I Believe You – Todd Snider

I Believe You – Todd Snider

Todd Daniel Snider is a singer-songwriter born October 11, 1966 in Portland, Oregon.

Best known for his wry humor, Snider has been a fixture on the Americana, alt-country, and folk scene since his debut on MCA, entitled Songs for the Daily Planet, named for the bar where Snider used to play regularly in Memphis. On that album were the minor hits “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues”, a folk song about the early ’90’s grunge scene, featuring a band that “refused to play”, and “Alright Guy”, which later became the title cut of Gary Allan’s 2001 album.

He released two more albums for MCA, Step Right Up and Viva Satellite, the latter often sparking colorful debate amongst fans for its comparisons to Tom Petty. He moved to John Prine’s Oh Boy Records where he made Happy to Be Here, New Connection, Near Truths and Hotel Rooms, and East Nashville Skyline. That Was Me: The Best of Todd Snider 1994–1998 was released on the Hip-O label in August 2005.

Todd Snider’s next studio album, The Devil You Know, was released in August 2006. It marked Snider’s return to a major label, as he is now recording for New Door Records, a subsidiary of Universal Records.

The Devil You Know was named to several critics’ year-end “best” lists, including a No. 33 ranking in Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of the year, a No. 25 ranking by No Depression magazine, and No. 14 by Blender magazine.

Snider’s songs “Late Last Night” and “I Believe You” have been recorded by the Oklahoma country-rock band Cross Canadian Ragweed. He co-wrote the song “Barbie Doll” with country star Jack Ingram.

La La Lie… – Jack’s Mannequin

La La Lie…    Jack’s Mannequin

Guess what I’m done
Writing you songs
You’ll give up your job at the bank
Proving money’s not fun when you’re gone
So this is the first verse
It’s not very long
But I’m ready to move on

Guess what I’m done
Writing your book
The ending got twisted around
But for all the hell that it took
The electrical wires
They’ll hum in the walls
In the room that I rent now without you

I’ve got friends who
La La Lie
Will help me pull through
La La Lie
La La La Lie
The spaceman that can’t get high
I’m coming back to my girl by July
Yeah yeah yeah

That’s right

So guess what I’m done
Drawing your pictures
I’m dulling the day with a drink
In a parking garage by the theatre
We met for a movie
Every scene was a sign
We made out through their meaning

Well I’ve got friends who
La La Lie
Will help me pull through
La La Lie
La La La Lie
The spaceman that can’t get high
I’m coming back to my girl by July
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

Guess what I’m done
Writing you songs
I’m far too unstable to settle
I doubt that the doctors are wrong
So I’ll wait by a palm tree, a palm tree, a palm tree

Well I’ve got friends
La La Lie
To help me pull through
La La Lie
La La La Lie
The spaceman that can’t get high
I’m coming back to my girl by July

Well I’ve got friends who
La La Lie
Will help me pull through
La La Lie
This song for a long goodbye
I’m coming back
I’m coming back to my girl
Back to my girl

This song for a long goodbye
I’m coming back to my girl by July

Closing Time – Semisonic

Semisonic is an alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1995 (see 1995 in music). The band consists of three members: Dan Wilson (lead vocals, guitar), John Munson (bass guitar, backing vocals, keyboard), and Jacob Slichter (drums, percussion, keyboard).

They wrote their hit Closing Time in the 1990s.

Dan Wilson took home the Grammy for Song Of The Year 2006! He won the prize for “Not Ready To Make Nice” which he co-wrote with the Dixie Chicks and they released on the CD “Taking The Long Way”.

November Rain – Guns N’ Roses (GNR)

Guns N’ Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band, led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, has gone through numerous line-up changes and controversies since their formation. The band has released five studio albums, two EPs and one live album during their career. After more than a decade in production, the band is finally set to release their long-awaited new album Chinese Democracy on November 23, 2008. Once released, the album will be the first original recording from Guns N’ Roses since the 1991 releases of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II.

Guns N’ Roses has sold an estimated 100 million albums worldwide, including over 42 million in the United States. The band’s 1987 major label debut album, entitled Appetite for Destruction, has sold 27 million copies worldwide and reached number one on the United States Billboard 200. In addition, the album charted three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Sweet Child o’ Mine” which reached number one. 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone.

“November Rain” is a single by the band Guns N’ Roses, written by lead singer Axl Rose and released in June 1992. The music video for this song, also released in 1992, quickly became the most requested video on MTV, and won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography. It features a sweeping orchestral backing and is one of Guns N’ Roses’ longest songs. On YouTube, as of November 2008, the music video to November Rain has over 26 million views.

“November Rain” appears on the album Use Your Illusion I. At 8 minutes and 57 seconds, it is a rock ballad in the tradition of “Stairway to Heaven,” “Free Bird,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It is the second-longest song on that album, the longest being the 10-minute “Coma.” Its distinct symphonic overtone owes to a sweeping synthesized string arrangement, played by Axl Rose. Most live performances during the Use Your Illusion tour lacked the orchestral backing of the song (the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards being the best-known exception). It is the longest song to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.^[3] The song peaked at #3 on the chart, becoming the band’s sixth and last Top 10 hit and eighth and last top 40 hit to date. On the radio, “November Rain” is sometimes played in a shortened version of approximately six minutes, but many rock stations continue to play the full version. This song is listed at number 6 in the “The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos” by Guitar World. “November Rain” was voted #1 on the Rock 1000 2006, an annual countdown of the top 1,000 rock songs by New Zealand radio listeners. It was almost voted #1 on the Rock 1000 2007, but was beaten out by “Back In Black” by AC/DC.

It is #8 on my TOP 10 records of all-time.

No Rain – Blind Melon

Blind Melon is an American rock band that originally existed from 1989 to 1995, and ceased with the death of lead vocalist Shannon Hoon shortly after the release of the band’s second album. The band reformed with the new lead vocalist Travis Warren in 2006. However, Travis Warren announced his departure from the band on November 6, 2008.

Blind Melon formed in California in 1989, with members from Indiana, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania. The band signed to Capitol Records in 1991 and recorded an unreleased demo. The band gained buzz from vocalist Hoon’s association with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, and Hoon’s backing vocals on several Guns N’ Roses tracks on 1991’s Use Your Illusion albums, most notably “Don’t Cry”.

The band’s self-titled debut album, produced by Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam), contained thirteen songs spanning a wide sonic palette. The aggressive dual lead guitars and shouted vocals of “Soak the Sin” and “Tones of Home” evoked heavy metal and classic rock; “Time”’s spacious bridge and ambient, winding outro shared commonalities with Grateful Dead-style improvisational music, while acoustic songs “Change” and “No Rain” hinted at pop and folk influences. The album sold poorly until the “No Rain” single became a smash success in November of 1993, led by a popular music video featuring the “Bee Girl” (played by Heather DeLoach). Thematically, the video suggested a social outcast eventually finding a supportive community through trial and error. Subsequently, Blind Melon went platinum four times. After opening for Neil Young, Lenny Kravitz, Soundgarden and The Rolling Stones, Blind Melon’s own tour was cut short due to Hoon’s escalating drug abuse.

Against the advice of Hoon’s drug counselor, Blind Melon went on tour.  Hoon was found dead on the band’s tour bus of a cocaine overdose on October 21, 1995 in New Orleans. The remaining members released Nico (named for Hoon’s daughter, only thirteen weeks old when her father died) in 1996, with the profits going to a program that helps musicians with drug and alcohol addiction. Nico contained unreleased songs from the Soup recording sessions, as well as other songs often recorded with only partial instrumentation. The closing track, “Letters from a Porcupine”, was recorded as a telephone message left by Hoon on Thorn’s answering machine. Nico included covers of Steppenwolf and John Lennon songs.

Blind Melon officially disbanded on March 4, 1999 and the various members went on to other projects.

Hold on Tight To Your Dreams – ELO

Electric Light Orchestra, commonly abbreviated ELO, were a symphonic rock group from Birmingham, England who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne’s desire to create modern pop songs with heavily classical overtones, but falling under a light rock category, however the band’s direction for most of their existence was set by Lynne who, after the band’s debut record, wrote and arranged all of the group’s original compositions and produced every album.

It was in the United States that the band were first successful, billed as ‘The English guys with the big fiddles’^.  They soon gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. They were managed by agent Don Arden, father of Sharon Osbourne.

Romeo’s Tune – Steve Forbert

Steve Forbert (born December 15, 1954, Meridian, Mississippi) is an American pop music singer. He is best known for his song “Romeo’s Tune”, which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980.

Even though it states that “Romeo’s Tune” is “dedicated to the memory of Florence Ballard” on the sleeve of the album Jackrabbit Slim (1979), the song is not really about the Supremes singer who died in 1976. The song was actually written about a girl from his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, but was dedicated to Ballard because, as Forbert explains, “That seemed like such bad news to me and such sad news. She wasn’t really taken care of by the music business, which is not a new story.”

Critics hailed him at the time as “The new Bob Dylan” because of a similar vocal timbre and thoughtful songwriting. The front cover of his second album, Jackrabbit Slim, encourages such comparisons with its simplicity: a black and white photo of Forbert playing a well-worn Martin acoustic guitar with a capo on it, his shirt tinted green. The record was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee and produced by John Simon, who had worked with The Band. Forbert has a cameo appearance in Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video, playing her boyfriend.

He had a disagreement with his record company (Nemperor) in 1984 and did not record for a number of years afterwards. The record company apparently did not want to release a 1984 recording that he had made, and it was shelved.

Growing up in Meridian, Steve Forbert first picked up the guitar at age 10 and spent his high school years playing in a variety of local bands. Frustrated with his later job as a truck driver, the restless singer/songwriter moved at 21 to New York City, where he performed for spare change in Grand Central Station before working his way up through the Manhattan club circuit. Performing at Folk City and eventually opening for artists like Talking Heads and John Cale at CBGB, Forbert became something of a local sensation and signed his first record deal with the CBS-distributed label Nemperor.

Released at the height of the new wave explosion, his 1978 debut Alive On Arrival offered a first look at his colorful mix of spare acoustic introspection and scrappy rock ‘n’ roll to become one of the year’s most acclaimed albums. While critics tagged him—like Bruce Springsteen, John Prine and Elliot Murphy before him—“the next Dylan,” Forbert never put too much stock in the comparison and forged his own path, expanding his audience substantially with 1979’s commercial breakthrough Jackrabbit Slim and his era defining hit single, “Romeo’s Tune.”

After releasing Little Stevie Orbit (1980) and Steve Forbert (1982), the singer encountered the harsh reality of record-company politics, resulting in a long and frustrating legal battle that kept him from releasing new music for the better part of six years.

He remains as one the most critically acclaimed talents that never really tasted commercial success.

He tours over 100 dates per year and still captivates audiences wherever he plays.

This song just was re-recorded by Keith Urban and released on his greatest hits CD.

Beautiful Day – Sanctus Real

Sanctus Real is a Dove Award-winning American Christian rock band from Toledo, Ohio. The group is currently comprised of Matt Hammit (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Rohman (lead guitar), Dan Gartley (bass), Pete Provost (guitar), and Mark Graalman (drums).

Forming as a band in 1996, over five years they released three independent albums. After signed with Sparrow Records in 2002, the group released their major label debut, Say It Loud, at the end of the year. In total they have released four albums with Sparrow Records.

Sanctus Real music is featured in the Christian video game Dance Praise. The songs “Alone”, “Everything About You”, and “Say It Loud” are included with the game. “Closer” and “Things Like You” can be added to the list via the Dance Praise Expansion Pack Volume 3: Pop & Rock Hits. The band appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in 2008.

The band recorded a cover of U2’s song “Beautiful Day” on the compilation album In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa, released on January 27, 2004. The track became their first number one hit single on Christian CHR in 2004.

Remedy – Jason Mraz

Remedy – Jason Mraz

I saw fireworks from the freeway
And behind closed eyes I cannot make them go away
‘Cause you were born on the fourth of july, freedom ring
Now something on the surface it stings
I said something on the surface
Well it kind of makes me nervous
Who says that you deserve this
And what kind of god would serve this?
We will cure this dirty old disease
If you’ve got the poison I’ve got the remedy

The remedy is the experience.
This is a dangerous liaison
I say the comedy is that it’s serious.
This is a strange enough new play on words
I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend
The rest of your nights with the light on
So shine the light on all of your friends
When it all amounts to nothing in the end.

I won’t worry my life away.

I won’t worry my life away.

I heard two men talking on the radio
In a cross fire kind of reality show
Uncovering the ways to plan the next big attack
They were counting down the ways to stab
The brother in the be right back after this
The unavoidable kiss, where the minty fresh
Death breath is sure to outlast this catastrophy
Dance with me, because if you’ve got the poison,
I’ve got the remedy

The remedy is the experience.
This is a dangerous liaison
I say the comedy is that it’s serious.
This is a strange enough new play on words
I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend
The rest of your nights with the light on
So shine the light on all of your friends
When it all amounts to nothing in the end.

I won’t worry my life away.

I won’t worry my life away.

When I fall in love I take my time
There’s no need to hurry when I’m making up my mind
You can turn off the sun but I’m still gonna shine and I’ll tell you why

Because

The remedy is the experience.
This is a dangerous liaison
I say the comedy is that it’s serious.
This is a strange enough new play on words
I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend
The rest of your nights with the light on
So shine the light on all of your friends
When it all amounts to nothing in the end.

I won’t worry my life away.

I won’t worry my life away.

I won’t and I won’t and I won’t

I Remember You – Skid Row

I Remember You – Skid Row (ClickHere)

Skid Row is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1986 in Toms River, New Jersey. They are named after Phil Lynott and Gary Moore’s first band. They were most successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s when their first two albums with lead singer Sebastian Bach and drummer Rob Affuso were multi-platinum successes.

They are often associated with glam metal, partly due to their image on their debut album, Skid Row, which spawned the hits “18 and Life“, “Youth Gone Wild“, and “I Remember You” for the band. They would eventually go on to foster an image based geared toward more traditional heavy metal and hard rock audiences.

Sebastian Bach (born Sebastian Philip Bierk, on April 3, 1968) is a Canadian heavy metal singer, best known as ex-frontman of Skid Row.  Bach was invited to join Skid Row in 1987 at the age of 18 when guitarist Dave Sabo heard him sing at famed rock photographer Mark Weiss’ wedding. Sabo sent him a videotape of the band playing, and Bach subsequently joined the band. After enjoying commercial success as lead singer of Skid Row, Bach was eventually fired in 1996.