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Song of the Day #416: ‘Her Majesty’ – The Beatles

abbeyroadHaving started these Beatles Weekends with the first song on the band’s first album, I couldn’t resist following it up with the last song on their last album.

Now, as with all things Beatles, this isn’t as simple as it sounds. A strong argument could be made that Let it Be, not Abbey Road, is The Beatles’ final album. It was, in fact, the last album released by the band. However, I prefer to go by the last album The Beatles recorded, and that was quite definitively Abbey Road.

I suppose it’s easy for me to make that distinction, having discovered all of the band’s albums at once years after they were recorded and released. For somebody alive at the time, Let it Be must have felt newer than Abbey Road no matter when it was recorded simply by virtue of its release date. But time irons out those wrinkles.

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Song of the Day #415: ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ – The Beatles

beatles-i-saw-her-standing-thereIt’s amazing how, nearly 40 years after they split, The Beatles remain extraordinarily relevant. Just in the past five years, their music has been showcased in a cult film beloved by teens and adults alike (Across the Universe), provided the inspiration for an elaborate Cirque du Soleil show and its accompanying soundtrack (Love) and served as the basis for a much anticipated Rock Band video game.

And now, as of last week, all of The Beatles’ album have been remastered and re-released for the first time since they showed up on CD 22 years ago. I gobbled those up when they first came out and at the time they sounded great (they were among the only CDs I owned). But when I listen to those CDs now, they stand out as far more muddied and far lower in volume than most of my music.

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Song of the Day #414: ‘Live As You Dream’ – Beth Orton

bethortonEvery once in awhile I start to wonder how long I can keep up this Song of the Day thing. On the one hand, I wonder if I’ll run out of songs to feature. On the other hand, I wonder if I’ll run out of things to say about them.

Now, given the extraordinary number of songs in the world, I’m probably just fine on the first count. Having something worthwhile to say… that’s a trickier proposition.

But usually when I start worrying about that, I’ll come across an artist such as Beth Orton and I’ll marvel that I’ve managed to highlight more than 400 songs without once featuring her on the blog. And then I’ll feel better about my long-term prospects.

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Song of the Day #413: ‘Save Me From Myself’ – Christina Aguilera

aguileraI’m fascinated by Christina Aguilera.

OK, that’s overstating things. Truth is, I haven’t spent much time at all thinking about Christina Aguilera, but when I do pause to ponder her career I find it quite intriguing.

She released her self-titled debut 10 years ago as a Mickey Mouse Club graduate following in the footsteps of the mightily popular Britney Spears. That album, as processed and packaged as a can of Spam, did little to differentiate her from Spears. I remember sharing the popular opinion that she was a wannabe hoping to catch a bit of the teen pop wave Britney had started.

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Song of the Day #412: ‘Día de Enero’ – Shakira

shakira3If only Shakira were at least somewhat unattractive, or somewhat out of shape… I believe she’d be far better off. Then she wouldn’t be tempted to dress in an outfit that looks like it lost a fight with a pair of scissors and gyrate in a cage like an epileptic.

This woman is a true trailblazer… the only South American artist to ever have a #1 Billboard hit in the U.S. and the first to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She’s a good friend of fellow Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez. She spends her spare time taking history classes at UCLA. She’s a celebrated humanitarian who dedicates plenty of time and money to helping the underprivileged in her home country and the rest of the world.

But she insists on presenting herself artistically as a half-naked contortionist.

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