Today is Beyoncé’s birthday. Here in the U.S., federal institutions are closed and stores are having sales. As it should be.
Lotsa Beyoncé on today’s playlist.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook
Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 7-1-23
Missy Elliott and her producer, Timbaland, recorded enough songs to make up Missy’s third album, Miss E…So Addictive. They decided the album could use one more song, so they came up with a little something called “Get Ur Freak On.”
Missy Elliott turns 52 today. Honor the occasion by getting ur freak on with help from today’s playlist.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook
Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 10-24-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the October 24 birthdays of The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman, Drake, ANOHNI (nee Antony), Madlib, Lipps Inc.’s Steven Greenberg, The Big Bopper, Sanford Clark, Barry Ryan, Monica, Brenda & the Tabulations’ Brenda Payton, Neon Philharmonic’s Don Gant, and V.V. Brown; and the October 25 birthdays of Yes’s Jon Anderson, Bat For Lashes, Arrested Development’s Speech, Ciara, Art Brut’s Eddie Argos, Katy Perry, Trio’s Stephan Remmler, Helen Reddy, Kings of Convenience’s Eirik Glambek Bøe, Divinyls’ Christina Amphlett, Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, Starland Vocal Band’s Taffy Danoff, Smokie’s Chris Norman, The Simpsons’ Nancy Cartwright, and Pablo Picasso.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook
Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
Throwback Thursday: 1997
“I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah”
“Beep beep, who got the keys to the Jeep? Vroom”
“Pissin’ the night away”
“Joni Mitchell never lies”
“Poppa been smooth since days of Underoos”
“Love me, love me / Pretend that you love me”
“What I look like? Patti LaBelle or somebody?”
“Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky-panky”
“Mmm bop ba duba dop / Ba du bop ba duba dop / Ba du bop ba duba dop / Ba du yeah yeah”
“Woo-hoo!”
So many memorable lyrics emerged in 1997. Hear the ones above and then some below:
Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook
Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
A Pharrell Williams Playlist
In 2001 HBO aired a Britney Spears concert around the time Jive Records released the singer’s album Britney. A few days before the first promo for the concert was to run on HBO, Jive’s head of publicity had the idea that Britney’s then-brand new single “I’m a Slave 4 U” should be used in the promo spots. The song was written (and produced) by the team of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. I was running the licensing department at Jive at that time. I went to Pharrell and Chad’s publishers, EMI, to secure the necessary permissions. It was on a Wednesday. The spot was scheduled to premier the coming Saturday. The person at EMI with whom I spoke told me the song is so new that it is not yet in their system, and therefore she couldn’t license it. “Can’t you just add it to your system? You know they’re signed to your company.” “No. You won’t be able to use the song.”
Oh, really? A song cannot be licensed simply because someone at that company can’t think outside the box and figure out a way to effect the deal before the usual ingestion process is complete? That explanation doesn’t work for me. EMI will forego a license fee if the song isn’t used, which is fine, as their employee is the one not allowing it. Also, standing to forego revenue? Pharrell and Chad, who rely on EMI to make the deals for their music so they can get paid.
I called the Jive executive who paired Pharrell and Chad with Britney and told him EMI’s stance. He called Pharrell and/or Chad. Pharrell and/or Chad called EMI. On Thursday I got EMI’s approval to proceed. Don’t tell me something can’t be done.
Producer/Songwriter/NERD Pharrell Williams turns 47 today. In his honor I present to you this playlist of thirty songs Pharrell, often with Chad Hugo, had a hand in writing and/or producing and/or performing. You may be surprised at how many of these you know.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Facebook.
Follow Tunes du Jour on Twitter.
Follow me on Instagram.