Neil Young: Heart of Gold

Number 11:

Neil Young - Heart of Gold

Current Knowledge: I don't know anything about Neil Young. In looking up which song I should listen to, in less than 15 seconds I inadvertently discovered that I know at least three other songs of his, and that he was the "Young" in Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Some days I feel like I'm making musical progress, and then there are days like today, where I feel as ignorant as I did on day one. Ugh. This song is one I am not familiar with, and I was such a big fan of Helplessly Hoping that this song is nonetheless being held to high expectations.

First Thoughts: Oh god, the harmonica. I have a secret love affair with harmonicas, so already this song has like three extra points starting out. But I don't really care for his voice... what? I'm surprised with myself. I didn't think that going to be my beef with this. The lyrics are really poetic, though, and the harmonica has won me over. It's sad and soulful and suddenly I have the urge to cover this very badly.

Verdict: I'm still reeling over the fact that I wasn't totally wowed by his voice. But I guess that holds true with tons of artists from that day and age; it was more about the songs back then, I think. (ie, my entire sentiment towards All Along the Watchtower). Pushing those thoughts aside - the song itself is great. This is exactly like something I would cover (I actually got compared to Neil Young once and had no idea how to respond. Now I understand) so that will very likely be in the works. But hey, here's to learning some stuff today.

10 Artists You Will Not Find In This Blog

This where I can give a little bit of credit to my musical tastes. I've spent so much time being negative about all that I haven't heard that I think it's really important to point this out. I haven't been living under a rock my entire life, and there's a bunch of artists that I do in fact listen to regularly that fall under the you-have-to-hear-this category. In fact, if YOU haven't listened to any of these artists, get thee to a radio/YouTube/Spotify/whatever, right away.
Anyways, here are ten of my favorite artists that would otherwise be on this blog, ordered from "I like this" to my favorite artist ever.

10. Elton John 
Bizarrely enough, "Rocket Man" is one of the first songs I ever learned on guitar. My dad actually played his stuff over the years, albeit infrequently, and I never forgot it.
Favorite Song: Your Song

9. Queen
When I was in 8th grade I played the violin, and the middle school orchestra took us all to Toronto to see We Will Rock You, which is basically Queen, the musical. I loved it. From there on out, Queen has always been one of my favorite bands.
Favorite Song: Somebody To Love

8. The Band
I didn't listen to The Band until I started dating my current boyfriend of a year and a half. They are his absolute favorite, and he covers their stuff all the time. I always liked their songs when he covered them, so I started listening to the original stuff. It's awesome.
Favorite Song: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

7. Led Zeppelin
In a very similar vein with The Band, I didn't listen to much Zeppelin either until my current boyfriend. However he rarely covers them, but the local bands we have gotten to know always do. I took on a mini-version of this project and listened to a lot of Zeppelin two summers ago to avoid the embarrassment of not knowing something by everyone's favorite rock band.
Favorite Song: The Ocean

6. Billy Joel
I don't know how I know so much Billy Joel. I think I've picked up a different song or two by him every couple of years, resulting in really knowing a large portion of his discography. I cover a bunch of his stuff too.
Favorite Song: Only The Good Die Young

5. Bonnie Raitt
This woman is basically my idol right now. If I could be anyone, I'd want to be her. I love pretty much everything she does, but her guitar skills are so good that she's really tough to cover flawlessly.
Favorite Song: Papa Come Quick (for now.. this will be different in a week, I'm sure.)

4. The Eagles
As I mentioned a while ago, my dad used to play The Eagles at the dinner table. As a result, I am thoroughly versed in their material and equally as nostalgic whenever it gets played.
Favorite Song: Hotel California

3. Nirvana
This might seem a bit out of place in this list, but I am a HUGE Nirvana fan. The alt rock band I was in during high school always wanted to cover them, so I learned a ton of their stuff and got really into it for a while, and I never really stopped listening to them. And it's really fun to catch people off guard when I, a small, unassuming white girl, play any of their songs.
Favorite Song: Lithium

2. The Beatles
Fortunately, one band I got into early on and always enjoyed happened to be one of the most iconic bands of all time. I've always loved The Beatles and I always will. Blackbird was actually the first song I ever learned on guitar in one sitting, and now I cover like a half dozen Beatles tunes.
Favorite Song: Let it Be

1. Jim Croce
I could write a dissertation on this man. He's not as well known as many of the artists on this list, but he's my absolute favorite. My dad loves him as much as I do, and it took me years to figure out who this guy was, the man who could take credit for being the main soundtrack to my childhood. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with him, he died in a plane crash when he was 30 right as he was breaking into the mainstream. I know every single song he released and I'm a little bitter about the fact that there will never be any more. He would have been as big as Dylan had he survived, in my opinion. If you've never heard of him, do yourself a favor and google search him, and listen to his hits. You won't be disappointed.
Favorite Song: A Long Time Ago

Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love

Number five!

Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love

Current Knowledge: I know nothing about Robert Palmer. Nothing. Which is probably because I generally don't like eighties music much. People tell me I should listen to him pretty often (people in bars here LOVE 80's music), but I have yet to do so. Nobody has ever given me a specific song, so I honestly just googled "Robert Palmer best song" and this is what came up. Fingers crossed it's a good one!

First Thoughts: First off, it appears I found the music video for this song. I highly recommend you watch it.. This is literally the most uncomfortable looking piece of cinematography I have ever seen in my entire life. Robert Palmer looks like someone my Dad works with deciding to try out some karaoke for the first time. And none of the girls are even trying to play their instruments, which really adds to the fact that they look terrifying. It's pretty rough. But! I like the song! The vocals are really really great, and it's actually quite catchy. It definitely has the 80's vibe that usually turns me off of this kind of music, but it's actually very well written, lyrically and musically. And the driving rock beat helps a lot in my opinion. I'd definitely listen to this again.

Verdict: If you want to actually appreciate this song, by all means do not watch the music video. It seriously takes away from the music, and the music is great. At this point I've listened to this song like four times and I actually really like it, which is not something I can say about most songs written in this time period. I might have to look into some more stuff from this guy. A brief glance at the sidebar of YouTube tells me this weird ugly-girls-and-a-karaoke-singer thing is a theme with some of Robert Palmer's music videos, so I don't have a lot of great things to say about his cinematic choices. But I can say that, for once, the crazy people from the bars have made a good suggestion here. This is a pretty cool tune.

Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Good

Number 4:

Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Good

Current Knowledge: This one is actually quite new to the list. My boyfriend brought it up at an open mic we were at together while someone was playing it. He was absolutely horrified that I didn't know this song, so I figured I'd take the initiative for once and actually look it up within a week of promising I would. Apparently this was in Back to the Future, but literally every 50's rock song sounds exactly the same to me.


First Thoughts: As predicted, this sounds exactly like every other 50's rock song ever. Not that it's bad, it certainly isn't. (The original is way better than the guy who was singing at the open mic, that's for sure). Maybe because I've heard so many bad covers of these kinds of songs I've been desensitized to them, but I really don't have anything profound to say about this. Except for the fact that one of these lyrics (He could play a guitar just like ringing a bell) was recently in a song released by Ed Sheeran, my most favorite musician of all time. The song is called Nina. I never understood the lyric before, but now that it is most definitely a shout out to Chuck Berry, it makes way more sense.


Verdict: I don't have much to say about this one. It was okay. I'm glad I can cross it off the list, but I definitely don't feel like I accomplished too much here. I think I've just heard too many songs like this to feel like I heard something new. I'm excited about the insight it gave me about Nina, though. That was unexpected. Maybe I just have to re-watch Back to the Future to appreciate this.

Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb

Number three.

Pink Floyd: Comfortably Numb

Current Knowledge: I went to a concert for "The Machine" a year ago - they're one of the most famous Pink Floyd cover bands out there, according to the people I went with. I'd love to tell you that they're great, but unfortunately only knowing two songs by Pink Floyd allows me to give absolutely no comparison. I love Wish You Were Here and Another Brick in the Wall, but I only know them because I covered them in the alt-rock band I was in during High School. I've lied probably a dozen times about knowing Comfortably Numb, and fortunately nobody has noticed that I haven't the slightest clue how it goes. Hence, it's on the list.

First Thoughts: I expected something really trippy, and I certainly wasn't wrong about that. To be honest... this is really weird. Oh wait, as soon as they start singing, it's waaaay better. This sounds kind of familiar! I've definitely heard this before! That's a bit of a relief. I actually really like this so long as they're singing. Yeah, I'm sure I kind of know this. (Cue the excited singing) IIIIIIIIIIII have become comfortably numbbbbbb. And of course the guitar solo is absolutely dynamite, but that's to be expected.


Verdict: I'm thrilled that something has finally sounded familiar! I mean, this has probably been in movies or TV or something, so that's likely where I know it from. But I've heard it nonetheless. Plus one for me. Aside from the weirdness that was interspersed (ie, that talking thing they do that seems to constitute the verses), it's great musically. I think you have to expect some weird stuff from a band with a reputation like Pink Floyd, though. Overall, I definitely liked the song, but I liked the fact that I kind of knew the song way more. It's nice to be able to put a name to the melody. (Don't ask me why I never associated the part I recognized above with this song, despite the fact that it says the title... because I don't have an answer for ya.)

Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water

First on the list! Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Current Knowledge: Yeah, I've never heard this song. I also used to confuse Simon and Garfunkel with Penn and Teller. Not good. 

I've heard maybe one or two other songs by them ever, but if you played one at random for me, I wouldn't be able to tell you who it was. Except for their song Cecelia, it's got sort of a folk feel which I am a big fan of. But this is one here is a real classic. That's actually why I've  put it first, it's a pretty big offender on the list of I-can't-believe-you-haven't-heard-that. 

First Thoughts While Listening: Oh, it's real pretty. Not folk-y at all. I always love just piano and vocals by themselves. The fact that most of the song is like that, and that it doesn't need much else, is wonderful. The lyrics are really great, too, obviously! They'd have to be in a song with this reputation. I almost wish the bridge didn't have as many other instruments added in, I think I like the stripped down feel better. I really wanted this song to have a section that sounded familiar to me, because I honestly can't believe I've lived 20 years and never, ever heard this song until just now. 

Verdict: It definitely holds up to all the praise. It's beautiful, both lyrically and musically, and I'm kind of upset that I haven't been listening to it my whole life because I loved it. This also has me very, very interested in listening to a lot more Simon and Garfunkel. I also feel like this would be really awesome to sing. This is like the most ultimate and beautiful power ballad ever. Yeah, I've been missing out. And now I'm kind of excited, because if every single song on this list is as good as this just was, this is going to be an awesome project. 

One down! Tons and tons and tons more to go, though....