Like yesterday’s song, today’s track comes from One Direction’s fourth album, Four. That album also features ‘Night Changes’ and ‘Steal My Girl,’ meaning it more than qualifies for my “at least three great songs” rule. I’ll have to listen to the whole thing one of these days.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of One Direction songs, at least from their later efforts, owe a debt to Fleetwood Mac. Indeed, Harry Styles covers the band in his solo concert.
In honor of my daughter Sophia’s 16th birthday, which falls in the middle of this week, I’m offering up five songs by one of her favorite bands, One Direction.
Sophia has many favorite artists, some of which are my favorites too, but this is one that I would almost certainly have never heard in depth were it not for her. And as I’ve discovered, that would have been a shame.
Before I get to my random SOTD, let me wish a Happy Father’s Day to my dear father and to all fathers across the land.
Harry Nilsson was a moderately successful singer-songwriter with five studio albums under his belt in 1970, when he decided to record an album of songs written by Randy Newman.
At the time, Newman was a prolific writer of songs for other people but had released only one album — a major flop — under his own name. He was nothing close to a household name, which made Nilsson Sings Newman a bizarre detour for the ascendant Nilsson.
Here’s one of those mystery Random Weekend selections from an album I’ve never heard and have no recollection of acquiring.
Abra Moore is a San Diego-born, Hawaii-raised pop singer who was a founding member of the band Poi Dog Pondering in the mid 80s. She left to pursue a solo career, releasing five studio albums between 1995 and 2007. No word on what she’s been up to for the last decade.
I want to dedicate a full week to ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ but I’ve run out of official releases, so today I leave you with a cover version by 8-year-old Thai YouTuber Gail Sophicha.
One last fun fact about this song: In the late 80s, New Order released a song called ‘Run’ which they later remixed for a 12″ single titled ‘Run 2.’ Either John Denver or his publishing company (depending on which source you read) believed ‘Run 2’ closely resembled ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ in parts. They successfully sued, preventing the re-release of the single and earning Denver songwriting credit on the track.
Meet Me In Montauk 