Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day #2,949: ‘Hungry Heart’ – Bruce Springsteen

springsteen_riverI wrote about Bruce Springsteen’s The River nearly five years ago finished my blog post by stating “I’ve read enough about The River to know that I have to hear it in full.”

That never happened, and I sit here now writing about this celebrated 1980 album with the same thought running through my head. The River was Springsteen’s fifth album, sandwiched between Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska. It marries the somberness of those records with a pop sensibility that would show up again four years later on Born in the USA.

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Song of the Day #2,948: ‘Just Keep Walking’ – INXS

inxsLike yesterday’s SOTD, today’s track comes from the 1980 debut album of a popular rock band with a brash, charismatic lead singer. Only these lads come to us all the way from Australia.

INXS’ self-titled debut doesn’t sound at all like the music that would make them famous. Five years before Listen Like Thieves and seven years before Kick, they were searching for an identity, mixing up New Wave and post-punk into an unremarkable stew.

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Song of the Day #2,946: ‘What About Georgia’ – Miranda Lambert

miranda_lambert_kerosene‘What About Georgia’ is the second track on Miranda Lambert’s debut album, 2005’s Kerosene. She was 22 at the time and fresh off her third-place finish on the TV competition Nashville Star.

This song was written about another contestant on the show, Travis Howard, with whom Lambert has collaborated on many songs. Here’s how she explains the song’s origin:

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Song of the Day #2,945: ‘All I Wanna Do’ – Sheryl Crow

sheryl_crow_tuesday_night_music_club‘All I Wanna Do’ is the song that launched Sheryl Crow into the public eye, and remains the biggest hit of her career. The track won Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, both well-earned.

I was going to use today’s blog entry to praise Crow’s excellent lyrics, because this song is an explosion of wonderful imagery and flawless characterization. But a little research revealed that the credit for those lyrics belongs to poet Wyn Cooper instead.

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