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5 facts about 5
songs . . .
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Radio Ga Ga
Official
video:
1.
Queen drummer
Roger Taylor wrote the song. Which was released in 1984. It was written as a critique of radio
stations, which were becoming commercialised repeating the same songs. Before beng deregulated, companies were
allowed to own multiple stations, resulting in more corporate ownership, less
competition and a decline in quality. It
was also a commentary on television overtaking radio's popularity, and on the
music video and MTV, which were competing with radio for promoting records. Taylor
originally conceived of it as "Radio caca" from something his toddler
son once said in trying to describe a bad song on the radio. Taylor liked the
title, but the rest of the group objected and asked for a re-write. As a
result, it went from a song condemning radio ("Ca-Ca") to praising it
("Ga Ga"). Lady Gaga took her
name from this song.
2.
The music video
for the song features scenes from Fritz Lang's 1927 science fiction film
Metropolis. Freddie Mercury's solo song
"Love Kills" was used in the restored version of the film and in
exchange Queen were granted the rights to use footage from it in their
"Radio Ga Ga" video. However, Queen had to buy performance rights to
the film from the communist East German government, which was the copyright
holder at the time.
3.
In praising
radio, the song refers to two important radio events of the 20th century; Orson
Welles' 1938 broadcast of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds in the lyric
"through wars of worlds/invaded by Mars", and Winston Churchill's 18
June 1940 "This was their finest hour" speech from the House of
Commons, in the lyric "You've yet to have your finest hour".
4.
Lyrics:
I'd sit alone
and watch your light
My only friend
through teenage nights
And everything I
had to know
I heard it on my
radio
You gave them
all those old time stars
Through wars of
worlds invaded by Mars
You made 'em
laugh, you made 'em cry
You made us feel
like we could fly (radio)
So don't become
some background noise
A backdrop for
the girls and boys
Who just don't
know or just don't care
And just
complain when you're not there
You had your
time, you had the power
You've yet to
have your finest hour
Radio (radio)
All we hear is
radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is
radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio, what's
new?
Radio, someone
still loves you
We watch the
shows, we watch the stars
On videos for
hours and hours
We hardly need
to use our ears
How music
changes through the years
Let's hope you
never leave old friend
Like all good
things on you we depend
So stick around
'cause we might miss you
When we grow
tired of all this visual
You had your
time, you had the power
You've yet to
have your finest hour
Radio (radio)
5.
The extras in
the video got the clapping sequence right on the first try, but it took
practice for the members of Queen to get it down. Queen played a shorter,
up-tempo version of "Radio Ga Ga" during the Live Aid concert on 13
July 1985 at Wembley Stadium, where Queen's "show-stealing
performance" had 72,000 people clapping in unison. According to band member Brian May: "I remember thinking 'oh great, they've
picked it up' and then I thought 'this is not a Queen audience'. This is a
general audience who've bought tickets before they even knew we were on the
bill. And they all did it. How did they know? Nobody told them to do it."
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The House of the
Rising Sun
Clip:
1.
The melody is a
traditional English ballad, but the song became popular as an African-American
folk song. It was recorded by Texas Alexander in the 1920s, then by a number of
other artists including Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White and later Nina
Simone. It was her version The Animals first heard. In the traditional folk
version, the main character is either a prostitute or a prisoner. The Animals
changed it to a gambler to make their version more radio-friendly.
2.
Prior to The
Animals’ 1964 hit with this song, the most successful commercial version, it
had also been recorded by Glenn Yarbrough (19570, Pete Seeger (1958), Miriam
Makeba (1960), Joan Baez (1960), Bob Dylan (1961) and Nina Simone (1962).
3.
Dylan recorded
it in 1961 as a traditional folk song. When
he heard the recording by The Animals three years later he discovered he could
apply a rock rhythm to a folk song. He bought an electric guitar and started to
use it, famously at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where he did an electric set
for the first time.
4.
The two most
popular explanations of the song title are:
- Firstly, the song is about a brothel in New Orleans. "The House Of The Rising Sun" was named after its occupant Madame Marianne LeSoleil Levant (which means "Rising Sun" in French) and was open for business from 1862 (occupation by Union troops) until 1874, when it was closed due to complaints by neighbours.
- Alternatively, it's about a women's prison in New Orleans called the Orleans Parish women's prison, which had an entrance gate adorned with rising sun artwork. This would explain the "ball and chain" lyrics in the song.
The Animals
recorded this in one take, having perfected the song from performing it on the
road. When, a few weeks later, it was
Number 1 all over the world and knocked the Beatles off the top in the US, they
sent us a telegram which read, 'Congratulations from The Beatles (a
group)'."
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All I Want For
Christmas Is You
Original clip:
1.
Recorded by Mariah
Carey, who also co-wrote and co-produced it with Walter Afanasieff, the song
remains Carey's biggest international success, reaching number one in numerous
countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United States.
The song took Carey and Afanasieff a total of fifteen minutes to write and
compose
2.
Carey followed
up her 1993 hit album Music Box with a 1994 Christmas album, Merry Christmas,
notwithstanding concerns by the suits that Christmas albums are often released
towards the end of waning careers. It was
not released as a commercial single, instead being used to boost sales of the album. The song made #12 US in 1994 when it was
first issued to radio stations as a promotional single.
3.
In March 2015,
Mariah Carey became the first rider on James Corden's Carpool Karaoke. The bit
became wildly popular, and in December, Carey returned to sing "All I Want
For Christmas Is You," but interspersed with footage of Carpool Karaoke
guests singing along, including Lady Gaga, Elton John, Nick Jonas, Adele,
Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Chris Martin and Gwen
Stefani. With about 30 million views on YouTube, it sent the song once again
into the Hot 100, this time placing it at #11, topping its original placement
of #12 in 1994.
Clip:
4.
On March 21,
2017, Carey announced via her Twitter account that a film based on "All I
Want for Christmas Is You" was in development A musical film based on Merry Christmas, the
plot revolves around a small town where a ruthless developer wants to turn the
land into a large shopping plaza. According to her producing partner Benny
Medina: "Mariah doesn't want to let that happen. Her character uses song and love to keep the
Christmas spirit alive." According to Carey, "Since I recorded the
Christmas album, I've always wanted to make a movie to go with it, something
that people could watch and hear and enjoy every year. I'm into it. I'm all
about the holiday season."
5.
On November 24,
2019, the song won three records in Guinness World Records for one of the
best-selling and most recognisable Christmas songs, most streamed song on
Spotify in 24 hours (female) (10,819,009 streams in December 2018) and most
weeks in the UK singles Top 10 chart for a Christmas song titles.
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Howzat
Clip:
1.
"Howzat"
was released in 1976 by Australian band Sherbet, reached number 1 in Australia and
New Zealand and remains the group's biggest hit. It also reached No 5 in the UK charts and entered
the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (No 61).
2.
In cricket,
there are various ways for the batter to get out – having the ball caught on
the full after being hit; being stumped out of the safe area (that is, the
batter is outside the safe line known as “the crease”); leg before wicket (“LBW”)
meaning the batter’s leg has prevented the ball hitting the wicket (that is,
the stumps). In such situation the
fielding team need to appeal to the umpire by calling out “How’s that?”, which
is always called out as “Howzat?”
3.
The chorus of
Howzat uses the above cricket terms and analogies:
How how howzat
You messed about
I caught you out
Howzat
Now that I found
where you're at
It's goodbye
Well howzat
It's goodbye
4.
In 1976, someone
suggested to Tony Mitchell and keyboardist Garth Porter that Howzat might make
a good title for a song because some of the members of Sherbet loved cricket.
Despite Mitchell not being a good cricketer, he sat down with Garth Porter at
Porter's Rose Bay home to work on the idea. Mitchell soon came up with the
"doo-doo, doo-doo" bass riff, after which the first thing that came
into Porter's mind was the phrase "I caught you out."
5.
Daryl
Braithwaite and Garth Porter re-recorded the song for the Channel 7 2019
cricket season. The new version had a lyric make-over with the line “you messed
about I caught you out” removed to divert attention from the ball-tampering
scandal of 2018.
Clip:
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Paint It Black
Official clip:
1.
Written by Mick
Jagger and Keith Richards, it was first released as a single in 1966, reaching number one in both the Billboard Hot 100 and
the UK Singles Chart. The song became the Rolling Stones' third number-one hit
single in the US and sixth in the UK.
2.
The song's
lyrics describe blackness and depression through the use of colour-based
metaphors. The song describes the extreme grief suffered by one stunned by the
sudden and unexpected loss of a wife, lover or partner. According to one
commentator the song seems is about a lover who died:
"I see a
line of cars and they're all painted black" - The hearse and limos.
"With
flowers and my love both never to come back" - The flowers from the
funeral and her in the hearse. He talks about his heart being black because of
his loss.
"I could
not foresee this thing happening to you" - It was an unexpected and sudden
death.
"If I look
hard enough into the setting sun, my love will laugh with me before the morning
comes" - This refers to her in Heaven.
[Or the memories?]
3.
On this track,
Stones guitarist Brian Jones played the sitar, which was introduced to pop
music by The Beatles on their 1965 song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).
Jones made good television by balancing the instrument on his lap during
appearances.
4.
The Stones
former manager Allen Klein owned the publishing rights to this song. In 1965,
The Stones hired him and signed a deal they would later regret. With Klein
controlling their money, The Stones signed over the publishing rights to all
the songs they wrote up to 1969. Every time this is used in a commercial or TV
show, Klein's estate (he died in 2009) gets paid.
5.
This was used as
the theme song for Tour Of Duty, a CBS show about the Vietnam War which ran
from 1987-1989. [I loved that series. Thinking
about it, I am going to watch it again, I have it on DVD. Kate?]
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