Flashback Friday: Bruddah IZ "Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World"

FLASHBACK FRIDAY @ Mel's Internet Music Universe Blog

One of the most beautiful songs to ever come out of Hawaii, this is Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's (Bruddah IZ) is a medley of the classic Judy Garland track "Over the Rainbow" and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."

According to the Wikipedia this song was recorded in one take in 1988 and was included in IZ's album Facing Future that was released in 1993. The song eventually received international acclaim, airplay and recognition after being featured in several movies including Meet Joe Black, Finding Forrester and 50 First Dates.

IZ died in 1997 and unfortunately never saw this recording reach the stellar heights it has received over the past decades. The song is a consistent best seller in the digital music space at services such as Amazon.com and iTunes.

Today in honor of "Somwhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", we make it the Flashback Friday feature track on this blog.



Judy Garland's original version of "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz (1939).



Louis Armstrong's recording of "What a Wonderful World"

Flashback Friday: For What It's Worth

FLASHBACK FRIDAY on Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog

Surely anyone and everyone who grew up in the mid to late 1960s have heard this song. It probably is Stephen Stills' most famous music composition.

"For What It's Worth" was a song written in reaction to a curfew set by Los Angeles residents and business owners to against young people who were late night club goers. The song drew about a thousand demonstrators at one local nightclub after an L.A. radio station publicized the event and played the song.

From that time on, the song has become a synonymous as a protest anthem, mostly against the war in Vietnam during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

"For What It's Worth" was recorded and released as a single by Stephen Stills' band at the time, Buffalo Springfield. Neil Young as also a member of the band. He and Stills would later form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.


Studio mix

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - Neon Trees @ #1

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of February 16, 2014.

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Sleeping With a Friend	Neon Trees	2
2	Timber (feat. Ke$ha)	Pitbull	1
3	Coming of Age	Foster the People	6
4	Hey Brother	Avicii	9
5	Royals	Lorde	3
6	Says She Loves Me	Aer	11
7	The Walker	Fitz & The Tantrums	7
8	Hold On	Colbie Caillat	5
9	Harlem	New Politics	4
10	Human	Christina Perri	10
11	Cardiac Arrest	Bad Suns	15
12	Turn It Around	Lucius	16
13	The Heart of Dixie	Danielle Bradbery	13
14	Saideira (feat. Samuel Rosa)	Santana	8
15	Shake	The Head And The Heart	14
16	Say Something [feat. Christina Aguilera]	A Great Big World	19
17	The Giving Tree	Plain White T's	20
18	Unconditionally	Katy Perry	12
19	Dark Horse [feat. Juicy J]	Katy Perry	--
20	Story Of My Life	One Direction	--

CHART NOTES

Neon Trees moves from last week's #2 to #1 with "Sleeping With a Friend". This is the band's 2nd single to top the chart. They went to #1 in 2010 with their debut single "Animal". Falling from #1 to #2 is "Timber" by Pitbull. Up from #6 to #3 is Foster the People and their latest track "Coming of Age."

Aer's "Say She Love Me" moves up 5 points from last week's #11 to #6 this week. Good song.

Two songs make their chart entry. First up is Katy Perry and the latest track from her current album, Prism. This one is called "Dark Horse" featuring Juicy J. The song is #1 on many charts including iTunes and Billboard. In its first week on the track is at #19 on this week's Top 20. The second of the two debut singles is "Story of My Life", a latecomer of an established hit from One Direction. It checks in at #20. We'll see how high these tracks go in the coming weeks.

Songs That Went to #1 in 2014

Sleeping With a Friend - Neon Trees (1)
Timber - Pitull featuring Kesha (4)
Unconditionally - Katy Perry (3)

(x) = Total weeks @ #1

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - February 9, 2014

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of Februry 9, 2014.

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Timber (feat. Ke$ha)	Pitbull	1
2	Sleeping With a Friend	Neon Trees	4
3	Royals	Lorde	2
4	Harlem	New Politics	3
5	Hold On	Colbie Caillat	5
6	Coming of Age	Foster the People	13
7	The Walker	Fitz & The Tantrums	7
8	Saideira (feat. Samuel Rosa)	Santana	9
9	Hey Brother	Avicii	12
10	Human	Christina Perri	11
11	Says She Loves Me	Aer	17
12	Unconditionally	Katy Perry	6
13	The Heart of Dixie	Danielle Bradbery	15
14	Shake	The Head And The Heart	14
15	Cardiac Arrest	Bad Suns	18
16	Turn It Around	Lucius	19
17	That's My Kind Of Night	Luke Bryan	8
18	I Love You	Said the Whale	10
19	Say Something [feat. Christina Aguilera]	A Great Big World	--
20	The Giving Tree	Plain White T's	--

CHART NOTES:

Pitbull holds on to the #1 spot for a 4th week with his hit "Timber".

Neon Trees moves from last week's #4 to #2 with "Sleeping With a Friend".

Fast movers: Foster the People leaps from #13 to #6 with "Coming of Age"; Aer's "Say She Loves Me" jumps from last week's #17 debut to #11. New on the charts are A Great Big World with "Say Something" at #19 and Plain White T's at #20 with "The Giving Tree".

Songs That Went to #1 in 2014

Timber - Pitull featuring Kesha (4)
Unconditionally - Katy Perry (3)

(x) = Total weeks @ #1

Flashback Friday: The Beatles - The Night That Changed America

FLASHBACK FRIDAY on Mel's Internet Universe Music Blog

50 Years ago this weekend The Beatles made their U.S. Debut on CBS TV's "The Ed Sullivan Show". They sang 4 songs on that first show including "All My Loving," "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" the latter being the #1 single in the U.S. at that time.

I was a kid when The Beatles debut on "Ed Sullivan". I remember watching with glee as they sang their songs, shook their heads and got the audience filled with screaming girls all fired up. It was something. They sounded great on our console style, Zenith black and white TV. My Dad shook his head in mild disapproval over their hair style.

I remember watching The Beatles subsequent appearances on "Ed Sullivan" several more times (I was a young fan now), and still my Dad never liked them. I remember him telling me, "I don't like them because they were not Americans". So what? The music was great.

My Dad was not a big fan of rock n roll music and preferred big band, jazz and Hawaiian music. Funny thing is a few years later I remember watching a TV concert featuring Creedence Clearwater Revival and he liked them. My Dad also liked Elvis when he was doing the Las Vegas thing in his later years.

One thing for certain. After seeing The Beatles on TV for that first time many years ago, I became a fan and have listened to their music continuously for many years now.

This weekend CBS will be doing a Beatles retrospective commemorating their first appearance on "Ed Sullivan" on a special this Sunday night called "A Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute". The show will feature contemporary artists covering a range of Beatles songs including Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, Alicia Keys and Keith Urban. The two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will also appear on the program.

It will certainly be a show that Beatles fans will watch and reflect on 50 years of history. Should be great.





The original audio on this clip was overdubbed with the studio version of the track.

Mel's Weekly Top 20 - 3 Songs Make Chart Debut

Mel's Weekly Top 20
Week of February 2, 2014.

This Week	Title	Artist	Last Week
1	Timber (feat. Ke$ha)	Pitbull	1
2	Royals	Lorde	4
3	Harlem	New Politics	2
4	Sleeping With a Friend	Neon Trees	11
5	Hold On	Colbie Caillat	6
6	Unconditionally	Katy Perry	3
7	The Walker	Fitz & The Tantrums	5
8	That's My Kind Of Night	Luke Bryan	7
9	Saideira (feat. Samuel Rosa)	Santana	9
10	I Love You	Said the Whale	8
11	Human	Christina Perri	12
12	Hey Brother	Avicii	13
13	Coming of Age	Foster the People	20
14	Shake	The Head And The Heart	15
15	The Heart of Dixie	Danielle Bradbery	16
16	Who You Love (feat. Katy Perry)	John Mayer	10
17	Says She Loves Me	Aer	--
18	Cardiac Arrest	Bad Suns	--
19	Turn It Around	Lucius	--
20	Wake Me Up	Avicii	14

CHART NOTES

Pitbull holds on to the #1 spot for a third week with his hit "Timber", in which the vocals are also shared by Kesha, who's had a few hit singles in her own right.

Lorde moves up the chart from #4 to #2 with her former #1 song "Royals". Must be a Grammy Award bump for the "Song of the Year" winner.

Neon Trees makes a big leap into the top 5 with "Sleeping With a Friend" moving up 7 points from last week's #11 to #4 this week. Could "Sleeping" become the band's next #1 hit. They hit it big in 2010 with their first single "Animal", a track that went all the way to #1 that year.

Three songs make their chart debut: Aer leads the newcomers with their debut single "Says She Loves Me" at #17. At #18 we find our second debut record by Bad Suns. Their single is "Cardiac Arrest". The third debut single is "Turn It Around" by Lucius at #19. We'll see where these tracks go in the coming weeks.

Songs That Went to #1 in 2014

Timber - Pitull featuring Kesha (3)
Unconditionally - Katy Perry (3)

(x) = Total weeks @ #1