It’s one of my favorite things, when a special occasion falls on a Random Weekend!
Today is my parents’ wedding anniversary, so I hope when I spin the dial I turn up something romantic — a celebration of love that endures over time.
Or we could end up with something by Ozzy Osbourne. That’s the beauty of this game! So here it goes: Mom and Dad, your anniversary song is…
I guess the Random iTunes Fairy got a hankering for Ben Folds after yesterday’s post.
Here is an early demo version of the track ‘Boxing,’ which later found a spot as the final track on Ben Folds Five’s brilliant debut album.
This track was included on the 3-disc album The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, which contains a bunch of goodies every Ben Folds fan should want.
When I first started listening to Hamilton, long before I saw it on Broadway and before I knew it would become my whole family’s obsession, I was immediately drawn to the simple piano ballad ‘Dear Theodosia.’ It’s a love song from Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr to their young children and one of the prettiest songs in the play.
The track reminded me of Ben Folds’ ‘Gracie,’ one of my very favorite songs, and at the time I longed for a Ben Folds cover of ‘Dear Theodosia.’
In addition to covers of original Hamilton tracks and new songs inspired by the play, the Hamilton Mixtape features a couple of songs that were cut from the musical.
One of those is ‘Cabinet Battle 3,’ another political debate reimagined in the form of a rap battle. Numbers one and two, which focus, respectively, on the monetary system and neutrality regarding France’s war with Britain, epitomize Miranda’s incredible feat of telling centuries-old stories in a modern style.
OK, confession time. I’m not a big fan of the Hamilton Mixtape. It has its moments — principally the ones I’m featuring this week — but too much of it falls flat.
I think the problem is that Hamilton is already a hip-hop musical. It doesn’t benefit from “modernized” versions of its songs because it’s modern. An R&B remix of a South Pacific song might sound adventurous, but asking Alicia Keys and John Legend to perform songs that are already slinkily soulful adds very little.
Meet Me In Montauk 