January 29, 2015

What Is That Song?

As most of you probably know, having read this blog (and my other) throughout the years, I listen to a lot of college radio. For me, college radio is the closest thing to satellite radio (yeah, I am cheap with certain things), which in turn allows me expand my musical horizons (i.e. jazz, techno, salsa, euro, true r&b) to infinity and beyond.

Now, believe it or not, college radio does have a basic rule that it follows, more often than commercial radio: they will tell you what they played. Usually it goes something like this: they'll play a bloc of music, anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes in length, and when it finishes, they'll come back on air and will tell you what it was that you heard. There is one jock in particular who will not only tell you what you heard, but will post it on Facebook as well.

All but one station I listen to follows that basic rule. No matter what the show, they'll come on afterwards and clue you in. However, there is one station that I listen to that often drives me batty, because more often than not, the jock will not tell you what it was that they'd played. Quite often I'll hear a song that I actually like, and I'll become frustrated because they won't say who sung it or what the title was.

I would like to share with everyone a short sampling of songs that I first heard on that particular radio station (WFCS, 107.7 CCSU, New Britain CT), along with one that I heard on both college and commercial radio.

1}


Yes, this particular song, which is featured in previous post about provocative songs, was one of the early ones that I first heard on that station, then went slug nutty for a few months trying to figure who it was that sang it, and afterwards, trying to buy it (I got this particular c.d.). On the plus side, while I was trying to find this song, I read up on the D.K.'s and even bought an e.p of theirs as well.

2}

This is one of two songs featured that today that drove me batty via commercial radio. I first heard this on what used to be a good alt rock station, but they would never say the name of the band or the song. It was a couple of month before I was able to find out the name of the band and the song. I eventually bought the c.d. and left a review on Amazon for it.

3}


This is the other one that drove me batty, both commercial and college, for the better part of three years. On both commercial and college, they would play the song as a bridge to either other songs (on commercial) or different genres (college). All I can say is thank you YouTube for helping find this song. If you know just a snippet, it will bring up songs that meet that snippet.

4}


For those who know me well, know I am no fan of techno music. To me, I associate techno with clubbing/raves and thus no real value to the listener above the age of 30. Having said that, this particular song was used as bridge as well, mostly from one genre (i.e. love ballads) to another (i.e. hardcore rap). This one also drove me batty for a good chunk of last year and all of this year, because they would never give the title of the song. I plan on buying this c.d. in the near future.

5}


This one I threw in 'cause I love Christopher Walken.

(c) 2015 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved.

18 comments:

  1. I like it when they tell you. Satellite radio has an "info" button and you can push it during a song and it will tell you the artist and song title

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  2. That last one is a funny video.
    Had XM for a while. It was nice to always see the name of the song and band. Pandora tells you as well. But it's frustrating to hear something you really dig and when it's over, you're forced to memorize a line or two in hopes you can locate it online somewhere.

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    1. It's definitely frustrating. There are some very cool bluegrass covers & originals that I've heard over the years that have absolutely driven me nuts in trying to remember/find either on YouTube or elsewhere.

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  3. Who DOESN'T love Christopher Walken? More cowbell!

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  4. That is a good one with Christopher Walken.

    I've had the same experience with a song. I eventually do find it. One of these days I'll tell you the tale of Little Lion Man and what I went through to find the artist and title, lol! Let's just say it involved numerous phone calls and singing the refrain...

    I do like XM radio because they do give you the title and artist. I have it on my computer as well as in my car.

    Sia McKye Over Coffee

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    1. My dad went through that once to get a song called "I'm Not Lisa". He called the radio station a few times to find out who performed and eventually went out and bought it.

      Always loved Christopher Walken because he was so willing to try anything once, no matter how corny or far out it would be.

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  5. Thanks for sharing that video of CW. I could watch it over and over. Was that just a music video or was it from a movie of his?

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    1. You're more than welcome.

      Nope, it was a music video by the rap group Fatboy Slim.

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  6. My first 1.5 years of college were spent at a community college, where I worked as a DJ in the early mornings. I loved the freedom they gave us to play whatever we wanted--but before I transferred to a state univ., they started working out "rotations" like they did back then at regular stations. The "carts" were color-coded and we had to play songs with a certain color in the morning. I loved the idea that satellite radio lets them play whatever they want as long as it fits the station's format.

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    1. I do know that a few college stations will do that, simply because they're in a large market where they have to stay competitive in order to stay on air.

      One of the stations I listen to have semi-permanent blocks of genres, in that you're allowed to play certain kinds of music at a given hour. Which in this case is anything non-rock/non-jazz before 9a; jazz rom 9a-12p; non-jazz from 1p-4p; classical from 4p-7ish, then anything goes after 7p.

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  7. Christopher Walken is a great talent--one of my favorite actors. I used to listen to a lot of college radio--not so much these days. There have been some songs that have bugged me for decades before finding out what they were. The internet is fantastic for rooting up obscure brain stuff. I've found so much through Google with just snippets or descriptions.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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    1. I can definitely feel your pain about songs that have bugged you for decades. There are few one and done rock songs that still drive me buggy, so when I find the time, I'll have to use YouTube to find them again.

      I did find one by accident, when I researching this post, a song called "How Bizarre" popped up on my suggested viewing list. That was one that drove me buggy for years, because I would catch myself singing the those two words from time to time.

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  8. The only people I knew who were into techno were also into drugs. I think you had to take them to enjoy the techno.

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    1. That was probably true back then, but that music (much like other types) has evolved and matured over the years, so some of it is actually pleasant to listen to.

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  9. I'll have take your word for it as I've never belonged to a chat group, and never posted to Facebook. My problems with Facebook start with the fact that I don't like the looks of it. Blogger seems to give a person more control over appearance.

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    1. I can sympathize with that opinion. Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr (to a certain degree) do give you the freedom to personalize your viewable content a lot more that FB will ever do.

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