The Music of My Life – Decade Extra – The 2000’s

This is sort of a continuation of the Music of My Life feature. It focused on music from 1970-2025. It featured tunes that have special meaning to me, brought back a certain memory or a tune that I just really like. I found that with the first three decades, there were songs that I didn’t feature. So I sat down with my original lists and selected some songs that “bubbled under,” so to speak.

I figured a good way to present them was to focus on a decade. 10 years = 1 song per year = 10 songs. Two weeks ago we finished looking at the 90’s. This we we’ll move to the 2000’s. So, let’s check out a few “Decade Extras.”

2000

I’m not sure why, but the more I listened to Barenaked Ladies The more I liked their stuff. It always seemed like they were having a good time and always like to have some tongue in cheek kind of lyrics. Pinch Me is no exception.

According to Songfacts, this song is one of the many that the band often change the lyrics to during live performances for comedic effect. Lyrics that are often changed include “And run through with my gym short on” replaced with “no clothing on,” “And change in to drier clothes” to “changing to my sister’s clothes.” When they were on tour with Alanis Morissette, the line was often changed to “change into Alanis’ clothes.”

In the third verse there is a classic schoolyard joke: “I could hide out under there – I just made you say underwear.” This caused a fan trend of throwing underwear on stage during live performances. When this happens, Robertson changes the line to “I just made you throw underwear.”

Bandmember Ed Robertson came up with the concept for the Philip Harder-directed music video, where he plays a fast food worker who daydreams an exciting life with restaurant patrons dancing all around him. One customer is played by Will & Grace actor Eric McCormack, a friend of the band who did the cameo free of charge. The story hit close to home for Robertson, who really did work at a Wendy’s back in the ’80s.

Pinch Me

2001

I suppose this is another one of those great Friday at 5 songs. I don’t know that I ever used it as one on my radio show, but it certainly could work. The song was previously recorded by The Ranch, a short-lived Country trio founded by Keith Urban. It was the Dixie Chicks, however, who would have a hit with Some Days You Gotta Dance.

Urban played guitar on their rendition, but according to Songfacts he kept the female trio waiting. The Australian country star recalled to Rolling Stone: “I got on a bit of a three-day bender and couldn’t come to the session and had to call them and tell them I’m going to be a bit late. Then I would call them and say I’m going to be a bit later. And then I would call them and be a bit later. And I completely missed the session. I lived like a street away. It was ridiculous. I could have walked there with my guitar in hand and I couldn’t make it. I remember just feeling so ashamed and disgusted at myself. I finally [showed up] the next day.”

“I think they brought in another guitarist that ghosted my playing, so I think there are two players on there,” Urban added. “I’m not sure how much of mine actually ended up on there.”

What amazes me about this song is that it was the eighth and final single from their Fly album! That is truly unheard of. At most, usually there are only four singles released from an album. I don’t deny that the album itself was one of the best released that year, but eight singles?!

The song peaked at #7 on the Country chart and #55 on the Hot 100. Is hard not to want to dance to this one.

Some Days You Gotta Dance

2002

As a radio DJ, you get a lot of requests. A lot of times it’s because someone loves a song, sometimes they want to dedicate a song, and sometimes they want to play it in remembrance of someone. It’s hard to believe today, but at one time the DJ was a friend who made their listener feel good with the songs that they played.

That is kind of the sentiment of Van Morrison in a song that not many people know. ‘Hey, Mr. DJ” is a song written by Van Morrison and recorded on his 2002 album, Down The Road. In the song, he pleads with the DJ to play a song that will “Make everything all right.” It was released as a single in the United Kingdom and charted at number fifty-eight.

The Rolling Stone reviewer, David Fricke said, “‘Hey Mr. DJ’ is a requiem for the one-on-one electricity of pre-Clear Channel radio, swinging with sweet brass and the iconic echo of Sam Cooke’s ‘Havin’ A Party.’

The song was originally recorded in 2000 with Linda Gail Lewis, intended for an album entitled Choppin’ Wood. Before the release of the album, Lewis’ contributions to the song were removed and string and vocal overdubs were added.

Hey Mr. DJ

2003

I remember the first time I played Clocks by Coldplay on the adult contemporary station I worked at. I was really hooked from that opening piano and even long after my shift I can remember that piano playing in my head as sort of an earworm.

According to Songfacts, lead singer Chris Martin wrote the lyrics and the piano riff for “Clocks” in 15 minutes in a studio in Liverpool, shortly before Coldplay released the album. Since they didn’t have much time, they put it aside and planned to work on it for their next album. When the band’s manager, Phil Harvey, heard the demo, he convinced them to do whatever was necessary to record it for A Rush Of Blood To The Head, especially since the song deals with the importance of time. Consequently, Coldplay delayed the release of the album by two months to finish “Clocks.”

The song was a favorite of many other musicians. U2’s Bono included “Clocks” on his “60 Songs That Saved My Life” list, compiled to coincide with him turning 60. “I chose ‘Clocks’ because I can hold onto it tighter than time,” he wrote in a “fan letter” to Coldplay. “‘Clocks’ arrived in the nick of time with its Phillip Glass-type arpeggiation and ecstatic exhortation… I just punched the air in a manly, but not aggressive way. ‘They are not a rock band,’ I thought out loud to myself, ‘there is something much more interesting going on… they’re like The Isley Brothers or something.'”

“Clocks” won the Grammy for 2003 Record Of The Year.

Clocks

2004

One of the hardest things about scheduling music on a country station is creating a balance of up-tempo to mid-tempo songs in comparison with slow ballads. Country music certainly has a lot of ballads and a lot of times those ballads are hits at the same time which makes it very difficult to schedule the music so there’s not too many slow songs in a row. I remember that being the problem when Brad Paisley released Whiskey Lullaby.

The subject matter of the song itself is not very happy. As a matter of fact it is a very sad song about a man who gets his heart broken so bad, he drinks himself to death. His ex blames herself for his death and also starts drinking, eventually killing herself with the whiskey as well.

I still remember the line of the song that made me want to add it to our playlist. Songfacts even mentions it: The key line in the song is “He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger,” a striking metaphor for what happens when drinking away one’s sorrows will no longer work, and it becomes a method of suicide.

The song is a duet with Alison Krauss, who sings the second verse in the role of the woman and also plays viola on the track.

Despite earning the 2005 CMA for Song Of The Year and also taking Video Of The Year at both the CMAs and ACMs. It was not a #1 Country hit. The way that a song becomes number one is by the amount of plays it gets on the radio. Because of the songs sad and depressing nature, it just didn’t get played as much. What’s interesting is it was never expected to be a single.

The Dixie Chicks were the first act to put the song on hold, but they didn’t record it. Then Brad Paisley heard the tune and spotted its potential as a duet. Country legend Bill Anderson co-wrote the song and recalled:

“Brad called me one day on the phone, and said, ‘I’ve been listening to this ‘Whiskey Lullaby,’ what would you think if I brought a girl to sing on that second verse?’ And I said, ‘I’ve never thought of that. Who do you have in mind?’ And he said, ‘Well, I think there’s only two people who could do it, and I would like to have one of those: Alison Krauss or Dolly Parton.’ And I told him, ‘Well, you don’t have to ask my permission to do that, because I love them both!’ So next thing I knew, they worked out all the contract stuff with Alison and everything fell into place.”

The song is extremely sad, but hauntingly beautiful at the same time.

Whiskey Lullaby

2005

I suppose I don’t remember too much about this year’s particular season of American Idol. But I must have watched it on and off occasionally because I remember when Katherine McPhee sang it. I was really impressed with not only her singing but I kind of like the song too. I’m talking about KT Tunstall’s Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.

From Songfacts:

In The Guardian newspaper of February 24, 2006, Tunstall explained: “One summer, I was traveling in Greece on a little moped and this massive black horse had broken free in an olive grove and was going nuts. It looked apocalyptic: a seed was sown. I wrote the song years later in a tiny studio in Shepherd’s Bush. I was about to tour Scottish coffee shops and was worried about coming across like Phoebe from Friends. At the same time I saw a brilliant guy called Son of Dave who looked like a ginger nylon 1980s’ Elvis: really raw blues with just voice and effects. I got a pedal and one of my techie friends helped me put myself and my guitar through it. It’s probably the most scientific I’ve been, but the song was written in a 10-minute burst. The lyrics where my ‘Heart stops dead’ refer to a heart murmur I had as a baby. I got into this fantasy that my heart felt betrayed and had decided to stop working. The song is about having to dig incredibly deep to find out who you wanna be.”

KT Tunstall says in You magazine November 4, 2007 about granting Katharine McPhee permission to cover her song on American Idol:

“It was a bit of a quandary for me, because I don’t like reality pop shows at all. They’re great TV, but they’re not good for music. When Katharine chose ‘Black Horse,’ she demonstrated a bit of personality in what’s otherwise a puppet show, and that appearance did me a lot of favors.”

Black Horse and The Cherry Tree

2006

I do realize that this is the second song from Brad Paisley on this list. He impressed me from the first time I saw him playing a little local club at a show we hosted.

He is an absolutely amazing guitar player. I was really impressed with the fact that he played every guitar on this particular song. Brad is also one of those tongue-in-cheek kind of artists, and this song is a good example. The World.

It was released on March 13, 2006, as the third single from Paisley’s 2005 album Time Well Wasted. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and also peaked at number 45 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The music video was directed by Scott Scovill. It features a little girl whose older sister finds one of her CDs in the former’s room and yells at her for it. The little girl then opens a little chest that reveals a Brad Paisley concert. She magically appears at the concert, and Brad Paisley gives her his hat. Then when the little girl is in her room again, her older sister comes in to apologize for being mean and permit her to listen to her CDs anytime. The little girl then shows her older sister what’s in the magic chest. The concert shows earth balls rolling around on top of the audience, which has been done at some of Brad Paisley’s concerts. The video peaked at #1 on CMT’s Top 20 Countdown in 2006.

The World

2007

Every once in a while, I will come across a song that I like, just because of the sound of it. That’s why James Blunt’s 1973 wasn’t on my original 2007 list, but is here.

I Like Music asked James Blunt what 1973 meant to him personally. He replied:

“Well I was born in 1978. So I wrote it about a girl called Simona in a song about a nostalgic moment – it’s a celebration of something we did last year in Ibiza. And Pacha originally opened in 1973, but 1973 was also a great year for music, so many fantastic albums came out at that time.”

According to Blunt, the girl “Simona” mentioned several times in the lyrics was based on a real woman whom he met at a club.

I’m not sure why, but I like the sound of this one.

1973

2008

The Fray always seemed to have a song that hit me with deep lyrics. I felt that way with You Found Me.

The starting point for this song was back in 2006 when frontman Isaac Slade found himself pondering why bad things happen to good people after witnessing various crises among people close to the singer. The lyrics for this tune came from these deliberations. Slade said on The Fray’s website that this was a tough song for him to write. He explained:

“Its about the disappointment, the heart ache, the let down that comes with life. Sometimes you’re let down, sometimes you’re the one who lets someone else down. It gets hard to know who you can trust, who you can count on. This song came out of a tough time, and I’m still right in the thick of it. There’s some difficult circumstances my family and friends have been going through over the past year or so and can be overwhelming. It wears on me. It demands so much of my faith to keep believing, keep hoping in the unseen. Sometimes the tunnel has a light at the end, but usually they just look black as night. This song is about that feeling, and the hope that I still have, buried deep in my chest.”

This song was inspired by a dream. Isaac Slade told The Sun February 6, 2009:

“I dreamt I ran into God on a street corner. He looked like Bruce Springsteen and he was smoking a cigarette. I had it out with him and asked ‘Where were you when all this bad stuff was happening to these very undeserving, good people?'” Slade, whose Christian faith is important to him added: “There were tough times. I was questioning my faith, angry at things that had happened in my life and the lives of my friends. A friend had suffered a miscarriage, I had lost my grandfather. I was angry and the song felt angry and hopeless too. I imagined what I’d say to God, in the face of all the crap my friends have gone through in the last couple of years.”

His description reminds me of the country song A Few Questions by Clay Walker. In that song, he questions God about a lot going on the in the world.

You Found Me

2009

I have said in the past that when Lady Antebellum (now Lady A) first came by the studio, I knew they would be a success. They have proved that in many ways. It took them three songs to get their first chart topper and it took them quite a while to get there.

I Run To You was the first #1 on the Hot Country Songs Chart for the group. The track took 26 weeks to climb to the top.

Co-Producer Paul Worley said on the album’s liner notes: “The song is an expression against hate, prejudice, negativity, running the rat race, but ultimately the redemption of love! And it has an irresistible melody and a head-bobbing groove. What could be better?”

While the trio had had two previous hits they really connected with their audience with this song. “Our fans grasped who we were with ‘I Run to You,’ “Hillary Scott told Billboard magazine. “The message and that song is so much about what we’re about. It was like two puzzle pieces fitting together. Now you know us and we know you.”

This won the 2009 CMA Single of the Year Award. Lady Antebellum also snagged the Vocal Group of the Year award at the same ceremony, ending a six-year run by Rascal Flatts in that race.

I Run To You

That wraps up this week. We’ll go one more week in the early 2000’s before moving to the 2010’s and then putting a bow on this feature for good. I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading and thanks for listening – see you next week.

The Music of My Life – 1998

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.

In 1998, I turned 28. I was still working in the mail room at EDS and spent a lot of time driving and making deliveries. Most of my radio listening was to the morning show on the alternative station or the rock station. The gal I was dating at the time would go on to become my first wife. She also listened to the same stations and we’d talk about stuff we heard on the shows. I will have to talk about her in more detail in a few. But only because it ties in with a song, that I suppose had to be on this list.

Let’s dive into the music.

If you are a regular reader to this blog, you are familiar with the Turntable Talk feature. Dave, from the A Sound Day blog hosts it and gives us a monthly topic. This month is was to write about a song that was based on a real event or a real person. My first song was almost my pick, but I knew this week it was on my list. Surprisingly, not one of the other bloggers chose it.

Here is the story from Songfacts:

The Way, by Fastball, is based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard. They were an elderly couple from Salado, Texas who drove to the annual Pioneer Day festival 10 miles away in Temple and didn’t return. She had Alzheimer’s disease and he was recovering from brain surgery.

When they disappeared, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman wrote a series of articles about the missing couple. Fastball bassist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the articles (the band is from Austin). “It’s a romanticized take on what happened,” he said. Scalzo pictured them “taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met.”

Thirteen days after the Howards went missing, they were found in Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 400 miles from their destination. They were still in the vehicle (an Oldsmobile Delta 88), which had veered off the side of the road and was hidden in brush. Scalzo had finished writing the song when he learned that the couple had died.

The song itself has a sort of retro feel to it. It also incorporates a lot of little sound effects into the mix. “There was this brief moment in time when people were having hits with really weird stuff,” Fastball’s Miles Zuniga said. “We got lucky that we came around at that time. Even two years later was too late.”

I think that is what I loved about the song. It starts off someone tuning a radio dial. It has a hollow sound to it. All of a sudden, you are hearing a full produced cut. That change in sound really grabbed me.

Songfacts puts it this way, The song opens with the sounds of an analog radio going up and down the dial, briefly tuning in stations amongst the static. When “The Way” starts, it’s as if the listener has found a song he likes and is going to give it a listen. For the first 40 seconds, the dynamics are restricted to simulate the limited frequency of a radio signal. At the line, “they drank up the wine,” the full range comes in.

Despite the sad story of the song, it is one of my favorite 90’s songs.

Listen carefully: The guitar solo was inspired by the song Secret Agent Man. Guitarist Mike Zuniga was a big fan of 50’s and 60’s songs.

The Way

Before you hear the next song. Here is a vocabulary lesson for you.

Jiggy. (adj.) (1) To be cool and trendy. (2) Often associated with a style of dress. (3) Dancing effectively. (4) Making a name for yourself. (noun) (1) sex.

Will Smith’s Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It was a monster hit. It was a song that packed the dance floor when it came out and for years afterward. It was often the song I played as the first fast dance when I was DJing weddings.

This song has so many different things piled into it. For example, This samples the beat from “He’s the Greatest Dancer” from Sister Sledge. Now add the “na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na” hook, which is from a song called “Sang and Dance” by the Bar-Kays. Finally it also incorporates some lyrical elements from the 1980 song “Love Rap” by Spoonie Gee and The Treacherous Three. (Who?!) Because of all of that, 12 different writers are credited as composers on the song!

I’m not really into rap music. While many consider this song rap, I think of it as more a pop/rock/dance/rap song. My favorite lines in the song, which make me laugh every time:

Women used to tease me
Give it to me now, nice and easy
Since I moved up like George and Weezie

Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It

Prior to 1998, I was spending a lot of time at the karaoke bar. It was a regular thing to close the bar for me. This song became the “Bar Closing Anthem” in 1998 and beyond. Many DJ’s used it at the end of the night, too.

Closing Time was Semisonic’s only American hit. Dan Wilson told The Hollywood Reporter how he wrote this song in 20 minutes:

“My bandmates were tired of ending our sets with the same song, so there was kind of an uprising where they demanded something different to end our nights with. So I thought, ‘OK, I’ll write a song to close out the set,’ and then boom, I wrote ‘Closing Time’ really fast.

There was one little adjustment later, which I credit to our A&R guy, Hans Haedelt. He said, ‘It’s too simple. You need to break up the rhythm of the verses.’ So that line, ‘Gather up your jackets, move it to the exits, I hope you have found a friend’ is the first time it deviates from the rhythmic pattern. He was right – it’s a great moment in the song.”

I used this for a while as my last song of the night, but it never felt right to me to end a DJ gig with a semi-upbeat song.

Closing Time

The next song is one that could be featured on my Movie Music Monday feature. The song appeared on the Can’t Hardly Wait soundtrack.

Can’t Get Enough of You Baby is a song that was written back in 1966! Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer wrote the song for the Toys. It was also recorded by The Four Seasons and Michigan’s ? and the Mysterians. ?’s version of the song was the more Rocking/Swinging version. When Smash Mouth recorded it, they copied that sound. Smash Mouth became the first group to bring it into the Top 40. They released it as the lead single from their Astro Lounge album.

This is one of those songs that immediately makes you feel good. Well, it does for me anyway. I mean, it’s a love song, but it rocks!

Fun Fact: Running just 2:29, this was the shortest Top 40 hit of 1998.

Can’t Get Enough of You Baby

Speaking of love songs, Diane Warren sure knows how to write them! I could write an entire blog about all of the hits that she has written! Maybe one day I will.

This is another song that could be a Movie Music Monday song. It appeared in the film, Armageddon, which starred Liv Tyler, the daughter of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.

Originally, U2 was asked to perform I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. The idea for Aerosmith performing it only came after Liv was cast in the film. The song was “A grand production featuring a 52-piece orchestra. This was by far Aerosmith’s biggest hit on the US Hot 100, and their only chart-topper. It was #1 US for four weeks in September 1998, becoming one of the most popular songs of the year.” – songfacts.com

Diane Warren found inspiration for this song after hearing about an interview with James Brolin. He said that when his wife Barbra Streisand was away, he missed her even when he was sleeping. When she set out to write a song for Armageddon, she thought this was a good sentiment to express, since the film deals with the impending destruction of all on Earth.

This was another one of those “pack the dance floor” songs. Most of the time, it was used as the bridal dance. When it wasn’t I often played it in my first slow song set. As the DJ, it was always heart warming to see couples dancing to a song like this. Staring into each others eyes, or singing the lyrics to each other. I played this one a lot!

I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing

My introduction to Barenaked Ladies was If I Had $1,000,000. The more I heard from them, the more impressed I became. I remember the first time I heard One Week on the radio. It really was something to hear them rattling off the lyrics.

Songfacts says: The band has said that this song is about a big fight in a relationship. The lyrics are essentially meaningless, but wildly entertaining. It showed off their clever wordplay in a rapid-fire interplay between their lead singers, Ed Robertson and Steven Page. Robertson wrote the song.

Robertson said, “I wrote the chorus structure of the song, but I couldn’t figure out the verses at all. I got together with Steve a bunch of times and said, ‘I have this idea for a song, and I couldn’t figure out where to go with it.’ And finally Steve said to me at some point, ‘Just freestyle it! Just do what you do onstage every night. It’s gonna be great.'”

The song One Week was a number one hit for the band – for one week.

One Week

Trivia Question: What was the most-played radio song in 1999 in 11 different countries, including Canada, UK, Australia, Japan and Israel? Answer: Kiss Me from Sixpence None The Richer.

Here in the US, the song got a lot of help and exposure from the media. Songfacts explains: It was used on the second season of the WB TV show Dawson’s Creek, first on November 11, 1998 and then on another episode that aired April 28, 1999. In between, it was used in the movie She’s All That, which premiered January 29, 1999. With just about every teenage girl in America hearing the song on the TV show, the movie, or the many radio stations that put the song in rotation, it cracked the Top-40 on February 27, 1999 and made it all the way to #2.

TV soundtracks helped a lot of songs in the 1990’s. Shows like Ally McBeal, Friends, Mad About You, and Party of Five were just a few that released soundtracks.

To me, I love the sound of the song. The guitar and the vocal of Leigh Nash blend so well together. It’s no wonder that Taylor Swift says it was the first song she learned how to play on the guitar.

Kiss Me

Last week, I mentioned the Swing Revival that was taking place and mentioned Zoot Suit Riot. The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy were a part of that, but I believe that it was Brian Setzer who took it to a whole new level.

Brian Setzer had success with the Stray Cats in the 80’s. When he formed the Brian Setzer Orchestra and started covering jazz and swing songs, we saw a resurgence in his career.

The first album came out in 1994 and featured covers of Route 66 and Lady Luck. It also featured originals like the beautiful September Skies. The second album came out in 1996 and featured covers of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Roy Montrell, and Gene Pitney. In 1998, The BSO released the Dirty Boogie and the lead single was a Louis Prima classic.

Jump, Jive, an’ Wail originally appeared on a Louis Prima album called The Wildest. It was recorded live in Las Vegas in 1956. Setzer’s version went to #23 on the Hot 100 chart, but I always felt it was more popular than that. We used to get requests for it when we DJ’s so that people could swing dance to it.

I absolutely love this version. To me, Prima’s version sounds like the Demo and Setzer’s is the finished product! The song won Setzer a Grammy in 1999 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Jump, Jive an’ Wail

The next song is hard to include on this list. I almost skipped it, but in a feature that is called The Music of My Life, how could I not list it? Let me explain.

When my ex and I decided to get married, we didn’t have a wedding song. I had some suggestions that were pretty much shot down immediately. Looking back at this now, I understand why. I was never really going to have a say in the song. I had a list of great songs. I was a wedding DJ for crying out loud, I had all kinds that we could make work.

For weeks, I attempted to suggest song after song. For each song I would be told why it was a bad choice. I finally accepted that anything I offered up was going to be turned down for some reason. So when she came to me with Edwin McCain’s I’ll Be, I listened to it and told her okay.

That being said, I have to admit that I never really felt like this was a wedding song. Not surprising that Edwin didn’t feel it was either! In a songfacts interview he said the track was not intended as a love song at all: “It was kind of a Hail Mary prayer for me, personally. And it’s been obviously linked as a romantic song. It’s one of those things that I hesitate to say too much, because sometimes songs become what they were supposed to be, and it’s not really up to the songwriter to determine what that is.”

He went on to say that a break-up prompted him to pen this song: “It was the end of a relationship for me, and it was also an admission of my inability to function in a relationship, hence the love suicide line. And it was the hope that I would be better, grow and be better as a person. I was struggling with some personal problems at the time, as well, so it was all of those things. It was this admission of failure and this prayer that I could be a better person, wrapped up as sort of the end of a relationship kind of thought. And it was something that I said to a girl that I’d been going out with. I knew that she was waiting, and I always said to her, ‘Don’t ever look back on this in any other way than I’ll be your biggest fan.’ You know, ‘I’ll always be a fan.'”

So my first wedding song was about a break up. Maybe it was prohetic?

I’ll Be

The final song brings us back to Barenaked Ladies. It wasn’t until I researched this for this feature that I realized it wasn’t really a hit. It only got up to #44 on the charts, which is surprising to me. I almost like this more than One Week. For what it is worth, it did go to #1 in Canada.

As you watch the video, keep in mind that the band was not happy with it. They had a concept of what they wanted. It was to be seen from the point of view of various household pets. (A cat, a dog, a goldfish, and a bird). The band was disappointed with the filming of the video while it was being shot, as they did not feel it was fitting their concept.

Many times, a video helped a band with their song. This was not one of those times, obviously. I have to wonder how the release date played into the song’s poor performance. It was released in late December. The charts are pretty much done at that time, and you’ve got two weeks where nothing really changes. The song could have been dead in the water the week it was released. Sorry, that’s my radio mind spewing out thoughts.

It’s All Been Done

Did I miss one of your favorites from 1998? Let me know in the comments.

Next week, we’ll party like it’s 1999! On my list is a song that was so popular I played it 4 times at a prom. The list also features one of the songs that was shot down by my ex, movie music from two big animated films, an artist who waited 30 years for his first #1, a song that makes me think of Barbara Eden, and one of my favorite cover songs.

Thanks for reading! See you next week!

The Music of My Life – 1992

In 1992, I turned 22 and would land a radio gig at WHND, Honey Radio. It was through my old radio partner that I would become all too familiar with karaoke bars. We spent a lot of time pretending to be singers at them. Believe it or not, it was listening to people try to sing that introduced me to many songs. Many of those songs, were ones I normally would have been unfamiliar with.

Let’s jump right into 1992!

The Spin Doctors are often referred to as an alternative band. I tend to think of them as a rock band, though. Two Princes sounds more like a rock song to me. I could easily hear the Stones covering it.

A buddy of mine used to sing this song all the time. From the opening drum kick and guitar lick, I was hooked. The content of the song was influenced by some classic literature. Chris Barron, said:

“I loved The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I was really into fantasy fiction and stuff like that. I wrote that song when I was 19, so I was still coming out of childhood, and as a child I loved wizards and kings and queens and princess and princesses and stuff like that. And I loved Shakespeare – I already was way into Shakespeare. So I gravitated towards that kind of imagery just because I liked books and poems from that period of time.”

Drummer Aaron Comess said that the song was almost a lot faster. “There are certain songs when you find the right tempo, all of a sudden the lyrics come out, it feels right and I think with ‘Two Princes’ we really lucked out. It’s one of those things, we got in the studio, found a good tempo, we recorded it, everything just really came together. It’s very simple, there’s not a lot of stuff on it, somehow the sound and feel we got, we just lucked out and found the perfect thing.”

Songfacts pointed out that it was songs like this one that were in high demand on radio in 1992-1993. There was an onslaught of hip-hop songs at the time and it was this “sound” that began pushing it back a bit.

Two Princes

Here is another example of how I came to learn of the original because of a parody. I was familiar with the cover of their Nevermind album, but unfamiliar with a lot of their songs. Enter once again, Weird Al.

When Al first heard Nirvana, he was very impressed but thought they wouldn’t catch on. He was thrilled when “Teen Spirit” became a huge hit, since that made the group a parody target.

Al is famous for asking for permission before doing any type of parody. He got permission from Nirvana’s lead singer Kurt Cobain while he was doing an episode of Saturday Night Live. Kurt initially thought the song would be about food. Instead, it was poking fun at how hard it was to understand their lyrics.

The video is a very close parody of Nirvana’s, and got almost as much airplay. For example, the same janitor used in Nirvana’s video also makes an appearance in Weird Al’s. This time donning a tutu and playing a tuba. Al dresses just as Cobain did, complete with wig. He plays a fake blowup guitar and makes fun of the hard-to-understand lyrics by gargling water and singing with marbles in his mouth.

FYI – Dick Van Patten was not in the Nirvana video.

This song is probably the one that really solidified my opinion of Weird Al as a musical genius!

Smells Like Nirvana

For comparison – the original video:

Ok, I admit that the next song was far from a hit. It only peaked at #92 in the US, however in the UK it hit #27. The original, of course, was a number one hit for Elvis Presley in 1957. Personally, I really like Billy Joel’s version of All Shook Up. I think it should have done better on the charts.

The song is one of many Elvis covers from the soundtrack to Honeymoon in Vegas. The movie starred Nicolas Cage, James Caan, and Sarah Jessica Parker. It also featured a whole lot of Elvis impersonators.

What I love about Billy’s version is that it retains the feel of the original, but there is enough “Billy” to make it his song. When I was DJing, I used to put on a cape, an Elvis Wig, Elvis glasses, and grab some random gal out of the audience and “lip synch” this to her. It was ridiculous, but it always got a laugh from the crowd (along with a lot of photos).

All Shook Up

Next, we have the only song that I will fast dance to. I say this, because I believe there is no real dancing necessary. Songfacts explains this perfectly:

House of Pain’s Jump Around earned relentless airplay on MTV and pop radio, and became a huge crowd pleaser in bars and dance clubs. It was great for getting people on the dance floor, as no real dancing is involved – just jumping around.

Exactly. I jump like a fool when this one is on! It’s hard to look bad. It brings the bounce with a steady, throbbing rhythm along with explicit instructions on when to jump. You can’t mess this one up!

Erik “Everlast” Schrody wrote the song. Songfacts explains that the lyrics on this track are very aggressive. It contains lines like “I bust him in the eye, and then I’ll take the punk’s ho.” Everlast was surprised when the song crossed over to a pop audience. He thought it was “too hardcore” to do so. The “pugnacious” lyrics, however, are tempered with comic relief. Listen for lines like “I got more rhymes than there’s cops at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop. ” They make it a lot less threatening.

If the horn flourish that opens this song sounds familiar, it is because it comes from Bob and Earl’s song, “Harlem Shuffle”.

Jump Around

Next a movie song that never made the movie’s soundtrack. In A League of Their Own, Madonna starred with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Rosie O’Donnell. The film was based on the true story of an all-women baseball team that was popular during World War II.

The song is about a woman who can’t and let go of her past, with the implication that her present circumstances aren’t so good. The lyrics fit well with the film’s premise, as the now-elderly women reunite and recall their glory days as baseball stars.

To a degree, I can relate to this as I tend to live in my nostalgia and memories, however, my present circumstances are actually good. I find myself thinking of those summers playing ball at our old elementary when I hear this song.

This made me laugh: The video for this song, which shows Madonna singing from the pages of a photo album, bears a strong resemblance to Boy George’s video for his 1987 song “To Be Reborn.” The similarities were not lost on the Culture Club singer, who angrily dubbed it “This Used to Be My Video” in his autobiography.

This Used To Be My Playground

What I love about country music is the honesty of it. There are a handful of songs that I can say really hit home for me. One of them is from Travis Tritt’s third album. For me, I could relate to the lyrics of Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man. After all, I was working on a DJ’s salary!

Truth be told, it doesn’t matter what job you hold, these lyrics hit home. While primarily focusing on the economical injustice to blue collar workers, it fits anyone who struggles financially.

Uncle Sam’s got his hands in my pockets
And he helps himself each time he needs a dime

Why’s the rich man busy dancing
While the poor man pays the band
Oh they’re billing me for killing me
Lord have mercy on the working man

The final verse features Tritt’s friends joining in. Listen for Brooks and Dunn, George Jones, Little Texas, Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Porter Wagoner.

Lord Have Mercy On The Workin’ Man

MTV’s Unplugged had been around since 1989. It featured Joe Walsh, The Cure, Paul McCartney, Sting, and Mariah Carey. Eric Clapton recorded an Unplugged performance at Bray Studios in London. He rearranged many of his classic songs for the acoustic context.

The resulting Unplugged album went on to become the best selling Unplugged album in the U.S. and worldwide with sales of 10 million in the U.S. and 26 million worldwide. He earned six Grammy Awards for the album. He earned Grammys for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Rock Male Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song.

I have been a fan of acoustic shows for a long time. I loved when artists came in and played acoustically for us. It is raw and you really feel the song. When I heard the Unplugged version of Layla, I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved the entirely different feel to the song! It was so much more bluesy.

The Unplugged version also helped Eric do his vocal. According to Songfacts, “playing the “Layla” riff while singing is like juggling on a unicycle, so Clapton tries to avoid it. When he does the rock version live, he’ll play the riff until his vocals come in, then let one of his band members take over the riff.” With the slower version, it was a lot easier for him.

Layla (Unplugged)

When it comes to Disney, you cannot deny the amazing songs that have been featured in their films. It is truly hard to picture anyone other than Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin. He was just perfect. There were hours of audio that were not used in the film from Robin. If it were ever released to the public, I’d buy it in a heartbeat!

Prior to having children, I was not one to run out and watch a Disney movie. However, knowing that Williams was the Genie in this one, I had to go see it. I was not disappointed.

The Genie’s song, Friend Like Me was written by the amazing composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman. Menken and Ashman didn’t write this with Robin Williams in mind, but the actor would make the number his own. Menken told Entertainment Weekly:

“We didn’t know who was going to play the genie when we wrote the song. We were looking at the character as black, a hipster, and I suggested a Fats Waller, Harlem stride-piano style from the ’40s. When Robin Williams was suggested, my first thought was, ‘Can he sing like Fats Waller?’ Robin learned every note. He was working on Hook at the time, and he would come in after being stuck in a harness all day and sit at the piano and learn. When we went into the studio, we got exactly the Fats Waller performance we wanted, and then everyone said, ‘Okay, but now can we let Robin do his thing?’ He was amazing. That trumpet wah-wah-wah was supposed to be from an instrument, and he made it vocal. He took ahold of the creative process, both on that and ‘Prince Ali’ especially. My God, he went crazy on ‘Prince Ali.’ He was doing the Thanksgiving Day Parade, Arab-style.”

One source says that the song was originally written as a Cab Calloway style big band number. Some elements of this concept remain (for instance, when the Genie scats, in typical Calloway moves), but after Robin Williams was cast it was expanded as a more comedic, pop-culture-filled song.

I miss Robin Williams. He could do comedy and drama and do them both well. This is what makes a great actor, in my opinion. He was truly one of the best ad-libbers and I always loved watching him on late night shows.

When we were picking songs for our alumni band one year, I picked this song for us. Not the best song to march to in a parade, but it was fun to play.

Friend Like Me

I was disappointed in the soundtrack version, as it seems like Robin’s vocals are a bit buried.

I just realized that my list has two Elvis covers on it. Technically, they are both movie songs, too.

When ZZ Top released their Greatest Hits album, they included a remake of Viva Las Vegas. ZZ Top took it up a notch. They took Elvis’ song and modernized it and gave it a real driving rock sound.

I remember my dad bringing home the 12 inch single of it and saying, “Keith, you’ve got to hear this!” He put it on the turntable and there was a downward swishy sound effect followed by Elvis saying, “Y’all still want me to come with ya?” Once the guitars kick in, it just jams!

It’s one of my guilty pleasure songs.

Viva Las Vegas

I had a meeting with a bride and groom once. We were going over songs for their wedding. When I asked them what their wedding song was, they told me “If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies.” I must have looked like an idiot. I thought they were joking. “Barenaked Ladies?! Really?!” I had never heard of them.

I had no idea what to expect when I went searching for the song. I’ve had my share of weird songs to play for the bridal dance, so I was ready for anything. I was finally able to get a copy of it, but it wasn’t easy. The couple enjoyed their dance and the crowd loved every second of it.

Even though it’s one of the group’s most popular songs, it was never a hit single in America. It wasn’t a hit in the UK either. A lot of it was timing: The group didn’t break through outside of their native Canada until their 1998 album Stunt. The song was even re-released in 1996, but didn’t chart then either.

This is a very important song for Barenaked Ladies. They have performed it at nearly every live show since 1988. Frontman Ed Robertson told Songfacts:

“It has become its own thing and people sing along and it represents a time and a place for so many people. It’s oddly a song I don’t get bored of. It brings such joy to the room that it’s hard to not enjoy it.”

He goes on to say, “That song, it was about being in love and being maybe a little bit extravagant but not losing hold of what’s important.” Ultimately it’s just about celebrating your good fortune with someone else, and I think I’ve stayed pretty true to that.”

The song was my introduction to the group. I have come to enjoy many of their future songs, too. Perhaps one or two may show up in the years to come.

If I Had $1,000,000

That’s a wrap on 1992. Did I miss one of your favorites? Drop it in the comments.

Next week, as we head to 1993, a few ballads with a lot of personal meaning to me, a couple fun dance songs, a spelling lesson, and more stories behind the songs.

Thanks again for reading!