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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 11, 2021 11:00:12 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#28 - Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price
There probably should be a book written about the song Stagger Lee, aka Stagolee, aka Stacker Lee, etc. The earliest mentioned version appears to have been Stack-a-Lee and dates to 1897. Since then damn near everyone has recorded a version.
You can argue that Mississippi John Hurt's version is definitive. But this R&B version by Lloyd Price gives it a run for its money. It was almost certainly the biggest version ever topping both the R&B and the Pop charts in 1959. Just an infectious driving beat that drives the song along.
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 11, 2021 12:18:58 GMT -5
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 11, 2021 12:25:41 GMT -5
Thanks. Michael Pullmann also pointed that out on Facebook. Great minds.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 12, 2021 10:22:22 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#27 - You Got It - Roy Orbison
The big posthumous hit off Orbison's last album "Mystery Girl," this is equal parts Orbison's vocals and Jeff Lynne's sensibilities. Roy had worked his way back in to the public consciousness through In Dreams stand-out place in Blue Velvet. That lead to the Black & White Night, The Traveling Wilburys, and ultimately Mystery Girl. Unfortunately Roy was taken from us far too soon by a heart attack at age 52.
For all that I really like this song, this is much more a Jeff Lynne song than it is a Roy Orbison song. It has that bombastic pop sound that was Lynne's hallmark in the 80s. I think the truest Orbison sound on Mystery Girl is probably T-Bone Burnett's "(All I Can Do Is) Dream You." Still this is a great single and was rightfully a hit.
I struggled between the studio version and a live version of this one. The live video is just quintessentially 80s live footage and it has that nostalgia factor. But the studio track has Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne playing and singing back-up...so that's where I eventually came down.
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Post by berkley on Mar 13, 2021 17:00:19 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020 #28 - Stagger Lee - Lloyd PriceThere probably should be a book written about the song Stagger Lee, aka Stagolee, aka Stacker Lee, etc. The earliest mentioned version appears to have been Stack-a-Lee and dates to 1897. Since then damn near everyone has recorded a version. You can argue that Mississippi John Hurt's version is definitive. But this R&B version by Lloyd Price gives it a run for its money. It was almost certainly the biggest version ever topping both the R&B and the Pop charts in 1959. Just an infectious driving beat that drives the song along. I grew up with th Lloyd Price version and for many years that was the only one I was familiar with. Then I heard Taj Mahal's rendition and it immediately became my favourite - though now I'd say it's tied with Mississippi John Hurt's, which it was probably based upon, it sounds to me.
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Post by berkley on Mar 13, 2021 17:30:08 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020 #28 - Stagger Lee - Lloyd PriceThere probably should be a book written about the song Stagger Lee, aka Stagolee, aka Stacker Lee, etc. The earliest mentioned version appears to have been Stack-a-Lee and dates to 1897. Since then damn near everyone has recorded a version. You can argue that Mississippi John Hurt's version is definitive. But this R&B version by Lloyd Price gives it a run for its money. It was almost certainly the biggest version ever topping both the R&B and the Pop charts in 1959. Just an infectious driving beat that drives the song along. I grew up with th Lloyd Price version and for many years that was the only one I was familiar with. Then I heard Taj Mahal's rendition and it immediately became my favourite - though now I'd say it's tied with Mississippi John Hurt's, which it was probably based upon, it sounds to me.
Checking into this a little more, I see that Taj Mahal recorded the song twice, once on De Ole Folks at Home in 1969 and a faster rendition on Hanapepe Dream in the early 2000s. They're bot really good but it was the latter that I was thinking of above.
Looking up the wiki artcile for the song, it seems it was collected by John Lomax in 1910, before even Missippi John Hurt's recording in 1928, so probably Taj Mahal was doing one of the many alternate versions out there, as the lyrics are different to both Price's and Hurt's. Musically it sounds closer to Hurt's, to my ears, especially on the slower 1969 recording.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 15, 2021 5:05:50 GMT -5
Until last night, when someone linked to a video on fb, I never knew this existed, and since then, I've listened to it (and watched several different video versions) several times over:
The song, "Prisencolinensinainciusol," by popular Italian singer/songwriter Adriano Celentano, is basically gibberish sung to sound like American English. Apparently it was a big hit in Italy when it was released in 1972, and it's still a well-liked and remembered song (and even occasionally covered by other musicians). I think it's friggin' brilliant.
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Post by Mister Spaceman on Mar 15, 2021 8:10:03 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020 #28 - Stagger Lee - Lloyd PriceThere probably should be a book written about the song Stagger Lee, aka Stagolee, aka Stacker Lee, etc. The earliest mentioned version appears to have been Stack-a-Lee and dates to 1897. Since then damn near everyone has recorded a version. You can argue that Mississippi John Hurt's version is definitive. But this R&B version by Lloyd Price gives it a run for its money. It was almost certainly the biggest version ever topping both the R&B and the Pop charts in 1959. Just an infectious driving beat that drives the song along. Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020) by Kimberly Mack devotes a chapter to tracing the fascinating history of the song in American culture. Recommended!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 15, 2021 10:33:23 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020 #28 - Stagger Lee - Lloyd PriceThere probably should be a book written about the song Stagger Lee, aka Stagolee, aka Stacker Lee, etc. The earliest mentioned version appears to have been Stack-a-Lee and dates to 1897. Since then damn near everyone has recorded a version. You can argue that Mississippi John Hurt's version is definitive. But this R&B version by Lloyd Price gives it a run for its money. It was almost certainly the biggest version ever topping both the R&B and the Pop charts in 1959. Just an infectious driving beat that drives the song along. Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020) by Kimberly Mack devotes a chapter to tracing the fascinating history of the song in American culture. Recommended! Neat.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 15, 2021 10:34:54 GMT -5
#26 - Windfall - Son Volt
I've mentioned that I preferred my Uncle Tupelo Farrar-y rather than Tweedy. And I'm super glad I got the chance to see Son Volt with my middle son.
This was the opener off Son Volt's debut album "Trace." Trace was a stand-out alt-country album. And this is a great opening track and really sets out the band's way of adding an edge to their re-working of honky-tonk and rock songs.
"Switching it over to AM Searching for a truer sound Can't recall the call letters Steel guitar and settle down
Catching an all-night station Somewhere in Louisiana It sounds like 1963 But for now it sounds like heaven"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 16, 2021 9:31:16 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#25 - Live Oak - Jason Isbell
This is one of those songs that get forgotten off of Southeastern. But the album is so damn strong that even the deep tracks are outstanding.
This is Isbell voicing his concern about getting sober. Really the first stanza says it all about the song. The fact that it reads like an old-time murder ballad is just that much more to love.
"There's a man who walks beside me It is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him And confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pinin' for On nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down?"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 17, 2021 10:26:51 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#24 - Years - John Anderson
The title track off of Anderson's latest album, an album that made my top ten albums of the year. It's just one of those great late-life albums that we've come to expect from aging country stars. This is a strong power ballad that certainly resonates with me more at age 53 than it would have even 20 years ago. Anderson is looking back on a life and looking forward to a time, in the not distant future, when he'll just be a memory of his kids and grandkids.
"You and me came to be We raised a family When we're gone, they live on To see what we won't see
Don't look back in sorrow The children have tomorrow"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 18, 2021 9:53:19 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#23 - Overseas - Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
Another one off Isbell's 2020 album, Reunions (my #2 album of the year). Isbell takes a look at lovers who have split and are living an ocean apart. It was written when he and wife Amanda Shires were on separate tours and he was feeling disconnected. As usual Isbell conveys all the feels as along the way he talks about the dying of small towns and the effect of caring for parents as they grow older.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 19, 2021 10:00:49 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#22 - Chevy Van - Dale Watson
Part two of odd covers I didn't know I needed but I did. This one showed up on a Spotify playlist and I had to do a double take. Dale Watson. The ultimate neo-honky-tonker covering Sammy Johns' soft-rock 70s AM radio hit. Say it ain't so.
But it was so. And it is awesome. The song is so relentlessly 70s and having Watson cover it is so incongruous that it absolutely works.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 22, 2021 9:36:16 GMT -5
Most listened to songs of 2020
#21 - Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
I have no doubt this song got a significant boost by the passing of Withers in March of last year. But this is a great song with an amazing back-story. At the time he wrote that song Withers was 31 years old and working in a factory making restrooms for 747s. The success of the song (one of the most successful songs of 1971) vaulted him to stardom.
I'm tempted to put the studio version on here because of the stellar backing by Duck Dunn on bass, Al Jackson on drums, and Stephan Stills on guitar (not to mention Booker T. producing). But this version is so damn much fun. The Drummer is just having a ton of fun and the bass player is so laid back he might just take a nap.
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