Pokarekare Ana

Pokarekare Ana is a Maori folk song written down during the early years of World War I by Maori soldiers longing for home. Again, I ran across this song while playing as the Maori in Sid Meier's Civilization VI. The song kept playing over and over in the background along with a haka, and eventually I looked it up to find out more about it.

Hard Times Come Again No More

I've been playing Sid Meier's Civilization VI and am enthralled by the music. My son, Evan, told me the music for the United States was particularly good, so I gave it a listen.  The song chosen is a composition from 1954 by the iconic American composer, Stephen Foster. Wikipedia says:

It was published in New York City by Firth, Pond & Co. in 1854 as Foster's Melodies No. 28. Well-known and popular in its day, both in the United States and Europe, the song asks the fortunate to consider the plight of the less fortunate and includes one of Foster's favorite images: "a pale drooping maiden".

The song became very popular during the Civil War and inspired one rather witty parody entitled, "Hard Tack Come Again No More," I'm putting a link to a recording of this at the end of the post.

Waltzing Matilda

Bear with me for a bit. I've been on a bit of a gaming binge lately, playing Sid Meier's Civilization VI. One of the nice features of that game is the background music that takes (usually) a folk melody from each of the civilizations in the particular game you're playing and which advances in complexity as your civilization grows. For Australia, that melody is Waltzing Matilda.

Favorite Albums from my Youth

These are the albums I listened to over and over during my formative years in the 1970s.

The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970 (1973) - The Beatles

Musical Gems on Twitter

I started a Twitter account just to post musical gems without long explanations.

The handle is @musical_gems.

And, of course, you can access the playlist. "Musical Gems" on Spotify, where my userid is kerkphil.

Musical Gems - Gimme Your Money Please

BTS is the nickname of a K-pop band known in Korean as 방탄소년단 which translates roughly as "bulletproof youth group."  My wife, who was born in Korea, is a big fan.  But long before there was BTS, there was BTO - Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Bachman Turner Overdrive was founded in the early seventies.  Randy Bachman left the highly successful Canadian group, The Guess Who, in 1970.  He formed a new group, Brave Belt in 1971 with his brother Robbie and Chad Allen, a former bandmate from the Guess Who.  C. F. Turner and Randy's brother, Tim, joined the group after the first album.  Turner took over the lead vocals from Allen who left the group.  Brave Belt issued two albums and changed their name to Bachman-Turner Overdrive for the third album.  The group's name came from the two surnames in the group, Bachman (Randy, Robbi, and Tim) and Turner; and from the name of a trucking magazine they saw in the Colonial Steak House in Windsor, Ontario.

BTO's first album was the eponymous Bachman-Turner Overdrive.  And the first track on that album was a song called, "Gimme Your Money Please."

Musical Gems - River

River Phoenix died early in the morning of October 31, 1993 at the age of 23.  He died of a heroine overdose in the presence of his sister Rain, brother Joaquin, and girlfriend Samantha Mathis outside of a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, called the Viper Room.

Natalie Merchant was the lead singer and main songwriter for 10,000 Maniacs.  She left the band in 1993 and released her first solo album, Tigerlily, that same year.  She had three hits from this album, "Carnival", "Wonder", and "Jealousy".  But the best song on the album is called "River," and is a tribute/commentary on the death of River Phoenix, who was a friend.

https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/album//Natalie+Merchant/Tigerlily

Musical Gems - Diary

Like my post on Lobo's song, "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend," this post is about a song of unrequited love.  This song is by the soft rock group, Bread, and dates from the same year, 1972.  It is called "Diary."

Bread was formed in Los Angeles in 1968 and had a string of hits in the early Seventies.  These included, "It Don't Matter to Me", "If", "Everything I Own", and "Lost Without Your Love."   "Diary" came from their album, Baby I'm-a Want You. It reached number 15 on the pop charts, and number 3 on the easy listening chart.

Musical Gems - Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend

Music resonates with emotion, and love is one of the strongest emotions.  Last week I did a blog post about Dan Fogelberg's song, "Same Old Lang Syne," which was about an encounter with and old flame.  Today and tomorrow I am posting songs about unrequited love.  That is, love that is not returned by the object of one's affection.

The first is "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend", by Lobo.  Lobo is the stage name of Roland Kent LaVoie, who was born in 1943 in Tallahassee, Florida.  He had a string of soft rock \ easy listening hits in the Seventies.  These included, "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" and "I'd Love You to Want Me."  This song and "I'd love You to Want Me," are both from his 1972 album, Of a Simple Man.

Muscial Gems - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The Edmund Fitzgerald was a an iron ore freighter operating between Duluth, Minnesota and various iron works further downstream on the Great Lakes.  She sank in the midst of a winter storm at the eastern end of Lake Superior shortly after 7:10 p.m. on November 10, 1975 with the loss of all hands on board.

Gordon Lightfoot, a Canadian singer and songwriter, recorded a song called "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" a month later in December 1975.  The song was released in Agust of 1976.

Musical Gems - Same Old Lang Syne

Dan Fogelberg was a wonderful songwriter.  He had a string of hits in the late seventies and early eighties.  One could argue the the peak of his career was his 1981 album, The Innocent Age.  it contained such hits as, Run for Roses (about the Kentucky Derby), Leader of the Band (written in honor of his muscian father), and Hard to Say.  My favorite, however, is Same Old Lang Syne.

Musical Gems - Stoned

I'm in a musical mood this week, so here's another gem.  This one is by the Canadian band, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.  I ran across this song 10 to 15 years ago when I was listening to Pandora.  It's a catchy tune with some nice guitar playing.

The band consists of Stephen Fearing, Colin Linden, and Tom Wilson, all of whom play guitar.

This song is from their 2003 album, BARK.  The lead singer for this song is Tom Wilson.  His deep voice is key to the song's appeal.  Listen to the song below.  Beware that the video is a bit weird, but the music is great!

Musical Gems - Something Good Coming

Tom Petty died on October 2nd, 2017.  He was one of America's most prolific singer\songwriters with a stretch of hits running from the late seventies up to his death.  He was the driving force behind Tom Petty and Heartbreakers and a member of the 1980's supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys.

He had a knack of putting together songs with catchy melodies and thought-provoking lyrics.  Something Good Coming from the Heartbreaker's 2010 Album, Mojo, is a good example.

Musical Gems - Pride (In the Name of Love)

Today's musical gem is, in my opinion, the quintessential U2 song.  This song has it all: solid catchy rhythm section from Adam Clayton on bass and Larry Mullen on drums, great vocals by Bono, and that signature delay and reverb from The Edge on lead guitar.  If I could only listen to one U2 song from now until the end of forever, this would be the one I'd choose.

Pride (In the Name of Love) was released in 1984 on The Unforgettable Fire album.  The lyrics are intentionally vague, but it's clear even to dense people like myself that the song is about Martin Luther King Jr.  The Unforgettable Fire was U2's fourth studio album and came between their breakout album, War, and their monster hit album, Joshua Tree.  Other great songs from this album are: A Sort of Homecoming, The Unforgettable Fire, and Bad.

Musical Memory Bank - Countdown

Today's muscial gem is a song from 1982 by the Canadian progressive rock band, Rush.  This one comes from the album, Signals.  The album also included the songs "New World Man" and "Subdivisions", which recieved a lot of airplay and are firmly established in most Best-of-Rush song lists.

Countdown is about the first launch of the space shuttle, Columbia, on April 12, 1981.  The two astronauts on board were John W. Young and Robert L. Crippen.  The members of Rush had front row seats and watched the launch from a VIP area at the Kennedy Space Center.

Musical Gems - Sultans of Swing

For this edition I chose, Sultans of Swing, by Dire Straits from their 1978 debut eponymous album.  This song is certainly on my list of top ten favorites of all time.

Musical Gems - Faster

Here is a great song by George Harrison.  This is from his 1979 album simply entitled, George Harrison.  The song is called "Faster" and it's about Formula 1 racing.  Specifically, it is inspired by  Formula 1 drivers, Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda.  If you watch the video below, you'll see clips of George playing guitar and singing in the back of a limo; Jackie Stewart is the driver.

Musical Gems - The Heart of the Matter

My wife texted the kids and I the other day and asked us what was our fondest memory.  I was thinking about this on my commute to work on the DC Metro.  I listen to my Spotify playlists when I commute and it occurred to me that many of my fond memories are involked by listening to songs that trigger memories of where I was and what I was doing at some time when the song was playing.

Music triggers something primeval.  The only thing as powerful for provolking memories for me, is when I smell certain aromas from my past.

I have a list on my Spotify account (userid: kerkphil) called "Real Gems," and I realized that I like these song just as much for the memories they prompt as I do for the quality of the voices, the playing, and the lyrics.  So I've decide to slowly introduce some of these songs.

The one I chose for today is the last song that played as I was coming home today.  It's entitled, "The Heart of the Matter," and it appeared on Don Henley's 1989 album, The End of the Innocence.

A Classic of Rock Video

From the German version of the Disney Channel

Compare it to the original version here.

Musical Gems from Pandora Radio

I've been listening to Pandora Radio for several months now. What a wonderful musical tool! Here are a few of the songs I picked up that I had never heard of before. If you like a rock/country "roots" musical style you might like these. Most of them came from stations that were seeded with songs by Mark Knopfler and Chris Isaac.


The first one, Down in Mexico, by Delbert McClinton was a real find. Great guitar work and a captivating story to go with it.

My second favorite is probably 9 Volt Heart, by the Iguanas.