Tag Archives: (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night

Music Monday: October 14, 2024

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week’s edition of Music Monday.

Blog image for 2024

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

The Heart of Saturday Night, the second studio album by singer & songwriter Tom Waits, was released on October 15, 1974 on Asylum Records. The title song was written as a tribute to writer Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, better known as Jack Kerouac, the author of one of my all time favorite books, “On The Road”.

It is easy to see the similarities between he and Waits. They both observed and then relayed stories about the invisible and forgotten people of the world. On Day 189 of my Lockdown Countdown, I wrote about “the souls Waits zeros in on and shares with his audience. The ne’er-do-wells, the alcoholics, the hookers, the broken-hearted, the sad sacks, the angry types, the ones wondering where their lives went, the ones haunted by their choices or the ones just broken by life. Waits is their voice. And to me they are all people I want to get to know because, as the saying goes, there but for the grace of God. Waits extends a hand to each of them. And that in and of itself gives us all hope.” I love Waits’ view of the world. I believe Kerouac would, too.

Waits

The cover of Waits’ 1974 album. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Hall & Oates 12th studio album, Big Bam Boom, was released 40 years ago on October 12, 1984. The first single & its fabulous video were released a week earlier and the song hit the #1 spot for one week in Dec 1984. The second single, “Method Of Modern Love”, peaked at #5 in February 1985. The duo has six #1 songs and 16 Top Ten hits in their career to date, which sadly may now be over after 50+ years. The two musicians are currently engaged in a legal battle over Oates allegedly trying to sell his half of the duo’s business without Hall’s required consent. I love these guys and I am seriously hoping they can resolve this matter amicably so we can all see them reunite on “Live From Daryl’s House”. Fingers crossed.

Hall Oates

The cover of the duo’s s 1984 album. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Tom Waits: “(Looking for) The Heart Of Saturday Night” (1974, written by Tom Waits).

Hall & Oates: “Out of Touch” (1984, written by Daryl Hall and John Oates).

Stay safe and well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 266

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Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

kurt v

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day.  And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Today is a celebration of one of the most expressive songwriters music has ever seen. Tom Waits was born 71 years ago on December 7, 1949 in Pomona, California. For nearly 50 years he has bestowed his eclectic stories of the people he observes, the characters he has encountered, the feelings in his heart and his observations of life in his descriptive and ardent lyrics. One of my favorite albums of his was released in 1974 and remains one of his most personal & colorful collections of life, love and the magic & simple joys of the best day of the week.

“Then you comb your hair
Shave your face
Tryin’ to wipe out every trace
Of all the other days
In the week you know that this’ll be the Saturday
You’re reachin’ your peak“.

T Waits

Tom Waits circa 1995. (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Tom Waits: “(Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night” (1974, written by Tom Waits).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.