by

Song of the Day #6,078: ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ – Timothee Chalamet

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2024
#5. A Complete Unknown

It occurred to me after the second time I’d watched and loved director James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown that I’d never before seen a biopic about an artist whose work means as much to me as Bob Dylan’s.

Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Ray Charles… all legends, no doubt. But none whose music has enraptured me for nearly four decades. None whose albums I dissected as a nerdy high school sophomore, gobbling up every line of poetry, every harmonica note, every nasally vocal.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #6,077: ‘This Diamond Ring’ – Gary Lewis & the Playboys

Gary Lewis & the Playboys topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week of February 23, 1965, with ‘This Diamond Ring.’ It was the song’s second straight week at #1.

This was the band’s first single release, and their only one to reach #1. They were one of only two acts to reach the top ten with their first seven singles (the other was The Lovin’ Spoonful).

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #6,076: ‘Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)’ – Perry Como

Throwing back to the week of February 22, 1955, we find the usual repeats in the top three spots before a newcomer at #4: Perry Como with ‘Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So).’

This was RCA Victor’s first rock record, and matching it with a white crooner like Como was, as one historian put it, an “industry effort to whitewash the racy, raunchy music of rhythm and blues before anyone’s daughter heard it.”

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #6,075: ‘(You) On My Arm’ – Leith Ross

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2024
#6. My Old Ass

Every year lately seems to offer up one great coming-of-age movie about a young woman — a genre I refer to as my cinematic kryptonite. Two years ago it was Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret., preceded by Aftersun (2022) and CODA (2021).

Last year’s winner in the category was My Old Ass, writer/director Megan Park’s magical realist dramedy about a girl who meets her older self while tripping on mushrooms.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #6,074: ‘Big Chief’ – Professor Longhair

Continuing my countdown of last year’s best films…

Best Films of 2024
#7. Hit Man

Richard Linklater is among my favorite filmmakers for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that — when he isn’t riffing on his central thesis about the beauty in seemingly mundane human experiences — he can deliver an effortlessly charming high-concept crowd-pleaser like this.

Loosely based on a Texas Monthly article about a college professor who impersonated a contract killer to assist the Houston police, Hit Man is part crime thriller, part romcom, and part exploration of the meaning of identity. You know Linklater isn’t going to resist the urge to insert some armchair philosophizing.

Continue reading →