Just in case some of you may have forgotten, “Achy Breaky Heart” was a big hit. As a matter of fact, it was the number one song on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart on this day, June 27th, of 1992. It was so big that it became the first country single to be certified platinum since “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton in 1983. Whether you loved it or hated it, you could not avoid it.
Take a trip down memory lane with me, Billy Ray, and Achy Breaky Heart!
After all these years, Sarah McLachlan is still making beautiful music. Here is her latest music video for the title track of her upcoming album.
Enjoy!
Maybe if I catch my breath
Maybe if I wait a little
I’d remember how it hurts and stop before I fall
I’d forget to come apart
I’d catch myself and hold on tightly
Let memory wash over me, forgive but don’t forget
So you come back to me begging
“Why’d you leave? Tell me why, how you could you let this go?”
Let it be all it is
Small and still a memory like a stone
A jagged edge made smooth by time
Let it be all it is
Small and still and better left alone
Some things are better broken
Some things are better broken
Illusions come the venom stings
Swirling visions, soft and perfect
They blur all the edges ‘til everything looks fine
So I’ll pretend I didn’t cry and you pretend that you’re my savior
We both remember what we want – to get us through the night
So don’t come back to me begging
“Why’d you leave? Tell me why, how could you let this go?”
Let it be all it is
Small and still a memory like a stone
A jagged edge made smooth by time
Let it be all it is
Small and still and better left alone
Some things are better broken
Some things are better broken
Let it be all it is
Small and still a memory like a stone
A jagged edge made smooth by time
Let it be all it is
Small and still and better left alone
Some things are better broken
Some things are better broken
I’ve shared before that Alabama was the group that my family listened to the most when I was growing up. Alabama could do it all. They knew how to put out fun country songs like “Tennessee River,” “Mountain Music” and “Dixieland Delight.” They put out some good workin’ man songs like “Roll On” and “40 Hour Week.” They took care of their redneck roots with songs like “Song of the South,” “Born Country,” and “Hometown Honeymoon.” But they seemed to really excel at love songs. I’m guessing that there was a lot of slow dancing and baby conceptions taking place during the 80’s to Alabama love songs. Songs like “Take Me Down,” “When We Make Love,” “There’s No Way,” and “You’ve Got the Touch” were all number one hits that went a long way towards the group being named “Artist of the Decade” for the 1980’s by the Academy of Country Music.
For my song of the night, I’m going to share one of my favorite Alabama love songs, “Feels So Right.” This song is a vibe, and if we’ve been lucky enough to experience the feelings expressed by these lyrics, it will take us back to some wonderful times. Enjoy my friends:
This song is from A Walk To Remember, which was Mandy Moore’s first big starring role. If you haven’t seen A Walk To Remember, Mandy Moore plays a girl who marries Shane West but then dies a year later.
I guess this video is a sequel because now Mandy Moore is singing to Shane West from Heaven while Shane watches old home movies of him and Mandy goofing off between filming their scenes. Shane uses a telescope and discovers that he can see Mandy in Heaven and Mandy looks really happy. Then Shane goes into the city and is reminded that his romance with Mandy was just a part of a movie. I don’t know if that’s a happy ending or not.
Enjoy!
Today’s song of the day is a another song inspired by the Pine Tar Incident. I bet Billy Martin hated this song.
Well, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times
Carried the story in big headlines
How Kansas City George was robbed that day
When Tar Baby Billy took his bat away
It was two men out in the top a’ the ninth
It was one a’ them classic settin’s
The Goose on the mound in that Big Apple town
And George is up there battin’
As the crowd chants “Goose!”
He turns it loose
With fire and smoke and ash
George sends it deep
In the right field seats
Another timely crash
As he rounded third and he headed on home
Was a gleam in Billy’s eye
Dick wondered “What’s he up to now?
“I know this guy’s real sly”
Billy grabbed the bat as both teams sat
In awe upon the benches
Says, “There ya are! That there’s pine tar!
“An’ it’s a whole lot more’n eighteen inches!”
Tar Baby Billy can you hear our song?
Did you cry about the game last night?
Cry Baby Billy tell us all what’s wrong?
All you wanna do is fight
You like a child, kickin’ dirt on the umpire’s shoes
That’s the way you’ve always been
So now we’re gonna take that pine tar rag
And rub it in your face again
So Tim thought it through, and he asked the crew
Then with bat in hand, he shouted
“You’re out! The home run just don’t count!
“I’m gonna have ta disallow it!”
Well, the sky was clear and the day was hot
But George was even hotter
Till Lee got wise, and said “Hey, you guys!
“This claim ain’t a-gonna hold water”
Tar Baby Billy can you hear our song?
Did you cry about the game last night?
Cry Baby Billy tell us all what’s wrong?
All you wanna do is fight
You like a child, kickin’ dirt on the umpire’s shoes
That’s the way you’ve always been
So now we’re gonna take that pine tar rag
And rub it in your face again
Well, the fans was riled and suits was filed
To create a long dee-lay
Then Billy’s team, apparently
Was just afraid to play
Now the stage was set and Billy bet
That he had the upper hand
But Billy was fooled when the big court ruled
“You gonna play this game, as planned!”
Well, Tar Baby Billy can you hear our song?
Did you cry about the game last night?
Cry Baby Billy tell us all what’s wrong?
All you wanna do is fight
You like a child, kickin’ dirt on the umpire’s shoes
That’s the way you’ve always been
So now we’re gonna take that pine tar rag
And rub it in your face again
With affidavits (notarized)
That George had touched ’em all
The umpire said, “We a step ahead
“Gonna put an end to Billy Ball”
“We done heard the call for Billy Ball
“We ain’t never gonna hear it again
“Just like the cheer for Billy’s Beer
“When the Democrats was in”
Now the game they played that summer day
Won’t be famous for the scores
But the incidents that have happened since
Will be remembered as Tar Wars
Tar Baby Billy can you hear our song?
Did you cry about the game last night?
Cry Baby Billy tell us all what’s wrong?
All you wanna do is fight
You like a child, kickin’ dirt on the umpire’s shoes
That’s the way you’ve always been
So now we’re gonna take that pine tar rag
And rub it in your face again
This video celebrate all of the hard work that goes into running your own business and owning a giant landline phone. This video deserves a lot of credit for its production design. Everything from the boxes to the phone to color scheme to the outfits worn by the band works.
This song is the title track from Automatic’s forthcoming new album.
Enjoy!
Cut your hair
With kitchen scissors
New look
A different image
Secondhand
Not television
Shopping malls
They make you vicious
Yuppy farm
Bread in the kitchen
Pissing on your dreams and wishes
Sabotage
The banking business
Capital makes
Big decisions
I wanna be like
Going out alone
They wanna be like
Copy or clone
I wanna be like
What do you stand for
They wanna be like
Bet on a dead horse
And it’s there (da da da da da)
If you dare (da da da da da)
No divide (da da da da da)
You and I (da da da da da)
I wanna be like
Going out alone
They wanna be like
Copy or clone
I wanna be like
Give me the answer
They wanna be like
Still moving backwards
Falling hit the ground I’m running
Towards the edge of something
Tired of only watching
And I can’t stop wanting
When the walls are closed in
On the way to nothing
Well the earth still pulls me
Back into myself
Today’s song of the day is based on an actual incident.
In 1983, The Royals and the Yankees were playing in Yankee Stadium. At the top of the Ninth Inning, the score was 4-3, Yankees. With two outs, the Royals’ George Brett hit a two-run home run to give his team the lead. However, Yankees manager Billy Martin protested that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat. When the umpires demanded to see the bat, Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry gave the bat to a batboy and told him to hide it. When they finally did manage to find the bat, the umpires agreed with Martin, nullifying the homerun and calling Brett out. Because Brett was the third out, this gave the Yankees the victory. An understandably angry Brett attempted to confront umpire Tim McClelland about the ruling but was physically restrained by his teammates.
The Royals protested the game and the American League President, Lee MacPhail, upheld their protest, saying that pine tar did not give a batter an unfair advantage. 25 days later, the Yankee and the Royals met and resumed the game in a nearly deserted stadium. The Royals won 5-4. As for the bat itself, it now resides in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Pine Tar Incident inspired today’s song of the day, The Pine-Tarred Bat or The Ballad of George Brett, written and performed by “Red River” Dave McEnery.
Lainey Wilson may be heading out west to Southern California in this video but her heart, her mind, and her imagination still rest with that one rodeo rider in Laredo. The song’s a short story and the video is a visually stunning interpretation of love and regret.
I liked this video.
Enjoy!
It’s been 23 years since the world was introduced to Danny Boyle’s genre-defining horror film 28 Days Later. The film helped reinvigorate the zombie horror genre by introducing the so-called “fast zombies” to the horror lexicon.
It was a divisive change of pace, so to speak, within the zombie genre fandom. Some welcomed the change since it brought a new type of energy to what had become a stale, oft-ridiculed zombie film trope of the slow, shambling undead. The purists saw it as separate from the rules introduced by the zombie subgenre’s godfather, George A. Romero, with his Living Dead films. Yet, it doesn’t matter which side of the debate someone was on (something even I have fallen into spending way too much time with) there was no denying the fact that Boyle made a great horror film…no, let me correct that. He made a great film.
This was followed 5 years later by 28 Weeks Later (minus the involvement of the first film’s director and screenwriter, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland) with Spanish filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. While not on the same level as the first film, it did add something new to the world created with the first film. It even had a mid-credit sequence that gave a hint as to how the series could move forward.
The latest “Song of the Day” comes courtesy of the series film composer John Murphy. He did the soundtrack for the the first film and the sequel. The song I picked was used in the first film, but took center stage in the sequel. The piece of music is the track titled “In the House – In a Heartbeat” that becomes the main theme for 28 Weeks Later.
I made a slightly unfair joke about the Dave Matthews Band in a review yesterday so, to make up for it. today’s music video of the day is for a Dave Matthews song that I like.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 