Today is January 30th and I’m going to try and sneak in another blahg before the end of the month and no, before you ask, I have not finished writing “HOW ABOUT YOU, DELBERT ROBINSON?” I’ve stalled on that story but then again I’ve picked up on stories sometimes a year and half later or even ten years later. I’ll get there eventually. When I was driving to work today, I glanced at the temperature display and saw it was -21c and that converts to -5.8 Fahrenheit or, in other words, it’s damn cold out there. I don’t usually dream about warmer climates at this time of the year but I like to listen to some music that warms the soul. This blahg is going to offer up some music that always takes my mind off the cold. I hope it does it for you, too.
First, let me show you a video I filmed three days ago that shows you what it looks like in my neck of the woods:
I was also suffering from a headache that afternoon, which was worse the next day. I took the 28th off and slept and stayed warm. I was back at work yesterday and today and I’ll tell you it’s hard to get motivated when it’s this cold. In my bathroom, I have an old iPhone I’ve converted to a music player and listen to it when I’m showering and shaving in the morning. I keep everything on shuffle so you never know what you’re going to hear. This morning, in the rotation, I heard two great songs from Bing Crosby that made my mood better. One was from the album, “Bing With A Beat” that also featured the great Bob Scobey and his band. I mentioned this album in a blahg I did about Bob Scobey with the title WHAT ON EARTH IS SCOBEYFAN? I’m going to offer up two peppy songs from this great record. The first is “Last Night On The Back Porch.” It’s a swinger.
Another great song from this album that will get your feet tapping is “Mama Loves Papa:”
I mentioned that I heard two songs on my iPhone from Bing. The second was from the album “Fancy Meeting You Here” that he recorded with Rosemary Clooney. Here’s the title track:
Another great song from this album, and a rocker, is “You Came a Long Way from St. Louis”:
Both of these albums are available on CD and probably as digital purchases. Before I move off of Bing, I’ve been thinking about the song “June In January.” Oh, wouldn’t that be nice. Here’s a video someone posted of that song. Here’s the description: “Bing Crosby duets on “June in January” with…Bing Crosby in this clip from Here Is My Heart (1934). Bing also sings the song as the film’s opening number.”
I started to think about the topic of warming songs on my drive in this morning. One of the songs I thought of was “I Was Made For Sunny Days” by The Weepies. I used to hear this song a lot playing in the background when I was shopping at a local thrift store. I always found it infectious and would always sing along. Instead of offering the recorded version, I thought I would post a live version. Here are The Weepies (Deb Talan, Steve Tannen, Jon Flaugher) performing “I Was Made for Sunny Days” on a beautiful summer evening at the Britt Festival, Southern Oregon – August 23, 2011.
Of course, if I’m talking about The Weepies and songs to get you moving, I’d also have to offer up “Be My Thrill.” Later live versions of this song had The Weepies performing it as a slowed down ballad version. Both are wonderful but the original album version will get your blood pumping:
If you’ve read any of my previous blahgs (and if you haven’t then get going on that) then you’ll know I’m not a fan of most modern music. Now that The Weepies have divorced and broken up, I’ve turned to listening to Scott Mulvahill. I talked about seeing him live in Toronto and getting the picture below, taken with him. You can check that out in my blahg, ANOTHER CLASS ACT.
One of Scott M’s most infectious songs, to me, has to be “Joy.” The music video makes you want to sing along or dance along or something along…your choice.
I recently came across a version of this song that Scott actually performed on a January date. This is “Joy” from Paste Studio ATL – Atlanta, GA, on January 22, 2020:
Another song by Scott Mulvahill that I enjoy is from a video where he performed “Never Going Back Again” with the duo Striking Matches. I don’t know if it appears on an album anywhere but the video is a great distraction on a cold day.
Jumping back to some older music, I want to post something from a recent album I received as a late Christmas present. In a previous blahg, ANOTHER BAKER’S DOZEN MORE FOUND VINYL RECORDS I mentioned that I was hoping to acquire the album, “The Music Man Goes Dixieland” by Jimmy McPartland and his All Stars. Well, my wife ordered a copy for me for Christmas but it arrived later. Still, it’s a great record and I really enjoy Jimmy’s vocal on “Ya Got Trouble”:
The first track on the album is one of the jazziest songs. It’s “Seventy-Six Trombones.” Unfortunately I couldn’t find a video of just that song but there is a video on YouTube of the full album and I’ll link it below to start at that particular track (I hope):
I have also been listening to a lot of Pat Suzuki lately. I had a few songs on my iPhone already but I was recently reading about a 2018 release of the Complete Album Series that comprises all of the tracks from her four albums, “The Many Sides of Pat Suzuki,” “Miss Pony Tail,” “Pat Suzuki’s Broadway ’59,” and “Looking at You.” Here’s the information about the release: https://www.stagedoorrecords.com/patsuzuki.html. There are a couple of extra tracks from the Broadway Cast album of Flower Drum Song. There is also another CD release of Pat Suzuki Singles and Rarities. I really enjoy her singing and it’s hard to select a single favourite. “From This Moment On” from her first album, “The Many Sides of Pat Suzuki”, is well worth a listen.
If you want to see a live performance of Pat Suzuki, check her out on this 1958 Frank Sinatra Show clip. Again, it’s the full show but I’m trying to set the video start where she comes in.
I’m going to close out this blahg with something more modern, although the band I’m going to feature broke up in 2013. I’m a huge fan of the Canadian band Great Big Sea and they had some very lively songs. If you can’t warm up listening to one of their songs then you’re not listening close enough. The following video is for their song, “Shine.” One of the comments posted about the video sums it up: “Who can’t hear GBS sing without smiling?” Go ahead and smile!
The last video is also from Great Big Sea. It’s “When I Am King.” It’s an uplifting and positive song.
If you can’t smile after any of these songs then wait a few days until February 2nd and maybe the groundhog will have good news about spring. We live in hope!
Tags: Bing Crosby, Bob Scobey, Great Big Sea, Jimmy McPartland, Pat Suzuki, Scott Henderson. False Ducks, The Weepies