Our 'Wedding Song' Show

Our 'Wedding Song' Show
Left Click to Play or Right Click to Download and Save for Later


Well, the chances are very good that by the time you read this, Heidy and I will already be married. It’s kind of funny to us, thinking that many of our listeners didn’t even know that we were engaged, or even in love, but here it is – the big one. On April 29, 2006, at approximately 7:00 PM, Heidy and I are going to be married in front of 100 or so friends and family members, on a riverboat in New Orleans.
Our show rarely gets so distinctly personal (well, OK, we DID do that incredibly mushy Valentine’s Day show a few months ago…), but these are incredible circumstances for us, and what better way to wade through the gigantic trough of love songs than during a public forum? Unlike previous shows, I cannot yet predict what songs will be played. I can only promise that you are going to here a relentless barrage of love songs, some familiar and some obscure. Wish us luck, and we especially hope you enjoy this show. See you on the ‘other side’ of single life……

Here’s a long list of candidates that might get some airtime during this program – (note the strong presence of Al Green songs);
ALL MY EGGS IN ONE BASKET – L. ARMSTRONG/E. FITZGERALD
ALL THE RIGHT REASONS – THE JAYHAWKS
ALWAYS – AL GREEN
ALWAYS – CAETANO VELOSO
AS LONG AS I HAVE YOU – ELVIS PRESLEY
AS WE GO ALONG – THE MONKEES
AT LAST – ETTA JAMES
BABY I LOVE YOU – THE RONETTES
BE MY BABY – THE RONETTES
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE – RAY CHARLES
GOD ONLY KNOWS – THE BEACH BOYS
WOULDN’T IT BE NICE – THE BEACH BOYS
HEAVEN STOOD STILL – MINK DEVILLE
I’M GLAD YOU’RE MINE – AL GREEN
LET’S GET MARRIED – AL GREEN
LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE FOR ME – AL GREEN
NAKED AS WE CAME – IRON AND WINE
SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME – THE DRIFTERS
SHA LA LA (MAKE ME HAPPY) – AL GREEN
THE SHINING – BADLY DRAWN BOY
TILL THE RIVERS ALL RUN DRY – PETE TOWNSHEND/RONNIE LANE
TO LIVE IS TO FLY – TOWNES VAN ZANDT
WHAT ARE YOU DOING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE – FRANK SINATRA

Pure Pop for All People!!

January 1965
Left Click to Play! (or right click to download and save for later)

Pure Pop for All People – January 1965

It was great being a kid in 1965. At the time, I was only six years old, but the music still spoke to me, even at that tender age. It seemed as though popular music was custom-designed for a younger audience, and yet the songs were also good enough to appeal to adults. This show features songs that debuted on the charts in January and February of 1965, and each of them helps me to prove my point. Almost every song featured in this show has an element that could appeal directly to a little kid, and yet has enough sophistication to seduce an older audience, too. In short, it was a classic era for capital ‘P’ ‘Pop’ music. Here’s a list of songs that we address in this edition of ‘American Hit Radio”;

1) Downtown - Petula Clark
2) My Girl – The Temptations
3) Hold What You’ve Got – Joe Tex
4) Tell Her No – The Zombies
5) The “In” Crowd – Dobie Gray
6) Jolly Green Giant – The Kingsmen (as a ‘Great Miss’)
7) Give Him a Great Big Kiss – The Shangri-Las
8) Eight Days a Week – The Beatles
9) Ferry Cross the Mersey – Gerry and the Pacemakers

We also feature an album track from the Byrds’ Mr. Tambourine Man. Enjoy the show!

The Best (and Worst) of Early 1962

Early 1962
Left Click to Play the Show/Right Click to Download and Play Later


In 1962, rock and roll (I mean real rock ‘n roll, the Little Richard/Chuck Berry/Jerry Lee variety) was on hiatus. Payola had taken its toll on the genre, increasing an already acute prejudice by staining it with the aura of illegality, while personal circumstances did even more damage – Little Richard ‘retired’ to become a minister, Jerry Lee got caught up in a scandal after marrying his fourteen year-old cousin, Chuck Berry was arrested for violating the Mann act, and Buddy Holly was dead. It was a bleak time for rock and roll, but there was still plenty of great music on the pop charts. One fantastic side effect of the rock and roll phenomenon was the way that it exposed America to music that it otherwise might have never heard. Rock and roll definitely helped to expose country-western artists to the country, and it practically performed miracles in helping black artists cross over to the mainstream. So, while rock and roll took a vacation and waited for a certain from Liverpool to jumpstart things all over again, America’s pop charts exhibited a fabulous variety of sounds unlike anything seen before.
With this show, we hope to portray the wonderfully sophisticated variety of sounds that dominated the charts at the beginning of 1962. Here, then, is a list of songs that we intend to cover for this edition of American Hit radio;

1) Smoky Places – The Corsairs
2) Turn On Your Love Light – Bobby Bland
3) Twistin’ the Night Away – Sam Cooke
4) She’s Got You – Patsy Cline
5) Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream) – Roy Orbison
6) Rock-A-Hula Baby – Elvis Presley (as a ‘Great Miss’)
7) Twistin’ Postman – The Marvellettes (as a ‘Great Miss’)
8) You Better Move On – Arthur Alexander

We also feature timely album tracks from Ray Charles’ “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” and Frank Sinatra’s “Point of No Return”. Enjoy the show!