Today’s playlist for DJ Friday is here – http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Relay/84767679. The first 5 songs are the official songs for this week; the last 3 are bonus for your enjoyment. Two themes for this week:

• Musicianship
• Grit and perseverance (listen to the lyrics!)

Here’s the line-up:

• If I Should Fall From Grace with God, The Pogues. Listen for the banjo at 1:15. Tasty. Banjo, and specifically the 4 string tenor, is an import to Irish music from the United States (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music_of_Ireland#Banjo)
• Don’t Stop Believin’, Journey. Brilliant. Why? Because the title lyric doesn’t get sung until the very end of the song. Such genius.
• Runnin’ with the Night, Robert Earl Keen. Country music uses lots of Fender Telecasters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Telecaster). There is a a pattern the lead player uses which is very elegant where s/he hits single note whole notes on the lower strings — listen for it at about 1:10 where the singer sings “Never been no day time guy”. When the singer sings “… Flash of chrome” the guitar player then moves to a great set of chords before a short lead line of double stops (1:23 to 1:26), which is a fancy way of saying a lead line with two notes being played at the same time (the most famous example probably being George Harrison on “And your bird can sing”); Another interesting thing about this songs is that the singer is a bit off-key (flat specifically, listen at 1:32 and 1:36 for example) for much of the song, but “it works” somehow given the lyrics and sense of imperfection
• Loving Cup, Rolling Stones. Check out the great piano by Nicky Hopkins; check out too the brass section playing along with guitar riff. Our COO Tim was right that the a Rolling Stones song was the best song ever, but this is the song that actually deserves that accolade. (Perseverance here is Mick’s dogged pursuit of a lover).
• This%20Is%20Us%20by%20Mark%20Knopfler%20&%20Emmylou%20Harris%20on%20Grooveshark</object>” target=”_blank”>This Is Us, Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris. Listen to the call and response vocals — for example Emmylou, in her breathy, plaintive voice, “And our baby boy.. ” responded by Knopfler’s confident, half-talking, matter-of-fact “with our pride and joy”. Notice how in the next stanza they double the length of the call and response respectively (2:25 to 2:35) and then they finish with a tasty harmony.

BONUS SONGS

• Na Mo`olelo Kahiko (Keiki O Ka `Aina La – “Children of the Land/Islands”), Robi Kahakalau. Just a great celebration of children… in Hawaiian.
• Squeeze, Robert Randolph & The Family Band. Great pedal steel guitar throughout. Do hear the Hawaii influence? The pedal steel was developed in Hawaii then came to the mainland where it became popular in country music. Also listen to the great slap bass technique as well as the great slide guitar throughout. Listen too for how the organ coming it at 1:21 establishes the harmonic peak that had been getting implied up that point, resolving the tension (e.g., slide guitar solo 1:12 to 1:15) created earlier. The organ has a great solo starting at 3:47 after which it provides more harmonic power by just holding on the chords from 4:17 on, which in turn provides more support to the appregio type lines the lead guitar player does at 4:31 on
• The Gambler, Kenny Rodgers. Check out the key change at 1:37/8 which creates an emotional feeling of uplift — a common technique. Listen to how the drummer sets it up on the toms from 1:35 to 1:37. Also listen to very deep bass harmony being sung towards very end of the song. Kenny does not always have the strongest voice, and this bass helps support him.