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#MusicMonday Malena Ernman – La Voix (Sweden 🇸🇪) – 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
Tag: music
Why Eurovision Was Better in the 1960s: A Review
I didn’t watch the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Judging from the reports on the BBC and Sky News, I’m glad I didn’t. It’s about spectacle, not song.
Rewind 60 years ago to 1965. Here’s runner-up Kathy Kirby (née Catherine Ethel O’Rourke), who represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Wow. Just wow. I love my female singers. Why hadn’t I heard of her before?
And here is France Gall (née Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall), the winner of the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest. Her entry was Serge Gainsbourg’s song Poupée de cire, poupée de son (wax doll, rag doll):
The good old days, when the Eurovision Song Contest was about music and songs. 🎵
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Listen to Have I The Right? by The Honeycombs #MusicMonday 🎶
This week’s choice is the infectious hit Have I The Right? by The Honeycombs (1964).
The group’s lead vocalist was Dennis D’Ell. Anne (‘Honey’) Lantree in the girly pink pussy bow blouse 👚 was the drummer. I read that watching Honey Lantree on TV inspired Karen Carpenter to pick up the drums.
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#MusicMonday 🎵 The Rascals
It’s been a long time since I posted a #MusicMonday video. Today I present The Rascals at their induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. They performed a 9-minute medley of their hits:
- Good Lovin’
- Groovin’
- How Can I Be Sure, as sung by Eddie Brigati
- People Got To Be Free (a favorite 😍 of mine when I was a kid)
Reference:
BetaGems Lost Media. (2019, November 6). The Rascals reunion performance 5-9-97 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaXCqaR-qYA
I didn’t realize what killer musicians Felix Cavaliere (vocals, organ) and Dino Danelli (drums) were.
The Bee Gees (whom I love, love, love) were also inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Their performance was a disappointment 😞 just snippets of their songs 🎵.
On the Fresh Air radio show, Robert Plant said that The Rascals were very influential to budding musicians in the UK in the 1960s (begin 2:59).
Paraphrase:
The Rascals had a fantastic reputation amongst all musicians and still do. The quality of writing and the performance fantastic vocals and there was a great dynamism in their work. When I first started singing that song, I was 16, and to try and get anywhere near the quality and the style of the rascals in England at that time was virtually impossible. We just didn’t have the Italian stuff in the blood or the street corner stuff that they’d come out of.
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#Books #MusicMonday Read Keith Richards’ memoir Life
Life by Keith RichardsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
In Life, Keith puts to rest the crazy stories of him getting his blood exchanged and snorting his father’s ashes.
I like Keith’s plain-spokenness. He doesn’t merely call a spade a spade, he calls it a sh** shovel. His most memorable comment was calling the late Hugh Hefner a pimp.
Toward the end of his autobiography, Keith talks about being a voracious reader: his favorite subject is naval history. He also talks about cooking traditional English fare: he even offers a recipe for bangers and mash! This is not the image of Keith Richards that the media has crafted.
Keith and Patti Hansen have now been married for 39 years: they will celebrate forty years of marriage on December 18, 2023 (also Keith’s 80th birthday).
Altogether, an entertaining read!
Citation:
Richards, K., & Fox, J. (2012). Life. Phoenix.
View all my reviews
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#MusicMonday #playlist A tribute to Loretta Lynn RIP
I put together this short four-song playlist in tribute to Loretta Lynn, who died at age 90 on Tuesday, October 4, 2022.
Here’s the playlist:
- Coal Miner’s Daughter: what’s a holler?
- These Boots Are Made For Walking: you’ll forget about Nancy Sinatra (or not, now since I reminded you). Good God – I mistook Loretta Lynn for June Carter Cash on the album cover.
- You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man): Loretta deals with a hussy. What’s a hussy? A hussy is a woman who’s got her mitts on your man – and believe me, I’ve had to deal with one.
- You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man): a great send-up by k.d. lang and Roseanne Cash.
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Red-letter day: February 9, 1964
On February 9, 1964, The Beatles made their U.S. debut on the Ed Sullivan TV show – and popular music hasn’t been the same since!
My parents, brother, and I were attending a dance performance – was it the Tamburitzans from Duquesne University? 🤔 Who knows? 🤷 All I was thinking about was getting home in time to see The Beatles. I overheard someone else mention The Beatles as we left the hall. I remember the buzz and excitement in anticipation of the event.
Even today, hearing the opening chords of I Wanna Hold Your Hand fills me with happiness. 🥰
What are your favorite Beatles memories?
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#MusicMondays The Libertines #playlist
Thanks to my interest in Syd Barrett, I’m expanding my music horizons to include other British musicians. Lately, I got interested in Pete Doherty, someone who is also English in his orientation, has poetic sensibility, and is renowned for his drug use: for Syd, it was LSD and cannabis and later Mandrax (Quaalude); for Pete, it was heroin and cocaine. Pete claims he’s been clean since 2019.
I’ve had fun watching videos featuring Pete Doherty and his band The Libertines. As I learned, Pete Doherty was co-frontman of The Libertines: the other co-frontman being Carl Barât. Bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell rounded out the Libertines. Pete and Carl have had a tumultuous friendship: Carl kicked Pete out of The Libertines for his drug use and Pete burgled Carl’s home.
The interplay between Pete Doherty and Carl Barât is fascinating to watch: it almost borders on homoeroticism.
Here for your viewing (and listening) pleasure is a playlist that I assembled of videos featuring The Libertines:
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#TBT #MusicMonday Top Ten #Christmas Songs Written by Jews
I’ve updated this post Top Ten #Christmas Songs Written by Jews from December 24, 2018 to include a Spotify playlist that you can embed in your website or blog or share it via social media.
Also, I’ve updated the link to the article (which had moved):
Tracy, M., 2012. Christmas songs written by Jews. Tablet Magazine. Available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/have-yourself-a-jewish-little-christmas [Accessed December 16, 2021].
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#MusicMonday “Different Drum” by the Stone Poneys
What a couple of days! Yesterday, my husband had to be taken to the emergency room. While he was discharged later in the evening, he’s felt weak all day today and has been lying down in the recliner. He also said that he had a fever, which he attributed to the booster shot that he received yesterday.
Anyhow, here’s the #MusicMonday feature:
Mike Nesmith of The Monkees AKA The Pre-fab Four died on Friday, December 10, 2021. While he was with The Monkees, he challenged Don Kirshner to let them play their own instruments on their recordings (he succeeded).
What’s lesser known is that Mike Nesmith was a songwriter in his own right. My friend Ann is fond of his song Joanna. He also penned Different Drum, which he tried to pitch for The Monkees, but the control freak producers of the TV show rejected it.
The Stone Poneys featuring the youthful Linda Ronstadt recorded Different Drum, which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1967.
You can find more about the process of recording Different Drum by The Stone Poneys in Mark Myers’ Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop.
Lyrics:
You and I travel to the beat of a different drum
Oh, can’t you tell by the way I run
Every time you make eyes at me? Whoa
You cry and moan and say it will work out
But honey child I’ve got my doubts
You can’t see the forest for the trees
Cold Cream 'n' Roses 
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