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.
An evening pause: Hat tip Cotour.
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.
An evening pause: Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
An evening pause: A nice song for Valentine’s Day.
Hat tip Cotour.
An evening pause: The memory of this man and what he stood for and accomplished must not be forgotten, which is why I try to celebrate his memory each year with a tribute on his birthday. As I wrote in 2021,
[T]hough he freed the slaves, I think Lincoln’s most enduring contribution to American history, a contribution that now has sadly been lost, was his limitless good will for everyone, even to those who hated him and wished to kill him. Had he not been assassinated, American history might have been far better because Lincoln would have had the clout to ease the worst elements of Reconstruction, while forcing through reforms in the former southern slave states.
Those reforms did not happen until the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and are now being abandoned in the 2020s by black supremacists in the academic community who are imposing new racist Jim Crow laws nationwide, designed to favor blacks and other minorities.
Listen to the words of the first song, which was a Lincoln campaign song. He stood for freedom for all, and put his life on the line for that principle. From the pictures you can see the evolution of this kind-hearted but determined man from youth to mid-age, with all the troubles of the Civil War reflected in his face and mouth.
An evening pause: A very nice instrumental cover of a Taylor Swift song.
Hat tip Alton Blevins.
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.
An evening pause: Performed live 1991.
Hat tip Icepilot.
An evening pause: Performed live 1967.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
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.
An evening pause: This television performance from 1965 is lip-synched, but it appears the only live one available anywhere.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
An evening pause: Performed live 1988.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
An evening pause: Sung at the funeral in December 2023 for Shane MacGowan, who wrote it.
Hat tip Altons Blevins.
An evening pause: The original, performed live on television, 1965.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
An evening pause: Some honest humanity, from the 1958 film South Pacific.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
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.
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.
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
An evening pause: Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
