This collection of "Falling In Love" songs is pretty straightforward, at first glance. However, it's part 1 of 2. The followup post will be "Heartbreak" songs. So get ready to smile here, but be prepared to frown later. ~ JH
1) Selena ~ "I Could Fall In Love"
2) Landon Pigg ~ "Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop"
3) Jason Castro ~ "Let's Just Fall In Love Again"
4) Kellie Pickler ~ "Makin' Me Fall In Love Again"
5) Céline Dion & Clive Griffin ~ "When I Fall In Love"
6) Earth, Wind, & Fire ~ "Fall In Love With Me"
7) Estelle ft. John Legend ~ "Fall In Love"
8) UB40 ~ "Can't Help Falling In Love"
9) Alabama ~ "How Do You Fall In Love"
10) Eddie Money ~ "Fall In Love Again"
11) Brad Paisley ~ "Two People Fell In Love"
12) Peter Cetera & Amy Grant ~ "Next Time I Fall" (As many times as I've heard this song, I never knew Amy Grant was the female singer! Did you know that?)
13) Alicia Keys ~ "Fallin'"
14) Lila McCann ~ "I Wanna Fall In Love"
15) Gloria Estefan ~ "Falling In Love (Uh-Oh)"
16) The Spinners ~ "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love"
17) Tyler Ward ft. Alex G. ~ "Falling"
18) The Kelly Family ~ "Fell In Love With An Alien"
I thought it would be fun to find a song and/or band named after each state in the Union. Since there are 50 of them, and that takes more time than I have in one day, I'm going to do 10 at a time. Going in alphabetical order, today I will cover Alabama through Georgia. Next time, Hawaii through Maryland. The third installment will include Massachusetts through New Jersey. The fourth will cover New Mexico through South Carolina. And the fifth and final installment will go from South Dakota through Wyoming. I've included a video link for each song and/or band whenever possible. Some states have multiple songs to choose from, and I couldn't decide on one, so I picked two of them. Enjoy!
1) ALABAMA: There's a highly successful country band that goes by the name Alabama. You might've heard of them? They've had a lot of hit songs throughout their career, especially in the 1980s. This was one of those hits...
Then, of course, there's the classic song by the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that you may have heard a time or two...
2) ALASKA: Songs about Alaska are a little harder to find, but they do exist. Here's one by John Denver...
Here's another Alaska song, this one by Johnny Horton...
3) ARIZONA: This one's pretty straightforward. This Kings Of Leon song is simply called "Arizona"...
4) ARKANSAS: I'm not exactly sure what this song has to do with the state of Arkansas, as there aren't any actual lyrics sung, but both the song ("When Electricity Came To Arkansas") and the name of the band (Black Oak Arkansas) contain the state's name, so there you go.
5) CALIFORNIA: There are dozens of songs I could've picked for this massive state, but I narrowed it down to just two. Forgive me if I omitted your favorite California song. First up, The Eagles' "Hotel California"...
Next up, The Mamas & The Papas' classic song, "California Dreamin'"...
6) COLORADO: Another straightforward song here. "Colorado" by The Flying Burrito Brothers (which, incidentally, is an awesome name for a band!)...
7) CONNECTICUT: Songs about Connecticut are apparently few and far between. This one, called "I Live In Connecticut," by the rock band Aerosmith, is a one-minute-long instrumental. Even Aerosmith couldn't find anything good – or bad – to say about Connecticut, I suppose...
8) DELAWARE: Even more obscure, apparently, are songs about Delaware. The only one I could find was a nonsense song by Perry Como which made very bad puns about the names of all the states, and I couldn't bear to post that here. Instead, here's a Norwegian alternative rock band called Delaware singing a song called "Wish For." Quite a good song, actually....
9) FLORIDA: Okay, so this is the most desperate I've been so far to find a song. There just aren't that many songs written about Florida, and many of the ones I did find were either directed politically (and negatively) toward the state and/or contained explicit lyrics, and I didn't particularly want to post those here. Then I remembered that there's a secular rapper who goes by the name "Flo Rida", and that's pretty close to "Florida", right? Well, most of his songs were also explicit. In searching some more, I saw that Flo Rida had rapped on a song by Lady Gaga called "Starstruck" which (surprisingly) didn't contain any explicit lyrics (unless she's using double entendres that I don't understand), and so that's my "Florida song" here. I know it's reaching, but I was in a pinch. Don't listen to it if you don't want to...
10) GEORGIA: Finally, a state with lots of good songs about it! But, like California, I'll limit it to just two here. And they're both classic soul songs! First up, Gladys Knight & The Pips' "Midnight Train To Georgia"...
And last but not least, Ray Charles singing "Georgia On My Mind"...
For most of my life, I have gone back and forth between being a die-hard country music fan to a casual country fan to a country music hater. I'm wishy-washy by nature anyway, but on this matter I have wavered more than usual. Here lately, I've been listening to some of the newer popular country music, but still only occasionally. Which got me thinking, what are some of my... A) favorite country music songs all-time? B) favorite country music artists/bands of all time? and C) which do I like better, classic old-school country music or the country/pop hybrid that's so prevalent today? In predictable wishy-washy fashion, my answer to that last question is "a little of both." In answer to the first two questions, I present this list. Some of the songs below are among my favorite all-time country songs. Some of the artists/bands are my favorites, but the songs I've picked are not. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which. It doesn't really matter either way. Here goes...
1) Keith Whitley ~ "When You Say Nothing At All" Keith's was a voice that country music lost too soon. This song is his legacy, and it's still amazing twenty-some years later.
2) Sara Evans ~ "Born To Fly" You can't help but admire the plucky optimism of Sara Evans. Well, at least I can't.
3) Willie Nelson ~ "Always On My Mind" Politics and weird behavior aside, Willie's one of the best there ever was.
4) Sherrié Austin ~ "Lucky In Love" I think I'm the only person who had this girl's album, but I still remember most of the songs off it after a decade and a half.
5) Johnny Cash ~ "Rusty Cage" Who can take a hard-rock song (originally written and recorded by Soundgarden) and make it his own? Johnny Cash, that's who.
6) Taylor Swift ~ "Speak Now" I know, I know...I'm not a teenage girl, so I shouldn't like this poppy drivel. But I do. I can't help it. The kid cracks me up, and she can carry a tune to boot.
7) Kenny Rogers ~ "The Gambler" The movie's better than the video, but the song's still a classic. You gotta know when...
8) Lady Antebellum ~ "Just A Kiss" Play. Repeat. Play. Repeat. I've got this group on loop on my iTunes as we speak.
9) Ronnie Milsap ~ "Any Day Now" This guy was a favorite of mine and my parents growing up. We even saw him in concert a few times. These days, nobody seems to even remember who he is, though he was quite popular in his day. This video's really lame, but the song's good.
10) Martina McBride ~ "A Broken Wing" Man, can she sing! Get it, girl! (Okay, that wasn't very manly of me. Um...go, Pirates! Or something...)
11) Shania Twain ~ "From This Moment On" Overly commercial? Yeah. Overly poppy? Yeah. Good music? Yeah.
12) George Strait ~ "Amarillo By Morning" This guy has had so many good songs, it's hard to pick just one.
13) Alison Krauss ~ "When You Say Nothing At All" Yes, I know this is a repeat. There's a reason for that, though. Nobody can sing this song like Keith Whitley. No man at least. Alison, on the other hand – well, she's in a league of her own. It's got a completely different vibe than Whitley's original, but Krauss's version is equally as beautiful.
14) Edens Edge ~ "Too Good To Be True" New-wave country pop at its finest. You can keep your Sugarland. I'll take this group any day.
15) Alabama ~ "Song Of The South" Sweet potato pie, and a-shut my mouth! 'Nuff said.
16) Little Big Town ~ "Little White Church" I absolutely love a group that can harmonize really well. This group absolutely can. Really well.
17) Charley Pride ~ "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" One of the few African Americans to achieve great success in country music, Charley Pride has always been one of my favorites.
18) The Judds ~ "Love Can Build A Bridge" Remember what I said before about a group that can harmonize really well? Yeah? Well, it still applies. I loved, loved, loved The Judds back in the day! (P.S. I don't really think you need "cute little 3-D glasses" to enjoy this video/mini-movie.)
19) Lindi Ortega ~ "Little Lie" A little bit country, a little bit alternative, a lot of awesome. Mix well and enjoy!
20) George Jones ~ "He Stopped Loving Her Today" One of the saddest yet most hauntingly beautiful songs you'll ever hear. (Or hear again, if you already know it.)
