LIVE HIT SONGS

There was a plea for money on one of the local public radio stations and the gift one got for donating, I don't remember, a few hundred dollars, was a DVD of the fortieth anniversary of the concert at "Woodstock". It seemed like a good DVD to get because there is supposedly new music that was not released on the first Woodstock album. The first Woodstock has terrific live performances by artists such as Santana, Ten Years After, The Who, and of course Jimi Hendrix.

Having said this, the blog is not about Woodstock since that's about a month away. Rather, it is a roundabout way of doing a blog about live music. There have been a number of terrific songs recorded live that have become hits. There is a list of Top Ten Live Hits in a list at About.com.

There are a few good songs on the list. These include Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me". That song could be better if it wasn't so repetitive. They probably say "I want you to want me" about fifty times.

Just went to the lyric websites to check out how many "I want you to want me"'s they say. They stop at seven in the end. I don't know, maybe they don't say it as much as I think. Actually I think "Surrender" from the same album is a much better song. But that's just me.

Another song they have that I like from the list is "Show Me the Way" by Peter Frampton. It's amazing how both of these songs I've mentioned so far did nothing when they first came out, then became hits once they were released as a live version. There is an energy there that is not present in the studio recording. In fact, the studio recordings by comparison sound rather lame.

This brings up a good point. I like some of those MTV live acoustic sets that were performed a while back. And some of these were included on the list. These are good but don't really do it for me because, once again, they lack the energy. Nirvana is an exception because they did an incredible set. Some of these MTV live recordings were on the top ten list. They shouldn't be on the list because something happens sometimes when a song is played acoustically. It loses something. You have to be really good to pull it off. For example, Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters does an acoustic version of "Everlong" that is fantastic. A lot of times the songs are slowed so much that they become listless. It bugs me sometimes when they do that, especially if I like the original.

It doesn't happen that often now that a song that was recorded live becomes a hit. I tried googling for the last hit song that was recorded live, but couldn't find it. I'm sure it's out there somewhere. It is kind of a shame because music is heard best when it's live. Or at least a live recording of it.

MISSING THE BOAT ON MICHAEL JACKSON

You may think that I missed the boat when I chose to blog about the Fourth of July instead of the most important story in the history of music. Ever. Okay, so maybe not ever. But in quite a long time. At least in this century. Namely, the sudden death of Michael Jackson. If I was on a major media outlet and didn't comment on something like that, I'd get fired for sure. Fortunately, I can't get fired from my own blog. At least not yet.

Having said that, I would like to think that maybe, just maybe, the music took a back seat to the story of his death and legacy. And now it's time to get back to what matters most about his life. The music.

It would be hard to pick just one song to profile. There are so many good songs and so many stories about these songs. From "Thriller" to "Beat It" to "Bad" to "Billy Jean". These are all terrific songs. So why am I picking a song about a rat.

"Ben" is actually a touching song and is one of the few Michael Jackson songs I can dance to. The only Michael Jackson dance move I can make is grabbing my crotch. And nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to see that.

The movie "Ben" is about a boy who befriends a rat, which he names Ben. The rat is the leader of a pack of rats who kill people. It is a sequel to "Willard", which is another movie about killer rats.

I've always found it interesting as to who winds up recording the song first. It can be as simple as someone being on tour so they give it to somebody else. This is precisely what happened to Donny Osmond. They wanted to give it to him but he was on tour. So Michael wound up doing it. I'm surprised Michael was not top billing. Maybe Donny was hotter at that point in time.

The song turned out to be Michael's first solo #1 hit. It won a Golden Globe award for best song, but lost the Academy Award for best original song to "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern from the movie "The Poseidon Adventure."

Michael was on an episode of "The Simpsons" during the shows third season, which is pretty impressive. I know the show now has had a huge amount of celebrity voices throughout it's long life. In fact, it's probably a coup to land a spot on the show. But I can't imagine it being like that during it's third season. Maybe Michael started the ball rolling.

In any event, Michael liked the show and personally called Matt Groening to be on the show. Michael didn't actually sing "Ben" on "The Simpsons". He was only signed on to act. The song was sung by Kipp Lennon. Michael also wrote, but didn't sing, the song "Happy Birthday Lisa" for the show.

If you ever get a chance to dance to "Ben" by all means take it. It's a good song to dance to. Even if it is about a rat.

FOURTH OF JULY SONG LIST

So we're nearing the fourth of July and you know what that means? Picnics, fireworks, and a list of songs that goes along with picnics and fireworks. You could say I like lists.

Nothing says the Fourth of July better than Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." I guess it doesn't matter that he's a Russian composer. Those cannon fires in the song more than make up for it. Actually "The Stars and Stripes Forever" is another terrific song that goes really well with fireworks. The piccolos sound especially good. One of these days I would like to see any of those songs performed along with fireworks. But these songs are not on the list. I'm looking for Rock songs.

I'm back. I checked out some lists and figured I might as well make my own. So here's the Top Ten Rock songs for a Fourth of July party. In no particular order.

1. "American Pie" by Don McLean. I saw this one on a list and it kind of made sense. It is very Americana with a lot of American culteral references. Including Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin.

2. "American Girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This is a terrific upbeat song. Although there have been rumors of it being about a girl who killed herself at a university in Florida. Tom Petty himself dispelled the rumor.

3. "Living in America" by James Brown. This is a good song although not one of his best. Would do good, though for a BBQ.

4. "Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp. Good song with that hometown American feel.

5. "R.O.C.K. in the USA" again by John Mellencamp. The song is about regular Americans searching for their pipedreams of making Rock music in the USA.

6. "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen. I know it's an anti-Vietnam song. But who listens to the lyrics. Most people just know the chorus. and it's hard to beat Bruce singing at the top of his lungs "Born in the USA."

7. "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John. Okay so Elton and Bernie Taupin, who wrote it, are foreigners. So what. Good or bad, the good ole US of A is full of them. Actually the song is about a tennis team called "Philadelphia Freedom." But we won't tell anyone that.

8. "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. The song is exactly what the title says.

9. "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwate Revival. There are not that many things more American than protest songs. Because, after all, we live in a free country. This is a terrific song about the common folk who isn't born with a "silver spoon in hand."

10. "America" by Neil Diamond. This song is about immigrants coming to America. You could say that this song is about my parents. And millions of other parents in America.

I started writing this a few days ago and last night we went to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. It was terrific and it had, of course, fireworks and "Stars and Stripes Forever" with fireworks. It was terrific. So I can cross that out from my list. It also had John Fogerty of CCR. He was also terrific and he sang "Fortunate Son" which got a great reaction from the audience.

Have a great Fourth of July.