Strong Songs
Music: it's good. On each episode of Strong Songs, host Kirk Hamilton takes listeners inside a piece of music, breaking it down and figuring out what makes it work.
Episodes
In 1981, Sting brought a demo of a song he'd been working on down to AIR Studios in Montserrat to see what his bandmates thought of it... and they wound up keeping the demo and just recording their parts on top. The result was "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," an unusual Police song, but an enduring hit.
On this episode, Kirk goes deep on every aspect of Sting's exuberant yet frustrated love song, unearthing the magic that li...
The jazz standard "All The Things You Are" has been performed countless times by master jazz vocalists, 30s big bands, bebop small groups, hard-bop combos, modern deconstructionists, and even soon-to-be Kings of Pop. On this episode, Kirk takes listeners through the history of the now-famous tune, from its humble Broadway origins all the way to his recording studio in Portland, where he and some friends recorded an all-new arrangem...
Turn around... every now and then I get a little lonely and the snare is sounding small
Turn around... every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of sleigh bells
Turn around... every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the cannons will not fire
Turn around...
...every now and then Kirk decides to take on a classic 80s power ballad, and winds up learning a thing or two about when to use castanets and ...
How should you count The Police's "Bed's Too Big Without You?" Why do so many people revere Marty Friedman's solo on Megadeth's "Tornado of Souls"? What's going on with those pauses during the Bluey theme? And what the heck is that sound on Sly and the Family Stone's "Sex Machine"? Those questions and many more on the first mailbag episode of Season Seven.
Thanks to Nevada Jones (voice) and Scott Pemberton (guitar) for their expert...
Kirk pays a visit the musical world of The Muppets, from their Sesame Street origins in the 60s to the globe-hopping, cinematic heights of the 70s and 80s, with plenty of detours along the way.
FEATURING:
"Sesame Street Theme" by Joe Raposo, Jon Stone, and Bruce Hart
"Mah Na Mah Na" by Piero Umilliani from Sweden: Heaven and Hell
"Pinball Number Count" by Walt Kraemer and Ed Bogas, feat. The Pointer Sisters
"Rainbow Connection" by Paul ...
Kirk digs into one of the most dense and challenging records in his collection, with an analysis of "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" from The Mars Volta's 2003 progressive rock opus De-Loused in the Comatorium.
Written by: Omar Rodríguez-López, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and Jeremy Ward
Produced by: Omar Rodríguez-López & Rick Rubin
Album: De-Loused in the Comatorium, 2003
Listen/Buy via Album.Link
ALSO REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:
- Excerpts from ...
Kirk digs into Fiona Apple's breakneck 1999 single "Fast As You Can," a cornerstone in her late 90s collaborations with Jon Brion, as well as her work with drummer Matt Chamberlain.
Written by: Fiona Apple
Produced by: Jon Brion
Album: When The Pawn..., 1999
Listen/Buy via Album.Link
ALSO REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:
- Jon Brion in Performing Songwriter Magazine, 2000
- "Criminal" by Fiona Apple from Tidal, 1996
- "Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)...
Strong Songs Season Seven kicks off with two of the most famous songs ever recorded, from one of the biggest bands in the world. U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "With or Without You" make up two-thirds of the three-song "suite" of hit singles that kicked off their 1987 album The Joshua Tree. As it turns out, the two songs have a lot to say to one another! They also have a lot to say about how U2 wrote music, and about the...
Strong Songs Season Seven is now underway! You can listen to the season premiere right now on Patreon, or here in the main feed in two weeks, on March 7.
For those next two weeks, sign up to become a patron of the show and use the code "STRONG" and you'll get 80% off your first month. So basically, you can listen to the premiere right now for one dollar. Or just wait, that's fine too. The promo ends on March 7.
MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: ...
In between seasons, Kirk re-ran a bunch of old episodes and prefaced each one with a new music recommendation. He's taking those down recasts in preparation for season seven, but it seemed like a good idea to put all the music recommendations in one place. So that's what this episode is!
DISCUSSED AND RECOMMENDED:
- "The Meadow" by Nickel Creek from Celebrants, 2023
- "Chip Monkey" by Kick the Cat from Weirdo, 2002
- "Fade to Black" by H...
In light of Janis Stockhouse's unexpected death at the tail end of 2024, we're re-posting Kirk's 2019 interview with her for anyone who might want to listen to it.
Janis started teaching at North high school in Bloomington, Indiana, in the early 1980s. It was a time when "jazz education" as a concept was still a relatively new thing. She retired 38 years later, having grown the North band program into a well-known Midwest institutio...
Kirk talks with Wesley Morris and Josh Gwynn about the endless world of Stevie Wonder. Morris and Gwynn are host and producer, respectively, of the brilliant new six-part podcast series The Wonder of Stevie.
Check out Josh Gwynn's terrific pop culture podcast Back Issue, Wesley Morris's culture podcast Still Processing, and Morris' essential writing on Aretha Franklin, Jam & Lewis, Meshell Ndegeocello, and his mustache, as well as h...
A cross-post of the first episode of "The Wonder of Stevie," a new six-part podcast series from Higher Ground and Pineapple Street Studios. It's a great show - find it on Apple, Amazon, Spotify... it's a podcast, you know the deal.
Next week, we'll run a conversation between Kirk, host Wesley Morris, and producer Josh Gwynn all about what they learned making the show, and how they've come to think about Stevie and his music. In the ...
Back in August, Kirk went on Dave Hamilton's music podcast "Gig Gab" to talk about music, Strong Songs, podcasting, and life. It was a fun conversation, and seemed worth republishing here.
You can find the full show notes here, watch a video version here, and can check out Gig Gab at giggabpodcast.com or anywhere you get podcasts.
An update on what's next now that Season Six is complete, along with some book and music recommendations!
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia, 3rd edition - 1997, revised 2021
Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning by Gary Marcus, 2012
MUSIC RECOMMENDATION LINKS
In the season six finale, Kirk takes a deep dive into Bruce Springsteen's signature song, 1975's "Born to Run." It's all here: tremolo guitar riffs, glockenspiel arpeggios, endless sus chords, and a sax solo for the ages. Baby, we were born for it.
Written by: Bruce Springsteen
Produced by: Springsteen, John Landau, and Mike Appel
Album: Born to Run, 1975
Listen/Buy via Lynkify
ALSO REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:
- "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" and...
As Season Six draws to a close, Kirk opens up the Strong Songs mailbag to answer a bunch of listener questions on topics ranging from Diablo's use of lydian to what he means when he talks about "transcribing."
REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:
- "Tristram" by Matt Uelman from Diablo, 1997
- "Blast Inc. (feat. Jorgen Munkeby)" by Haunted Shores from Viscera, 2015
- "One Down, One Up" by John Coltrane from New Thing at Newport, 1965
- "Heart of Glass" by...
Stage left! It's time for Strong Songs to talk about XTC. Stage right! Now the song is picked, analysis can begin. Stand up! If we listen close, we'll hear some lovely notes...
On this episode, Kirk takes the stage alongside "Easter Theatre," the first single off of XTC's 1999 experimental symphono-pop album Apple Venus: Vol. 1. Bring on the bassoons and power up the mellotron; we've got some shapes to stack.
Written by: Andy Partrid...
Phish may be known for their 30-minute live jams, but turns out you can distill their best qualities into a song one-tenth that length. To that end, Kirk picks apart and reassembles their 1998 studio recording of "Limb By Limb" in all its polyrhythmic, guitarpeggiated glory.
Music by: Trey Anastasio, with Page McConnell, Mike Gordon & Jon Fishman
Lyrics by: Tom Marshall & Scott Herman
Album: The Story of the Ghost (1998)
You came, you saw, you voted, and you picked Blondie as Strong Songs' first listener-selected artist! After weighing a number of possible songs to focus on, Kirk decided to go with the 1978 hit that took them from the punk clubs of New York to dance floors around the world.
Wanna pick an artist for Season Seven? Go join the Patreon!
Written by: Deborah Harry and Chris Stein
Produced by: Mike Chapman
Album: Parallel Lines (1978)
Listen/B...
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