Category Archives: random weekends

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Song of the Day #4,951: ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ – The Beatles

I recently wrote that I’d like to feature more Beatles music this year, and I guess the Random iTunes Fairy was listening. Today she’s offering up the opening track of the band’s classic 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

While Pepper is an iconic release and one of The Beatles’ top-selling albums, it sits pretty low on my personal list. Of course, this being The Beatles, that means the album still features several all-time classic songs, including ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ and ‘A Day in the Life.’

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Song of the Day #4,950: ‘Why Do They Leave?’ – Ryan Adams

It seems crazy to me that I’ve written nearly 5,000 Song of the Day posts and yet this is only my fourth featured track from Ryan Adams’ 2000 alt-country album Heartbreaker.

I love this album enough to have posted a track from it all the way back in 2008 for Song of the Day #2. I posted another nine months later. And then nothing, save for a Random Weekend appearance in 2018.

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Song of the Day #4,944: ‘Beginning to See the Light’ – The Velvet Underground

Sticking with the classic rock era this Random Weekend, we jump back from yesterday’s 1975 track to this one from 1969.

‘Beginning to See the Light’ is the opening song of Side Two of The Velvet Underground’s self-titled third album. This record marked a shift in the band’s sound toward more melodic and acoustic songs. It’s by far my favorite Velvet Underground album.

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Song of the Day #4,943: ‘Elegie’ – Patti Smith

‘Elegie’ is the final track on Patti Smith’s celebrated art-punk classic Horses. It was written as a tribute to rock stars who died before their time, including Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.

The principal inspiration, however, was Jimi Hendrix. Smith quotes two Hendrix lines in the song, including the final lines “I think it’s sad, it’s much too bad that our friends can’t be with us today.”

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Song of the Day #4,937: ‘Lady Madonna’ – The Beatles

Is there a band in music history with a better batting average than The Beatles? The Fab Four recorded under 200 songs (excluding covers) during their eight year career and you’d be hard-pressed to find 20 worth skipping on an extended playlist.

1968 B-side ‘The Inner Light,’ penned by George Harrison, might be among the throwaways, but its A-side, ‘Lady Madonna,’ certainly isn’t. This straightforward rocker was a return to the band’s roots after the Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour detours into psychedelia.

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