Q: What do Alexander O'Neal, Macy Gray, Christina Aguilera, Peabo Bryson, Chicago, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Patti Austin, Patti LaBelle, Gloria Estefan, Freddie Jackson, Bobby Womack, Destiny's Child, Ashanti, Boney James, Harry Connick Jr.,Faith Evans, Diana Ross, Menudo, Usher, Boyz II Men, Dismemberment Plan, Trey Songz, Chris Brown, Aretha Franklin, and 'NSync all have in common?

A. They've all released covers of Donny Hathaway's top notch Holiday tune "This Christmas"

They all pale in comparison to the original, which wins my vote for best holiday song ever. Hailing from Chicago, DH came up working as a songwriter, session musician and producer at Chicago's Twinight Records. After participating in projects by The Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, Aretha Franklin, and Curtis Mayfield, he recorded his first single in 1969. "This Christmas" was released as single by Hathaway for Atco records in 1970.

TC is also the song that was chosen by the Fuller Park Teen Band Trace for their recent Holiday Show. Guitar teacher Randy grew up under the tutelage of Hathaway's guitarist Phil Upchurch and remembers walking miles with his guitar in hand to the park each day to soak it all in. He refers to "This Christmas" as the Black National anthem, suggesting that its the most recognizable song of all in the black community. If the crowd's response ("Play it on boy!") to Trace's performance is any indication, I'd have to agree.

A few years after its release, DH's collaboration with Roberta Flack took him to the top of the charts and won him the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the duet "Where Is the Love" in 1973. Unfortunately, due to substance abuse problems,Donny Hathaway's life and career was cut short on January 13, 1979, when his body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.

This Christmas

Happy Holidays to you all! FI Will be on hiatus until after the New Year. See you here in 2009!

Well Hung, Snow White Tan

If you're a fan of The Beatles, Os Mutantes, Dungen or the Elephant Six Collective, then you're going to want to skip to the chase and buy this collection of Hungarian 70's Psyche Rock, despite its terrible name. I mean, you've got $10 for 22 fuzzed out
nuggets in a language you don't understand, right?

Buy Well Hung on Amazon

Or if you prefer to sample the wares first, check out this track from Illes, known all over Eastern Europe as The Hungarian beatles (they pre-dated the Fab Four by 3 Years"

a boland lany

David Berthy Posts



I recently watched “Killer of Sheep,” the 1977 film by Charles
Burnett. Set in South-Central Los Angeles, the movie has an
incantatory veracity that makes it feel somehow more real than
documentary even though it’s a work of fiction. By holding on
characters until their interior states are clear, the film achieves
the novelistic effect of engaging the viewer in its subjects’ inner
lives. The film’s soundtrack plays a primary role in this
achievement. Though the soundtrack is eclectic, it is always fitting,
often in surprising ways. Sometimes, it’s intentionally jarring, as
when Paul Robeson sings about America as his home over a scene of
kids in a desolate lot throwing rocks. On other occasions, there’s an
organic, playful feel, as when a little girl sings to her doll along
with Earth Wind and Fire. Most arresting, for me, was the way the
blues songs I include here are used. You’re listening to the blues
while the characters are feeling them, and the combination of image
and sound is a more evocative expression of their inner landscape
than anything that could be achieved with dialogue.

Killer of Sheep

And there ain't nothing wrong with that...

The greatest misheard lyric of all comes from the Jeffersons Theme Song. Danny's sister Jill Bernstein thought the line "As Long as we live, its you and me baby" was " Long Sweet Lips, Chewin' Me Baby". Now on the rare occasion that I hear the song, I can't hear it any other way.



Movin' On Up

Dirty Deese and The Dunderchief

I was 7 years old when this rock anthem took the airwaves, and my friends and I really had no idea who Dirty Deese or the Dunderchief was, just that these two were locked in an epically aggressive battle told by the sound of the music and the throatily chanted chorus.


Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Misheard Lyrics #1- Assy Lovers in The meadow

Much of this week will be devoted to my favorite misheard song lyrics. Back in the 80's I had a notion to publish a book of of the best, but alas, someone beat me to the punch.

Here's one from Bob Dylan's 30th studio album Time Out Of Mind, released in 1997. It was a great year for highly atmospheric albums with themes of stasis and alienation, and this one and Radiohead's OK Computer took turns on the stereo throughout the year.

The first line of the second verse on album opener Lovesick is easily misconstrued as "Assy Lovers in The Meadow, Assy Silhouettes in the Window". Of course its "I See" in both lines, but the other way is much funnier against the brooding backdrop of the song.

Years after its release, Bob would inexplicably license this song and others for a Victoria's Secret marketing CD.

Lovesick

David Berthy Posts



I recently drove from San Francisco to Chicago. In order to avoid the Rockies, I took I-40, which more or less follows the defunct Route 66 route from Los Angeles to Chicago. The drive took us through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri before we finally made our way to Illinois. The drive was visually epic and as good an excuse to listen to music as I can remember encountering, particularly a certain kind of country music. The popular cliché about country is that “It tells a story,” and that’s certainly part of the allure, but I can’t enjoy a story if it’s slathered in the kind of bombast or schmaltz so often associated with current country. It’s necessary to go back a bit to find the sort of sounds I like best on a road trip.

My first choice is “You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly,” an inestimably well-titled Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn duet. Aside from the greatness of the performance and the sharpness of the lyrics, I love how the backbeat mixes with the twang in this song. This dynamic also exists in my second choice, Willie Nelson’s “Devil in A Sleeping Bag.” The song comes from 1973’s Shotgun Willie, an album that’s perfect any time, but especially brilliant while you’re driving through Amarillo, Texas resisting the urge to watch people try for free steak dinners by putting away 72 ounces in less than an hour.

You're The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly

I've always been a grinch when it comes to holiday music....until now. Perennial Uke Cabaret favorites Heavy Boxes have changed that with this sweet and winsome new holiday collection. In addition to traditional holiday favorites, husband and wife team Melanie (Vibes and vocals)and Evan (everything else) have given us three new original songs of the season to add to the canon. Its hard to pick a favorite- Melanie's ode to knitting "Eventual Mittens" or Evan's piano based love song "Sweater Weather". The Heavy Boxes were kind enough to hand the album out for free at Uke Galactica and online, so today's download includes the entire album. Do yourself a favor and make it your holiday soundtrack.


Outdoor Hums for Snowy Weather

Pure Imagination

Fuller Park Teen band guitarist Elijah brought this one in for his band to play. You might remember if from the film Willy Wonka. It's the song that Gene Wilder sings as he and the kids enter the Chocolate room. The song is a brilliant choice for a kids band with its lyrics about the power of will and imagination

If you want to view paradise,
simply look around and view it,
anything you want to, do it,
if you want to change the world, there's nothing to it

I went in search of lyrics and chords to discover that the song has been covered by
a host of artists, from Lou Rawls to Maroon 5. After hearing 5 versions, the band decided to use Maroon 5's version as a template. I've include three versions here-the original, Lou Rawls, and Maroon 5.

Pure Imagination

Props to The Hitmaker for hipping me to this album from Sammy Davis Jr., one of the artists I would most like to have seen live in his heydey. Released in 1970, Something for Everyone is a collection of pop covers written by the likes of Jimmy Webb, Paul Anka, and Blood Sweat and Tears. The record was released on Motown Records, but bares no resemblance to the Motown sound , which may be why the label chose not to release a single from it. Its a shame, because Sammy's exuberantly groovy over-the-top arrangements of "Spinning Wheel," "Wichita Lineman," and "In The Ghetto" smoke!

Spinning Wheel

David Berthy Posts

Today’s post concerns the third and fourth tracks on the Impressions 1968 LP This Is My Country. First up is “I’m Loving Nothing.” Taken on its own, the title phrase does double duty by suggesting both that there is nothing to love, and, more penetratingly, that the narrator is “loving nothing.” The vocal performance is a Mayfield classic, and this is easily one of the most moving songs I know. There’s something perfect about how “I’m Loving Nothing” leads into the next track on the album, “Loves Happening,” where Mayfield dips his toe into the waters of hippiedom. The lyrics get a little slippery here—love is apparently happening in a place, “…where color speaks to flower girls, hippie beat, in a macro (or is it micro) world.” This may or may not be a solution to the existential dilemma explored in “I’m Loving Nothing,” but it doesn’t really matter, because “Loves Happening” sounds like Curtis Mayfield is singing while being backed by The Zombies—an irrefutable cure for just about any ill.

Loving Nothing/Loves Happpening

Set the controls for the inner and outer cosmos at Uke Galactica! Bring your songs of planetary ukesmanship for an exploration of our universe. This Saturday, December 6, at Silvies. See You There!


Major Tom

Each year I like to pick a few CD's for my dad's holiday gift. He's been getting into music in recent years, and since he's new to the music scene, I'm not limited to new releases and can cherry pick the entire canon of music history, which is great fun. This year I started with Dusty in Memphis, which I knew he would dig. Then I picked up the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss album Raising Sands, which I've been curious about since it came out late last year. We listened to it together and I really enjoyed its moody understated feel for the most part. The album, produced by T-Bone Burnett, features a great roster of players, from Marc Ribot to Norman Blake, with Plant and Krauss singing duets on songs from the likes of Gene Clark and Tom Waits. Upon first listen, this one jumped out at me.

Killing The Blues