Look Down

Well here I am blogging again.  How have you been?  Well that's neat.

So apparently my subconscious really really likes musical theater these days.  There was a time, yea, many a year ago when all I cared about was musical theater, so I suppose my punishment is to have to blog about songs from various musicals from time to time...

...and that's not to say that I hate musical theater entirely!  But I never listen to it unless I'm at a musical.  I just don't find it enjoyable to casually or actively listen to it unless I'm in a theater.  

So, forgive me if it feels like overkill, but here's "Look Down" from LES MISERABLES:

This, of course, is the opening scene of Les Miserables.  You probably know the story, so I won't bother with details.  These guys are in prison, blah blah blah, life's hard, blah blah, they wish they were free, blah blah, Jean Valjean was jailed in spite of a minor crime blah blah, Javert is a weenie blah blah blah.  

*SHIFTING GEARS*

So if you follow this site, you know that I find great joy in giving away semi-mediocre compilation discs with all the songs I've blogged about here.  Truly, I look forward to it and can't wait until I've have just a few more to fill my latest compilation.  These compilations are limited to rock/pop songs and I've never used musical theater.  Well, I've decided the next contest coming up will include the latest compilation (Volume 8!) along with a Best of Showtunes compilation disc.  Won't that be rad?  

So, my apologies if you're sick of these musical theater posts.  Most of the day I had that "Happy" song by Pharrel Williams going through my head so maybe I spared you from that annoying song (sorry if you like it.)

So, where was I?  Oh, "Look Down" yeah, that was the song stuck in my head.  Isn't it a sad song?  Poor Jean Valjean having to work all those years while in prison *SPOILER* things get better for him though.

OK, have a good night.  I sure had a great time talking about this song.  

The Spark of Creation

Wow, 3 posts about Children of Eden in a 6 week span.  I don't have a lot of time, but a song from this great Musical was playing in my head as I awoke this morning.  The song is called "Spark of Creation."  It's the song that Eve sings in the first act as she expresses her desire to have more, be more.

This is a great show, go see it if you ever get the chance.  It was never my intent to overpost about it here on this site, but honesty is what I've promised, and honesty is what you'll get when I blog about songs.  This was today's song.  Listen to the words, they are particularly good.

Have a good week all.

-Brady

Doc Pomus

Doc Pomus was a chart topping songwriter in the 50's and 60's that has written dozens of songs that you'd recognize, even though you wouldn't likely know his name.  And he's the unintended subject of my blog post today.

Today's song comes from my man Ben Folds with lyrics by the English author, Nick Hornby and it's a biographical song about Doc Pomus.  There's a documentary called "AKA Doc Pomus" that I just finished watching- wow what a life, what a character!

I'll try to be brief, but here are some reasons why this story is such a fascinating story to tell:

Doc Pomus was born in Brooklyn in 1925 to immigrant Jewish Parents.

At the age of 6 he contracted polio and was unable to walk unassisted (crutches, wheelchair) for the rest of his life.

Sometime in his teens he became enamored with the blues.

When he started performing in black-dominated clubs as a blues singer, he changed his name to Doc Pomus to hide his Jewish background.

He ended up writing over 1000 songs in his career for high profile performers like:
Elvis Presley, Ray Charles. BB King, Andy Williams, and many, many more.

As I watched the documentary, I was shocked at how many songs I knew that had been written by Pomus alone, or with various collaborators.  His most famous song is "Save the Last Dance for Me."

He died in 1991 of lung cancer and was inducted to the Songwriters hall of fame the following year- he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame 10 years later.

And I suppose what I find most interesting is how Doc Pomus overcame the odds to find success in music, as a second generation immigrant who was crippled.  It's a great story, both sad and lovely, and I recommend watching the documentary if you love music and have the time:  "AKA Doc Pomus"

Now to get to the music stuck in my head....

....as you probably know, I'm a huge fan of Ben Folds' music and paired with Nick Hornby's lyrics he's produced some lovely songs.  Today's is no exception.  I would imagine that Folds was tempted to take a song about Doc Pomus and turn it into a bluesy/rock sort of thing.  Knowing his music, I'm certain he's capable of doing such a thing.  Instead, what we get with this song is a sort of rolling piano ballad with french horn.

In my short post so far, I've highlighted on some of the successes Pomus had as a writer.  This song focuses more on some of the sadder aspects of his life, and has a very somber tone:

He could never be one of those happy cripples
The kind that smile and tell you life's OK
He was mad as hell, frightened, and bitter
He found a way to make his isolation pay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3WWnpfcYhE

I hope to have educated you in some way about the life of a legendary writer who probably didn't get the public recognition he deserved.

Ain't She Sweet/Traffic Light/Whatever It Takes/Perfect

IT'S FOUR FOR ONE SUNDAY FUN DAY YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's get right to it, yo.

First of all, I'm on vacation.  I'm in Del Ray, California and it's just really neat here you guys!

We've crowded into a hotel room together and I didn't sleep very well.  Neither did wifey poo, who claims that I was snoring and so was our 10 year old son.  We were totally having a subconscious battle for who could snore the loudest.  

Anyway, I did wake up a lot during the night.  The first song playing in my brain was one we parodied (my family and my in-laws) at my Grandfather-in-law's 85th birthday party last night.  It's "Ain't She Sweet" which is performed by The Beatles, but written by Milton Anger and Jack Yellen in 1927.  Here's the version I'm familiar with:

Ok, next is the song that immediately followed in my head afterward.  The melody to this song sounds so similar to "Ain't She Sweet" that it stuck in my head as well.  It's the verse of the song and the way it resolves, it sounds really similar to "Ain't She Sweet" in my head.  Here's "Traffic Light" by The Ting Tings.

Next, when I woke up later to make pee pee, this great song that is new to me (thanks to a whole slew of new music that was introduced to me by a new friend) was playing.  I really like this song, here's "Whatever it Takes" by Ron Sexsmith. 

And lastly, the song to which I awoke this morning- which as you know is the formula we follow here at thesongsstuckinmyhead.blogspot.com, LLC.  I over shared today with other songs because this song is from "Children of Eden" which I already talked about two blog posts ago.  If I weren't lazy and on vacation I'd link you up to the post from two weeks ago, but you probably don't care anyway, no offense to me.  

Anyway, the song as I awoke is called "Perfect" and it's about Adam and Eve as they live day to day in the garden of Eden.  Have a listen:

Did you have as much fun as I did on FOUR FOR ONE SUNDAY FUN DAY?   It was sure neat.  We made some great memories today.

Have a neat day!  I'm going to church now!!!!