Inferno (1980, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Romana Albano)
Continuing the mini-Inferno theme that we’ve got going today, today’s song of the day is Keith Emerson’s theme song from Argento’s 1980 classic.
On Monday, when I watched The Seven-Ups with Jeff, Leonard, Bradley, and his wife Sierra (as well as one of our favorite TSL commenters, Dougie Cooper), I was struck by the fact that the film’s score sounded a lot like the score for The French Connection. At first, I figured that it was just a sign of how influential The French Connection was but later, I learned both score were composed by the same man, Don Ellis.
I’ve been thinking about The French Connection a lot since I first heard that Gene Hackman had passed away. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a secret showing of The French Connection at the Alamo Drafthouse. The film worked wonderfully on the big screen, with that car chase leaving me totally breathless. Gene Hackman’s performance as Popeye Doyle was undeniably powerful, his hyperactive and self-destructive pursuit of Charnier filling the entire theater with both dread and excitement. Even though we knew how the film would end, those of us in the audience still couldn’t look away.
Anyway, this is all my rambling way to brag about going to a secret screening of The French …. no wait, wait. Actually, this is my rambling way of introducing today’s song of the day. Here is Don Ellis’s Theme From The French Connection.
Arkansas’s own Johnny Cash would have been 93 years old today so it seems appropriate that his voice should also be featured in our song of the day. Here is Folsom Prison Blues, a song that Johnny actually sang while performing at the prison for people who very may have shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
Really, that’s what makes Johnny Cash such an American icon. On the one hand, he was a religious country boy who wrote songs about his spiritual troubles and his everlasting faith. On the other, he could make you cheer at the idea of shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die.
That’s talent.
I hear the train a comin’
It’s rolling round the bend
And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when
I’m stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin’ on
But that train keeps a rollin’ on down to San Antone
When I was just a baby my mama told me
“Son, always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns”
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry
I bet there’s rich folks eating in a fancy dining car
They’re probably drinkin’ coffee and smoking big cigars
Well I know I had it coming, I know I can’t be free
But those people keep a movin’
And that’s what tortures me
Well if they freed me from this prison
If that railroad train was mine
I bet I’d move it on a little farther down the line
Far from Folsom prison, that’s where I want to stay
And I’d let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away
Today’s song of the day comes to us from George Harrison, who would have been 82 on this day.
All Things Must Pass is a song that Harrison originally wrote for the Beatles. While the song didn’t make it into Abbey Road, it did later serve as the title track for Harrison’s first post-Beatles album.
Sunrise doesn’t last all morning
A cloudburst doesn’t last all day
Seems my love is up
And has left you with no warning
It’s not always gonna be this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away
Sunset doesn’t last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this my love is up
And must be leaving
But it’s not always going
To be this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of life’s strings can last
So I must be on my way
And face another day
Now the darkness only stays at night time
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good
At arriving at the right time
But it’s not always going
To be this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
All things must pass away
Lyrics by George Harrison
Roberta Flack, RIP.
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly
With his song
I heard he sang a good song
I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, to listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy
A stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly
With his song
I felt all flushed with fever
Embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish
But he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly
With his song
He sang as if he knew me
In all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn’t there
And he just kept on singing
Singing clear and strong
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly
With his song
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me
He was strumming my pain
Yeah, he was singing my life
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Songwriters: Norman Gimbel / Charles Fox
Seeing as how today would have been Terence Fisher’s birthday, it seems appropriate that today’s song of the day should reference the title character from Fisher’s best-known films. Straight from the 70s, here is Hot Blood’s Soul Dracula!
Today’s song of the day, much like our scene that I love for today, is taken from Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense. Here is Once In A Lifetime, performed by Talking Heads.
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
And you may ask yourself, “How do I work this?”
And you may ask yourself, “Where is that large automobile?”
And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful house”
And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful wife”
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Water dissolving and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water, carry the water
Remove the water from the bottom of the ocean
Water dissolving and water removing
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Leting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
You may ask yourself, “What is that beautiful house?”
You may ask yourself, “Where does that highway go to?”
And you may ask yourself, “Am I right, am I wrong?”
And you may say to yourself, “My God, what have I done?”
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones, there is water underground
Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Into the blue again, after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, look where my hand was
Time isn’t holding up, time isn’t after us
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was (I couldn’t get no rest)
Same as it ever was, hey let’s all twist our thumbs
Here comes the twister
Letting the days go by (same as it ever was, same as it ever was)
Letting the days go by (same as it ever was, same as it ever was)
Once in a lifetime, let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by, water flowing underground
Songwriters: David Byrne / Phoebe Esprit / Tina Weymouth / Jerry Harrison / Christopher Frantz / Brian Peter George Eno / Ronald Amanze
Continuing our series of greatest guitar solo series, I present “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles.
The song was written by George Harrison and was composed at a time after the band had just returned from a trip and stay in India to study Transcendental Meditation. Harrison, inspired by his stay in India, re-discovered his passion for the guitar and began to write songs with it as his main instrument. Thus begins an era of The Beatles and George Harrison as a maturing songwriter than made a huge contribution to the band becoming more than just the global rock phenomena pre-1968 and one where the group began to release songs and albums that reflected their new world views.
Yet, as great as the song has become since its release on November 22, 1968, it’s also well-remembered as the song that began a series of collaborations between George Harrison and Eric Clapton (a close friend) who plays lead guitar on the song. It is Clapton’s lead guitar work on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that has mesmerized listeners throughout the decades.
Clapton plays two guitar solos, the first occurring during first bridge section of the song, and the second the song’s outro. Both solos accentuates and focuses on the song’s lyrical tradition styling where the musical instrument provides the emotions that propel the song.
The outro guitar solo has also reached a new level of immortality in 2004 when Harrison was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The collaboration of artists that included Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Marc Mann, Dhani Harrison, Prince, Steve Ferrone, Scott Thurston, Jeff Young, and Jim Capaldi. It was Prince’s extended performance of the outro solo that’s become legendary.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don’t know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
[guitar solo]
I don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No-one alerted you
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all……
Still my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don’t know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No-one alerted you
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all……
Still my guitar gently weeps
[guitar solo]
Great Guitar Solos Series
Today’s song of the day comes from the soundtrack of Robert Altman’s 1975 masterpiece, Nashville.
Written and performed by Henry Gibson (who played the role of Haven Hamilton in Altman’s film), 200 Years was meant to be a satire of patriotic country music. But apparently, Gibson did such a good job capturing the feel of those songs that several patriotic singing groups actually added 200 Years to their repertoire.
Myself, I find the song to be just as heavy-handed in its satire as the song itself is meant to be heavy-handed in its patriotism. But, perhaps that’s the point. It’s definitely effective in its way and it certainly fits in with Altman’s stylized portrayal of American culture. I guess this song is a real Rorschach test. Some will see it as a commentary on jingoism. Others will hear it and say, “He’s right, we must be doing something right.”
My mother’s people came by ship
And fought at Bunker Hill
My daddy lost a leg in France
I have his medal still
My brother served with Patton
I saw action in Algiers
Oh we must be doin’ somethin’ right
To last 200 years.
I pray my sons won’t go to war
But if they must, they must
I share our country’s motto
And in God I place my trust
We may have had our ups and downs
Our times of trials and fears
But we must be doin’ somethin’ right
To last 200 years.
I’ve lived through two depressions
And seven Dust Bowl droughts
Floods, locusts and tornadoes
But I don’t have any doubts
We’re all a part of history
Why Old Glory waves to show
How far along we’ve come ’til now
How far we’ve got to go.
It’s been hard work but every time
We get into a fix
Let’s think of what our children faced
In two – ought – seven – six
It’s up to us, to pave the way
With our blood and sweat and tears
For we must be doin’ somethin’ right
To last 200 years.
Lyrics: Henry Gibson
We woke up to glorious snow this morning. It’s pretty, even if it’s not quite the blizzard that we were promised by the weather service. That said, it’s 11 degrees outside and I’m looking forward to spending the next few days cuddled up inside.
In others words, let it snow!
Here’s Dean Martin expressing the thought perfectly in today’s song of the day.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we’ve no place to go
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Man it doesn’t show signs of stopping
And I brought me some corn for popping
The lights are turned way down low
Let it snow! Let it snow!
When we finally kiss goodnight
How I’ll hate going out in the storm
But if you’ll really hold me tight
All the way home I’ll be warm
And the fire is slowly dying
And, my dear, we’re still goodbying
But as long as you’d love me so
Let it snow! Let it snow and snow!
When we finally kiss goodnight
How I’ll hate going out in the storm
But if you really grab me tight
All the way home I’ll be warm
Oh, the fire is slowly dying
And, my dear, we’re still goodbying
But as long as you’d love me so
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Songwriters: Jule Styne / Sammy Cahn
Through the Shattered Lens 