Pop music - Part 5

House of the Rising Sun

“The House of the Rising Sun” is an American traditional folk song, sometimes called “Rising Sun Blues“. It tells of a person’s life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the English rock band The Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and in the U.S. and Canada. As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the “first folk rock hit”.

The song was first collected in Appalachia in the 1930s, but probably has its roots in traditional English folk song. It is listed as number 6393 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

“A good player can make any guitar sound good.” – Michael Bloomfield

Paul2026-04-20T16:02:24-04:00

Chim Chim Cheree

“Chim Chim Cher-ee” is a song from Mary Poppins, the 1964 musical film, and is also featured in the 2004 Mary Poppins musical.

It won Best Original Song at the 37th Academy Awards. In 2005, Julie Andrews included this song as part of Julie Andrews Selects Her Favorite Disney Songs.

The song was written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman (the “Sherman Brothers“), who also won an Oscar and a Grammy Award for the Mary Poppins score.

The song was inspired by one of the drawings of a chimney sweep created by Mary Poppins screenwriter Don DaGradi. When the Sherman Brothers asked about the drawing, DaGradi explained the ancient British folklore attributed to “sweeps” and how shaking hands with one or touching their sleeve could bring a person good luck. In their 1961 treatment, the Sherman Brothers had already amalgamated many of the P. L. Travers characters in the creation of “Bert”. His theme music became “Chim Chim Cher-ee”.

“It is more important to keep the horse going hard than to always play the exact notes.” -Charles Ives (handwritten comments on a score of the Concord Sonata):

Paul2026-04-16T14:11:23-04:00

Last Dance with Mary Jane

“Mary Jane’s Last Dance” is a song written by Tom Petty and recorded by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was recorded while Petty was recording his Wildflowers album and was produced by Rick Rubin, guitarist Mike Campbell, and Petty. The sessions would prove to be the last to include drummer Stan Lynch before his eventual departure in 1994. This song was first released as part of the Greatest Hits album in 1993. It rose to No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Petty’s first Billboard top-20 hit of the 1990s, and also topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart for two weeks. Internationally, the song reached No. 2 in Portugal, No. 5 in Canada and No. 7 in Iceland.

Asked if the song was about drugs, Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell said, “In the verse there is still the thing about an Indiana girl on an Indiana night, just when it gets to the chorus he had the presence of mind to give it a deeper meaning. My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it’s a drug reference, and if that’s what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song.” In the rest of the interview, Campbell said that the song was originally titled “Indiana Girl” and the first chorus began, “Hey, Indiana Girl, go out and […]

Paul2026-04-20T16:04:40-04:00

wildflowers

“Wildflowers” is a song written by Tom Petty and the opening track from the album of the same name. The song became quite popular in concerts, and though it was not initially released as a commercial single until 2020, it charted at #16 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, at #11 on the Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales and at #3 on the Billboard Lyric Find. AllMusic describes it as having a simple but effective folk-based chord progression, with a sprightly, almost country-oriented rhythm.

The song has gone on to become one of the most beloved in Petty’s catalog. Petty also stated “Wildflowers” was easy to write and compose. It was one of the non-singles which were included on the compilation The Best of Everything (others were “Southern Accents“, “Square One“, “Angel Dream” and “Dreamville”).

On August 20, 2020, a posthumous release of the home recorded demo version of the song was released as a digital single alongside a music video. The video contains never-before-seen footage shot by Martyn Atkins during the recording of “Wildflowers”. On the same day, it was officially announced that on October 16, a posthumous album titled Wildflowers & All the Rest would be released. It is a comprehensive […]

Paul2026-04-20T16:21:34-04:00

Crazy

Crazy chords, lyrics and notation

“Crazy” is a song written by Willie Nelson and popularized by Patsy Cline in 1961. Nelson wrote the song while living in Houston, working for Pappy Daily’s label D Records. He was also a radio DJ and performed in clubs. Nelson then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, working as a writer for Pamper Music. Through Hank Cochran, the song reached Patsy Cline. After her original recording and release, Cline’s version reached number two on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles, also crossing to the pop chart as a top 10 single.

Cline’s version is considered a country music standard and, in 1996, became the all-time most played song in jukeboxes in the United States. “Crazy” was covered by many artists; different versions reached the charts in a variety of genres. The song was featured in television shows, while many publications have included it in their all-time best songs lists. The Library of Congress inducted Cline’s version into the National Recording Registry in 2003.

Whether or not you’ve had the start you would have liked, the ending is up to you

Paul2026-04-19T17:57:26-04:00

Panama Red

“The guitar is your first wings. It’s assigned and designed to unfold your vision and imagination.” – Carlos Santana

The Adventures of Panama Red is the fourth country rock album by the New Riders of the Purple Sage, released in 1973. It is widely regarded as one of the group’s best efforts, and reached number 55 on the Billboard charts.

The album includes two songs written by Peter Rowan — “Panama Red”, which became a radio hit, and “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy”. Another song, “Kick in the Head”, was written by Robert Hunter. Donna Jean Godchaux and Buffy Sainte-Marie contribute background vocals on several tracks.

Paul2026-05-03T08:54:20-04:00

Franklin’s Tower

“Franklin’s Tower” is a song by the American rock band the Grateful Dead, written by Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, released as the second from the band’s eighth studio album Blues for Allah (1975) in January 1976.

Background and composition

Taking inspiration from Lou Reed‘s hit “Walk on the WIld Side“, Robert Hunter and intended the song to be a lullabye birthday wish for his son. The track is shrouded in unusual, yet symbolic imagery, as Grateful Dead biographer David Gans wrote in his book The American Book of the Dead: “The song paints landscapes and offers timescapes where the four winds blow around a structure that contains a bell with magical properties so powerful that an unnamed brand of salvation may be obtained by its ringing.” According to Hunter, the lyrics contain references to Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell.

“Playing scales is like a boxer skipping rope or punching a bag. It’s not the thing in itself; it’s preparatory to the activity.” – Barney Kessel

Paul2026-05-03T08:55:08-04:00

Cumberland Blues

It’s not about how long you’ve been playing, it’s about how often you play

Paul2026-05-03T08:33:12-04:00

Dire Wolf

Dire Wolf tabs

“Dire Wolf” is a ballad by the Grateful Dead, released as the third track on their 1970 album Workingman’s Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter after watching a film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. The music, containing elements of country and folk music, was composed by Jerry Garcia on the same day. The song tells the story of a man who plays cards with a dire wolf on a cold winter’s night in “Fennario”; the lyrics have been variously interpreted. The piece became a staple of the Grateful Dead’s performances, and was played more than two hundred times between 1969 and 1995.

Paul2026-05-03T08:55:31-04:00

Casey Jones

“The Ballad of Casey Jones“, also known as “Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer” or simply “Casey Jones“, is a traditional American folk song about railroad engineer Casey Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving. It tells of how Jones and his fireman Sim Webb raced their locomotive to make up for lost time, but discovered another train ahead of them on the line, and how Jones remained on board to try to stop the train as Webb jumped to safety. It is song number 3247 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

The song helped preserve the memory of Jones’ feat down through the years in its 40 plus versions and enhanced Casey’s legendary status to the extent that he has even become something of a mythological figure like Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan to the uninformed. Books and pulp magazines about the railroad and its heroes helped to perpetuate his memory as well.

“Fast is only cool if it’s melodic and has substance.” – Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Paul2026-05-03T08:24:42-04:00