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Song of the Day #611: ‘Hard Times (Live)’ – Mary J. Blige

My wife is a big Mary J. Blige fan but I’ve never really given her much thought (Blige, that is, not my wife). She strikes me as a run-of-the-mill R&B singer… and I readily admit that impression is based on my complete ignorance of her body of work.

But Blige really stood out for me at the Hope For Haiti Now telethon, performing the 19th century Stephen Foster classic ‘Hard Times’ (also known as ‘Hard Times Come Again No More’). This was no doubt the oldest song performed on a night when most artists reached into their own catalogs and Blige’s soulful rendition imbued it with the depth it has earned over a century and a half of sorrows.

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Song of the Day #610: ‘Driven to Tears (Live)’ – Sting

Back in January, George Clooney organized Hope For Haiti Now, a powerful telethon aimed at raising money for the impoverished country so devastated by the recent earthquake.

In order to do my small part in keeping this tragedy from being forgotten — and also to play some good music — this week I’ll highlight my five favorite performances from that night. And if you’d like to donate, the link above is still active.

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Song of the Day #609: ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ – Bob Dylan

John Wesley Harding is probably best known for ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ although it would be more accurate to say that ‘All Along the Watchtower’ is well-known because of Jimi Hendrix and John Wesley Harding is best known as the album that contains the original version.

The only other song that made any sort of commercial splash was ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,’ the album’s closing track, and it wasn’t until a 1990 cover by Robert Palmer and UB40 that it reached the charts.

You can hear that version here but I don’t recommend it on a full stomach.

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Song of the Day #608: ‘I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine’ – Bob Dylan

It’s easy to break Bob Dylan’s career into segments: we’ve already noted the shift from the political to the personal and the shift from acoustic to electric, both of which were examples of Dylan changing his musical direction. Now we come to a shift that was caused by an unplanned event changing him.

In July of 1966, just two months after the release of Blonde on Blonde, Dylan was in a serious motorcycle accident. Though the extent of his injuries remains unclear, the more lasting impact was emotional. Dylan ceased touring, withdrew from the limelight and concentrated on his life as a family man.

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Song of the Day #607: ‘How Come You Don’t Call Me?’ – Esmée Denters

Over the years I’ve linked to a number of amateur musicians who sing and play their hearts out on YouTube in the hopes that somebody out there will notice. I recently stumbled upon one who managed to turn a popular YouTube channel into a career.

Esmée Denters is a Dutch singer-songwriter who started posting songs (covers, mostly) on YouTube in the summer of 2006. She caught the attention of an artist manager who arranged an audience with Justin Timberlake. A smitten Timberlake signed her to his own label and had her open for a leg of his international tour.

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