I miss my Mom every day but it’s brutal missing my Mom on Mother’s Day.
I’ve been dreading this day: the first Mother’s Day without my beautiful Mom. It’s gut-wrenching, and even more so than I expected coming on the heels of losing my precious Luca just days ago. Honestly I don’t even want to get out of bed today. And I might not.
But I did want to honor my Mom with a blog post today. I’m still grieving her loss and it’s been nearly a year now. I’ve been working on a tribute post for her but I haven’t yet finished it. I’ve been really struggling with it actually and I’m not quite sure why. After my Dad passed I had his tribute up in two days.
I’ve run the gamut of emotions these past eleven months. At times I felt like a pinball being flung around aimlessly and other times I was just plain stalled out, incapable of moving. I was removed and withdrawn from friends, having no desire to engage with anyone at all; and then when I did engage, I often had outrageous reactions very uncharacteristic of the person I am. I was angry, I was depressed, I was sad, I was envious of people who still had their moms and the unfairness of it all was a burning sting.
I felt extremely guilty about not finishing the tribute post that I had started. I’m no stranger to procrastination, that’s for sure, but I’ve really felt enormous guilt for not completing Mom’s tribute, as if I were letting my Mom down by not posting it and I wasn’t honoring her in the way she deserved to be honored.
Self-imposed deadlines came and went (“I’ll post it at the one month anniversary of her passing,” “The three-month mark will be a perfect time to post it,” “The six month anniversary is coming up and I really need to get this done”…). The more time that passed the more guilt I felt. I talked to a grief counselor about it because I was truly baffled at how I just seemed absolutely unable to finish it, and at the same time how could I dare let her down like this and not honor my amazing Mom?
I’m glad I did talk to that grief counselor because I was able to at least quit beating myself up about it. He even said it wasn’t uncommon at all. How so? He said he often sees grieving people experience this same type of delay hurdle, like when one is not able to write the obituary or one can’t seem to order the headstone. He said it’s as if those things – and my tribute post – represent finality. An ending that can’t be reversed. Completing these things is like putting the period at the end of a sentence. Finality, like reaching that last word when you’re reading a great book that you don’t want to end.
I really got that. THAT hit home. So yeah, all this time has passed in these last eleven months and I haven’t been able to put the period at the end of the tribute sentence.
As today approached, I knew that Mother’s Day has forever changed for me. It will never ever be the same. Perhaps today, a day when people the world over honor their mothers, would be the perfect day to finally publish the tribute post for my Mom.
HOWEVER, yesterday I opened the Word document, started scrolling through it to see what else it needed to be complete and came to this realization: Holy Crap! This tribute is 11 pages long – and that’s without the photos! The word count at this point is showing to have 335 lines of text and nearly 6000 words! I can’t expect anyone to sit and read through all that!
So… I decided (this won’t surprise my blogging friends, I’m sure) to do a Mom Series. I’ll be able to share all that I want to share about my Mom, but just in smaller chunks. My Mom Series will be forthcoming.Today’s post is simply going to be a shout-out to my Mom and to all the amazing mothers out there.
I saw this on a Mother’s Day card and I really liked it:
When a mother says “I love you,” she also means “I’d do anything for you.” When she wishes you “Good night,” she’s saying “Your dreams are my dreams, too.” And when she calls out “See you soon!” she’s promising “I’ll be with you wherever you go.”
I miss my beautiful Mom so much! I talk to her all the time. And I sure hope the last line in that verse is true. I hope she is with me wherever I go. She is of course always with me in my heart, but I hope her spirit tags along with me too. There are so many times, several times a week, or a day even, when I find myself saying, “Mom, I wish you were here to see this!” or ”I wish you were here to do this with me.” or “I wish you could go with me today.”
Thankfully, my Mom is in my dreams often.
And those are the very best dreams.
Happy Mother’s Day Mom. I love you!
And Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers out there!
I had to say goodbye to my sweet Luca on Wednesday. He was such a trooper! Together we used our wills to fight the cancer that had invaded his throat. The tumor was discovered back in September when he had a breathing emergency. It was in a spot that wouldn’t allow for surgical removal so the specialist surgeon did a tracheostomy. He came out of that surgery with flying colors. Next we saw an oncologist and the biopsies showed he had squamous cell carcinoma. When that cancer is in the tonsil it’s extremely aggressive so the prognosis wasn’t great. He started chemotherapy in early October and to the oncologist’s amazement, Luca quickly entered into remission. She said she had never seen chemotherapy work so fast in shrinking a tumor.
Luca stayed in remission for several months. And he just went back to being the same ol’ goofy boy that I loved so much. Over the months he continued to squeak his toys almost endlessly and run in the yard with our guest dogs. He was such a lovey-dovey dude, as anyone who met him can attest, and he gave freely his sweet kisses. And his tail! That white-tipped tail of his was constantly wagging. Always! Even if he was just lying on the couch chilling out or had gone off by himself for some quiet time to snooze in my bed: whenever I’d enter the room he would wag that tail, and I’d hear the thump-thump-thump as it whacked against the couch cushion or the mattress. That always made me smile big and I’d call him the nickname he quickly earned, “Thumper.”
Sadly, after being in remission for 7 months, that awful cancer came back. And not only had the cancer come back, he had also developed a stomach ulcer and anemia from the NSAID anti-inflammatory drug. The cancer came back because it often builds up a resistance to the chemo, rendering it useless in fighting off the C-monster. His oncologist changed his chemo drug, took him off the anti-inflammatories and started him on a medication to heal the ulcer. In his next monthly check-up, the bloodwork showed that his red blood cell count had come all the way up to normal, the tumor was smaller and his swollen lymph nodes had significantly decreased in size.
With a sigh of relief, we went back home, only to have to turn around that evening and head back to the emergency hospital. He was having a hard time breathing and they put him on oxygen right away, did x-rays and an ultrasound to determine what was happening inside him. His lungs showed that he had aspiration pneumonia so he was admitted to the hospital, where he stayed for 3 nights. He gave the vets a scare that first night, as the emergency doctor told me she thought she would be calling to tell me that my dog wasn’t going to make it. But crisis was averted and they took tremendous care of my boy.
On his second night there the oncologist called with concern because Luca developed swelling in his neck and throat area, his tracheostomy hole was closing and the swelling could block it entirely. He also wasn’t able to be out of the oxygen for more than 10 minutes before he started struggling. She said his recovery wasn’t progressing into a positive arena and that he couldn’t stay in oxygen forever. She then said, with hesitation, “We’re pretty much out of options.”
I told her to please give him one more night and see if adding an anti-inflammatory with less side effects and one that doesn’t so negatively impact the stomach would make a difference. She agreed. And that’s when my praying and pleading started in earnest. A few of my friends have already heard what I’m about to tell you but I was so moved by it I have to share. That night I was sitting on the edge of my bed, crying and praying. And I started thinking about the time my Dad was in the hospital with pneumonia for the third time. One evening my Dad’s hospital nurse called and told us that he was in bad shape and they needed to move him into Hospice. She scheduled us an appointment with the Hospice Coordinator to discuss the details of the process. The next morning when we arrived at the hospital the nurse ushered us to an office, closed the door and waited for us to be seated. She then said that my Dad had made a major turnaround and that he had done a “complete 180.” When we went into my Dad’s room, he was sitting up, eating (no surprise to anyone who knows him!) and he gave us a big smile. For the next few hours the nurses and respiratory therapists and doctors were in and out of his room, and all of them commented about how shocked they all were at his turnaround.
Well, as I’m sitting on the edge of my bed crying, I looked up and said,
“Daddy, you gotta help Luca! Please help him get better. Give him some of your 180-ness so he can have a turnaround like you did…”
The next morning, Luca’s oncologist called and immediately said, “Your boy is a rollercoaster!” He had been out of oxygen for 90 minutes at that point and was breathing normally on his own. The swelling had gone down to almost nothing. She wanted to keep him there for the rest of the day to make sure he could really breathe on his own without oxygen boosts. She called me in the afternoon, said that Luca had been out of the oxygen for over six hours and that I could pick him up and bring him home. Wow! My Dad heard me. I’m convinced that “Big Ed” definitely had a hand in Luca’s 180.
That was Wednesday April 22nd. It was awesome bringing Luca home. And he was really doing great! We had a good solid ten to twelve days together in which his demeanor was very upbeat and he was all about the love. He was playful again, enjoying his squeaky toys; he’d grab one in his mouth on his way out the door and each time he’d leave it out in the yard so when he came back in, he’d run over and slide on the tile to grab him another one. He was eating like crazy too! I kept telling my friends he hadn’t eaten so robustly in quite a while.
He was on a ton of medications and I had my alarm set every day with six different Medication Time alerts. But within the last week he started feeling not so good. After tweaking some of his medications (in terms of giving it or not giving it, changing the dosing amounts, rearranging the administration times), I was seeing both improvements and declines. But I thought I had final stumbled onto the “magic potion” with the medication regimen alterations and I told him so the other night. I called his primary care vet and filled her in on what I was doing and we implemented a plan to adjust his meds on a day by day basis depending on how he felt.
On Monday I knew the end was near, the swelling in his neck was present, his breathing started sounding a little “wet” again, his tracheostomy hole was getting smaller and he just seemed sad. Like he had no energy at all. I contacted the vet and told her I wanted to wait a few days to see if stopping one of the medications would get him to feeling better but that we should plan for Friday for her to come to the house to do the euthanasia. However, Wednesday morning when we got up, Luca had gotten way worse overnight. I texted Dr. Willis and told her that we couldn’t wait until Friday. I knew there was no coming back from where he was at that moment. The Cancer Monster had won.
So the evening before last, at 6:00pm, Luca was released and took flight with the angels. I told him that Picasso (who passed in December) and ‘Grandma’ (my Mom, who passed in June of last year) and my Dad would be there to greet him. I told him they would bring him into the “pack up there” and he’d meet all my greyhounds who came and went before he came to be such a vital member of our family back in 2012.
The house is so quiet. Just a few minutes ago, something caught my eye and I looked over at the couch and expected to see him there. And then the crushing reality hit me. My heart is broken once again. That last eleven months have been absolutely horrible; I’ve had so much loss, first with my Mom passing in June and Picasso passing in December, two days before Christmas, and now my precious Luca is gone. I’m really all alone now. The silence is deafening.
Godspeed My Bubba.
I so miss you already. I love you so much. You will always live on in my heart. And I will hold dear all the memories of how much and how often you made me laugh with your silly personality and your outrageously hilarious antics.
Thank you for all your kisses! I cherish each and every one of them. It crushes me that I won’t ever get another.
Thank you for filling my life and my heart with your amazing presence.
Sweet Luca, I pray you visit me often in my dreams. Bring the rest of the family with you when you do…
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Here is the playlist that I put together for Luca’s send-off. The night “we” put it together, he was lying next to me on the couch, approving each song. This is his playlist. When Luca made his transition, the lyrics from “Keep Me In Your Heart” were playing. And as my tears flowed as I watched him being driven away, “In the Arms of An Angel” was playing…
Happy Monday! First let me start off by saying that I enjoyed being the May Co-Host for the Monday’s Music Moves Me blog hop. Thanks for participating in my themes. It was really cool to see what you all came up with for them. Crazy how many songs there were to fit those themes, huh? We all just scratched the surface in both!
Well you know me, I had to turn one of them into a series, right? So here we are with the third installment of the Rock & Roll Head to Toe body parts songs series. Starting at the top of the body, I’ve already explored Head songs and Hair songs. Today’s freebie post will be my FACEinstallment, featuring songs with the word FACE in the title.
As always, below is a playlist of my favorite FACEsongs, and some others I discovered along the way that I really like. Below the playlist is some background info and fun facts on each of the songs presented. Read it all, just skim through it, read only about those songs you might be interested in or don’t read any of it…It’s all up to you. But be sure to hit Play on the playlist, There’s some really good stuff in there! Hope you enjoy.
My Face playlist:
Smiling Faces Sometimes by the Undisputed Truth – This one-hit-wonder is by far one of my all-time favorites and for sure my favorite in this list. “Smiling Faces Sometimes” is a soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label. It was originally recorded by the Temptations in 1971. Producer Norman Whitfield had the song re-recorded by the Undisputed Truth the same year, resulting in a number-three Billboard Hot 100 position for the group. “Smiling Faces” was the only Top 40 single released by the Undisputed Truth, and was included on their debut album The Undisputed Truth. (That’s a cool name for a band. So fitting for the era. Does anyone know how they came up with the name? I couldn’t find anything on that).
The Undisputed Truth group was assembled by Norman Whitfield in 1970 in an effort to bring some new blood to Motown. The male singer in the group was Joe Harris, who had been in various groups in Detroit. The female singers were Brenda Joyce Evans and Billie Rae Calvin, who sang backup for Motown on tracks for The Supremes and The Four Tops. “Smiling Faces” ended up being the group’s only substantial hit. The group went through a number of lineup changes, appearing in various guises throughout the ’70s and ’80s.
As for the two versions of “Smiling Faces Sometimes” (the Temptations and the Undisputed Truth): Both versions deal with the same subject matter, “back-stabbing” friends who do their friends wrong behind their backs (“Smiling faces sometimes…they don’t tell the truth…smiling faces sometimes tell lies”), but in different ways. The Temptations’ original uses an arrangement similar to a haunted house film score to represent feelings of fear and timidness. Included on their 1971 Sky’s the Limit album, “Smiling Faces Sometimes” runs over 12 minutes, most of which is extended instrumental passages without any vocals. An edited version was planned as the Temptations’ summer 1971 single release, but this plan was dropped when lead vocalist Eddie Kendricks, frustrated by personnel problems within the group, quit the Temptations and signed a solo deal with Motown in March 1971.
Whitfield was known for recording dramatically different versions of the same song with different Motown artists [including Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (re-recorded as hit records for Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Marvin Gaye) and the Temptations’ “War” (re-recorded as a hit for Edwin Starr)]. After Kendricks left The Temptations, an undaunted Whitfield re-recorded the song with his latest protégés, psychedelic funk trio the Undisputed Truth. Billboard ranked the resulting single as the #14 song for 1971.
Whitfield later revisited the song for the 1973 album Ma, recorded by Motown’s white rock band, Rare Earth, which he produced and wrote. Whitfield may have been Motown’s most adventurous producer at the time but he was also kind of a snake from what I’ve read about him. That’s not atypical with a lot of music industry executives back in the day.
Per music artist biographer Richie Unterberger:
It’s fair to say that the Undisputed Truth were little more than a mouthpiece for Whitfield. He wrote most of their material (sometimes in association with Barrett Strong), and used their sessions as a laboratory to devise funk rhythms and psychedelic guitar effects. He was doing the same thing with the Temptations, and the Undisputed Truth’s records couldn’t help but suffer in comparison. As vocalists they weren’t in the same league as the Temps, and Whitfield was most likely reserving his real killer songs for the more famous group.
FUN FACT: The line, “can you dig it?” comes up a few times in this song. That was a popular saying at the time, used by The Friends of Distinction on their 1969 cover of Grazing In The Grass.
Have You Seen Her Face by the Byrds – “Have You Seen Her Face” is a song by the American rock band the Byrds, written by the group’s bass player Chris Hillman and included on their 1967 album Younger Than Yesterday.
I’ve Just Seen a Face by the Beatles – “I’ve Just Seen a Face” is a song by the Beatles. It was written by Paul McCartney and features McCartney on vocals. The song was recorded by the Beatles on June 14, 1965 at EMI Studios in London in the same session as “Yesterday” and “I’m Down”. It appeared on their 1965 UK album Help! In the US, “I’ve Just Seen a Face” was held back to be released on the Rubber Soul album, since the label wanted to give that album more acoustic numbers in keeping with the folk-rock fad popular at the time.
Before its recording, the song was briefly titled “Auntie Gin’s Theme” after McCartney’s father’s youngest sister, because it was one of her favorites.
McCartney has stated,
“It was slightly country and western from my point of view… it was faster, though, it was a strange uptempo thing. I was quite pleased with it. The lyric works; it keeps dragging you forward, it keeps pulling you to the next line, there’s an insistent quality to it that I liked.”
FUN FACT: It’s not often that a bass player writes a song with no bass guitar, but that was the case here. This is one of the few Beatles songs without a bass guitar.
My Brave Face by Paul McCartney – “My Brave Face” is a single from Paul McCartney’s 1989 album, Flowers in the Dirt. Written by McCartney and Elvis Costello, “My Brave Face” is one of the most popular songs from Flowers in the Dirt. It peaked at #18 in the United Kingdom a week after its debut, and #25 in the United States 7 weeks after its debut. It was McCartney’s last top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 until his 2014 collaboration with Kanye West, “Only One”, and as of 2017 is the last Billboard top 40 hit with any former Beatle in the lead credit.
Like other songs from Flowers in the Dirt, despite the song’s chart success, to date it has not been included on any McCartney compilation album.
FUN FACT: McCartney co-wrote this song with Elvis Costello. Elvis urged Paul to play his famous Hofner violin bass on the song, so Paul got it out of storage. Paul said it even had the set list still taped on it from the Beatles’ 1969 Apple “rooftop” concert. This inspired the music video of a Japanese collector stealing the now-priceless artifact.
I Don’t Wanna Face It by John Lennon – This song is on Milk and Honey, the sixth and final album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono released in 1984. Following the compilation The John Lennon Collection, it is Lennon’s eighth and final studio album, and the first posthumous release of new Lennon music, having been recorded in the last months of his life during and following the sessions for his 1980 album Double Fantasy. It was assembled by Yoko Ono in association with the Geffen label.
There is also an acoustic version of this song. The band version came out on the album “Milk and Honey”. Prior to bringing it to the studio to make it for his album he had done a great acoustic version, which you can hear below. [With everything that’s going on with my Mom right now, I am totally relating to the song title and the repeating lyric lines “I don’t wanna face it”…]
New Faces by The Rolling Stones – This song is from the Rolling Stones album Voodoo Lounge, released in July 1994. It is the 20th British and 22nd American studio album as their first new release under their new alliance with Virgin Records. It ended a five-year gap since their last studio album, Steel Wheels, in 1989. Voodoo Lounge is also the band’s first album without long-time bassist Bill Wyman. He left the band in early 1991, though the Stones did not formally announce the departure until 1993.
This song, although another Rolling Stones gem, received little or no radio air-play so many are not familiar with it.
My Fist Your Face by Aerosmith – “My Fist Your Face” is a song from hard rock band Aerosmith’s eighth album Done with Mirrors. It was the second track on the album and was released as a promo-only 12-inch single to US radio stations in 1985, the third promo-only single taken from the album.
Done with Mirrors, released November 4, 1985, marked the return to the band of guitarists Joe Perry, who had left in 1979, and Brad Whitford, who had left in 1981. As the band’s first album on Geffen Records, it was intended as their “comeback”. However, despite good reviews, it did not live up to commercial expectations.
On VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show, Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer expressed his dislike of Done with Mirrors, claiming that the band “never really finished it.”
Joe Perry was similarly dismissive:
“Done with Mirrors, as far as I’m concerned, is our least inspired record. But I’ve heard fans really like it, so I’m not gonna stand there and tell ’em, ‘No, it sucks.’ We had to do that record to get to the next one, so it served its purpose. I just don’t think it’s up to the standard of some of our others.”
Viacom (MTV & VH1) executive Doug Herzog recalled that, after this album, “Aerosmith was done… They were a little bit of a joke.” However, they would revive their career in 1986 with a landmark remake of 1975’s “Walk This Way” with hip-hop group Run DMC, followed by an album that would eventually go 5× Platinum – Permanent Vacation – in 1987.
Despite the band’s views, the album earned mostly positive reviews, and is a cult favorite among fans.
FUN FACT: Regarding the title and the packaging: In keeping with the album’s title, all the text (bar the catalog number and UPC) on the original releases were written backward – to be read by holding it to a mirror. Re-releases flip the artwork so it can be read without a mirror, and add the band’s logo. As a result, the original CD (which came in a longbox) is collectable. (All text in the booklet of the first CD pressing is also backward.)
The title refers both to illusions that are “done with mirrors” and the laying out of drugs such as cocaine, traditionally snorted off a mirror.
I Can’t See Your Face in My Mind by the Doors – This song is on the album Strange Days, the second studio album by American rock band the Doors, released on September 25, 1967 by Elektra Records. The album was a commercial success, reaching number 3 on the US Billboard 200, and eventually earning RIAA platinum certification. The album contains the Top 30 hit singles “People Are Strange” and “Love Me Two Times”.
Face to Face by Quiet Riot– “Face to Face” is on Quiet Riot II, the second studio album by heavy metal band Quiet Riot, released in 1978. As with their first album, it was a Japan-only release. Although Rudy Sarzo is pictured and credited, the recordings were made while bassist Kelly Garni was still in the band.
This is the last Quiet Riot album to feature guitarist Randy Rhoads, as he left the band the following year to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band.
Eyes Without a Face by Billy Idol – I had originally planned to use this song in the upcoming EYES installment but there are a ton of Eye songs so I decided to movie this Billy Idol “ballad” over to this FACE post.
“Eyes Without a Face” is a song by English rock musician Billy Idol, from his second album Rebel Yell (1983). It was released in 1984, as the second single from the album. The song is softer and more ballad-like than most of the album’s other singles. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Idol’s first Top 10 hit in the USA. The song is notable for the female voice of Perri Lister singing the French vocals. Perri Lister, also a dancer, is Idol’s girlfriend, and was part of a performance group called Hot Gossip. Lister appeared the video for this song and three others by Idol: “White Wedding,” “Rebel Yell” and “Hot In The City.” In this song she sings “Les yeux sans visage” (French for “Eyes without a face”) as a background chorus. The title of the song refers to the English title of French director Georges Franju’s 1960 film Les yeux sans visage.
An interesting song interpretation with contrasts & comparisons to the film (from Songfacts):
Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face) is the title to a chillingly horrific yet classically poetic 1960 film from acclaimed French director Georges Franju. In it, a gifted plastic surgeon is involved in a near fatal auto accident which horribly disfigures the once beautiful face of his beloved daughter. Along with his assistant, he abducts young women so that he may surgically remove their facial features and graft their beauty onto that of his daughter’s grotesque countenance.
More than the typical Mad Scientist gore flick of the “horror” genre in movies, it deals with real humanistic themes rather than the loud crash and bang after a minute long string instrument is played in a high key. The arrogance, vanity, and what we ultimately come to realize, guilt of the father who now treats his daughter as a sort of porcelain doll with interchangeable parts. Though he supposedly loves her so, what he does in effect, is dehumanize her for the sake of his own personal redemption.
The song “Eyes Without a Face” uses similar imagery for effect. However, he tackles the concept of the modern romance and uses the same metaphors the movie used to show the absence of humanity and how cold and callous the modern world has grown to be. All that we (in the song’s case “we” have the role of the narrator) have endured getting here has made us like the doctor. While the daughter has become eyes without a face (she wears a mask a la Halloween’s Michael Myers and the only visible part of her face are her eyes), the doctor has become a face without eyes. He has blinded himself to the hideousness that he has involved himself, his family, and his poor victims in.
While the woman in the relationship in the Billy Idol song is “Eyes Without a Face,” the narrator has become the face without the eyes. Wrapped in guilt for what once was a perfect love, he must face his own pettiness and the fact that he has forever altered his partner and their relationship.
In a retrospective review of the single, AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco praised the song and wrote: “The music plays against the dark tone of the lyrics with a ballad-styled melody comprised of yearning verses that slowly build emotion and a quietly wrenching chorus that relieves the emotional tension in a cathartic manner.”
FUN FACT: (Well, maybe not so fun): Idol’s memories of the music video are painful ones. The video was directed by David Mallet. Set in a hellish netherworld, the video begins with a verse-long shot of Idol’s face, which appears to be disembodied, illuminated by flames, and floating out of the dark towards the viewer. The second verse focuses on Idol having a violent fit while lying on his back and partially submerged in a shroud of white smoke. During the song’s bridge, the scene changes to Steve Stevens soloing on guitar while Idol poses dancing in a flaming hexagon surrounded by hooded acolytes. The video’s highly aggressive imagery, illustrated with sets that are accented by flame, shadow, and smoke, contrasts strongly with the relative slowness and restraint of the song.
The video was released in June 1984 and subsequently nominated for MTV Video Music Awards for “Best Editing” and “Best Cinematography”. It was shot over an exhausting three-day period on a set with fog machines, lighting, and fire sources. Immediately after the shoot, Idol flew to perform in Arizona, where he discovered that his contact lenses had fused to his eyeballs, attributing this to the harsh video shoot and dry plane air. He was taken to a hospital where the lenses were removed, his eyes bandaged for three days, and his scraped corneas grew back.
Yikes!
Face to Face by Gary Barlow with Elton John – This song finds Gary Barlow collaborating with Sir Elton John. It was released in the United Kingdom in January 2014 as the second single from his fourth solo album, Since I Saw You Last (2013).
The Take That star told MTV UK how he nabbed the Rocket Man for this duet. “I’ve been friends with Elton for quite a few years, probably 20 years actually, we’ve done stuff on stage together before but never on a record,” Barlow stated. “I’ve been looking for an excuse to do this song for years and years and I came up with ‘Face To Face’ at the end of last year.”
He continued: “I sent it to him and within like an hour, he called me back and said, ‘let’s do it, let’s go!’ So we went into Abbey Road for three hours one Monday afternoon and not only did we record the song but we shot the video at the same time.”
Following the commercial failure of Barlow’s second solo album, Twelve Months, Eleven Days, he was dropped from his label and deserted by former friends and colleagues. Elton was one of the few that stuck with him during his wilderness years and this glammy stomper song is a thank-you to the singer for sticking by him as well as a poke at those who treated like a pariah. “It’s a respect song,” Barlow told The Daily Telegraph. “I can count on the fingers of one hand the people who kept in touch with me when nobody else wanted to know me and he was one of them. I’ll never forget that.”
Before this, Gary Barlow first collaborated with Elton John in 1994 when he sang backup along with Kiki Dee and Rick Astley on the Your Song singer’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.”
Sea of Smiling Faces by The Bee Gees – This song is on the To Whom It May Concern album by the Bee Gees. Released in October 1972, it was the follow-up, and continued the melancholic and personal sound of its predecessor Trafalgar. The album was recognized as “a farewell to the old Bee Gees” as the album marked the end of an era for the group in several ways: it was their last album to be recorded solely at IBC Studios, in London, their last with conductor and arranger Bill Shepherd who had guided them since 1967, and their last under their first contract with Robert Stigwood. Some of the songs were old ones finished up or rewritten for the occasion (in the case of “I Can Bring Love”). To Whom It May Concern has sold approximately 350,000 copies worldwide.
Your Smiling Face by James Taylor – “Your Smiling Face” is a hit single by singer James Taylor. First available on the album JT, and released as the album’s sophomore single in September 1977, “Your Smiling Face” peaked at number 11 in Cash Box magazine and at 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 near year’s end. It reached number 11 on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada. On Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, it reached number 6.
Lines like “Isn’t it amazing a man like me can feel this way?” reflect Taylor’s surprise at his newfound happiness in his relationship with Carly Simon. This song, in which he lights up at the sight of a loved one, is definitely one of Taylor’s classics. At the time, he was married to Carly Simon, the obvious inspiration. Long after their 1983 divorce he told Charlie Rose: “It’s a celebration. A happy love song with a lot of energy to it.”
Taylor credits the piano player on the song, Clarence McDonald, for being a big part of the song’s success. When Taylor ran through the song, McDonald noticed a section with no vocals, which he filled with a little riff that Taylor called “that happy Munchkin song.”
Rolling Stone critic Peter Herbst described it as being “unabashedly happy”. However, according to Taylor biographer Timothy White, the song was written for Taylor’s and Simon’s then three-year-old daughter Sally, which differs from the most widely held belief. Taylor described his song as a “good, light-hearted pop love song.” Herbst praises Taylor’s vocal for being “a pretty convincing rock singer” on the song.
FUN FACT: “Your Smiling Face” was a fixture in Taylor’s live shows, but he had to abandon it for a while because he went through a period where he had difficulty reaching the falsetto notes.
Can’t Feel My Face by Weeknd– “Can’t Feel My Face” is a song performed by Canadian singer The Weeknd from his second studio album Beauty Behind the Madness (2015). Critics lauded “Can’t Feel My Face”, comparing the sound of the song to the works of Michael Jackson; Rolling Stone ranked it as the best song of 2015. It was also nominated for two Grammy Awards: Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. The song experienced commercial success, peaking at number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100. The single has also peaked at number one in New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland and South Africa, and was a top 10 single in other territories, such as Australia, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom.
This song finds Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye describing a passionate affair with a woman that he knows is no good for him, but is enjoying too much to stop. His lyrics describing the numbing sensation of being in love are crooned over pop synths courtesy of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, who has previously worked with the likes of Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift.
“I can’t feel my face” is a line from the 2001 movie Blow; Bobcat Goldthwait’s character says it after taking a bump of cocaine. (Blow is a pretty decent film starring Johnny Depp with a great soundtrack that I bought when it came out).
This led to rumors that the song is about cocaine, and there is ample evidence to back up the theory, as The Weeknd is clearly out of sorts over something that he knows isn’t good for him, but he can’t resist. Musically, the song is rather unpredictable, simulating the erratic feeling the drug induces.
The Weeknd goes through a range of emotions as this song progresses to the chorus. In the verses, he seems to have made peace with this relationship (“And she’ll always get the best of me the worst is yet to come”). In the pre-chorus, however, he is drawn back in, as she tells him not to worry, that she’s in this with him. Finally, he reaches the agony and the ecstasy of the chorus, where he can’t feel his face.
FUN FACT: Abel Tesfaye debuted the song at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote speech in San Francisco on June 8, 2015. The R&B singer took to the stage after it had been announced that Apple would be launching a new streaming service, called Apple Music, later that month.
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face by Coldplay – “God Put a Smile upon Your Face” is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their second studio album, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002). The song is built around prominent acoustic and electric guitar riffs with accompanying up-tempo drumming. The song was released on July 14, 2003 as the fourth and final single from the album.
Coldplay vocalist Chris Martin said, about the writing of the song, “That came out of playing live and wanting to have something with a bit more bounce. We were really getting into things like PJ Harvey and Muse – things with a bit more energy.”
When asked about the development of the song, during a track-by-track reveal, bassist Guy Berryman said:
When we came to record it in the studio we struggled because there was something just not quite right about it and I wasn’t happy about where we’d left it and where we were happy to leave it and we couldn’t put our finger on what it was and so it was a really nice day one day, me and Chris were just trying, I was actually just trying to record bass at the time and me and Chris were just sitting down trying to brainstorm it and work out what was wrong and so I started trying to just do a few different bass lines and stuff. Between the two of us we came up with just this kind of groove, which stays on the same note as opposed to change, it’s quite technical but it kind of added a bit of bounce to the song and it made it roll along in a much more fluid way. It was a bit mechanical before and it’s just interesting how something small like that can really change the whole vibe of a song. It was just nice because from there on it was one of our favorite tracks and it almost didn’t get on the record but it’s now one of our favorite tracks.
The video for this song is quite disturbing. A businessman notices that his hands start to slowly disappear. He runs through the city streets in a panic and eventually collapses on the sidewalk alone. As the song ends, the man disappears completely and his clothes fall limp on the ground.
Face to Face by Daft Punk – “Face to Face” is a song by French electronic music duo Daft Punk, featuring vocals and co-production by American house music producer Todd Edwards. It was released as the fifth single from their 2001 album Discovery.
As part of Discovery, the song appears in the film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, and the section of the film in which the song appears serves as its music video. The song topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 2004.
If you watch the playlist video, it’s a cool little production. I’m not a sci-fi/fantasy fan so I wasn’t familiar with the song or the movie from which the music video was derived but I found it to be pretty cool. Here’s some background on that:
“Face to Face” is featured in the 2003 animated film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, which acts as a visual realization of Discovery. The film was directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi under the visual supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. The “Face to Face” segment follows the aftermath of the extraterrestrial pop band The Crescendolls seemingly subduing the villain, Earl de Darkwood, at his Manor. Construction crews unearth the space vessel that had been piloted by Shep; he had rescued the band from enslavement and brainwashing by Darkwood, who had taken on the guise being of their manager. Police investigate the Record company the band had been signed to, and search every part of Darkwood Manor. A news report depicts montage scenes of an operation to send The Crescendolls back to their home planet using Shep’s ship. The report also explains the situation and shows that The Crescendolls were not the only group to have this happen to them. One of the band members, Octave is shown in a hospital having recovered from an earlier altercation with security guards at the Record company. As the band prepares to leave Earth, people wave goodbye to the band from all over the world.
Face to Face by Alabama – “Face to Face” is a song written by Randy Owen and recorded by American country music group Alabama. It was released in December 1987 as the second single from the album Just Us. “Face to Face” featured K.T. Oslin on guest vocals, although she was not credited, and was Alabama’s twenty-second number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent fifteen weeks on the country chart.
FUN FACT: “Face to Face” is the only single released by Alabama to feature a female vocalist.
Shadow Face by Hank Williams, Jr – This is a good story song about being the son of the late great Hank Williams. It is from Born to Boogie, a studio album by Hank Williams, Jr. Released by Warner Bros. Records in July 1987, the album reached #1 on the Top Country Albums chart. Born to Boogie also won the Country Music Association Album of the Year award in 1988 and the title track earned Williams nominations for the ACM Top Male Vocalist, the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer/songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. At the time, the couple were lovers, although MacColl was still married to Joan Littlewood. Seeger sang the song when the duo performed in folk clubs around Britain. During the 1960s, it was recorded by various folk singers and became a major international hit for Roberta Flack in 1972, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Billboard ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972.
“The First Time Ever…” was indeed the breakout hit for Roberta Flack. How it all came about for her:
Flack knew the song from the Joe & Eddie version which appeared on that folk duo’s 1963 album Coast to Coast (as “The First Time”) after her singer friend Donal Leace brought it to her attention. Having taught the song to the young girls in the glee club at Banneker High School (Washington D.C.), Flack would regularly perform “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in her set-list at the Pennsylvania Avenue club Mr Henry’s where Flack was hired as resident singer in 1968. In February 1969 Flack would record the song for her debut album First Take, her rendition of which was much slower paced than Seeger’s original (Flack’s take ran more than twice the two and a half minute length of Seeger’s). Flack would recall that while she made her studio recording of “The First Time…” she felt the loss of her pet cat; two days earlier she returned home to Washington D. C. from Detroit (where she had played her first non-local engagement) to find that her cat had passed away.
FUN FACT: Flack’s slow and sensual version was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 directorial film debut of Play Misty for Me to score a love scene featuring Eastwood and actress Donna Mills. Flack would recall how Eastwood, who had heard her version of “The First Time…” on his car radio while driving down the LA Freeway, phoned out of the blue to her Alexandria (Virginia) home: (Roberta Flack quote:)”[Eastwood said:] ‘I’d like to use your song in this movie…about a disc jockey [with] a lot of music in it. I’d use it in the only part of the movie where there’s absolute love.’ I said okay. We discussed the money.[Eastwood would pay $2000 to use Flack’s “The First Time…”] He said: ‘Anything else?’ And I said: ‘I want to do it over again. It’s too slow.’ He said: “No, its not.'”
After the Play Misty for Me film came out in 1971, the attention that Roberta Flack’s song garnered persuaded Atlantic Records to issue “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” as a single – trimmed by a minute – in February 1972. The track became a smash hit single in the United States, reaching No. 1 for six weeks on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts in the spring of 1972, with a No. 4 R&B chart peak. It reached No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart, and was No. 1 for three weeks on the singles chart in Canada’s RPM magazine.
Did you ever see this fabulous Clint Eastwood movie? I’m a huge movie buff and this one is a classic so I’m going to plug it here. Play Misty for Me is a 1971 American psychological thriller film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, in his directorial debut. Jessica Walter and Donna Mills co-star. The original music score was composed by Dee Barton. In the film, Eastwood plays the role of a radio disc jockey being stalked by an obsessed female fan.
The film was a critical and financial success, with Walter earning praise for her first major film role.
This is a poster for Play Misty for Me. The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, Universal Pictures, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist. By Source, Fair use
ANOTHER FUN FACT: Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was also played as the wake-up music on flight day 9 to the astronauts aboard Apollo 17, on their last day in Lunar orbit (Friday, 12/15/1972) before returning to earth, thus ending the first manned explorations of the Moon. The use of the song was most likely a reference to the “face” of the moon below the spacecraft.
Face in the Photograph by Yanni – Yanni was born November 14, 1954 in Kalamata, Greece. He displayed musical talent at a young age, playing the piano at the age of 6. His parents encouraged him to learn at his own pace and in his own way, without formal music training. The self-taught musician continues to use the “musical shorthand” that he developed as a child, rather than employing traditional musical notation.
He blends jazz, classical, soft rock, and world music to create predominantly instrumental works. Although this genre of music was not well suited for commercial pop radio and music television, Yanni received international recognition by producing concerts at historic monuments and by producing videos that were broadcast on public television. His breakthrough concert, Live at the Acropolis, yielded the second best-selling music concert video of all time.
At least sixteen of Yanni’s albums have peaked at No. 1 in Billboard’s “Top New Age Album” category, and two albums (Dare to Dream and In My Time) received Grammy Award nominations.
Yanni popularized the combination of electronic music synthesizers with a full scale symphony orchestra. He has employed musicians of various nationalities and has incorporated a variety of exotic instruments to create music that has been called an eclectic fusion of ethnic sounds. Influenced by his encounters with cultures around the world, Yanni has been called a “true global artist” and his music is said to reflect his “one world, one people” philosophy.
And a FACE playlist just wouldn’t be complete without including this classic hit:
Put On a Happy Face by Tony Bennett & James Taylor duet– “Put On A Happy Face” is a popular song with lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse. It was introduced by Dick Van Dyke in the 1963 musical Bye Bye Birdie. This duet is featured on Tony Bennett’s 2006 album Duets: An American Classic.
I’ll end this post with a clip of the iconic Dick Van Dyke singing “Put On a Happy Face” to the incomparable Janet Leigh in the movie Bye Bye Birdie:
That’s a wrap! Tell me, what are your favorite FACE songs? What songs would you include that aren’t in this playlist? Feel free to post the video of your favorite face song in your comment below. As always, thanks for checking out my 4M post today and I hope you’ll come back for the rest of the Rock & Roll Head to Toe body parts songs series (future installments will be on the freebie weeks each month).
And don’t forget: Monday’s Music Moves Me (4M) is a blog hop hosted by Marie of X-Mas Dolly, and co-hosted by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy and Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and Colette of Jamerican Spice and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM. Be sure to stop by and visit the hosts and the other participants listed below:
It’s Monday so that must mean this is a Monday’s Music Moves Me post. It is and what makes today’s 4M even more special (to me anyway) is because for this month of May I am the honorary co-host of the blog hop which means I get to come up with the month’s themes.
My earlier theme kicked off my Body Parts Songs Series (if you missed any of it you can check out the initial post introducing the ROCK & ROLL HEAD TO TOE Serieswith my post featuring Songs with the word HEAD in the Title or the second installment featuring Songs with the word HAIR in the Title. The series will continue with upcoming Freebie weeks).
But today is a brand new theme and I thought it might be fun to explore songs about Heaven or Hell (or songs with Heaven or Hell in the titles).
I bet you could come up with a bunch of songs that fit that bill. I certainly have my favorites that came to mind right away because they are part of the soundtrack of my life. But in compiling my list I stumbled across a bunch of unknown-to-me songs with Heaven or Hell (or both) in the titles. So I’ve put together a cool playlist combining my favorites with some new-to-me songs discovered along the way that I really like. Hope you all will like them too.
Let’s kick this party off with a group of MY FAVORITE HEAVEN AND HELL SONGS! The new-to-me songs are integrated in a way that hopefully provides a pleasing flow of the music. And, if you’re interested, you can read some info that I dug up: just basic information and a few fun facts that I learned about the songs and their artists. No need to read it all but it’s there for you if you want it. Now LET’S ROCK!
The Heaven & Hell Playlist songs and info:
If You Wanna Get to Heaven(You’ve Got to Raise a Little Hell)by Ozark Mountain Daredevils – The Ozark Mountain Daredevils are an American Southern rock/country rock band formed in 1972 in Springfield, Missouri. They are most widely known for their singles “If You Wanna Get To Heaven” in 1974 and “Jackie Blue” in 1975.
The “If You Wanna Get To Heaven” single is from their 1973 album The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. This is their debut single and it reached #25 on the U.S. Billboard chart. It was the band’s first hit and was typical of their sound. These Missouri boys sported long hair and a hell-raising attitude, which is the theme of this song: “If you want to get to heaven, you’ve got to raise a little hell.”
The music video in my playlist is a performance from an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance (OGWT was a British television music show). Recorded live at Shepherd’s Bush, London, March 26, 1976.
Hell’s Bells by AC/DC – “Hell’s Bells”, released in the Fall of 1980, is the second single from AC/DC’s seventh studio album Back in Black. “Hells Bells” is the first track of AC/DC’s first album without lead singer and co-songwriter Bon Scott, who died on February 19, 1980 after a night of heavy drinking. Brian Johnson is the lead singer who replaced Bon Scott.
The song begins with a bell slowly tolling four times, after which Angus Young starts playing the song’s main riff. Malcolm Young then joins in, followed by Phil Rudd on drums and Cliff Williams on bass. The bell tolls a total of 13 times during the song’s introduction.
A 2,000-pound cast bronze bell, made by John Taylor Bellfounders in Loughborough, Leicestershire, was used on the track. It is a replica of the Denison Bell in the Carillon Tower at the Loughborough War Museum. The band first attempted to record the actual Denison Bell, but that proved problematic due to disruptions by pigeons nesting in the tower. The AC/DC logo and the words “Hell’s Bell” are engraved on the replica.
In addition to the Back in Black album, the song also appears on Who Made Who, AC/DC’s 1986 soundtrack to the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive and on both versions of 1992’s AC/DC Live.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan – “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is a song written and sung by Bob Dylan, for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film’s release, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. In the US, it reached No.12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song became one of Dylan’s most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Guns N’ Roses, Eric Clapton, Randy Crawford and more.
Described by Dylan biographer, Clinton Heylin, as “an exercise in splendid simplicity”, the song features two verses, each of which represent the film’s title characters and American frontier legends Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
NOTE: The video in my playlist is not Bob Dylan singing, but has some great photo shots of the great BD. You can find a Dylan rendition of this song at the end of the playlist.
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers by ZZ Top – ZZ Top is a rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. The band currently consists of bassist and lead vocalist Dusty Hill, guitarist and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons (the band’s leader, main lyricist and musical arranger), and drummer Frank Beard.
“Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers”, one of my favorite ZZ Top songs, is on their Tres Hombres album. Tres Hombres (Spanish for “three men”) is ZZ Top’s third album released in 1973 and was the band’s commercial breakthrough. In the US, the album entered the top ten.
In a Songfacts interview with Billy Gibbons, he talked about the down-and-dirty honky tonk that inspired this song.
“On to a gig in Phoenix, we were driving through a West Texas windstorm. We, the band, were waiting to discover a place with some safe ground cover when the late-night lights of a roadside joint appeared. It was just across the line outside El Paso into New Mexico.
We ducked in quick and came face to face with our kind of folks… those soulful souls seeking solace, not only out of the dust and sand, but out of mind. What chance does one get better than that! We joined the gathering and started scribbling.”
Rock and Roll Heaven by the Righteous Brothers – I love this song! “Rock and Roll Heaven” is song written by Alan O’Day and Johnny Stevenson and popularized by The Righteous Brothers. It is a paean to several deceased singers such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, and has been rewritten a number of times to include other singers. The song was first recorded by the band Climax in 1973, but it failed to chart. It was then covered by The Righteous Brothers in 1974 and reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Musicians and songs mentioned in Righteous Brothers version:
“Jimi gave us rainbows” refers to Rainbow Bridge by Jimi Hendrix.
“Janis took a piece of our hearts” refers to the recording of “Piece of My Heart” by Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin.
“Otis brought us all to the dock of a bay” refers to “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding.
“Sing a song to light my fire, remember Jim that way” refers to “Light My Fire” by The Doors which featured Jim Morrison.
“Remember bad bad Leroy Brown, Hey Jimmy touched us with that song” refers to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce.
“Bobby gave us Mack the Knife” refers to Bobby Darin’s recording of “Mack the Knife”.
The lyrics involving Jim Croce and Bobby Darin replaced Climax’s lyrics for Buddy Holly (“Peggy Sue”) and Ritchie Valens (“Donna”), both of whom died in a plane crash that had already been commemorated by another hit song, Don McLean’s “American Pie.”
Also, in 1981, when the Righteous Brothers appeared for a one song reunion on American Bandstand, they performed “Rock and Roll Heaven”, and made it longer including new lyrics as tributes to Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Keith Moon.
It was rewritten with new lyrics in 1991 to mourn the passing of Elvis Presley (Love Me Tender), John Lennon (Give Peace a Chance), Roy Orbison (Oh, Pretty Woman), Jackie Wilson (Higher and Higher), Ricky Nelson (Lonesome Town), Dennis Wilson (Good Vibrations), Marvin Gaye (What’s Going On), Sam Cooke (Wonderful World), Cass Elliot (Monday, Monday) who died a few months after the original version of the song was released, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The rewritten song is included in compilation albums such as Reunion.
Fun Fact: A line from the lyrics of the song is used as the title for Stephen King’s short story “You Know They Got a Hell of a Band”, set in a town called Rock and Roll Heaven.
Highway to Hell by AC/DC – AC/DC is an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. A hard rock/blues rock band, they have also been considered a heavy metal band, although they have always dubbed their music simply “rock and roll.”
“Highway to Hell” is the opening track of AC/DC’s 1979 album Highway to Hell. It was initially released as a single in 1979. The song was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young and Bon Scott, with Angus Young credited for writing the guitar riff which became an instant classic. AC/DC had made several studio albums before and were constantly promoting them via a grueling tour schedule. This schedule was referred to by Angus Young as being on a ‘highway to hell.’ The song’s title reflects the incredibly arduous nature of touring constantly and life on the road.
Bon Scott, whose talent as a singer and AC/DC’s frontman was at a peak, was found dead in the back of a friend’s car just over six months after the song was released.
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin – “Stairway to Heaven” is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band’s untitled fourth studio album (often called Led Zeppelin IV). It is often referred to as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.
The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The final section is an uptempo hard rock arrangement highlighted by Page’s intricate guitar solo accompanying Plant’s vocals that end with the plaintive a cappella line: “And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”
“Stairway to Heaven” was voted number three in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs and was placed at number 31 on “Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, , despite never having been commercially released as a single there. In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin’s Mothership release, “Stairway to Heaven” hit number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.
HEART PERFORMS STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN AS TRIBUTE TO LED ZEPPELIN AT KENNEDY CENTER HONORS:
In 2012, Heart performed the song in tribute to Led Zeppelin at the Kennedy Center Honors, during which Plant was visibly moved to tears. This performance was so well-received and popular that a limited edition single was released on the iTunes Music Store. When I saw Heart perform this classic to perfection, it absolutely gave me chills. If you have time, it’s really worth watching.
Note: I’m hearing that the video isn’t playing here in my post so here is a link direct to YouTube where you can watch this amazing tribute performance. If you’ve never seen it before, please take this opportunity to sit for just a few minutes. You will be in absolute awe. I swear, I can watch this performance over and over again and still get chills every single time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFxOaDeJmXk
Run Like Hell by Pink Floyd – “Run Like Hell” is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. It appears on the album The Wall. It was released as a single in 1980, reaching #15 in the Canadian singles chart as well as #18 in Sweden.
The song is written from the narrative point of view of antihero Pink, an alienated and bitter rock star, during a hallucination in which he becomes a fascist dictator and turns a concert audience into an angry mob. The lyrics are explicitly threatening, directed at the listener, one with an “empty smile” and “hungry heart”, “dirty feelings” and a “guilty past”, “nerves in tatters” as “hammers batter down your door.” Even the act of sexual intercourse is doomed, for “if they catch you in the back seat trying to pick her locks”, the results will be fatal. Although the lyric “You better run like hell” appears twice in the liner notes, the title is never actually sung; each verse simply concludes with “You better run”.
Heaven by Bryan Adams– “Heaven” is a song by Canadian singer and songwriter Bryan Adams recorded in 1983, co-written by Adams and Jim Vallance. It first appeared on the A Night in Heaven soundtrack album the same year and was later included on Adams’ album Reckless in 1984. It was released as the third single from Reckless and reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in June 1985, over a year and a half after the song first appeared on record. The single was certified Gold in Canada in 1985.
Heavily influenced by Journey’s 1983 hit “Faithfully”, the song was written while Adams served as the opening act on that band’s Frontiers Tour, and features their drummer, Steve Smith. The song provided Adams with his first number one single and third top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was number 24 on Billboard magazine’s Top Pop Singles of 1985.
Hell or High Water by Passenger – I discovered Passenger last year sometime, either while working on a 4M post or a Battle of the Bands post, and was intrigued by his sound. When I saw that he had a song title that would fit in with this theme, I checked it out and now have another Passenger song that I really like. So who is the Passenger anyway?
Michael David Rosenberg (born May 17, 1984), better known by his stage name Passenger, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Previously the main vocalist and songwriter of Passenger, Rosenberg opted to keep the band’s name for his solo work after the band dissolved in 2009.
“Hell or High Water” is the first track on Passenger’s ninth studio album, Runaway. Released in August 2018, the album peaked at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart. This song has some amazing violin.
Heaven Only Knows by Richard Marx – “Heaven Only Knows” is from Richard Marx’ self-titled debut studio album, released in June 1987.
FUN FACT:: Richard became the first male solo artist (and second solo artist overall – the first being Whitney Houston) in recording history to reach the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 with four singles from a debut album”
Hell is for Children by Pat Benatar – “Hell Is For Children” is a song by American rock singer Pat Benatar. It was written by guitarist Neil Giraldo, bass player Roger Capps and Benatar. The song is about child abuse and was recorded by Benatar in 1980 for her second studio album Crimes of Passion.
Pat Benatar started writing the song after reading a series of articles on child abuse in the New York Times. She was shocked to learn such things happen and wanted to write about it.
Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel by Tavares – “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel” is a disco song written by Freddie Perren and Keni St. Lewis. It was recorded by the American band Tavares (also known as The Tavares Brothers), an American R&B, funk, and soul music group in 1976. It was released as a single from the album Sky High!
“Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel” reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1976. It peaked at number 3 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel”, with the track “Don’t Take Away the Music”, spent two weeks at number 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. It became the group’s only Gold record.
The song would also afford the group an international chart hit, reaching number 1 in the Netherlands, and charting in Australia, Canada, the UK, and South Africa.
Gonna Raise Hell by Cheap Trick – “Gonna Raise Hell” is a song written by Rick Nielsen and originally released on Cheap Trick’s 1979 album Dream Police. The subject of “Gonna Raise Hell” has been disputed but composer Rick Nielsen claims that the song is about “religious, political and nuclear fanatics.”
FUN FACT: Controversy: It has been said that “Gonna Raise Hell” contains a hidden satanic message. Using back-masking, it was claimed you can hear, “You know Satan holds the key to the lock” when played backwards.
Heaven &Hell by Black Sabbath – “Heaven and Hell” is the title track to Black Sabbath’s ninth studio album of the same name, released in April 1980. The music was written mainly by Tony Iommi, but as with almost all Black Sabbath albums, credit is given to the entire band. The lyrics were written entirely by then newcomer Ronnie James Dio.
In an interview for VH1’s “Heavy: The Story of Metal”, Dio stated that the song is about the ability of each human being to choose between doing good and doing evil, essentially that each person has “heaven and hell” inside themselves.
Heaven on Earth by Boston – In case you aren’t already familiar with this band, Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, who had their most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the debut album, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists.
“Heaven on Earth” is the opening track of Life, Love & Hope, Boston’s sixth studio album and their first studio set in eleven years. Released in December 2013, the songs on Life, Love & Hope were all meticulously recorded to analog tape on the same machines and equipment that have been used since Boston’s early tunes.
Tom Scholz, the founder and only remaining original member of the band Boston, is credited with all the instruments, harmony and backing vocals on the song.
Of the album’s style, Matt Wardlaw of Ultimate Classic Rock says “‘Life, Love & Hope’ carries remnants of those early days in its sound — which is unmistakable from the moment the soaring harmonies kick in on ‘Heaven on Earth,’ the album’s opening track and lead single. It provides a vintage moment on an album that otherwise contains quite a bit of exploration, both musically and sonically — something that we’ve come to expect from Tom Scholz when he’s working in the backroom on new Boston music.
Holding on to Hell by Gin Wigmore – Gin Wigmore is a singer and songwriter from New Zealand. She is known for her high-pitched and raspy voice. “Holding on to Hell” is a track from her 2015 Blood to Bone album.
Wigmore said regarding the song’s meaning: “It’s about holding onto the past and not wanting to let go.” Trust me, I know all about that one!
Heaven by Depeche Mode – “Heaven” is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released as the lead single from their thirteenth studio album, Delta Machine (2013). Written by Martin L. Gore and produced by Ben Hillier, the song was world-premiered on KROQ’s morning show Kevin and Bean on January 30, 2013.
In June 2013, the single was certified gold by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI), denoting downloads exceeding 15,000 units in Italy. In the UK, by contrast, the single reached #60, the first initial single from a Depeche Mode album to fail to reach the UK Top 40.
The music video for “Heaven” was directed by Timothy Saccenti and filmed in November 2012 at The Marigny Opera House, a former Catholic church in New Orleans’s Faubourg Marigny. The video’s look was inspired by Terence Malick’s 2011 film The Tree of Life, with its beautiful yet twisted, dark imagery. “Mainly it’s a performance video, which we haven’t done in a long time”, said Dave Gahan, co-songwriter for Heaven’s B-side “All That’s Mine.”
Heaven andHell by The Who – “Heaven and Hell” is a song by English rock band The Who written by group bassist John Entwistle. The studio version (originally recorded for an April 1970 BBC session), which appeared on the B-side of the live “Summertime Blues” single, is currently available only on the Thirty Years of Maximum R&B boxed set and Who’s Missing, though several live versions of the song exist on official releases. The song was one of many Entwistle B-side singles and one of his live staples.
The song’s lyrics talk of the places known as heaven and hell. The song describes heaven as “a place where you go if you’ve done nothing wrong.” And hell as “a place where you go if you’ve been a bad boy”
John Entwistle stated his stance on heaven and hell in an interview:
The last lyric ballot of the song: ‘Why can’t we have eternal life, And never die, Never die?’
“I’ve always been obsessed with the idea of Heaven and Hell. Not obsessed that it’s true, but just obsessed that it’s sort of legend, there’s such a person as the devil.
Heaven’s Wall by Bruce Springsteen– This out-and-out gospel rocker couched in Biblical language is most likely an outtake from Springsteen’s proposed gospel album, which he eventually scrapped for the more political Wrecking Ball. However, Springsteen felt it deserved a proper studio recording and gave the demo to producer Ron Aniello to play around. Aniello told Rolling Stone: “On ‘Heaven’s Wall’ we took the basic track and jumped on there with overdubs. That’s pretty much the original, vocal, drum and bass.”
High Hopes is the eighteenth studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released January 14, 2014, on Columbia Records. The album was Springsteen’s 11th #1 album in the United States, placing him third all-time for most No. 1 albums only behind The Beatles and Jay-Z. It was his tenth No. 1 in the UK, putting him joint fifth all-time and level with The Rolling Stones and U2. Rolling Stone named it the second-best album of 2014 on their year-end list.
Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf– “Bat Out of Hell” is a song written by Jim Steinman, an American composer, lyricist, record producer and playwright, for the 1977 album Bat Out of Hell and performed by Meat Loaf. It was released as a single in 1979, and again in 1993.
Like all of Meat Loaf’s hits, this was written by pianist Jim Steinman. He said he wrote this to be the ultimate “Motorcycle crash song.” The lyrics refer to a rider being thrown off his bike in a wreck and his organs exposed:
And the last thing I see is my heart still beating
Breaking out of my body and flying away
Like a bat out of hell
Of course, the expression “bat out of hell” means real fast. The song was inspired by teenage tragedy songs such as “Leader of the Pack”, “Terry” and “Tell Laura I Love Her”, the latter being the first single Jim Steinman had ever bought. Steinman wanted to write the “most extreme crash song of all time”:
“There is something so thrilling to me about that operatic narrative that involves a cataclysmic event, especially one so perfectly in tune with a teenager’s world, and rock and roll, as a car or motorcycle crash.”
On a musical and thematic level, “Bat Out of Hell”, both single and album, are often compared to the work of Bruce Springsteen, particularly the Born to Run album, and especially the song “Thunder Road”. Steinman says that he finds that “puzzling, musically,” although they share influences. “Springsteen was more an inspiration than an influence.” A BBC article suggested, “…the fact that Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan from Springsteen’s E Street Band played on the album only helped reinforce the comparison.”
According to Meat Loaf, the song is “constructed from” a shot near the beginning of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho in which the viewer looks down a valley and sees the lights of a city. He says all the clients in the Bates Motel “wish they would have left like a bat out of hell… It had nothing to do, believe it or not, with Bruce Springsteen. It had to do with Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho.”
FUN FACT: The motorcycle sound in the middle of the song is producer Todd Rundgren on electric guitar. Todd hated the idea at first, but Steinman begged him until he did that and the subsequent solo in one take.
Heaven Is In Your Mind by Traffic – “Heaven Is In Your Mind” was written by Jim Capaldi (drummer), Steve Winwood (vocal frontman), and Chris Wood (saxophonist and flutist) of Traffic. It was released on their debut album Mr. Fantasy in 1967.
This song, with its trippy stereo channel shifts, wandering melody, and eccentric mixing, is a good example of early Traffic. Mr. Fantasy is widely regarded as their least mainstream effort; by their second eponymous album, they’d ironed out their rough edges and aimed more for mainstream psychedelic rock. Although the “psychedelic” part limited their success in the UK, they enjoyed better success in the US.
Music fans today don’t seem to recognize Traffic for the influential group that they were. For starters, Rolling Stone ranks Steve Winwood #33 in its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Winwood has also been a member of the bands the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith, and Go, winning multiple Grammy awards in the process. Chris Wood, growing up in Birmingham, England, jammed with the likes of Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac, and Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer; he also played with Jimi Hendrix on Electric Ladyland. Jim Capaldi played and collaborated with such famous names as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Carlos Santana. And singer/guitarist Dave Mason has played alongside Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Fleetwood Mac and Cass Elliot. That’s Winwood, Wood, Capaldi, and Mason of Traffic. If it happened in music in the ’60s-to-’80s, they were there.
What the Hell is Goin’ On by Elvin Bishop – I haven’t heard much about Elvin Bishop since his 1976 hit “Fooled Around and Fell In Love” which was one of my favorites back then and it still is. I came across this particular Elvin Bishop song researching the theme and liked it. So who is Elvin Richard Bishop? He was born October 21, 1942 and is an American blues and rock music singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of that group in 2015 and the Blues Hall of Fame in his own right in 2016.
In 1968, Elvin Bishop left Butterfield’s band following the release of In My Own Dream. He launched a solo career and relocated to the San Francisco area, where he made frequent appearances at the Filmore with artists like Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and the Allman Brothers Band. He has released several records over the years, including the one that this song is on, Gettin’ My Groove Back, released in 2005 via Blind Pig Records (that’s a new one to me).
The Edge of Heaven by Wham!– “The Edge of Heaven” is a song by British pop duo Wham!, released on Epic Records in 1986. It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo, and was promoted in advance as Wham!’s farewell single, during their 1985 “Whamamerica” tour. With the known desire of George Michael to move into a more adult market, Wham! had announced in the spring of 1986 that Michael and his musical partner Andrew Ridgeley would go their separate ways after a farewell single, album and concert. The album was called The Final and the concert was held in front of 72,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday 28 June 1986.
The single, a five-minute tale of emotional and physical frustration within a relationship, was a slick and upbeat — albeit harder-edged than earlier works — pop tune which became the fourth and final No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and the final US Top Ten hit, reaching #10 for the duo. Elton John, a friend of Michael and Ridgeley, played piano on the track.
FUN FACT: Michael has said the lyrics to the song were “deliberately and overtly sexual, especially the first verse”. The reason for this, he says, was he thought no one would care “because no one listens to a Wham! lyric. It had got to that stage.” Yikes.
What the Hell Did I Say by Dierks Bentley– “What the Hell Did I Say” is a song co-written and recorded by country music artist Dierks Bentley. It was released in June 2017 as the fourth single from his 2016 album Black. This is the second collaboration by Bentley, Kear and Tompkins, following the highly successful No. 1 single “Drunk on a Plane”. However, unlike “Drunk”, this song underperformed and became the lowest charting single of Bentley’s career. Underperformed or not, I still really like it.
Something Happened on the Way to Heaven by Phil Collins– “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” is a song performed by Phil Collins and released in 1990, from the album …But Seriously. The song reached the #4 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that same year. A live performance of the song also appears on the Serious Hits… Live! album. The song was written by Phil Collins and Daryl Stuermer and was produced by Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham. The song was originally written for the movie War of the Roses.
The only time the title of the song is used is the second line of the third verse. The song is often identified by the recurring hook of “How many times can I say ‘I’m sorry’?”
Music Video: A dog is napping in a meadow, dreaming of being in a silent movie in which it saves a woman tied to a set of railroad tracks from being run over by a train. The opening of the song is heard faintly in the distance, coming from the open back door of a concert hall, and the dog wakes up and ventures inside. Here, Collins and his band do a sound check and then perform the song as the dog explores the facility, eating from the band’s buffet table, climbing among the catwalks, and sitting briefly at an unused keyboard and drum kit. These sequences are intercut with shots from the dog’s black-and-white perspective, including a brief dream in which it sits at a formal table loaded with food.
At two different times, the dog relieves itself onstage, first by defecating near one of the backing singers – only discovered when he steps in the resulting mess – then later by urinating on the bassist’s leg. The latter occurs near the end of the song, and the video ends after Collins smiles and wipes the bassist’s shoe with a towel.
You Gotta Go Through Hell by George Strait– This is one of two new songs that George Strait recorded for his Strait Out of the Box: Part 2 box set. The singer also penned the song with frequent collaborator Dean Dillon and his son, Bubba.
The song features the legendary session guitarist Brent Mason. After listening to the recording, Strait said it brought to mind “Bad Things” by Jace Everett, which is the theme song from the HBO show, True Blood. Said George about Brent: “…he’s an amazing guitar player and the guitar part – well, all of his guitar parts are amazing. He plays on a lot of my sessions and most everything that I do.”
Redneck Heaven by Billy Ray Cyrus – from Billy Ray Cyrus’ 1994 album Storm in the Heartland. Although the album produced a few hits, two of which entered the Hot Country charts, there was critical reception of the rest of it. I got a kick out of this critic’s comment: Giving it a “C”, Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Cyrus “sticks to the tried-and-true” but added that “the yahoo factor figures heavily on ‘Redneck Heaven’…’ Cyrus misses his notes by a mile. An achy-breaky embarrassment.” Gotta love that last line, “an achy-breaky embarrassment.” haha
Heaven On Earth by Melissa Etheridge– “Heaven On Earth” is a track from Fearless Love, the eleventh studio album by American rock/pop musician Melissa Etheridge, released in April 2010. Etheridge said in an interview the album is “about being fearless. It’s about choosing love over fear. It’s a way, a philosophy of living life that suits me well.”
Fearless Love was widely viewed as Etheridge’s “return to rock” after a more introspective and blues-influenced album in The Awakening. I really like this song. What do you think of it? Are you a fan of Melissa Etheridge’s work? I definitely like her rock style best (surprise, right?).
Heaven Knows by Donna Summer– “Heaven Knows” is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer, with guest vocals from Brooklyn Dreams released at the height of her fame during the 1970s disco era. It is adapted from the Live and More album where it is a part of the MacArthur Park Suite. It became a number 4 hit for Summer in the US the week of March 17, 1979, and held there for 3 weeks.
FUN FACT: A 1984 episode of Gimme a Break (remember that show??) features Nell Carter and guest star Ray Parker, Jr. performing a duet of the song.
FUN FACT: In 2013, following Donna Summer’s death, Nadia Ali (with Dave Audé) released a downtempo acoustic cover as a tribute:
Heaven by 3 Doors Down– By the American rock band 3 Doors Down, “Heaven” appears on the fifth studio album Time of My Life which was released in the summer of 2011. The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and sold 59,800 copies in its first week of its release. The singles from the album included “When You’re Young”, “Every Time You Go”, “What’s Left”, “Back to Me”, and the title track “Time of My Life”. It is the last album to feature Matt Roberts before his departure from the band in 2012 and his death in 2016, as well as the last for Todd Harrell before he was arrested for vehicular homicide and fired from the band in 2013.
Wear Your Love Like Heaven by Peggy Lipton – We lost an iconic angel earlier this month when it was announced that Peggy Lipton died on Saturday May 11th. Diagnosed with colon cancer and treated in 2004, she ultimately succumbed to the disease. She was well known through her role as undercover hippie cop Julie Barnes in the counterculture television series The Mod Squad (1968–1973), for which she earned four Emmy nominations and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 1970. Her five-decade television, film, and stage career included many roles, including Norma Jennings in David Lynch’s surreal cult favorite, Twin Peaks.
I’m a huge Mod Squad fan and in fact have several seasons saved on a DVR. I had no idea she was a singer until I came across this song by her. She has a pretty voice. Very fitting for that flower child image that she has always carried.
FUN FACT: Peggy Lipton was married to music producer Quincy Jones from 1974 to 1990. The couple had two daughters, Kidada Jones and Parks and Recreation actress Rashida Jones. After the Mod Squad series ended, Lipton went on to enjoy a singing career, with three of her singles hitting the Billboard charts, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton – “Tears in Heaven” is a song by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings. Its lyrics were inspired by the death of Clapton’s four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a New York apartment building on March 20, 1991. It appeared on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Rush.
The song was Clapton’s best-selling single in the United States and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It won three Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.
In August 1990, Clapton’s manager, two of his roadies and his friend and fellow musician Stevie Ray Vaughan were killed in a helicopter accident. On March 20, 1991, Clapton’s 4-year-old son Conor died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of a New York City apartment belonging to Conor’s mother’s friend.
After isolating himself for a period, Clapton began working again, writing music for the film Rush (1991). He dealt with the grief of his son’s death by cowriting “Tears in Heaven” for the soundtrack with Will Jennings. In an interview with Sue Lawley in 1992, Clapton said of the song, “There is a song that I’ve written for a movie, but in actual fact it was in the back of my head but it didn’t really have a reason for being until I was scoring this movie which I did a little while ago and then it sort of had a reason to be. And it is a little ambiguous because it could be taken to be about Conor but it also is meant to be part of the film.”
In an interview with Daphne Barak, Clapton stated “I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked… I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music.”
Fast-forward a few years: Clapton made numerous public service announcements to raise awareness for childproofing windows and staircases. Clapton stopped performing “Tears in Heaven” in 2004, (as well as the song “My Father’s Eyes”), stating: “I didn’t feel the loss any more, which is so much a part of performing those songs. I really have to connect with the feelings that were there when I wrote them. They’re kind of gone and I really don’t want them to come back, particularly. My life is different now. They probably just need a rest and maybe I’ll introduce them for a much more detached point of view.”
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan – And finally, the real Bob Dylan singing his fabulous song. Enjoy!
So that’s a wrap with my Heaven and Hell songs. I hope some of these brought back memories for you, like so many of them do for me. As well I hope some of these songs are new to you and that you like them. I almost want to say that there are countless Heaven and Hell songs out there but of course that’s not true. But there sure are a ton of them. The ones I presented here are one that played a vital role in my own personal life soundtrack or ones that I discovered and like.
Tell me, what are your favorite Heaven and Hell songs?
And don’t forget: Monday’s Music Moves Me (4M) is a blog hop hosted by Marie of X-Mas Dolly, and co-hosted by Cathy of Curious as a Cathy and Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and Colette of Jamerican Spice and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM. Be sure to stop by and visit the hosts and the other participants listed below:
Hi all. First of all, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for my Mom. She decided to have the surgery to remove the mass on her brain and on Tuesday morning she had the 7 hour surgery. She came through it good; the surgeon got 90% of the mass — he said it was one of the largest masses that he’s ever taken out. Mom is still in a sleeping state and still intubated because breathing on her own would be too much effort and energy expended which would cause further swelling in the brain so the breathing tube is doing the work instead. We are far from being out of the woods yet though. There is significant swelling in her brain and we desperately need it to come down so, if you all will, please continue to pray and keep good positive thoughts and energy flowing for her. I want my Mom back home!
I just finished tallying the votes for the Goin’ Out of My Head battle. I wasn’t sure which way it was going to go and after counting all the votes and casting my own (for the Zombies version), I am unable to declare a winner because it ended in a TIE with 5 votes for Classics IV and 5 votes for the Zombies.
I don’t know how I feel about a Tie result. In a way it means the battle had evenly matched contenders, which is a good thing, I strive to have evenly matched contenders because blowouts are never fun. But a tie result in a battle is kinda like watching a really good movie that has a crappy ending, leaving the audience unsatisfied and hanging.
In any case, it is what it is. So rather than not declaring a winner, I’ll declare both contenders in this battle a winner. Obviously both Classics IV and the Zombies did fabulous covers of Little Anthony & the Imperials R&B hit “Goin’ Out of My Head.”
So as to not leave you all disappointed and unsatisfied, let me close with another cover of this song that I had considered using in this battle. I didn’t because I figured that to pit this cover up against either of the two I did use would end the battle in a blowout. What do you all think? Do you agree? If I had used this cover against either the Zombies version or the Classics IV version, would you have liked this one better and cast your vote for the great Luther Vandross?
Here is Luther Vandross covering “Goin’ Out of My Head”:
Please leave a comment and let me know if you would’ve chosen Luther had I used his cover in this battle. Or not.
See you next month on June 15th for another Battle of the Bands entry.
I miss my Mom every day but it’s brutal missing my Mom on Mother’s Day.
Angels Bark 