Music

Does God Have A Sense Of Humor

by danhkknight

Another short post. I believe that God does have a sense of humor, how else can you explain zebras? And there is this: God gave me a love of music of all kinds and there is very little that I don’t listen to (there are exceptions and they are Rap music and Opera); I love music that I find on YouTube that is older than I am and a lot of music by folks that I have never heard of. (the other shoe dropping) however God did not give me any talent to play an instrument or to sing – yep my singing voice is terrible but I still sing if the right song is playing (Under the Boardwalk by the Drifters is one of them).

Then and Now – volume 1

by danhkknight

It has been said that the young look to the future and the old look to the past.  Since I am pushing 70 I can attest to that first hand.  The last few years I have thought a lot of childhood memories and places.

I remember when every family had only one car and the whole family shared it with the kids being at the bottom of the pecking order.   Today though it is common that every member of the family has a car – they feel it is their right.

I remember when every household had only one telephone and it was attached to the wall with a cord. That progressed to the point that telephones became cordless and you could walk around the house.   In todays world everybody has a cell phone and it can be used anywhere you go;  people are on the phone in movies, while shopping, while driving or walking – everywhere.

And music,  well it just isn’t good anymore.  I have always loved music of all kinds except for Opera and Rap.  I even love some music recorded way before I was born.   One thing I have noticed over the years is that the singers and groups of the past always dressed up and looked great with suits or matching outfits;  but in todays world the singers and groups look like they have just crawled out from under a bridge where they passed out from drinking too much.    And the old music (except for the novelty songs) was basically about love, looking for love, lost my love and so forth and was for the most part fairly poetic (case in point was The Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind);  but today all the music is about “sex, drugs and rock n roll”.

I remember that most homes had only One Television and it was basically a piece of furniture.  We had to have an antenna either on the roof of the house or some of us used rabbit ears which we could move around to get a stronger signal.   We had about 3 channels plus the public broadcasting channel (vhf or uhf).   Today TVs are thin and can be as large as 70 inches;   or TV shows can be watched on your iPhone or tablet.  Oh yeah and thanks to Cable or Streaming services those 3 channels are now hundreds of channels.

I remember seeing the first man walk on the moon and it was exciting.  Today space travel does not excite anyone.   They just don’t care as long as they can stare at the screen on their iPhone.

 

Story Behind the Song

by danhkknight

From an email list I am on.

STORY   BEHIND   THE SONG

Several songs that might have been hits have been discarded during the actual
recording sessions because the artist changed their mine about the tunes after
starting to record them.
Such was almost the case for Elvis Presley’s 1960 hit “Are You Lonesome
Tonight?”
Elvis reportedly recorded the song with the lights out in the studio – at his
request!
According to recording engineer Bill Porter – there was only an acoustic guitar,
a bass, the Jordanaires, and Elvis on that session and the Jordanaires made a
mistake on the end – by going to the wrong chord. After barely getting started
on the second take – Elvis stopped the session and told producer Steve Sholes to
throw the song out because he couldn’t do it justice.  Sholes thought the song
was a hit and talked Elvis into re-recording just the ending of the song – then
told Porter to splice the tape and add the re-recorded ending to the rest of the
song.
Porter spliced the tape and Presley’s RCA Victor single “Are You Lonesome
Tonight” came on the country charts December 12th, 1960 and peaked at number 22.
It was Presley’s 30th charted country song and was on the charts for six weeks.

Oldies Music

by danhkknight

I have listened to the Oldies music radio stations for many many many years now and have enjoyed them for the most part.  BUT I have noticed that they tend to only play the biggest hits and they get recycled over and over it seems.  There is a big part of my fondest memories that I spent listening to and singing the songs that never cracked the top 10.  These songs go into the makeup of memories from my past.