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.
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.
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.
Fountains of Wayne followed up the success of its 2003 album Welcome Interstate Managers, and surprise hit single ‘Stacy’s Mom,’ with a double album called Out-of-State Plates, filled with odds and ends they’d amassed over their career to that point.
Albums like this are usually quick cash grabs or contract fillers, and this one is no exception. It is entirely unremarkable, featuring songs that were B-sides for good reasons.
I know ‘Natchez Trace’ as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Dusty Springfield’s seminal classic Dusty in Memphis, but it turns out its backstory is rather interesting.
This song was originally recorded for an album titled Faithful, which was to be Springfield’s seventh studio recording. In 1971, Atlantic Records released two singles from the album but neither made the charts. Disappointed with the response, the studio shelved the album and declined to renew her contract.
Meet Me In Montauk 