Hocken's Hey - Micheal Head & the Strands

Hocken's Hey - Micheal Head & the Strands

3:23

The Magical World Of the Strands, 1997

Written by Michael Head?

The album this song is on, I come to find out, is a critically acclaimed but largely unknown one.  This song is a lush, orchestrated pop song accentuated with strings.  It's chamber pop, with the understated vocals of Nick Drake, if he were backed by the Byrds and Fairport Convention.  I don't know exactly what the song is about, but "Hocken's Hey" seems to evoke a very British homeland, bringing to mind a verdant countryside where a tiny hamlet nestles.  Head's vocal evokes a sort of dark, expressionistic melancholy, but meshed with breezy, jangly, layered pop.  

Harlem Nocturne - Quincy Jones

Harlem Nocturne - Quincy Jones

2:34

Quincy's Got a Brand New Bag, 1965

Written by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers, 1939

I am not familiar with this song, though it is a jazz standard that has been performed by many, many artists, as diverse as Mel Tormé and Shadowy Men On a Shadowy Planet.  The interesting thing about this song, indeed the whole album, and I guess most of Jones' discography, is that he doesn't play anything on it.  He's the arranger and conductor.  Does that deserve top billing?  I wouldn't say so, but legions of musicians revere Jones so I guess he knows what's up.  Anyway, it's a nice smooth jazz number.  I like the interplay between the sax and the trumpet.

High Road - Have Gun, Will Travel

High Road - Have Gun, Will Travel

2:45

Fiction, Fact, Or Folktale?, 2013

Written by Have Gun, Will Travel

A pleasant piece of Americana pop.  It blends folk, country and pop with a mix of harmonica, rollicking boogie-woogie piano, guitar, and a honky-tonk style vibe.  The song is about making better choices, beign a better person.  Forgiving, letting go of the past, so you can live with yourself.  "'Cause I don't want to go the wrong way / And at the end of every long day / Is my reflection of me."  Fun fact: the band launched a craft pale ale named for this song.

Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton

Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton

3:01

single, 1953

Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

Putting the King's famous cover to shame, this hokum blues song is rockin' so don't come knockin'.  Thornton belts out the lyrics like she knows what it's like to throw a no-good triflin' man out of your house.  It has a verse that Elvis didn't include,  "Baby, you made me weep and moan / 'Cause you ain't looking for a woman / All you looking is for a home."  I love how she calls out, "Shake it, but don't break it!"  I wonder if that's the first time that expression was recorded?  Stoller later said of Elvis' version, "It just sounded terribly nervous, too fast, too white. But you know, after it sold seven or eight million records it started to sound better."

HUMBLE. - Kendrick Lamar

HUMBLE - Kendrick Lamar

2:57

DAMN., 2017

Written by Kendrick Lamar, Michael Williams II, and Asheton Hogan

I know very little about Lamar, except what I heard from his beef with Drake last year, and a few tracks from To Pimp a Butterfly, all of which I liked.  With a sparse beat featuring guitar, bass, and piano, this one is light on the beat switches he seems to be known for and is more about the message.  Although the chorus "Sit down / be humble") is repeated way too many times for my liking, I like that even amidst all the boasting, Lamar is reminding himself to stay grounded.  Rap doesn't do that much.  "Ay, I remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances / Finesse on 'em with some counterfeits, but now I'm countin' this."

Feeling Good - Nina Simone

Feeling Good - Nina Simone

2:54

I Put a Spell On You, 1965

Written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, 1964

This was written for a musical called The Roar Of the Greasepaint — The Smell Of the Crowd.  It is sung by a character called "The Negro," who declares his triumph over the other characters in a largely metaphorical game.  Here, Simone certainly sings it powerfully and triumphantly.  "It's a new dawn / It's a new day / It's a new life for me, ooh / And I'm feeling good," she proclaims.  The lyrics are all bright sunshine, but Simone's vocals are defiant, almost menacing.  It's a terrific moment of black pride.

Back In the Good Old World (Gypsy) - Tom Waits

Back In the Good Old World (Gypsy) - Tom Waits

2:29

Night On Earth, 1992

Written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan

Clunking, shambling percussion and bleating horns punctuate an accordion line as Waits growls out what appears to be a ghost's determination to return.  "On October's last I'll fly back home / Rolling down winding way." he avers.  He may return on Halloween but he longs for summer.  "And all I've got's a pocket full of flowers on my grave," the spirit rumbles.  It's a great song, but the production could be clearer; it's a muted sound, even compared to the Waltz version of the song on the same album.

A Good Year For the Roses - George Jones

A Good Year For the Roses - George Jones

3:01

George Jones With Love, 1970

Written by Jerry Chesnut

Okay, I must admit a near-total ignorance of George Jones, a king (albeit dethroned by now) in country circles.  I first of him, in fact, from the Daniel Johnston song "Ain't No Woman Gonna Make a George Jones Out Of Me."  I had to ask someone who George Jones was.  So I knew of this song, but I don't think I'd ever heard it, even the Costello cover.  Can I just say, good Lord, it's devastating.  Just pure heartbreak set to music, with a vocal that somehow balances wounded dignity and quiet devastation. The song paints a picture of a man watching his wife walk out, and instead of shouting or begging, he just catalogs the small details: the cigarette with lipstick traces, the half-drunk cup of coffee that, he notes, she wanted, unlike how she feels about him.  "And from the bedroom those familiar sounds of our one baby's cryin' / Goes unheard."  Jones doesn’t oversing it; he just lets the sadness simmer under the surface, and that bitterness and resignation is what makes it hit so hard.  Oof.

Good Times - Charlie Robison

Good Times - Charlie Robison

3:56

Good Times, 2004

Written by Charlie Robison

A quite funny declaration of hedonism: drinking, music, and carpe diem.  You know the song doesn't take itself seriously when the opening lines are "Pick up a pizza, pineapple ham / And put it in the back of a Good Times van."  This is pure Texas honky-tonk country blues with piano and guitar, and it takes itself less seriously than even those sly rascals in ZZ Top.  "I'm gonna start singing so don't interrupt," Robison counsels, and it's good advice; his witty lyrics deserve to be heard.

Try a Little Kindness - Glen Campbell

Try a Little Kindness - Glen Campbell

2:26

Try a Little Kindness, 1970

Written by Curt Sapaugh and Bobby Austin

Just what the title indicates, this song is a straightforward, positive song about paying kindness forward.  "And if you try a little kindness / Then you'll overlook the blindness / Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets."  I particularly like how the song notes that you should help people even if they are the architects of their own position ("With a heavy load from the seeds he sowed").  Although Campbell is thought of as a country artist, this song is easy-listening rock, and he delivers the vocal with the enthusiasm of a soul singer.  This song is popular today with Christian ministers and advice-givers, despite true Christian feeling being looked upon as "woke" nonsense by theocrats and their sheep these days.