August 19

John Deacon, bassist of Queen, is considered the Ringo of the band, the quiet, unassuming one that willfully stepped back so the other members could stand in the spotlight. (In fact, that's the exact reason he got the job; the prior bassists the band auditioned were trying too hard to keep up on-stage with Freddie Mercury and Brian May.) But even though he cheerfully accepted the role of The Boring One (and the nickname "Deeks"), Queen would not be the history-making band it was without him.

In the first place, he brought the funk:


"Another One Bites the Dust" is undisputedly Queen's biggest hit, topping nearly every chart it touched. John Deacon wrote the song (inspired by a visit with 70's dance band Chic) and developed the arrangement for the band. Although the rest of Queen was initially cool about the song, an endorsement from Michael Jackson encouraged the band to release it as a single, and it became one of the most irresistable songs ever.


When Queen started, it had a hard rock sound that had extracted the blues influence out of their songs(hence, songs like "Ogre Battle" and "Bohemian Rhapsody.") But all four band members began exploring every musical genre they could, from Tin Pan Alley to opera. The follow-up single to their operatic "Rhapsody" was "You're My Best Friend," which became Deacon's first hit single songwriting credit:

He's written songs for every Queen album since "Sheer Heart Attack"; other songwriting credits to hit the charts include "Back Chat", "I Want to Break
Free", and "One Year of Love".

Pretty much, his music career begins and ends with Queen. John had graduated with honors from Chelsea College with an electronic degree when he joined the band in 1971(another reason Queen chose him; he built and repaired equipment for the band!) After Freddie's death in 1991, John would play some benefit shows and record the remaining songs Freddie had contributed before retiring from music altogether. In the between, he had done studio work with other members' solo projects, but his highest profile solo gig was The Immortals, who recorded one song for a children's movie soundtrack:

No, he put down his sticks and went home to his wife and six kids and songwriting royalties (in 2009, his estimated worth was reported at about £50 million.)

I can't end this post without mentioning his greatest contribution to civilization: his bassline for "Under Pressure". John Deacon playing the opening seven notes to "Under Pressure" are enough to qualify him for the blog. The song resulted from a jam session, an impromptu visit from David Bowie to one of Queen's recording sessions. John credits Bowie with the riff, but Bowie - and the surviving members of Queen - credit John with its creation. Whatever percentage his participation, he helped create an anthem for our civilized world:

July 4

The Fourth of July is recognized as America's birthday, and while I'm proud to be an American, this blog is about the people who get a murmur while everybody's celebrating the big day. And a real good candidate is 60's musician and blues revivalist Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, guitarist and harmonica player for Canned Heat.
Canned Heat is one of those underappreciated 60's bands with a familiar name but not quite icons. But they're defintely part of the 60's soundtrack - no, seriously, their song "Going to the Country" is the opening theme to the Woodstock documentary, but their concert set was cut from the film for time issues.

In the mid 60's, Wilson was a music student at Boston University and a blues aficionado, trading records and writing academic articles about the artistic merit of the genre and its practicioners. He joined several blues enthusiasts in weekly jam sessions, recreating their favorite songs; these sessions metamorphosized into the band Canned Heat.

The band's greatest commercial success coincides with the summer of love, with "Going up the Country" and "On the Road Again" becoming worldwide hits. But they didn't keep their success to themselves; they brought several classic blues musicians back into the spotlight, including Memphis Slim, Son House, Albert Collins, Sunnyland Slim, and John Lee Hooker. Hooker's double album with the band, Hooker n' Heat, would be the first album in his career to make the Billboard charts.
Hooker n' Heat was also the first Canned Heat album released after Wilson's death.

Wilson died in 1970, at the age of 27, another 'gone too soon' like his contemporaries Joplin, Hendrix, and Morrison. And while he never achieved the visibility that they did, Wilson's contributions to rock and to the blues make him at least as essential to the architecture of American music.

July 1

Here's an Australian legend: John Farnham is Australia's 'king of pop', a singer who, thanks to 74 singles, has been on the Australian charts for the last five decades. He's so big in Australia, he's got a statue in Melbourne harbor. He's enjoyed success almost everywhere else in the world - everywhere, that is, except America.
He started as a teen idol in the 60's, bouncing between a recording career and the stage throughout the 70's. In the 80's, he took over the microphone spot in the Little River Band, touring with them and recording two albums. The Little River Band would only make the Top 20 once with Farnhma singing lead, with two other songs making the charts.
Here's a performance of that second single, on the TV show "Solid Gold":

By 1985, he was on his own again. His 1986 album 'Whispering Jack' went platinum in Australia 24 times over; it's the best selling album in Australian history.
A great deal of that success was due to the song "You're the Voice", a single that went #1 in six countries, top 10 in four more. In the US, the song made it to #82 - on a re-release.
Fortunately, the song has a life of its own. (I wish I could have found the clip from the 2007 film "Hot Rod", which uses the song to hilarious effect, especially if you remember the music videos they used to play on VH1. Seek it out...) It's a song that's been re-recorded several times over, although for most people, it's Farnham's version that stays with them...
Here's some famous fans, at a benefit concert, starting a singalong:

June 21

I can't help but post up about Marcella Levy, a.k.a. Marcy Levy, a.k.a Marcella Detroit... She's got a fistful of reason to write about her.
Marcella Levy was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1952.
Her first songwriting credit is shared with the other writers of "Hungry", which was a hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders in 1966. Her singing and her songwriting skills in the early 70's were good enough to get her in Bob Seger's band and out of Detroit. She played with several bands throughout the 70's in touring and session musician capacity: she wrote several songs for Eric Clapton, including "Lay Down Sally". She even recorded a duet with Robin Gibb, which almost cracked the top 40:


Now, here's someone I didn't expect to write about again: she was introduced to Siobhan Fahey, fresh out of Bananarama and recruiting people for her solo album. They began writing songs together, and their partnership turned her solo project, Shakespeare's Sister, into a duo.


The partnership lasted two albums, before Fahey called it quits. Marcella managed to get one solo album in the charts from the fallout.



By the mid-2K's, she had left the synth-pop sound (and the Marcella Detriot name)behind her. Today, she performs blues numbers with her own band, releases them on her own label, and writes songs for others. She was also a finalist on a British reality show, Popstar to Operastar. Who knows what she's going to do with her next decade?

May 23

Never mind Raymond; it seems everybody loves Mitch Albom. As a sportswriter, he's been the Associated Press's sports columnist of the year a record 13 times; nobody else has won it more than once. As a novelist, he wrote Oprah favorite "Tuesdays with Morrie", the most printed memoir of all time. He was Ted Koppel's choice as the final guest on Nightline. He founded several charities for the Detroit area, targeting illiteracy, homelessness, and the deterioration of Detroit's neighborhoods.
And I'm writing about him because of a song about hockey. He wrote "Hit Somebody(The Hockey Song)" with Warren Zevon, for Zevon's 2002 album, "My Ride's Here". It's an ode to one of those rarified creatures, the hockey goon, and it's a bittersweet and hilarious song, even without David Letterman's contribution. Of course, the song's getting turned into a movie, and Kevin Smith's going to direct. Smith and Albom are writing the script together, so it's already shaping up to be Kevin Smith's best movie ever.
For this reason alone, I want to wish Mitch Albom a happy birthday and a thank you. I think you'll feel the same after you listen to this song:

(I'm not even a hockey fan. Have to admit, tho, it's the Flyers' year...)

March 27

How do you tell the difference between Phil Collins-era Genesis and solo Phil Collins? Listen for the keys of Tony Banks.

Banks and Mike Rutherford have been with Genesis since the beginning, through the Gabriel days, the Collins era, and that one album with that one guy... This year, they made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not sure who else is in Genesis: Collins has medical problems that keep him from drumming, and Gabriel was a no-show in Cleveland, but the rumors persist about a grand reunion of everyone involved.
It seems that genius-level talent is a requirement to join Genesis, and Tony
Banks is a genius of the keyboards. But while Phil Collins did alright by himself, and Mike had his Mechanics, Tony had more success doing movie scores than his own solo career. Why? Take a look:

March 16

I finally learned the name of the guy who sings one of my favorite songs: Jimmy Nail. Born James Bradford, he's got That Guy status in the UK, with an unforgettable face and smooth voice that has cast him in several BBC shows. He's most recognized in the UK for his cop show "Spender," and as one of the stars of "Auf Wiedersein, Pet". In the US, his highest profile role is probably his appearance in "Evita."

He's also had a bit of music chart success, as well, having been cast as singers and musicians here and there. That's how I first learned about this guy, from the movie "Still Crazy". He's one of the "B" stories of the film, the frustrated bassist Les, who always had to stay in the background while the others wrestled for the spotlight. Twenty years later, he almost doesn't join the reunion, with a family, construction job, and center of his own universe. But he does, and at the biggest show of their career, on the verge of splintering all over again, the band finally lets him take the mic with one of his own songs, "The Flame Still Burns." It becomes a healing moment for the band (in that over-the-top way that only movies can sell) and a decent rock ballad, to boot.
"The Flame Still Burns" was one of the film's Golden Globe Nominations in 1999. And if the YouTube clip I found is to believed, I'm not the only one that loves this song.

February 27

Another birthday reminiscence for the late David Ackles, a songwriter's songwriter. From 1968 to 1973, he only released four albums, but his lyrics inspired a generation of songwriters, including Elvis Costello, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Phil Collins. I found this fan video for Ackles' 1968 song "Road to Cario"; the music holds up pretty well, I think. I'm hearing Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave...

February 15

Been a while since I featured a sideman, so let's wish Happy Birthday to Mick Avory, the most important member of the Kinks whose last name wasn't Davies. He was the Kinks' drummer from '64-'84, providing the beat on their most critically acclaimed works, and sticking with them through their most turbulent decades. His acrimony with Dave Davies also provided some classic rock n' roll fights. Nowadays, he manages Konk Studios where the Kinks' members had and continue to record their songs. He also plays with the occasional legacy supergroup (such as The Kast Off Kinks.)
Here's some vintage Kinks:

January 8

Today's a very important day in the history of Rock n' Roll, because today is the birthday of the King... of the Loverboys. Mike Reno, lead singer of Loverboy, was born on this day, and Canada never rocked so hard. EVER. (I'm looking at you, Nickelback...) You see, Loverboy, in all their big hair glory, gave the world its blue-collar anthem:
Working For the Weekend. That song is the audio equivalent of Red Bull. Anybody who's hated a shift at their job and finished it anyway knows the lyrics in their soul, but it was Mike Reno and Loverboy who gave those feelings a voice.
So Happy Birthday, Mike Reno. If you'd had about five more songs like this, you guys would have been... Journey, I guess. But you're still rockin', and that's the important thing!
Here's an internet meme starring somebody that is not Mike Reno, celebrating Loverboy's contribution to humanity:

December 31

Let's hear it for Tom Hamilton, bassist for Aerosmith. He was bandmates with Joe Perry when they met Steven Tyler, so he's been there since before Aerosmith. Similarly, he lays the foundation of nearly every song they've done for decades. Here's the band's induction in the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, playing a Hamilton-co-written composition, the breakthrough single "Sweet Emotion"

December 28

Technology has chosen today's subject for me. I've taken a major step backward with my internet connection, so I'm posting what comes easy to my computer.
Fortunately, that happens to be Alex Chilton, a rock star's rock star that's been recording for almost 50 years. His first band, the Box Tops, hit #1 in 1966 with "The Letter"; he was 16 at the time. In the 70's, he was in the band Big Star, which only lasted four years but became a favorite of every third rock band in the 90's. Also, the Big Star song "In The Street" was adopted as the theme music to "That 70's Show".
Today, he balances appearances between the Box Tops on the 'legacy' circuit, a reincarnated Big Star at indie rock venues and festivals, and his own solo career.
That's the facts on Alex Chilton. Here's his cover of a Seeds tune:

December 27

Today's featured birthday is for Mike Pinder, of the Moody Blues. Not the Moody Blues that gets played in JCPenny's these days, but the psychedelic symphonic band that gave the Beatles and Pink Floyd a run for their money. And it was all because of the Mellotron, the predecessor to modern sampler/synthesizer technologies. Pinder worked for the company that brought Mellotrons to England, and became an expert on the machines; purportedly, he introduced the machine to the Beatles, who would subsequently use one in "Strawberry Fields Forever."
He also knew how to exploit the machine's potential for his own music. When he started with the Moody Blues, they were another platoon in the British Invasion, with an R-&-B tinge. By the end of the 60's, their headphone music was part of the soundtrack of the psychedelic times. And Pinder's 'orchestra in a box' allowed them to bring their studio masterpieces on the road.
Here's a Pinder-composed song, performed on a Belgian TV show.

He left in the mid-70's, making his solo, proto-New Age music to this day. Meanwhile, the commercial and critical success of his tenure with the Moody Blues paved the way for King Crimson, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and any band that dares to sound like more than a couple of guys in a garage.
But I don't want to leave you with the impression that he was just a gearhead who was lucky enough to play with the toy first. Here's a Moody Blues song he wrote, as sung by the Four Tops:

December 13

I was trawling through today's candidates, and got fascinated with the story of Jeff Baxter. He is the seminal 70's rocker: mutton chops, giant shades, nickname of "Skunk" (he's never said why, but consider that he was one of the Doobie Brothers...)

Before he joined the Doobies, he was one of the founding members of Steely Dan, and my favorite part of all the Steely Dan songs I like. I mean, without the guitar parts in songs like "Ricky, Don't Lose that Number" and "Bohdisattva", you got music to mallshop by.


He also was around for the best that the Doobies had to offer: playing steel guitar on their first platinum single "Black Water," and recruiting the most successful lead singer, Michael McDonald. Here's a ten-percent true story about how it all went down.


After the Doobies, he became a studio musician, while he discovered his new love, for missle defense technology. In the Reagan years, he parlayed his fascination into a new career, as a defense consultant. In 1995, he was nominated by a Congressman to chair the Civilian Advisory Board for Ballistic Missile Defense. In the last administration, he played on the White House lawn with his latest band, The Coaltion of the Willing, whose members include US Ambassador to South Korea and Hungary's ambassador to the US.
Here's a different coalition: Skunk and the other Doobies, rockin' out "Take Me In Your Arms..."

september 29

Hello, and Happy Birthday, whenever it is. I've got more under-celebrated celebrities, one-hit wonders, and oddness. Actually, I'll start with the oddness, today...

Happy Birthday to Brian Ash, subversive animator. He cut his teeth on Internet animation before working on shows like "The Boondocks" and "Lewis Black's Root of All Evil." Here's one of his more notorious works, a promotional piece for the 2005 "House of Wax" remake, entitled "See Paris Die!" (Obviously, NSFW)

Slightly more family-friendly (but still kinda NSFW; it is promoting an R-rated film) was the award-winning prequels to "3000 Miles to Graceland." I heartily recommend checking out these clips; I wish I could have embedded them; they really feature Kevin Costner, Christian Slater, Kurt Russell, etc. from the film. If I'd seen these cartoons back then, I might have tried to see the film in theaters.

Oh, man; Kurt Nilsen is my hero. He's the guy who broke the Idol-making machine.
See, by 2004, the Pop Idol franchise had become a juggernaut, and almost every nation in the world was on its way to having their own Idol show. So, why not a World Idol? On Christmas Day, 2003, winners from eleven nations, including American Idol Kelly Clarkson, competed in a one-off globally broadcast special. In a monumental upset, Clarkson took second place to Norway's Kurt Nilsen, a victory so controversial that they never had a World Idol competition again.
Many reasons are bandied about (erratic voting, price gouging, not using Clay Aiken) but what's unspoken is the fact that the Powers That Be got a World Idol that they had no idea how to sell to the world. His songs have never been released in the United States.
Why? Because he doesn't look like a rock star. The nicest way to say it is, he paved the way for the Paul Potts and Susan Boyles of the world to start taking over. He looks very ordinary, but his voice is definitively not.
Had a hard time picking a video, because the produced music videos don't do him any favors (dressing him like Rascal Flatts,) and the concert videos have too much screaming (he is still a massive star in Norway.) But this clip of the Norwegian supergroup The New Guitar Baddies doing a live rendition of "Hallelujah" should do the trick. [Kurt's in the denim jacket, all the way to the left] Watch for him to sing the last verse, and you can see - and hear - what I'm talking about.

His last album, a team-up with Willie Nelson, had him back on top of every chart Norway has. The world just might be ready for Kurt soon, after all...

Here's another phenomenal voice that deserves better. Debelah Morgan was a vocal prodigy (as in, 5-octave vocal range) who became a one-hit wonder, thanks to the 2000 track, Dance With Me. In a decade-long recording career, she never found her footing, and disappeared from the business altogether by 2004. Seriously, if anybody knows what happened to her, let me know. I figured, she'd be on Broadway, or releasing a gospel album by this point...

The song suffers from sounding too much like a Marc Anthony tune, I know...

Finally, Happy Birthday to the Last Man Standing, Jerry Lee Lewis. A rock n' roll legend, Lewis is the last of "the Million Dollar Quartet:" the songs of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Lewis built Sun Studios, and rock n' roll itself. To this day, nobody tears up a piano like Jerry Lee Lewis at 74 years old, which says more about the sad state of the world we're in.

Now there's a piano man. Damn you, Billy Joel. Damn you, Elton John...

September 20

Chuck and John Panozzo were two-thirds of the founding fathers of Styx. Back in high school, they formed a band with Dennis DeYoung called The Tradewinds, where Chuck played guitar, John played drums, and Dennis apparently played accordian. Eventually, they got it right (Chuck moved to bass, for one), added a few members, and became the architects of their particular brand of anthem pop that is the Styx legacy.
Styx tends to get described as Prog-Rock, but their bombast and anthems seem more like a preparation for the jukebox musicals of the 21st century. How many Styx singles are perfect Glee fodder? Heck, how much of the "Kilroy is Here" album got ripped off by "We Will Rock You"?




styx - mr roboto
Uploaded by robertjgunn. - Watch more music videos, in HD!



That's the Panozzo twins flanking the minister in "Heavy Metal Poisoning".
Styx finally chose the rock side of their equation, parting ways with Dennis DeYoung for good in 2001; they tour on the Heritage Circuit today. John Panozzo died in 1996 of liver complications; Chuck left the group to deal with his HIV, but returns as his health allows. The Grand Illusion remains...

September 16

Apologize for the wonky dating; I try to post on the day of, but I guess I have to adjust my PC's calendars.

You know those songs that you only seem to hear at wedding receptions? Not the love songs - the dance floor songs for people that don’t usually dance. Songs so catchy that Grandma’s pulling you on the dance floor? If you like these songs, that’s okay. Reception halls are the last sanctuary for tunes like the “Macarena” and “Electric Slide.”
Black Lace has made a career from churning out these kinds of songs. Alan Barton and Colin Routh had tried to make a go as conventional music artists, but a meager showing at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, almost destroyed the group altogether. The duo discovered a song in the Spanish discos called “Gioca Jouer”, wrote some English lyrics for it, called it “Superman,” and delivered their first top 10 hit to the charts.

I found this tribute to it, on a British skitcom called “Psychoville,” to soften the blow. Be glad I didn’t choose “Agadoo”...

Our next birthday boy has been called “The Master Drummer of Jamaica” and “The Unknown Legend”. Winston Grennan was a session drummer around Jamaica in the 60’s and early 70’s, and the one credited with inventing the “One Drop” beat that became the bedrock of the reggae sound. He played on thousands of tracks, with everybody from Toots and the Maytalls to Bob Marley, from Booker T and the MGs to the Rolling Stones. He’s all over the soundtrack to the Jimmy Cliff film “The Harder They Come”

In 1973, he moved to America to immerse himself in the jazz scene; he was recording and working with Marvin Gaye, Aretha, Herbie Hancock, the OJays…
Finds like this are the reason I write this blog. I consider myself a ska fan, but learning about Winston Grennan reminds me how much I still have to learn.
I considered linking to some footage of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, or a clip from "9 ½ Weeks" featuring his Ska Rocks band, so we could see him play… But I’m going with Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion,” because it’s a song you probably know, so it gives you an idea of how far reaching his music is. It’s indicative of a man who has his fingerprints on hundreds of songs, whether he played them himself or inspired the sound, that have snuck under our radar.



Ron Blair played bass for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the first four albums, helping establish the sound that would carry them over 25 years. In 1982, he left to focus on his family, and was replaced by Howie Epstein. Epstein died of an overdose in 2002, before the group’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Blair joined the group onstage that night, and then returned to the fold altogether.

Happy birthday to all the birthday boys and girls out there. Hope you heard something you liked today, and it encourages you to dig a little further. If there's someone that you feel deserves a spotlight, send me an e-mail at TheLeroyGrey@gmail.com and try to convince me.

September 15

For today’s column, I let Milady pick out today’s spotlight (I was running late for work, and she’s been growing to enjoy the blog.) Here’s her picks:

Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein was, for many, the seminal guitarist for the Misfits, playing during the Glenn Danzig years (my Misfits) and the Michael Graves years (milady’s Misfits.) Last year, he toured his new band Gorgeous Frankenstein, an amalgam of the stage names of he and his wife, ex-WWF wrestler Gorgeous George. He’s also doing well with endorsements, hocking customized guitars, coffin-shaped amplifiers and effects pedals – even a “Made in Hell Hot Sauce.”
Today’s video features the Misfits, singing the title track from milady’s favorite album,
"American Psycho"


Next, milady has introduced us to Yuriy Norshteyn (say it Yuri Norstein, if you like,) the celebrated Russian animator. He has received awards and accolades for such stop-motion classics as “Hedgehog in the Fog” and “Tale of Tales.”
For over 25 years, he has been working on an animated version of the Nikolai Gogol story “The Overcoat.” From what I’ve read, it’s due to his exacting methods. He is the sole animator, with his wife as the art designer. He stopped for two years when the cinematographer passed away, before accepting one of his students to resume work. He is particular about the help he receives, will not use computers, and is shooting the movie on black-and-white film, which means he develops his own film stock.

Here’s a favorite of Hayao Miyazaki: 1975’s “Hedgehog in the Fog”


In January of this year, a statue of the Hedgehog from the film was erected in Ukraine, Kiev.

Finally, we’re talking about Signe Toly Anderson, the original female vocalist for Jefferson Airplane. The band was formed in 1965 by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner, who wanted to create their version of the fusions of rock and folk that were starting to develop in the country. Balin recruited Anderson, a Portland, Oregon transplant, to be a co-vocalist. She sang with the band as they graduated from the San Francisco music scene to their first album “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off,” released in September 1966.

By this time, she had married a Merry Prankster and given birth to a daughter. So, in October of 1966, the Jefferson Airplane did a run of six shows at the Fillmore Theater; the fourth was Anderson’s last. (Bootlegs of the final concert can be found on the web.) The next night, the band played with a new recruit: Grace Slick.
"Somebody To Love/White Rabbit" (Jefferson Airplane)


Hope you enjoyed today’s blog. Now, I’ve got to figure out what implied message she’s giving to me, before I start working on tommorow’s blog. See you then!

September 5

I dug Sondre Lerche back with “Two-way Monologue”; that post-millenial folkie sound that used to fill “The O.C.” soundtracks. Since then, he’s had his jazz album, his indie rock album, his soundtrack album… so where he goes from here is anyone's guess. One hint might come from Steve Carrell. Besides writing the score for "Dan in Real Life", Sondre wrote a song specifically for "Dinner With Schmucks".
I haven’t found any music videos for any songs off of “Heartbeat Radio”, so here’s the funny video for “Two-Way Monologue,” starring Sondre Lerche, Sondre Lerche, and… Sondre Lerche.


For a few years, MTV was the home of subversive comedy, and nothing hit the spot like the funniest sock puppet duo ever. They were the last MTV show that tried heckling music videos, before the channel abandoned music videos altogether. So, of course, I snagged as many of the episodes as I could; to this day, you still can’t find the show on DVD.
These days, Sifl & Olly mastermind Liam Lynch has his podcast, Lynchland, when he’s isn’t directing music videos and movies with long-winded titles (Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic.)
One of the Sifl & Olly songs, “United States of Whatever,” made the radio charts in 2003, one of the shortest songs ever to do so. But I don’t want you to think he’s a one-joke wonder, so here’s another earworm of his: “The Panda Song”


I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of Freddie Mercury. At least, you’ve heard of that band he was in. And it’s not like he’s done anything new lately (besides being voted the best British mustache of the 20th century... or that his long-lost duets with Michael Jackson ‘mysteriously” showing up on the Internet…) So why am I talking about him? To introduce you to one of his most beautiful songs.
Mercury had a soft spot for opera. Barcelona, released in 1988, showcased Mercury singing alongside celebrated opera soprano Montserrat Caballe. It became a top 10 album, while the title track became the theme for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
“Exercies in Free Love” was a song Mercury co-wrote for the album (Caballe added Spanish lyrics, and the song became “Ensueno”.) The original track is on his farewell music collection, and it’s one of the most haunting pieces I’ve heard.


I’m going to finish with John Stewart, who is not the television satirist most trusted than most TV reporters. This John Stewart played with the Kingston Trio in the 60’s. He also wrote the song “Daydream Believer,” which many presume was either originally by the Monkees or Smash Mouth.
And I’m not bashing the Monkees; they were my gateway to the Beatles. But I’ll admit what the “Pre-Fab Four” were: four talented actors, under the supervision of one of the decade’s most successful producers, with lyrics by songwriters at the top of their game.
While the cynics cheer for endeavors like this to fall on their face, how hard can it be to believe that sometimes, it works?
I’m getting too cerebral about this. I’ll let Shonen Knife state my case: a great song is a great song.


If it's your birthday, happy birthday! If it's not, I'll get there eventually.