NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

I didn't listen to much music today. Work is really busy on Tuesdays because I have a lot of classes on Wednesdays. My students will read two poems by Lewis Carrol from Through the Looking Glass . The second on is " The Walrus and the Carpenter, " so of course, my favorite Beatles' song got stuck in my head. It's a daunting task to write about the Beatles. Every song they have released has its own field of research. The Beatles discography is like the bible of rock music, from which every sub-genre can be traced. And in the the Beatles discography, The Magical Mystery Tour album falls just after the beginning of what I would call their New Testament--the music after  Sergeant Pepper Lonely Heart's Band , after which The Beatles showed both a maturity in songwriting and a fetish of experimentation in the studio. GOO GOO G'JOOB. I may have first heard Bono's cover of this song in Across the Universe . The scene in the movie calls back to what Tom Wolf

Pop quiz: How many Asian American pop singers do you know? Bonus if you can name one with a Billboard Hot 100 hit. BTS does not count because they are Korean, not American. Give up? I can think of two. First a hip-hop group called Far East Movement garnered a lot of love in LA's Koreatown and eventually topped the charts with the song "Like a G6." And you could have also said Linkin Park 's Mike Shinoda. Otherwise, pre-BTS, the American music industry was quite underrepresented by Asian musicians. With that in mind, the Atlanta, Georgia-born Eric Nam returned to the country of his parents to pursue a career he felt wasn't likely in America.  In Korea, Nam has become not only a popular musician, but also a go-to interviewer whenever movie or pop stars visit Korea. His K-pop is more influenced by singer-songwriters and U.S. pop singers than the girl and boy groups of his high school years. His unique take on K-pop has made him multi-nationally famous. Honestly, Ame

It was a rainy summer break during Freshman year of college. I was still driving my '91 Toyota Corolla, and that was the summer that I binged the first three Copeland albums. It started with 2003's Beneath Medicine Tree, the indie/rock concept album about love and loss. About a month later I bought, 2005's In Motion , which was a little more musically diverse. The next year's Eat, Sleep, Repeat , was closer to musical theater than rock. Each Copeland album had its own unique mood. Today's song, " Coffee ," comes from BMT, which is the most immature of the Copeland albums. Lyricist and singer Aaron Marsh was fine-tuning his craft at writing sappy love songs, and this album's lyrics tended to be a little too over the top. The song " Coffee " appears as track 9, with a story as cliche as they get--two small town kids falling in love while talking all night at the diner. The brief brush drum solo toward the end sounds just like coffee shop musi

  Chasing Happiness   is a documentary telling the story of the ups and downs of the Jonas Brothers ' career. Even though I was not a fan of the Disney Channel stars, CH was a telling human story about faith, family, and fame. Debuting in 2006, Kevin, Joe , and Nick took tween girl's hearts by storm. I was, however, within almost the right demographic to completely ignore the band's existence. While I was off at college listening to MGMT and Fleet Foxes , the Jonas Brothers meant a whole lot to the younger millennials. I say almost the perfect demographic because the band gave a lot of press to their Christian upbringing. Some of the Christian publications I read praised the young men as they wore their purity rings and kept a squeaky clean image. But there was a lot more to that story. IF YOU TOLD ME THAT MY FATE WAS ON YOUR FINGERTIPS, THEN, I WOULDN'T BELIEVE YOU.  Last week Nick Jonas hosted and performed two songs on Saturday Night Live . After being introduced b

Before their hiatus in 2014, Anberlin had two summer acoustic tours. From the first tour, this live version was recorded in Brooklyn. Stephen Christian 's live vocals have not always been on-point; however, slowing songs down didn't defeat the intensity of Anberlin, instead, the songs focus on ambiance and Stephen's vocals. This song, which got some time in the band's setlist when Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place was released never got the love the band expected. I remember hearing an interview with Stephen in which he said he thought that this song would put them on the map.   My criticism of that was the lyrics of this song were not clear. Who or what is it about? Anberlin from Never Take Friendship Personal to New Surrender lyrically may have been cryptic, however, listeners could figure it out. Criticism aside, listeners can get lost in Stephen's vocals in this concert and this track starts us out right. Stephen doesn’t shy away from the raspy, and he uses

I referenced this song last week when I talked about how the songs on this album  illustrate complicated emotions that many songwriters can't describe. "Rose- Colored Boy"  epitomizes the times that you want to be alone, you want to let the emotion out, but some obligation is in the way and you have to keep it together. What's worse is a person close to you is trying everything to get you to keep it together just a little longer. However, humans have to process the dark and ugly at some point. And it never falls on someone else's schedule. What you don't want to hear in those moments is an optimist's cliche. You don't feel like laughing. You don't feel like smiling and nodding anymore. This person is close to you, and they need to see you at your worst. Well, watch out Rosie! I JUST KILLED OFF WHAT'S LEFT OF THE OPTIMIST IN ME. Take a moment to read the poem by Ogden Nash, " The Outcome of Mr. MacLeod's Optimism ," and you'll

Green Day is one of the most influential bands to the bands that I like. Most influential music stays in the past; however, with their release of American Idiot, a concept album or punk rock opera about a teenager dealing with American life, Green Day saw new heights in their career. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was the band's biggest hit, and this album transformed the punk rock trio into something more versatile than the same three chords indicative of the genre. American Idiot  was the quintessential album to have in your collection when I was in high school, and " Boulevard " was one of the coolest pop song on the radio. So sticking with the theme of emotional turbulence, I nominate this song for the day as it unleashes my high school memories. DON'T KNOW WHERE IT GOES. If The Beatles are the first day of school of rock music, Green Day is rock's retirement party. Seriously, if you check out YouTube nostalgia lists of top songs of the year, "Bou