This is the pilot episode of Ramblin’ Tunes, a gig about songs in my library that refer to life outside our comfort zone, like working and living abroad or moving out to a new place with new people or an unfamiliar environment. It’s about songs with lyrics touching on different cultures and kinds of people, with highs and lows. Music about traveling, going places, work life balance and what keeps you going. You will hear a blend of pop, rock, disco, r&b, soul, blues, whatever nice popular track that relates to the theme.
| TITLE | ARTIST | TIMES |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Home Alabama | Lynyrd Skynyrd | Lynyrd Skynyrd a band from Jacksonville, Florida. From 1970 to 1972 they recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama and wrote this song about their impressions and as a tribute to the studio musicians, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Neil Young had implied in his songs, “Southern Man” and “Alabama”, that people in the American South were racist and stuck in the past. In response to those songs, Lynyrd Skynyrd sing about Southern pride and all the good things in Alabama. To know more about the legendary studios and artists you should watch the documentary Muscle Shoals (2013). |
| California Dreamin’ | The Mamas & The Papas | This song from the Mama’s and the Papa’s is about longing to be in another place. (Mama) Michelle Phillips was living with her husband (Papa) John Phillips in New York and she felt homesick. Michelle was from sunny California. |
| It Never Rains In Southern California | Albert Hammond | Albert Hammond wrote this song with Michael Hazlewood in London, before they came to Los Angeles. He had never been in California when he wrote this song. |
| Work Song | Nina Simone | Nina Simone, one of a kind, imprisoned for robbing a grocery and condemned to work in a chain gang. (At the same time, she likens the heavy labor of breaking rocks to slavery, through which the song becomes a cry for emancipation as well.) Her music was often censored and sometimes even prohibited in the Southern states (by the Jim Crow laws). |
| Giant | Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man | Rag’n’Bone Man feels like a giant. Now he has another success after his breakthrough single called “Human”. |
| Gypsy Woman | Crystal Waters | Crystal Waters is best known for this groundbreaking 1991 single “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”. She wrote down what she had witnessed in Washington, D.C. A woman who had lost her job dressed all in black wearing make-up, singing gospel songs in front of a hotel. Crystal, daughter of jazz musician Junior Waters, had studied business and computer science and was employed at that time. |
| When Am I Going to Make a Living | Sade | The story has it that Sade wrote the song on the back of a cleaning ticket after she picked her clothes up from the cleaners. She had no money and she wrote down, “When Am I Going to Make a Living.” |
| Busy Earnin’ | Jungle | Jungle, is a London based group founded by two friends and expanded to a seven piece band to turn the music from their laptops into a full and organic live experience. Busy Earnin’ is directed at individuals who spend their existence working for money and neglecting other aspects of their life. It’s about that fear of spending your life chasing a career you don’t really want. |
| Je veux | Zaz | ‘Je Veux’, ‘I want’ is the debut single of the talented singer ZAZ, born Isabelle Geffroy. Her fifth studio album is called ‘Isa’ by the way. Her mother was a Spanish teacher and ZAZ toured in the early years 2000 with a basque group Izar-Adatz (Basque for “Shooting Star”). |
| The Race | Yello | “The Race”, a song by Swiss band Yello, released in April 1988. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
