The Not-Pop Music Lensography

Music of the Month Lenses 

One per Year, On-Going

Music of the Month: 2008 Recommendations

Because I've been doing these monthly band selections for so long, having them all on one page got to be too long. I've got my 2007 Music of the Month choices listed separately and now I'm moving the recommendations from 2008 to their own home, as we...

Music of the Month: Not-Pop Recommendations

I've gathered here a collection of monthly music recommendations and a few bonus articles about music. Each month, I highlight a band or music resource that deserves more attention but have not made their major breakthrough. Because there have be...

Music of the Month: 2007 Recommendations

My main Music of the Month recommendation list was getting so long that the fabulous artists and music sources I recommended required scrolling through about five pages of newer suggestions. How could those bands and web sites get the attention they...

Lenses About Types of Songs or Sub-Genres 

Love Songs, Hip Hop, and Nonsense

Old-School Rap and Hip Hop

The Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Ice T and Ice Cube, Midnight Star and Doug E Fresh: if these names make you want to start breakin' and pop-lockin', you've come to the right place. Old-School rap and hip hop took elements from funk, disco, jazz, and blues,...

Women with the Blues Video Showcase

When listing the great blues musicians, the seminal artists of the genre, most often only men come to mind. Women, however, have been getting and singing the blues for just as long as their male counterparts have. Here you'll find videos of fantastic...

The Evolution of Ska Music

Ska music has developed from its Jamaican roots in the 1950s and 60s into a worldwide phenomenon that has come in waves of change, incorporating jazz, bop, rock and roll, and punk music as it grew. Here, I've gathered some of the biggest names from t...

Scat Singing and Nonsense Songs: Playing with Words

Folks have been doing the verbal two-step with scat singing for a hundred years. The creativity and virtuosity that scat allows a singer to display within the confines of any song make it a popular medium. And some of the most fun songs take scat to...

Top 10 Best Love Song Duets

Some of the most romantic songs recorded have been duets, chances for people who, romantically involved or not, enjoy performing together enough to create a love song that touches couples for decades to come. These songs create the perfect mood for w...

The Top 10 Creepiest Love Songs

Some of the most popular love songs, if spoken to a lover, would be creepy or downright declarations of stalking. Professing your undying love and devotion shouldn't make your beloved consider a restraining order. Singing a beautiful love song, on th...

Lenses About Musicians and Bands 

WookieFoot: Maximize Your Bliss with Beats

WookieFoot loves music and plays across half a dozen styles to create meaningful, dance-able tunes. Your mind will expand while your toes tap. Learn more about the music, the philosophy, and the charity work that this band lives every day. They're wh...

Kirsty MacColl: Humor, Tragedy, and Song

From her witty satires to her songs of longing, Kirsty MacColl was a consummate singer and songwriter.  Her voice, creativity, and sense of fun allowed her to cross genre lines and build a strong following.  Unfortunately, the careless pilo...

The Boston Pops Orchestra

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has been performing their Boston Pops series since 1900, although the lighter format dates back to 1885. Few other American institutions have lasted as long or been as widely-loved as the orchestra's annual concert tours...

Bo Diddley

From his first hit in 1955 to his last breath in 2008, Bo Diddley stood at the crossroads between the Chicago blues tradition and the future of rock and roll. His songs have been covered and imitated by musicians around the world. The Bo Diddley soun...

Taj Mahal: True Maestro

I must confess that I've only been a fan of Taj Mahal for fifteen years. Then again, I'm not forty, yet, so that's about half of my life. I clearly remember the first time I heard him, on a local college station, singing Big-Legged Mamas are Back in...

Ella Fitzgerald Video Showcase

Ella Fitzgerald was deservedly the most well-known and well-loved jazz singer of the twentieth century. Her career spanned decades and spawned a million imitators. Few could match the power and range of Fitzgerald's distinctive voice or the joyous pe...

Southern Culture On The Skids

If you've ever laughed at one of those lists of redneck, hillbilly, or trailer trash traits, Southern Culture on the Skids is right up your alley. Explore their raucous style and humor, from their 50s-inspired surf instrumentals to their biting redne...

Deborah Harry

Whether you're jamming to Deborah Harry's latest single or rocking to Blondie's classic punk hits, you have to admit that she can sure make music. While many people are familiar with only the big pop hits of the 80s that she made with Blondie, Debbie...

Shirley Bassey Video Showcase

Wales-born Shirley Bassey has been the singing heart of glitz and glam for fifty years. Her first hit, The Banana Boat Song (Day-O), came in 1957 and her powerful voice began appearing in James Bond films with the movie Goldfinger in 1964. Bassey's v...

Wynton Marsalis

Jazz trumpeter, composer, and even author Wynton Marsalis has been wowing audiences with his style and creativity since he began performing with the New Orleans Philharmonic at the tender age of 14. At the same time, he played trumpet in a funk band,...

Danny Elfman

For those who don't remember Dead Man's Party or Weird Science, Danny Elfman will be a surprise and a treat.  Not only did he head an iconic 80's New Wave group, Oingo Boingo, but he composes music for some of the best - and the strangest - that...

Music Lovers: David Dye, Dick Clark, and Me 

People Who Know but Don't Make Music

David Dye & World Cafe

David Dye has been serving up tasty new music at the World Cafe since 1991. New artists and bands with new albums swing by and chat, play their songs, and talk about their own favorite music. Between live segments, Mr. Dye offers treats from across a...

Places to Listen to Free Music On-Line

I'm a music blogger. I run the Not-Pop Jukebox, hence my name, and a monthly music recommendation page. While I do have a prodigious music library of my own, my blog would quickly stagnate without sources where I can listen to free music and sample t...

American Bandstand Video Showcase

Before there was Soul Train, before there was Solid Gold, before there was even MTV, American Bandstand introduced new pop music and new dances to people around the country and let real music fans rate new songs in front of millions. Dick Clark was t...

My Monkey-Brain Debate and TwttrStrm Lenses 

Tell me off or support my side, please.

Song Cover Versions Rock!

Song Cover Versions Rock! While there has been many a musical misstep over the decades, some songs just beg to be covered. Imagine if only Bob Dylan ever sang Bob Dylan songs like Knockin' on Heaven's Door or no one covered Leadbelly's fabulous Black...

Easy HTML Code for Creative Lenses

I'm not one to go crazy adding color and "splash" to a page, but learning a little CSS and HTML code to spice up your content makes it unique and appealing to readers. Here I'll share some of the code tidbits that help me to make professional and app...

What's your favorite song?

I write a lot about my favorite songs, and I decided that it was time to give everyone else a chance to have some input. Tell me your favorite song and who performs it. If you just can't name one, post an album or a band that really moves you. Let me...

Xanadu: Roller-Disco Cheese or Musical Masterpiece

Xanadu: Roller-Disco Cheese or Musical Masterpiece? I must confess that I love Xanadu, because it's a steaming pile of roller-disco cheese. My siblings and I spent many a night skating around in circles with our friends and neighbors, disco ball twir...

Do you stream movies or shows on demand from Netflix? What are you watching?

The increasing availability of television series and movies at the click of a button, combined with ever-larger computer monitors or TVs with an X-Box attached, has made Netflix's ability to play a selection instantly a must-have for movie buffs and...

Music for the Holidays 

Christmas and Winter Standards

White Christmas: A Holiday Standard

What lyrics conjure up more memories than, "I'm dreaming...of a white Christmas..." Whether you love the traditional Bing Crosby version, Martina McBride's country-pop version, or the hundreds of other takes on this classic, White C...

Mele Kalikimaka: The Hawaiian Christmas Carol

Robert Anderson, born in Honolulu, Hawaii and better known as R. Alex Anderson, wrote Mele Kalikimaka in the 1940s. The first major recording came from Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters, from Decca Records, in 1950. Although it's not the best-know...

Feliz Navidad: A Merry Christmas Song

In 1970, Jose Feliciano wrote Feliz Navidad and taught the world to wish each other a Merry Christmas en espanol. Little did anyone suspect that the bouncy little tune would become one of the most-played holiday songs in the world. But one listen wil...

Baby It's Cold Outside: A Winter Standard

Frank Loesser wrote Baby It's Cold Outside for he and his wife, Lynn, to perform at a dinner party in 1944. The song was such a hit that the two were popular guests for years. They were so well known for the song, in fact, that Loesser decided to giv...

The Christmas Song

When you take a song written by wonderful Mel Torme and Bob Wells, then have smooth Nat King Cole and his trio record it, you get an instant Christmas standard. That's what happened with The Christmas Song in 1946. Since then, the song has been perfo...

Making a Christmas Music Play List

Whether you're having a gathering or simply want a soundtrack for your family's celebrations, Christmas carols and holiday songs help take the edge off winter's chill and remind people that holidays are for celebrating your beliefs and each other rat...

Lenses Dedicated to Blues and Jazz Standards 

Summertime By George Gershwin: The Greatest Cover Song Ever

Everbody who's anybody in the music world has covered George Gershwin's Summertime at one point or another. From mournful, operatic versions true to the original aria to Janice Joplin's throaty shout-blues to Billy Stewart's exuberant scat, Gershwin'...

Caravan: A Jazz Standard

Although the original recording of Caravan was made in 1936 by Barney Bigard And His Jazzopators, Duke Ellington composed the music for this jazzy cover song recorded it many times. Then again, Irving Mills wrote the lyrics and the song was based on...

Mack the Knife: A Swingin' Standard

For a complete explanation of where Mack the Knife came from (and why you ought not be too taken with the scoundrel), check The Straight Dope. This lens picks up at the point where Louis Armstrong recorded the smash hit swing version of the song in 1...

The Banana Boat Song: Day-O

The Banana Boat Song, also known as Day-O, grew out of a traditional Caribbean folk song. Trinidadian Edric Connor first recorded The Banana Boat Song in England around 1954, under the title Day Dah Light (Banana Loaders Song), then The Tarriers and...

Sweet Georgia Brown: A Whistlin' Jazz Standard

Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard got together and composed a little ditty, for which Kenneth Casey wrote some saucy lyrics. Thus, Sweet Georgia Brown was born, a song which Bernie and His Orchestra recorded in 1926, at the height of the roaring 20s, and...

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

Irving Mills explained to the world, in 1931, that It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got that Swing, and the world listened. Duke Ellington kicked off the Swing Era with the song in the thirties and big bands all around the country picked up this fun...

Sweet Home Chicago: A Blues Standard

Like many blues songs, Sweet Home Chicago has shadowy origins based in borrowed riffs and rhythms from older songs. The first recording under that name, however, came from legendary blues-man Robert Johnson and was released in 1937. Most sources sugg...

You Give Me Fever

Little Willie John had a Top 25 hit on the US charts in 1956 with Fever, a song written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell (under the name John Davenport). Two years later, Peggy Lee recorded her own version of the song with somewhat different lyrics...

Ain't Misbehavin': A Swing Standard

Fats Waller wrote Ain't Misbehavin' with Andy Retzlaff and Harry Brooks, if the stories are to be believed, in forty-five minutes as a last-minute addition for the opening of their show "Hot Chocolates" in 1929. Would that everyone could invent such...

People Get Ready: A Gospel-Inspired Standard

Curtis Mayfield wrote People Get Ready for The Impressions, who had their biggest hit with the song in 1965. The song has been credited with changing the face of popular music, and dozens of singers and bands have recorded cover versions ever since....

Something's Gotta Give

Johnny Mercer wrote Something's Gotta Give for Fred Astaire's movie "Daddy Long Legs", released in 1955. From there, the song has taken on a life of its own. It was covered and reimagined by The McQuire Sisters that same year and various versions fro...

I've Got You Under My Skin: A Cole Porter Standard

Cole Porter wrote I've Got You Under My Skin in 1936, as part of the score for the movie "Born to Dance", which fans of Jimmy Stewart may remember as starring Eleanor Powell. (Trivia tidbit: Virginia Bruce actually performed the song in the movie.) T...

One Note Samba: A Bossa Nova Standard

Antonio Carlos (or Tom) Jobim wrote the music--and translated Newton Mendonca's Portuguese lyrics into English--for Samba Uma Nota So, or One Note Samba, but the song was first recorded by Stan Getz for his 1962 album "Jazz Samba". The song went on t...

Ain't Nobody's Business

Would you believe that there are three songs, all having been recorded for decades, expressing identical sentiments that it "ain't nobody's business" what the performer does? While Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do and Ain't Nobody's Business But My Ow...

Rock Me, Baby: A Blues Crossover Standard

Rock Me, Baby has been bouncing around the blues world since its first recording in 1940 by Big Bill Broonzy, and has been covered and reimagined by dozens of musicians of both blues and rock-and-roll fame. The song has crossed genre boundaries and h...

I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate

Consider the Roaring 20s, with flappers and their fringe-covered dresses dancing the shimmy while goggle-eyed fellows stand by admiringly. This song would likely have been on the playlist of the band that was playing at that dance. Around 1915, Arma...

Route 66: A Modern Standard

Whether you remember Nat King Cole crooning about Route 66 in the 40s and 50s, Depeche Mode rocking the way down the road in the 80s, or you first heard John Mayer or Chuck Berry singing the song in the movie Cars, this song has been moving and inspi...

Frankie and Johnny: A Murderous Folk Music Standard

Frankie and Johnny has been covered and recorded for a hundred years. While the music for Frankie and Johnny was copyrighted to Hughie Cannon in 1904, there have been various claims regarding the authorship of the lyrics. Some claim that the song goe...

Stagger Lee: A Murderous Blues Standard

It seems that folk and blues songs about otherwise minor historical characters, like Frankie and Johnny and Stagger Lee, make for lasting standards. The history of Stack O'Lee or Stagger Lee dates back to at least 1895, but the song may predate the m...

Lenses About Rock Song Cover Versions 

Cecilia Song Cover Versions

Paul Simon wrote Cecilia and the song first appeared on the Simon and Garfunkel album "Bridge over Troubled Water" in 1970. Whether because that original version was so amazingly well done or simply because it was so popular--reaching #4 in the US--n...

I Fought the Law: A Rebel Standard

In 1959, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets recorded I Fought the Law. No one took much notice until The Bobby Fuller Four re-recorded the song in 1965, changing Sonny's zip gun to a six gun but otherwise remaining faithful to the sound of the original. P...

The Peter Gunn Theme Song

Peter Gunn had a theme song, and it's been re-made and remixed since his television show debuted in 1958. Once it hit the airwaves, a new hit song began making its way through musical genres year after year. From the Duane Eddy smash in 1960 through...

Big Yellow Taxi: An Environmental Standard

Joni Mitchell wrote Big Yellow Taxi and first recorded the song for her 1970 album, "Ladies of the Canyon". While the title refers to the last verse, in which a big yellow taxi "took away my old man", the song became famous for its environmental stan...

Knockin' on Heaven's Door Cover Versions

Bob Dylan wrote Knockin' on Heaven's Door as a part of his soundtrack for a movie about Billy the Kid in the early 1970s. Whether it was the imagery of the lyrics or the global fascination with cowboys and bandits, the song was an instant success. Kn...

James Bond Theme Song Covers

Perhaps the best measure of how cool a character has become is how many different bands play your theme song. From the release of the first 007 movie, Dr. No, in 1962 the James Bond theme has captured the imaginations of musicians in every genre and...

American Pie: An American Standard

Folk singer/songwriter Don McLean wrote American Pie, ostensibly about the plan crash that killed some of the most popular and promising musicians of the day in 1959. The song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a lamentation of the decline of rock and r...

Martin Sexton Lyrics 

Martin Sexton: Diggin' Me Lyrics

How's about a cup Not coffee okay tea That's fine with me Meet at 8:15 All right 6:30's fine Just be with me Anytime of day Anyplace you say Just look like you do Oh it's my lucky day I am here to stay with you I'm diggin' me diggin' you Diggin' me...

Martin Sexton: Diner Lyrics

Martin Sexton has written an ode to what used to be a US icon that dotted the landscape, as American as Route 66 and apple pie: the prefab, chrome-coated diner. They were the fast food of the fifties, greasy spoons with cheap food and lots of it. But...

Miscellaneous Lyrics Lenses 

There's No One as Irish as Barack Obama

For those of you who missed it, Barack Obama acknowldged in 2007 that his great-great-great grandfather had come from a tiny town in Ireland, one Moneygall in County Offaly, confirmed by church records in Ireland. Naturally, the Irish were quick to c...

Kirsty MacColl: In These Shoes Lyrics

At the end of her life, Kirsty MacColl explored a mix of her own inimitable style and the Cuban music she had come to love. On her last album, "Tropical Brainstorm", she more fully infused her own music the a Latin flavor. Of all the songs on the alb...

The Dead Milkmen: Suart Lyrics

The Dead Milkmen recorded strong and witty punk in the 1980s that grew a strong underground following. Stuart was one of the band's best and most-known songs. The spoken-word style of Stuart allowed the Dead Milkmen to record a standard-length song...

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Royal Oil Lyrics

Even those who are not fans of third-wave ska heroes The Mighty Mighty Bosstones can appreciate this bouncy song with its cheery take on an anti-drug message. Not only will the song stick in your head, but it makes important points about what drugs d...

Two Man Gentlemen Band: William Howard Taft Lyrics

The Two-Man Gentlemen Band combine a wicked sense of humor, an old-fashioned taste in musical instruments, and a love for American history. In William Howard Taft they display all of these with a tribute to that famously-large president. Enjoy the ba...

Oingo Boingo Lyrics Lenses 

Oingo Boingo: No Spill Blood Lyrics

Originally released on Oingo Boingo's too-little-heard 1983 album, "Good for Your Soul", No Spill Blood combines a bit of social commentary with the strong imagery of HG Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau to make a powerful song. The song includes the...

Oingo Boingo: Stay Lyrics

This is not the first time you tried to get away This is not a party where people know your name This is not a classroom with teacher at the board This is not a cat show with prizes at the door Go! Don't you go Won't you stay with me one more day If...

Oingo Boingo: We Close Our Eyes Lyrics

While Oingo Boingo's stock content consisted of social commentary and odd juxtapositions, they could do a lovely love song from time to time, in their own, unmistakable way. Such songs number among those of the band's that pack the most emotional imp...

Oingo Boingo: Weird Science Lyrics

If you're too young to remember the 80s (or lived under a rock and missed it), the movie Weird Science and its wild theme song from Oingo Boingo may have escaped your notice.  It's a combination of B-movie goofiness with a full horn sect...

Oingo Boingo: Try to Believe Lyrics

Well I wish real hard when I close my eyes If I could change the world--would I even try (Try to believe) If I found a reason to regain my pride Oh if I try to believe--try to believe CHORUS It's so hard to find an answer It's so hard to stand alone...

The Pierces Lyrics 

The Pierces: Boy in a Rock and Roll Band Lyrics

La da da da-da-da-da da da dum La da da da-da da dum La da da da-da-da-da da da dum La da da da-da da dum How deep is your ocean? How high is your sky? I'd love to put our love into motion But I'd have to ask myself why. Well, I can't tell you how...

The Pierces: Sticks and Stones Lyrics

Allison and Catherine Pierce have recorded two albums filled with their dark brand of pop music as The Pierces. While some songs observe life and love with their black senses of humor, Sticks and Stones takes a different turn. The song tells the sto...

Southern Culture on the Skids Lyrics Lenses 

Southern Culture on the Skids: Camel Walk Lyrics

Baby, Would you eat that there snack cracker In your special outfit for me? Please? Ow-wee! Yo, ye pharaohs, let us walk Through this barren desert In search of truth And some pointy boots And maybe a few snack crackers. Ow-wee! Baby, you make me wa...

Southern Culure on the Skids: Liquored Up and Lacquered Down Lyrics

If you're looking for the best mocking of Southern stereotypes, look no further than Southern Culture on the Skids and their anthem, Liquored Up and Lacquered Down, to give you the skinny on the big hair, the booze, and the bars that make of those st...

Southern Culture on the Skids: Whole Lotta Things Lyrics

Well, I had a good daydream I woke and it's gone But the taste in my mouth seems to linger on Rubbin' my eyes, lookin' down at my shoes Said, "Man, there's a lotta things I'd like to do. Whole lotta things that I'd like to do. A lot in this world th...

Southern Culture on the Skids: Banana Pudding Lyrics

Let Southern Culture on the Skids help you celebrate that most Southern of puddings, banana pudding. Even the snobbiest of food lovers among you must admit to having a secret love for this squishy dessert, best enjoyed with well-cooked pudding and le...

Southern Culture on the Skids: My House Has Wheels

Southern Culture on the Skids or SCOTS, as they are known to their fans, writes songs about the seedy but happy underbelly of life in the American South. My House Has Wheels, in particular, embodies their attitude that you can be poor, trashy, and st...

WookieFoot Lyrics Lenses 

WookieFoot: Plead Insanity Lyrics

(Oh, no, I can't do that!) The emperor is naked but he swears he wears the clothes And he's making the big decisions, catching the tigers by the toes Check out the Chicken Little Jimmy screaming skies are falling down And where the sound of synergy s...

WookieFoot: Have to Laugh Lyrics

"Hey, do you know why, why I laugh? I'll tell you..." CHORUS I have to laugh, I have to laugh I have to laugh, I have to laugh You have to laugh, you have to laugh It never will be as bad as you think You have to laugh, you have to laugh Well, I'm...

WookieFoot: Falling Down Trying Lyrics

Are you falling down drunk, are you falling down trying? Do you walk with the sheep, do you roar like a lion? Are you singing your war cry or are you just crying? If I'm not falling down drunk I'll be falling down trying. My old friend Mick McQuire...