music

“diamonds & rust” is a song written and performed by joan baez - it was released in 1975, but had been written the previous november.
in the song, baez recounts an out-of-the-blue phone call from an old lover, which sends her a decade back in time, to a “crummy” hotel in greenwich village; she recalls giving him a pair of cuff-links, and summarizes that memories bring “diamonds and rust” (i.e. time leaves us with both happy and bad memories). [wikipedia]

the song, which was a top-40 hit for baez on the u.s. pop singles chart, is regarded by a number of critics, as well as by baez fans, as one of her best compositions. it served as the title song on baez’s gold-selling diamonds & rust album in 1975. read the rest of this entry »

this video clip is from blue man group’s complex live tour in 2003. vocals by annette strean of venus hum. the song is called “i feel love and the original artist is donna summer.

“apache” is an instrumental written by jerry lordan. it has been recorded by many people, but the first released version was recorded by british group the shadows in june 1960 and released the following month. the song topped the uk singles chart for five weeks. in march 2005, q magazine placed “apache” at number 96 in its list of the 100 greatest guitar tracks.

the original recording was by british guitarist bert weedon in early 1960. it remained unreleased for several months. in the mid-1960 the shadows were on tour with lordan as a supporting act. the band discovered “apache” when lordan played it on a ukelele. lordan figured the tune would fit the shadows; the band agreed. [wikipedia]

tommy seebach recorded a disco version that was successful in europe. it has a very cheesy video clip. see it for yourself and compare it with the original version by the shadows:

Isabelle Geffroy (born 1 May 1980 in Tours) is a French singer known by the nickname Zaz, mixing jazzy styles, French variety, soul and acoustic. She is famous for her hit “Je veux”, from her first album, Zaz, released on 10 May 2010. Her voice resembles Fréhel and Piaf. [wikipedia]

the following playlist includes: je veux, la fee, le long de la route, dans ma rue.