24 April 2013 (Wednesday)

It was the first really sunny and warm day of Spring in Seattle and I wondered how many students would show up... 6 students today.

I started by telling the class that I was going to a concert that evening: Shuggie Otis (info). He is most famous for writing the song "Strawberry Letter 23" (video, lyrics, song info). The bells in this song are the ring tone of my mobile phone!

In describing Shuggie Otis I said, "Shuggie was Prince before there was Prince". But it seemed like no one in the class knew who Prince (info) is, so I tried to think of what his most famous song is and played "Purple Rain" (video, lyrics, song info). Only a couple of people know that song and I don't think the class was impressed.

Since it was such a nice day I asked the class for suggestions of "sunny day" songs.  The first choice was "Time After Time" (video, lyrics, song info) by Cyndi Lauper (info). When I asked the student who chose it why it reminds her of the sun she said it's because the melody is cheerful and makes her want to go out.

The student actually knows the song "Time After Time" through a Japanese cover version:  (video) by Chihiro Onitsuka (info).

Another great cover version of "Time After Time" is from Eva Cassidy (info). Her story is tragic: she has a wonderful voice but only became known after she died of cancer at age 33. Here's her version of "Time After Time" (video).

I mentioned that the melody of "Time After Time" is cheerful, but the lyrics are kind of sentimental. I noted that putting sentimental lyrics over a happy melody is a pretty common thing in music. As an example I played "No Woman No Cry" (video, lyrics, song info) by Bob Marley (info).

But this whole theme was getting kind of sad for such a nice day in Seattle!  The next song chosen was "Soak Up The Sun" (video, lyrics, song info) by Sheryl Crow (info). This song is self-explanatory on a sunny day!

As we talked about "Soak Up The Sun" one of the students in class mentioned that she is from Shonan in Japan (info), which has the best beach in Japan. In other words, it is the California of Japan!

As another example of a "beach song" I played "Better Together" (video with lyrics, song info) by Jack Johnson (info).

The next song chosen was "Santorini" (video, song info) by Yanni (info). The song is about a beautiful and famous Greek island (info), which is always sunny, too.


One of the students is from Thailand and he said that his family goes to Koh Tachai Island (info) for vacation. There's a crab there that sounds like a chicken.

The next song chosen was "What's Going On" (video, lyrics, song info) by Marvin Gaye (info). Again, the lyrics of the song are very serious while the music is upbeat and happy. I am a big Marvin Gaye fan but had never noticed how happy the music is because I always concentrated on the lyrics.

The last song of the day was "Mickey" (video, lyrics, song info) by Toni Basil (info). The student chose this because he saw cheerleading practice.


With that I went to the Shuggie Otis concert, which was great, one of my favorite shows in a long time!