Tag Archives: Music

Arts & Humanities, Film & Movies, Memories & History, Music

Bob Dylan’s favourite cover of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’

By Arun Starkey, Tue 2nd Nov 2021 16.15 GMT

Credit: Alamay

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ is one of Bob Dylan’s greatest moments. Written in 1973, the track features a glamorous, all-star band. Boasting The Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn on the six-string and Jim Keltner on the drums, it also utilised the talents of the iconic backing singers Carol Hunter, Donna Weiss and Brenda Patterson. Together, this stellar lineup created something spiritually driven and emotionally hard-hitting.

Out of all of Dylan’s post-1960s work, ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ is one of his most loved. Described by Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin as “an exercise in splendid simplicity”, it discusses the notions of life and death, and through its glorious composition, it has earned legions of fans with an inter-generational appeal that is largely unseen in music.

YouTube video…

Source: Bob Dylan’s favourite cover of ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Music, Pleasures, Television

Bewitched by TV Themes | Library of Congress Blog | Library of Congress

By Mark Hartsell, January 23, 2023

The sheet music for “Jeannie,” the theme song to the hit TV show. Music Division.

Most folks know the ridiculously catchy instrumental theme song for the 1960s classic TV comedy “I Dream of Jeannie.” But how many can recite its lyrics — “Jeannie, fresh as a daisy! / Just love how she obeys me” — or even knew it had any?

The theme for “Bewitched,” another ’60s favorite, briefly had its day: Peggy Lee, among others, recorded a jazzy vocal version in 1965. The lyrics weren’t used in the series, however, and over many decades of reruns faded from public consciousness.

The original lyrics for both songs, and countless others, are preserved in Library collections as submissions to the U.S. Copyright Office, which is part of the Library. Such submissions for registration help preserve mostly forgotten stories about pop culture staples: They chronicle the creators’ original ideas and, sometimes, the subsequent histories of their works.

Source: Bewitched by TV Themes | Library of Congress Blog

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Music, Pleasures

Remembering Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 – 2022) | Now See Hear! | Library of Congress

November 2, 2022 by Cary O’Dell

Not surprisingly, Jerry Lee Lewis (who passed away last month at age 87) was a very early addition to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.  For his song “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” recorded in 1957 and added to the NRR in 2005, author Joe Bonomo wrote for the LC the following essay on/tribute to this seminal recording and its groundbreaking creator.

from article…

Not surprisingly, Jerry Lee Lewis (who passed away last month at age 87) was a very early addition to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

For his song “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” recorded in 1957 and added to the NRR in 2005, author Joe Bonomo wrote for the LC the following essay on/tribute to this seminal recording and its groundbreaking creator. The opening two minutes of Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” are so striking and irrepressible that they all but guaranteed the song would be a major hit. The second half ensured that the song, and “The Killer,” would become unforgettable.

Continue reading Remembering Jerry Lee Lewis (1935 – 2022) | Now See Hear! | Library of Congress →
Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Memories & History, Music

Linda Ronstadt on her new book ‘Feels Like Home’ : NPR

Published October 8, 20228:00 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon Twitter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks to singer Linda Ronstadt about her new book, “Feels Like Home,” which looks back at her family’s deep Southwestern roots.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Linda Ronstadt’s “Feels Like Home” is an album of loves for the high desert of Sonora and her hometown of Tucson, shown through photos by Bill Stein and pages of her own recollections of family and friends and even – or maybe that’s especially – recipes that bring family and friends together with echoes of each other.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IT’S SO EASY”)

LINDA RONSTADT: (Singing) It’s so easy to buy love. It’s so easy to fall in love. People tell me love’s for fools. Here I go, breaking all the rules. It seems so easy. It’s so easy. It’s so easy. Yeah.

SIMON: That’s just one of her 38 bestselling singles over a career that encompasses 24 albums, Grammy Awards, honors and big-time collaborators. “Feels Like Home” is written in collaboration with Lawrence Downes. And Linda Ronstadt joins us now. Thank you so much for being with us.

RONSTADT: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: I am dazzled by your description of what the sun feels like in Sonora.

RONSTADT: Feels like needles.

SIMON: Just really bores into you, doesn’t it?

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item…

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127631118/linda-ronstadt-on-her-new-book-feels-like-home

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Games, Libraries, Memories & History, Pleasures, Television

Find Star Wars in Copyright | Copyright: Creativity at Work | Library of Congress

May 4, 2022 by Alison Hall

One of many Star Wars registration cards.

If you’ve ever watched The Big Bang Theory, you know that the guys are obsessed with Star Wars.

In one episode, Leonard suggests a Star Wars marathon weekend to Sheldon, who replies with “Movies or video games? Or board games? Or trading card games? Or Legos? Or dress up? Or comic books? Or dramatic readings of novelizations? Yes to all!”

They settle on the online game. The scene just scratches the surface of all the Star Wars derivative works, many of which I owned “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . ” (or, more accurately, forty-some years ago in Pittsburgh).

So, just how many hits do you think searching “Star Wars” gets in the Copyright Public Records System? On this Star Wars Day, I got more than 8,400.

Searching “Star Wars” in the Copyright Public Records System found more than 8,400 results.

Now, not all of them are related to the first Star Wars movie, registered by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1977—for example, some are about the star wars defense system from the 1980s.

But most are on topic, and several can be seen in the Find Yourself in Copyright exhibit.

How do I find myself in Star Wars? I’m an old-school fan—the original trilogy was a huge part of my childhood. I know I’m not alone, given that all three original movies have been added to the National Film Registry. I remember seeing the films in the theater, and I remember how big of a deal it was when Star Wars was on TV for the first time. But even greater are my memories of the creative works that came from the movies.

Source: Find Star Wars in Copyright | Copyright: Creativity at Work

Current Affairs, Memories & History, Music, Pleasures

Charlie Watts Was the Coolest Rolling Stone | GQ

Remembering the legendary drummer, who died today at 80.

By Gabriella Paiella, August 24, 2021

Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Mick Jagger in 1994.  Sonia Moskowitz / Getty Images

Trying to name the coolest member of the Rolling Stones is like picking a favorite child or sibling.

But come on: it was obviously drummer Charlie Watts. In a band that defined glamour and excess, he was measured—the backbone of the group, musically and otherwise. What’s cooler than that?

With his death Tuesday, we’ve lost the man Keith Richards called “one of the greatest drummers the damn world is ever gonna see.” Watts was 80, and the news came a few weeks after it was announced that he’d be missing the Stones’s upcoming U.S. tour because of a recent surgery.

Otherwise, he hadn’t sat out a show since he got the gig in 1963. In the six decades between, he burned the openings to songs like “Honky Tonk Women” and “Sympathy for the Devil” into our collective consciousness.

Source: Charlie Watts Was the Coolest Rolling Stone | GQ