‘Song For Bob Dylan’ is a track on David Bowie’s excellent 1971 album Hunky Dory. It’s something between a tribute and a jab at Dylan, one of the biggest music stars in the world at that time.
Dylan was checking out in the early 70s. After producing a string of classic, groundbreaking albums in the 60s, he was releasing gentle country albums Nashville Skyline and New Morning, along with Self Portrait, a collection of odds and ends that was easily his worst work to date.
‘Waterloo,’ the title track of ABBA’s 1974 sophomore album, was the song that launched them to international fame. It is also the first recording released under the name ABBA, as the band’s first effort was billed to Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. The quartet quickly realized that going by their first initials, and ordering them as the palindromic ABBA, made a lot more sense.
‘Waterloo’ won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, and remains the most famous song to do so (at least the most famous on this side of the pond).
‘Is Anybody Going To San Antone’ is the closing track on Ron Sexsmith’s 2015 album Carousel One.
The song is a cover of a song released by country music singer Charley Pride in 1970. You can hear that version here.
Pride was a top-selling artist in the 70s. Over the course of his career, he scored 30 #1 Country hits and put 52 songs on the top 10.
If you’re a Billy Joel fan, as I am, you find gems no matter where in his catalog you go. OK, maybe his last couple of albums were a bit thin on great material, but prior to the mid-80s, he was firing on all cylinders.
Take today’s SOTD, a cut from the second half of Piano Man, Joel’s 1973 sophomore album and his commercial breakthrough. ‘Stop in Nevada’ is a great song in the same country rock vein as much of the record. Casual Joel fans have probably never heard it. But if you know and love the man, this is one more solid song in a sea of them.
I write these posts about a week or so in advance, and when preparing this one, it hit me that I’m about to get to the stretch of posts spanning Election Day and its aftermath. Gulp.
Four years ago, I spent the lead-up to the election posting songs from the 30 Days, 30 Songs project, in which artists took musical shots at Donald Trump in the name of raising money and turning out the vote.
It didn’t work, obviously.
Meet Me In Montauk 