Song of the Day: Róisín Dubh (by Thin Lizzy)

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Arleigh

Even though it’s a day late I should still include as the latest “Song of the Day” an epic song from the greatest rock band to come out of the Emerald Isle.

The band is Thin Lizzy. The song is “Róisín Dubh (Black Rose)”.

I would’ve added this song somewhere down in the future even if it didn’t have an awesome guitar solo that segues into dueling guitars during the middle section. Why you ask would I have added it well it’s because it’s Thin Lizzy and was a great marriage of traditional Celtic music with that very American folksy blues rock that was huge during the 1970’s.

Phil Lynott (R.I.P.) does an amazing job on bass and with the vocals (one of the best there ever was on the mic). Yet, the song soars once Gary Moore and Scott Gorham start battling it out in the middle section with an opening guitar solo and then both going at it.

So, yes it is a great addition to our ongoing “Greatest Guitar Solos” series within the “Song of the Day” feature.

Róisín Dubh

Tell me the legends of long ago
When the kings and queens would dance in the realm of the Black Rose
Play me their melodies I want to know
So I can teach my children, oh

Pray tell me the story of young Cuchulainn
How his eyes were dark his expression sullen
And how he’d fight and always won
And how they cried when he was fallen

Oh tell me the story of the Queen of this land
And how her sons died at her own hand
And how fools obey commands
Oh tell me the legends of long ago

Where the mountains of Mourne come down to the sea
Will she no come back to me
Will she no come back to me

Oh Shenandoah I hear you calling
Far away you rolling river
All down the mountain side
All around the green heather
go lassie go

(dueling guitar solos)

Oh Tell me the legends of long ago
When the kings and queens would dance in the realms of the Black Rose
Play me their melodies so I might know
So I can tell my children, oh

My Roisin Dubh is my one and only true love
It was a joy that Joyce brought to me
While William Butler waits
And Oscar, he’s going Wilde

Ah sure, Brendan where have you Behan?
Looking for a girl with green eyes
My dark Rosaleen is my only colleen
That Georgie knows Best

But Van is the man
Starvation once again
Drinking whiskey in the jar-o
Synge’s Playboy of the Western World

As Shaw, Sean I was born and reared there
Where the Mountains of Mourne come down to the sea
It’s such a long, long way from Tipperary

Great Guitar Solos Series

Song of the Day: Rainbow in the Dark (by Dio)

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Arleigh

It’s just appropriate that we follow up the previous “Song of the Day” that was one of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo tracks with one who replaced him for a brief time as frontman of OZzy’s previous band, Black Sabbath.

Ronnie James Dio will always be one of the metal gods. People may disagree but they will always be wrong. Some would say it’s the height of arrogance to name one’s band after themselves and, for the most part, I would agree with them. Yet, if there as ever a musician who deserved to have their arrogance as part and parcel of their immense talent it would be Ronnie James Dio and the band he would form after his stint with Black Sabbath. A band that he would simply call Dio.

It would be remiss not to include the second track to be released as a single from the group’s debut album, Holy Diver.

I speak of the song “Rainbow in the Dark” which remains one of my favorite Dio songs and, I honestly believe, his best one. I’m not the only one who seem to think so, but even the song’s mass appeal to it’s heavy metal and hard rock following doesn’t dismiss the fact that it’s Ronnie James Dio at his best. Not to mention has one of the best guitar solos ever.

A guitar solo which comes midway during the song and performed by group guitarist Vivian Campbell.

Rainbow in the Dark

When there’s lightning
You know, it always brings me down
‘Cause it’s free, and I see that it’s me
Who’s lost and never found

I cry out for magic
I feel it dancing in the light
It was cold, lost my hold
To the shadows of the night

No sign of the morning coming
You’ve been left on your own
Like a rainbow in the dark
A rainbow in the dark

Do your demons
Do they ever let you go?
When you’ve tried, do they hide deep inside?
Is it someone that you know?

You’re just a picture
You’re an image caught in time
We’re a lie, you and I
We’re words without a rhyme

There’s no sign of the morning coming
You’ve been left on your own
Like a rainbow in the dark
Just a rainbow in the dark, yeah

(guitar solo)

When I see lightning
You know, it always brings me down
‘Cause it’s free, and I see that it’s me
Who’s lost and never found

Feel the magic
I feel it floating in the air
But it’s fear, and you’ll hear
It calling you, beware, look out

There’s no sight of the morning coming
There’s no sign of the day
You’ve been left on your own
Like a rainbow

Like a rainbow in the dark, yeah-yay
You’re a rainbow in the dark
Just a rainbow in the dark
No sign of the morning
You’re a rainbow in the dark, whoa

Great Guitar Solos Series

27 Days of Old School: #19 “You’ll See” (by Madonna)

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Arleigh

“I have truth on my side,
You only have deceit”

For #18 on the KTSL Old School charts I had Madonna’s “Take A Bow” and what better way to follow it up but with it’s sequel which arrived as a single for her 1995 compilation album, Something to Remember.

“You’ll See” is another ballad that brings to conclusion the story of the mistress (Madonna) from “Take A Bow” and the Spanish bullfighter (Emilio Muñoz) with the tables now turned as the former takes control of her life and moves on while the latter sees his mistakes though too late.

This song has a Spanish musical influence to it’s production from the use of a Spanish guitar that begins the track and returns throughout the length of the song. While “Take A Bow” strained Madonna’s vocal skills to their limits it is the opposite for “You’ll See” where the song’s composition works to take advantage of Madonna’s vocal range and not trying to go beyond what she’s capable of.

27 Days of Old School: #18 “Take A Bow” (by Madonna)

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Arleigh

“No more masquerade, you’re one lonely star”

Pushing the line of what constitutes old school for me would be when the 1990’s started to move into the mid-1990’s. I was still young enough to remember high school, but already a couple years from having graduated from it in 1994. One of the last few old school songs that made the cut for this list was the one song where I fully bought into Madonna as an artist and not just a great performer.

“Take A Bow” was a single off of her Bedtime Stories album and it couldn’t be more opposite from her previous work. For one thing, it was written by R&B producer extraordinaire Babyface.

The video for this song was a nice touch in using the bullring in Antequera, Spain as the set with Madonna channeling golden age glam. Definitely not the sort of look her fans have been used to for years before this album.

It works as a ballad and the video itself turned out to be a nice short film that help tell the story behind the lyrics.

27 Days of Old School: #17 “Take On Me” (by A-ha)

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Arleigh

“Say after me
It’s no better to be safe than sorry”

The 1980’s was a decade of excess in every sense of the word, but it was also the decade that gave birth to so many one-hit wonders. One such wonder was a song that I never failed not to like no matter that I grew older. Even now I would sing-along to this song whenever I come across it on-line or I find a mixtape of it.

“Take On Me” by the Norwegian synthpop band A-ha was a simple enough song, but when heard by way of it’s groundbreaking music video which combined live-action scenes with rotoscoped pencil sketching of the video it became an instant classic. The video was just like most music videos of the 1980’s in that it tried to wrap a story around the song though most of the time I had no idea what was going on.

Despite the video making little sense I still consider it a nostalgic favorite of mine from the days when MTV actually played music videos.

27 Days of Old School: #16 “Gimme All Your Lovin'” (by ZZ Top)

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Arleigh

“Gimme all your lovin’
All your hugs and kisses too,
Gimme all your lovin’
Don’t let up until we’re through.”

I didn’t know what blues and blues rock was when I first heard it on the radio and then watched it on MTV. I did know that they had a real unique sound that was very much like rock, but also had a sort of country vibe to it.

One of the first bands of blues rock that I really ended up being a fan of was ZZ Top and it was mainly due to their three videos for three singles off of their Eliminator album. The first one that I saw was for the track “Gimme All Your Lovin’“.

The video itself was just very cool. It had everything a young boy was curious about. Cars, girls and rock and roll. Well, mostly it was the girls and the video to this song introduced the “Three ZZ Girls”.

It was much, much later in high school that I went back to listening to ZZ Top and their songs and realize that they were pretty much singing about sex, sex and more sex to the tune of Texas boogie blues. I ended up loving the band even more then.