Holiday Weekend Music

"The Last Supper" - Jesus Christ Superstar (Soundtrack) - I recently watched the 1973 movie of the Broadway production, "Jesus Christ Superstar".

Very ‘70s! 

All the tracks are great but the music running through my mind of late is the opening meditative track from the last supper scene. 

Note how as they sit they mimic Da Vinci’s painting! (Thomas Williams)

(Editor's Note: NBC will air a live version of the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical this Sunday 4/01 with a cast that includes John Legend, Sara Barielles, and Alice Cooper (hopefully not in the lead role).  

"Garden Party" - Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band - Song about being booed off stage… (Daniele Dugre-Martin)

At one point in the 1950s, Rick Nelson was second only to Elvis Presley in popularity on the 45 rpm charts and with teenage girls. He reinvented himself as a county-rocker in the early 1980s and this song is a response to the audience's responses when he didn't play his "big" hits and played original material.  (Editor's Note)

"My My My!" by Troye Sivan - I have listened to a lot of his work and it has been interesting to see how he has progressed while maintaining a style. This is one of his newer songs so recently it has taken some priority over his other ones on my playlist as I better acquaint myself with it. (Megan Winslow)

(Editor's Note - Troye Sivan Mellet is South African born YouTuber, Actor, Model and Singer known mainly for "The Spud Franchise" and "X-Men Origins", and "Wolverine." 

Sign of the Times - Harry Styles - I thought that this was serendipitous. After watching news coverage of the March for Our Lives, I got in my car and drove into town to do some errands. I turned on the radio and one of my favorite hits from 2017 was playing, Harry Style’s Sign of the Times.

<!--[if gte mso 9]> The lyrics are poignant. On the one hand, they can be from a parent to a child. According to Styles in an interview with Rolling Stone, the lyrics are “…written from a point of view as if a mother was giving birth to a child and there's a complication. The mother is told, 'The child is fine, but you're not going to make it.' The mother has five minutes to tell the child, 'Go forth and conquer.'" On the other hand, one can imagine the message of the lyrics coming from a victim of recent school shootings to his/her mother. (Joseph Gaffney)

"Just stop your crying
It's a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show
Hope you're wearing your best clothes
You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain't really good If we never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets"

"The President Sang Amazing Grace" - Joan Baez - Composed by Zoe Mulford after the horrible tragedy in Charlotte, North Carolina, this version appears on the new album by Joan Baez (who, like Paul Simon and Elton John, has announced her retirement from touring).  This week, the Atlantic Monthly published on its website the lovely video below to Ms. Baez's version.  Honestly, the song speaks for itself. (R Kamins)