It’s funny that this iconic Johnny Cash song, his first #1 hit and the one that inspired the title of the celebrated biopic, was written not about June Cash but Johnny’s first wife, Vivian.
I guess he didn’t find it so easy to be true after he met June.
Jenny Lewis’ 2014 album The Voyager was my second-favorite album of that year and in my top ten for the decade so far. Just mentioning it here has me wanting to cue it up in my car — I think I’ll do that.
Despite my love for that album, I haven’t spent a lot of time revisiting Lewis’ other solo efforts, including 2008’s Acid Tongue, on which today’s Random SOTD appears. My guess is I’d appreciate this album even more in light of The Voyager.
This song, from Elvis Costello’s third album, 1979’s Armed Forces, is further proof that you need to be British to really get his lyrics.
For example, “Senior Service” is both a reference to the United Kingdom’s Navy (the highest ranked of their armed forces) and a brand of cigarettes. Both of those meanings are toyed with in this song, along with probably a dozen other things I’m too stupid and/or American to catch.
Here’s a wonderful Billy Joel track first released on 1976’s Turnstiles and later on the 1981 live compilation Songs in the Attic (that’s the version featured here).
Turnstiles was written after Joel left Los Angeles to return to his native New York and exercise more control over his music (he produced the album himself). That move is reflected in such titles as ‘New York State of Mind’ and ‘Say Goodbye to Hollywood.’ On this track, he admits that, while it’s time for him to move on, he’ll have fond memories of his life in L.A.
Meet Me In Montauk 