Looking For A Spark In A Springsteen Song

by Kevin Burton    My favorite Bruce Springsteen song was born of irritation and is marinated in frustration.    I seem to have slipped into it comfortably, as one might slip into a t-shirt and jeans.     Here is how the song came to be, according to SongFacts:    “Springsteen wrote it after his manager, …

Don’t Miss The Moments Life Brings You

by Kevin Burton    Somewhere between the art of science and the science of art, I dropped the ball and missed a moment.     The girls were up from Oklahoma between Christmas and New Years Eve. The girls are our now-ten-year-old granddaughter on my wife’s side and her five-year-old step sister by living arrangement, not …

Love Is Growing New And She’s Still The One

by Kevin Burton    Found a lyric last week that is so cool, I want to use it to tell my happy Valentine’s Day story.    This is what happens when my usual Tuneful Tuesday post coincides with Valentine’s Day.    The song “Still The One” went to number five for Orleans in 1976.  It’s …

Legendary Composer Bacharach Dead At 94

by Kevin Burton    You know Burt Bacharach, even when it’s not Burt Bacharach.    Bacharach died Wednesday at home in Los Angeles of natural causes, according to his publicist, Tina Brausam.    The Kansas City-born composer had an unmistakable sound, especially in his work with longtime writing partner, lyricist Hal David.    The New …

Another Set Of Musical Valentines

by Kevin Burton    Yesterday I plucked ten of my favorites from a Billboard list of the 40 biggest duets ever. Today I’ll list ten of my favorites that didn’t make their last.    Pulling from that list was easy. Now I’m picking from every other duet ever released. Chances are quite high that I …

(Mostly) Sweet Duets For Valentine’s Day

by Kevin Burton    Love is in the air, not to mention on all the store shelves. I’m sure you’ve noticed.    Gentlemen, you’re on this, right? One week from today, Valentine’s Day.    OK, to get you in the mood, we’ll have not one, but two posts this week dealing with duets. For Valentine’s …

Buddy Holly’s Visual And Musical Acuity

by Kevin Burton    I have never seen a picture of Buddy Holly without his thick glasses, but I never have pondered whether he was legally blind until now.    He probably was not, by the way, though he had poor vision. More about that in a bit.    This comes up today on the …

Raised On Radio: Gaga For That Sound

by Kevin Burton    Can’t remember how we got on the topic, but a co-worker was telling me last week how radio was the life blood of his youth.    Radio was the conveyor belt on which everybody travelled in my day, as in his (he is roughly ten years older than I am, if …

Raised On Radio: National Disc Jockey Day

by Kevin Burton    The other day I was researching music and stumbled upon the Raised On Radio podcast. I thought, yeah, wish I had thought of that.    That’s me. I was raised on radio.    When I got back online to find it again, I found something entirely different called Raised On The …

Consider The Source Of The Promise

by Kevin Burton    This is the story of two songs, one title; two sources, one promise, namely, “the best.”    And, within the setting of popular music, it’s also a mini grammar lesson about comparative and superlative adjectives.    Chances are you have heard the one song, but not the other. The title of …