You Name It – Nom De Tune

What/Who/Why

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VOLUME 27.2.1

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“Dr. Wu” by Steely Dan
Submitted by Dave

This song is wonderful. Love everything about it…..the keys, the vocals, the harmonies, the lyrics, the chord structures…the sax…THE SONG…it ages well.

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“Pocahontas” by Neil Young
Submitted by Bill

There are several versions of this song floating around online; this is the one from “Rust Never Sleeps.” One of his more sorrowful melodies. Atrocities against Native Americans were scarcely news in 1979, but his way in the lyric of bending time — the buffalo massacre across the street from the bank, his presumably childhood “little box at the top of the stairs,” the whole thing with “the Astrodome, and the first TV … Marlon Brando, Pocahantas and me” — is intuitive and powerful poetry. (Brando had not too much previously refused an Oscar over the portrayal of Natives onscreen.)

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VOLUME 27.2.2

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“Linus and Lucy” by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Submitted by Alan

I love this Vince Guaraldi tune (probably the best Christmas song) and also prize Bela and his bands musicianship and humor. I purposefully chose this live version since they stretch the tune with some improvising.

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“Spartacus” by Triumvirat
Submitted by Ed

I tend to cite the Spartacus album as the first “real” album I purchased. Having only had a few novelty records and a K-TEL compilation (I think the one I had included “Kung Fu Fighting”), older cousins, with their fancy stereos, invaded my musical brain with wild foreign progrock. I have maintained a love for this album and their other classic, Illusions On a Double Dimple, to this day.

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VOLUME 27.2.3

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“Eugene’s Lament” by Beastie Boys
Submitted by Ian

I could have selected all five songs from the boys or Primus for this challenge. I did choose this one because it shows that they can do more than just wrap. They have quite a few instrumentals with this being one of them.