Belmar ~ sitting outside Dick's Sporting goods playing a piano while my sister paints it.
Lakewood CO downtown, BELMAR, is having pianos painted by local artists. My sister is doing two of them. I did some kamikaze buskering as she painted.
Walking in Memphis
"Walking in Memphis" is a song written and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, for whom it remains his signature song. It received a Song of the Year nomination at the 34th Grammy Awards in 1992, the same year that the 32-year-old Cohn won the Grammy for Best New Artist.
The song's lyrics are autobiographical, chronicling a 1985 trip that Cohn, then a struggling songwriter and singer, took to Memphis to overcome a bout of writer's block. After visiting the church where former soul singer Al Green was preaching, Elvis Presley's former home of Graceland, and a small nightclub in nearby Mississippi, as well as wandering various streets of downtown Memphis, he returned to New York and began composing the song.
Brown Eyed Girl
"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967 for Bang Records owner and producer Bert Berns, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. It featured the Sweet Inspirations singing back-up vocals and is considered to be Van Morrison's signature song.
Born to Be Wild
"Born to Be Wild" is a song first performed by the band Steppenwolf. It is often invoked in both popular and counter culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. It is most notably featured in the 1969 film Easy Rider. Sometimes, "Born to Be Wild" is described as the first heavy metal song, and the second-verse lyric "heavy metal thunder" marks the first use of this term in rock music.
Big Yellow Taxi
"Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album Ladies of the Canyon. It was a hit in her native Canada as well as Australia and the UK . It only reached No. 67 in the US in 1970, but was later a bigger hit there for her in a live version released in 1974, which peaked at No. 24. Charting versions have also been recorded by the Neighborhood (who had the original top US 40 hit with the track in 1970, peaking at No. 29).
I had the pleasure of working with Lou (Chickie) Stella of The Neighborhood for several years, doing a Four Seasons medley that would give the Jersey Boys a run for their money. That band also had Sam Valeo on drums, formerly of the American Breed of "Bend Me Shape Me" fame.
Mitchell said this about writing the song: I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart […] this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song.
American Pie
"American Pie" is a song by American singer and songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released in 1971 on the album of the same name, the single was the number-one US hit for four weeks in 1972. A truncated version of the song was covered by Madonna in 2000 and reached No. 1 in at least 15 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. At 8 minutes and 42 seconds, McLean's combined version is the sixth longest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 (at the time of release it was the longest). The song also held the record for almost 50 years for being the longest song to reach number one before Taylor Swift's "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" broke the record in 2021. "American Pie" has been described as "one of the most successful and debated songs of the 20th century".
The repeated phrase "the day the music died" refers to a plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, ending the era of early rock and roll; this became the popular nickname for that crash.
I Think We're Alone Now
"I Think We're Alone Now" was first recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was a major hit for the group, reaching number 4 on the US Hot 100 in April 1967. It finished at No. 12 on Billboard magazine's year-end singles chart for 1967.
Happy Together
"Happy Together" was released as a single in January 1967. To promote the single the band members performed on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in February. The Turtles would be called to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in May 14, 1967, and again on November 12. on March 25 it overtook The Beatles' "Penny Lane". It stayed at #1 for three weeks before being knocked out of the #1 position by Frank and Nancy Sinatra's duet "Somethin' Stupid". In total, the record stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 15 weeks.
BMI named "Happy Together", with approximately five million performances on American radio, the 44th most-performed song in the United States of the 20th century, placing it in the same league as "Yesterday" by the Beatles and "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel. And, in 2007, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Exerpts from a show I did on 1-17-24 for a group of 30-ish people that shows how much fun my act is. This also shows that my repertoire of 60's singalong music is embedded in American culture and being passed down to post-Woodstock generations. If your friends and family are under 75 this show will bring them lots of fun and memories.
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Maybe This Time - Best Piano Bar Songs
"Maybe This Time" is a song written by John Kander and Fred Ebb for actress Kaye Ballard. It was later included in the 1972 film Cabaret, where it is sung by the character Sally Bowles, played by Liza Minnelli. It had already been recorded and released twice, in similar arrangements, on Minnelli's debut studio album Liza! Liza! (1964), and subsequently New Feelin' (1970), but it turned into a traditional pop standard after its 1972 inclusion in Cabaret.
