Health Benefits from Guitar Lessons!
If your resolution includes health or music, here's a twofer.
let it be part 1
“Let It Be” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 6 March 1970 as a single, and (in an alternative mix) as the title track of their album Let It Be. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single version of the song, produced by George Martin, features a softer guitar solo and the orchestral section mixed low, compared with the album version, produced by Phil Spector, featuring a more aggressive guitar solo and the orchestral sections mixed higher.
At the time, it had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning its chart run at number 6 and eventually reaching the top. It was the Beatles’ final single before McCartney announced his departure from the band. Both the Let It Be album and the US single “The Long and Winding Road” were released after McCartney’s announced departure from and the subsequent break-up of the group.
“I adore art… when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.” – Guiseppe Verdi
Beautiful People
“Beautiful People” is a hit song by American folk singer-songwriter Melanie Safka. She released it on her 1969 album Affectionately Melanie. She famously performed this song at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
The song’s lyrics share a simple, positive message. It is about treating all people with love and respect, no matter who they are. The song compares the pure, basic humanity we all share to simple things in life.
The song helped make Melanie a star. To learn more about her life and music, you can read the Wikipedia Melanie Safka Page.
This tune employs a really interesting chord change. Centered in A, it moves to C# as the root, which is the 3rd for A. This is probably much more common than I think, but it just caught me how perfect the chord change is as it […]
Lover Girl
“Lover Girl” is a song by Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey, released on 25 June 2025 as the third single from her third studio album, A Matter of Time (2025). It was written and produced by Laufey herself and Spencer Stewart.
Laufey wrote the song in Tokyo during her Bewitched Tour and recorded it in Los Angeles. On 27 May 2025, she debuted the song live during her concert at the Teatro Metropólitan in Mexico City, after revealing the inspiration for the song:
So, I wrote this song when I was on tour, and last year, I was in Tokyo, and I was missing a certain someone, and I was like, “Oh my God, I have become the person that I made fun of for years.” You know, like a simp. And so I thought, you know, it’s funny because I’ve always been known as the “never going to fall in love” girl. And now I’ve become the lover girl.
“Lover Girl” is a bossa nova song, with a playful atmosphere, offbeat tempo and handclaps. Lyrically, Laufey depicts herself as a love-struck girl who struggles with being separated from her boyfriend. Strings alternate between […]
Key to the Highway
Playing “Key to the highway” with Patrick Kerssen. If you’re interested in hearing Patrick play in person, he’s based in the Bethlehem PA area is a fixture of the music scene in this part of the world. Go see him play- you’ll be in for a delightful treat!
https://www.patrickkerssenpiano.com/
“Key to the Highway”
is a blues standard that has been performed and recorded by several blues and other artists. Blues pianist Charlie Segar first recorded the song in 1940. Jazz Gillum and Big Bill Broonzy followed with recordings in 1940 and 1941, using an arrangement that has become the standard.
When Little Walter updated the song in 1958 in an electric Chicago blues style, it became a success on the R&B record chart. A variety of artists have since interpreted the song, including Eric Clapton, who recorded several versions.
“Key to the Highway” is usually credited to Charles “Chas” Segar and William “Big Bill” Broonzy. Broonzy explained the song’s development:
Some of the verses he [Charlie Segar] was singing it in the South the same time as I sung it in the South. And practically all of blues is just a little change from the way that they was sung when I was a kid … You take one song and make fifty out of it … just change it a little bit.
Segar’s lyrics are nearly the […]
Eight Days a Week
“Eight Days a Week” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon based on McCartney’s original idea. It was released in December 1964 on the album Beatles for Sale, except in the United States and Canada, where it was first issued as a single A-side in February 1965 before appearing on the album Beatles VI. The song was the band’s seventh number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, a run of US chart success achieved in just over a year. The single was also number 1 in Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Beatles recorded “Eight Days a Week” at EMI Studios in London in October 1964. The track opens with a fade-in, marking one of the first times that this technique had been used on a pop studio recording. The song was reissued worldwide in 2000 on the Beatles compilation album. It also provided the title for director Ron Howard’s 2016 documentary film on the band’s years as live performers, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week.
Inspiration
Paul McCartney has attributed the inspiration of the song to at least two different sources. In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, he credited the title to one of Ringo Starr’s malapropisms, which similarly provided titles for the Lennon–McCartney songs “
People are Strange
“People Are Strange” is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It appears on the band’s second studio album, Strange Days, released in September 1967. The song was written by the Doors’ vocalist Jim Morrison and guitarist Robby Krieger, although all of the band are credited on the sleeve notes.
The track was first released with “Unhappy Girl” as the B-side. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.The song’s composition started in early 1967. According to Doors drummer John Densmore, he and guitarist Robby Krieger, who had then been roommates, were visited by Jim Morrison who appeared to be “deeply depressed”. At Krieger’s suggestion, they took a walk along Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. Morrison returned from the walk “euphoric” with the early lyrics of “People Are Strange”. Intrigued by the lyrics, Krieger was convinced that the song was a hit upon hearing the vocal melody:
Morrison said “Yeah, I feel really good about this one. It just came to me all of a sudden … in a flash – as I was sitting up there on the ridge looking out over the city.” His eyes were wild with excitement. “I scribbled it down as fast as I could. It felt great to be writing again.” […]
How to play Love Potion Number 9
How to play Love potion Number 9
love_potion_no. 9 chords and lyrics
“Love Potion No. 9” is a song written in 1959 by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally performed by the Clovers, who took it to number 23 on the US as well as R&B charts that year. The song was recorded by the Searchers in 1964. Their version reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number two on Cash Box during the winter of 1965. The Coasters released a version in December 1971 with “D. W. Washburn” on the B-side. It reached No. 76 on the Billboard Pop chart.
The song describes a man seeking help to find love. He enlists the help of a gypsy who determines, by means of palmistry, that he needs “love potion number 9”. The potion, an aphrodisiac, causes him to fall in love with everything he sees, kissing whatever is in front of him, eventually kissing a policeman on the street corner, who breaks his bottle of love potion. In one recorded version of the ending of the song, the Clovers used the alternative lyrics:
I had so much fun that I’m going back again,
I wonder what’ll happen with Love Potion Number Ten?
The narrator describes himself as being “a flop with chicks … since 1956”; […]
In My Room
“In My Room” is a song written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher for the American rock band the Beach Boys. It was released on their 1963 album Surfer Girl. It was also released as the B-side of the “Be True to Your School” single. The single peaked at number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (the A-side peaked at number 6, for a two-sided top-40) and was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. “In My Room” was ranked number 212 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song is written in the key of B major and features a flat VII A major chord.
Gary Usher explained that: “In My Room” found us taking our craft a little more seriously. Brian and I came back to the house one night after playing ‘over-the-line’ (a baseball game). I played bass and Brian was on organ. The song was written in an hour … Brian’s melody all the way. The sensitivity … the concept meant a lot to him. When we finished, it was late, after our midnight curfew. In fact, Murry [the Wilson brothers’ father] came in a couple of times and wanted me to leave. Anyway, we got […]