4 December 2013 (Wednesday)

The Fall Quarter is coming to an end -- only one more class after today before breaking until January -- and many students have finals to prepare for. Only 5 students came today, although one was new! 

One of the students had told us a few weeks ago that he had bought an acoustic guitar. This week he brought it to class! Naturally we asked him to play his favorite song!

First he played "Tears In Heaven" (video, lyrics, song info) by Eric Clapton (info).  

Then he played the John Lennon (info) version of "Stand By Me" (video, lyrics, song info). You can contrast the John Lennon version with the original version (video) by Ben E. King (info).

It was great having the student bring his guitar in and play for us, thank you!!


Someone mentioned that Pearl Jam (info) was playing a concert in Seattle this week. So we talked for a while about Pearl Jam and the Seattle music scene in the 90's. (Here's a review of the concert.)

Then we watched "Stray Heart" (video, lyrics, song info) by Green Day (info). I had never heard this Green Day song. That bass line reminded me of a hit song from a long time ago, but I couldn't place it! 

Someone suggested it is similar to "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" (video, lyrics, song info) by Jet (info), but that wasn't it exactly...

During class I could never figure out the song I was looking for with the similar bass line but after class one of the students emailed me with the song: "You Can't Hurry Love" (video, lyrics, song info) by Phil Collins (info). I'm so glad she solved that question for me, it was driving me crazy!

Back to the bass line of "Stray Heart"... it reminded me of an old song by a classic American band from the 1980's: "Stray Cat Strut" (video, lyrics, song info) by the Stray Cats (info).

As I wrote this blog post I found out that the bass line for "Stray Cat Strut" was inspired by a cartoon about a guy who can't get rid of a cat: "The Cat Came Back" (video).

A student recognized *that* bass line in *another* Green Day song: "Hitchin' A Ride" (video, lyrics, song info).

The next song chosen was "Wake Me Up" (video, lyrics, song info) by Avicii (info). The student who chose this song likes every single lyric in the song!!

Speaking of lyrics which mean a lot, the last song chosen for the day was "My Grown Up Christmas List" (video with lyrics, song info) by Kelly Clarkson (info).


With that class was over for the day. Next week will be the last class before we day a break for a few weeks. Theme for the last class: Songs about winter or Christmas. Or any current favorite song.