Country and Atonal

[Peter]

Peter Paul and Mary

You take a stick of bamboo
You take a stick of bamboo
You take a stick of bamboo
You throw it in the water
Oh, oh, Hanaah

River, she come down
River, she come down

[Peter]

What is the best Bond song? This is one of my favorites. The lyrics are simple yet perplexing and the melody and orchestration are superb.

“You Only Live Twice” as sung by Nancy Sinatra

You only live twice or so it seems
One life for yourself and one for your dreams
You drift through the years and life seems tame
Till one dream appears and love is its name

And love is a stranger who'll beckon you on
Don't think of the danger or the stranger is gone

This dream is for you, so pay the price
Make one dream come true, you only live twice

And love is a stranger who'll beckon you on
Don't think of the danger or the stranger is gone

This dream is for you, so pay the price
Make one dream come true, you only live twice

[Peter]

Remember Jimmie Rogers singing “Bimbombey” and “Honeycomb”? Those are songs that are hard to stop re-hearing in your head. Oh Oh Spaghetti O’s. Peter

Notes. With over 40 top ten hits in the late 50s and 60s, Jimmie Rodgers is one of the early superstars of Rock & Roll. His biggest #1 hits include "Honeycomb", "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine", "It's Over", "Child Of Clay", "Oh Oh I'm Falling In Love Again" and "The Long Hot Summer", which nominated Jimmie for an Oscar. You also know him from commercial jingles taken from his songs-- Honeycomb was used for the cereal, Honeycomb; and Oh Oh Spaghetti-O's came from Oh Oh I'm Falling in Love Again. 

[Peter]

Ear worm worthy? And it was written by Bob Dylan, “Hey . . . Mama Rock Me.”

Darius Rucker - Wagon Wheel

Headin' down south to the land of the pines
I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Starin' up the road and pray to God I see headlights

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight

So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey... mama rock me
 

Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a southbound train
Hey... mama rock me

Runnin' from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old time string band
My baby plays a guitar, I pick a banjo now
 

Oh, north country winters keep a-gettin' me down
Lost my money playin' poker, so I had to leave town
But I ain't a-turnin' back to livin' that old life no more

So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey... mama rock me
 

Yeah, rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a southbound train
Hey... mama rock me

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly, had a nice long toke
But he's a-headin' west from the Cumberland Gap
 

To Johnson City, Tennessee
And I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby callin' my name and I know that she's the only one
And if I died in Raleigh, at least I will die free

So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel
Hey... mama rock me
 

Oh, rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a southbound train
Hey... mama rock me
 

So, rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama any way you feel (oh, I wanna feel)
Hey... mama rock me

Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a southbound train
Hey... mama rock me

Songwriters: Bob Dylan, Jay Secor

[Peter]

"Thank You for Being a Friend" by Andrew Gold and sung by Cynthia (Cindy) Fee

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant

I'm not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow?

And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you knew
You would see, the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say

Thank you for being a friend . . . .

Notes: Cindy Fee is best known as a jingle singer and the performer of 'The Golden Girls' theme song 'Thank You For Being A Friend', credited as Cynthia Fee. Her discography also includes the duet 'I Don't Want To Know Why' with Kenny Rogers from his 1984 album 'What About Me?' 'If you've seen any TV commercials from the 1980s or early 90s, you've probably heard the voice of Cindy Fee.' She was the voice behind the Hoover vacuum cleaner ("Nobody does it like you"). She told consumers to "get on your Pontiac and ride." She assured them that Wheaties were "what the big boys eat." And she was the voice behind, "Thank You For Being A Friend," the song that became the theme for the sitcom "The Golden Girls." Additionally, Cynthia sang the classic 'Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?', in the Golden Girls episode 'Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket?'.

[Peter]

One more innocuous letter and then I shall adjourn for a while. Isn’t saying Africans beat on drums a stereotype? “Africa” by Toto is one of the most melodic pop songs I can think of, but I wonder if the lyrics will cause it to be banned like Doctor Seuss? Peter  

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She's coming in, 12:30 flight

The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"

It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside
Frightened of this thing that I've become

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
(I bless the rain)
I bless the rains down in Africa
(I bless the rain)
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
(Ah, gonna take the time)
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Songwriters: S Cotugno, P Losito, V Pallavicini, S Ward

[Peter]

If you are ever in need of a pick me up or just some good watching and listening, type in Gene Kelly dancing in "Singing in the Rain." Gee. Who was that girl he kisses?

[turkeyfoot]

2 hours ago, Peter said:

If you are ever in need of a pick me up or just some good watching and listening, type in Gene Kelly dancing in "Singing in the Rain." Gee. Who was that girl he kisses?

Debbie Reynolds? “Gene definitely hadn’t wanted me as his costar,” she wrote. “But Louis B. Mayer [cofounder of MGM] himself had chosen me to play Kathy Selden, and there was nothing Gene could do about it, even though he was MGM’s biggest star at the time.”

Reynolds, who died in 2016, described her body’s automatic reaction to an on-screen kiss with Gene Kelly, that left her disgusted and Kelly furious.

“The camera closed in. Gene took me tightly in his arms…and shoved his tongue down my throat. ‘Eeew! What was that?,’ I screeched, breaking free of his grasp and spitting.

“I ran around frantic, yelling for some Coca-Cola to cleanse my mouth. It was the early 1950s, and I was an innocent kid who had never been French-kissed. It felt like an assault. I was stunned that this 39-year-old man would do this to me.

 

Ha ha

[Peter]

8 hours ago, turkeyfoot said:

“The camera closed in. Gene took me tightly in his arms…and shoved his tongue down my throat. ‘Eeew! What was that?,’ I screeched, breaking free of his grasp and spitting.

I thought it was the typical Hollywood kiss on the  side of the mouth going back to the twenties. I may watch it again.

 

[Peter]

Imagine Dragons doing “Thunder” is somehow comical and repetitive but a fun song to hear.

I have mentioned “Africa” before by Toto but it also needs a good listen once a year. It’s a decent video. Skoal! For your mental health. Joke. 

Notes. Where did the saying Skol come from on the Vikings? All that's agreed upon for sure is that the phrase is of Scandinavian origin, reflected in its original spelling: skål, with the "å" considered an entirely unique letter from "a." On Vikings, skol is often heard during scenes rife with food and drink, when companionship is at its peak and everyone is in high spirits.

[Peter]

Really good country songs with the word, “world” in the title? “Welcome To My World” by Jim Reeves. “Make The World Go Away” and “What’s He Doing In My World?” by Eddie Arnold.

You might also enjoy listening to “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” by Eddie Arnold

Kiss me each morning for a million years

Hold me each evening by your side

Tell me you'll love me for a million years

Then if it don't work out, then if it don't work out

Then you can tell me goodbye

[Peter]

I started to remember a Robin Williams movie: “Popeye.”  I miss him. The theme song is on You Tube. .

Sweet Sweethaven
God must love us
We the people
Love Sweethaven
Hurray hurray Sweethaven
Flags are wavin'
Swept people from the sea
Safe from democracy
Sweeter than a melon tree
Put here for you and me
Sweethaven
Sweet Sweethaven
God must love us
We the people
Of Sweethaven
God must have landed here
Why else would he strand us here
Where the air is nice and clear
Sweethaven even sounds so near
To Heaven
God will always bless Sweethaven
God will always bless Sweethaven
God will always bless Sweethaven.

Songwriters: Harry Nilsson. For non-commercial use only.

[Peter]

I have mentioned this before but suddenly there it was playing in my brain. Some really good guitar, singing, and saxophone? Gerry Rafferty – “Baker Street.” Damn it is good.