Just like yesterday’s song of the day, this is a piece of music that will be familiar to anyone who has ever been to a baseball game.
Randy Newman composed this for the 1984 classic baseball movie, The Natural. I defy anyone to listen to this without immediately remembering the greatest home run that they’ve ever seen.
Lisa asked me to pick today’s song of the day and you’ll never guess what it’s about!
Baseball!
If you’ve been to a game, you’ve heard Centerfield. If you’ve been to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, you’ve heard Centerfield a lot. This song captures everything that I and so many other people love about the great American pastime! I can’t wait to hear it again in just a few more weeks!
Well, I beat the drum and hold the phone
The sun came out today
We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field
A-roundin’ third and headed for home
It’s a brown-eyed handsome man
Anyone can understand the way I feel
Oh, put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield
Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine
Watching it from the bench
You know I took some lumps
When the Mighty Casey struck out
So say, “Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio”
Don’t say it ain’t so you, know the time is now
Oh, put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield
You got a beat up glove, a homemade bat
And a brand new pair of shoes
You know I think it’s time to give this game a ride
Just to hit the ball and touch ’em all, a moment in the sun
It’s a-gone and you can tell that one goodbye
Oh, put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield (yeah)
Oh, put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I’m ready to play today
Look at me, gotta be centerfield
Yeah
Songwriter: John C. Fogerty
Valentine’s Day is nearly over! A day like today …. it can justify three songs of the day can’t it? Originally, I wanted to cap things off with Carly Simon’s Nobody Does It Better but that song has already been our Song of the Day once this year.
So, instead, our final song of the day is another wonderfully romantic song from the James Bond franchise. Of course, it may be bring a tear to your eye if you’ve seen On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It turns out that Bond and Tracy did not have all the time in the world. But at least they had the time that they did!
Here is the amazing Louis Armstrong with the saddest Bond song ever!
We have all the time in the world
Time enough for life to unfold
All the precious things love has in store
We have all the love in the world
If that’s all we have, you will find
We need nothing more
Every step of the way
Will find us
With the cares of the world
Far behind us
We have all the time in the world
Just for love
Nothing more, nothing less
Only love
Every step of the way
Will find us
With the cares of the world
Far behind us, yes
We have all the time in the world
Just for love
Nothing more, nothing less
Only love
Only love
Songwriters: John Barry / Hal David
Valentine’s Day is a big deal! It can have more than one song of the day, right?
I mean, how can I let this day go by without sharing my favorite Bond theme song? All Time High may have been written because there weren’t many words that rhymed with Octopussy but it’s still not only one of my favorite Bond themes but also one of my favorite love songs.
Plus, it’s one of the few songs that I used to absolutely kill with during karaoke night at Grandpa Tony’s.
(Grandpa Tony’s was a nice little restaurant. The owner was a former boxer who had a crush on my mom so he had no problem with her four daughters singing their hearts out every Friday! The older you get, the more you treasure memories like that.)
All I wanted was a sweet distraction for an hour or two
Had no intention to do the things we’ve done
Funny how it always goes with love, when you don’t look, you find
But then we’re two of a kind, we move as one
We’re an all-time high
We’ll change all that’s gone before
Doing so much more than falling in love
On an all-time high
We’ll take on the world and win
So hold on tight, let the flight begin
I don’t want to waste a waking moment, I don’t want to sleep
I’m in so strong and so deep, and so are you
In my time, I’ve said these words before, but now I realize
My heart was telling me lies, for you, they’re true
We’re an all-time high
We’ll change all that’s gone before
Doing so much more than falling in love
On an all-time high
We’ll take on the world and win
So hold on tight, let the flight begin
So hold on tight, let the flight begin
We’re an all-time high
Songwriters: Tim Rice / John Barry
Today’s Valentine’s Day song of the day is my favorite song of all time, performed by the wonderful Yvonne Elliman.
I don’t know why I’m surviving every lonely day
When there’s got to be no chance for me
My life would end, and it doesn’t matter how I cry
My tears of love are a waste of time
If I turn away, am I strong enough to see it through?
Go crazy is what I will do
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah, oh
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah
Can’t let go, and it doesn’t matter how I try
I gave it all so easily to you, my love
To dreams that never will come true
Am I strong enough to see it through?
Go crazy is what I will do
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah, oh
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah, oh
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah, oh
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah (I’m in love with nobody)
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah, oh
If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you, ah-ah-ah, no
(Lyrics by Maurice Ernest Gibb / Robin Hugh Gibb / Barry Alan Gibb)
The late, great British actor Oliver Reed was born 87 years ago in London. Reed was one of those actors who was so infamous for his often alcohol-fueled exploits off-screen that it was often overlooked that he was also a very talented man whose ability to create intriguing characters was appreciated by directors Ken Russell and whose powerful screen presence went far beyond his famously scarred face. Oliver Reed was one of the actors considered for the role of James Bond after Sean Connery left the part. With his physicality and his dangerous smile, Reed would have offered an intriguing take on the character.
A British cultural icon, Oliver Reed was someone who tended to show up in the least expected places. In 1992, The Troggs rerecorded and rereleased their best-known song, Wild Thing. Accompanying them in the recording was none other than Oliver Reed. In honor of an actor who could do it all, here is today’s song of the day!
Wild thing, you make my heart sing
You make everything groovy, wild thing
Wild thing, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
Come on and hold me tight
I love you
Wild thing, you make my heart sing
You make everything groovy
Wild thing
Wild thing, I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
Come on and hold me tight
You move me
Wild thing, you make my heart sing
You make everything groovy, wild thing
C’mon, c’mon, wild thing
Check it, check it, wild thing
Songwriters: Matt Dike / Marvin Young / Anthony Terrell Smith
Seeing as today is Lincoln’s Birthday, it seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should come from John Williams’s score of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, performed here by the Film Symphony Orchestra.
Jimi Hendrix was arguably one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century. Some may dispute that label and maybe pigeonhole him as one of the greatest rock musician, but his impact on the musical landscape goes beyond just rock music, but all of music no matter the genre or style.
He was that one singular musician, just like any prodigy, who came along and burned bright for a short period of time before being snuffed out by the very gift and genius for creativity he became known for. There has been other musicians who have attained legend status since Jimi Hendrix’s untimely death on September 18, 1970, but even they would say that they still couldn’t comprehend what Hendrix was able to do with an electric guitar and in the short time he had in the limelight.
Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” is a microcosm of why musicians and rock historians almost look at Hendrix’s work with nigh-mythical status. The song, released on December 1, 1967, begins with Hendrix’s much slower chord progression accompanied by the haunting use of the glockenspiel that then leads to Hendrix’s vocals and drums. It is around the 1:45 minute mark when the song follows through on its vocals with one of the most precise and a nominee for greatest guitar solo of all-time.
The song itself is not very long, but even in the its two-and-a-half minute running time “Little Wing” achieves what most musicians could only dream of and that is a song that continues to inspire and bewilder (the song has been covered and studied countless times, but no could ever agree how Hendrix did his magic on the song).
Little Wing
Well, she’s walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that’s running wild
Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams
And her fairy tales
That’s all she ever thinks about
Riding with the wind
When I’m sad, she comes to me
With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free
“It’s alright” she says, “It’s alright”
Take anything you want from me, take anything
Anything
Fly on, little wing
[guitar solo]
Great Guitar Solos Series
The late composer Jerry Goldsmith was born 96 years ago today. Over the course of his long career, he composed many classic film scores. He was nominated for 18 Oscars and won for his score for The Omen.
Today’s song of the day comes from Goldsmith’s score for 1968’s Planet of the Apes! Listen to this and try not visualize Charlton Heston being chased by a bunch of gorillas on horseback.
Today’s song of the day is an instrumental that was recorded and released in 1972. Frank Vincent is playing the drums. Joe Pesci is on guitar. Even if not for the celebrity connection, I would love this song. It’s really good!
