Songs of the month - March 2021
Summer is nearly here, as March rolls into April. It's getting warmer, slowly. Lockdown is slowly not-becoming a thing, so that's good (or bad, depending on what perspective you take.)
Anyway, here's some songs from March; Enjoy.
Give A Little Bit - Supertramp
This song opened SuperTramp's fifth album, Even in the Quietest Moments. The song was written by Roger Hodgson when he was 19. 6 years later, it was recorded by the band. Hodgson stated that the song was inspired by the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love", during peace movements in the 60's. The song was released in 1977.
The guitars sound so unique to this song because they're 12-string guitars, producing a more ringing tone than standard acoustic guitars. The recording location also helps to make the guitars ring more, as the guitar portion of the song was recorded in the metal and glass elevators of the studio.
Ventura Highway - America
Ventura highway is a Single by the band America, released in 1972 as part of their homecoming album.
The song is about changing times, remembering the past and moving forward, and being alright with that.
The lyric "alligator lizards in the air" references the shape of the clouds when Dewey Bunnell (the writer and vocalist of this song) and his family had a flat tyre while driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
In a booklet, he wrote that the song "reminds me of the time I lived in Omaha as a kid and how we'd walk through cornfields and chew on pieces of grass. There were cold winters, and I had images of going to California. So I think in the song I'm talking to myself, frankly: 'How long you gonna stay here, Joe?' I really believe that 'Ventura Highway' has the most lasting power of all my songs. It's not just the words — the song and the track have a certain fresh, vibrant, optimistic quality that I can still respond to"
The lyric "purple rain" later was taken by artist Prince to form an album, song, film and tour.
Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis
I feel like sometimes the better songs of a band are overlooked in favour of the ones with deeper meaning. In REM, Losing My Religion steals a lot of the attention from the rest of their very good songs. For U2, "With or Without you" steals the attention from other songs such as "Beautiful Day". I don't think that the songs with deeper meanings are necessarily terrible, it's just that they're the most well known; and not necessarily the best.
I got recommended to try Oasis, and of course; The natural starting point is their hit "Wonderwall" and although I think "Wonderwall" is a brilliant song, I think it's also useful to acknowledge the other great Oasis songs in existence.
So that's Don't Look Back in Anger, It was written by Noel Gallagher, Oasis' lead guitarist and main songwriter and released in February 1996.
Bits of it were stolen from tapes left in the Dakota hotel by John Lennon, along with the introduction being copied from "Imagine".
The first time I heard this song was likely at this U2 Concert with Guest artist Noel Gallagher and the high flying birds:
All for you - Sister Hazel
All For You is a song by Sister Hazel for their debut album in 1997 and then re-recorded for their second album, "Somewhere more familiar".
It's their signature song, reaching number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 index.
Hanginaround - Counting Crows
Hanginaround is a song by Counting Crows as the first track on their album The Desert Life (1999)
The song is about feeling lost; and then finding yourself afterwards.
I don't fully understand it, So Listen to it yourself and let me know what you think.
That's all
