My third and final double take is a blatant rip-off by the Beach Boys of Chuck Berry’s 1958 hit, which was in fact the first Top 10 hit by a black performer. Not acknowledging copyright was both an artistic and a political issue:
“The Beach Boys stole Berry’s entire tune. Surfin’ USA went on to become [...]
Sometimes you hear a song and do a double take and say “wait, I know that riff”. Led Zepplin wrote “Going to California” in 1971 about Joni Mitchell; Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder said “Given to Fly” of 1998, which sounds pretty similar, was about “rising above anybody’s comments about what you do and still giving [...]
Oh, to howl with the wolves! Here is Bon Iver’s magical 4-line song “Woods” to howl together in harmony, friends, as November deepens.
I’m up in the woods
I’m down on my mind
I’m building a still
to slow down the time
It was sampled on “Lost in the World”, a collaboration with Kayne West on the remarkable “My Dark [...]
At the end of this “song week” on my blog, I’m considering our strong opinions about music. We’re a discriminating lot, we like this and dislike that. I wonder: Are there any objective quality criteria we could agree on for pop music? With classical music it seems easier. Who would dare say that Beethoven wrote [...]
Universally popular songlines: We say a phrase, eyes flicker recognition and – boom! – we’re sharing the whole soundtrack. Like “Don’t worry, be happy,” by Bobby McFerrin, from 1988. Or “Lean on me,” by Bill Withers, from 1972. Songfacts.com asked Withers about his signature song, and this is what he said:
“A lot of time you [...]
I have a bit of a soft spot for non-native speakers who use English to express themselves in their lyrics. Even when they are not particularly sophisticated, it’s the word choice and imagery referencing different languages that engages me.
BOY, a young duo comprized of Valeska Steiner from Zurich and Sonja Glass from Hamburg, have a [...]
On Bon Iver’s new album, lyrics are part of the ethereal soundscape. Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, seems to be following in the footsteps of Sigur Rós, the Icelandic post-rock band who focus on the overall sound to the point where they have developed an unintelligible language, Vonlenska (which translates as Hopelandic) that you are [...]
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