Skip to main content

Jim Croce - Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

Jazz music has often been called the only art form to originate in the United States, yet blues music arose right beside jazz. In fact, the two styles have many parallels. Both were created by African Americans in the southern United States in the latter part of the 19th century and spread from there in the early decades of the 20th century, both contain the sad sounding blue note, which is the bending of a particular note a quarter or half tone, and both feature syncopation and improvisation. Blues and jazz have had huge influences on American popular music. In fact, many key elements we hear in pop, soul, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll have their beginnings in blues music. A careful study of the blues can contribute to a greater understanding of these other musical genres. Though never the leader in music sales, blues music has retained a significant presence, not only in concerts and festivals throughout the United States but also in our daily lives. Nowadays, we can hear the sound of the blues in unexpected places, from the warm warble of an amplified harmonica on a television commercial to the sad cry of a slide guitar on a new country and western song.

Blues music also became popular with British musicians... Ironically, young white British musicians were largely responsible for the revival of the blues in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Social commentators have credited this musical integration of older black musicians and young white audiences with contributing to the success of the civil rights movement in the United States and, ultimately, helping to improve race relations there. Although the blues and today’s pop music have little in common musically, there are a surprising number of similarities... Because the blues has served as the basis for other forms of American music, its influence has been significant.
Source: The Red Hot Blues by Kent S. Markle


Jim Croce - Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
  • Genre: Pop/Rock
  • Released Date: 1974
  • Released On: Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits Album


"Jim Croce was a folk rock singer who released a number of hits during the early 1970s. Some were memorable enough to become lasting memes, such as the phrase “you don’t tug on Superman’s cape”."

See previous Song of the Day

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Copyrights and Public Domain

Copyrighting and Public Domain Music A song is the combination of melody and words. Each is protected by copyright, the melody as a musical work and the lyrics as a literary work. One or the other could be used separately and still be protected. Image by Markus Spiske Public Domain Music Public domain essentially covers creative works that are no longer protected by intellectual property laws, compositions and musical recordings in which the claim to intellectual property has either expired, been forfeited, or been waived. Most people recognize the term public domain in reference to published works, including sheet music or musical recordings, which once were protected by copyright, but the copyright expired several decades after the artist’s death or a considerable length of time after the work’s creation. Once copyright expires on a work like a recorded song, you can use it for any purpose without paying the publisher, the artist, or another institution. The Two Types of Copyright ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Waterboys - Carolan's Weird Welcome

The blues developed during the mid 20th century as technology brought new instruments like the electric guitar, better microphones, and amplifiers to the live music scene. This new form of electric blues started in the Mississippi Delta and Chicago, but soon spread to other parts of the United States. Blues rock and British Blues developed, and soon the blues had spread to most popular genres. Rock was born from the blues, and hard rockin’ blues music is still a staple of club bands around the world. Early British rockers were avid collectors and imitators of early blues records. There’s no denying the blues stylings of modern stars like Adele. Pop star Christina Aguilera loves singing traditional blues songs, most notably her rendition of At Last at Etta James’s funeral. An incredible fusion of traditional African music, African American songs, and folk music, the blues had a worldwide impact that continues to flow through the melodies and harmonies of musical artists today. With its ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cannonball Adderley - Willow Weep for Me

The positivity and uplifting effect of the musical product is more likely to mean the musician is cheering themselves and everybody up rather than that the musician is telling us they are happy. This can largely be applied to attitudes to the performance of jazz and other Black cultures in the Western world. Whilst some of the aforementioned jazz pioneers, like Ella Fitzgerald, stayed clean, several had a history of drug abuse... which often resulted in premature deaths. Louis Armstrong, who used the infinitely safer drug marijuana throughout his 69 years... Whilst drug use was not uncommon among musicians in general, this pattern that many of the greats of jazz died young due to addictions speaks of a consistent level of turmoil, and alludes to their common experience of racism as a depressive factor in 20th Century America. Source: A Soft Reminder of Where Jazz Came From by Tom Platts Cannonball Adderley - Willow Weep for Me Released in: September 1955 Genre: Jazz Label: Savoy "...
Post a Comment
Read more