A Window Above: The Firebird

Piece: The Firebird
Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Premier: June 25, 1910, Paris Opera
Original Ballet Company: Ballets Russes



The Firebird was Stravinsky's first ballet commission and his breakthrough hit.  The story combines the Russian legend of the Firebird with the unrelated folk tale of Koschei the Deathless.  Stravinsky, only 28 at the time, was the third composer to be offered the job by impressario Sergei Diaghilev.  The collaboration between the two men would prove a fruitful one, also resulting in Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

The clip above is, of course, from Disney's Fantasia 2000.   The segment is, in my opinion, the great masterpiece of the entire Fantasia franchise - for the film, for the music and for the glorious marriage of the two.  If you're up for the entire orchestral work, have at it:



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A Window Above: Feeling That Way

Song: "Feeling That Way"
Writers: Aynsley Dunbar, Steve Perry, Greg Rolie
Original Release: January 20, 1978
Band: Journey
Album: Infinity



For me, "Feeling That Way" is the hidden treasure of the Journey catalog.  I love the vocal trade off between Rolie on the verses and Perry on the chorus.  It's the sort of thing bands should do more often: make the most of the contrasting styles and timbres of two lead vocalists.  The Beatles did it brilliantly, though not enough.  "Hard Day's Night" is their best example with John on the verses and Paul on the bridge.

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A Window Above: If You Could Read My Mind

Song: "If You Could Read My Mind"
Writer and Original Performer: Gordon Lightfoot
Original Release: April 1970
Album: Sit Down Young Stranger (later renamed If You Could Read My Mind after the song's success)



A cover can be great for bringing new appreciation for a song you've known for years.  Such was the case when I heard native Vermonter Henry Jamison's rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's classic "If You Could Read My Mind."  I'm a sucker for an octave jump in the vocal (think Bono in the second chorus of "With or Without You") and Jamison does it a couple times in his interpretation.  The cover also encouraged me to listen to the lyrics more closely...

I've lived this song.  The story probably isn't so unusual.  One day, a relationship that seems like it might last forever suddenly dies.  Such was the case with my college girlfriend, the longest relationship I had before I met my wife.  After a summer apart when we really didn't miss each other so much, we realized we didn't love each other anymore, not the way we had.  The ending was still hard.  Letting go after the end was still hard.  But it was over and we both knew it.  It wasn't easy understanding why.  I particularly appreciate this feeling expressed in the second verse:

When you reach the part where the heartaches come,

The hero would be me.

Heroes often fail.

We must learn from loss and it was certainly an essential life lesson for me.  Love, like a garden, requires nurturing.  If your heart's not in the work, you're in trouble.

Lightfoot took inspiration from his own divorce.  A lot of great music has come out of divorce experiences.  His daughter encouraged a lyrical change which Lightfoot has since used in public performances, switching "the feeling that you lack" to "the feeling that we lack."  While Lightfoot has not been a particularly successful husband - he's on marriage #3 now - he does seem to be a fairly compassionate person.  He withdrew a plagiarism lawsuit over "Greatest Love of All" when he felt it was affecting Whitney Houston negatively - he was out to get the songwriter, not her.

The original:



A cover by fellow Canadians Diana Krall and Sarah McLachlan:



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A Window Above: Don't Do Me Like That

Song: "Don't Do Me Like That"
Writer: Tom Petty
Original Release: October 19, 1979
Band: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Album: Damn the Torpedoes



"Don't Do Me Like That" was the first Top 10 hit on the Billboard charts for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  Petty nearly gave it to the J. Geils Band as he felt it fit their sound better.  In truth, he may have been right as it doesn't exactly fit with the rest of the Heartbreakers' catalog.  Nonetheless, I would probably claim it as my favorite from their opus.  The instrumental opening is one of the all-time greats.

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A Window Above: She's Got a Way

Song: "She's Got a Way"
Writer and Original Performer: Billy Joel
Original Release: November 1, 1971
Album: Cold Spring Harbor



This is a song I have long associated with my daughter.  The "smile that heals me," the laugh that "reveals me" and the "light around her" are all reminiscent of the spell she first cast upon me as a little girl.  Years pass and the little kid is replaced by a young woman, turning 16 soon - too soon.  The father/daughter relationship gets more complicated as life gets more complicated.  But she can still floor me with a smile.

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A Window Above: True

Song: "True"
Writer: Gary Kemp
Original Release: February 28, 1983
Band: Spandau Ballet
Album: True



Pretty sure I first heard "True" in the school dance scene in the John Hughes classic Sixteen Candles.  It kicks off with one of the all-time great intro hooks.  You've also got to admire lyrics that pay tribute to both Marvin Gaye and Vladimir Nabakov.  "Seaside arms" is a Lolita reference.  "True" was by far Spandau Ballet's biggest hit, topping the British charts for four weeks, climbing to #4 in the US.

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A Window Above: I Can't Hold Back

Song: "I Can't Hold Back"
Writers: Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan
Original Release: August 1, 1984
Band: Survivor
Album: Vital Signs



"I Can't Hold Back" is Survivor's best song.  Oh yes, I hear you gasping in astonishment.  "Eye of the Tiger" is a classic of its era, surely the song that will carry the band's legacy from now to the end of time, right?  Yes, probably.  But it's not their best.

A couple especially clever songwriting moments in "I Can't Hold Back":

1. The pre-chorus, as Peterik himself describes it.  Comes up first at 1:12 in the video.
2. The bridge folding back into the pre-chorus at 2:19.  Throughout the song, the melody has a Steve Winwood-esque wrap-around feel to it.  That 2:19 point is where I feel it most strongly.

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A Window Above: Sailing

Song: "Sailing"
Writer and Original Performer: Christopher Cross
Original Release: December 1979
Album: Christopher Cross



"Sailing" is the soft rock song to end all soft rock songs, a dreamscape anthem for what would eventually come to be known as yacht rock.  It won a ton of Grammys for Christopher Cross before MTV killed his career.  It is ridiculously schmaltzy and yet I find it irresistible.  The orchestral intro melting into the gentle guitar riff... hooks me every time.  

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A Window Above: King of Pain

Song: "King of Pain"
Writer: Sting
Original Release: June 17, 1983
Band: The Police
Album: Synchronicity



Synchronicity came out when I was ten years old.  At the time, I would have claimed "Every Breath You Take" as my favorite track but I think "King of Pain" is the one that has improved with age.  I especially love the marimba part in the beginning.  It was the fifth single off of the album and peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts.

Alanis Morissette:



More Weird Al love this week: "King of Suede":



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A Window Above: Royals

Song: "Royals"
Writers: Ella Yelich-O'Connor and Joel Little
Original Release: June 3, 2013
Original Performer: Lorde
Album: The Love Club EP



"Royals" is one of the best-selling singles of all time: 10 million copies worldwide.  It topped the US charts for nine consecutive weeks.  It is, for my money, the best pop song of the current decade, a triumph of minimalism in an age of sensory overload.  Not bad for an artist's debut release.

Supposedly, Lorde wrote the lyrics in half an hour - ill-making, really.  The title was inspired by a National Geographic photo of George Brett, of all people.  Why a New Zealand teenager would be drawn to a photo of a long-retired American baseball player is a bit of a mystery but whatever works, right?

via National Geographic

"Royals" is one of those songs that was begging for an acapella cover from the get-go.  I threw an arrangement together for my students when we did Macbeth.  They sang it at King Duncan's entrance - worked perfectly.  Wish I'd recorded it but, alas, no.  Fortunately, others have been wiser in preserving their interpretations.

Pentatonix, so good:



Is there anything cooler than Bruce Springsteen covering your song? live? in your hometown?



"Foil" by Weird Al:



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A Window Above: You'll Be Back

Song: "You'll Be Back"
Composer and Lyricist: Lin-Manuel Miranda
Musical: Hamilton: An American Musical
Premier: January 20, 2015, New York



I don't really need to explain about Hamilton, do I?  The Broadway musical about the founding father, Alexander Hamilton, based on the biography by Ron Chernow?  It feels almost as silly as trying to summarize Hamlet a few months back (see here).  Crazy comparison?  I don't think so.  The broad cultural impact of Hamilton far exceeds that of anything to come out of the theater world in 30 years, maybe longer.  We're talking Beatles/Star Wars/Harry Potter-level. Will people still be talking about this show in 400 years?  Yes.

I first learned about Hamilton from my wife.  That alone is an indicator.  My drama teacher colleague going on about a Broadway show would not be noteworthy.  But my wife?  As a rule, she hates musicals.  Not only had she heard about it but she was listening to the cast album on near-endless repeat.  It was first shared with me on our road trip to Nova Scotia a few years ago (see here), by which time she and our daughter both knew the show by heart.

King George's big number, reprised twice (you get all three songs in the video above - you're welcome), is admittedly out of step with the rest of the show.  While most of the music is based on hip-hop, R&B and soul, "You'll Be Back" is based on Lin-Manuel Miranda's other great love: British Invasion rock.  Appropriate to the story, right?  Is it any wonder that the song I fell hardest for is the one closer to my beloved Beatles?  Besides, it's hilarious.

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A Window Above: Babyface

Song: "Babyface"
Writers: U2
Original Release: July 5, 1993
Band: U2
Album: Zooropa



Given the lyrical content, I rather doubt that this song is about drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. though his nickname is, in fact, Babyface.  However, I do think it's appropriate that the unofficial video above is essentially a tribute to Mullen.  As I wrote in my last U2 post, I believe the drums are the secret of the band's success and this track, in particular, makes excellent use of percussion.

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A Window Above: Come Sail Away

Title: "Come Sail Away"
Writer: Dennis DeYoung
Original Release: July 7, 1977
Band: Styx
Album: The Grand Illusion



Dennis DeYoung wrote "Come Sail Away" while depressed about the fact that Styx's previous two albums had sold below expectations.  This "song of hope" alludes to the book of Ezekiel 1:1-28 (read here).  To me, there's no question that it's the band's best song and one of the masterpieces of prog rock.  I have fond memories of air guitaring this one with middle school students. 

"Come Sail Away" has had several notable television cameos.  My favorites:

South Park - It's the sincerity that sells it:



Freaks and Geeks:


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A Window Above: Chan Chan

Song: "Chan Chan"
Writer and Original Performer: Compay Segundo
Original Release: 1996
Album: Antologia



The Buena Vista Social Club isn't a band exactly, at least not one that plays all together at the same time.  It's more of a collective, an organization of musicians with a common mission to revive the styles of pre-revolutionary Cuba.  Established in 1996 by World Circuit, a world music record label, the group produced an eponymous album that was an enormous worldwide success, both commercially and critically.  This was followed by a short concert tour to Amsterdam and New York and a well-received documentary.  For the first time in decades, Cuba was cool.

"Chan Chan" is the first track on the Buena Vista Social Club album.  Compay Segundo said that songs, including this one, came to him in dreams.

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A Window Above: Birdland

Song: "Birdland"
Writer: Joe Zawinul
Original Release: April 19, 1977
Band: Weather Report
Album: Heavy Weather



Another jazz fusion tune from my high school jazz band career and here is Joe Zawinul again.  After his stint with Cannonball Adderley (see here), Zawinul worked with Miles Davis, contributing to some of the latter's most innovative studio albums - In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew - as both writer and keyboardist.  There, he poached Davis's sax player Wayne Shorter with whom he founded the band Weather Report.  That act reached its zenith upon attaining the services of Jaco Pastorius, one of the most brilliant, mercurial and self-destructive electric bass players who has ever lived.

"Birdland" was Weather Report's biggest hit, a classic of 1970s jazz.  The song is a tribute to the New York jazz club of the same name and, of course, Charlie "Bird" Parker, for whom the club was named.  Birdland was where Zawinul hung out for years, seeing Louis Armstrong and Count Basie among many others.  It's also where he met his wife.

The song has won three Grammys.  Manhattan Transfer did it first, with lyrics by Jon Hendricks.  Quincy Jones won two for his arrangement on his 1989 album, Back on the Block.

Manhattan Transfer:



Quincy Jones:



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A Window Above: You've Really Got a Hold on Me

Song: "You've Really Got a Hold on Me"
Writer: Smokey Robinson
Original Release: November 9, 1962
Band: The Miracles



"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" is yet another timeless classic that started life as the B-side of a single.  The A-side was "Happy Landing."  No, I'd never heard of it either.  I knew the Beatles cover first as it was the third track on their Second Album, one of the records in my parents' cabinet.  Robinson's inspiration came from Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home to Me."  The Miracles' version peaked at #8 on the pop charts.

The Beatles:



Smokey on Sesame Street:



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A Window Above: Spain

Song: "Spain"
Writer: Chick Corea
Original Release: January 1973
Band: Return to Forever
Album: Light as a Feather



"Spain" is a jazz fusion composition by Chick Corea.  I first learned it in high school jazz band.  The original was nominated for two Grammys.  30 years later, Corea won a Grammy for an arrangement for piano sextet and orchestra.  The piece is a genuine jazz standard.  All of the clips featured below are awesome - genius level musicians at work.  I realize there's over an hour's worth of music attached to this post but I promise, it's all worth it.

Flamenco, from Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin:



Bluegrass, from Bela Fleck & The Flecktones:



Stevie Wonder.  Ever wonder if the guy can still play the harmonica?  Oh my!:



Al Jarreau, lyrics by Joaquín Rodrigo:




Jake Shimabukuro, ukelele:



Arrangement for Piano Sextet and Orchestra, First Movement:



Second Movement:



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A Window Above: You Better You Bet

Song: "You Better You Bet"
Writer: Pete Townshend
Original Release: February 27, 1981
Band: The Who



"You Better You Bet" was the lead single for the 1981 album Face Dances.  It was the last Who single to make the top 20 on the US charts or the top 10 in the UK.  Lead singer Roger Daltrey claims it as one of his all-time favorites, loving the Elvis-like vocal line as he describes it.

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A Window Above: Cupid

Song: "Cupid"
Writer and Performer: Sam Cooke
Original Release: May 16, 1961



Originally, Sam Cooke's RCA Victor producers asked him to write a song for a woman they'd seen on TV.  Then they heard her sing and were less than impressed.  "Cupid" became Cooke's song after all.  Adding the "shoop" sound of the arrow flying was his idea.  While the song only rose to #17 on the pop chart at the time, history has been kinder.  Rolling Stone put "Cupid" at #452 on its all-time list in 2011.

Not surprisingly, there have been numerous interesting covers in the years since.  The Supremes, from their Sam Cooke tribute album following his death:



Johnny Nash's rocksteady/reggae version:



"Úsvit," a Czech translation performed by Pavel Bobek:



Otis Redding:



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A Window Above: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy

Song: "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"
Writer: Joe Zawinul
Original Release: 1966
Original Performer: Cannonball Adderley
Album: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"



This is one of many songs I didn't know was a cover until relatively recently.  I knew both the Buckinghams' song and the jazz arrangement as I played the latter myself in high school jazz band.  However, I was completely wrong about which came first.

Songwriter Joe Zawinul, an Austrian keyboardist who would later go on to become one of the lead figures in jazz fusion, joined Cannonball Adderley's quintet in 1961.  He played both piano and electric piano on the original recording.  Rounding out the combo were Nat Adderley (cornet; Cannonball's younger brother), Victor Gaskin (bass) and Roy McCurdy (drums).

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" was a major crossover hit for Adderley, rising to #2 on the soul chart and #11 on the pop chart.  Two different sets of lyrics were written for the song.  Curtis Mayfield wrote one set for The Mauds, who released the song in 1967.  The words The Buckinghams used are credited to Johnny Watson who made his own recording of the song with Larry Williams, released in February 1967.  The Buckingham record came out a month later.  Their version charted best, rising to #5.

The Mauds' version, performed by Blue Road:



Larry Williams and Johnny "Guitar" Watson:



Finally, The Buckinghams:



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