"Young" & "Old" Songs

Here's something new – well, not really. It's another "Opposites" music post. But I've never done these particular opposites before, so there ya go. Sorry, One Direction fans – you won't find the "Live While We're Young" video here. Mainly because the song, despite the fact that it has more than 250 million views on YouTube, is fairly horrible. In this blogger's opinion, at least. Hopefully you'll enjoy the good songs that are collected here, though.  ~  JH

1)  Fun. ft. Janelle Monáe  ~  "We Are Young"

2)  The Judds  ~  "Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days)"

3)  Lana Del Rey  ~  "Young And Beautiful"

4)  The Civil Wars  ~  "Same Old Same Old"

5)  The Naked And Famous  ~  "Young Blood"

6)  Queen  ~  "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"

7)  Hollywood Undead  ~  "Young"

8)  Barenaked Ladies  ~  "The Old Apartment"

9)  Brandon Flowers  ~  "Only The Young"

10)  Rednex  ~  "Old Pop In An Oak"

11)  3 Doors Down  ~  "When You're Young"

12)  Blake Shelton  ~  "Ol' Red"  (Ol', not Old – close enough)

13)  Lucy Schwartz  ~  "When We Were Young"

14)  Four Tops  ~  "It's The Same Old Song"

15)  Peter Bjorn And John ft. Victoria Bergsman  ~  "Young Folks"

16)  George Strait  ~  "The Seashores Of Old Mexico"

17)  Laleh  ~  "Some Die Young"

18)  Anna Cate  ~  "This Old Radio"

19)  Slick Rick  ~  "Hey Young World"

20)  Lenka  ~   "We Will Not Grow Old"

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"

Not All Music Is Garbage!: A Few Overlooked Gems Amid A Sea Of Mediocrity

There are two things I hate about the music industry:
• That so many artists get lots of attention that they don't deserve.
• That so many artists don't get lots of attention who do deserve it.

It's that second group – the undiscovered or overlooked gems amid a sea of mediocrity – that I want to focus on here. I will concede, to begin with, that all music is extremely relative. What I love, you may hate. What you adore, I may despise. But this is my blog, and it's not my job to decide what you like, only to share with you what I like.

I should also mention, in case you miss the obvious, that I tend to enjoy listening to female singers more than males. Always have, probably always will. That being said, here are 10 of my favorite "gems", in no particular order...Enjoy!


1)  Zee Avi – "Bitter Heart"

2)  Lucy Schwartz – "Life In Letters"

3)  Kina Grannis – "Valentine"

4)  Maia Hirasawa – "Gothenburg"

5)  Meaghan Smith – "I Know"

I Know – Link To The Video (wouldn't display properly) 

6)  Meiko – "Under My Bed"

7)  Priscilla Ahn – "Dream"

8)  Corinne Bailey Rae – "Like A Star"

9)  Sophie Madeleine – "Take Your Love With Me"

10)  Stacy Clark – "Not Enough"