Posted by admin on 26 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: RIP
The death of Jerry Ragovoy seems to have gone unnoticed by the media. This is surprising, given the incredible catalogue of hits he wrote or worked on. “Time is on My Side” was an iconic hit for the Rolling Stones. Janis Joplin made a classic out of “Piece of my Heart”. Ragovoy was in the [...]
Posted by admin on 11 Jul 2011 | Tagged as: politics, protest, RIP
I’ve often deplored the death of the protest song. So it was stunning to see how big a role music and chanting is playing in the Arab Spring. Shots of men chanting and punching the air in Arabic all sounded alike to me. The horrific murder of Ibrahim Qashoush, however, puts a face and a [...]
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 08 Sep 2010 | Tagged as: RIP
Mea culpa, I missed this completely. US songwriter David Weiss died late August of natural causes at the age of 89. Weiss was a prolific writer who wrote or co-wrote classics such as “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. His songs have been used by Frank Sinatra, UB40, Elvis Presley, The [...]
Posted by admin on 05 Nov 2009 | Tagged as: meanings, RIP, tribute
Image via Wikipedia There is much talk at the moment about the George Harrison “track” that was featured on British radio recently. The story is that Beatle biographer Hunter Davies came across a scrap of paper with some Harrison lyrics, “Silence (Is Its Own Reply)”, speculated to be about his relationship with John Lennon. During [...]
Posted by admin on 05 Oct 2009 | Tagged as: politics, protest, RIP
Amazon.co.uk WidgetsMercedes Sosa, the Argentinian singer who became the voice of the nueva cancion movement of the 60s and 70s, has died at the age of 74. Sosa was an outspoken singer, who used her voice and art to champion the causes of the poor in South America, even though she tried to distance herself [...]
Posted by admin on 18 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: awards, events, meanings, news, politics, RIP, tip
The infobahn is alive with Susan Boyle’s rendition (nice word, eh?) of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”. There is an overwhelming opinion that Boyle has now recorded one of the definitive versions of the song. This, however, is seen as sacrilege by others, who cling to memories of the Stones and Gram Parsons. This sort [...]
Posted by admin on 27 Aug 2009 | Tagged as: news, RIP
Elton John, Cher, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Bette Midler, Celine Dion, U2 and Twisted Sister are just some of the performers that have covered Elle Greenwich songs.
Posted by admin on 26 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: news, RIP
Image via Wikipedia I’m not going to add much to the obits flowing in about Michael Jackson. To be honest, I’m kind of dreading the flood of revelations that will inevitably surface about a man who could do nothing like anyone else for better or for worse. His death was obviously unexpected and is strangely [...]
Posted by admin on 18 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: news, RIP
It’s a sad fact that Norman Whitfield was not better known at the end of his career. When he died of complications due to diabetes, the obituaries mostly mentioned the fact the wrote “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” with longtime lyric-writing partner Barrett Strong for Marvin Gaye. But I’d argue that Whitfield was perhaps [...]