Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Its the day of my birth......



And i feel great. Blessed to be alive.
I have everything i could ever hope for. I have no regrets...
I am having cake and lunch for the office folks...you are invited....

Monday, June 16, 2008

In an Uzo State of Mind....

So i found a meme on Sha's blog and of course i jumped on it like a crack whore coming out of withdrawal....LOL...

The One Song

1. Name the one song that reminds you of your most current or recent relationship: Johnny Gill - My, My, My (he sang this to me one evening and it has sort of become our song)

2. Name the one song that was way overplayed and you hate: 9ice - Gongo Aso (oh kill me now)

3. Name the one song it seems everyone loves but you don’t: 9ice - Gongo Aso....i dont know but i absolutely detest this song..so overplayed that it stuck in my head many a day. So not a cool thing.

4. Name the one song you think everyone hates but you love:

5. Name the one song that is sung by someone you’d love to date: All that I Am - Joe. I have had a crush - no make that a secret love affair with Joe Thomas since the days of Round & Round...Love him

6. Name the one song this season that was sung best on American Idol: Didnt follow this season but Fantasia rocked something fierce...

7. Name the one song that you think is the best love song of the 00’s thus far: Oh..to hard to figure out right now but ...shucks i cant pick...

8. Name the one song that you think was the best 90’s song: Again, so so hard...but i will cheat and list more than one: Whitney Houston's I will always love you, MC Hammer - u cant touch this, Lisa Loeb - Stay...I could go on and on so i will just stop now...

9. Name the one song from a TV theme that you like the best: Woke Up this Morning by The Chosen One. This is the theme song for The Sopranos. Love, love this...

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Motown Series - 3


The Temptations - Just my imagination (running away with me)
No series about Motown would be complete without a few tracks from The Temptations.
This song was my introduction to The Temptations many many years ago and has remained one of my favourites from the group.

Released in 1971, this song was the 3rd of 4 songs to get to number 1 on the Billboard 100 list .
I intend to do a back story on the artists and acts of Motown because their stories are a big part of the legacy of the label. That should pop up once a week here but I mention this because this song has a back story. It is the last song by the group to include founding members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. Kendricks left to start a solo career and Williams had to retire for health reasons. (As a side note, did you know that Dennis Edwards of Don’t Look Any Further fame was one of the founding members of The Temptations?)
Like most Motown songs, the lyrics are simple but relatable. Its about a young man who is too shy to approach the woman he loves and spends his time fantasizing about having a relationship with her. It’s a bittersweet song because the young man realizes that his fantasies will remain just that – unlikely to come true. I know in the days of infatuation and crushes, I had a lot of fantasy relationships including one with Joe and Gary Dourdan. LOL
What is so interesting about this song as well is the fact that this young man is afraid to approach his dream woman because he was hurt pretty badly in the past and he doesn’t think he can handle another breakup. Again, I am sure we can all relate.
The usual suspects are behind this song, Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield and The Funk Brothers. Getting this song released was a war on its own. Psychedelic sound had been pushed on The Temptations by Whitfield since it was what was hot at the time. The group didn’t like this too much but the producers had all the power back then so all they could do was sing what they were ordered to. after one of psychedelic songs failed to be a hit, Whitfied went into the archives and dusted off this song which had been written and shelved over a year before.
Like all good songs, Just My Imagination has been covered by a few artists including The Rolling Stones (their version is interesting – more uptempo, lots of electic guitars), Bette Midler and Larry Carlton.