Archive | November, 2009

Amos Lee is Amazing

7 Nov

Amos Lee

Hey guys,

So I was sitting in my room doing a project for nutrition, and I was inputting the vegetables that I planned on eating. I was approaching the submit button to suggest that I eat a serving or two of peas tomorrow. For some reason, after I clicked submit, my shuffling itunes decided to play Sweet Pea, by Amos Lee. Naturally, I listened to it several times before moving on to another Amos Lee song. I have come to the conclusion that Amos Lee is an amazing artist, both musically and lyrically. I enjoy taking my guitar out and jamming along with many of his songs. Unfortunately, having a catchy melody stuck in your helpless head is concomitant with listening to this artist. However, I’m willing to deal with it. Let me know what you guys think. If i had to pick my top three songs by him, I’d have to go with: Supply and Demand, Night Train, Southern Girl, Sweet Pea, and What’s been going on. Yes…I’m aware I said top three, but I decided that I couldn’t pick just three. I’m willing to deal with it. So, let’s talk about Amos Lee and his best songs. We at The Music Court look forward to hearing from you.

Court Links: Some of the Old Time Rock n’ Roll

6 Nov

When Bob Seger sang in his deep croon that he just wanted some old time rock n’ roll, I must believe that many patrons of rock agreed with him. I certainly like to listen to the song and belt out the chorus in some sort of rebellion of modern hip hop and rap. For today’s court links I thought I would focus on two of these rockers embodied in Seger’s song, John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce Springsteen

Springsteen, who turned sixty this past September, is reportedly at work on an autobiography, according to spinner.com. According to those in the publishing business, rights for the autobiography may reach 9-10 million for one lucky publishing company. Why so much money? Think about it. It is Bruce Springsteen, the American rocker. Many people would not mind picking up a book written by him. Funny point in the article where an anonymous source calls Springsteen a better writer than his unofficial historian. Not that it is any bit surprising that someone who has kind of experienced his own life first hand can probably do himself a little better justice.

http://www.spinner.com/2009/11/05/bruce-springsteen-reportedly-writing-autobiography/

John Fogerty

And, if Springsteen does not represent some of Seger’s “funky old soul,” take a listen to John Fogerty, who, according to an interview with Billboard.com is beginning to go back to the roots. “I really feel that the next recording project will probably certainly be rock ‘n’ roll and my traditional rock ‘n’ roll sounding vibe,” Fogerty said.

Fogerty, who once recorded almost daily hits with his band Creedence Clearwater Revival, is back in the studio working on some of that old time rock n’ roll.

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/john-fogerty-returning-to-signature-sound-1004035853.story

Court Polls #3: What is the Greatest Beatles Song of All Time

5 Nov

The Beatles Abbey Road

The Beatles can be split up into three stages, each one awesome. They first popped on the scene as the innocent mersey-beat British band who sang about holding hands and love. After a few years the mop-tops started growing and the music became a little more experimental and rockier (a made up term by yours truly). The third stage was a psychedelic movement that saw many of The Beatles best lyrical and musical work. With The Beatles I think the only thing that may be hard is picking what is their best work and we are ambitiously going to leave that question up to you. Below in this incredibly tough poll, please do not hurt me if I do not pick your favorite song, I am going to list five of, what I believe to be the greatest Beatles songs of all time. Vote on what you believe is their best work and drop a comment telling me why your choice is the best song or why you believe another Beatles song is the best. I will be leaving a response soon as well.

 

Lyric #16

5 Nov

I, along with the artist, have a question for all of you.

“Where’d all the good people go?”

hint: You won’t find them on the tv shows

Answer: Good People, by Jack Johnson

Song of the Day #67: “We Shall Overcome”

4 Nov

We Shall Overcome

It is sure funny how time flies. It has been one full year since President Barack Obama was elected to the office of president of the United States. Now, personally, I like to remove myself from politics because it just seems rather unsavory to me and, also, it just does not interest me. I like to say it is because, generally I like to tell the truth, but I should not say this because all politicians do not lie. Also, politics sparks to many arguments and, well, arguments are not healthy. Yet, what particuarly excited me about last election was the fact that we would be getting a new face in an office of great power who seemed more fit for the job than former President Bush. Let us stray away from politics for a second and move on to a little history.

November 4th marked triumph for human beings, in my opinion. To long have people focused on racial differences and unfortunately, while this may remain a reality throughout human existence because people look different from each other, the election proved that at least the majority of the country did not let antiquated judgements sway their opinions and, for a brief moment, we collectively ignored the triviality of race and focused on what was best for the United States.

Pete Seeger

This is the topic of this song of the day and I would like to focus on the 90-year-old Pete Seeger’s version of the old gospel song, “We Shall Overcome,” which symbolizes a journy for African American Rights which came to fruition on election day. Seeger, whose version is most popular, first learned about the gospel song, originally written by Rev. Charles Tindley of Philly , after founding “People’s Songs,” an organization focused on keeping songs of labor alive. He learned the song from Zilphia Horton’s version which was used for the Civil Rights Movement. Seeger writes: “I changed it to ‘We shall’… I think I liked a more open sound; ‘We will’ has alliteration to it, but ‘We shall’ opens the mouth wider; the ‘i’ in ‘will’ is not an easy vowel to sing well. He also added some verses.

The reason this song is influential is because its malleability. It has been sung by so many musicians and has been tremendously flexible throughout the years. The message is also incredibly topical for anyone who has been somewhat discriminated against. We shall overcome is a true American song and last year on November 4th, the hopes of the dreamers who wrote this song came true.

Seeger’s version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnPVP23rzo

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