Tag Archives: Rhode Island Rock DJ

Jeff Buckley Hallelujah

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One of my favorite songs of all music, Jeff Buckley Hallelujah.  Jeff Buckley Hallelujah was initially written and recorded by Leonard Cohen, released in 1984 and brought back to fame when K.D.Lang sang her version at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver at the 2004 Winter Olympics Games to an estimated 3 million listeners and viewers.  Every version of this song I have enjoyed but, the Jeff Buckley Hallelujah version moves me in a way few songs can.  Jeff Buckley Hallelujah was ranked #259 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. Many artists and composers have pointed to Jeff Buckley Hallelujah and have claimed it is the closest to perfection of any song ever.

Jeff Buckley Hallelujah Mp3

      Hallelujah

It did not enjoy any commercial success when Jeff Buckley was alive but many years later. He died in 1997 and Jeff Buckley Hallelujah gained popularity in 2006 and then went viral in 2008 reaching the top of Billboard’s Hot Digital Songs. Jeff Buckley Hallelujah has been featured in many films and TV shows expressing both the joyful and sorrowful aspects of his rendition.

Jeff Buckley Hallelujah Live Music Video

Cohen himself sang different lyrics live than he recorded on the original studio version. He has embraced the various different versions in style and lyrics that have been recorded and performed since by all the artists interpretation of the song creatively alternative to its original.

dancing through the storm with Jeff Buckley Hallelujah Rhode Island Wedding DJ

As a professional DJ, I play Jeff Buckley Hallelujah whenever it makes sense and fits the energy of the event. I like to play this as a closing song, again in situations where it fits.

K.D.Lang Hallelujah Live Performance at Winter Olympics

{embed]http://youtu.be/rVq0L4kkpKM[/embed]

Here are the lyrics to the 1988 version via Leonard Cohen.

Baby, I’ve been here before.
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you.

Yeah I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch,
But listen, love is not some kind of victory march,
No it’s a cold and it’s a very broken Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, (Hallelujah…)

There was a time you let me know
What’s really going on below,
Ah but now you never show it to me, do you?

Yeah but I remember, yeah when I moved in you,
And the holy dove, she was moving too,
Yes every single breath that we drew was Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Maybe there’s a God above,
As for me, all I’ve ever seemed to learn from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.

Yeah but it’s not a complaint that you hear tonight,
It’s not the laughter of someone who claims to have seen the light
No it’s a cold and it’s a very lonely Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

I did my best, it wasn’t much.
I couldn’t feel, so I learned to touch.
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come all this way to fool you.

Yeah even tough it all went wrong
I’ll stand right here before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my lips but Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

 

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young

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One of the marvels of the technological age in the music industry is the various ways a song can become a hit. Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young went from #48 to #3 on Billboard HOT 100 this week, it is the highest ranking yet for the group Fun..  Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young has been featured on TV shows “Chuck” and “Glee” and was still not a hit. It took a Chevy commercial during the Super Bowl with Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young for this song to receive the notoriety it deserves.

 

I also find it entertaining that folks insult each other over how they found out about the artist or song. To me, the source is not important. If you like a song or found it increased the enjoyment of a TV show, movie or commercial, good for you! Music has the magic of shifting anything into something special with the right song. This is the job of a good professional DJ. We take traditional occasions and turn them into a lasting memory and an event to talk about with excitement. Music can do that.

Fun Wedding Celebration with Bride and Groom with New jersey Wedding DJ Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young is a fun video and creative in its presentation. I appreciate the unique story they tell in the video, while continuing to hold the energy of the Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young. Have fun.

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young Music Video

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young is a song recorded by American band Fun for their second studio album Some Nights (2012). It was released on September 20, 2011 as the lead single from Some Nights. Musically, “We Are Young” is an anthem that incorporates the genres of indie pop, alternative rock, and power pop. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many noting the song as a breakthrough for the indie genre and praising the song’s catchiness. “We Are Young” has attained commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in several countries.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays

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It was on this day in 1979 that Brenda Ann Spencer started shooting at the elementary school across the street from her house. She killed two and wounded nine others. The gun was a .22 that her father gave her for Christmas. When asked why she did it, her response was simple, “I don’t like Mondays”. It was one month later that The Boomtown Rats performed Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays written by bandleader Bob Geldorf for the first time.  He was inspired for Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays during an interview when it hit him, “It was such a senseless act. It was the perfect senseless act and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it. So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it. It wasn’t an attempt to exploit tragedy.”

 Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays Music Video

For several years the radio stations in San Diego, the place of the crime, would not play Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays on the radio to honor sensitive listeners who may not appreciate Geldorf’s peculiar humor.

Rhode Island DJ Dance in sunset Boomtown Rats I Don't Like Mondays

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman

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Roy Orbison was one of our great voices in pop music. He grew-up listening to and playing Rockabilly and Country and Western in Texas.  Between 1960-1964, Orbison had 22 singles place on Billboards Top 40. He was elected into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Bruce Springsteen was his presenter. Roy Orbison Pretty Woman reached #1 on Billboard and stayed there for three weeks.

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman Music Video

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman is a great song that has been covered by many artists and still is today. Roy Orbison Pretty Woman shows up in films including Dumb and Dumber and Pretty Woman, as well as a Van Halen cover in Weird Science. Roy Orbison Pretty Woman has even made its appearance in several Bollywood films.

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman from Film Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts

Roy made a comeback when teaming up with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne to form the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. He died of a heart attack soon after that. His first wife and two of his sons died of separate accidents.

Five years after its release, in 1969, the single was awarded gold record by RIAA. Orbison posthumously won the 1991Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his live recording of the song on his HBO television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. In 1999, the song was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and was named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame‘s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #222 on their list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

Beautiful Bride Dancing with Rhode Island Wedding DJ and Roy Orbison Pretty Woman

Believe it or not, I had the “45” of Roy Orbison Pretty Woman when I was a kid. It was not a hit any more by that time though, but as a child that did not matter to me. Now I still play Roy Orbison Pretty Woman as a professional DJ.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Bush Landslide (Rooftop Version)

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Amazing version #4! I loved Landslide when it was first released by Fleetwood Mac in 1975 written by Stevie Nicks.  I had the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac perform Landslide outdoors twice in the summer of 1977 on their Rumors Tour. I had such a crush on Stevie:)

Fleetwood Mac Landslide Music Video

Then there was an excellent cover by Smashing Pumpkins which took residence in my car CD player for a month or so.

Amazing version #3 was by The Dixie Chicks who had a huge crossover hit with it and I just recently had a request for this version.

Now, Bush has released another version that is equally as forceful and full of Soul and passion!

Bush Landslide (Rooftop Version) Music Video

Stevie Nicks wrote this while debating going back to college or what to do with her romantic and musical partner Lindsay Buckingham. She was gazing out a window in Aspen, Colorado reflecting on her choices, “looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us … at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways.”

Bride and Groom Dance at Wedding with Rhode Island Wedding DJ playing Landslide

Landslide Lyrics 

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
‘Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Oh, I’m getting older too

Oh, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turned around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
Oh, the landslide will bring it down

 

Which is your favorite version of Landslide?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

U2 Beautiful Day

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U2 Beautiful Day. On this day, December 9th, in the year 2000, U2 made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. As much as they are viewed as a commercial band today, that was not always the case. In fact, U2 was a band that started by Larry Mullen, Jr, the band’s drummer at age fourteen. He had posted a flier at his school looking for guys to start a band.  The other three members that are still with the band showed-up along with a few other guys who either chose not to stick with the group or faded away. Their first meeting and rehearsal was in his kitchen. It was not till four years later that they received their first recording contract and were not very successful.

U2 Beautiful Day Music Video

An interesting note about the band. After their second album, The Edge, Bono and Mullen joined a Christian rock band named “Shalom Fellowship” and U2 almost broke-up over the spiritual direction of the band, long before U2 Beautiful Day.

U2 Beautiful Day with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

U2 Beautiful Day is the first track from their 2000 album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and it was released as the album’s lead single. It was a commercial success, helping launch the album to multi-platinum status, and is one of U2’s biggest hits to date. Like many tracks from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, U2 Beautiful Day harkens back to the group’s past sound. The tone of The Edge‘s guitar was a subject of debate amongst the band members, as they disagreed on whether he should use a sound similar to that from their early career in the 1980s. Lead vocalist Bono explained that the upbeat track is about losing everything but still finding joy in what one has.

U2 Beautiful Day received positive reviews, and it became their fourth number-one single in the UK and their first number-one in the Netherlands. The song peaked at number 21 in the United States, the band’s highest position since “Discothèque” in 1997. In2001, the song won three Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The group has played U2 Beautiful Day at every one of their concerts since the song’s 2001 live debut on the Elevation Tour.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate

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This wedding season twice, I have had a request to play Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate at the Recessional at the end of the Ceremony as a Rhode Island Wedding DJ. I enjoyed seeing the couples strutting down the aisle with smiles from ear to ear to Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate. Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate is a great song with such a nice flow to it. Rumor has it Flea asked his wife to marry him to this song.

 Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate Music Video

Many couples today are coming up with unique choices for the music for their Ceremonies and Traditional Dances. I have fun supporting them and offering alternatives as we plan their wedding collectively. It is always their decision but I try offer my professional Wedding DJ experience when desired.

Rhode Island Wedding DJ with Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate

In early October, I was professional Rhode Island Wedding DJ for a wedding. The Bride wanted a different instrumental version of Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate on piano by Klavier. I had not heard this version previously, but once I heard it, I understood why she wanted it. It was perfect for a beach Ceremony with the lighthouse in the background. She looked fantastic and it was like a scene from a movie with Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate playing in the background as they left the beach with the sun beginning to set, as we watched them making their way up the hill. Life is good for the New Jersey Shore Wedding DJ.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Hard To Concentrate Cover by Klavier

      Klavier - Hard to Concentrate

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group’s musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk rock and psychedelic rock. Wikipedia

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Janet Jackson If

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This past Saturday night I felt inspired to put together a Janet Jackson medley while mixing at a professional DJ gig that began with Janet Jackson If. I am surprised she is not played more these days. Her music is so well designed for dancing and creative movement. Her vocals are soft and somehow forceful and sensual simultaneously.

Dancing at Rhode Island Wedding with Rhode Island Wedding DJ Janet Jackson If

Janet Jackson is the first and only artist in history to produce seven top five hits from one album, Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814. In addition to receiving recognition for the innovation in her records, choreography, music videos, and prominence on radio airplay and MTV, she was acknowledged as a role model for her socially conscious lyrics.

 Janet Jackson If Music Video

I remember driving kids in the van we used to pick them up from school to the program I was coordinating at the time. They played Janet Jackson If again and again, and the girls would practice all her dance steps every day while we were getting ready to begin. I got to know every beat of Janet Jackson If without ever choosing to play it or listen to it:) As a long-time fan of Diana Ross and The Supremes and a professional DJ, it inspired me to hear her sample beats from them along with the powerful guitar chords that introduces the Janet Jackson If.

Janet Jackson If Story

“Janet Jackson If deals with a female narrator’s fantasies of being someone’s girlfriend. The track contains a sample from Diana Ross & the Supremes‘ 1969 song “Someday We’ll Be Together“, and is built on a heavy metal guitar riff heard throughout the song. The combination of heavy hip hop/new jack swing beats with an electric guitar and a trip hop sound was a relative departure in sound for Jackson, and an extension of styles she developed on her previous album, Rhythm Nation 1814. A remix of “If” entitled Brothers in Rhythm House Mix appears on Jackson’s 1995 remix album janet. Remixed. The single contains a B-side called “One More Chance”, a cover of a song her brother Randy wrote, produced, and performed for The Jacksons‘ 1984 Victory album.” wikipedia

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Pink Raise Your Glass

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I realize that I am posting the video Pink Raise Your Glass, very late. It occurred to me as a professional DJ, that this is becoming a Rock Classic. Almost every party or wedding that I perform at as a Rhode Island Wedding DJ these days includes this song. It has even made it to 40th and 50th Birthday parties!

 

Pink Raise Your Glass is a great party song with some nice sarcasm mixed-in to the typical Pink high energy rhythms.  It is starting to become rare for Rock songs of the current era to stand the test of time as the Classics of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s did. There are several reasons for this, one being the rise in popularity of Hip Hop, R&B and Country. Pink seems to be one of the artists that may be able to rise above and sustain popularity and her roots for an extended period, partially due to the fact that she appeals to teens, twenties and adults simultaneously. I hope she continues to produce edgy music like Pink Raise Your Glass, that also reaches widespread audiences.

Pink Raise Your Glass Rhode Island Rock Wedding DJ

According to Billboard, Pink was rated No.13 on the list of Artists of the Decade and No.1 Pop Song Artist of the Decade (2000–2009.  Pink has named Madonna and Janis Joplin as two of her biggest musical influences. She stated that “I wanted to do it my way with my career, and I had this arrogant notion that people weren’t just interested in my music but me as a person. That was my bit of arrogance, I guess. That’s something I learned from Madonna. I was a fan right from the first time I heard ‘Holiday'” Of Joplin she expressed: “She was so inspiring by singing blues music when it wasn’t culturally acceptable for white women, and she wore her heart on her sleeve. She was so witty and charming and intelligent, but she also battled an ugly-duckling syndrome. I would love to play her in a movie.”

Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979), known by her stage name Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress. In 2000, she released her first single “There You Go“, from her debut album Can’t Take Me Home. The song was a commercial success, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Having sold over 40 million albums and 70 million singles globally, being a critically acclaimed performer, Pink is often seen as the “underdog” in popular music, for not receiving as mainstream attention as her female pop stars peers. Her career accolades include three Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards and five MTV Video Music Awards, in addition to having eighteen Top 20 Hits on the Billboard charts and three #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2009 Billboard magazine named Pink the #1 pop musician of the decade, and in 2012 VH1 named Pink #10 on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music

British soul singer Adele considers Pink’s performance at Brixton Academy in London as one of “the most defining moments” in her life.

Pink Raise Your Glass Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

John Hiatt Have A Little Faith

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John Hiatt Have A Little Faith has been featured in the films Benny & Joon, Phenomenon, Love Happens, Look Who’s Talking and My Best Friend’s Girl. John Hiatt Have A Little Faith has been covered by many artists including  Joe Cocker, Delbert McClinton, Chaka Kahn and my favorite, Van Morrison. Jewel’s version is the one featured in Phenomenon. 

 

Really this is just a beautiful song- the lyrics, the melody and intensity. It certainly carries a message we all can appreciate.

John Hiatt Have A Little Faith Rhode Island Wedding DJ

 John Hiatt Have A Little Faith Lyrics

When the road gets dark
And you can no longer see
Just let my love throw a spark
And have a little faith in me
And when the tears you cry
Are all you can believe
Just give these loving arms a try
And have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me
Have a little faith in me

And when your secret heart
Cannot speak so easily
Come here darling, from a whisper start
And have a little faith in me
And when your back’s against the wall
Just turn around and you, you will see
I will catch you, I will catch your fall
Just have a little faith in me

Have a little faith in me
Have a little faith in me

‘Cause I’ve been loving you, for such a long, long time
Expecting nothing in return
Just for you to have a little faith in me
You see time, time is our friend
‘Cause for us, there is no end
And all you gotta do, is have a little faith in me
I will hold you up, I will hold you up
And your love, gives me strength enough to
Have a little faith in me
Hey hey
All you gotta do for me girl
Is have a little faith in me

John Hiatt Have A Little Faith Music Video

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ