Tag: entertainment
Golden Earring – Twilight Zone
Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing
An evening pause: It has been six years since I posted Dire Straits performing this song, and that version is now gone on Youtube. Time to post it again, especially because this official music video focuses so nicely on the performance itself.
Hat tip Cotour.
Paul Davis – I go Crazy
An evening pause: Performed live on television, probably sometime in the 1970s.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
The Doobie Brothers – Jesus Is Just Alright with Me
An evening pause: Performed live on television in 1973. Back then, a song like this was entirely okay for a mainstream band to perform and mainstream TV show to air. Today, such songs are put into a “Christian music” ghetto, regardless of their quality.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Dave Mason – We just disagree
Maurice Jarre – Lawrence of Arabia
An evening pause: Performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra. I think this makes for a good way to start the weekend. If you have time, get the movie and watch it. One of the greatest ever made.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
Gene Pitney – 24 Hours From Tulsa
Gordon Lightfoot – Beautiful
Abbott and Costello – Who’s on First?
An evening pause: One of the most famous comedy routines ever written. From the 1945 film, The Naughty Nineties.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Astoria String Quartet Cover – Blank Space
Herman’s Hermits – Henry the VIII/Mrs. Brown
An evening pause: Performed live 1973 on the Midnight Special. A very fun group from the 1960s that also produced some beautiful songs (such as the second in this set).
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Michael McDonald & Phobe Snow – Knock On Wood
The Village Stompers – Washington Square
Ed Wynn, Julie Andres, Dick Van Dyke – I Love to Laugh
An evening pause: From the 1964 film, Mary Poppins. I post it to celebrate my birthday. I saw this movie in the theater that year, as an eleven-year-old, and its optimistic and hopeful look at existence has never left me, even now in these dark times. If only today’s adults would focus on teaching these same positive and hopeful lessons to their own children.
Daniel Madnick – The Biggest Man In Baseball
An evening pause: Some American history, when America considered fun important.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Billy Joe Royal – Down In The Boondocks
An evening pause: This television performance from 1965 is lip-synched, but it appears the only live one available anywhere.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Tracy Chapman – Fast Car
Glen Hansard & Lisa O’Neill – Fairytale Of New York
An evening pause: Sung at the funeral in December 2023 for Shane MacGowan, who wrote it.
Hat tip Altons Blevins.
We Five – You Were on My Mind
Rodgers & Hammerstein – There is Nothin’ Like A Dame
Emma Kok with Andre Rieu’s orchestra – Voilà
An evening pause: She is 15 years old, and has an interesting backstory. I have cued the video to begin at the song’s start, because you should judge her solely on her talent. If you replay from the start Rieu explains that backstory.
Hat tip Tom Donohue.
Thomas Dolby – One of Our Submarines
An evening pause: Performed live 2012. Dolby sings and plays keyboards. Mat Hector is on drums and Kevin Armstrong is on guitar.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Ray Manzarek – the creation of “Riders on the Storm”
An evening pause: The pianist from the Doors describes how this song was created. If you want to hear it as performed, go here, which notes, “This was the last song recorded by the members of The Doors, according to Manzarek, as well as Morrison’s last recorded song to be released.”
Hat tip Doug Johnson
LuLu & Maurice Gibb – First of May
Moby – Extreme Ways
Uriah Heep – The Wizard
Yamma Ensemble – Kondja mia
An evening pause: This song is an example of what the group calls the tribal music of Sephardic Jews. The title of the song means “My rose.” Leave the closed captions on to see an English translation of the lyrics, which are quite beautiful. It is all very Middle Eastern, and something the Palestinians would recognize and like, until you told them it was by their fellow Semites, the Jews.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Ed Sussman – How the Beach Boys used the Theremin
An evening pause: Some intriguing music history centered on the electronic instrument called the Theremin, which you play electronically by moving your hands through an electric field (go here to see two previous evening pause examples).
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Dave Brubeck Quartet – Golden Brown
An evening pause: This video is not what it seems. The sax player, Lawrence Mason, has created a cover of this Dave Brubeck song by editing and playing over the Dave Brubeck quartet playing another song in 1965. As he notes on the youtube page, he did it as a tribute to “Paul Desmond (saxophonist with the Dave Brubeck quartet – the anniversary of his death is at the end of this month) [May 2020].”
Hat tip Alton Blevins.