Sunday Songs
"Another Park, Another Sunday"
The Doobie Brothers
Normally, when I go through e-mail, I leave the music off, it breaks my concentration, especially on a day like today, where I’m trying to go through hundreds, catching up from being out of town.
But testing out the upgrade of my Sonos app on my laptop I brought this up and just like I thought, I could no longer focus on the words on the screen but I was grooving in my seat, actually dancing, sans leg movements, as I stared out the kitchen window on a brilliant SoCal Sunday. And this made me think of Sunday songs.
But before I list a few, I want to direct your attention to this live video of Tom Johnston and the Doobies doing "Another Park, Another Sunday":
From: Paul Santo
Subject: Re: Rhinofy ParkRECENT: listen to Johnston’s VOICE:
Krikey.
peas,
P
"Sunday Will Never Be The Same"
Spanky and Our Gang
The first song I think of when I think of Sunday. They only had three hits, the second, "Lazy Day", was derivative of the first, but this was a glorious smash with a hooky chorus that could not be denied.
Just like "Another Park, Another Sunday", the lyrics are negative, depressed, about love lost, but the music is upbeat.
Every baby boomer knows this, and you can’t find a single one who hates it (wait, my inbox is open!)
Meanwhile, Spanky was in a later iteration of the Mamas and Papas…and why is it all the great sixties songs have magical bridges and modern songsters have forgotten about this device which the Beatles used to such great success?
"My Sunday Feeling"
Jethro Tull
Ian Anderson and Tull have been unfairly maligned. If they’d had fewer hits and played theatres instead of arenas, hipsters would be testifying how great they were.
This is from the debut.
I prefer the follow-up, "Stand Up", but listen to anything through "Thick As A Brick" and you’ll get it, the quality was astounding. And although blues-based, Tull sounded unlike anything else, with the flute, etc.
Break all the rules. Then you might have a chance of success.
Tull was HUGE!
Never mind making a one track album that was not only gargantuan, but good! Come on, you might be burned out on it, but you loved that acoustic guitar intro…
"Really don’t mind if you sit this one out…"
Yup, you can stop reading right here, I don’t care, I’m in an exquisite mood and I’m not gonna let you bring me down.
FURTHERMORE, try "Thick As A Brick" on vinyl, with the stereo effects…WHEW!
"Rockport Sunday"
Tom Rush
And I wish I was there right now… They’re having a heat wave on the east coast, the snow is melting, it’s a time of rebirth.
Tom wrote this, as well as the song it segues into, "No Regrets".
And I regret that the younger generation is missing out on Tom’s greatness. Start here. If you love Mumford & Sons, if you love folk music, if you love meaningful music, there’s nothing better.
Just listen to "Rockport Sunday"… It’s just like Sunday, a day of reflection. And I’m including "No Regrets"…
No regrets
No tears goodbye
Don’t want you back
We’d only cry again
Say goodbye again
This is when you know it’s done. When you realize that if you reconnected, you’d just break up again. Whatever you had was in the past. It looks good from a distance, but you’ve got your rose-colored glasses on, you can’t see the discord, the disagreements, the trouble.
But it’s easier to look backward than forward.
I know, people get remarried. But I find whatever pulled you apart back then does once again.
"Young Girl Sunday Blues"
Jefferson Airplane
Talk about forgotten bands! It’s almost like they never existed.
I started with "Volunteers". And loved it so much I went back and bought "After Bathing At Baxter’s", which everyone said was the best.
This was the follow-up to "Surrealistic Pillow", an unqualified smash, which I did not have to own since I heard it everywhere I went. Stunning to not worry about singles, just getting the music right. "Young Girl Sunday Blues" is good, but not as great as "Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon " from the second side, a live version of which was about the only highlight on "Woodstock II". Meanwhile, "Saturday Afternoon" SOUNDS like Saturday!
"Duke’s On Sunday"
Jimmy Buffett
If this doesn’t take you away to the islands, if this doesn’t make you want to immediately board a plane and fly to Waikiki, you’re dead inside, you’re no friend of mine.
Yes, we all need money to survive, but it’s just a vehicle. It’s when you’re relaxing, contemplating, that you feel fully alive.
This is incredible. This deserves more airplay. I’d forgotten about it, but found it in my iTunes library searching on Sunday songs.
(Jimmy doesn’t want us to be exposed to his stiff music, he wants to hide it behind a paywall, thinking it’s about money, not music. Still, it’s right up there on YouTube, where he gets paid nothing and it’s harder to find… http://bit.ly/6VtY )
"Sunday Papers"
Joe Jackson
If you wanna know about the gay politician
If you wanna know how to drive your car…
Pigeonholed as an Elvis Costello clone, Joe was far more commercial and just as good in his own way. His breakthrough was the soft jazz of "Steppin’ Out", but true fans know the debut is best, and this reggae-influenced cut is the finest one on the album.
"Hymn For A Sunday Evening"
"Bye Bye Birdie"
WE’RE GONNA BE ON ED SULLIVAN!
Do they still do "Bye Bye Birdie" at high schools?
This was the most popular, most done (overdone?) play of its era.
Once upon a time, original Broadway cast albums ruled the charts. This one, deservedly so!
"Raining On Sunday"
Radney Foster
I wrote about the hit, done by Keith Urban, but this is the original, by the writer.
It sounds like Sunday, depressing, my least favorite day of the week, I thrive on the action.
Unlike "Another Park, Another Sunday" and "Sunday Will Never Be The Same", the lyrics are upbeat and the music is depressing!
P.S. Darius Rucker sings background vocals…
"Wild Horses"
The Sundays
Best cover of this song in my book, positively wistful. An MTV staple once upon a time, if you don’t know it, you should.
"Pleasant Valley Sunday"
The Monkees
Sounds upbeat and nice, but it’s SUBVERSIVE!
Come on, the harmonies on "bloom" are enough to melt the most hardened heart.
Now, more than ever, we live in status symbol land…but now, nobody questions the empty values, they just want to acquire the symbols themselves.
From Micky’s vocal to the electric guitar to the nonsense vocals to the aforementioned harmonies, "Pleasant Valley Sunday" is a tour de force, it’s a MASTERPIECE!
P.S. Don’t forget it was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin! I’m including her live take, but really, some songs can be sung by everybody, but can really only be cut once. Like this one.
