Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thK6I3QDDN  Download with Lead    The definition of “lush” is:  having a pleasingly rich quality.  To me, “lush” in music means lots of violins.  Which brings me to a request from “Cindy in Memphis”.  She writes:

“Can you do me a version of Paul Anka’s Put Your Head On My Shoulder?  I want it lush and pretty, with a trumpet lead, a french horn solo, and raise the key on the last verse, and make it Michael Buble style”.  Well, I like a woman who knows exactly what she wants – so here goes, Cindy.

The “lush” part was easy… remember?  Lots of violins.  And the song is a breeze to play…. everything Paul Anka wrote and sang was extremely simple.  For example, “Diana” was 4 chords… over and over and over again, but he somehow made it work.  But then there was that stupid tune “You’re Having My Baby” – just the dumbest thing ever, Mr. Anka.  But I’m off subject here.  Cindy wants it “pretty”.  Well, okay…. more violins – an extra track for pretty.  Oh, and sprinkle a little piano in there… also pretty.  And she wants to raise the key for the last 8 bars.  That’s a common trick singers use when the song has been too boring for words and you need to wake up your audience.  No problem on my keyboard – just push a button.  I love technology.  And the Michael Buble part?  No problem.  Just play the lead slightly behind the music – Buble loves that crap.

Don’t know why Cindy from Memphis wanted a trumpet lead, but I’m here to please (and criticize, you might have noticed).  If you really want to sing this song, mute the trumpet on track 4 – you’ll still have lush and pretty.

Georgia On My Mind

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

abc5c7b1fa267b187c01f17404144d74  Download    This is the day, in 1979,  when Ray Charles sang this song at the ceremony where it was named the official state song of Georgia.  So what was the state song before that?  Wait…. let me look.  Oh, yeah… “Sweet Georgia Brown”.  They made the right decision…

Hoagy Carmichael wrote this tune in 1930 – for his sister, not the state.  For his sister?  That’s a little weird.  Frankie Trumbauer had the first major hit with it in 1931.  You remember Frankie, don’t you?  But, of course, Ray had the biggest hit with “Georgia On My Mind” in 1960 and his version is just classic.  However, in 1962, Ray Charles was banned from the state of Georgia.  Can you do that?  Seems he canceled a concert in Augusta in ’61 after finding out the dance floor was restricted to “whites only”, while blacks had to sit in the balcony.  So he was prohibited from performing anywhere in the state of Georgia for 17 years.  Fascinating, since he was born there.  Apparently, the state song ceremony was a reconciliation of sorts.  Who knew?

This is the way we do it – short, sweet, and bluesy.  It’s on the Pop/Rock list for singers who need backups.  Wait for the final guitar chord –  cool, I think… but of course I would.

Y.M.C.A.

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thV24BWQYM  Download    Ever been to a wedding where the band didn’t play Y.M.C.A.?  Neither have I.  But I ran into a couple musicians the other day who weren’t familiar with the song or how much fun it can be for their audience.  Of course, I had to educate these “youngsters without a clue”.  The great “crazy” dance tunes are going by the wayside in favor of rap and hip-hop…  and I just hate that.  So I’m on a mission.

The Village People released this gem in 1978 and it quickly became a worldwide number one hit…. except in the United States.  Rod Stewart kept YMCA out of the top slot with “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”.  There’s an irony there you might have to think about.  And then there’s the YMCA dance.  When Village People performed the song onstage, their original choreographed dance had the group clapping above their heads during the chorus.  Well, audiences thought they were making the letter “Y” and followed suit with the other three letters.  And so, a cultural craze is born…. out of a misunderstanding (more irony).  Personally, I could never get the “M” quite right…. still working on it.

This is the arrangement we’ve used for years.  I tried to get as close to the original as possible and it’s withstood the test of time.  Really should update this one…. but I know I won’t.  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it – right?  You know, I’ll bet the YMCA dance would be really hard in Chinese…

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ymca+video&&view=detail&mid=2B1EA7DF850F0D00880E2B1EA7DF850F0D00880E&rvsmid=E885664F1A17EDFDA170E885664F1A17EDFDA170&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV

 

Tennessee Waltz

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thMEDJUVXQ  Download    There you are on stage, cranking out rock’n’roll or disco or rhythm and blues, when someone walks up and asks for (groan) a waltz.  And they never say which waltz – just “a waltz”.  I’ve never been fond of the 3/4 time signature – seems way too repetitive to me – and irritating. As a child, when you went to your first dance and didn’t know how to dance, your mother leaped in with glee and showed you how to (groan again) waltz:  1,2,3 and turn.  Remember that?  However, my mother taught me how to “jitterbug” first… explains a lot.  But, take my word for it, most bands hate a waltz.

Patti Page’s biggest hit was with this song in 1950.  But, Patti,  the premise is just wrong on a number of levels.  First line:  “I was dancing with my darling – to the Tennessee Waltz“.  I’ll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that this is the couple who requested this dance.  The band hates you both.  Next line: “When an old friend I happened to see“.  She’s not paying attention.  A waltz is supposed to be a very personal and intimate dance.  But Patti is looking around for someone to talk to – bad form.  Now we hear:  “I introduced her to my loved one – and while they were dancing” –  Hold it!  You just got introduced to a person you’ve never met and the first thing you do is ask her to dance?  Have you ever done that… even once?  Of course not.   Finally:  “My friend stole my sweetheart from me“.  Whoa!!!  Sweetheart?  Friend?  I don’t think so!  Now this little tramp is waltzing your sweetie out the door (no pun intended).

Flawed as it is, this song is a good one to do if you just have to play a waltz – and you can make fun of the lyrics as you go along.  It’s on the country list because it has that kind of flavor.  I think Mom was right – jitterbugging is a whole lot more fun!

Billie Jean

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thSVMV6OJH  Download with Lead    I recently read that this Michael Jackson hit is the most requested Karaoke song ever.  I believe it.  We owned a little beach bar for awhile in the late 90’s and I ran Karaoke three nights a week.  “Billie Jean” was performed by 5 or 6 people every night – usually not very well.  Upon reflection, I think that’s why we eventually sold the bar.  One can only take so much of an inebriated crowd slaughtering a perfectly good song over and over again… and again.

I first heard the song sitting in the St. Louis Airport disco lounge with some friends.  It started playing in the background and I said, “What is that – it’s great!”  Someone smarter than me at the table informed me it was Michael Jackson’s new single.  “Oh, man… that’s a hit” was my reply.  It’s one of those tunes you instantly like, primarily because of the beat.  That drum and bass 16 bar intro is infectious – makes you want to immediately hit the dance floor.  The lyrics I didn’t like so much, but the music production is amazing.  This one made Jackson an international pop star overnight and any self-respecting singer should be performing it, with or without a band.  If you’re working sans backup musicians, this sequence is exciting and tight enough to fill your dance floor.

Etta Who?

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

th4JEIA5TT  Download    Etta James – one hit wonder?  Actually, that’s pretty much true.  “At Last” was considered her “signature” song, but other singers have signature songs with a string of other hits to back it all up.  Not so with poor Etta.  She had a couple of other minor hits, but even this song never made it to number one.  Must be the quality of the composition itself that carried her for so many years and she certainly sang it with heart.  We have performed it in the past using this arrangement and it’s one of Karen’s best.  Everyone knows and loves the tune but very few can tell you who recorded that version you keep hearing in commercials and movies.

You see, Etta had an attitude.  It seems the pop singer Beyonce sang it at Barack Obama’s inauguration ball and Etta was not happy.  Her remarks to an audience a few days later made this abundantly clear:  “He might be your president but he ain’t my president.  But I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song – she’s going to get her ass whupped”.  Then, a week later, she again pontificated, “The great Beyonce.  Like I said, she ain’t mine.  I can’t stand Beyonce.  She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol’ president day,  gonna be singing my song that I’ve been singing forever”.

Your song, Etta?  Really?  I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that “At Last” was a bigger hit 20 years before you did it – recorded by none other than the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  It’s not always about the singers, folks.

Swingin’ Doors

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thA85FJZ06  Download    Okay.. I’ll admit to never being a fan of Merle Haggard.  Oh, I knew of Mr. Haggard, but the only song I attributed to him was “Okie From Muskogee” – a song I neither liked or ever performed.  So I didn’t pay much attention to him.  Man… did I ever miss out.

It took his death last week to make me take a second look at a man I’d always heard was a legend but never took the time to find out why.  This guy had 38 number one country hits  – 38!  That’s amazing!  And I only heard of one.  I did hear a reference to “the fightin’ side of me” one time,  but I didn’t know it was a song.  His life was rough after his father passed in 1945 – living in a boxcar, in and out of juvenile detention centers, and finally a stint in San Quentin.  It was there he saw Johnny Cash perform in 1958, which more or less turned him around enough to decide that country music was where he wanted to be.  He was paroled in 1960 and set about making himself a country music star by writing songs about the working man, and gambling, drinking, carousing, fighting, and crying a lot – typical country music stuff.  In 1972, after Haggard had become an established country star, then- California governor Ronald Reagan granted Merle an unconditional pardon for his past crimes.  Of course, all you “Hag” fans already know all this, but I remain fascinated.

This particular song is called “Swingin’ Doors” and I love it – we’re gonna start doing it.  It wasn’t one of his biggest – only reaching #5 on the charts – but the lyrics are clever,  self deprecating and sarcastic all at the same time.  The wife (or girlfriend, it’s not clear) has kicked him out of his house and he’s taken up residence in a honky-tonk bar (better than a boxcar).  The chorus:  “And I’ve got swingin’ doors, a jukebox, and a bar stool/ and my new home has a flashing neon sign/ stop by and see me anytime you want to/ ’cause I’m always here at home till closing time”.  Here’s a song that plays to the country side of everybody.

These backup tracks are on the country list, along with “Okie” (had to be done).  And this one goes out to my dear Aunt Marilyn (not that she lives in a saloon).  Who knew she was a big fan (according to my Dad)?  Now, at long last, so am I.

New San Antonio Rose

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thKSJD73AO  Right-Click to Save    Do you need a toe-tapper?  Even if you’re performing hip-hop (I sincerely hope not),  every now and then you need to throw in something completely different.  Something that makes people think, “Oh, that’s fun!”.  This classic country tune would be the one.

Bob Wills recorded “San Antonio Rose” as an instrumental in 1938.  He came from a musical family in Texas (father was a champion fiddle player – mother an accomplished pianist), so he naturally gravitated toward music as a career.  His band ( the Texas Playboys) wrote lyrics to the tune and it became “New San Antonio Rose” –  soaring to number one on the “Western” charts and staying there for a very long time.  Other versions became popular later on, most notably Floyd Cramer’s piano instrumental in the ’60s (which I’m trying to emulate here – to no avail).  This is the way I prefer to do it (duh),  but it’s got some pretty good lyrics so don’t be afraid to hand it to your singer.

When Wills and his band performed it at the Grand Ole Opry with horns and drums, it caused quite the controversy.  Seems the Opry people didn’t think those instruments belonged in a country-western band.  Could be they were right.

She Thinks I Still Care

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

th32M2Z1XC  Download Instrumental    In my sophomore year of college, I played a solo gig at a VFW in downtown Terre Haute, Indiana. It was a sudden introduction to country music and I had to learn a bunch of country tunes really fast. It was also the first time I’d seen anyone actually “cry in their beer”.  People really do that, you know.  You don’t see it often, but when you do it kinda sticks in your brain.

I loved playing that club.  I can still see couples swaying on the dance floor to this song by the great George Jones (my backing tracks are on the Country List if you think you’d like to trot this one out again).  I played a similar arrangement to this way back when – but then I didn’t have the luxury of a multi-track keyboard that could mimic every instrument.  I’d give anything to go back there and do it right – harmonica, guitar, fiddle – the whole works.  You couldn’t give this song justice as a solo piano player, but they still danced and cuddled and swayed and…. cried in their beer.   Good times.

I Believe

Posted by Dave Zobrist on

thUK1AKHM6  Download    On every Easter morning, the Archangel Gabriel picks up his trumpet to play a song in honor of this most glorious day. This morning he chose “I Believe”, and the sound of his horn reverberated through the heavens and on the face of the earth.  I’ve always loved this composition and play it whenever I get the chance because… well…I believe.