Let me know what you are listening to and what you would think would be a good topic for Davo-rama Music. (You can comment below) Thanks! Keep coming back. We have not even scratched the surface yet!
Saturday, 21 May 2011
What's on your ipod?
Thanks Davo-rama Music readers in over 48 countries now!
Let me know what you are listening to and what you would think would be a good topic for Davo-rama Music. (You can comment below) Thanks! Keep coming back. We have not even scratched the surface yet!
Let me know what you are listening to and what you would think would be a good topic for Davo-rama Music. (You can comment below) Thanks! Keep coming back. We have not even scratched the surface yet!
And when she said she'd be a movie queen nobody laughed A face like an angel she could be anything
Quick Hit
“Emma”, Hot Chocolate, 1974
Most people know this band for its disco hits “Everyone’s a Winner” and “You Sexy Thing”, but there was more to this British band than meets the eye.
“Emma” has always been my favourite Hot Chocolate song. Originally I loved the first few funky bars of the song, it was infectious. When I listened a bit closer I started to understand what it was really about.
The reason this brilliant song only got modest radio play was it dealt with a taboo subject – suicide. People did not really want to hear about it. In the‘70’s it seemed to me it was very real. I knew kids in school that committed suicide. Why did people not talk about this more?
Pat Boone had done “Moody River” in 1961 about it but it really was not a topic covered in music. Later in the seventies ‘Queen’ did “Don’t Try Suicide”, and the ‘Police’ did “Can’t Stand Losing You”, about a teenager who commits suicide after losing his girlfriend. Neither of these versions had the same intimate treatment of the subject that “Emma” did - “Emma” was “a star in everyone’s eyes” and yet was found “still and cold upon the bed”. Very real. Very painful, yet somehow beautifully done. There was a message there too – The most beautiful people in the world do not always succeed all the time.
Friday, 20 May 2011
In a gadda da vida, honey Don't you know that I'm lovin' you In a gadda da vida, baby Don't you know that I'll always be true
Songs Everyone Should Know
“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”, Iron Butterfly (1968)
I was talking to my friend Gary the other day and I said, “What the hell is ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ anyway? What does that mean?”
He said it means, “In the garden of Eden”. I don’t know whether I knew that and forgot, or never knew that. Getting old I guess. Anyway...thanks Gary! It makes a great idea for a blog too.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
We are vain and we are blind. I hate people when they’re not polite
Quick Hit
“Psycho Killer”, Talking Heads (1977)
Something like one out of a thousand of us is a psychopath1 and one out of a hundred are sociopaths2. Yet most people just cannot understand this tragic, twisted condition. Society’s fascination with psycho killers is mostly a very basal fear of the unknown. A fear of the appalling, bizarre and generally very sad circumstance in life that could create such a person. Most of us watch from a distance – this could never happen to us, we think. We could never be related to someone like this. Or could we?
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Listen, Don't worry...
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| Linda Ronstadt - Living in the U.S.A. |
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| Graham Parker - Another Grey Area |
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| Moon Martin - Escape From Domination |
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| Rolling Stones - London Singles |
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
I used to think maybe you loved me now baby I'm sure and I just can't wait till the day when you knock on my door
Pick of the Week
“Walking on Sunshine”, Katrina and the Waves (1983/85)
One of the feel-good songs of all time, Katrina and the Waves were one of the forerunners of the new wave movement, but as a band, the rain came out and washed them away.
Katrina Leskanich and her boy friend at the time, Vince de la Cruz (seriously, real name? Perfect for a novel, or hey, a band!), were air force brats that cut their teeth playing ‘60s R&B, Motown and other such stuff on the military base circuit in the U.S. Their band they called “Mama’s Cookin’” toured England in 1979. There was a great love for this type of music in England still, although punk was seriously under way.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Dear Mister Fantasy play us a tune Something to make us all happy Do anything take us out of this gloom Sing a song, play guitar Make it snappy
Quick Hit
“Dear Mr. Fantasy”, Traffic (1967)
When he was eight years old, Steve Winwood was in the choir and already playing in bands. By the time he was in Jr. High school he played his electric organ to back such greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddly on their U.K. tours.
Known for his tenor voice and his Hammond organ sound, he also plays many other instruments such as guitar, drums, mandolin, violin, and others. He really is an astounding guitar player, but is a bit modest about it.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Mother, mother There's too many of you crying Brother, brother, brother There's far too many of you dying
Quick Hit
“What’s Going On”, Marvin Gaye, 1971
I remember it being super hot in the car, back in the days with no air conditioning. I rolled down the window with the funky handles in the door of the “Country Squire” station wagon my Mom drove us to the park for the day in. You know the car – they had fake wood panels on the side. We had our towels for the pool and my Mom always packed a picnic basket with egg salad, or cucumber or macaroni loaf sandwiches, a few cans of soda, and maybe a plastic bag of “Old Dutch” potato chips if we were lucky. It was good - my Mom loved us. From the radio played Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”. I did not really get what the song was about at the time, but I knew I loved the beat, the sound, and the smooth singing.
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