May 5th, 2013
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In today’s world of reality show crazes when you hear the words “Jersey Shore” the automatic image that comes to mind is high-haired Snooki, Gym-tan-laundry, and sleazy outfits in night clubs, but once upon a time the Jersey Shore had a different claim to fame, music. This week’s Lyrics Undercover takes a look at the one hit wonder from a band who started their journey on the jersey shore, Looking Glass, and “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” |
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April 24th, 2013
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In the 1920′s Swiss psychologist Carl Jung described a concept in which two or more events that are seemingly unrelated occur together in a seemingly meaningful way. These events, when examined more closely, reveal a pattern that outlines a framework that encompasses the two events, but does not cause them. Put simply, two unrelated things happen that point to a bigger picture. On this weeks episode of Lyrics Undercover, I’ll take a look at a song that was named after this phenomenon, Synchronicity II, by the Police. |
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April 17th, 2013
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Back as far as the 1920s and 30s, theatre has often set the tone for popular music. From the Zeigfeild Follies to Gershwin and Rodger and Hammerstein, musical theatre permeated the “popular” music scene far past its reach of just theatre in New York. However, as time moved on the stage and radio waves began to separate and form their own unique identities. This week’s Lyrics Undercover focuses on a song that successfully spanned both genres, 1984′s pop music sensation from Broadway’s CHESS, “One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head. |
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April 8th, 2013
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The Irish rock band U2 long ago cemented its place in the annals of rock music history. In terms of worldwide popularity, their body of work is often mentioned in the same breath with The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson. There is no shortage of classic tracks one could point to when making a “Best Of U2″ compilation. The song “Pride (In the Name of Love)” will always be part of that conversation, but a lesser known track referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exists, and among fans of U2, is often cited as their favorite. That song is MLK. |
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March 31st, 2013
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More bands than can be counted lived in the shadow of The Beatles. Many tried to eclipse them unsuccessfully. Others tried to ride along on their coattails. This week’s Lyrics Undercover focuses on a band that tried to do just that and became a legend with a sound and feel all their own. The Bee Gees symbolized what disco was in the 1970s, but this week we look at them just before that moment, with their first hit single “New York Mining Disaster 1941″. |
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March 25th, 2013
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Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore, is no overnight sensation. He began releasing independent music in 2000; when ‘The Heist” was released, it took less than a week for fans to send the debut studio album to Billboard’s number 2 spot. The fifth and final single from this album, released in October 2012, is “Thrift Shop,” the subject of this week’s Lyrics Undercover. |
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March 18th, 2013
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On rare occasions, impossibly diverse influences combine to form a song that epitomizes an entire musical genre. On this week’s Lyrics Undercover, I’ll take a look at West End Girls, a song by English 80′s duo Pet Shop Boys, that defined the synthpop sound by joining Protest Rap, Existentialist Prose, and an old Hollywood gangster film. |
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March 7th, 2013
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In our modern world of technology and constant contact it sometimes feels as if we cannot escape both the people we want to hear from and those we don’t. This week’s Lyrics Undercover takes up back to a simpler time where heartache and longing for communication was aided by a middle man, or woman, in Jim Croce’s “Operator.” |
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February 18th, 2013
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Sometimes songs are born of events happening in an artist’s life, sometimes as a reflection of the times in which they live. Rarely, they are born of a confluence of the two. One of these rarities is my Lyrics Undercover subject this week, Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Though only a moderate success sales-wise, “A Change Is Gonna Come” became an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement, and is widely considered Cooke’s best composition. |
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February 6th, 2013
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This week on Lyrics Undercover I’m going to talk about a memorable Super Bowl moment, and not one that involves a wardrobe malfunction or a darkened Superdome. The performers are members of the 1985 Chicago Bears and their song is the Super Bowl Shuffle. |
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