Now Playing
Current DJ: Andy Vaso
Daft Punk Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger from Discovery (Virgin) Add to Collection
Requests? 773-DJ-SONGS or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
Dance crazes are a staple of pop culture, and back in 1962, “The Loco-motion” was a dance song that supposedly made listeners happy “even when you’re feeling blue.” Written by Gerry Coffin and Carole King for another singer in mind, Dee Dee Sharp, (whose signature song is the dance-fad song “Mashed Potato Time”) who rejected the song, thus allowing their sometime-babysitter, a 19 year old Eva Boyd, to record it. Boyd became Little Eva and “The Loco-Motion” was a big hit, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Little Eva was an overnight success whose popularity was short-lived. Her last hit single was in 1963 and by the end of the '60s, she stopped performing and moved to North Carolina with her children. She died in 2003 from cervical cancer.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
From the album So Excited! (1982, Planet Records)
One of the most popular songs of the 1980s, The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited” appeared in two different albums, So Excited! (1982) and Break Out (1984). In 1982, the song peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100; two years later, it was remixed and re-entered the chart, peaking at #9.
The song became a mainstay in pop culture after its two trips to the Hot 100, appearing in numerous movies from Working Girl (1988) to The Nutty Professor (1996). In a very special episode of “Saved By The Bell”, Jessie Spano sings “I’m So Excited” (just the song title on repeat) when she is having a nervous breakdown caused by too many caffeine pills. “I’m So Excited” is also the title of a Pedro Almodovar comedy released in 2013 that takes place entirely on an airplane.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
For this entry, we take a look at “Back On The Chain Gang”, a song about loss originally written and recorded by one-half of the original Pretenders, and a slightly sunnier Spanish-language cover performed by Selena over a decade later.
It was a tough time for the Pretenders when they stepped into the studio to record “Back On The Chain Gang” in July 1982. Only half the band was around; singer/songwriter Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers. The previous month, they kicked out bassist Pete Farndon due to his drug issues and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of a drug overdose only a few days later. (Farndon would die of a heroin overdose the following year.)
Hynde was feeling the pressure from the music industry as her profile rose higher. “I found a picture of you, o-o-oh, o-o-oh/Well it hijacked my world at night” references her estranged partner, The Kinks’ Ray Davies, as she was pregnant with their daughter at the time of recording. Hynde would dedicate “Back On The Chain Gang” to Honeyman-Scott and would become one of their signature songs, never losing its emotional punch.
by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
(Original 1986 version)
(bootleg remix)
By 1986, singer Candi Staton, a working musician since the mid-1950s, was a born-again Christian whose heyday seemed to be behind her (The 1976 single “Young Hearts Run Free” is her most successful song in the U.S). She had left Disco and R&B to record and perform gospel. However, she was approached to record this song for a video about weight loss.
written by Eddie Sayago
There is a chance that you have come across a song (or two, or so many more) that you enjoy and did not realize that it's either been covered by someone else or is a cover itself. We hope that this series allows you to appreciate both the original and the covers they have inspired, and to seek out and enjoy new music in the process.
"You are encouraged to look up the original versions if you're never heard them. They blew my mind." - Ezra Furman, on the joy of song covers
Last year, Ezra Furman released an exclusive EP, Songs by Others, that had seven different takes on seven songs from different parts of rock 'n' roll. While any of the songs could have been featured here, one cover stands out in particular, especially since this time 10 years ago, many of us were eagerly anticipating the new album from the original creators of "I Can Change."
Exactly a decade ago, James Murphy and Co. released what was then their final album, This Is Happening, an album that would become one of the best of the year, if not the 2010s. Literally the center (track 5 of 9) of a record filled with Murphy's emotions no amount of synthesizers can hide, both vocals and synths blend together instead of competing with one another for the ears of the listener. "I Can Change" is the perfect song for a soundtrack to 2010, a year that feels and looks like it took place a lot longer than 10 years ago.