Andrews Sisters "Ferry Boat Serenade"

You can walk into a grocery store, or department store, or restaurant, or just about ANY kind of establishment, and they'll be playing music on the overhead speakers.

There are a couple of reasons a business will do this.

Sometimes it's to "brand" themselves.  As in, "we're a hip store that listens to the hip music of today so buy our clothes."

Sometimes it's to set a pace.  Fast food restaurants typically play upbeat music, which may encourage folks to eat faster and therefore turn-over tables more quickly.  A fancy Italian restaurant may play slower, more romantic music, hoping to set a mood and encouraging you to order that one more bottle of wine.

Usually, though, the music is there in a public place to make the whole experience of being there a little more pleasant.  Pleasant music, along with pleasant aesthetics and even pleasant smells can elevate a person's perception of their visit.

I've thought about this recently whenever boarding one of the Steamship Authority Ferries.  Wouldn't a little music on the boat make the ride a more pleasant experience?

Now let me say that nearly 15 years after my first Steamship ride, my personal experiences with the SSA are overwhelming positive.  That being said, you don't talk to too many folks on the Island, who don't have a quip about the ferry service.

They have the overhead speakers---a whole soundsystem---in place.  Why don't fill the journey to the Island with a soundtrack?  Carly Simon's "Never Been Gone."  "Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic."  James Taylor's "Lighthouse."

I heard this Andrews Sisters song for the first time recently.  How have I traveled by ferry for 15 years, and never heard this once while cruising across Vineyard Sound?

Oh, I'm sure there's a good reason there isn't music on the boat.  They would have to pay ASCAP/BMI fees.  Someone would have to operate it.  With the boats running 18 hours a day, the song turnover would be maddening to the folks who spend all day working the ferries.

But it would make the voyage more aesthetically pleasant.

Alternate suggestion:  The SSA workers should bake a fresh batch of cookies for each ferry ride for an aesthetically pleasant-smelling boat ride.


Hear the song on Youtube.

James Taylor "Shower The People"

Here's the first entry in a mini-series of posts, called "They Don't Like The Song For A Random Reason."

We all have prejudices.  Sometimes they come from a place that you can logically understand/forgive.  Sometimes they are just bizarre.

I'll occasionally post simple stories that come to mind when I hear a song, because a certain friend once said the disliked a song for a random, picayune or bizarre reason. 

For instance, my friend Craig told me he didn't like James Taylor's "Shower The People" because Taylor sings:

"Things are gonna work out fine if you only will, do as i say, yeah"

Taylor hits the "do as I say" line hard.

Craig said he didn't like the song because, "I don't like James Taylor ordering me around."


Hear the song on Youtube.

Mark Knopfler "Sailing To Philadelphia"

While PJ is on vacation, he's writing about songs that taught him something . . .

While I think most people are familiar with the Mason/Dixon line, and what it represents in America, I bet most people are like I was---I didn't know who Mason or Dixon were, where they came from, or why they drew the line.

Enter Mark Knopfler and James Taylor, to take on the roles of Mason and Dixon, and tell the story of the Mason/Dixon line.  It's like Schoolhouse Rock for Triple A Radio!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Oh Susannah"

Barbara and I were having our usual conversation about the arrival of a new Neil Young track.

But this time, adding a layer of bizarreness/hiliarity, is the fact that it is/purports-to-be a cover song.

Young's forthcoming "Americana" album is a collection of traditional roots and public domain songs, with the sonic-attack of a traditional Crazy Horse album.

That's the information I had going into my first listen of the song.

I know the song "Oh Susannah" from my childhood.  And I have to say, on my first listen, I wondered if my understanding of what this record was, was wrong.

The second time I listened to it, I could hear some lyrics that I recognized, but it still seemed like he was only grazing the original.

Maybe if I keep listening to it, it will sound like the same song that they used to sing in grammar school.

Anyway, what do you think?


Hear the song on Youtube.

Pete does it like I remember it.

Hear the Seeger version on Youtube.

James does it like James and Johnny does it like Johnny, but they're closer to Pete than they are to Neil.

Hear James and Johnny on Youtube.

PS.  Does this song seem like a future candidate for "Let Me Ruin This Song For You?"  If you'd like to have it ruined, so that you'll never hear this song without thinking of a completely different one, then by all means, click here.

James Taylor "Lo And Behold"

Despite my claim that there are no new old songs, sometimes we do go looking for them.

How do you keep the station's library from stagnating? Well, the easiest thing to do is remove songs. If something is burned out, or if it has aged poorly, pull it out of rotation.

That's the simple solution, but it does alter the recipe. If you reduce the number of, say, songs from the 70s that mvyradio plays, you reduce the percentage of songs from the 70s that mvyradio plays.

And like a recipe, if you suddenly reduce the percentage of, say, carrots that you put into the soup, it ultimately alters the flavor.

So we will dip into an artist's catalog and see if there is anything we can bring into the library.

I recruited Barbara to help me look at James Taylor's 70s output, to see if we could improve the quality of JT tracks. Though he is one of the primary artists some people associate with the station, we actually only play a 1/2 dozen songs by Taylor at this point. Over the years, we've weeded out tracks. Time to, uh, weed in . . .

One of the simple things to do, was to look back at songs we used to play, to see if we could put anything back into rotation. We found a couple, though we also found some that were still burned, or still sounded too dated for mvyradio today.

The other thing to do (and this is why I needed Barbara), was too try to think about what tracks would stand out on the air, to anyone who owned the album.

In 1970, you (but not me, since I was only 1 year old) might have bought the "Sweet Baby James" album because of the song "Fire And Rain." But you probably listened to that record a whole lot over the years. So even if an album track wasn't a radio hit, if the album was popular, then the songs is going to be familiar to lots of folks/fans.

That's why you'll now hear "Lo And Behold" on mvyradio, added to rotation this week.

As we were doing this, it got me thinking about the future.

In 20 years time, will we be able to do this exercise for albums released in 2012?

Fewer and fewer people are listening to albums, as we move to a digital, "singles" musical culture. Some of the people who like Mumford And Sons, will only download "The Cave" and "Little Lion Man" without ever digging into the album to discover "Timshel."

Will a future radio station Music Director be able to pick up "Sigh No More" and ask the question, "What non-singles will people remember from this record?" and actually come up with something new to play? Probably not.

Ray Charles "Sweet Potato Pie"

It's 4 days after Thanksgiving . . . quick, what kind of leftover pie do you have in the fridge?

(The Genius, with James Taylor)


Hear the song on Youtube.

James Taylor "Never Die Young"

Yesterday I wrote about segues. Today I’m writing about car wrecks.

A “Car Wreck” or “Train Wreck” is common slang in radio for a segue that just doesn’t work. One song crashes into the other, and does a disservice to both tunes, and anyone with ears.

When a real life car wreck happens on the Island, it’s major news. The terrible tragedy in Vineyard Haven just a few days ago, is on the mind of every Islander I speak to.

There are no traffic lights on the Island, and there are only a few places where you can drive 45mph, and no place where you can go faster. So while I’m sure if you live in a place where there are highways, you’re used to seeing crashes, here on the Island, the rare occasion there is a vehicular death, is a shock to the community.

When I was working mornings on the air, I’d have to do a lot of segues, from music to games to news to commercials. And too often, I was only a half-step ahead of where I needed to be.

On this particular morning, though I was doing my breaks and playing the Morning Moviequote and such, my mind was on a car accident that had taken the lives of a couple local high school students. A terrible, tragic accident.

I knew that the community would be listening for details of the developing story, so I was taking extra care to pre-read the copy, to make sure I delivered it with the proper amount of gravity and respect.

But looking ahead, I did not have my eye on the ball. I was not thinking about that last song, cued up to lead into the news.

We were already halfway through the track, when I realized that “Never Die Young” was a terribly awkward song to segue into the news. It’s not a disrespectful song on its own, but the mere fact of playing it seemed like it was some cheap way to capitalize on a most heartbreaking story. But it was too late. The song was on and there was nothing I could do, except do it.

I made the segue, “That was James Taylor’s ‘Never Die Young’ on mvyradio. Now it’s time for the news. Two Martha’s Vineyard youths lost their lives yesterday . . .”

I made the segue, but it was a car wreck.