Throwback Thursday – The Hits Of 1973

by with No Comment playlists

Singer/Songwriter/Record producer Ed Townsend had, in his own words, “a monstrous addiction to alcohol.” While in rehab he wrote a song which he described as a message to himself “about the business of getting on with life.”

On March 13, 1973, Townsend recorded a demo of Marvin Gaye singing this composition.

Nine days later, the men were again in the studio. Visiting the two men there was Barbara Hunter, a friend of Townsend. She came with her 16-year-old daughter, Janis.

Gaye was immediately smitten with Janis. As he often did, Gaye made up new lyrics in the studio. Inspired by the presence of this beautiful teenage girl, Townsend’s song about understanding and brotherhood became a paean to enjoying sex for its own sake, particularly when it is with someone you love.

Marvin and Janis got married in 1977, four years after the song Gaye recorded the day they met, “Let’s Get It On,” hit #1.

This week’s Throwback Thursday playlist consists of twenty big hits from 1973, kicking off with the classic “Let’s Get It On.”


Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

A Hint Of Mint – Volume 23: Covers

by with No Comment playlists

This week’s installment of A Hint of Mint consists of cover songs. It’s likely you are familiar with most or all of the songs on this week’s playlist, but I’m guessing you are not familiar with the versions presented here. Drawn primarily from soundtracks, compilations and CD singles, here are twenty remakes of popular tunes, performed by members of the LGBTQQISA populations. Included are Tegan & Sara covering Bruce Springsteen, Antony & the Johnsons covering Beyoncé, and Pansy Division covering Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Happy Sunday!

[8tracks width=”300″ height=”250″ playops=”” url=”http://8tracks.com/mixes/7046970″] Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

It’s T.I.’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

Last night I debuted a new speech about diversity and inclusion in corporate America. It was the first time I tackled the subject in a presentation and I’m pleased to say it went very well.

I’m working on a series of speeches about what makes good leaders. It’s a departure from my usual speeches, which lean toward storytelling or purely humorous. Last night’s speech had plenty of humor (and all the jokes hit!), but it had a message and action steps as well. I delivered the twenty minute version. I’m working on a thirty minute and hour-long version as well.

Comments I received afterwards included “Great style – loved every moment,” “enjoyed all aspects,” “good mix of information and humor,” “very interesting,” “very creative,” and “I don’t like your shirt.” For the record, my shirt was a crisp, white Surface To Air button-down with a grey stripe down the center. What’s not to like?

I look forward to the next presentation.

Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour. We kick off this week’s party playlist with “Blurred Lines,” which features a guest spot from Clifford Harris, Jr., better known by his initials, T.I., who turns 35 today.


Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

It’s Mark Ronson’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

Perhaps you’ve heard “Uptown Funk,” a #1 single earlier this year for Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. Ronson struggled to nail down the guitar part on the record. He finally arrived at a lick he was happy with on his 82nd take.

The moral of this story is if at first you don’t succeed, try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try try again.

Today Mark Ronson turns forty years old. Our weekly dance party kicks off with instant classic “Uptown Funk.”


Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twiter: @TunesDuJour!

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

There is a place near my home called the Zoom Room. They offer classes for dogs (and their owners). Obedience training, agility training, etc. I took my Ringo there for Shy Dog class. After five weekly sessions he was more confident and outgoing than when we started, and he has gotten much better at socializing since.

The Zoom Room also hosts Doggy Disco®. Per their website, these parties are for Bark Mitzvahs, pet commitment ceremonies and other special occasions.

They describe Doggy Disco thusly: Our Doggy Disco® pulsates with glamour, revolving mirrored ball, professional lighting effects and a great sound system with deliciously danceable tunes. A ceiling-mounted laser light show projects a dizzying array of colors and patterns on the floor, perfect for pooches to chase.

Why I haven’t gone yet is beyond me! I must do so soon. For now, my doggies and I will dance around the condo, for it is Friday, and Friday is dance day ‘round these parts.

Our weekly dance party kicks off with George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog.”


Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

EWF + Ringo

It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

Friday is dance day at Tunes du Jour. This week’s dance playlist kicks off with a song that, per its writer, is “about someone on the brink of self destruction who goes to these [dance] clubs to try and find more, but is at least aware of the fact that if there’s something like true love, that is something that could kind of drag them out of the abyss.” Allee Willis, who wrote the song with Jon Lind, told songfacts.com that the song was inspired by the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar. “I got kind of fascinated with people who did go to clubs every night, whose life was kind of falling apart, but they lived for the night life, though it didn’t seem to be advancing them as humans in the end.”

The song’s first verse is “Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of men who need more than they get. Daylight deals a bad hand to a woman who has laid too many bets. The mirror stares you in the face and says, ‘Baby, uh-uh, it don’t work.’ You say your prayers though you don’t care; you dance and shake the hurt.”

The chorus expresses the hope that “All the love in the world can’t be gone, all the need to be loved can’t be wrong, all the records are playing and my heart keeps saying ‘Boogie Wonderland.’” Per Willis, Boogie Wonderland “was this state of mind that you entered when you were around music and when you danced, but hopefully it was an aware enough state of mind that you would want to feel as good during the day as you did at night.”

EWF + Ringo

Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

A Hint Of Mint – Volume 2

by with No Comment playlists

On this installment of A Hint of Mint, we:
– Hear the hit song from an Irish quartet about a gay man telling his homophobic father he’s contracted AIDS (more about that song here)
– Hear the original version of “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” from 1963
– Hear the hit song performed by a woman from a famous musical family, written by her as a ballad tribute to a friend who dies from AIDS-related illness but transformed as a dance/house anthem
– Celebrate National Bike Month
– Celebrate Dance Like a Chicken Day (May 14)
– Hear a minty song from Donovan
– Celebrate Limerick Day (May 12) with a very-NSFW song from Loudon Wainwright, followed by a NSFW song about him by his daughter and a song he wrote performed by his son
– Hear a couple of songs that appeared on the TV show Girls, one a Rolling Stones cover performed by lesbian twins, the other by a woman who won a Grammy earlier this year
– Honor Stevie Wonder with two covers and one song on which he plays harmonica
– Hear recordings one is unlikely to hear elsewhere

A Hint of Mint – Volume 2 from Glenn Schwartz on 8tracks Radio.

Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour

It’s Philip Bailey’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!

by with No Comment playlists

Gravelly-voice rapper Ja Rule told Fox Business that while Jeb Bush is a good candidate for President of the United States of America, he plans on voting for Hillary Clinton.

This surprised me, as I thought Mr. Rule was still in prison or back in prison or somewhere where he couldn’t appear on Fox Business.

I figured with Ja behind bars it would be a while before I found out who his candidate of choice for President of the United States of America is. Finding out his selection in May of 2015 is a wonderful surprise, and I’ll sleep better because of it.

This is just one more excuse to dance. Today is the 64th birthday of Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind and Fire. We kick off our weekly dance party with that band’s “Saturday Nite,” which Bailey co-wrote.


Click here to like Tunes du Jour on Facebook!
Follow me on Twitter: @TunesDuJour