Bono "Silver And Gold"

One more Weekend Post from "Sun City."

Bono was involved in the "Sun City" song.  And as Little Steven was about to being mastering the final tracks he had, Bono showed up with a newly recorded tune.  One that features Keith Richards and Ron Wood as his bandmates.  It arrived so late in the game, that it didn't even make the track listing, which had already been printed.

"Silver And Gold" would eventually be re-recorded by U2 and make its way to the "Rattle And Hum" record, but this is the original release.


Hear the song on Youtube.

U2 "Pride In The Name Of Love"

"Early morning, April 4th, shot rings out in the Memphis sky . . ."

It was really amazing of Bono to turn this tune---which, reportedly had started as a song about Reagan and his take on American pride---into a timeless tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.

But how did he get such a simple detail wrong?

King was shot to death just after 6pm, not in the early morning.

It's hardly a big deal, but like a misspelled word on a street sign, it sticks out every time I hear it.


Hear the song on Youtube.

U2 "New Year's Day"

I'm over 1100 posts into this blog, so yes, I couldn't really remember if I posted this song before.

I was mildly surprised to find out that somehow, despite the dearth of New Year's related songs, I hadn't put this one up yet.

Enjoy!


Hear the song on Youtube.

U2 "Gloria"

If I have a blase attitude toward storms, hurricane preparedness and such, it probably stems from Hurricane Gloria in 1985.

Gloria had been billed as "The Storm Of The Century" and in fact, it WAS shaping up to be the biggest storm to hit the East Coast in my lifetime.  Local folks on the North Shore of Massachusetts were scrambling to get ready.  Mom was in a tizzy, making sure we had all the lingering summer toys and such out of the yard, as she collected flower pots and other loose gardening equipment, and Dad got the grill and such secured in the garage.

And then, we waited.

I had never experienced a hurricane before, so I must admit I was nervous.  But being a high school age teen, I was not about to show it.  So I just internalized it, and turned to the radio for comfort.

When 9pm came, and we weren't cowering in the basement, shielding our eyes from the shattering glass of our home . . . well, I felt like it was much ado about nothing.

With Mom's permission, I put some batteries in my boom box and I went out and lay in the grass of the front yard.  WBCN was playing a "Hurricane Party" set of music featuring Van Morrison's "Gloria," The Doors' "Gloria" and U2's "Gloria."

I watched the clouds whizz by via the high winds and warm air, and thought it was the most beautiful, non-threateningly wild night of my life.


Hear the song on Youtube.

U2 "Bad"

I read two books in the early Spring, Tina Fey's "Bossypants" and Chuck Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City."

Both books spend quite a bit of time in awkward adolescence, and both books stirred up a bunch of musical memories.  I would write down a note every time some anecdote popped in my.  I've got a good 15 to 20 upcoming posts that stroll down awkward avenue.

"Fargo Rock City" in particular made me think a lot about the music I listened to during high school, as it's part autobiography, part treatise on listening to Heavy Metal in the 1980s.

I was not a Heavy Metal kid.

But Metal, or at least Hard Rock, seemed to be the default position for popular kids in my high school.

Basically, you either liked Van Halen, or you were a fag.

That was the dividing line.  Which side were you going to be on?

(I'll say, that I think this was only really a necessary choice for boys.  Girls could like a much wider range of music and still be cool.)

So I came down on the side of "Yeah, Van Halen is cool."

But I have to admit, that I didn't really get it at all.

"Running With The Devil"?

Guys would go on and on about how great that song was.

I mean, I liked it as much as I liked any dumb rock song.  And I understood why my guitar playing friends were so crazy about "Eruption."  But I just wasn't there, otherwise.

I was a Sophomore in 1984, and while I could fake really liking certain things, to fly under the radar, I was really more interested in all the new music I was ingesting on MTV.

There was this up-and-coming band from Ireland that I and a few of my friends were excited about.  But it wasn't terribly cool to say you liked them.

I can remember being in homeroom, getting ragged on by kids were were cooler (and let's face it, tougher) than we were, for liking U2.  "The Unforgettable Fire" had just come out, and it was starting to get some attention, which, in retrospect, I think rattled these kids and their worldview a bit.

The band was gay.  We were fags for liking them.  It was stupid, fad music that would have no staying power.  It wasn't real Rock N Roll.

It's one of those moments where I wish time travel existed, so someone from the future could have popped into my 1984 homeroom to pass on the information that U2 turned out to be one of the biggest, most popular, most successful, most enduring Rock N Roll bands of the last 30 years.



See the video on Youtube.

U2 "Blow Your House Down"

Well, it's the day after Halloween, so, in some quarters it's okay to start talking about Christmas.

I mean, for some of you, it's not appropriate to broach the subject until after you've had your Thanksgiving turkey, but c'mon, that's not realistic, if you're talking about preparing for Christmas as a shopping season.

In the world of the record industry, it has long been a tradition to shut things down when December hits. What with the flurry of the holiday, with holiday programming and other distractions, record labels recognized that December is a pretty terrible time to launch a new record project.

So if it wasn't out by November, it wasn't coming out until January.

But as we, as a culture, have started the Christmas season earlier and earlier, the label world has had to react.

Now, if the record isn't out by mid-October, then it's not coming out until next year. You just can't chance having a good record get lost in the holiday shuffle.

Sure, labels could then take a couple of months off/easy, and prepare for next year, but that's a pretty long furlough. So instead, they have really ramped up the no-brainer releases.

In the past, you could reliably count on a couple of popular artists releasing Christmas records. Because if I say (like last year) "Sting has a new Christmas record," you know everything you need to know. You know what it is going to sound like, and if you like Sting, or have a family member on the Christmas list who likes Sting, you'll probably buy it.

Labels also started pushing Best Of/Greatest Hits releases and Live albums to November.

Again, there's no ramping up or explaining necessary. "R.E.M. has a career-spanning Best Of coming out," has no ambiguity. If you like R.E.M., you'll probably want this.

And now, come the reissues. Albums celebrating their 10th or 15th or 20th Anniversary get the treatment, where the original album is remastered, and there is a generous package of songs from that era on a second disc.

You've probably never heard "Blow Your House Down" before, but if you've heard U2's "Achtung Baby" then you have a pretty strong sense of what this unreleased b-side is going to sound like.

That makes it an easy buy, if you're in some retail shop and you see the U2 display. You don't have to think about it, and you don't have to wonder if you'll like it, you don't have to deliberate.

You can just buy it, and the record label person behind the record can have a good holiday knowing they were doing their job all season long.


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Ramones "Spiderman"

Here's another Weekend Post:

After pointing out the less-than-stellar-but-not-offensive Superhero song yesterday, I was compelled to post a couple of Super-Awesome Superhero songs, including The Ramones' version of the TV Cartoon "Spiderman" theme (lyrics by Stan Lee!!!), and, of course, its modern successor, Homer Simpson's (and Alf Clauson's) "Spiderpig."


See The Ramones video on Youtube.


Hear Homer sing the Spiderpig song on Youtube.


Hear the orchestral version on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

U2 "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me"

Here's another Weekend Post:

With The Edge and Bono composing the music for the Broadway musical, "Spiderman Turn Off The Dark," I had kind of forgotten that U2 had previously ventured into the world of Superhero Theme Songs, with this largely forgotten ditty from their oeuvre.

It's not horrible. Maybe just a little silly.


See the U2 video on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show. They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are wonderful to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Reeve Carney "Rise Above"

If I say, "Tell me what you know about the Spiderman musical on Broadway," the one bit of knowledge that you likely have about it, is that the production has been troubled. Some might say disastrous.

If I say, "Tell me how you feel about U2," you're likely to give me a pretty strong opinion. The fans are long-time fans. The haters can't stand the band.

When I'm listening to the new music that comes into the station, it's best to listen with unbiased ears.

It shouldn't matter if I have previously liked the band or not, the new song should be judged on its merits.

It shouldn't matter if the song doesn't meet previous expectations of the artist (i.e. if Eddie Vedder does a ukulele album, it shouldn't be dismissed because it doesn't sound like Pearl Jam), it should be judged on its merits.

It shouldn't matter even if I like the song. What's important is if I think the mvyradio listeners will like the song, and it should be judged on those merits.

This song comes with a lot of baggage. It comes with built in prejudices against Broadway musical music, which can be corny and doesn't really have a place on Rock radio. It comes with built in prejudices against this particular musical, in that the show is mostly known for the accidents and retooling and director-firing, all while getting a Ho-Hum from the critics. And it comes with built in prejudices against/for U2, in that you can't help but judge this song against previous U2 songs.

So how to you listen, without prejudice?

And more importantly, should you (listen without prejudice)?

Because listeners aren't going to take a moment to set aside their prejudices while listening to the song, are they?

It's a tricky balance, trying to judge a song on its own merits, judge a song in context of its history and pedigree, and judge how others are going to judge the song (and what criteria they might use to do so), and then repeat this process for each and every song you consider.

So, play Program Director. What do you think? If you knew nothing about the singer or the song, would you like "Rise Above"? Does the story elevate or deflate the tune? How about the players?

Here are 3 versions, with varying degrees of context. What do you think?



See the song performed on Letterman, on Youtube.


Hear the version with Bono & The Edge, on Youtube.


And the version from American Idol, on Youtube.

U2 "The Sweetest Thing"

For young single guys who live on the Vineyard, it’s a common rite of passage that you date a summer girl.

You know, she’s here from somewhere, spending the summer working in a restaurant, here to have fun and then leave come August. Or maybe she’s come to the Island with her family, in a seasonal home 10 times as nice as the “room” (actually walk-in closet, fitted with a mattress) that is your summer shuffle rental. And you’re the doesn’t-like-to-be-tied-down type who’s happy to be in a relationship that has a fixed expiration date.

And there’s a special sub-set of this phenomenon, which itself is a rite of passage:

Dating a nanny.

It's a slightly different experience than just dating a summer girl. It opens up a different world of the Vineyard.

Yes if someone can afford to have a second home that they only visit a few weeks a year . . . a second home worth a million (or millions of) dollars . . . then they can afford to hire someone to keep an eye on their kids.

I dated a nanny one summer. Nice girl. She was my age and she was in charge of a young teen and a pre-teen. So a date might be her picking me up in one of the SUVs the family had rented for the summer, with kids in tow, and going out for dinner. It was strange for me coming from a family that did not really believe in taking children to restaurants, to be with some very poised, self-assured youngsters who didn’t think twice about ordering the lobster tails. The nanny was always given a nice handful of cash to take care of the tab. Then maybe we’d drop the kids at the arcade while we'd hang in the car.

I got to see parts of the Vineyard I’d never been to. I’d tag along as the family got invited to private beaches, some of the most beautiful on the Island, where, yeah, I ran into a celebrity or two. And beyond celebrities, I met the kind of folks who aren’t famous, but are incredibly interesting---people who’d made their fortunes in computers or retail or science and discovery. A class of people who populated the island for a few months, but rarely co-mingled with the electricians and bartenders and boat builders that I knew so well from my local pub.

Being a little older than the average summer-flingers, my nanny and I did try to make a go of it when she returned to California, stretching our summer relationship from coast to coast until just past the new year. But summer is summer, and as we experience here every year, summer has to end.

A good friend of mine tried the same thing---met a nanny on the island, tried to continue the relationship, long distance. But she was from Sweden, and yeah, despite their best efforts, summer has to end.

But when we'd swap dating-a-nanny-on-the-Vineyard stories, he'd sing this song, because, you know, "Oh oh-whoa, The Swedish thing."

I like hearing this song, at this time of year. I smile, thinking about the year-round boys (and girls) who've been looking at the same faces for months on end, who's long winter has finally ended. And I think about the summer girls (and boys, and nannies) who are unpacking their bags in a room that will be their home for the next ten weeks. Each group wondering if they'll find the other, wondering if summer romance is in the Vineyard stars.

The Passengers "Miss Sarajevo"

I’ve had this argument with perhaps every DJ I’ve ever managed . . .

Inevitably, they get the itch to play something that goes beyond the bounds of normal station programming. Every DJ has done it (including me).

The station---whatever station you are talking about---has a defined sound, defined boundaries. But people---DJs---have tastes outside of the station’s parameters. What could it hurt to slip a little something in?

And this is the argument we have.

I say to the DJ, “Hey, that’s not really something mvyradio would play.” And the DJ counters with, “It’s just one song, what's the big deal? . . .”

And yeah, it IS just one song. And, yeah, on some level it's not a big deal. But sometimes one song is all it takes.

I used to bump into this guy, a UPS driver on the Island, who wasn’t a listener. But because we’d talked a few times, and he was a (classic rock) music fan, he was interested in checking out the station.

I had told him that, yeah, we play a lot of classic rock artists like The Allman Brothers and The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and that we mixed in contemporary artists who were compatible.

“I’ll check it out,” he promised me.

The next time I saw him, he gave me this perplexed, frowny face.

“I tuned in yesterday, around 1 o’clock, and I heard some opera shit. I could only take about 30 seconds of it. Is that what you guys play?”

I tried to explain to him that it was just this U2 and friends track, and that we didn't play opera as a rule, and I told him to try back again another day, and he said he would . . . but I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't coming back, that I'd lost him.

I'd lost him in the same way people/places/shows have lost me.

Like that restaurant that everyone says is good, but when I ate there I had a lousy experience. Or that show that's popular, but the one time I watched it, I thought it was dumb.

With life full of choices and options, yeah, one underwhelming experience can mean the customer is never coming back. Or in a less-worst-case scenario, has hit the button to change the channel.

And in the story I'm telling, this is a song that we normally play. Imagine his reaction if we were really stretching boundaries.

Anyway, this is a beautiful song, and is a great chance to hear Pavarotti's voice on a rock radio station.


See the video on Youtube.

And here's a Luciano-less version, with Bono doing great justice to the Pavarotti part.

See the video on Youtube.

U2 “In A Little While”

What a weird experience it must be, for heroes to become fans.

U2 has been the biggest band in the world for so damn long, that it’s hard think of them as anything but a monolith that has always existed in the middle of the Rock N Roll square.

But they have always been generous in citing and sharing their influences, including the ones that are hard to hear any more.

When they were given an MTV Award, they used their time and their power to bring out a band they claimed was essential to the creation of U2: The Ramones.

It was a good time to recognize the band, as Joey Ramone had recently passed away, the band was no longer touring or recording and their heyday was so far removed that “the kids these days” probably knew little or nothing about the band.

A couple of years later, U2 contributed a track to a Ramones tribute record.

And you felt like U2 had done right by their forerunners honoring a group so close to their hearts.

What an amazing tribute to the band, then, to hear this news.

When Joey Ramone was in the last stages of his battle with lymphoma, on the edge of death, he asked that his favorite song be put on the stereo: U2’s “In A Little While.”

He passed while the song played.

What a tribute, when the hero honors the fan.

Tom Petty "I Should Have Known It"

Call it the "We're not old" single.

Have you noticed, that some of our favorite heritage artists, seem to want to prove that they can still kick ass?

Tom Petty has been making rock records for quite a long time, and he's got nothing to prove. But I suppose, if his new album led with a song with the tempo of "Free Fallin'" or "Wildflowers," some stupid reviewer would call him a middle-age folky.

To make sure that doesn't happen, the first single off his new record "Mojo" is the riff-heavy "I Should Have Known It," which sounds more Zeppelin than "Mary Jane's Last Dance."

Is the whole record going to be this heavy? Unlikely. Petty records tend to vary tempo and texture, so I'm betting this song is on the hard end of the spectrum.

Have you noticed this trend? Established, older, familiar artists, releasing the rockingest track on their new record, as a way to say "Don't call me soft."

Think "Supernatural Superserious," the first single off R.E.M.'s "Accelerate."

Think "Radio Nowhere," the first single off Bruce Springsteen's "Magic."

Think "Get On Your Boots," the first single off U2's "No Line On The Horizon."

None of these tracks are representative of the album they appear on. And none of them proved to be particularly durable---they didn't last on the charts as long as some of the later, better singles off those albums.

But they made a strong statement. Don't call it a comeback, indeed.

U2 “A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel”

All Time Top Five Songs About Motel Rooms . . .

Redemption!

Yesterday’s post was about a U2 song that I thought was about a hotel, but wasn’t. I was ready to move on to what is arguably the most famous Hotel/Motel song, “Heartbreak Hotel” (you could make the case for “Hotel California” being as well known), but I was a bit stuck, feeling like I had nothing new to say about Elvis Presley. I went to the internet for some research and inspiration.

Was it just yesterday that I was mocking the completist-ness of the internet? That need to catalog everything that a band or a person or a chinchilla has ever done or said or thought?

I take it all back, because while looking up the Elvis song, I was reminded about this U2 B-side, from the same album at “Hawkmoon 269”!

“Rattle And Hum” was U2’s overt exploration of American music, and the American sounds of U2’s music. It also had no shortage of tributes to other artists and personalities.

There is the B.B. King performance on “When Love Comes To Town.” And the live take of the Martin Luther King tribute, “Pride.”

There are a couple of swipes at ugly Americans, as Bono “steals back” the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter” from Charles Manson, and castigates controversial John Lennon biographer Albert Goldman in “God Part II.”

Jimi Hendrix himself is on the record, in a snippet of his version of “The Star Spangled Banner” and U2 uses the Hendrix-style version of “All Along The Watchtower” instead of the simpler Dylan-style version.

But Bob Dylan gets his due with a co-write on “Love Rescue Me” and even makes an appearance on yesterday’s post, playing organ on “Hawkmoon 269” (Thanks again, Internet completists!).

And “Angel Of Harlem” is the band’s tribute to Billie Holiday.

I guess it should come as no surprise that, since U2 famously record many, many more songs per session than will fit on a record, that the B-sides might be tributes, too.

“A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel” was the B-side to the “Angel Of Harlem,” and rediscovering this track invites me to think about U2’s fascination with Elvis Presley.

The lyrics seem to evoke Elvis, or an Elvis-like character (yes, I mean Bono) who, like Judy Garland (whose also mentioned in the song), is willing to let the world suck the life out of him for the joy of attention, which actually only leads to the sadness of The Heartbreak Hotel.

And this wasn’t the first Elvis song U2 had created.

There was “Elvis Presley And America” on “The Unforgettable Fire” record, a few years earlier, which was recorded in one take, as Bono improvised lyrics about Elvis during his Fat Period.

And, under The Passengers moniker, U2 and Brian Eno wrote the cheeky “Elvis Ate America” whose lyrics push even further to parody.

While the band also loves Johnny Cash, you’d have to think that a large part of deciding to record the studio tracks for “Rattle And Hum” at Sun Studios in Memphis, had to do with their love of Elvis.

So where does Elvis fit in to the U2 picture? If you’re one of the biggest bands of all time, you’d have to take a moment and draw some parallels between yourself and perhaps the most famous of all famous folks.

And while you might be tempted to connect what makes both of you successful or beloved or memorable, that’s not what U2 seems to do.

Instead--if these 3 songs are here to make the case--Elvis comes as a cautionary tale, to remind U2 that success and excess are a path to self-parody and isolation.

My wife said something about Bono many years ago, that I’ll paraphrase here. She was making a counter-point to someone who had talked about what a big ego Bono has.

She pointed out that his ego was enormous, compared to the average person, but so was his amount of humility and empathy, and the hugeness of that side of Bono, provided ballast for the ego, making it alright.

So when you listen to these songs, wonder if Bono isn't imagining himself as Elvis, glad that it's just a character in a song, and not what he's become.

Hear "A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel" and most of the rest of the songs in this post, here.

From time to time on Every Day I Write The Blog, I do a week’s worth of my five favorite songs on theme. For the All Time Top Five rules, see this previous post.

U2 “Hawkmoon 269”

All Time Top Five Songs About Motel Rooms . . .

Throwing a monkey wrench into this post: Turns out this song is not really about a motel room.

I’d heard, years and years ago, that this song was inspired by an experience Bono had at a hotel called “The Hawkmoon” in room #269.

And I’d always assumed that to be the truth. If you check out the lyrics, it would make perfect sense that Bono (or the narrator), who is desperately begging for “your love” would be telling you how much he needs it, in a hotel room. What other explanation is there for the name?

Well, it turns out there is quite a handful of explanations.

While trying to research where this non-existent hotel might be, I ended up down the rabbit-hole of U2 fan site theorists.

Maybe the title has to do with the number of times the song was remixed (269 times). Maybe it has to do with a Sam Shepard book. Maybe it is something only in Bono’s head.

What’s fascinating is that this information exists at all. The internet is just an amazing thing. To have access to this information is incredible. That someone, and groups of someones, took the time to compile this information, gleaned from interviews and articles and appearances and such, to provide definitive answers to questions of U2 minutiae, is stunning, particularly because, until you stop and think about it, here in 2010, such things are pretty mundane.

Imagine if the internet were available when something like “Ode To Billie Joe” came out in the 60s?

Catherine MacLellan “Set This Heart On Fire”

How does a new song get into rotation on mvyradio?

It’s a complicated answer, honestly. Even after nearly a decade at mvyradio, I don’t think I can put into one clear sentence, how to describe “Our Sound.”

The closest I’ve come, in is our Philosophy Statement. But that is probably a fraction of the story.

Here are some things I CAN tell you.

mvyradio has a few thousand old songs in regular rotation. Meaning, a particular song gets played at least once every 3 weeks, all year round. These songs go back as far as the early-to-mid-60s, all the way up to about 6 months ago.

Anything in the last 6 months that you hear regularly on mvyradio, we call a “Current Song.” We keep about 50 Current Songs in rotation at once. If you were to listen to the station for 24 hours, you’d probably hear all of them at least once, a few of them twice, and the really, really popular ones might get three plays in twenty-four hours.

Every week, we take a couple of those Current Songs out of regular rotation. Sometimes they come out because they just don’t seem to be catching on. Often, it’s just because the song has run its course. And if the song was really popular, it can go into the regular rotation of older songs that might get played every couple of days, or every couple weeks.

And every week, we add a couple of new songs. If you go to the playlist page, you’ll see what’s been newly added to the Current Songs, on the right side of that page.

Two or three songs per week. It’s not many, considering all the choices out there.

I’m the station’s Music Director, which means I’m the last word on what we add. I take lots of input and suggestions from listeners, the other DJs, friends, the press, Record Labels and Promotions people. As a rule, I try to listen to anything someone asks me to seriously consider.

On an average week, I listen to anywhere from 50 to 100 songs, on my iTunes. Of all these tunes, only a couple per week make the cut.

Sure, we could add more, but the more you add, the less each one plays. So we settled on “about 50” as our target, thinking it was a pretty decent sized list, but was small enough to make sure that if you liked a song, you’d get to hear it enough.

There’s no real science to picking these songs, just a lot of factors. Starting with, Do I think it’s a good song? I can’t rely on that exclusively---lots of people like things that I don’t---but it’s a start.

Other questions include, “Are listeners asking for it? Is it an artist we regularly support? Is it finding success at other radio station around the country? Is it getting critical raves? Are people buying the record? What do the other DJs think?” and so much more.

And the big question is,“How does it fit into mvyradio?”

I ask myself, “Would this song sound good right after a Bruce Springsteen or Counting Crows or 10,000 Maniacs song?”

And then, I think about the playlist as a whole. A good, balanced list of Current Songs should include some very familiar artists like Bob Dylan, U2 and Sheryl Crow. And some new, up-and-coming artists in the same vein, like Catherine MacLellan or The Swell Season. There should be a few alternative artists, like The Decemberists and Bell X1, some blues musicians, like Robert Cray or Shemekia Copeland, and a few Americana acts like Neko Case and Levon Helm. It’s always nice to have an R&B tune, like something from Raphael Saddiq, and a good instrumental band, like Rodrigo Y Gabriela.

And the last question I ask is, “Do I think this song is good song? Good enough to keep people tuned to mvyradio?”

If the answer is Yes, then I’ll add it.

Lots of questions, not always clear answers, I know.

And here’s where you come in. Listener input makes a big difference. So let me pull back the curtain a little more.

Every Day I Write The Blog is mostly about the looking at songs from the past, and writing about what they make me think of.

But on a regular basis, I’m going to post new songs and ask you what YOU think.

Sometimes these songs will be tracks that have recently become Current Songs. Once a song gets into rotation, Listener Requests often determine if the song gets played a little or a lot.

Other times, I’ll post songs that are being considered. I’ll share with you my thoughts on the tune, but I’d love to hear if a) you like the tune, and b) if you think the song really belongs on mvyradio (“Hey Ya” by Outkast is a great song, but not a great mvyradio song).

Thanks for your help!

Here’s your first assignment.

This week we officially added a new Catherine MacLellan song. We had a really great visit from the Nova Scotian this summer and her first song “Take A Break” had a nice run. What do you think about her follow up?

Hear Catherine MacLellan “Set This Heart On Fire”

U2 “Beautiful Day”

I’ve been writing about seeing U2 live all week, so let me end the week of entries on a down note, and tell you about the guy who ruined the U2 show.

Oh, I bet you’ve seen this guy before. He’s the reason I rarely go to Stadium shows. Too many meatheads.

A backwards ball-cap wearing, text-message typing showboat.

He was in the seat right in front of us, hanging out with his buddies. He was a mega-U2 fan, and he wanted to be sure everyone in our area knew it.

He sang every word to every song. Loudly. I mean, U2 brings a pretty good sound system with them, but I could hear this jackass as clear as day.

When Bono was talking (and there was nothing for the Dude to sing), he held up his phone and text-messaged people.

He danced to every upbeat song. Which is great. I think you should dance at shows. But you shouldn’t dance if a) you keep crashing in to the stranger standing next to you, and b) if your only dance move is the Axl-Rose-serpentine move. Over and over again.

Will it surprise you to hear that he was sucking down beer after beer? So we at least got a respite from the snake dance and the singing, every third song, as he awkwardly disrupted everyone in his row to get a beer.

But it’s better! After finishing the beer, he’s put dip in his lip. So he’s singing at the top of his lungs, with big black ooze running over his lips. And he was kind enough to turn away from the band, every time he needed to spit in his plastic cup. Thank God Bono didn’t have to see that! Unfortunately, we did.

My wife and I were taking bets as to when the guy was going to puke.

But I really wanted to puke myself, when the band started to play “Beautiful Day.”

Instead of singing, he turned to face us, his eyes scanning the crowd behind us (to see how many people were watching him). He then raised his arms above his head, like a preacher praising God, closed his eyes, and just nodded his head for the rest of the song.

And now this is was I have to see in my mind, when I hear “Beautiful Day.” Thanks, Jerk.

Hear U2 “Beautiful Day”

See a U2 live performance, sans obstructive-Losers, here

U2 “Breathe” & David Bowie “Space Oddity”

Travis came out to the theme from Rocky. The Reverend Horton Heat arrived to the strains of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from the movie “2001.” The Blues Brothers famously used an Otis Redding track.

What song a band uses, for their arrival on stage should say a lot about the band, and about the show they’re about to put on.

It has to be something that sets the mood. It probably shouldn’t be something by the band itself. Something familiar is nice, but you don’t want it to be a song that would suggest that you are on par with someone else’s level of fame or talent (i.e. Don’t come out to a Beatles song).

On the fan side, you are sitting there with great anticipation of seeing your favorite band. You’re waiting for the venue lights to go down, and the show to start. You know all your questions will be answered shortly (“Will they play my favorite song? What will they start with? What will they cover?”) And those questions begin to be answered with that introductory track.

Last Sunday at Gillette Stadium, we waited for, what seemed like forever. There must’ve been an hour between the supporting act’s set, and the beginning of U2’s set.

The enormous Space Station-looking set loomed large in the full stadium light, as the wife and I ate our popcorn dinner, asking those above questions.

U2 answered with David Bowie---an apt, but not immediately obvious influence.

Because yes, like Bowie, U2 have pulled of the successful trick of several re-inventions. They’ve achieved Stadium-level fame, iconic status. And they have both used their music to approach their fascination with space, the earth, and viewing humanity from within and without.

We captured this moment I’m talking about on video, here, where you can see the minutes before the show starts, the Bowie intro, a Larry Mullen drum solo, and the beginning of the opening U2 song, Breathe.

Hear the original Bowie song here

Hear the original U2 song here

And see the video we show at my sister-site blog, Every Day I Video The Blog

U2 “City Of Blinding Light”

I saw U2 for the first time, this past Sunday night, at Gillette Stadium. I can hardly believe it has taken me this long to see one of my long-time favorite bands, live.

I started listening to U2, as many folks my age did, when “Gloria” became a regular part of the rotation on the early days of MTV. I’ve followed them through the peaks and valleys of their career, listened to all the records, watched the music videos, and have seen them “In Concert” on VHS and DVD many times over.

So I wasn’t surprised to see Bono pull someone out of the crowd and onto the stage on Sunday night.

I can remember seeing them on TV at Live Aid back in 1985. I knew they had only a 20 minute set, and I couldn’t believe they were stretching out the song “Bad,” to epic proportions. But Bono had ventured into the crowd, and pulled out a young woman, with whom he slow danced.

The first time I watched it, I was bummed because they only were able to do 2 songs for their set. But I remember being struck by the image of him quietly slow dancing with this stranger, surrounded by a packed, screaming, Wembley Stadium crowd.

And on repeated viewings, I was moved by it. And I know it was a regular part of the U2 experience.

So when Bono pulled out the familiar trope on Sunday night, I felt like I had seen it. But then I saw the spin.

Up on the outer-rim catwalk of the stage, Bono was running with, and singing to, a young girl. I’m going to guess she was about 12 years old.

He was singing “City Of Blinding Light” to her. I’d heard that this was a love letter to New York City, written shortly after September 11th, 2001.

But as he was singing it, my wife turned to me and said “He’s giving her advice . . .”

The more you see the less you know
The less you find out as you go
I knew much more then than I do now

Bono had gone parental. He had been a peer, dancing with all of us. But now he’s a Dad, and his message can be recalibrated for a new generation.

Hear U2 “City Of Blinding Light”

See some pictures, take by the lovely Mrs. Finn, here.