Heart of Gold (song)
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"Heart of Gold"
Heart of Gold by Neil Young
Single by Neil Young
from the album Harvest
B-side "Sugar Mountain"
Released 1972
Format 45 RPM Record
Recorded Quadrafonic Studios, Nashville, TN, February 8, 1971
Genre Country rock
Length 3:07
Label Reprise Records
Writer(s) Neil Young
Producer Elliot Mazer
Audio sample
Play sound
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"Heart of Gold" from the 1972 album Harvest is Neil Young's only number one hit single in his long musical career. Rolling Stone ranked it #297 on their list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.[1] It features the back-up vocals of James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt.
The song is one of a series of soft, acoustic pieces which were written partly as a result of a back injury. Unable to stand for long periods of time, he could not play his electric guitar and so returned to his acoustic guitar, which he could play sitting down.[2] [3]
The song was taped during the initial sessions for Harvest in early 1971 at Quadrafonic Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Ronstadt and Taylor were in Nashville at the time for an appearance on Johnny Cash's television program, and the album's producer Elliot Mazer arranged for them to sing backup for Young in the studio. [4] [5]
Originally, this song was meant to segue with the song "A Man Needs a Maid", and was therefore played on piano. It was played in this manner during Young's solo shows in 1971, but he abandoned this approach midway through the tour and began to play it on guitar as it is now known. Additionally, one line that was cut when the two songs became separate entities was "Afraid/A man feels afraid" [6] An example of the segued version appears on Young's Live at Massey Hall 1971 release.
Young wrote in the liner notes of his compilation album Decade: "This song put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." This statement was in response to the mainstream popularity that he gained as a result of "Heart of Gold"'s number-one status.
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta top sons - one of the best songs-. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta top sons - one of the best songs-. Mostrar todas las entradas
domingo, 13 de septiembre de 2009
sábado, 12 de septiembre de 2009
History
The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on 4 December 1971 Deep Purple had set up camp in Montreux, Switzerland to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio - referred to as the "Rolling truck Stones thing" and "the mobile" in the song lyrics) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session a Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention concert was held in the casino's theatre. During the gig, a fire broke out. In the middle of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on "King Kong", the place suddenly caught fire. Somebody in the audience had fired a flare gun into the ceiling, at which point the rattan covering started to burn, as mentioned in the "some stupid with a flare gun" line. [1][2] The resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song (credited to bass guitarist Roger Glover, who related how the title occurred to him when he suddenly woke from a dream a few days later) referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel across the lake. The "Funky Claude" running in and out is referring to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival who helped some of the audience escape the fire.
Claude Nobs (2006), the "Funky Claude" mentioned in the song
Left with an expensive mobile recording unit and no place to record, the band was forced to scout the town for another place to set up. One promising venue (found by Nobs) was a local theatre called The Pavilion, but soon after the band had loaded in and started working/recording, the nearby neighbours took offence at the noise, and the band was only able to lay down backing tracks for one song (based on Blackmore's riff and temporarily named Title nº1), before the local police shut them down.
Finally, after about a week of searching, the band rented out the nearly-empty Montreux Grand Hotel and converted its hallways and stairwells into a makeshift recording studio, where they laid down most of the tracks for what would become their most commercially successful album, Machine Head.
Ironically, the only song from Machine Head not recorded in the Grand Hotel was "Smoke on the Water" itself, which had been recorded during the abortive Pavilion session. The lyrics of "Smoke on the Water" were composed later, and the vocals were recorded in the Grand Hotel.
After 1973, vocalist Ian Gillan and bass guitar player Roger Glover quit the band, and were replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, who divided the vocals between each other. For this song, they divided it up so that Coverdale sang the first verse, Hughes sang the second verse, and they both sang the third verse and the choruses in harmony. However, rather than sing the third verse with the as-written lyrics, they chose instead to repeat the first verse every time they sang it.
When Steve Morse joined the band, it became a "Deep Purple" tradition to have him play a solo preceding this song in concert. This solo would consist of a medley of solos, licks, and riffs from many various classic rock songs. Rather than blend them into one another, Morse separates most of the licks by playing some one-handed tapping in between them.
[edit] Impact
The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on 4 December 1971 Deep Purple had set up camp in Montreux, Switzerland to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio - referred to as the "Rolling truck Stones thing" and "the mobile" in the song lyrics) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session a Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention concert was held in the casino's theatre. During the gig, a fire broke out. In the middle of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on "King Kong", the place suddenly caught fire. Somebody in the audience had fired a flare gun into the ceiling, at which point the rattan covering started to burn, as mentioned in the "some stupid with a flare gun" line. [1][2] The resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song (credited to bass guitarist Roger Glover, who related how the title occurred to him when he suddenly woke from a dream a few days later) referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel across the lake. The "Funky Claude" running in and out is referring to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival who helped some of the audience escape the fire.
Claude Nobs (2006), the "Funky Claude" mentioned in the song
Left with an expensive mobile recording unit and no place to record, the band was forced to scout the town for another place to set up. One promising venue (found by Nobs) was a local theatre called The Pavilion, but soon after the band had loaded in and started working/recording, the nearby neighbours took offence at the noise, and the band was only able to lay down backing tracks for one song (based on Blackmore's riff and temporarily named Title nº1), before the local police shut them down.
Finally, after about a week of searching, the band rented out the nearly-empty Montreux Grand Hotel and converted its hallways and stairwells into a makeshift recording studio, where they laid down most of the tracks for what would become their most commercially successful album, Machine Head.
Ironically, the only song from Machine Head not recorded in the Grand Hotel was "Smoke on the Water" itself, which had been recorded during the abortive Pavilion session. The lyrics of "Smoke on the Water" were composed later, and the vocals were recorded in the Grand Hotel.
After 1973, vocalist Ian Gillan and bass guitar player Roger Glover quit the band, and were replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, who divided the vocals between each other. For this song, they divided it up so that Coverdale sang the first verse, Hughes sang the second verse, and they both sang the third verse and the choruses in harmony. However, rather than sing the third verse with the as-written lyrics, they chose instead to repeat the first verse every time they sang it.
When Steve Morse joined the band, it became a "Deep Purple" tradition to have him play a solo preceding this song in concert. This solo would consist of a medley of solos, licks, and riffs from many various classic rock songs. Rather than blend them into one another, Morse separates most of the licks by playing some one-handed tapping in between them.
[edit] Impact
American Pie . Don Mac Lean
folk rock song by singer-songwriter Don McLean.
Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was a number-one U.S. hit for four weeks in 1972. A re-release in 1991 did not chart in the U.S., but reached number 12 in the UK. The song is an abstract story surrounding "The Day the Music Died" — the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.). The importance of "American Pie" to America's musical and cultural heritage was recognized by the Songs of the Century education project which listed the song as the number five song of the twentieth century. Some Top 40 stations initially played only side two of the single, but the song's popularity eventually forced stations to play the entire piece.
Despite this, many fans of McLean, amongst others, have attempted an interpretation (see Interpretation Links); at the time of the song's original release in late 1971, many American AM & FM rock radio stations released printed interpretations and some devoted entire shows discussing and debating the song's lyrics, resulting in both controversy and intense listener interest in the song. Some examples are the real-world identities of the "Jester", "King and Queen", "Satan", "Girl Who Sang the Blues" and other characters referenced in the verses.
Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971, the single was a number-one U.S. hit for four weeks in 1972. A re-release in 1991 did not chart in the U.S., but reached number 12 in the UK. The song is an abstract story surrounding "The Day the Music Died" — the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr.). The importance of "American Pie" to America's musical and cultural heritage was recognized by the Songs of the Century education project which listed the song as the number five song of the twentieth century. Some Top 40 stations initially played only side two of the single, but the song's popularity eventually forced stations to play the entire piece.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Background and interpretation
The song's lyrics are the subject of much curiosity. Although McLean dedicated the American Pie album to Buddy Holly, none of the musicians in the plane crash is identified by name in the song itself. When asked what "American Pie" meant, McLean replied, "It means I never have to work again."[1] Later, he more seriously stated "You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me... sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence."[2] McLean has generally avoided responding to direct questions about the song lyrics ("They’re beyond analysis. They’re poetry.")[3] except to acknowledge that he did first learn about Buddy Holly's death while folding newspapers for his paper route on the morning of February 3, 1959 (the line "February made me shiver/with every paper I'd deliver"). He also stated in an editorial published on the 50th anniversary of the crash in 2009 that writing the first verse of the song exorcised his long-running grief over Holly's death.Despite this, many fans of McLean, amongst others, have attempted an interpretation (see Interpretation Links); at the time of the song's original release in late 1971, many American AM & FM rock radio stations released printed interpretations and some devoted entire shows discussing and debating the song's lyrics, resulting in both controversy and intense listener interest in the song. Some examples are the real-world identities of the "Jester", "King and Queen", "Satan", "Girl Who Sang the Blues" and other characters referenced in the verses.
martes, 8 de septiembre de 2009
Stairwaym to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's fourth studio album, Led Zeppelin IVVH1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs.[1] It is the most requested[2][3] song on FM radio stations in the United States, despite never having been released as a single there. In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership release, "Stairway to Heaven" hit #37 on the UK Singles Chart.[4] (1971). The song was voted #3 in 2000 by
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Black Sabbath es considerada una de las bandas de heavy metal más influyentes de todos los tiempos. La banda ayudó a crear el género con lanzamientos tan innovadores como Paranoid, un álbum del que la revista Rolling Stone dijo que «cambió la música para siempre»,[153]Beatles del heavy metal».[154] Time Magazine dijo de Paranoid que fue «el lugar de nacimiento del heavy metal», incluyéndolo en su lista de los 100 mejores álbumes de todos los tiempos.[155] MTV colocó a Black Sabbath en el primer puesto de su lista de las 10 mejores bandas del heavy metal,[156] mientras que VH1 les puso en el puesto número dos de su lista de los 100 mejores artistas del hard rock.[157] VH1 puso la canción «Iron Man» en el puesto número uno de su lista de las 40 mejores canciones de metal.[158]Allmusic, dijo: llamando a la banda «los William Ruhlmann, el crítico de
Black Sabbath ha tenido tanta influencia en el desarrollo de la música heavy metal como para ser una fuerza definitoria del género. El grupo tomó el sonido blues rock de bandas de finales de los años 1960 como Cream, Blue Cheer y Vanilla Fudge llevándolo a su conclusión lógica, ralentizando el tempo, acentuando el bajo y poniendo especial énfasis en desgarradores solos de guitarra y voces aulladoras llenas de letras que expresan angustias mentales y fantasías macabras. Mientras que sus predecesores claramente provenían de una tradición de blues eléctrico, Black Sabbath encaminó esa tradición en una nueva dirección, y al hacerlo ayudaba a dar a luz a un estilo musical que continuó atrayendo a millones de seguidores en las décadas siguientes.[1
lunes, 7 de septiembre de 2009
jueves, 3 de septiembre de 2009
miércoles, 2 de septiembre de 2009
"I Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular song written and composed by country singer, songwriter and musician Don Gibson, who first recorded it on December 30, 1957, for RCA Victor Records.
The song was also recorded by Ray Charles in 1962 and released from Charles' groundbreaking Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music album. The Ray Charles cover version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, as well as the U.S. R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and ranked #161 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #49 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music.
[edit] Other cover versions
martes, 1 de septiembre de 2009
sábado, 22 de agosto de 2009
Steppenwolf
Steppenwolf
The name-change from "Sparrow" to "Steppenwolf" was suggested to John Kay by Gabriel Mekler, being inspired by Hermann Hesse's novel of the same name. Steppenwolf's first two singles were "A Girl I Knew" and "Sookie Sookie". The band finally rocketed to worldwide fame after their third single, "Born to Be Wild", and their version of Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher" were prominently used in the 1969 cult film Easy Rider (both titles originally had been released on the band's debut album). In the movie, "The Pusher" accompanies a drug deal, and Peter Fonda stuffing dollar bills into his Stars & Stripes-clad fuel tank, while "Born to Be Wild" is then heard in the opening credits, with Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding their Harley choppers through the American West. The song, which has been closely associated with motorcycles ever since, introduced to rock lyrics the signature term "heavy metal" (though not about a kind of music, but about a motorcycle: "I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, racin' with the wind..."). Written by Dennis Edmonton, who had begun using the pen name Mars Bonfire, the song had already reached #2 on the Hot 100 in August 1968.
Then followed albums had several more hits, including "Magic Carpet Ride" (which reached #3) from Steppenwolf The Second and "Rock Me" (which reached #10) from At Your Birthday Party.
Monster, which criticized US policy of the Nixon-era, and Steppenwolf 7 were the band's most political albums, which included the song "Snowblind Friend", another Axton-penned song, about the era and attitudes of drug problems. These albums are still fondly remembered by fans as two of the best rock & roll snapshots of the attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
There were several changes in the group's personnel after the first few years. Moreve was fired from the group in 1968 for missing gigs after he became afraid to return to Los Angeles, convinced that it was going to be leveled by an earthquake and fall into the sea. Rob Black filled in for Moreve until Nick St. Nicholas, Kay's old German buddy and former Sparrow member, came aboard. Monarch quit after disagreements with Kay that same year and was replaced by Larry Byrom. St. Nicholas' tenure with the group proved to be brief and he himself was let go in 1970 after incurring Kay's wrath by showing up onstage in a bunny suit and playing his bass loudly and out of tune. The above tales were related by Kay in his 1994 autobiography Magic Carpet Ride (co-written with Canadian author John Einarson). George Biondo was then recruited and guitarist Kent Henry replaced Byrom in 1971.
The band broke up in 1972 following the release of another political concept album, For Ladies Only, and Kay went on to a successful though inconsistent solo career, scoring a minor solo hit in 1972 with "I'm Movin' On" from his album Forgotten Songs and Unsung Heroes.
Kay toured Europe as The John Kay Band in 1972, and Steppenwolf with Steppenwolf also on the bill, Kay fronting both groups. His rapport with Steppenwolf and the audiences' enthusiastic responses convinced him that maybe Steppenwolf had disbanded prematurely.
domingo, 16 de agosto de 2009
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