May 16th, 2012
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This week on Lyrics Undercover I look at a song that is ostensibly a meditation by a night-light, and at the eclectic pair who created it. In 1990, ‘Birdhouse in Your Soul’ cemented the reputation of ‘They Might Be Giants.’ More than 20 years later, the pair is still going strong. |
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April 29th, 2012
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This song landed its artists on the Nixon Enemies list while simultaneously being lauded by the bandmaster of wholesome entertainment, Lawrence Welk, as a “modern spiritual.” If, like Brewer and Shipley, you could only have one hit, you could hardly do better than the catchy, light-hearted “One Toke Over the Line.” |
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April 18th, 2012
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Everyone loves a good love song, and nothing says love song quite like a country ballad. Couples have been falling in love in pick-up trucks, bars, and back porches to the music of Willie Nelson, Alabama, Dolly Parton, and many others for generations. This week’s Lyrics Undercover is dedicated to a special couple who fell in love and were married 25 years ago, Glenn and Phyllis Doss, and is their song, George Strait’s “The Chair.” |
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April 15th, 2012
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Most artists, and humans for that matter, are fascinated by life and death, the cyclical nature of how something dies and something new begins. All sorts of songs across all genres have been written about it from Elton John’s “Circle of Life” to Bette Midler’s “The Rose” and Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take the Girl.”
On this week’s Lyrics Undercover we look at the popular early 90s rock take on the circle of life with Live’s “Lightning Crashes.”
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April 4th, 2012
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Her name is Katie, not Stacey, Mary, Jo or Lisa. Singer-guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules de Martino, the Ting Tings, hit the charts in 2008 with “That’s Not My Name.” The song is an in-your-face reaction to being ignored. |
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March 26th, 2012
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Björk’s best-known pop-culture moment may be her swan dress, worn at the Oscar’s. To focus on that is to deny her iconic music with the Icelandic influence, something both dream-filled and concrete. Today on Lyrics Undercover, I’ll look at a single from her 1997 album, Homogenic. Jóga blends a haunting melody line with classical strings and electronic beats. |
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March 19th, 2012
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The 1970s gave us lots of great rock and roll, especially stemming from the Detroit area. Such names one might recognize would be Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, and Glenn Frey of the Eagles. This week’s lyrics undercover will take us through the first national hit of one more Detroit artist’s career: Bob Seger’s Night Moves. |
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March 9th, 2012
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Listening to current music critics, you’d think the 80’s were a wasteland. It’s rather like defining the 70s as the disco era and ignoring artists like Frank Zappa, Bootsy Collins or Steely Dan. Classifying the 80s as glam and dance music is similarly narrow. One band whose influence reached into to the future was Oingo Boingo. This week, Lyrics Undercover looks at one of their high-profile songs: Dead Man’s Party. |
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February 22nd, 2012
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For those who love the indie-folk-rock sound of such bands as Mumford and Sons, The Decembrists, The Mountain Goats, and M. Ward today’s band will be a pleasure. However, even if you’re more of a pop or mainstream rock listener, you will probably still be very familiar. This week’s lyrics undercover is “I and Love and You” by The Avett Brothers. |
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February 15th, 2012
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Recorded by artists as diverse as Neil Diamond, The Ventures, the Four Tops and Weezer, just to name a few, on Today’s Lyrics Undercover, I’ll be taking a look at a song that became the longest running number one since the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” almost three years earlier. The song is “I’m A Believer”, by The Monkees. |
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