THE 31-DAY SONG CHALLENGE – PART III of III
By Shane Pinnegar
I’ve noticed a few friends doing a 28- or 30- or 31-Day Song challenge, so I decided to rise to the challenge.
I’m rubbish at remembering to do such things every day, so here is the final block of ten(ish) awesome musics, complete with my own brain fart commentaries and I’ve thrown a couple of other fun facts in at the end.
If you want to play catch-up, PART I is here
21: A song you like with a person’s name in the title: Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie, of course! Who cares if it’s a fictional person, I’ve lost count of how many different releases of this album I have bought over the years.
22: A song that moves you forward: I – KISS. An under-appreciated gem in KISS’s catalogue, this is a great one for when you need a little ego boost. “I believe in me!” Love Paul Stanley’s little Elvis impersonation as well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcbp4CTDCTY
23: A song you think everybody should listen to: But… but… but… there are so many I consider “essential”… I struggle to choose just one!! Errrrrm… how about this one, a blinder of a song. The Triffids – Wide Open Road.
24: A song by a band you wish were still together: Fight Like The Devil by Trilogy. I grew up attending Trilogy’s gigs – especially at The City Hotel when I was 16 and 17. The band, their music and their gigs were a kind of alternative education for me, so they will always retain a special place in my heart.
25: A song you like by an artist no longer living: People die, that’s part of the game, though it never becomes any less sad. I have chosen an artist who died far too early, and not by their own self-indulgent misadventure. So Skyhooks frontman Graeme ‘Shirley’ Strachan out front, going all country for All My Friends Are Getting Married.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eGnrTZBE-0
26: A song that makes you want to fall in love: Well, I am in love, and have been in love more than once before that, so this is far from my first rodeo. This song was very special to me back in the day – In My Dreams With You by Vai (Steve Vai & Devin Townsend) for the sheer skin jarring, groin twitching intensity of it.
I’ll also throw down a second one, which will strike far more of a chord with Lady Boomboom: Robbie Williams – Angels
27: A song that breaks your heart: Need Your Love So Bad – Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Green’s guitar wrings every bit of longing from the song like a six-stringed magician.
28: A song by an artist whose voice you love: I didn’t get into Leonard Cohen until my thirties, but when I did there was no stopping me. What a voice. What poetry. What confusion and love and longing and lust. How irresistible. Dance Me To The End Of Love. J’adore.
29: A song you remember from childhood: Penny Lane by The Beatles. Fun Fact: in music class at Hampton Park Primary School we used to have little song books and they would play old tunes over the dilapidated archaic tannoy system in the classes and we’d sing along. I sang this so many times it’s indelibly written on my mind.
30: A song that reminds you of yourself: I could (and in the past have) jokingly answered You Just Like Me ‘Cos I’m Good In Bed by Skyhooks, but more accurate at this point in my life would be this bad boy. Born Under A Bad Sign – Albert King. “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” It sure feels that way a lot of the time.
31: A song that comforts your soul: Piece Of My Heart. The original was by Emma Franklin, and there have been amazing covers by Dusty Springfield, Bryan Ferry, Sammy Hagar, Melissa Etheridge & Joss Stone and plenty more, but it is Janis Joplin’s 1968 version with Big Brother & the Holding Company that is most famous and most spine-chillingly raw and moving!
I’m going to add on the results of another challenge here at the end:
What was the Number One song on the day you were born? 14th July 1966, folks. Yeah, I’m that old.
Here in Australia it was Born Free by Matt Monro!
In Germany, The Beach Boys’ Sloop John B, and in Canada, Red Rubber Ball by The Cyrkle, which I know nothing about at all!
In the UK Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames took the top spot with Get Away, whilst across the Atlantic in the US, Tommy James & The Shondelles held down #1 with Hanky Panky. Here’s Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ version of that one:
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