Category Archives: random weekends

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Song of the Day #3,579: ‘Happy Now?’ – No Doubt

This is the fifth track I’ve featured from No Doubt’s 1995 album Tragic Kingdom, and the third on a Random Weekend. I wish I’d been keeping stats from the start, so I’d know if this is one of the most-represented Random Weekend albums or somewhere in the middle of the pack.

‘Happy Now?’ was written by Gwen Stefani about her breakup from band member Tony Kanal, with whom she had a 7-year relationship. How odd it must have been for both of them to perform this song (and others with a similar theme) night after night.

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Song of the Day #3,578: ‘Rivers of Love’ – Sarah McLachlan

Today’s random selection comes from the artist who originally launched Random Weekends more than six years ago — Sarah McLachlan.

‘Rivers of Love’ appears on McLachlan’s rather weak 2010 album Laws of Illusion. I’ve been very dismissive of that record, but I have to admit this song isn’t half bad.

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Song of the Day #3,572: ‘He Ain’t Coming Back’ – Ashley Monroe

I love when Random iTunes Weekends tip me off to new music. Ashley Monroe, for example, has a new album due out five days from now and I might not have learned that had she not popped up today.

Monroe hit my radar as one of the three Pistol Annies, then won me over as a solo artist with her 2013 album Like a Rose. Its follow-up, 2015’s The Blade, was an even stronger record, making my expectations sky high for the upcoming Sparrow.

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Song of the Day #3,571: ‘Across the Border’ – Bruce Springsteen

Has any millionaire rock star ever captured the yearning of the underclass as well as Bruce Springsteen?

Bob Dylan did it in his early years, when he was still something of a vagabond himself, but as he grew older and more successful he turned to more internal and cerebral subject matter (with plenty of exceptions, I know… please spare me the hate comments, Dylanphiles!).

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Song of the Day #3,565: ‘Inside Your Heaven’ – Carrie Underwood

Today’s random track is a paint-by-numbers “God is love” song from Carrie Underwood’s 2005 debut, Some Hearts. It would have been more appropriately timed a week ago for Easter Sunday.

But what makes ‘Inside Your Heaven’ interesting isn’t its music or lyrics but rather its Billboard chart history.

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Song of the Day #3,564: ‘Portugal’ – Walk the Moon

After a month-long hiatus, please welcome back Random iTunes Weekends! Now that I’ve switched to a streaming service, the idea of randomly pulling from my meager iTunes library seems a bit quaint, but we’re still looking at more than 13,000 songs.

Even if I could figure out how to pull a random song from the millions accessible through Amazon Music, I don’t think I’d be happy with the results. And I like that Random iTunes Weekends give a little glimpse of where my interests lie.

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Song of the Day #3,516: ‘Zak and Sara (Live)’ – Ben Folds

I’m surprised I haven’t already featured Ben Folds’ ‘Zak and Sara,’ either its studio version (from Folds’ 2001 solo debut Rockin’ the Suburbs) or the live version posted today.

This song is a perfect example of Folds’ gift for quick character sketches. I’ve always said that at his lyrical best, his songs are essentially short stories. Short stories sung with sticky melodies over exuberant piano music.

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