Music Blogs

Yes, Memorial Day, a day to remember the sacrifices of our armed services and for that you should probably listen to Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, subtitled "a requiem for the post-war dream." Or a handful of Toby Keith tunes and a Lee Greenwood collection. Not to mention all those great Randy Newman tunes like "Follow The Flag" and "Song For The Dead." The Foo Fighters also have a tune called "Song For The Dead." Knew they were huge Newman fans, just like those kids that follow Puddle of Mudd. Can't get enough of ol' Rand. Neither can I.

But the folks at Y! Music have now refused to run yet another photo of Randy. I've reached my limit. Start your angry letter writing campaign to right this injustice. If the kids speak out, we all win.

So for Memorial Day, I offer these five great songs about the use of memory. I'm sure there are more. In fact, I know there are more. Most songs are about memories. But these are really about memories.

"I Will Remember You"--Sarah McLachlan: She also had a song called "I Won't Forget You," but then so did Poison. This tune, the more positive "I Will Remember You" (people don't like songs with negatives in them like "NOT"?), was an actual hit for McLachlan and certainly allowed her to buy a new piano or upgrades for her kitchen, if not a swimming pool. Success is sweet.

"I Forgot To Remember To Forget"--Elvis Presley: This is like a chicken or the egg scenario. He forgets to remember to forget so in essence he wanted to forget but didn't because he forgot, but really he remembered. See the problem here? That's why he was the "King."

"Memory Motel"--The Rolling Stones: When the Rolling Stones, Ltd. recorded this song, Keith Richards wasn't remembering much of anything. He was deep into his drug addiction and had to be woken up to do his parts. He did a fine job when awake. But mostly this is Mick bragging about some motel he stayed at in the Hamptons on Long Island. I'm sure it's much more expensive to stay there these days and not just because of this song.

"I Can't Forget"--Leonard Cohen: Leonard Cohen is on the comeback trail. He's performing live and showing the young whppersnappers how it's done. This tune from 1988's I'm Your Man, one of his many "comeback" albums (and one that was accepted as a "comeback"), is another one of those dark brooding tunes that sounds like he's capable of killing your mother for cold, hard cash. It's that deep, ominous voice. But really, he's a gentle old soul who would like to date your sister, if she agrees.

"The Way We Were/Memories"--Barbra Streisand: People say I don't spend enough time talking about Barbra. I probably don't. So, I've decided to rectify this. This is one of those tunes that a million people have done. It's been in songbooks the world over so every beginning piano player gets their shot at lousing it up and yet it hasn't made the rounds of the Open Mic circuit with the deadly regularity of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," another fine tune about memory. But since I've used up my Van quota, I had to stick with this turkey. Oh, well, hope you hd a happy holiday, folks.