This Week’s Theme: Days of the Week
I decided to go with an old school theme this week. Anyone who makes themed playlists knows that half of the fun is in determining a clever, thoughtful theme that requires delving into the back-channels of the brain to pull out half-forgotten songs. Sometimes, though, it is nice to go with a classic like “colors” or “songs about animals.” Simple, yet effective.
Theme Selections
All Days
ELO “The Diary of Horace Wimp”
They Might Be Giants “Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go to Work)”
Monday
New Order “Blue Monday ’88”
Wilco “Monday”
Tuesday
Cat Stevens “Tuesday’s Dead”
Yaz “Tuesday”
Wednesday
Galileo Galilei “Wednesday”
Charles Mingus “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”
Simon and Garfunkel “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.”
Thursday
Jim Croce “Thursday”
Morphine “Thursday”
Pet Shop Boys “Thursday”
Friday
The Cure “Friday I’m In Love”
Funkadelic “Friday Night, August 14”
Ice Cube “Friday”
Joe Jackson “Friday”
Steely Dan “Black Friday”
Saturday
Chicago “Saturday in the Park”
Sam Cooke “Another Saturday Night”
Earth Wind & Fire “Saturday Nite”
Los Locos del Rio (featuring Lucho Chalco) “Sabado”
Sunday
Gal Costa “Domingo”
Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, and the Oscar Peterson Trio “Sunday”
The Velvet Underground & Nico “Sunday Morning”
Theme Highlights
Wilco “Monday”: Any day you hear some Wilco is a good day.
Morphine “Thursday”: This band had a unique sound that still sounds great today. The band consisted of a baritone sax, drums, and leader Mark Sandman’s 2-string bass that he played with a slide. Sandman’s sardonic, baritone vocal delivery was a perfect match for the instrumentation, and the ability of the band to get deep into a groove set them apart from all other alternative rock acts of the ’90s.
The Cure “Friday I’m In Love”: Any day you hear The Cure is a good day.
Joe Jackson “Friday”: This is from Jackson’s second album, I’m The Man. He never made another album that sounded like this one or his debut.
Steely Dan “Black Friday”: Any day you hear some Steely Dan is a good day.
Chicago “Saturday in the Park”: This song is from Chicago V and was their biggest hit before they hit #1 with “If You Leave Me Now” in 1976 and became masters of the pop ballad.
Sam Cooke “Another Saturday Night”: This is one of the greatest songs from the early days of soul music.
The Velvet Underground and Nico “Sunday Morning”: Any day you hear The Velvet Underground is a good day.
Artist of the Week: George Gershwin
In his short lifetime, George Gershwin created a legacy of song that has survived into the 21st century. He died suddenly in 1937 at the age of 38 and his career as a songwriter barely lasted twenty years, but in that time he found success as a songwriter of popular and classical music, he revolutionized the Broadway and Hollywood musical, and he created an incredible list of standards that have been performed by thousands of artists over the last hundred years.
Gershwin began his career as a Tin Pan Alley songwriter producing piano rolls of both his and other’s compositions. This quickly evolved into work writing music for films and Broadway musicals by the age of twenty. He was not a lyricist, so he collaborated with others for lyrics, most notably with his brother Ira. These collaborations led to about twenty scores written between 1920 and 1935, including the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1931, Of Thee I Sing. During this time he also worked on classical compositions and became renowned in Europe as well as New York for his talent as a composer who revolutionized classical composition by incorporating jazz and folk styles seamlessly into classical music.
All of his work up through the early ’30s culminated in his composition of the opera/musical Porgy and Bess in 1935, now considered a foundational work of American music, although it was a failure when originally released. This was followed by Gershwin’s revolutionary score for the Astaire/Rogers film Shall We Dance, which fused ballet and jazz and led to the next hundred years of modern dance. Then in February, 1937, Gershwin fell ill and died in July from a brain hemorrhage. Gershwin’s death is the ultimate example of “what could have been?” The evolution of Hollywood and Broadway musicals in the ’40s and ’50s would surely have been influenced greatly by Gershwin if he had not died at his peak. His music had a strong influence on both art forms for several decades after his death, so new compositions would surely have created an additional wealth of standards and classics. Even so, the work of George Gershwin will be beloved for centuries to come.
Selected Gershwin Tunes
The best way to understand the genius and influence of George Gershwin is to listen to his most famous works. Here are nine examples.
“When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em, When You’ve Got ‘Em, You Don’t Want ‘Em” (1916): This was the first song written by George Gershwin, for which he was paid fifty cents. He was seventeen years old.
“Swanee” (1919): This was Gershwin’s first national hit.
“Rhapsody in Blue” (1924): This was Gershwin’s first major work for orchestra and piano.
“Fascinating Rhythm” (1924): This may be the most-recorded Gershwin song.
Funny Face “‘S Wonderful” (1927): This song is from the 1927 Broadway musical Funny Face and the 1957 film Funny Face. Although both starred Fred Astaire, they are completely different stories.
“Embraceable You” (1928): This is arguably the greatest jazz vocal standard that Gershwin wrote.
“I Got Rhythm” (1930): This is one of Gershwin’s most famous songs and the title track to the 1951, Academy Award winning, Gene Kelly film.
Porgy and Bess “Summertime” (1935): The classic first song from Act 1, Scene 1 of the musical. It is often sung as a jazz tune, but the operatic rendition is much more powerful.
Shall We Dance “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (1937): One of Gershwin’s favorite compositions.
Happy Birthday (September 26)
George Chambers was a founding member of The Chambers Brothers.
Gal Costa is a Brazilian pop vocalist who has been recording for over fifty years. “Domingo” is the title track to her 1967 debut album.
Bryan Ferry deserves much more attention than I am going to give here. He was the lead vocalist of Roxy Music before leaving for a very successful solo career. He’ll be an Artist of the Week sooner or later.
George Gershwin is arguably the greatest American songwriter of the 20th century and is the artist of the week. “Sweet and Lowdown” is from a wonderful collection of Gershwin songs that were digitally created by recording piano rolls of Gershwin performing his original compositions. Piano rolls like this were played for entertainment in the early 20th century before jukeboxes were invented.
Julie London was a pinup girl, actress, and vocalist who is best known for her version of “Cry Me A River.” “The Man I Love” is her version of a classic George Gershwin tune.
Cesar Rojas is a founding member of Los Lobos. As their lead singer and guitarist, he is the most recognizable member of the band. They are a Faux Household favorite.
Olivia Newton-John starred in Grease and had several hit records before she starred in the under-rated musical Xanadu. If you haven’t seen it then go watch it and don’t listen to all of the haters. It is cheesy and the acting is pretty terrible, but it co-stars Gene Kelly and that is all you should need to know to sit through the entire movie. Side two of the soundtrack are all songs composed by ELO. Side one is also good, especially the Newton-John hit “Magic.”
Tony Fox Sales is best known for his bass playing with Iggy Pop, Todd Rundgren, and David Bowie. His work with Iggy Pop from 1975 to 1978 produced two studio albums and a live album, including the classic Lust For Life, which includes both the classic title track and “The Passenger.” Sales’ father was Soupy Sales, a famously irreverent host of several children’s tv shows in the ’60s and ’70s.
3 Chunks of Funk
Funkadelic “Friday Night, August 14”: Before they ruled the world of funk in the late ’70s as P-Funk, George Clinton’s band was called Funkadelic. They put out a string of classic records that fused rock, funk, soul, and R&B with a unique sound that is as fresh now as it was then. This song is from their 1970 album Free Your Mind…and Your Ass Will Follow. Featuring Bernie Worrell on keyboard and Eddie Hazel on guitar, this is a great example of their early sound.
Earth Wind & Fire “Saturday Nite”: This song is from their 1976 album Spirit.
The Chambers Brothers “Funky”: Their big hit is “Time Has Come Today,” but this is my favorite song by the brothers. It is best known as the sample in A Tribe Called Quests’ “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo.”
The Get Down
A Tribe Called Quest “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo”: One of several great songs on the band’s 1990 debut People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. It samples “Funky” by The Chambers Brothers.
Ice Cube “Friday”: This is the theme song to the hilarious 1995 comedy Friday.
Little Simz “Point and Kill”: This is from the new album by Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. She is a British rapper who has broken through in the UK but still hasn’t found international stardom. I’ve been listening to this new album a lot recently and I especially like the experimental side of her work.
Hits
Chicago “Saturday in the Park”
Sam Cooke “Another Saturday Night”
The Cure “Friday I’m In Love”
Earth Wind & Fire “Saturday Nite”
More Hits
Los Lobos “Come On, Let’s Go”
Olivia Newton-John (featuring ELO) “Xanadu”
Steely Dan “Black Friday”
Two for “Two”day
Los Lobos “Come On, Let’s Go” and “Farmer John”
ELO “Xanadu (with Olivia Newton-John)” and “The Diary of Horace Wimp”
New
Little Simz “Point and Kill”
Los Lobos “Farmer John”
Let’s Take a Trip Around the World
Brazil
Gal Costa “Domingo”: Costa has been recording for over fifty years.
Ecuador
Los Locos del Ritmo with Lucho Chalco “Sabado”: I know very little about this band, except that they are NOT the Mexican rock band of the same name. They are a cumbia band from Ecuador.
Japan
Galileo Galilei “Wednesday”: This Japanese indie rock band put out five albums during their ten year existence (2007-2016).
A Little Jazz
Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, and the Oscar Peterson Trio “Sunday”: This is a great tune performed by three jazz legends.
Charles Mingus “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”: This the first track on Mingus’ 1960 album Blues and Roots. If you had to pick one artist to compose a jazz piece that simulates the feeling of a prayer meeting, Mingus is the obvious choice. This is a perfect jazz composition.
Let’s Dance
Yaz “Tuesday”: Vince Clarke is an electro-pop legend. He was a founding member of Depeche Mode and is responsible for the sound of their first album. He also formed the group Erasure, one of the most successful electronic bands in history. In between those two bands, he formed Yazoo (or Yaz) with singer Alison Moyet and they put out the classic album Upstairs at Eric’s in 1982.
New Order “Blue Monday ’88”: A remix of the band’s classic.
Pet Shop Boys “Thursday”: This is from the duo’s 2013 album Electric. They are icons of synth-pop.
I Write the Songs
These are three songs from three iconic singer/songwriters. These can all be considered album filler, but they are all good songs because that is what great singer/songwriters do.
Cat Stevens “Tuesday’s Dead”: This is from his 1970 album Teaser and the Firecat.
Simon and Garfunkel “Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.”: This is the title track from the duo’s 1964 debut album.
Jim Croce “Thursday”: This is from his 1973 album I Got a Name.
Thanks for listening (and reading)!
| Track | Artist | Song Title |
| 1 | They Might Be Giants | Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go to Work) |
| 2 | Wilco | Monday |
| 3 | Chicago | Saturday in the Park |
| 4 | Steely Dan | Black Friday |
| 5 | Morphine | Thursday |
| 6 | Funkadelic | Friday Night, August 14 |
| 7 | Earth Wind & Fire | Saturday Nite |
| 8 | The Chambers Brothers | Funky |
| 9 | A Tribe Called Quest | I Left My Wallet in El Segundo |
| 10 | Ice Cube | Friday |
| 11 | Little Simz | Point and Kill |
| 12 | Galileo Galilei | Wednesday |
| 13 | Los Locos del Rio (featuring Lucho Chalco) | Sabado |
| 14 | Gal Costa | Domingo |
| 15 | Julie London | The Man I Love |
| 16 | Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, and the Oscar Peterson Trio | Sunday |
| 17 | Charles Mingus | Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting |
| 18 | Sam Cooke | Another Saturday Night |
| 19 | Los Lobos | Come On Let’s Go |
| 20 | Los Lobos | Farmer John |
| 21 | George Gershwin | Sweet and Lowdown |
| 22 | Yaz | Tuesday |
| 23 | New Order | Blue Monday ’88 |
| 24 | Pet Shop Boys | Thursday |
| 25 | The Cure | Friday I’m In Love |
| 26 | Cat Stevens | Tuesday’s Dead |
| 27 | Simon and Garfunkel | Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. |
| 28 | Jim Croce | Thursday |
| 29 | The Velvet Underground and Nico | Sunday Morning |
| 30 | Joe Jackson | Friday |
| 31 | Iggy Pop | The Passenger |
| 32 | Roxy Music | Virginia Plain |
| 33 | Olivia Newton-John (featuring ELO) | Xanadu |
| 34 | ELO | The Diary of Horace Wimp |
The Radio Faux Show 
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