Saturday, August 22, 2020

Songs For Saturday: Roy Orbison, Bonnie Raitt, B-52's and Neil Young

Time to slap on the ol' Bat Head Phones! 

Time to crank up the volume! 

It's time for that eclectic musical mishmash known as...

SONGS FOR SATURDAY! 


Today's 4 songs represent a very diverse selection of styles and genres with only two things in common:

1) They are songs I like.

2) They were released in the year 1989. 


From the album "Mystery Girl", here's Roy Orbison with "She's a Mystery To Me", a song written by U2's Bono and the Edge.  




This track was released as single in March 1989, after Roy Orbison's death. It was a shame that Orbison did not live to see the commercial success and the critical accolades for this album. 

Click this link for U2's performance of this song from 2004.  

From her 1989 album "Nick of Time", next is Bonnie Raitt with "Thing Called Love".


This song was written in 1987 by John Hiatt.  

Andrea and I started dating in 1989. One of the first presents I bought her was the "Cosmic Thing" CD by the B-52's. We played the hell out of that thing on road trips. 

Up next is the biggest and quintessential track from that album, "Love Shack" 



From a song that wants nothing more than to make you dance and party, we now go to an angry anthem about everything that's wrong with the world.  

Neil Young released "Rockin' in the Free World" in 1989. It has a driving rock 'n' roll intensity and catchy chorus. Despite the energy and the repetition of "keep on rockin' in the free world", Young's anthemic composition is an indictment of the policies of the very politicians who try to use this song at their campaign rallies. 

Here's Neil Young with "Rockin' in the Free World".  


Neil Young's politically charged lyrics came at a time of upheaval in the world. After a decade of conservative leadership in America's government, there was a growing restlessness for something more. 

It was a restlessness that was felt all over the world.  

1989 was the year of the Tiananmen Square protests against government oppression in China.


Solidarity's victory in the first round of the 1989 Polish legislative election is the first of many anti-communist revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe.

The death knell for communism in Eastern and Central Europe was heard with the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. 

Which brings us to tomorrow's Cinema Sunday post. The spotlight falls about secret agents, double agents and triple agents even on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 

That's that for today's post. Thanks for reading and for listening. Until next time, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive.  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Doctor Who Is Classic!: City of Death

 We are just a month away from the new Doctor Who Christmas special so until we get to new Doctor Who , let's take a look back into the...