibraslap.

The lyrics are vague and could be interpreted in many ways.  To me, the lyrics evoke societal frustrations, but vocalist Ezra Koenig delivers them with an optimistic tone.

Anger wants a voice / Voices wanna sing

Singers harmonize / Till they can’t hear anything

I thought that I was free / From all that questionin’

But every time a problem ends / Another one begins

I don’t want to live like this / But I don’t want to die

On a side note, last year Koenig had a kid with Rashida Jones (daughter of Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones) of The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Shine On, Humble Pie

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In October, Peter Frampton officially retired, wrapping up his “Finale: The Farewell Tour” in nearby Concord, CA.  Sadly, the underrated guitarist was motivated to undertake a final tour because he has been battling a degenerative muscle disease – inclusion-body myositis – that would eventually rob him of his ability to perform.


Most famous for his mega-sales, live double album, Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), Frampton deserves recognition for so much more.

Frampton started to play in bands when he was only 12 years old.  By the time he was 16, he was recording with The Herd.

When Steve Marriott, of The Small Faces, formed Humble Pie in 1969, Frampton was recruited to be in that band’s original line-up.  Frampton joined Humble Pie, in part to escape the teen idol image he was tagged with as the frontman for The Herd.  He stayed with the band until 1971 when the development of his softer, pop songwriting didn’t fit in with Marriott’s more hard-rocking vision.

Today’s SotW, “Shine On,” is a good example of that quandary.

“Shine On” is the lead track from Humble Pie’s fourth album, Rock On (1971).  The heavy guitar combined with a keen pop sensibility of “Shine On” point toward the songs that would make Frampton an international superstar later in the decade with hits like “Show Me the Way” and “Baby, I Love Your Way.”  He delivers a terrific, soulful vocal too.

It was fitting that Frampton chose to close out his career in northern California.  His high watermark, Frampton Comes Alive!, was recorded primarily at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Sayonara, Akiko Yano

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Back in the mid-‘70s, a 21-year-old, Japanese jazz pianist, Akiko Yano, was in the midst of recording her first solo album with the Japanese group Caramel Mama, when someone suggested she work with some western rock musicians.

She liked the idea… if she could work with an American rock group that she really adored – Lowell George’s Little Feat.  Little Feat agreed to the gig and met her at Hollywood Sound Studio in Los Angeles for the recording session.

The resulting album, Japanese Girl (1976), has Little Feat on side 1 and her Japanese accompanists on side 2.  My pick for the SotW is “Sayonara.”

“Sayonara” immediately grabs you with its sexy, funky groove.  MOJO’s Jim Irvin writes:

The album opens, paradoxically, with Sayonara, introduced by what sounds like the unmistakable New Orleans lope of Bill Payne’s piano.  Except that it’s Akiko who plays all the keyboards on the record.  Halfway through, the song dissolves into a scat vocal segment, jazzy piano leads into a dreamlike jam and climaxes with the band going full tilt as Akiko hits long, siren-like notes on the synthesizer.  You’re immediately aware this record isn’t going down any expected path…”

At the time, Yano didn’t speak English (and Little Feat didn’t speak Japanese), but they clearly had no problem communicating musically.

If you’re a Little Feat fan (and who isn’t!) you will love this hidden gem that has been recently released outside of Japan for the first time.

Enjoy… until next week.