On this day in 1950 ~ Ed, Gene, Joe and Vic, AKA The Ames Brothers, reached the #1 spot on the pop music charts for the first time, as Rag Mop became the most favorite song in the U.S. The brothers enjoyed many successes with their recording efforts.
The song is actually a 12 bar blues song written by Johnny Lee Wills and Deacon Anderson. It is considered by most to be a novelty number, and I suppose that is probably right. Rag Mop was “adapted” from a late 1940’s song called “Get the Mop!”
For the Ames Brothers, the song was a double-sided hit. Sentimental Me hit the charts in January of 1950, and Rag Mop scored number one status 75 years ago today.
Our high school band was trying to think of a fund raiser. We decided on doing a lip synch contest (long before all the ones you see on late night TV today). I don’t recall how many acts we had, but I do remember the auditorium was sold out! The band kids did little skits between acts so the judges could score.
My buddy, Steve, and I did a lip synch to Rag Mop. The premise was that we’d have a chalk board with the lyrics on it (listen and you will see what I mean). I would be a “teacher” pointing the letters out to my “student,” Steve. When the chorus came, we’d dance around the stage with mops and a mop bucket. It was total stupidity!
Before the “incident.” I remember we asked our custodian if we could borrow some mops for our sketch…you can see them behind the chalk board.
What made it memorable for us, and every one watching, was not planned at all. Apparently we picked the defective chalkboard! We flipped the chalk board over for the second verse, and when it came time to repeat the first verse, we went to flip the chalkboard over and one of the legs snapped and the chalkboard started to fall. While both of us cracked up, I was able to get the leg back up, and got the chalkboard to stand. From the time it snapped until we got it back up was about 20 seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. We were laughing so hard we were crying! Needless to say, we didn’t win.
This was the version that went to number one, Steve and I used a more up-tempo version.
Back in November, I did a feature I called “Share Your Nostalgia.” I asked some of my blogger friends to write up a piece that focused on their favorite toy from childhood. The response was positive and it was suggested to do another round. So this time around, I asked for them to tell us about their Favorite Childhood Book.
Their book could be something that was read to them by their parents or grandparents. It could also be a book that was read to them in school at story time. I also suggested that their book might be one that they read to their own children. I wanted each of them to have as much freedom as necessary.
We’ll kick things off with my pal, Christian from Christian’s Music Musings. Christian features music from every era on his site. My favorite feature is his “Sunday Six,” where he features six random songs. It’s always a good mix.
Christian was raised in Germany. Perhaps he’ll get us started with a German author? Let’s find out!
My Childhood Admiration of Karl May’s Winnetou and Old Shatterhand
A few weeks ago, Keith (Nostalgic Italian) put out another call to fellow bloggers to contribute to his new recurring feature Share Your Nostalgia. This time, he asked participants to write about their favorite book from childhood.
The topic reminded me that sadly I haven’t read a book in ages. My lame excuse is I do a lot of reading as part of my job, so I don’t want to spend my spare time doing the same thing. I hate to admit it, I think my real problem is short attention span. I no longer have the patience to read an entire book. That said, ironically, my blogging involves quite a bit of background reading, though I’m relying on Wikipedia and other Internet sources, not books.
A short attention span or lack of patience, however, never prevented me from reading books when I was a child. Perhaps, there were fewer distractions back then while I was growing up in Germany. Usually, I read in the evening in bed prior to sleeping. Among my favorite books were the Western novels by Karl May, featuring the characters of Winnetou, the Apache, and his friend and blood brother Old Shatterhand.
At age 8 or 9, I didn’t question May’s distorted portrayal of the American West and representation of Native Americans. It wasn’t until 1908 the German author took his only trip to America, visiting New York, Albany, Buffalo, Lawrence and Boston. At that time, he had already published many of his famous novels featuring Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Despite all of this, May is one of the best-selling German writers of all time, with about 200,000,000 copies sold worldwide, according to Wikipedia.
Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, as depicted by actors Pierre Brice and Lex Barker in a popular German movie series
While I still recall titles of some May novels I read as a child, such as Winnetou I, Winnetou II, Winnetou III and Der Schatz im Silbersee (“The Treasure of the Silver Lake”), the details are gone. In a nutshell, Old Shatterhand was a young German who had come to America and initially was working as a surveyor for a railroad company expanding across the American West. He first meets Winnetou under hostile circumstances, but the two men not only become friends but also blood brothers. Together, they fight for justice and against villains who often seek to exploit tensions between settlers of the American West and Native Americans. Eventually and tragically, Winnetou is killed.
At the time I was reading Karl May novels, his stories and characters were pretty popular in Germany. I loved watching movie adaptations that featured Winnetou, Old Shatterhand and other recurring characters in the novels. There were also Karl May theatrical open air festivals in various German towns like Bad Segeberg and Elspe, which continue to this day. I’ve never been to any of the performances. In 1985, German scholar Hartmut Lutz came up with a term to describe the fascination in German popular culture with the Indigenous peoples of North America: Deutsche Indianertümelei (“German Indian Enthusiasm”).
In the aforementioned movies, Winnetou was portrayed by French actor Pierre Brice, while Old Shatterhand was played by American actor Lex Barker. Not surprisingly, they were among my favorite actors as a child. These movies were produced during the 1960s in Germany and largely filmed in the former Yugoslavia, which not only offered cost-effective locations but spectacular landscapes that had some resemblance of the American West.
The characters of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand were also part of daily playing with my best friend. I was Winnetou and he was Old Shatterhand. Every day, we came up with our own stories and amazingly never got bored. At some point, we even had toy versions of their rifles, Winnetou’s Silberbüchse (“The Silver Gun”) and Old Shatterhand’s Bärentöter (“Bear Killer”) and Henrystutzen (“Henry carbine”), and ran around in costumes.
I’m leaving you with a short clip of the intro to the film Der Schatz im Silbersee. Unfortunately, it’s in German, but I guess you can still get an idea why an 8-year-old would be excited about it!😊 The clip also features the main musical theme written by German composer Martin Böttcher, which I loved at the time. Admittedly, writing the above, as well as watching and listening the clip gives me nostalgic feelings about my childhood. I guess this means mission accomplished!
Nathan Lane turns 69 today. Nathan has starred in movies like The Birdcage, Mouse Hunt and The Producers. To me, he will always be Timon from The Lion King, where he introduced us to the phrase “Hakuna Matata.”
In this popular song from the 1994 Disney classic The Lion King, Timon the meerkat (Nathan) and Pumbaa the warthog (Ernie Sabella) share their worry-free philosophy with Simba (Matthew Broderick), a lion cub who is grieving over the death of his father.
The Swahili phrase “Hakuna Matata,” they explain, means “no worries” and helped Pumbaa deal with his own rough childhood, when all the other animals shunned him over his frequent flatulence. Simba also adopts the motto as he transitions from a cub to a full-grown lion.
The song was written by Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), who also wrote Can You Feel The Love Tonight and Circle of Life for the film. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to another Lion King number: “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.”
Shortly after the film was released, Disney trademarked the phrase so other companies couldn’t exploit the brand by plastering the motto on their products. In 2018, close to 200,000 people signed a petition for Disney to give up the trademark on the grounds of cultural appropriation. “The term ‘Hakuna Matata’ is not a Disney creation, hence not an infringement on intellectual or creative property, but an assault on the Swahili people and Africa as a whole,” the petition reads. But, as trademark experts point out, Disney doesn’t really own the phrase, it just owns the use of the phrase when connected to the film or the company.
“No worries”…..feel free to use the term and sing along! Happy birthday, Nathan Lane!
Sometimes I just have to chuckle. Apparently, my life is still of interest to folks from my past who have yet to move on. Let me explain.
I had one of those Tik Tok pages a while ago. My coworkers sit and watch videos at work when they get a break. One of them suggested I join. When I created my account, they obvious thought they’d know what kind of content to show me. “Let’s see, here is a guy in his early 50’s….lets show him girls with big breasts.”
I swear, I asked my coworker why she would tell me to get in the app. “All they show me are girls with big boobs! I don’t want to see that and I certainly don’t want my kids to be playing a game on my phone and accidentally see that garbage!” She told me in order to get what I want to see I have to search things like “great golf shots” or “funny cats.” I told her I could think of better things to do than to just watch “Tit Tok” and deleted the app.
Fast forward about a year. My wife Sam watches Tik Tok and get’s ideas for games with the kids, She gets recipes. She gets book ideas. She sees funny posts about marriage and having toddlers.
She began to forward me videos on Facebook. I told her I couldn’t see them because I didn’t have the app. She encouraged me to download it again so I could see what she sends. I told her why I didn’t want to, but I ended up getting it.
The only content I have posted was Detroit Lions things. I haven’t posted anything personal. I may have posted a silly picture from the internet, too, but that’s it, My posts are kinda boring. That didn’t stop a bunch of foreign folks from following my page. I don’t know who they are, A couple friends found me on their and added me, too.
One thing that I like about Tik Tok is that I will get notifications saying who looked at my page. Naturally, it wasn’t but a week after I started my account back up that I got a notification: (Ex-wife) had viewed your profile. I laughed. She viewed it a few times after that, too.
Then I got one: (Former Sister-in-Law) has viewed your profile. They are like two peas in a pod. Then another one popped up: (Ex-wife’s friend and former coworker) viewed your profile. Really?!
I suppose I am the Most Interesting Man in the World. Maybe I need to do a few more beer commercials?
Anyway, I thought about calling them out on the page, but why bother? I truly don’t know what they want or what they expect to see. So I just posted a photo of a woman looking into binoculars with the song “Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell” playing. Oh, and I wrote, “Nothing to see here, please move along!”
Will they get the hint? Probably. They’ll create phoney accounts so they can keep looking. I promise, my page will be very boring. I can assure you, there are people who are more interesting that me that you can stalk….
It has been a while since a book has run me through the entire gamut of emotions. I just finished one that had me laughing out loud one minute and angry as hell then next. The book will make you feel “pity, horror, righteousness, relief, joy” and more. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books was a fantastic read with a wide range of characters. It tackles some strong subject matters and “taboo” issues, yet is entertaining and enlightening.
One reader’s review said that the book, “takes an important, heavy, timely topic and makes it highly entertaining and extremely relatable while never sacrificing deep meaning, contemplation, and human empathy.” I think that really sums it up nicely.
Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
The provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking! Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us a bracing, wildly entertaining satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything.
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.
But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome” dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.
That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town…and change it forever.
There is a line in the book that really stood out to me. Actually, there are many, but this was the first one that hit the nail on the head. “When you have everything, the only luxury left is taking things from others.”
This is a book that I felt had a little bit of something from everyone. It also hits on things that are timely today. As I listened to the audio book, I found myself seeing just how many of the things discussed in the story were relatable to what is happening in our world today.
I will say one last thing. The ending is a bit cheesy, but it certainly doesn’t take away from the story. I actually liked the way everything wrapped up. I would recommend it to anyone who asked me what I thought of it. As a matter of fact, I’ve already reached out to many of my reader friends and suggested it.
I was never one who liked candid shots of me growing up. However, as an adult, those shots often bring back a strong memory. That’s the case today.
The above photo is one that my dad took of me coming out of Michigan National Bank. This was my first bank account.
I had a paper route and I used to collect all the money, give it to my folks, who’d write a check that I gave to the paper. The tips were mine.
After someone broke into our home one night, my dad decided it was best to get me my own account. I had my own checking account, so I could write the checks to the paper myself.
The first thing I remember was that it was Michigan National Bank. It was located near the Hoover 11 Shopping Center. This made it easy to put the money in the bank and then go spend my tips on records, toys, or books
It’s funny to see me holding the checkbook here. At the beginning, I kept such great records of that account. I always put the debits and credits in the ledger. At some point, I was only putting in the amount of the cost of the papers and keeping the rest of the money. So, I stopped keeping track. Dumb mistake …
I have to be about 10 or 11 here. I say that because I remember that coat being one I had gotten from my grandma for Christmas. I would put me in 5th or 6th grade here.
I often think about how lucky I was to have a paper route. I learned a lot of lessons from that “job.”. To me, it was a right of passage. It was an easy job and it made me enough money to support my “music habit!!” It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was enough.
In case you are wondering, I was never like the paper boy in Better Of Dead who stalked John Cusack for his “two dollars.”
Last night, I went to turn onto my other side when I came face to face with someone sharing my pillow. My son was next to me and it is obvious that Bitsy found a way to make his pillow a bed!
Gee, doc, I’m not sure why I can’t sleep… I swear, even when I’m just trying to enjoy a cup of coffee on the couch, these cats are there!
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After my son came home with his CPAP masks last week, he decided to make a belt. I can’t wait to see what happens when he actually gets the machine.
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My daughter made the bulletin at school. She was counting to 100. So proud of her!
When we got to school yesterday, she said, “Daddy, let’s get a picture of you and me with my hair!”
She loves when Mom does her hair. I still struggle with a single ponytail!!
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Speaking of mom, I had asked her to get me a couple floppy T-shirts. She did, but also got me a surprise.
Back when we first started dating, my wardrobe was a lot of “band shirts.”. AC/DC, Beatles, Rolling Stones and others were all my daily wear.
This is just one of the reasons I love her!
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Tax season is upon us! We just got out last piece of info and are ready to prepare ours.
I started listening to a new podcast where the host gives you tips on how to maximize your refund. I can’t lie, he’s really good with numbers. The thunder and lightning are a bit distracting, but he’s worth a listen.
Based on what he said, I might be getting back “Two! Two Thousand Dollars …. Ah! Ah! Ah…,”
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
Late 2006 and most of 2007 was a blur to me. The loss of my mother hit me hard. I distanced myself from so many people, including my wife at the time. That wasn’t good because the weekend we buried my mom, we found out we were expecting our second son. I was there, but I was not there.
Life goes on, however, and I was still working and DJing. In between all of that, I was seeing a grief counselor, which helped a little. But not much. All that being said, music found a way to get me through the tough times. Let’s look at my 2007 picks.
One of the things that has always remained constant is that people love to dance. Line dances like the Hustle, the Madison, and the Stroll have been getting people on the dance floor for years.
The Cupid Shuffle has been compared many times to the Cha Cha Slide from 2000. They are two very different songs, but they both have easy to follow line dances. Those songs became a staple of DJ gigs, dance clubs, and a night at the bar. It remains one of those songs that people of all ages can dance to. Folks still get excited when there here it play.
Nothing makes a DJ happier than a full dance floor. This one always filled them.
Cupid Shuffle
Honestly, I had forgotten that Michael Buble’ dated Emily Blunt. It seems like she and John Krasinski have been together forever. Michael was her boyfriend before she met and married John. Buble’ wrote the song Everything for Emily when they were still together. He explained:
“I wrote that song about the great happiness of real love, but at the same time I was making a statement about the world. We’re living in really crazy times, and I wanted to say that no matter what’s happening, this person in my life is what really makes it worthwhile.”
In 2009, after Buble’ and Blunt broke up, an Australian newspaper asked him about the song. He explained:
“I can sing ‘Everything’ because I’m OK now. But straight after, well, I didn’t want to listen to music. Forget about my music. I couldn’t do anything. The only good thing I did do was I went and got a therapist. I felt bad for everybody involved. It’s definitely worse cause it’s all done publicly. You go to the grocery store and it’s in every magazine. It’s the same thing that’s happened in my other break-ups. It’s always tough. You grow attached to someone and they become your best friend. You lose a friend – that’s one of the most difficult parts. I’m a sentimental person.”
This one didn’t mean much to me until after Sam and I got together. She is my everything without a doubt.
Everything
There was something about Colbie Caillat for me. I still don’t know whether it is her voice or the words of her songs. I really connected to her music. I remember hearing Bubbly for the first time and trying to figure out just what (or who) it is about. I found out, it isn’t about anyone or anything specific. According to songfacts, Colbie says,
“It’s about the feelings you get when you have a crush on someone and they make you make smile all the time; they give you butterflies and you just adore everything they do.” She added that the inspiration for the song came in the summer of 2006 when she was realizing that, “I didn’t have a crush on anyone, and its always fun to have a crush. So I was just thinking about missing those feelings and wanting them.”
She comes from a musical family. Her father, Ken Caillat produced Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Tusk albums!
Colbie Caillat explained the album title to MTV. “Coco is my nickname,” she said. “My parents called me it since I was a baby. And then my friends called me that, now my producer calls me it. So I just, I don’t know, I figured that would be a cool name for the album.”
She is a beautiful lady with a beautiful voice.
Bubbly
Sara Bareilles signed with Epic Records in 2005 and recorded the album Little Voice. Prior to this, she released a lot of demos. Things changed in a heartbeat thanks to iTunes.
“Love Song” was featured as the free single of the week on iTunes between June 19th and 26th June 2007. People then began to check out her album. Little Voice became the most downloaded album on the iTunes store between July 8th and 17th. Because of this, her music gained a lot of fans. She went from having a relatively small following to national exposure within a very short space of time. In an interview with Songwriter Universe, she commented on the popularity of the song:
“Honestly, I don’t know what it is about ‘Love Song’ that’s catching on with everyone. I think it’s just a cool and sassy uptempo tune and people are ready for a female artist in that range.”
What many people don’t know is that an artist doesn’t always have a lot of control of their music. Many times, they are asked to record something that the label feels is what the public wants. That was sort of the case with Love Song. Sara says,
“‘Love Song’ came out of my own frustration about trying to please somebody else with my music. I really put an unseen pressure on myself and got way too caught up in what other people wanted. That is not why I write songs. No one was really excited about the material I turned in. ‘Love Song’ came on a day where I was like, ‘God, just let me write something – anything – just for me.’ The label had no idea I was writing about them.”
I guess I like this because it does have a “feel” to it. It is as cool and sassy as she says.
Love Song
One of the absolute coolest artists I have ever met is James Otto. When I worked at the Moose he dropped by to play us some tunes and blew us away. One of the songs was “Just Got Started Lovin’ You.” My program director, Jim Johnson, and I looked at each other when he was done playing it and asked if we could start playing it on the air that day!
It was the ultimate smooth love song. When you get married, it’s easy to say I will love you forever. However, when you say, “Hold on to your seat, because I just got started loving you!” In other words, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
James wrote this with Jim Femino and D. Vincent Williams. In an AOL interview, he said,
“We sat down to write and I said, ‘I have got this hook – just got started loving you.’ D. Vincent had this melody line, which turned out to be completely hooky. The feel of that melody and that hook just sounds sexy, but I had no idea it was going to do what it did.”
In regard to the song itself, he says,
“This song is kind of a real groovy, R&B-feeling song. Like if Ray Charles was doing a modern Country record. It would have that R&B-feel to it, that kind of groove to it. It seems to be appealing to more women than men, which is not a bad thing. Actually the key demographic in Country music is women and all men want to reach women. That’s why we play music and buy nice cars and buy nice things, because we want to meet women in the first place. So, I guess it’s just a groovy song, it’s got a unique feel and kind of a sexy thing and hopefully it reaches them on all those levels.”
The song reached #1 in May of 2008. We were thrilled for him and were glad to see him on more than one occasion when he came through town. He and I are friends on Facebook and chat every so often. Over the past year or so he’s been working on rebuilding a late 60’s early 70’s Chevelle. It’s been fun to watch.
Side note: The first time he shook my hand, I thought he’d crush it! His hands were HUGE!
Just Got Started Loving You
The next song is about murder. I don’t promote it and I don’t think it is right. However, anyone who watches the First 48 or any of those cop shows knows that cheating is often a motive for murder.
My introduction to Wake Up Call by Maroon 5 was via video. The video was edited in the style of a NC-17 movie trailer. Naturally, lead singer Adam Levine as the main character. At the end of the video, Levine is arrested and dies in the electric chair. It was one of those videos that I thought was very well done. I like when a video lines up with the content in the song.
Despite the content of the song, I love the song.
Wake Up Call
New Eagles music?! Yes, please! That was my reaction when the song How Long hit my desk. I was working at a country station at the time. There were many people who did not want to play it, but I was super excited to add it. It was so fresh and so “Eagles!” Those harmonies were still fantastic!
From songfacts: “How Long,” was recorded with Don Henley and Glenn Frey sharing lead vocals. The song sounds especially familiar, like it could have come from the 1970s. That’s because it did.
The song was written by the band’s longtime friend J.D. Souther in 1969. Souther wrote many songs for the band (Best of My Love, Heartache Tonight, etc…). The Eagles used to perform it live in the early ’70s, but never recorded it. Souther put it on his first solo album in 1972. At the time, if one member or a cohort released a song, the Eagles wouldn’t do it themselves. However, 35 years separated them from Souther’s version. So they had no problem adding it to the Long Road Out Of Eden album.
We have YouTube to thank for the Eagles recording this song. Glenn Frey’s kids were online watching videos. They came across footage of the Eagles performing “How Long” in 1974 on a Dutch TV show called Pop Gala. They showed it to their dad and had a good laugh. Glenn’s wife suggested he record it with the Eagles. He took the idea to the band and they all got on board.
The album was the band’s first studio album in 28 years. The single didn’t even crack the Hot 100, peaking at #101. That didn’t matter, the song won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.
I just love this song!
How Long
I’m not the biggest Kenny Chesney fan. I know that will not go over well with some people. I felt that there was a time when he could record a piece of trash song and people would play it. Why? Because he is Kenny Chesney. There were songs that were much better than some of his tunes that never got airplay because stations only played established acts.
With all of that being said, he did have some great songs! Don’t Blink is one of those. It basically says what I have said over and over on this blog – Time flies! Life goes faster than you can imagine.
From songfacts: “Don’t Blink” is a reflective song where Kenny Chesney sings of a TV news story where a 102-year-old man is asked about the secret to his longevity. The man’s response is “don’t blink,” which inspired the song’s message about slowing down and cherishing every moment. So very true!
For me, having children sped up the clock of time. It just goes faster when you have children. Before you know it, you blink and they go from toddlers to high school graduates.
Don’t Blink
Leona Lewis is one of those artists who appeared on a reality singing show. She won The X-Factor in February of 2008. She waited almost a year before putting out this song. Songfacts says, the 22-year-old from Islington took her time over the follow up and accompanying album. She didn’t want to rush out a record that might disappoint all her fans who supported her on the show. It was worth the wait. In its debut week “the single “Bleeding Love” sold 218,000 copies, the biggest total for any UK single since “A Moment Like This.” In it’s debut week it outsold the rest of the UK top five put together.
“Bleeding Love” was originally intended for Jesse McCartney’s third album, Departure. However record label boss Clive Davis heard the song and wanted it for Leona Lewis, who he was championing. McCartney said: “We originally wrote the song for my record and then I guess Clive Davis heard it, called up and said, ‘We really wanna use it for her album.'” Jesse co-wrote the song with OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.
Jesse McCartney revealed that his songwriting inspiration for this song was the pain of a long distance relationship (specifically actress Katie Cassidy, daughter of singer David Cassidy). He said: “I kept thinking about being in love so much that it hurts. I was away from my girlfriend for four months at the time and I really wanted to throw in the towel (quit) and fly home. I was so in love that it was painful. It was like bleeding, it cut me open. That’s how my head was and that idea just really fit the song.”
Bleeding Love
When Taylor Swift first came out, I was impressed with her stuff. There were some really deep songs for a gal that young. I suppose I knew when they started remixing her songs for pop radio that she’d wind up leaving behind the format that made her famous.
There were some great songs from that debut album, and Our Song is no exception. AOL asked her if there was a true story behind this song. She replied:
“I wrote this song in my freshman year of high school for my ninth grade talent show. I was sitting there thinking, ‘I’ve gotta write an upbeat song that’s gonna relate to everyone.’ And at that time, I was dating a guy and we didn’t have a song. So I wrote us one, and I played it at the show. Months later, people would come up to me and say, ‘I loved that song that you played.’ And then they’d start singing lines of it back to me. They’d only heard it once, so I thought, ‘There must be something here!'”
Her debut album went Platinum on June 7, 2007. This made the 17-year-old Swift the first female solo artist to write or co-write every song on a Platinum-selling debut album. The album eventually went 7x Platinum.
When this reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, Swift became the youngest performer ever to write and sing a chart-topping Country single.
This made my list because of my wife and me. We’ll be married 7 years in March. Would you believe we do not have a song?!
Our Song
So that wraps up 2007. What songs did I miss that are on your list? List them in the comments.
Next week, we’ll move into 2008. My list includes two fantastic parent songs, a counting song, a couple songs that make you ponder, a song with a great sample, one that I came to love because of the Rock Band video game, and a song for the guys. I thank you for listening and reading!
After the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, our band director knew he wanted to pay tribute to the crew who had died. With only a week or two before our Winter Concert, we were surprised to find a new piece of music in our folders. Usually we’d work on concert songs for 6-8 weeks before performing it. The new song was the Navy Hymn. It is also known as Eternal Father Strong To Save.
We had a local pastor who was to be the narrator for our concert. Our director asked him to write something in tribute to the 7 astronauts who perished in the disaster. He was to read this while we played the Navy Hymn. His narration was perfect.
I truly wish I had the tape of this concert so I could print what he said. Before we rehearsed the number with him, our director had him read it to our band. I don’t know that there was a dry eye in the band room.
Back row, from left: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judy Resnik. Front row, from left: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair.
I have had the honor of playing the Navy Hymn at military reunions, and memorials. It truly is an emotional piece.
Today, on the anniversary of the disaster, we remember the crew of Challenger.
It was 39 years ago today. The world watched in horror as the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded live on television. There were no survivors, but there were plenty of questions raised afterwards.
I read Challenger by Adam Higginbotham at the end of November. Knowing the anniversary was coming up, I waited to post this recommendation.
This book was eye opening on so many levels. I suppose it is always easier to look back and see the red flags after knowing the outcome. It’s like all the missed signs and cues that led to the Pearl Harbor attack. They were right there, but they were blown off or not taken seriously.
In order to understand the Challenger disaster, you have to start a few years before. Higginbotham does just that. He lays all the groundwork and presents all the info to help you see just how preventable this disaster was. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster based on new archival research and in-depth reporting.
On January 28, 1986, just seventy-three seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board. Millions of Americans witnessed the tragic deaths of a crew including New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Like 9/11 or JFK’s assassination, the Challenger disaster is a defining moment in 20th-century history—yet the details of what took place that day, and why, have largely been forgotten. Until now.
Based on extensive archival records and meticulous, original reporting, Challenger follows a handful of central protagonists—including each of the seven members of the doomed crew—through the years leading up to the accident, a detailed account of the tragedy itself, and into the investigation that followed. It’s a tale of optimism and promise undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; of hubris and heroism; and of an investigation driven by leakers and whistleblowers determined to bring the truth to light. Throughout, there are the ominous warning signs of a tragedy to come, recognized but then ignored, and ultimately kept from the public.
Higginbotham reveals the history of the shuttle program, the lives of men and women whose stories have been overshadowed by the disaster as well as the designers, engineers, and test pilots who struggled against the odds to get the first shuttle into space.
I was totally fascinated by this book. At times, it could feel a bit too scientific for me. However, to walk alongside the engineers, the astronauts, and the people involved helped to grasp it all. What were they feeling? How something so big, be overlooked? Were the lives of the astronauts worth gambling with? How did the decision makers even begin to cope with the outcome of their actions?
This was truly a thorough and fantastic work on the events that led up to the Challenger tragedy.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 