Today’s SOTD represents the union of two excellent things introduced to me by my niece: Taylor Swift and The Hunger Games.
‘Safe & Sound’ is the first video released from the soundtrack to the upcoming film based on Suzanne Collins’ popular YA series. My wife and I read the books in record time after hearing our niece, Madison, rave about them and we’re eagerly anticipating the film’s release later this month.
More than 1,300 songs into this Song of the Day project, I’m still occasionally surprised to discover something I haven’t posted on the blog.
Recently, today’s SOTD — a standout track from Belle & Sebastian’s 2006 album The Life Pursuit — popped up on my car stereo and brought the same smile to my face that it always does.
“This would make a good Song of the Day,” I thought to myself, then immediately assumed it had been one already.
The Shins’ ‘Saint Simon’ popped up on my random playlist the other day and stopped me in my tracks. I’ve heard the song plenty of times but I’d somehow never realized exactly how freaking great it is.
Of the new albums being released early this year, I’m as excited about The Shins’ next record as just about anything else. James Mercer, the band’s songwriter and lead vocalist, has such a unique style that I know I’m in for something wonderful.
At the risk of turning this into a Whitney Houston theme week, I thought I’d give some props to the woman who wrote and originally performed the song we’ve all heard ad nauseum since Houston died.
Dolly Parton must be making a fortune these days from the royalties she earns on ‘I Will Always Love You.’ Talk about a gift that keeps on giving. The day Kevin Costner suggested Whitney Houston cover this track for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, he lined Ms. Parton’s pockets for years to come.
This is not my belated Whitney Houston eulogy. I was unmoved by her passing, as I tend to be by the passing of celebrities.
I believe the last celebrity death that had a real impact on me was Kurt Vonnegut’s, and he was old enough and unhealthy enough that it didn’t come as a major shock. Houston’s death wasn’t much of a shock, either — as with the passing of Amy Winehouse, my first thought upon hearing the news was, “and she seemed so well put-together.”
