Friday, September 13, 2013

Songs By Artists With American Cities In Their Names

I hope you've noticed that my last couple of music posts did not involve "Opposites." I'm trying (not too successfully) to break that nasty habit, but I won't make any promises. Here's another non-"Opposites" post, consisting of songs by singers or bands with American cities in their names. I may do a Vol. 2 of this at some point, highlighting artists with international cities in their names. But again, I won't make any promises. Enjoy!  ~  JH




1)  New York Dolls  ~  "Personality Crisis"



2)  L.A. Guns  ~  "The Ballad Of Jayne"



3)  Chicago  ~  "Hard To Say I'm Sorry"



4)  Whitney Houston  ~  "I Will Always Love You"



5)  Philadelphia Grand Jury  ~  "The Good News"



6)  Dallas Smith  ~  "What Kinda Love"



7)  Julie Anne San Jose  ~  "I'll Be There"



8)  Austin Mahone  ~  "What About Love"



9)  Good Charlotte  ~  "I Just Wanna Live"



10)  Detroit Grand Pubahs  ~  "Autotragik"



11)  Boston  ~  "More Than A Feeling"



12)  John Denver  ~  "Annie's Song"



13)  Washington  ~  "The Hardest Part"



14)  What Made Milwaukee Famous  ~  "Selling Yourself Short"



15)  Claudia Albuquerque  ~  "You"



16)  Fresno  ~  "Uma Música"



17)  Sacramento  ~  "Everything To Waste"



18)  Atlanta Rhythm Section  ~  "Spooky"



19)  Raleigh Ritchie  ~  "Stay Inside"



20)  Miami Sound Machine  ~  "Conga"

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Songs About Princes, Princesses, Kings, & Queens

This is another one of those I-heard-a-song-on-the-radio-that-I-really-liked-and-wanted-to-find-a-way-to-fit-it-into-a-music-post kind of posts. It turned out to be a good idea, as I was able to find a good number of songs about not only princes (the first song in this list inspired the post), but princesses, kings, and queens as well. One of these was actually the theme song of a TV show, and two of them are from Disney animated movies. The rest are from...wherever. Enjoy?  ~  JH



1)  Spin Doctors  ~  "Two Princes"



2)  Queen  ~  "Princes Of The Universe"  (If I were including artists with "royalty" names, this would be a two-for-one!)



3)  DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince  ~  "Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air"



4)  Aladdin Cast  ~  "Prince Ali"



5)  Adriana Caselotti (as Snow White)  ~  "Someday My Prince Will Come"

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6)  Amy MacDonald  ~  "Poison Prince"



7)  Coldplay ft. Rihanna  ~  "Princess Of China"



8)  Megan And Liz  ~  "Princess Charming"



9)  Something Corporate  ~  "Punk Rock Princess"



10)  RUN-DMC  ~  "King Of Rock"



11)  Matisyahu  ~  "King Without A Crown"



12)  Sade  ~  "King Of Sorrow"



13)  Letta  ~  "King Of Wishful Thinking"



14)  Sara Bareilles  ~  "King Of Anything"



15)  Steve Martin  ~  "King Tut"  (LOL!)



16)  Westlife  ~  "Queen Of My Heart"



17)  ABBA  ~  "Dancing Queen"



18)  April Wine  ~  "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen"



19)  John Mayer  ~  "Queen Of California"



20)  Billy Ocean  ~  "Caribbean Queen"

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Songs By People Named Sven And Svetlana

There's actually an interesting story behind this seemingly random post. Many years ago, when I was toiling away in an occasionally interesting but often mind-numbing retail job, a friend and I used to – mostly out of boredom, but also out of mischief – print fake names for ourselves and affix them to our name badges. Why our employer was dumb enough – and I'm not naming the employer on purpose here – to allow us all access to the label-printing machine is beyond me, and is quite beside the point. One of my personal favorites that I wore proudly – until a manager noticed it and asked me to change it – was "Corporate Slave." When my friend and I would wear work the same shift, we'd often masquerade as "Sven" (me) and "Svetlana" (she), strictly to be ridiculous. I thought about this past ludicrousness for the first time in a long time recently and decided to do a non-"Opposites" music post (you're welcome) with songs by people who are actually named Sven and Svetlana. Not surprisingly, I was only able to find ten songs, but here they are nonetheless. And boy, are they random!!! Enjoy?  ~  JH



1)  Sven-Holger Rosenvinge  ~  "Bluebird"  (This is actually a really good song. I listened to it a second time, not because I had to but because I wanted to.)




2)  Svetlana Loboda ft. Max Barskih  ~  "Heart Beats"  (Human beings scampering about like rabbits makes for a very interesting video. The song's alright too, I suppose.)


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3)  Sven Dorau  ~  "Sundays"  (This was not what I expected. It's calming yet catchy, and really quite pleasant.)




4)  Svetlana "Ceca" Raznatovic  ~  "Da Raskinem Sa Njom"  (I looked it up and this title [in Serbian] translates into "Let Me Break Up With Her," but based on the video it's apparently not a girl-girl relationship that's referred to here.)




5)  Sven Kacirek  ~  "Turned Into What You Listen To"  (Don't hold your breath waiting for the singing to start – this is an instrumental. But it's a well-played one. I don't have a clue why that guy in the video is walking around in a ghillie suit. He doesn't appear to be hunting anything – or anyone.)




6)  Svetlana Horn  ~  "Heavenly Horn"  (Ironically, no horns were involved in the making of this video. A violin and a dancer, however, were heavily involved.)




7)  Sven Curth  ~  "Jesus Loves Tractors"  (Ohh...kayyyy...)




8)  Svetlana Agarval  ~  "Rim Jhim, Rim Jhim"  (I have no idea what this song's about, since it isn't in English – but Svetlana croons it capably enough for a quick listen.)




9)  Sven Zetterberg  ~  "I'll Take Care Of You"  (I had no idea Swedish guys could sing and play the blues as well as this guy does. You learn something new everyday, I suppose.)


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10)  Svetlana Ivanchenko  ~  "I Like This Rhythm"  (She also likes this accordion, judging by the adoring look on her face throughout this song. It's kinda creepy, really.)


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

"Crazy" Songs

They say to write what you know. Well, I might not have written the songs in this collection, but I can certainly identify with the sentiments expressed here. Let's get crazy!  ~  JH



1)  Gnarls Barkley  ~  "Crazy"



2)  Hunter Hayes  ~  "I Want Crazy"



3)  Aerosmith  ~  "Crazy"



4)  Britney Spears  ~  "(You Drive Me) Crazy"



5)  Fine Young Cannibals  ~  "She Drives Me Crazy"



6)  Seal  ~  "Crazy"



7)  Javier Colón  ~  "Crazy"



8)  Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z  ~  "Crazy In Love"



9)  Eli Young Band  ~  "Crazy Girl"



10)  Ray Charles & Van Morrison  ~  "Crazy Love"



11)  Patsy Cline  ~  "Crazy"




12)  Lee Brice  ~  "Love Like Crazy"



13)  U2  ~  "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight"



14)  Us The Duo  ~  "Missin' You Like Crazy"



15)  The Judds  ~  "Mama, He's Crazy"




16)  Madonna  ~  "Crazy For You"



17)  Chris Rice  ~  "Love Like Crazy"



18)  Heart  ~  "Crazy On You"



19)  Jars Of Clay  ~  "Crazy Times"



20)  Waylon Jennings  ~  "I've Always Been Crazy"

Monday, September 9, 2013

"Leave" & "Stay" Songs

A new "Opposites" music post to start your week! It was hard to limit these to just ten songs for each, but I managed somehow. Enjoy!  ~  JH


1)  JoJo  ~  "Leave (Get Out)"




2)  Rihanna  ~  "Stay"




3)  Regina Spektor  ~  "Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)"




4)  Sugarland  ~  "Stay"




5)  Michael Jackson  ~  "Leave Me Alone"




6)  blink-182  ~  "Stay Together For The Kids"




7)  Linkin Park  ~  "Leave Out All The Rest"




8)  Mariah Carey  ~  "I Stay In Love"




9)  O.M.D. (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark)  ~  "If You Leave"




10)  iCarly Cast ft. Miranda Cosgrove  ~  "Stay My Baby"




11)  Dido  ~  "Don't Leave Home"




12)  Al Green  ~  "Let's Stay Together"




13)  Kerli  ~  "Love Me Or Leave Me"




14)  Shakespears Sister  ~  "Stay"




15)  The Wreckers  ~  "Leave The Pieces"




16)  Mary J. Blige  ~  "Stay Down"




17)  David Lee Murphy  ~  "The Road You Leave Behind"




18)  Alice In Chains  ~  "I Stay Away"




19)  Chicago  ~  "If You Leave Me Now"




20)  Jewel  ~  "Stay Here Forever (Valentine's Day)"