I’ve been doing a lot of theme weeks in recent months. I like the structure they provide and, I’ll be honest, it’s easier to come up with five songs per week around a specific theme than to write five discrete posts.
Still, I sometimes like the chance to throw out five unrelated songs to make five unrelated points — even if the point is as simple as ‘I like this song.’
So I’ll do that this week. (Wait, did this just become a theme?)
I have never and will never tire of Bob Dylan’s Love and Theft. This is one of the very best albums by one of the very best singer-songwriters in popular music history.
While the album features a few structurally complex songs, as well as a couple of delicate melodies tailor made for an old-school crooner, it’s hard to beat the straight-up blues bruisers like today’s SOTD.
I believe there is a version of this song with lyrics (courtesy of The Four Aces), but it’s not the version I own.
That’s because the version I own is the one that accompanies the opening scene of Grease — captured in all its glory below.
Enjoy the romance-filled summer of Sandy and Danny, including a moment when Danny gets a little too grabby, set to this wonderfully over-the-top orchestral arrangement.
One of the joys of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is the rich detail with which he paints the characters’ culture. Particularly entertaining are the dozens of songs Martin sprinkles throughout his tale — songs that evoke cheers or eye-rolling depending on the audience.
The brilliantly thorough Wiki of Ice and Fire lists 52 songs that show up in some fashion in one of Martin’s five books, including ‘When Willum’s Wife Was Wet,’ ‘The Maids That Bloom in Spring,’ ‘The Day They Hanged Black Robin’ and (of course) ‘The Rains of Castamere.’
I know I’m supposed to like Drake — his albums typically earn critical accolades along with massive sales. He’s one of those emo rappers like Kanye who rap about their insecurities in between boasts about their sexual conquests.
Maybe I just haven’t heard the right songs yet, but so far I’m not impressed. For all of Kanye’s faults, I totally get why his music draws those raves. He paints vivid emotional landscapes in which he’s often the least interesting part. But Drake sounds like Kanye without the good stuff.
