Willie Simpson

Tag: folk pop

  • My Album, Funeral Business, Free to Play on YouTube

    My album of original music, Funeral Business (featuring Andrew Lee), has been available for purchase for some time. Well, now is the time when you can just listen to the whole thing for free on youtube. You can click here to get to my youtube webpage and subscribe, but below I am also putting all the…

  • The Beatles, Long, Long, Long

    To paraphrase George Harrison, “the “you” in the song, is God.”  Gaining this insight gives the song even more creepy mysticism.  “Long, Long, Long,” from the “White Album,” is officially one of my favorite Beatles songs.  Like many people growing up with the Beatles, I wasn’t a fan of the song until I got much…

  • Willie Simpson, Another Broken Heart (pt. 7)

    I wrote this song last fall, recorded it in the winter, started the music video in the spring, and put it away till..well…today.  The reason it’s the 7th part is because it took 7 mixes for me to get it just right.  Musically, this song was inspired by John Lennon’s “Julia,” and George Harrison’s “Not…

  • Bob Dylan, Idiot Wind (Live)

    I’m not ready to leave this concert from May 23rd, 1976 at Hughes Stadium.  For this segment, Bob is leading his band through a scorching rendition of “Idiot Wind,” another track from Blood on the Tracks.  This live version is especially nasty the way Dylan just bashes his electric guitar and snarls every lyric.  The…

  • Bob Dylan, Shelter From the Storm (Live)

    The year was 1976, and Bob Dylan was in Colorado at Hughes Stadium singing one of his greatest songs ever, “Shelter From the Storm.”  Originally from Blood on the Tracks, the song was being filmed and recorded for Bob’s live record Hard Rain.  “Shelter From the Storm” is one of Bob’s most enduring poems.  Its…

  • The Rolling Stones, Play With Fire

    “Play With Fire,” a 1965 B-Side by the Stones, was credited to Nanker Phelge, a pseudonym the Stones used when they attributed the songwriting to all the members.  Still, its mainly the work of Jagger and Richards, with Phil Spector on bass oddly enough.  In fact, Mick and Keith are the only Stones to appear…

  • The Top Ten Most Played Songs on my iPod

    Did you know that when you plug your iPod into your computer, iTunes can arrange your iPod’s mp3s by plays, from most played to least? It’s pretty fascinating to see what you’ve been listening to exclusively, and how many thousands (yes thousands of times) you’ve clicked play on certain songs. Well, I’d thought it’d be…

  • Willie Simpson, Sip From Your Fork

    Another live show, this time me playing an original.  Sip From Your Fork, written when I was 22, never properly recorded.  A damn fine set of lyrics. It was clearly your fault, you are locked in a vault and what’s worse you have swallowed the key You are covered in sleet and you are in…

  • The Magnetic Fields, Grand Canyon

    In part 43 of my youtube countdown, I present to you the Magnetic Fields singing “Grand Canyon,” one of their great songs off their epic 69 Love Songs album.  The Magnetic Fields are the brainchild of serially depressed genius Stephin Merritt.  To me, Stephin is lyrically as brilliant as Bob Dylan..yes, I know what I…

  • George Harrison, Paul Simon, Here Comes the Sun

    For part 38 of my youtube countdown, I have another fantastic George Harrison duet.  This time its with Paul.  No not McCartney, but SIMON!  This version of George and Paul tackle George’s incomprehensible 1969 stunner, “Here Comes the Sun.”  The occasion was Saturday Night Live and the results were breathtaking.  George hits all his acoustic…