Today’s Random Weekend selection offers up the rare opportunity to hear a song, and an artist, for the very first time.
As with so many albums in my music collection, I don’t know how I came into possession of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled debut album. Nor do I know anything about this band; not their country of origin, number of members, musical genre, nothing. So this is truly a moment of discovery.
The songwriting matchup of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello yielded many memorable tunes and a couple of minor hits, including Macca’s ‘My Brave Face’ and Elvis’ ‘Veronica.’
You’ll find lots to love in the deeper cuts as well, such as today’s Random SOTD, from the back half of Costello’s 1989 album Spike.
‘Pads, Paws and Claws’ takes its title from a “junk shop book” and depicts one of the unhealthier relationships in the Costello canon, which is saying something.
Today’s Random Weekend selection comes from the Hamilton soundtrack. ‘Hurricane’ comes after Alexander Hamilton has been exposed as an adulterer, and (even worse, in his eyes) accused of money laundering.
He decides to write his way out of the situation, as he had so many other difficult times in his life, from childhood through his political career.
Note: This Random Weekend SOTD was scheduled to run this Sunday. When I heard the awful news of his passing, I decided to move it up a week. I’ll give the man a proper remembrance at some point, but for now I’ll just run this blog entry untouched. I will say, this particular song selection is quite poignant in light of the news.
Here’s a lovely Random Weekend selection from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ 2010 album Mojo. It’s a great album that I rarely revisit, but should.
Nice work by the Random iTunes Fairy this weekend, serving up two of my favorite singer-songwriters with Ben Folds yesterday and Josh Rouse today.
‘James’ is a track from Rouse’s 2003 album 1972, one of his best efforts. Inspired by the sound and style of the decade it’s named after, 1972 is a sharp and satisfying listen and ‘James’ is one of its best songs.
Meet Me In Montauk 