"Layla", Derek and the Dominoes: This song is pretty much universally loved, as far as I can tell, and I'm no different, so I'm not going to make fun of it. Instead, I'd like to point out that the instrumental arrangement makes brilliant use of the tambourine. Ambient, noticeable, and not annoying. This marks the first time that anyone listened to "Layla" to appreciate the musicality of the tambourinist.
"Ain't No Sunshine", Bill Withers: I hear this song on the radio maybe once a month. Maybe. It's one of the best songs of the motown era, everyone loves it, and it's only two freaking minutes long. A station could play it five times a day and it would still only be 10 minutes of airtime used. Why is it never on the radio?
"Teach Your Children Well", Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: I'm half-convinced that "Ain't No Sunshine" is never on the radio because the station I listen to has to play this one three times a day. I don't understand anything about this song. It's preachy, annoying, and not remotely catchy. How did a band that consisted of four good songwriters turn this one out? How did it survive the years? Why do I hear it more than every other CSNY song combined?
"Dance With Me," whoever sang "Dance With Me": This song sucks. Time to check the other oldies station.
"Dance With Me," whoever sang "Dance With Me": what the crap. Check G101.3.
"Semi-Charmed Life", Third Eye Blind: Attention, potential recording artists. Here is how to get me to buy your album. Write a song I like, and make sure it gets ridiculously edited on the radio, and I'll become so angered every time I hear the edited version that I will buy the CD just to make sure I can hear the real version whenever I want. And as far as utterly ridiculous radio edits go, this one takes the cake. The first half of the song is about how meth addiction is a great escape from one's problems and let's you feel as good as you've ever felt, and that's cool with the bigwigs at the corporate radio station, but they draw the line when it comes to that bridge that talks about how devastating the crash from a meth high is and how frustratingly impossible it is to get the high back. Good thing someone is thinking of the children.
I think I could probably do an entire blog post on songs that are ridiculously edited on the radio, but the list of victims I'd include would be too obvious: The Doors, Tommy James and the Shondells, Garth Brooks, and the B-52s immediately join Third Eye Blind.
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6 comments:
Alright, I'm pissed off now. I wasn't sure if Al Jarreau or Bill Withers did "Ain't No Sunshine" first. So, I went to my favorite online resource (Wikipedia, of course) to check. And I discovered JUSTIN FREAKIN TIMBERLAKE covered it. I just don't know what to say...
I did a HORRIBLE karaoke version of this song when I went on the cruise a few years back. No white girl should be singing, "I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know..." it just doesn't sound right.
Garth Brooks? What the heck could he have done that would need editing?
Obviously, I am not up on my pop country.
I don't plan to get up on it, either.
Susie: I could have gone my whole life without knowing that Justin Timberlake covered "Ain't No Sunshine." Thanks.
Don't forget Radiohead: Creep was horribly edited for radio play. So very special, my ass.
KathyR: The entire final verse of "The Thunder Rolls", where the wife kills her cheating husband with a shotgun, is cut on the radio.
BerryBird, "Creep" provided one of the best Beavis and Butthead video commentaries ever, too.
I believe that the group "Orleans" sang "Dance With Me". I happen to like that song. I also love CSN and CSNY. I think I was born twenty years later than I should have been based soley on my musical preferences.
Lindzy,
I was also born twenty years too late. I usually like CSN and sometimes Y, but that particular song grates me.
But really, I think I've destroyed my own musical credibility on this blog long ago.
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