Songs I Didn't Skip (Part 32)

 I took a bit of a break from actively tracking my music listening and am now ready to resume this ill-considered journey of musical navel gazing. I started a new Spotify list here

"Season of the Witch" by Donovan 

Hmm, how many words can he find that rhyme with "witch"?

"Like the Weather" by 10,000 Maniacs (1987)

This track sounds way later than its year and looks ahead to the onslaught of college rock in the 90s.

"Portable Television" by Death Cab for Cutie (2011)

There may be some irony behind what passes for an upbeat song by this band.

"Action" by Freddy Cannon (1965)

Freddy really does want to take you places...and whoa there on the "whoo"!

"Heaven is 10 Zillion Light Years Away" by Stevie Wonder (1974)

A lesser-known track from this classic SW album, it's still great and I love the vocals, though the instrumentation is a bit cluttered. 

"Couldn't Get It Right" by Climax Blues Band (1977)

This hit by an English rock band was on the radio a lot when I was growing up. Such a great groove with a good helping of cowbell. The song is supposedly about the band not being able to find a Holiday Inn while on the road. Deep stuff.

"Turn Your Lights Down Low" by Bob Marley & The Wailers (1977)

Now this is a sexy groove.

"It Makes No Difference" by Ray Charles (1962)

Another great cut from the LP of Ray covering country songs.

"Soul Suckin' Jerk" by Beck (1994)

A funny song that weaves in Beastie Boys, if I am hearing this right.

"Kings" by Steely Dan (1972)

I read that this song was about Nixon, but really, couldn't you say that about most things in '72?

"How Long" by Ace (1975)

A classic 70's FM radio hit with a killer chorus. 

"Lessons in Love" by Level 42 (1987)

This one manages to be more smothered in keyboards than usual and, from a review I read, "reeks of 1987". Yup. 

"Soul Man" by Sam & Dave (1967)

It's hard to pass on this classic, though I've probably heard the version from "The Blues Brothers" more often. Sad.

"Wilderness" by Archer Prewitt (2005)

Definitely some John Lennon influence with some tight bass playing weaved in.

"The Winner Takes it All" by Abba (1980)

One of the things I like to listen for in most Abba tracks is the bass playing by their usual bassist, Rutger Gunnarsson. There's a lot going on and he was part of the signature sound of the band, right up there with the vocals and the jangle pianos. This song, which someone dubbed, "divorce pop" has the right amount of overwrought metaphors that still sounds personal. Happy times.

"Hey You" by Pink Floyd (1979)

Speaking of happy, this track works well on its own and I am not sick to death of it like I am with "Another Brick". I always liked the bass playing on this one and then learned that Gilmour played it. Sorry ,Roger.

"Need You Tonight" by INXS (1987)

"...that makes me sweat."  Yeah, that's one of the classic all-time pickup lines.

"That's All" by Genesis (1983)

Another entry in the Phil Collins "Breakup Songbook".

"Love Ain't For Keeping" by The Who (1971)

Pretty much everything on "Who's Next" is great (okay, maybe not "My Wife") so this song, about getting down with your lover on...a picnic, gets the nod.

"Burn You Up, Burn You Down" by Peter Gabriel (2003)

A groovy second-string PG track. 

Dad's Movies: "Everybody Does it"

 Classic movies meet classical music in this installment:  Everybody Does It (1949).

One sure sign of how much more visible classical music used to be in American culture is the way it was sometimes made the subject of farce in Hollywood mainstream movies. This was apparently a remake of a very similar 1939 film made by the same studio so the idea must have had appeal. 

The whole setup is pretty silly and is yet another example of the old, "those ladies are better off staying home" idea of marital happiness. It's pretty eye-rolling but the whole thing is played for laughs and the cast manages to sell it well enough. Paul Douglas is funny and seems in on the joke but Linda Darnell has to be the straight woman who wants to make Douglas' character into a singing star. As Neil Young sang, "You were born to rock, you'll never be an opera star."

Dad likely saw this when it came out and was undoubtedly amused by the digs and references to classical music. 

Dad's Movies: Father Goose

 And now, it's Father Goose (1964)

I grew up in a pro-Cary Grant home so this movie was on rotation but I'd managed to avoid watching the whole thing until now. 

The whole thing is pretty light with cute interactions between Grant, Caron, and the kids but I wasn't sure I bought the romantic chemistry between Caron and Grant. Sure, there's a huge age difference but this IS Cary Grant we're talking about so if anyone can make that work, it's him. In this case it was kind of lukewarm. The situation (and this is kind of a situation comedy) is fun and I got a kick out of all the back-forth between Grant's character and Trevor Howard's Royal Navy commander. 

The show could have used some tightening up but it gets the job done. This was one of Grant's last films and while this one is fine, it's perhaps a bit of a shame he didn't do something more interesting.  

Dad's Movies: The Fallen Idol

 Today, I get into The Fallen Idol (1948)

One of three classics that Reed made with author Graham Greene at the time, the other two being The Third Man and Odd Man Out. This is the one of the three I hadn't gotten around to watching and while it doesn't loom as large as the others, it's really good.

"Idol" isn't much of a suspense story but more about telling a story about how a child learns about the adult world of secrets, lies, and murky morality. 

The production, dialogue, and cast are all great as I expected with Richardson giving a very nuanced performance. I'm generally of a mind that child actors are overall much better today than the old days but this kid is actually good here. The kid can be annoying, especially in the opening scenes, but he's also playing the part fairly realistically as he's supposed to be a spoiled entitled son of an ambassador. 

There are some future bigger names in British cinema who make appearances here like Jack Hawkins and future Bond director Guy Hamilton is in the credits (he was an assistant director in the industry for some time). 

The score is very good, if a bit on the busy side, and pretty appropriate for the era.

Dad's Movies: Von Ryan's Express

Today, I take on Von Ryan's Express (1965).

A popcorn movie from the 1960s that borrows a stack of entertaining WW2 movie cliche's from "The Great Escape", "Bridge on the River Kwai", and the far superior 1964 movie, "The Train". 

Trevor Howard has little to do but hang out and give a few speeches as it's really Sinatra's show. The rest of the cast does as well as it can with the cardboard characters. Sinatra seems a bit bored and, ahem, frankly too old for the part of an action hero (he was 50 at the time).  It's just assumed that his character inspires the men without the screenplay or acting doing the heavy lifting to bring the audience along for the ride (oops, sorry). 

The effects are decent and there is lots of good looking location work. The show improves once we get to the train heist part of the movie. The score isn't one of Goldsmith's best with a fair amount of jokey musical cues (slide whistles and trombones, anyone?) .

I'm guessing Dad saw this when it came out and got a kick out of it as WW2 entertainment fluff. Deep, it ain't, baby. 

Songs I Didn't Skip (Holiday Edition)

 At the suggestion of a reader, I present this entry of holiday songs I didn't skip or downright flee from. This installment will be a little different as I don't have nearly enough holiday pop standards in my music library to write anything interesting about. It would be limited to jazz and lounge Christmas tunes and where's the fun in that? Instead, I pulled up a few playlists of popular tracks on Spotify and worked my way through.   Here's the Spotify playlist.

"All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey (1994)

Despite this song being played absolutely to death each year, it's popular for a reason. The song manages to sound somewhat modern while paying tribute to classic acts like The Ronettes. I don't have much of a memory of this song prior to it being used in the 2003 film, "Love Actually". Carey's version is covered constantly and also works well on retail store sound systems. 

"This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway (1970)

I'll bet I've heard this somewhere before but it sounded new to me. This is a good tune and Donny does some good bass playing on it. Nice. 

"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby (1942)

The 800 pound gorilla of holiday songs, written by a Jewish immigrant. Now THAT's American! People forget that the version everyone knows/sings is just the chorus; there's also a verse that no one does that puts the point of view of the song to a Californian. This article has some good background on why Irving writes about palm trees in this famous Christmas song. The song is also the big hit from that same year's film, Holiday Inn, which is IMO, superior to the later "White Christmas" film (yes, even with the blackface number).

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Dean Martin (1959)

If you're going to play this one, Deano seems like the ideal singer. Fun facts:  Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls) wrote this to perform at parties with his wife and the song was first featured in the 1949 Esther Williams movie, Neptune's Daughter, sung by Ricardo Montalbán!

"The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole (1961)

Yes, Cole deserves to be known for "Route 66" or "Unforgettable" over this but that's not how things pan out. It's also a great song and musically one of the best Christmas songs ever written (those chords!).

"Frosty the Snowman" by Ella Fitzgerald (1960)

Ella could have sung the phone book (what's a phone book, Gramps?) and it would sound great. If I never have to hear the TV special line, "Happy Birrrrthday" ever again, it'll be too soon.

"What Christmas Means to Me" by Stevie Wonder (1967)

Huh, I was not aware that Wonder did an entire Christmas album.  Easy on the sleigh bells, there Stevie!

"Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano (1970)

The autocorrect actually knew Jose's name which tells you all you need to know about this holiday staple. And yeah, I can't un-hear "and from Taco John's" even today from their old ad campaign that used this song.

"A Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives (1964)

The version from the old Rudolph special is better; less lethargic. I didn't realize that the song was intended to be sung by Yukon Cornelius. What would THAT have been like?

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams (1963)

Another monster holiday hit.  Andy Williams is far from cool, but this over-the-top jazz waltz soldiers on year after year. From the lyrics of this song, I feel I missed out growing up in that I didn't have Christmas experiences that involved ghost stories or roasting marshmallows. Sad. 

"Step Into Christmas" by Elton John (1973)

I'm not sure I'd listen through this one again but it's fun to hear an EJ song I wasn't familiar with. 

"Jingle Bells" by Frank Sinatra (1957)

There really isn't very much to this song which makes it fun to hear what people do with it. 

"Sleigh Ride" by The Ronettes (1963)

I maintain that this standard works better as an instrumental. The lyrics feel kind of wedged in, so to speak. However, this Spector-ized version is as good as any. 

"Last Christmas" by Wham! (1984)

I don't really recall hearing this until maybe the 1990s and today it's of course everywhere with a ton of covers.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee (1958)

I forget that Lee was only 13 when she recorded this: crazy. 

"Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms (1957)

This is of course a natural follow up to the Brenda Lee song. I remember singing this one in grade school wearing these white capes that my mom had to cut out of a sheet. Simpler times hahahaha.

"Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley (1957)

We stay in the '50s for this, ahem, chestnut. The thing that always stands out about this version (like many of Elvis' songs, it was a cover) is the background singers that almost steal the show.

"Please Come Home For Christmas" by The Eagles (1978)

I had no idea this was a cover of a 1960 song. I was going to snark on Don Henley for writing the line, "friends and relations send salutations" but alas, Wikipedia steals all my fun. 

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love (1963)

Phil Spector apparently liked a good baritone sax.

"Cool Yule" by Louis Armstrong and The Commanders (1953)

All those cats, warm as toast! "'Zat You, Santa Claus? " is also great, from this same session. This blog entry does a deep dive into the sessions that produced these two Louis Armstrong classics.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by James Taylor (2002)

I cheated on this one as the OG Judy Garland version is what came up in the rotation but this version is too good to pass on. Taylor gets the sadness of the song's meaning across (not that Judy doesn't) from a non-Christmas movie where a family is NOT going to be spending the holidays together. 

"O Tannenbaum" by The Vince Guaraldi Trio (1965)

Truly a staple of my childhood.

"Mele Kalikimaka" by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters (1950)

It's as if Bing's character from Holiday Inn sold out and moved to Hawaii.

"(Everybody's Waiting For) The Man with the Bag" by Kay Starr (1950)

The jazzy, give-me-my-stuff song.

"Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt (1953)

Kitt's vocal (and the dudes singing backgrounds) get across the tongue-in-cheek aspect of this song; the best way to approach it.

"The Christmas Waltz" by The Carpenters (1978)

This is the top of the heap of the many versions of this classic.

Honorable mention:  "Joel The Lump of Coal" by The Killers and Jimmy Kimmel (2014)

As suggested by my brother in-law, this is pretty funny. And who knew a lump of coal could have knees? It truly is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  Happy mistletoe-ing everyone!

Dad's Movies: Emperor of the North

I work my way into the "E" section with Emperor of the North (1973)

I'm fairly confident that Dad sought out this title as it probably reminded him of his time riding the rails as a teenager (somewhat later than this movie depicts). I wonder if he ever saw 1933's Wild Boys of the Road?

Action director, Robert Aldrich, takes on the Great Depression with an epic battle between veteran hobo "A No. 1 (Marvin) and savage train conductor, "Shack" (Borgnine). Lee Marvin's character also picks up the tramp, "Cigaret" played by a very young Keith Carradine who tags along.

The plot is exceedingly simple:  Shack really doesn't like hobos catching rides on his freight train and is willing to use very violent means to repel them. He frequently uses a large hammer or a chain to accomplish this bloody task. A No. 1 is determined to ride Shack's train to Portland, OR and a lot of money is bet on him making it. The stage is set for an action set piece and battle of wills.

The characters and performances here are all caricatures and I feel like the best way to approach this show is that it's more of a fable of even a tall tale and not so much a documentary about life during the Depression. Marvin gives Kerouac-like speeches and Borgnine plays his villain very over the top. Borgnine plays Shack as if he was born angry. It's as if Borgnine's sadistic  "Fatso" character in "From Here to Eternity" went on to have a career at a railroad. If you've only seen Borgnine from his TV roles, this part will surprise you. Carradine's tagalong character doesn't always work for me but it's a necessary part.

The location and production look great. The parts of the film that weren't very effective were the interludes where we see Lee Marvin stealing poultry. These parts were surely meant to give the show some lightness but the clash of tones between the period-slapstick and the grim train scenes feel jarring.

The music score and title song are pretty bad, as if they were intended for a different kind of movie. Fortunately, the action scenes tend to be free of an underscore which helps.