Tears Of Joy In This Valentine’s Day Music

by Kevin Burton    I have made the case for “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney as the greatest love song ever written.    But it’s Valentine’s week and nobody’s going to buy that claim just now. Feb. 14 calls for something with a different feel.    So I phoned a friend, so to speak. …

Billy Joel To Release New Song Thursday

by Kevin Burton    Is it just that easy, like flipping a switch?    Guess we’ll find out Thursday, when Columbia Records drops the first new Billy Joel single in 17 years, a song called “Turn The Lights Back On.”    “In a press release from his label, Columbia Records, the song is said to …

Steely Dan To Songwriters’ Hall of Fame

by Kevin Burton    Steely Dan and four others will be inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame this year, according to multiple reports.    R.E.M. and three non-performing songwriters, Hillary Lindsey, Timothy Moseley (Timberland) and Dean Pritchard will also be inducted.    I don’t know if the Songwriters’ hall has toxic politics the way …

Elvis Presley: The King Of What?

by Kevin Burton    Yesterday was Elvis’s birthday. He was born Jan. 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi.  And the fact that I used only his first name and you know exactly who I am talking about is one measure of his exalted place in American culture.    But how good was he as a musician, …

What Is The Meaning Of Nyro’s “Stoney End”?

by Kevin Burton    One of the greatest vocal performances in my time as a consumer of pop music is on a song that leaves me deeply conflicted; Stoney End by Barbara Streisand.    The song grabbed me on some level immediately upon its 1971 release, even before I had the life experience to understand …

Origins Of Six Classic Christmas Songs

by interestingfacts.com    The ubiquity of holiday songs on television, radio, and social media from Thanksgiving through Christmas ensures that we’ll be able to sing these anthems in our sleep.    But lesser known are the backstories behind these famous tunes, which share common themes but draw from vastly different sources. From centuries-old standards to …

Forgotten Words Inhabit Christmas Songs

by Kevin Burton    Christmas brings with it a combination of the most modern of gifts under the tree and the most old-timey of words used to sing about it.    Merriam-Webster dictionary has compiled a list of words we seldom encounter outside of Christmas songs. We bring you more of those today, and we …

Archaic Words From Christmas Songs

by Kevin Burton    Uh-oh, I think I may be archaic.    Our friends at Merriam-Webster dictionary served up a timely platter of cookies this week, a list of “archaic” words we know from Christmas songs.  Well I just used one of these words last week on Page 7!    In order to keep this …

Last Of The Original Temptations Looks Back

by Nick Krewen Special to the Toronto Star    Sixty-three years on, Otis Williams is still at the helm of one of the greatest Motown acts of all-time, the Temptations.    Not only does the tenor and baritone vocalist continue to tour with the group into its seventh decade as its only original member, but …

Dictionary Words Are Funky, Stylish And Cool

by Kevin Burton    If the 60s were groovy, the 70s were nothing if not funky.    The funk was everywhere then, beginning with music, first seeping then flowing into just about everything else. The funk was the soup we swam in.    But I was a little surprised to see funky show up on …