Category Archives: random weekends

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Song of the Day #3,635: ‘I’ll Be Home’ – Harry Nilsson

Before I get to my random SOTD, let me wish a Happy Father’s Day to my dear father and to all fathers across the land.

Harry Nilsson was a moderately successful singer-songwriter with five studio albums under his belt in 1970, when he decided to record an album of songs written by Randy Newman.

At the time, Newman was a prolific writer of songs for other people but had released only one album — a major flop — under his own name. He was nothing close to a household name, which made Nilsson Sings Newman a bizarre detour for the ascendant Nilsson.

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Song of the Day #3,628: ‘It’s Quiet Uptown’ – Hamilton cast

The biggest entertainment-related splurge of my life came in the spring of 2016, when I coughed up $500 per ticket for my family of four to see Hamilton on Broadway. Add in airfare, hotel and meals and you’re talking one extravagant weekend.

It was worthy every goddamn penny. My family, during our peak Hamilton obsession, got to witness the original cast a couple of months before they all left the show. Literally a once in a lifetime opportunity.

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Song of the Day #3,627: ‘Incredible Machine’ – Sugarland

I really enjoyed Sugarland’s 2008 album Love on the Inside, probably more than I should have.

Honestly, I’m kind of afraid to revisit it. Will I react to my 2008 musical self the way I cringe when I see old photographs? Why on earth did I wear my hair so long? Why on earth did I listen to this?

Or maybe I’d still dig it.

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Song of the Day #3,621: ‘Jesus of Suburbia / City of the Damned / I Don’t Care / Dearly Beloved / Tales of Another Broken Home’ – Green Day

Today’s random SOTD is the second track from Green Day’s 2004 “punk rock opera” American Idiot. I’m not a Green Day fan in general, but I do like this album quite a bit.

American Idiot definitely hit a nerve outside of the band’s usual fan base, getting adapted into a Tony-winning Broadway musical and (reportedly) an upcoming HBO movie.

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