It's kind of ironic that one of the last of John Lennon's songs was this lovely ballad, "Grow Old Along With Me" in which he prays "God bless our love." This is the same guy who wrote the anti-religion "Imagine". One hopes John was able to work it all out with his maker at some point. That said, Grow Old is a very beautiful song. This version is by Mary Chapin Carpenter. The only versions we of of Lennon singing it, are some home recordings which suffer a little from the poorer quality of home recording equipment of the day.
This is a beautiful song. Perfect for weddings. It's sad that Lennon was looking forward to growing old along with his wife and died very soon after he wrote it.
My son, Micah introduced me to this Nickel Creek song. The lyrics are beautiful and this song always makes me mist up a little bit. I'm not sure even now, as many times as I've listened to it, that I could sing it all the way through without getting all choked up. The Hand Song is one of those poignant folk songs that is beyond the typical murder ballad, folk hero song or the "I love her so much I want to lock her up inside a box and not let her out" sort of twisted love songs you find in mountain music. This song is lyrical and beautiful.
Roger Miller wrote a whole bunch of songs I really enjoy. This quirky songwriter did some really happy stuff including stuff for the soundtrack of Disney's animated "Robin Hood". His hits were a perky lot including, King of the Road, England Swings, Chug-a-Lug, Walkin'' in the Sunshine, Dang Me, Do Whack a Do, and Ooh Da Lally,
Well you get the idea.
Roger's wry take on country music was unique back in the 60s when everybody seemed desperate to take themselves sooooooo seriously.
So, enjoy this gentle, light and funny musical voice singing in the midst of riots, upheavals, assassinations, and pointless wars the ruling power didn't really want to win.
The first time I heard this song, my daughter and her friend performed this for a Sabbath morning service in Tyler. It's a driving Southern Gospel Number that makes you want to stand up and shout, "Hallelujah!" I found out the original version of the song is done by The Martins, a family Southern Gospel group. I looked them up on Youtube and got an Mp3 of them for my phone. I only got half of the version my daughter sang on video, so I went with the Martins.
This one is one of my favorite Ray Stevens songs and that's saying something given that he also wrote the hilarious Shriner's Convention. We've all known a Sister-Bertha-Better'n-You in our time and the spectacle of her standing up in meetin' and confessing about her "love life" and "namin' names" is just too appealing an image. This thing is funny right here, I don't care who you are. This is also on my phone.
The first time I heard this David Bowie song, I felt like he was singing
it to me. This was my song. I wanted to be an astronaut, but
unfortunately being an astronaut is HAAAAAAARD! That and God had other
stuff for me to do so I've put off going into space for when we get
carried off to heaven. If there's an orbital lab around the new Earth I
plan to be on the construction crew - either that I want to be on the
crew of a star ship. I'm certain there will be stuff like that. After
all, we are an exploring species and those of us who survive the old
Earth should be trustworthy enough to turn loose to explore the stars
and there are an awful lot of those out there, so we likely won't be
bored with it all since we're living forever.
This is the coolest version of the song ever done. It's Canadian ISS
astronaut Chris Hadfield singing with NASA footage in a monumentally
marvelous music video. Hadfield has a really good voice too. So enjoy
the first space-based music video with actual astronauts and footage
shot in space. I still think they're singing my song, though.
I first heard this song back in college on a recording by folksingers
Ian & Sylvia. The song was in French; an old voyageur song that used
to be sung by early French traders in America and Canada. I'd been
looking for a song to sing on long canoe trips. I wasn't able to
memorize all of it, but I got enough of it to help me keep up my
paddling rhythm on summer canoe trips with my canoe classes. It's a fun
song with a driving rhythm and really odd words. But then folk songs are
not noted for their Shakespearean intricacies. Here's Miss Lizzy's version followed by the lyrics in
both English and French.
Chorus: Here's the good wind, here's the pretty wind, Here's the good wind! My friend is calling me. Here's the good wind, here's the pretty wind, Here's the good wind! My friend is waiting for me.
Behind our place there is a pond. Behind our place there is a pond. Three fine ducks are bathing there.
Chorus:
The king's son goes hunting there, The king's son goes hunting there With his big silver gun. Chorus: Aimed at the black one, killed the white, Aimed at the black one, killed the white, And all its feathers went with the wind.
Chorus: There are three ladies picking them up. There are three ladies picking them up. And we will make a camp bed. Chorus:
The two of us will sleep in it, The two of us will sleep in it, To have some little children there. Chorus:
I need to learn the last two verses yet. I really like Lizzy's gentle version of the song. It's on my phone now so I should be able to practice it a little.
