J IS FOR J-names

For each letter of the A to Z, I'm going to give you a KEYWORD. You post in the comments a song with that word in the title. I will give you one to start (along with a video). If you like, you can go to YouTube and embed your video in the comments, so that readers can also listen to your song. No repeats and only post one song so that everyone can participate. If you're just brimming with songs, come back in a few days and lay it on me! If you want to see who else is participating in the A to Z click here.

You guys (with some exceptions) struggled a bit more with yesterday's word, If, than I'd have liked. I suppose it was bound to happen. (Just wait until we get to X and Z... whooey!) Anyway, here are the songs you thought of with If in the title:

Michele: If by Bread 

Ericka: If You Leave by OMD

Mary (who rocked this keyword!): If I Were A Boy by Beyonce 

and If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof 

and If Tomorrow Never Comes by Garth Brooks

Stephen T. McCarthy: If You Leave Me Now by Chicago

Jeffrey: If I Had A $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies

Andrea: If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher

Alex (who just ditched the keyword and went with "I"...ha!): Illumination Theory by Dream Theater

Robyn: If I Can't Have You by The Bee Gees

Debbie The Doglady: If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot

ABFTS: Scat Me If You Can by Scatman John

D.G. Hudson: If I Didn't Care by The Inkspots

Dixie: If I Were A Carpenter by Tim Hardin

Rosey: If You Asked Me To by Celine Dion

Mich: If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray

Robin (yes, me again): If I Die Young by The Band Perry 

and If Everyone Cared by Nickelback and If I Didn't Know Any Better by Alison Krauss

 

If you can think of more songs from previous letters and WANT to post them now, feel free to go back and add them:)

It's a new day and a new letter!

What is the KEYWORD?

We're going to do something different with the letter J. For those of you who've read this blog for some time, you know that people with names beginning with "J" feature prominently in my life. Turns out, lots of songs are out there with names that begin with "J." Any song with a name that begins with "J" goes. I think there are so many of these that you can post two right from Go.


I present to you....Just Like Jesse James by Cher.




You can comment with a song or embed the video by copy/pasting the code in the search bar. Thanks for playing along!


Special thanks to Arlee Bird and the A to Z team who make this possible!

Arlee Bird @ Tossing it Out
Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh
Jeremy Hawkins @ Hollywood Nuts
Damyanti Biswas @ Daily Write
Heather M. Gardner @ The Waiting is the Hardest Part
Author AJ Lauer
Pam Brown Margolis @ An Unconventional Librarian
Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored Diary
Joy Campbell @ The Character Depot
John Holton @The Sound of One Hand Typing

JUST LIKE SUMMER OF HEAVEN

Today is that magical music Saturday I promised. Yeah, we ride this merry-go-round every Saturday just because. Just because it's fun. I have a few newbies for this Saturday, so this is the dish on this event: every Saturday I pick one 80s artist who impacted MTV. That means they rode MTV or MTV rode them to success. MTV was this magnificent vehicle for the artists who figured out how to harness it. As a teenager when MTV came out, I can attest that it was very much like crack cocaine to the teenage brain. I can't tell you how many hours I spent glued to the set watching video after video. So, it is safe to say that MTV in its heyday was a success. Music Television. MTV has forgotten its roots and has taken the M out of the TV, so we are reliving its glory days here.

The other part of what happens today is that I pick a song that speaks to me today. I usually end up picking said song today. I picked a song by Cher about a month ago, and said something like you should never count Cher out of The Game. As soon as you do, she is back In. I recently went to see The Easy A (hilarious movie if you are going to just zone out and laugh), and there was a preview for the movie Burlesque.... starring Cher and Christina Aguilera. I did an internal high five with myself. Yep. She's back and hotter than ever. So, prepare yourself for some Cher awesomeness because she is about to blast us into space again. This woman just gets better all of the time. When I decided I wanted to be Cher when I was seven, at least I chose well. She has got it all. So, here she is with one of my favorites. It is designed to get all of your senses heightened so that you are fully prepared for the onslaught of magnificence headed your way. Okay, hit it...




Okay, so on the days that I don't want to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I still want to be Cher. Man, she can SING. I can't wait for her new movie because she can also ACT like nobody's business. And DANCE. The woman is a triple threat. The trifecta. She probably really is a vampire slayer in her free time. Okay, got to move on...

Well, there are always so many artists to choose from that I have trouble narrowing the field. I decided on (drumroll please) Bryan Adams. I almost went with John Cougar Mellencamp. That might be next week. The only thing that prevented that this week was my including one of his videos in my Thursday lineup. It just gave me a taste for some John Mellencamp. And then last night we went to the local pizza joint for dinner and they had karaoke in there. OMG. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't done any karaoke in forever. So... I took the plunge again and again and again. I even sang a John Mellencamp song. Yeah, it was on the brain. But, it made me think about Bryan Adams. They all came out about the same time. And then I remembered the video for this song, which is one of my favorites...



Which made me think of this video. Anyone look familiar?




Now that is exactly the sort of deliciousness that made teenagers want to just jump up and down and scream for more. What happened next? Well, my fellow youtube addicts... I am not telling. You will have to go searching yourself to see if they ever answered that story, or if it all just disappeared into the mist. However, the strategy was brilliant. Everyone was waiting for the next Bryan Adams video. It was better than a soap opera. And it was this sort of brilliance that shot Bryan Adams to the top of the music charts. Not saying he isn't a great singer, or that the songs weren't awesome, but just that he is the whole package. People who are smart enough to use everything that they have and make it all work for them deserve to come out on top. They are THINKING. Rolling concert footage of yourself is just lazy. Gimme some genius. Thank you Bryan Adams for that blast to the past. And thank you MTV for the good ole days. You might think about revisiting them in the present and cut out the reality crap. Everyone has enough reality in their actual life. It is called MTV for a reason. Just sayin'.