Song of the Week category - SPTO's Blog

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Song of the Week #6: "John Shaft" - Sammy Davis Jr.

Posted on January 6, 2009 at 09:19 AM.

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I bet you thought this feature was dead eh?

Here's a totally obscure song to me at least. This is Sammy Davis' version of the Shaft theme. I tell you I don't know whether to laugh or cry over this but it's well, unique to say the least.

Category: Song of the Week

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

My Sleeping Pattern Sucks plus Song of the Week #6

Posted on December 16, 2008 at 05:59 AM.

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Before we get to the highlight of the week on my little blogspace I need to bitch about my sleeping pattern. So I go through stretches where I can't sleep at all at night and then I end up sleeping at 7-8 AM and wake up around 3 or 4 PM. I can live with that but then I go through seemingly longer stretches like the one i'm in now where I can't even stay up past 9 PM! I invariably wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep. This plays havoc on me and I hate it.

"Sigh"

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Well let's get to something a little more lighthearted. I present to you a song that this soul singer is most known for. Here's mr. Joe Tex with "Aint Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)"!

If you don't find this to be funky then you have no soul.

Category: Personal, Song of the Week

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Song of the Week #5 "I want to come home for Christmas"

Posted on December 10, 2008 at 05:53 AM.

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OK I know I love Marvin Gaye music too much but this one is worth posting because it was so very rare. Marvin only did a handful of Christmas songs in his career and this one is probably the best of the bunch.

Category: Song of the Week

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Song of the Week #4 "The Thrill is Gone"

Posted on December 2, 2008 at 08:53 PM.

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Here's B.B. King gettin' down with Irish Blues guitarist Gary Moore. This is my favorite King song and this is one funky arse rendition of the song.

Later tonight or early tomorrow morning i'll be posting about the madness going on in Canadian politics right now.

Category: Song of the Week

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Song of the Week #3: "I was country when country wasn't cool"

Posted on November 25, 2008 at 01:13 PM.

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Howdy Pardners!

Yep, well as you can see my tastes aren't just for Marvin Gaye.

So here's the background, This was a hit song for Barbara Mandrell in 1981 off her Barbara Mandrell Live and reached all the way to #1 on the Country charts and #14 on the Adult Contemporary charts. The song was originally recorded with George Jones but this video is of her performance from the 1981 CMAs where she performs the song solo.

Category: Song of the Week

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Song of the Week #2: A double shot of Marvin

Posted on November 18, 2008 at 05:38 PM.

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I originally had a totally different song and singer lined up for this week but someone made a comment on my first song and brought up Marvin Gaye's Here My Dearalbum from 1978. This prompted me to decide to play for your pleasure a song from that album.

As background this was an album Marvin was ordered by the courts to produce in which the proceeds would go to his first wife Anna Gordy. At first Marvin decided to produce crap but his thirst for perfection and honesty as an artist turned it around. This album chronicled the entire marriage of Marvin and Anna from his perspective. It has now laid claim as the ultimate "get back at her" type of album ever produced. It is indeed one of the greatest breakup albums ever.

This song i'm providing to you is called "Anger". It's a song that goes back to Marvin's Pentecostal upbringing as it's a sermon against anger and rage. First is the original release:

Pretty good song eh?

Now here's the version from 2008. This was a project commissioned by Motown to have famous RnB and hip hop producers to work with the original material from the album. This would include alternate vocal/mixes and arrangements. This version of "anger" was done by Marcus Miller. I gotta say that with Marvin's expanded lyrics and the different instrumentation and mix that this version is actually "gasp" superior to the original. If this mix was released back in '78 it would've undoubtedly be a hit.

Category: Song of the Week

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Song of the Week #1: "Piece of Clay" - Marvin Gaye

Posted on November 11, 2008 at 02:15 PM.

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Every Tuesday I plan to post a video of a song that I like. It will be a window into my musical tastes (which are very old) and is a quick way of putting up content here.

As most of you in this community know i'm a HUGE Marvin Gaye fan so what better way to introduce this feature then to post a Marvin Gaye song. Now I could be lazy and post a song that everyone knows but i'm not going to do that instead, i'm going to post a song that is off the beaten path and delivers a good message as well.

We start off a song that was recorded shortly after the release of the What's Going On album. The song is called "Piece of Clay". It was first released on The Master4 disc box set. Truly a great piece of work IMO.