Show Notes
Subscribers get notated transcriptions, guitar tab and other goodies Music in this episode: Björk - "Bachelorette" (1997) Björk - "Human Behaviour" (1993) Björk - "Isobel" (1995) Aubrey Ghent and Friends - "There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood" (1997) Carlos Di Sarli - "Indio Manso" (1958) Astor Piazzolla - "La Milonga del Angel" performed by Fabio Furia (2014) Björk - "Oceania" (2004) Müslüm Gürses - "Ask Tesadufleri Sever" (2006) Trio Shalva - "Bachelorette" (2013) Clams Casino - "Illest Alive" (2011) References: I draw on the Sonic Symbolism podcast episode on Homogenic, this Stereogum interview, and this Record Collector Magazine interview via a French Björk fan site. Björk mentions tango in this Apple Music interview at 48:50. My analysis draws on the score for “Bachelorette” that Björk included in her book 34 Scores for Piano, Harpsichord, Organ and Celeste. I discuss Thomas Turino’s book, Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation. There are two instrumental layers in the track that I neglected to mention: tympani and distorted screaming mixed way in the background. It’s probably samples of Björk’s vocal track, but it’s hard to tell. I also forgot to point out an obstacle to covering Björk songs: she frequently sings in Icelandic, nonsense syllables, or combinations of the two. The end section of “Bachelorette” is a case in point. I guess you could just scat-sing all of that, but it’s not as straightforward as singing a song by a more conventional songwriter.
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Music in this episode: The Beatles - “Twist and Shout” (1963) The Top Notes - “Twist and Shout” (1961) Ritchie Valens - “La Bamba” (1958) The Isley Brothers - “Twist and Shout” (1962) David Bowie - “Let’s Dance” (1983) Salt-N-Pepa - “Twist and Shout” (1988) For background on the song, I drew extensively on A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, which you will definitely enjoy listening to if you enjoyed listening to this.
Music in this episode: Louis Armstrong - “What a Wonderful World” (1967) Louis Armstrong - “Hello, Dolly!” (1964) Louis Armstrong - “When The Saints Go Marching In” (1938) Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (1950) Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven - “Melancholy Blues” (1927) Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five - “Hotter Than That” (1927) Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five - “West End Blues” (1928) Jimmie Rodgers - “Blue Yodel No 9” (1930) Hoagy Carmichael - “(Up A) Lazy River” (1930) Louis Armstrong - “Lazy River” (1931) Louis Armstrong - ‘When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” (1931) Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers - “Old Folks At Home” (1937) References: Charles Hiroshi Garrett - Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century (2008) Charles Hersch - “Poisoning Their Coffee: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights” (2002)
Music in this episode: Dolly Parton - “Traveling Man” (1971) Dolly Parton - “Jolene” (1973) Dolly Parton - “9 to 5” (1980) Dolly Parton - “Travelin’ Prayer” (1999) Dolly Parton - “Marry Me” (2001) Dolly Parton - “Stairway to Heaven” (2002) Dolly Parton - “Don’t Think Twice” (2014) Dolly Parton - “Purple Rain” (2023) References: I include excerpts of a couple of interviews with Dolly. There’s this one: and this one: I also include an excerpt of this excellent Paul Thompson video about the bassline in “Traveling Man”:
Music in this episode, not counting my Suno output: Fleetwood Mac - “Dreams” (1977) Thelonious Monk - “Round Midnight” (1968) Cordelia’s Dad - “Montcalm and Wolfe” (1998) The Bee Gees - “Stayin’ Alive” (instrumental) (1977) Catherine Sikora - “The Knowing of Sums” (2016) Ethan Hein - “The Knowing of Sums remix” (2020) The Velvet Sundown - “Dust on the Wind” (2025) Neil Young - “Out on the Weekend” (1972) Koji Kondō - “Super Mario Bros Underworld Theme” (1985) References I refer to Margaret Boden’s 2004 book, The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms. I also refer to a study of a songwriting class that quotes a student talking about the difference between musicians and artists. You can read that study here: Dweck, J. (2023). Children as songwriters: The social-emotional benefits of songwriting in the elementary grades. Research Studies in Music Education, 46(2). Here’s the interview with Mikey Shulman where he says that people don’t enjoy the process of making music. Here’s my summary of the research on the learning impacts of LLM use:
Music in this episode: Mormon Tabernacle Choir - “Old Folks At Home (Way Down Upon the Swanee River)” (1968) Al Jolson - “Swanee River” (1950) Bing Crosby - “Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)” (1945) Pete Seeger - “Swanee River” (1959) Paul Robeson - “Old Folks at Home” (1930) Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers - “The Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)” (1937) Ray Charles- “Swanee River Rock (Talkin Bout That River)” (1957) The Honeys - “Surfin’ Down the Swanee River” (1963) Fu-Schnickens - “Sneakin’ Up On Ya” (1994) The Barbershop Singers - “Way Down Upon the Suwannee River” (2011) Hugh Laurie - “Swanee River” (2011) Al Jolson - “Swanee” (1945) Judy Garland - “Swanee” (1954) Aretha Franklin - “Swanee” (1966) Matthew Morrison’s book Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States is a must-read. Read more about the history of these songs and the music education challenges they pose. Here’s my 20th century American popular music history syllabus.