Songs By Los Angeles-Born Artists

Okay, so I heard this Beck song on the radio the other week, and I wanted to post the music video of it, but couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into a music post. (I'd already included a song by Beck in my "Mononymous Male Singers" post a few weeks back.) So I looked him up on Wikipedia and found out he was born in Los Angeles, and quickly decided that there was my angle. I would do a post of songs by artists born in the city of Los Angeles. It's a lame idea, I'll admit, but it did the trick. So here you have it, a song by Beck and 14 other people who were born in Los Angeles.  Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Beck  ~  "Where It's At"  (He's got two turntables and a microphone...)

2)  Belinda Carlisle  ~  "Heaven Is A Place On Earth"  (Actually, it isn't...but that doesn't mean the song's not good)

3)  Natalie Cole  ~  "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)"  (I like her dad [Nat "King" Cole] a lot – I didn't know Natalie came out with this song)

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKAjcCW_jWQ

4)  David Crosby  ~  "Delta"  (Who needs Stills, Nash, or Young?)

Video wouldn't load properly – clink lick to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVazX6j7nkQ

5)  Zooey Deschanel  ~  "Don't Look Back"  (Technically, the song is by She & Him, but the "She" is Zooey)

6)  Leif Garrett  ~  "When I Think Of You"  (Apparently, this fella was quite the heartthrob in his day...whatever)

7)  Josh Groban  ~  "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"  (Is there any song this guy can't sing well?)

8)  Etta James  ~  "Something's Got A Hold On Me"  (She was a sassy somebody in her youth...and in her old age, actually)

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRajZappq8c

9)  Katharine McPhee  ~  "Say Goodbye"  (It's so hard to say goodbye, though...)

10)  Liza Minnelli  ~  "New York, New York"  (A native Angeleno singing a song about New York...makes perfect sense)

11)  Keb' Mo' ft. Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne  ~  "Just Like You"  (One of the most important songs I've heard in quite a while)

12)  Randy Newman  ~  "You've Got A Friend In Me"  (Anyone who's ever seen Toy Story once – or a thousand times – will recognize Newman's distinctive singing voice...and this song, too)

13)  Elliott Yamin  ~  "Wait For You"  (Good song – I'd sort of forgotten about this one, but I like it)

14)  Gwyneth Paltrow  ~  "Country Strong"  (Country strong, but Los Angeles-bred)

15)  Emily Osment  ~  "You Are The Only One"  (Pretty generic teen-pop-crap by the sister of that creepy kid from The Sixth Sense movie)

A Song For Each Month Of The Year

Not much preamble necessary here. It is exactly what it sounds like it is. Please enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Same Old Story  ~  "The Norm In January"

2)  Josh Groban  ~  "February Song"

3)  Jane Monheit  ~  "Rivers Of March"  (Monheit's my personal favorite among all the jazz singers I've ever heard)

4)  Rufus Wainwright  ~  "April Fools"

5)  Blue Rodeo  ~  "5 Days In May"

6)  Lucy Schwartz  ~  "June"  (One of the best singers in pop music today that nobody other than me has ever heard of...wow, that sounded kinda hipster...sorry!)

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt5s0ptamco

7)  Amy MacDonald  ~  "4th Of July"

8)  Abandon All Ships  ~  "August"

9)  Earth, Wind, & Fire  ~  "September"  (How have I blogged this long and never put an EW&F song in the mix?)

10)  Jet Tangerine  ~  "Something About October"

11)  Miranda Lee Richards  ~  "Early November"

12)  Taylor Swift  ~  "Back To December"

Songs With Directions In The Title, Vol. 1: "Up" Songs

Okay, so since I'm obviously obsessed with doing music posts lately, why don't I just start a whole series of them? (This is where you say, "Hey, what a great idea!" Or don't. Whatever.) This is part one of what will be a five-part miniseries. The unifying theme is that each song contains a direction within the title, whether that be up, down, left, right, or all directions. First up – appropriately – songs with "Up" in the title. I've been compiling the songs for these posts for a while now, and I hope you'll enjoy seeing/hearing them.  ~  JH

1)  Ariana Grande  ~  "Put Your Hearts Up"

2)  Chris Brown  ~  "Don't Wake Me Up"

3)  Josh Groban  ~  "You Raise Me Up"

4)  Yellowcard  ~  "Hang You Up"

5)  Green Day  ~  "Wake Me Up When September Ends"

6)  Andy Grammer  ~  "Keep Your Head Up"

7)  Paula Abdul  ~  "Straight Up"

8)  J-Min  ~  "Stand Up"  (NOTE: If you can't make out most of the lyrics here, it's for good reason – it's in Korean. Still, it's a very good song – whatever they're singing about...)

9)  Paloma Faith  ~  "Picking Up The Pieces"

10)  The Afters  ~  "Lift Me Up"

11)  John Legend & The Roots ft. Common & Melanie Fiona  ~  "Wake Up Everybody"

12)  Laura Bell Bundy  ~  "Giddy On Up"

13)  Foster The People  ~  "Pumped Up Kicks"  (A quick bit of trivia for you: Christian singer Rebecca St. James is married to the bass guitarist in this band)

14)  Technotronic  ~  "Pump Up The Jam"

15)  Kelly Clarkson  ~  "I Do Not Hook Up"

16)  Ben Howard  ~  "Keep Your Head Up"

17)  Amelia Lily  ~  "Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You've Got)"

18)  James Morrison ft. Jessie J  ~  "Up"

19)  Eliza Doolittle  ~  "Pack Up"

20)  Fever Ray  ~  "When I Grow Up"