Tune In Thursday: The Farm

I don't even remember where or when I first discovered "All Together Now." But there's just something very interesting for me about the chorus and the instrumentation. I don't have any profound thoughts on it -- this isn't a song I'm in love with or deeply connect to (though the lyrics are interesting too). It's just cool to listen to.

Tune In Tuesday: Superchic[k]

I was a big fan of Christian pop punk band Superchic[k]'s first two albums. They morphed after those two in a different direction that kind of lost what I liked about them in the first place, but those first two are great albums. This is one of my favorite songs from their second album, "One and Lonely," though this one is more mellow pop than pop punk. This song does what Superchic[k] does best: acknowledges insecurities and loneliness while still being like "you will be fine because you are AWESOME!"

Tune In Tuesday: Cinderella

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is easily my favorite show they did together. This song from today is the prince's mournful ballad "Loneliness of Evening," a song originally written for the R&H show South Pacific. The song was added to the 1965 TV version of the show and was also incorporated into the 2013 Broadway cast in a completely different part of the show. It's a very pretty little song, sung here by Stuart Damon of the 1965 cast.


(I'm also blogging today over at Flickchart.com about the 2015 movie adaptation of The Last Five Years. Check it out here -- please comment or pass it on or both!)

Tune In Thursday: Seussical

Sometimes Seussical is thought of as just a kids' musical, but it's one of my favorites. It's got entertaining songs and a heartwarming story, tying together various Dr. Seuss stories perfectly. This song, "Biggest Blame Fool," is sung by the various creatures of the jungle after they discover Horton believes there are tiny people living on a speck of dust he found. It's a big soulful power number, and it's awfully fun to sing along with.

Tune In Tuesday: The Beatles

As much love as The Beatles get, this is one of my favorites that doesn't get as much love: "Fool on the Hill." I actually first discovered it when it heard it in the opening credits of the movie Dinner for Schmucks. It was by far the best thing to come out of my time viewing that movie.

Tune In Thursday: Lady Gaga

I do love Lady Gaga's stuff, and this song won't be new to anyone who's paid even a little bit of attention to new music in the last couple of years. It's "Born This Way," and it's a fun power anthem. I'm including the audio version instead of the music video because, um, the music video version is like seven minutes later, and I'm just seldom up for Gaga's lengthy artsy music videos. (Though I do think the video for "Bad Romance" is pretty brilliant.)

Tune In Thursday: Chicago

That's Chicago the musical, not the band. Just to make it clear. Specifically, the song "Roxie," which is a really entertaining tune from the show, sung by Roxie Hart about all the fame she imagines she will have someday. It also gets stuck in my head all the time, so now it can get stuck in yours!

Tune In Tuesday: Music and Lyrics

This very silly movie included some very, very silly songs -- most notably "Pop! Goes My Heart," which I present for you in all its glory here. I don't think it needs much more of an introduction. Just enjoy.

Tune In Tuesday: 13

Jason Robert Brown is one of my very favorite songwriters. His songs are beautiful, funny, and profound. 13 is often regarded as one of his less prestigious shows, and that's understandable. It's about a group of pre-teens and their lives. All the cast members (and in the original Broadway run, all the members of the pit as well) were young teens. This cast recording took me awhile to get into, as it's definitely... lighter than his earlier ones. But a few listens later, and I'd fallen in love with this one too.

"The Lamest Place in the World" is one of my favorites to sing along to. The central character of 13 is a boy who moves from Manhattan to central Indiana, and he hates it. This song is sung by a girl who befriends him, introducing him to his new hometown -- she clearly isn't that fond of it either. As someone who grew up in the Midwest her whole life, I can definitely relate.

Tune In Thursday: Bette Midler

I missed Tuesday! But here's a song for today. Man, this song has really strong memories associated with it. This song was the music we used for one of my very favorite skits in the drama company: "Hello In There." The skit went right along with the song -- it was about an old woman whose husband was old and sick and non-responsive, and a delivery boy (or girl, depending on who was on the team) who was the only person she ever really had contact with. The skit was beautiful and sad and one of my favorites to perform in. (I actually played all three female roles during my time traveling -- the old woman, the delivery girl, and the woman's imagined younger self.)

So here's that song.

Tune In Thursday: Swingfly

I couldn't tell you where I found "Me and My Drum," because I genuinely have no idea. But it's so cheerful and happy and a LOT of fun to listen to, and now you can listen to it too! And that's about all the intro I have for this one.

Tune In Tuesday: The King and I

This one was cut from the movie, but "I Have Dreamed" is possibly my favorite song from The King and I, and it was on the very first Unrequited Love Showtunes CD. It's a simple, lovely ballad, which are the only Rodgers and Hammerstein songs I tend to like, and this one just has a beautiful melody to it. Here it is sung by Douglas Sills at a Rodgers & Hammerstein PBS tribute concert.

Tune In Thursday: Beauty and the Beast

Let's have a fun song today from my favorite Disney movie. "Belle" opens the film and the musical, and it's a great way to introduce us to the main character, giving us both her own perception of herself and how everyone else perceives her.

Tune In Tuesday: Journey

Well, uh, I'm pretty sure everyone already knows this song, so just enjoy it. Unless you're my husband, in which case, you don't have to enjoy it.

Tune In Thursday: Relient K

I had another song chosen, but it's Christmas today, so I figured I should choose a Christmas song.

So here's one of my favorites: "I Celebrate the Day" from Relient K's pretty awesome holiday album "Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer."

Tune In Tuesday: The Fantasticks

The Fantasticks is a beautiful little show about love and adventure and finding your dreams. The basic plot is of two young people who fall in love, but one keeps coming back to the big romantic dreams she's planned for herself, and she must decide whether she will be satisfied settling down and getting married. "Soon It's Gonna Rain" happens in the show's first act, when the two are beginning to fall in love.

Tune In Thursday: Camelot

Today's song is "I Loved You Once In Silence" from the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, based on the legend of King Arthur. It's no My Fair Lady, but it does have some good songs, including this one. In this song, Queen Guenevere has fallen in love with Lancelot and the two of them have been having an affair. She talks about how sad it was loving him unrequitedly before she knew he loved her back, and then compares it to how much worse it is now, knowing that they're going to inevitably hurt Arthur. The song has her realizing that there will be no happy ending to this story at this point (and there isn't). The music to this song is really gorgeous. Here is Julie Andrews from the original Broadway cast performing it.

Tune In Tuesday: Aida

Today's song is "A Step Too Far" from the Disney musical Aida. This song is sung by three different characters: the princess Amneris, the slave Aida, and the soldier Radames. Radames and Aida are in love, but he's engaged to Amneris, so things are a little tricky here, and the three sing about, well, how weird life is and how none of them are really happy.

I have two versions of the song, and the women in both are played by Sherie Rene Scott and Heather Headley, but Radames is played either by Broadway cast member Adam Pascal or show composer Elton John. I prefer Adam, so you're getting this live version that the original Broadway cast performed on The View back in 2000.

Tune In Thursday: Nichole Nordeman

Nichole Nordeman has been one of the few contemporary Christian artists that I've liked since she started. Her lyrics are thoughtful and reflective and not at all afraid to touch on the darker, more melancholy side of life (something that is tremendously important for me). "To Say Thanks" is from her first album, Wide Eyed, which was a little bit darker than her later ones, and this is one of the darker songs, just about how difficult it is to praise God sometimes.

Tune In Tuesday: Bowling for Soup

Bowling for Soup is probably going to come up a lot, as they're one of my favorite bands -- a pop punk group that has a tendency to sing cynical and cranky songs that sound ever so cheerful. "I Don't Wish You Were Dead Anymore" is about (kind of) getting over an ex -- at last to the point where you're not as angry with them as you had been. I enjoy it. It's fun and silly and upbeat.