It’s Th-Th-ThursDAY! Which means it’s time again for Tuned up Thursday featuring the 4th installment of my Music ABC. Today’s letter is D and thus all my favorite songs starting with the letter D will be featured. Get ready to get your groove on with some 60s R&B, become moody with some late 70s post punk, dance your socks off to Queen, become a tad melancholic with a folky singer-songwriting sibling duo and enjoy the symphonic sounds of Smashing Pumpkins. Enjoy!
Dancing In the Streets – Martha & The Vandellas
Kicking off this post is Martha & The Vandellas’ Dancing in the Street. This is the 1960s original to a song most people only remember because Mick Jagger and David Bowie covered it in the 80s. It is a classic Motown song which means it has that old school 60s R&B vibe to it. Penned in part by Marvin Gaye (one of my all time favorite artists) it is no wonder this song is one of my staples. Here’s to having a good time.
Disarm – Smashing Pumpkins
I am a little too young to have enjoyed Smashing Pumpkins at the height of their career. I remember their videos being played over and over on MTV and just not liking it. It wasn’t until one of my uncles (who loves them) gave me a cassette tape with one of their albums on it, that I started to appreciate the band. I then started listening to it over and over and to any song I could get my hand on. This one has stuck with me the most.
Disorder – Joy Division
Another band that I started liking later in life is Joy Division. I had to as by the time this was released I hadn’t been born yet. Disorder is the first track of Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures, which I downloaded years ago because I knew Joy Division had been a pivotal band in music history. After some time of still not having listened to it properly, I decided to put this album on my phone to make sure I couldn’t go around it. This is the song that has stuck with me since. From the brilliant bassline melody to the echoing sound effects and punk-esque guitar riff, this song is perfection in all its moody grimness.
Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen
This song isn’t just part of Tuned up Thursday, but could also be part of Throwback Thursday if I were to do that. It simply sparks memories which I will never forget. Of being a 19 year-old student finding her way in life and dancing away my troubles at my student society Catena’s Friday evening parties. This song was a Dixo staple: everyone knew the lyrics and would always be drunk enough to make this the best song of the evening no matter what evening it was. Ah the memories!
Draw Your Swords – Angus & Julia Stone
Finally we will end this post on a quiet yet quite intense note. This song is simply perfection. For a long time this song was my ‘unwind after a long day’ song. I would put this on after a long and hard day and I would instantly relax. It grows and builds which each movement of the song and just takes you off into another world if you let it. Music has a way of doing that for me: to simply forget everything for a bit and just be and sometimes that is all I need.
What song makes you forget everything for a little while?