Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, the passing of Bonnie Pointer, and the June 9 birthdays of Jackie Wilson, The Chemical Brothers’ Ed Simons, Muse’s Matt Bellamy, Les Paul, Johnny Ace and composer Cole Porter.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (5-7-20)
Inspired by the passing of Was (Not Was)’s Sweet Pea Atkinson and the May 7 birthdays of The Crests’ Johnny Maestro, Thelma Houston, Jimmy Ruffin, Jim Lowe, The Tremeloes’ Rick West and Starland Vocal Band’s Bill Danoff.
Your (Almost)Daily Playlist (2-26-20)
Inspired by the February 26 birthdays of Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Erykah Badu, Sandie Shaw, Mitch Ryder, fun.’s Nate Ruess and Sharon Van Etten.
Presidents Day Top 40
Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson – they’re here. This Presidents Day playlist kicks off with one of the Bushes. Kate.
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20 Duets
Duets. Twenty of ’em.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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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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It’s Max Martin’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!
As a songwriter, Max Martin has a credit on 21 number one singles on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. Only Paul McCartney and John Lennon have more. He has had 60 top tens as a writer. On top of that, he has had a hand in producing a slew of hits. Some of them are good.
Today, Max Martin turns 45 years old. Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour. Our playlist consists of twenty songs Max Martin had a hand in writing and/or producing. Some of them are good.
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My Birthday Advice: Don’t!
Today is my birthday. Over my 25+ years on earth, I’ve learned many life lessons. Most of them came from songs. My birthday gift to you is a playlist of 100 songs offering advice as to what not to do.
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Becoming F**kin’ Perfect
Tomorrow is the last show of the four week run of my improv troupe on iO West’s main stage. I started taking improv classes in the late nineties. I was performing stand-up comedy at the time and was told by several people that learning how to improvise will take my stand-up to the next level.
I started doing stand-up to get over my shyness. It was never a dream of mine to become a famous stand-up comic. My dream was to be able to converse with people, particularly people I barely knew. My dream was to speak up. My dream was to be heard.
I was a shy kid. Skinny, not athletic, with braces and glasses. My self-esteem was not too high.
Once someone got to know me they would tell me I’m funny. I used my sense of humor as my way of coping. I also used it to develop self-confidence.
The audiences’ response to my stand-up boosted my self-confidence. Being sought by agents boosted my self-confidence. Improvising – thinking on my feet while on stage – boosts my self-confidence. There is still some shyness, but I’ve come a long way.
P!nk, the artist born Alecia Moore, turns 35 today. A song she started writing about her husband turned into a message for those suffering from depression stemming from low self-esteem – “don’t you ever, ever feel like you’re less than fucking perfect.” “Fuckin’ Perfect” reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. That song is amongst the ten P!nk performances that form today’s playlist.
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It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!
Gwen Stefani, the lead singer and lyricist of the band No Doubt, wanted to do a dance-oriented solo album, but when the band finished its Rock Steady tour in November 2002, all she wanted to do was sleep. “I wanted to take a break and was really burned out, but the record company were ready to go.” Her label, Interscope, wanted her to work on her solo album with singer-songwriter Linda Perry, who was available for only five days.
Without the time to recharge, Stefani’s anxieties about doing the record rose to the surface and she spent a lot of time crying in bed. She’d been with the guys in No Doubt for seventeen years at that point; could she do a record without them?
On their second day in the studio together, Perry presented Stefani with the music of a song she stayed up the previous night to write. Stefani was to come up with lyrics, and she took the speed with which Perry came up with the song as a dare, as if to ask her “What are you waiting for?”
That was the inspiration Stefani needed. She wrote the lyrics to “What You Waiting For?,” addressing her fears about doing the record, her lack of inspiration, and the pressure the felt her label was putting on her. The song opens with Stefani referencing her bandmates and their years together – “What an amazing time / What a family/ How did the years go by?/ Now it’s only me.” Then the repeated background vocals of “tick tock” suggest the clock is ticking and she needs to get to work on this solo venture. Her nervous side sings “I’m worried if I go it alone,” to which her confident persona responds “You never know, it could be great” and “Take a chance, you might grow.”
“What You Waiting For?” was the first single released from Stefani’s first solo venture, Love, Angel, Music, Baby. The album sold seven million copies worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Hit singles from the album were “Hollaback Girl,” “Rich Girl,” “Cool” and “Luxurious.”
Of the experience making the record, Stefani said “I think it’s very important to put yourself in a situation that’s uncomfortable to be able to grow.”
Is there something you wish to do but have not yet started to tackle? What you waiting for?
Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour. We kick off this week’s party with Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?”