A Hint Of Mint – Volume 52: Moms

Happy Mother’s Day! This week’s A Hint of Mint playlist consists of songs about moms from a host of genres and decades. It’s a little bit country, it’s a little bit rock-and-roll, it’s a little bit pop, it’s a little bit hip hop, it’s a little bit show tune, it’s a little bit rhythm and blues, it’s a little bit girl group, it’s a little bit singer-songwriter, it’s a whole lotta lovin’.

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Winston + Hall-Oates

It’s National Teachers Day And I Need To Dance!

On the off-chance I don’t win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, which, seeing as I have yet to write a single scene, is a remote possibility, I’d like to present the text of my acceptance speech here and now.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you! (wink at Meryl) Wow! I wasn’t expecting to win. This is such a surprise. Let me read you the speech I wrote for this occasion.

I’d like to thank the Academy, specifically the members who voted for me. I’d like to thank everyone who bought a ticket to see my movie. I’d like to thank the cast and crew. It takes a village! Am I right? Of course I’m right! I’m a right-er! (smile, acknowledge the laughter in the audience)

Mostly, I’d like to thank all those who taught me about writing and provided encouragement. I’d like to thank all of my English teachers, my writing teachers, my stand-up comedy teachers and my improvisation teachers. I’d like to thank my fellow classmates, workshops and meetup members and the friends and family members who provided feedback and support. In particular, I’d like to…oh, they’re playing the music, indicating it’s time for me to leave. Until next year, remember I love you all, except those who voted for my competitors.”
Winston + Hall-Oates
Today is National Teachers Day. Our weekly dance party kicks off with Daryl Hall and John Oates’ “Adult Education.”


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Ringo + Beck

Throwback Thursday – 1994

Ringo + Beck

Some years ago I played Beck’s “Loser” for my 94-year-old grandfather. He didn’t care for the lyrics. “I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?”

“That’s why so many young people commit suicide,” he argued.

Hearing “Loser” and the rest of Beck’s major label debut album, Mellow Gold, didn’t make me want to kill myself. Quite the opposite. He brought and continues to bring so much joy into my life.

Beck’s “Loser” kicks off this week’s Throwback Thursday playlist, spotlighting the year 1994.


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Winston + James Brown

Selling Cars With James Brown

Some time around the turn of the millennium, James Brown and his classic music were featured in a series of car adverts that played in movie theaters in the US as pre-show entertainment. The vast majority of Brown’s recordings are controlled by Universal Music, who entered into a license deal with this particular car brand (which one escapes me).

At the time I was the head of Licensing for Zomba Recordings. We had a few James Brown recordings in our catalogue, including “Living in America,” a song that in 1986 was Brown’s first top ten on the pop chart in eighteen years and, sadly, his last.

Despite his personal endorsement of the car brand referenced in the first paragraph above, I was able to secure a license deal for “Living in America” to be used in a commercial for a competing automobile. Mr. Brown was fine with that – money is money and business is business and exposure is exposure.

I’m surprised the first car company didn’t have an exclusivity clause in their agreement with the Godfather of Soul. Maybe they asked (which would be standard practice) and Mr. Brown refused. Maybe they assumed ALL of Brown’s hits were controlled by Universal, so it wouldn’t be necessary. Whatever. Not my problem.

Winston + James Brown
James Brown was born in Barnwell, South Carolina on May 3, 1933. Tunes du Jour celebrates his birthday with twenty greats from his catalogue.


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Lily Allen’s Wonderful Smile

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” This expression is often misquoted and misattributed. The actual phrase is “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,” and it appeared in William Cosgrove’s play The Mourning Bride in 1697.

Fury is one reaction, but if you were a scorned performer with a pen, a pad, and wit, you may choose to go another route.

On her first single, “Smile,” Lily Allen sings about how when her cheating boyfriend left her for his sidepiece, she was sad. In real life, Allen was depressed when she broke up with her boyfriend, DJ Lester Lloyd. A drug overdose led her to seek medical treatment for her depression.

In “Smile,” Allen’s ex calls the singer to complain about the problems in his new relationship, which make him very sad. She may feel a little sympathy for him, but mostly it’s schadenfreude. “At first when I see you cry, it makes me smile / Yeah, it makes me smile / At worst I feel bad for awhile, but then I just smile / I go ahead and smile.”

The “Smile” single was released in the UK in July of 2006. At that year’s Secret Garden Party festival, Allen performed the song on the main stage, while Lloyd was set up in a tent opposite where Allen was. She told a reporter “So he and his new girlfriend had no option but to watch me perform to a couple of thousand people singing ‘Smile’ back to me. Oh, it’s the little things, eh!”

Today is Lily Allen’s 31st birthday. Here are twenty career highlights to make you smile.


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A Hint Of Mint – Volume 51: So Sexy It Hurts

Forgotten uptempo songs primarily from the eighties and nineties to play at your next party provided you don’t invite you-know-who, ’cause she has the personality of a wet mop and takes life way too seriously. Does she enjoy the B-52’s? No! Can she get into Tom Jones covering Talking Heads? Absolutely not! And if she heard the vulgarities on that Sinéad O’Connor record she’d turn red and run out of the room crying. Bye, Felicia!

[8tracks width=”300″ height=”250″ playops=”” url=”http://8tracks.com/mixes/7933720″] Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
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