August 3, 2023 (Song #2042):  “People’s Parties/Same Situation” by Joni Mitchell from Court and Spark. LYRICS & SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC 

Sometime in the spring of 1984, a double-sided cassette tape with both “Ladies of The Canyon” and “Court and Spark” made its way from a sidewalk record seller into my AIWA walkman.  The first time I listened to these two Joni Mitchell albums, I lay on my bed for two hours and didn’t move. Just like everyone else, I’d heard “Help Me” and “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Circle Game” and “Both Sides Now” and “Chelsea Morning”, but these records were something else altogether.  I can’t explain why, except that the songs seemed to be other-worldly.  Almost 40 years later, I still consider Joni’s voice and songwriting to be the pinnacle of the art.  

Last year, I was one of the lucky ones who saw Joni Mitchell sing at the Newport Folk Festival with the amazing Brandi Carlile.  I love Brandi and her shows at Newport are always fabulous, so I’d pushed my way to the front of the standing crowd and stood a few feet from the stage to watch her perform; when Brandi announced that Joni was joining her, I finally understood the crying, screaming, fainting teenagers in the black & white news footage from 1964 when the Beatles came to America.  That was us!  Everywhere I looked there were people sobbing, including me.

So now, a year later, it’s my 60th birthday and I’m ready to make a change.  Some of you probably knew this was coming: I am giving myself the gift of time and new interests. Therefore, today’s SOTD post will be the final “Song of the Day” for a while. I may strike it back up again, I may not. 

“What are you going to do with your time, Suzanne??,” you ask? Well, first, I’ll spend less time on this computer and more time with Peter and our kids.  I’d like to walk more, bike more, do more yoga, visit more with my parents, siblings and friends, finish some of the books that are in piles next to my bed, get through a New Yorker or two, be a better, well-rested teacher once the school  year starts, maybe sell one of my songs to a movie, maybe write a movie, maybe take up cooking or sewing and, of course, make more music.  Yes, I’ll definitely continue to sing every day and hope you do, too.  The website will still be here with lots of links to lots of songs and, who knows?, maybe I will post again occasionally.  

Thank you ALL so much for your support during the past 5 ½ years.  It’s been a pleasure. Sing Daily & Stay Healthy! Xoxo

August 2, 2023 (Song #2041): T-1*: 

While combing through my list of the 600+ songs I’ve never posted,  I was confused when I realized that during the 5 ½ years and 2041 songs I’ve posted as a Song Of The Day, I never shared this song:  “Helplessly Hoping” written by Stephen Stills and performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash.

How is it possible that a song that’s brought me so much joy has been neglected? 

The answer can only be that the world is full of so much “good” music that it’s impossible to capture all of it in a finite amount of time. 

A similar, related answer is that I find most music in this world “good”, so the possibilities for connection are endless.

If you know me, you know that I feel that way about people, too.

So, there I am in a nutshell, on the day before my 60th birthday and the beginning of my seventh decade on this planet: I am a sponge for all things beautiful, fun, poignant, and relevant – which includes you.

Thank you for joining me on this “Sing Daily!” journey.

LYRICS & SONGFACTS GUITAR CHORDS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY

This song, along with “Closer To Fine” by the Indigo Girls (SOTD #12): “By My Side” (no lyric video) from Godspell (also never posted) and “You Can Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor (SOTD #108) are four of my favorite songs to sing with friends and family. If you see me on my birthday tomorrow, please sing along with me.

Happy Birthday to Kevin Cazzetta (hope you’re enjoying retirement!) and cousin Jeffrey Winston! 

July 28, 2023 (Song #2036): T-6*:  Celebrating the Eagles: “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Peaceful Easy Feelin’”, “Take It To The Limit” (featuring Randy Meisner, who died yesterday) and “The Last Resort”,

T-6 brings me to 2016, the year that Mannasses Ogutu graduated from Staples High School.  “Manny” came into our lives through Eric Seidman and the A Better Chance program. 

When I asked my kids to describe Eric they immediately said: he is kind, funny, a great conversationalist, knowledgeable on a million subjects, always interested in everyone around him & tall. 

I met Eric at Colgate my freshman year in 1981; from the moment we met, I thought of him as an older brother-from-another-mother because we share so much in common: a love of skiing (Eric spent a year skiing in Alta the year after I did), a love of music (we both sang in the Colgate a cappella groups), a love of people and, particularly, a love of Leslie Seidman (see SOTD from June 25th) (ok, we love her in different ways, but still).  Eric is also my personal memory bank: if I ever can’t remember anything that happened to me, I just ask Eric. 

Eric is the kind of guy who makes it hard to say no to him: he’s incredibly smart and charming and can basically persuade a person to do anything, which is how we fell under his spell as he told us about a program for which he was volunteering in Westport: A Better Chance.   We were completely blown away by the mission of this organization and then he said: “You guys need to be a Host Family” (ABC scholars live in a group home during the week and spend each Sunday and one weekend a month at their Host Families’ homes).  Wait-a-whoa… What? 

We were fascinated by the idea, though not actually ready to dive in until 2013; man, oh man, are we glad we did.   In the fall of 1993, Rose started her freshman year at the University of Maryland and Bennett was a junior at Staples; we went to the ABC house in Westport to meet Mannasses Young Ogutu and his father, Nahashon and cousin, Lydia (a few months later, we also met his mom Stephanie).  To say that it was “love at first sight” sounds crazy, I know, but it was.  The minute I hugged Mannasses I felt as if we were bonded for life.  Eric, of course, was right. 

Today’s SOTD is one of Manny’s favorites (along with apples and anime), which reminds me of another one of my favorites (“Peaceful Easy Feeling”), that I used to sing with my friends Kevin & Ed (see SOTD from June 20th), and, I may have gotten this memory wrong (Eric?), but I think one of Eric’s favorites is “The Last Resort”.   Enjoy, Big Er. xoxo

LYRICS  CHORDS  APPLE MUSIC  SPOTIFY

August 1, 2023 (Song #2040): T-2*:  Rabbit-Rabbit People.  “Wayland The Rabbit” by Seals & Crofts (no lyric video today, but you can click on CC below the video to read the lyrics.)

T-2 is a song that reaches way down into my core; it reminds me how grateful I am to have had a chance to learn how to deal with the good, the bad and the ugly in life. As Coach John Wooden said: “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”. And, since today is also the 1st of the month, it reminds me of my mom and her group of close girlfriends (“Camp Thunder Thighs”) who said “Rabbit Rabbit” on the first of every month for “good luck”.  Mom’s friendships with these people (and many others) taught me, among other things, what it means to be a good friend.  I am so grateful for the lessons and am even more grateful that what I learned from her is alive and well in my own children and their wonderful friendships.

LYRICS & CHORDS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY 

July 31, 2023 (Song #2039): T-3*:  Speaking of the Carpenters… “For All We Know”* sung by the Carpenters and written in 1970 by Fred Karlin, Robb Wilson (Robb Royer) and Arthur James (Jimmy Griffin). 

T-3 makes me realize how nuts it was to think that I could pick only 60 songs to celebrate my 60th birthday and that, of course, there are an infinite number of songs in the universe that can give me goosebumps (many of which I forget until I hear them again).  I am a little bit horrified to realize that I would have left the Carpenters out of my T-60 countdown altogether if their license plate at the Oakdale Theater hadn’t popped up in my memory while writing yesterday’s post.  Their records were on constant rotation in the Sherman living room at 10 Lone Pine Lane and I could’ve picked any one of their songs to highlight, but I chose this one because I love the instrumentation and the choral “la”s (and I haven’t featured it as a Sing Daily “Song of the Day” yet*).

In addition to all the songs and musicians I know I’ve left out, I am aware that there are also unborn and hidden songs that will give me brain joy once they enter my consciousness, which is why I love turning on the radio when I get in the car (I listen to WFUV 90.7 when I want something with lyrics and WSHU 90.1 when I’m in the mood for classical music).  I get a little thrill out of sensing my mood change as the first notes make their way out of the car stereo and into my brain.

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*Thanks to my Staples friend and fellow-Orphenian Robin Perry Rothman for requesting this song a few years ago; I was so happy to find it in my spreadsheet of 2500+ songs among the group of  650 songs that I haven’t posted yet. Thanks, Robin! Xo

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday to Alison Fisher and Amy Kateri Laurino who celebrated on Saturday. Xoxo

July 30, 2023 (Song #2038): T-4*:  “This Old Guitar” by John Denver. Tonight, at the end of the third day of our 9th Newport Folk Festival (which was amazing, again), I am celebrating live music.  

I remember, circa 1974, my parents telling me that they had a surprise for me.  We drove into New York City to Madison Square Garden and I distinctly remember walking in the cold cement bowels of the building, seeing cages with huge, gray elephants kicking around hay and looking very out-of-place. My only thought was “ew” and I started worrying that my parents’ “surprise” was a trip to the circus; I was not excited.

But then, suddenly, we were on the floor of Madison Square Garden and I remember noticing that people all around me were yelling the names of songs.  I was taught that you shouldn’t yell at performers – or anyone – in the middle of a concert, so I was confused.  But, then, I caught on and asked my parents if I could yell at John Denver, too. Sure, they said (of course) and helped me up on to my chair so I could yell “THIS OLD GUITAR!” at the top of my lungs over and over again, and, guess what, folks?!  HE PLAYED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Can you imagine my joy at discovering the power of just asking for what you want?!   

Our next concert was the Carpenters at Oakdale Theater and we got to see their car with the license plate: SING4U (I think?!)  I’m sure the concert was great, too (I mean, it was THE CARPENTERS!) but all I remember is their license plate.

Live music is an amazing experience, and one my friends and family and I try to enjoy as much as possible.  We go to the Newport Folk Festival and Tanglewood in the Berkshires every summer and try to see as many concerts during the fall, winter and spring as we can (one of our funniest memories is our kids when they were young yelling “MEXICO” at a James Taylor Concert along with a bunch of drunk 20-year old guys who were sitting nearby). Thanks, again, to my parents for lighting that flame. 

LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY

July 29, 2023 (Song #2037): T-5*:  “Goose Snow Cone” by Aimee Mann. T-5 brings me to 2018, a year in which I listened to Aimee Mann’s album Mental Illness on repeat. This is by far my favorite song on the album.

Sorry: there is no lyric video for this song and I wasn’t able to make one today because I spent all day at the Newport Folk Festival, my favorite musical event of the year, where Aimee Mann performed live; she did not disappoint (even though she didn’t sing this one).  LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY 

July 27, 2023 (Song #2035): T-7*:  “Give Yourself To Love” by Kate Wolf. I’ve sung this song in many friends’ weddings; it’s a beaut.  Thanks to my dear friend, Jo Werther, who introduced me to the songs of Kate Wolf (though, when I heard them, I recognized her “Across the Great Divide” because I’d heard Nanci Griffith sing it). LYRICS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY

Happy Birthday to my funny, cute, kind, smart and generous cousin Craig Sherman, Colgate friends Susie Kincaid and Jenny Banks Murray and thinking of my wonderful grandmother Rose Klayman who was born on this day in 1911.  

July 26, 2023 (T-8*): “Someone To Watch Over Me” performed by Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra from their 1983 album “What’s New?”. The song was written in 1926 by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, assisted by Howard Dietz.

This is a perfect song to celebrate today’s birthday girl Molly Barreca, friend extraordinaire, and my mother-in-law, Vera Propp, who was born on this day. Peter’s mom was an incredible woman and we are so grateful that she watched over us and we miss her every day.  Both Molly and Vera found great guys to watch over them; for this we are also incredibly grateful. xoxo  SONG HISTORY LYRICS & CHORDS APPLE MUSIC SPOTIFY

T-8 brings me to celebrate the gorgeous voice of Linda Ronstadt.  I still can not believe her talent and have always wished I could sing like her; I remember being slightly comforted when I found out that she was trained as an opera singer (I was not, so, therefore, I could never sound like her, right?).  Growing up, I memorized and sang along to every song from “Heart Like A Wheel”, “Prisoner In Disguise” and “Hasten Down The Wind”.  In 1982, when she released “Get Closer”, Ann Wriedt & I learned every word and went to see her album tour.  When Peter and I met, we realized we both loved singing and playing Lowell George’s “Willin'” though he learned it from Little Feat and I learned it from Linda.   Watch the documentary about her life and incredible voice: “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice”.

July 25, 2023 (Song #2033): T-9*:  “Corner of the Sky” (no lyric video, but click on this link to sing along) and the whole soundtrack from Pippin.

When we were young, our parents took us to see many, many Broadway shows and we listened to tons of Broadway Original Cast recordings.  My response every time was (1) awe and (2) complete memorization of every word to every song.

This album was one of my faves, along with Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, The Wiz, Chorus Line, Annie (natch), They’re Playing Our Song, The Fantasticks, and many many more, including “Sweeney Todd” of which my parents bought a small share for each of us (which we no longer benefit from but for many years it was super cool to get the checks from “The Barber Company”. Get it?).  What a thrill to attend opening night in 1979 at the Uris Theater with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury,  even though I didn’t come to appreciate Stephen Sondheim or Sweeney Todd until much later (at the time it Freaked. Me. Out.). I’m so grateful to have been given these amazing experiences; my parents’ generosity and kindness knows no bounds. Xoxo