In honor of Memorial Day and also as an example of the versatile powers of ipadio, I am proud to present this recording of the “Star Spangled Banner” I made during a school band concert last week:

In many ways, popular music is the most powerful mode of communication there is. Because it can capture thoughts (with the lyrics) and moods (with melody and the arrangement) and because it is so tied to a particular time, we have songs that instantly remind us of particular people or particular experiences in our lives. Quite often, we have a song that is important to us in the present moment, because it so perfectly conveys a dilemma we’re facing or it expresses the love we feel towards someone.

For that reason, the last thing we want to do is keep it to ourselves. We want to share it, in hopes that somebody else will hear in it the same thing we do. Music then is both powerfully personal and universal. It communicates what we’re feeling in a way that thousands, maybe even millions, of other people also experience.

One of the unfortunate results of the music industry’s fight against piracy is it declared that the easiest ways for consumers to share music was illegal. Even worse, although it was rightly concerned about people putting up music files on websites free for the taking, it made it seem that even private exchanges were just as bad and just as illegal. For a long time, there was no sanctioned means for people to share the music they loved. In fact, when I wrote my recent post about my favorite song of the summer, I assumed there was no legal way for me to play that song in that post.

» Continue reading “Music Sharing”

My vote for Song of the Summer would have to be Panic in the Disco’s amazing song “When the Day Met the Night.” It’s everything a summer song should be – poppy, happy, optimistic, frothy and catchier than an old Grass Roots 45.

The lyrics aren’t the focus in a song like this, so nobody’s going to confuse them for great poetry, but they’re perfect for the tune and I like them a lot. It’s about a typical summer romance, but there’s a fragility given to the two characters that makes you root for them all the more as the song swells into the chorus.

When the moon found the sun 
He looked like he was barely hanging on 
But her eyes saved his life 
In the middle of summer

and

So he said, “Would it be all right 
If we just sat and talked for a little while 
If in exchange for your time 
I give you this smile?” 

So she said, “That’s okay 
As long as you can make a promise 
Not to break my little heart 
Or leave me all alone in the summer.” 

It’s all extremely charming and fetching, just like the entire song.

The only thing that confounds me is why this song hasn’t become a hit. It practically demands to be played from every boombox on every beach, from every open window of every car driving down the road. The song is from an album (Pretty. Odd.) that was released back in March, and I only now happened to stumble upon it. How did that happen? Aren’t there any independent radio programmers left that are looking for songs like this?

If you want to listen to the type of song radio stations should be playing, check out this one. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

» Continue reading “Song of the Summer”