Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

A couple of years ago I posted a couple of mixes on the theme of mornings; I have played Any Major Morning Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 many times, especially in the car. I have also test-driven this mix, on the theme of night.

Obviously there are hundreds more songs one could choose; I hope the reaction to this collection will justify a few more mixes on the theme.

The opening track is one of those songs that could work on more than one Any Major Mix. The Nightfly might have gone on to the Any Major Radio mix, or on to the Any Major Road Trip ““ Stage 2 mix (with DJ Lester”s greetings to Baton Rouge).

I enjoy the whole mix, but I love especially the sequence from the Lloyd Cole track to that by the excellent Justin Townes Earle which builds up to the great country cover of AC/DC”s You Shook Me All Night Long by The Twang. The German group specialises in covering pop hits in country and bluegrass fashion. It sounds like a novelty thing, and in a way it is. But these covers are not there to be laughed at, even if it is amusing to hear the lyrics to the Village People hit YMCA (“You can hang out with all of them boys”) or the Ramones” Blitzkrieg Bop set to the sound of country music, and that done well. Some of the covers work better than others “” see how you like You Shook Me All Night Long in a Nudie suit.

Two other songs here are covers: Martha Reeves channels the grumpy Ulsterman, while The Dells cover themselves. They first recorded Oh, What A Night as a doo wop number in 1956; featured here is a reworking of the song from 1969, with Marvin Junior still on lead vocals, sharing them with Johnny Carter, who had replaced original co-singer Johnny Funches in 1960. Poor health by Marvin Junior and fellow founding member Chuck Barksdale ended the band”s run of exactly 60 years in 2012. Marvin died a year later at 77.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-dreamt-up covers. PW in comments.

1. Donald Fagen – The Nightfly (1982)
2. Little Feat – Walkin” All Night (1973)
3. Barry Ryan – Loneliest Night of the Year (1972)
4. Paul McCartney – Every Night (1970)
5. Carole King – A Night This Side Of Dying (1974)
6. Lamont Dozier – Let Me Start Tonite (1974)
7. Martha Reeves – Wild Night (1974)
8. The Dells – Oh What A Night (1968)
9. The Walker Brothers – Saddest Night In The World (1966)
10. Sammy Davis Jr. – Night Song (1964)
11. Nancy Sinatra – The City Never Sleeps At Night (1965)
12. Sammi Smith – Help Me Make It Through The Night (1971)
13. Buckingham Nicks – Crying In The Night (1973)
14. Bruce Springsteen – Prove It All Night (1976)
15. Nils Lofgren – Night Fades Away (1981)
16. Everything But The Girl – The Night I Heard Caruso Sing (1988)
17. Missy Higgins – Nightminds (2004)
18. Lloyd Cole – Late Night, Early Town (2003)
19. Richard Hawley – The Nights Are Made For Us (2003)
20. Neil Diamond – Save Me A Saturday Night (2005)
21. Justin Townes Earle – One More Night in Brooklyn (2010)
22. Thompson Square – If It Takes All Night (2011)
23. The Twang – You Shook Me All Night Long (2003)

GET IT!

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