Posted by admin on 15 Sep 2011 | Tagged as: news
I couldn’t help being struck by the article in Star Tribune about Stevie Nicks, former star of Fleetwood Mac. She has a new solo album out, “In Your Dreams”, and in a discussion about the tracks revealed that she had worked with Prince and nearly wrote the lyrics for what became Purple Rain.
Posted by admin on 10 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: meanings, news, tip
The recent broadcast of the BBC’s “Secrets of the Pop Song” featuring Guy Chambers has brought attention back to Ray Heffernan. At the time, he was a very young musician that met Robbie Williams in Dublin and went on to work on the song that became “Angels”. He eventually sold his share of the song [...]
Posted by admin on 24 Mar 2011 | Tagged as: events, meanings, news
If you’re into the Internet radio scene and dance music, you might want to check Club97 radio, transmitting from New Jersey. It’s run by Mike Delaney, the former president of the 2 Unlimited fan club in the US, and who has been following the dance, Eurodance, techno and House scene for more years than we’d [...]
Posted by admin on 15 Mar 2011 | Tagged as: events, news
Pop punk maestros Blink 182 have added their names to the list of bands making a contribution to the crisis in Japan. Mark Hoppus is donating a number of items to an online auction. Goodies available include a T-shirt used in a video for “Dammit”, used backstage passes and the door sign from their MTV [...]
Posted by admin on 13 Mar 2011 | Tagged as: news, RIP
There are songs out there that have seemingly always been there. What would Christmas be without the sounds of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”? However, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the songwriter and lyricist Hugh Martin Jr, who penned the song in 1944 died at his home on March 11, [...]
Posted by admin on 11 Mar 2011 | Tagged as: news, tip
Phil Wilde has been busy over the past few months overseeing remixes of CB Millton’s “It’s a Loving Thing“. The final radio edit is ready, with a glossy video to go along with it. This is still one of the most popular CB Milton tracks (and one of the most successful lyrics I wrote). CB [...]
Posted by admin on 21 Feb 2011 | Tagged as: news, plagiarism
Let’s be clear: I think the answer is no, for a number of reasons. The web is alive with claims about Britney Spears “ripping off” song lyrics for her latest release, “Hold it Against Me”. The writers of “If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me” by the Bellamy [...]
Posted by admin on 28 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: news, tip
Someone asked me the other day about the “new paradigm” for songwriters and musicians. I mentioned that increasingly, entertainment will be sponsored. This puts the transfer of money before the consumption rather than during or after. Then I caught the new Heineken ad, and was struck by the singer. Turns out, the new ad was [...]
Posted by admin on 21 Dec 2010 | Tagged as: meanings, news, tribute
I have to say that I love this idea. An artist in Saginaw, Michigan, has been decorating the town with lines from Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”. “We drove through the city and tried to find areas that symbolized abandonment: the broken railroad track, the empty school,” Eric Schantz told ABCNews. In one poignant note, he [...]
Posted by admin on 30 Nov 2010 | Tagged as: news, protest
Collectors will surely swoop on the upcoming auction of Bob Dylan’s handwritten lyrics for “The Times They Are a-Changing” that will take place in Sotheby’s on December 10, 2010. The song is iconic, defining the mood of protest and change in the sixties. On top of that, the actual manuscript is suitably battered and worn [...]