Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young

One of the marvels of the technological age in the music industry is the various ways a song can become a hit. Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young went from #48 to #3 on Billboard HOT 100 this week, it is the highest ranking yet for the group Fun..  Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young has been featured on TV shows “Chuck” and “Glee” and was still not a hit. It took a Chevy commercial during the Super Bowl with Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young for this song to receive the notoriety it deserves.

 

I also find it entertaining that folks insult each other over how they found out about the artist or song. To me, the source is not important. If you like a song or found it increased the enjoyment of a TV show, movie or commercial, good for you! Music has the magic of shifting anything into something special with the right song. This is the job of a good professional DJ. We take traditional occasions and turn them into a lasting memory and an event to talk about with excitement. Music can do that.

Fun Wedding Celebration with Bride and Groom with New jersey Wedding DJ Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young is a fun video and creative in its presentation. I appreciate the unique story they tell in the video, while continuing to hold the energy of the Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young. Have fun.

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young Music Video

Fun. featuring Janelle Monae We Are Young is a song recorded by American band Fun for their second studio album Some Nights (2012). It was released on September 20, 2011 as the lead single from Some Nights. Musically, “We Are Young” is an anthem that incorporates the genres of indie popalternative rock, and power pop. The song received generally positive reviews from music critics, with many noting the song as a breakthrough for the indie genre and praising the song’s catchiness. “We Are Young” has attained commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in several countries.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Natacha Atlas I Put A Spell On You

One of the most widely covered songs of popular music makes its way to a Belgium singer named Natacha Atlas. I was recently turned-on to her music and have become a fan.  Natacha Atlas finds a way to integrate Hip Hop, Western melodies and Arabic rhythms into driving beats and heartfelt vocals. She is a fun artist for a professional DJ because she can be mixed into so many different genre and situations and feel like it ‘belongs’, especially Natacha Atlas I Put A Spell On You.

Natacha Atlas I Put A Spell On You Music Video

Provious to her solo career, Natacha was a member of Transglobal Underground (TGA) as lead singer and belly dancer for their mixing of Easter and Western beats and rhythms. Before TGA, she was also a lead singer and belly dancer for a Belgium Salsa band.

Natacha Atlas I Put A Spell On You History

I looked up “I Put A Spell On You” to see how many artists have either covered or samples the song and the list is extensive! I acquired the  list from Wikipedia. Of course, the original was by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.

Fun Rhode Island Multicultural Wedding DJ with Natacha Atlas I Put A Spell On You

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Avicii Levels

Avicii Levels is a great song to dance to and the video is hysterical! Tim Bergling known as Avicii or Tim Berg is a a Swedish producer, remixer and professional DJ. He was nominated for a Grammy for “Sunshine” collaborating with David Guetta. He has been a force in helping House music receive recognition here in The USA.

Fun Bride Dancing at Rhode Island Wedding DJ with Avicii Levels

The official music video for the song Avicii Levels was uploaded to YouTube on November 29, 2011. The clip starts with a man in an office environment, talking to a fellow co-worker, when he suddenly starts to dance. He scribbles the word “Avicii” on various surfaces, and dances on tables, while co-workers disapprovingly observe. Later, he gets immobilised by a taser and falls into a coma, where he has a vision of himself pushing a boulder up a mountain while singing the chorus lines. At the hospital, just before he wakes up, a flower sprouts from his mouth, which infects the male nurses looking after him, making them collapse to the ground. At the end of the clip, all the doctors and nurses end up dancing, also presumably infected.

Avicii Levels Music Video

Avicii Levels (stylized as “LE7ELS“) is a song by Avicii, containing the vocal sample from the 1962 gospel-inspired “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” by Etta James, as written by Leroy Kirkland, Pearl Woods and James. A preview of the first version was uploaded on December 18, 2010 on YouTube, and it was called originally ID. Then on March 23, 2011 the definitive version called Levelswith Etta James’s vocal was shot on YouTube. It was officially released on October 28, 2011, and peaked at number one in Sweden and on the Dance music charts in United States, and became a top ten hit in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Flo Rida‘s single “Good Feeling“, which became a worldwide hit in late 2011, was primarily influenced by Avicii Levels.

Avicii Levels and Gotye Somebody That I Used To Know Mash-Up

http://youtu.be/36AkBtLFfEM

What part do you like most?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays

It was on this day in 1979 that Brenda Ann Spencer started shooting at the elementary school across the street from her house. She killed two and wounded nine others. The gun was a .22 that her father gave her for Christmas. When asked why she did it, her response was simple, “I don’t like Mondays”. It was one month later that The Boomtown Rats performed Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays written by bandleader Bob Geldorf for the first time.  He was inspired for Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays during an interview when it hit him, “It was such a senseless act. It was the perfect senseless act and this was the perfect senseless reason for doing it. So perhaps I wrote the perfect senseless song to illustrate it. It wasn’t an attempt to exploit tragedy.”

 Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays Music Video

For several years the radio stations in San Diego, the place of the crime, would not play Boomtown Rats I Don’t Like Mondays on the radio to honor sensitive listeners who may not appreciate Geldorf’s peculiar humor.

Rhode Island DJ Dance in sunset Boomtown Rats I Don't Like Mondays

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

ABBA Happy New Year Song

A refreshing and more intimate ABBA Happy New Year Song for professional DJs and listeners.

ABBA Happy New Year Song Music Video

http://youtu.be/mObouU6xacs

It is a treat to hear a New Year’s song that is not about drinking and partying exclusively like ABBA Happy New Year Song. For me, the passing of the years has been a period of reflection. I have found it interesting that ABBA has made a career of writing songs that have more to them than meets the ear at first listen with positive, cheerful tones. In some ways, similar to how Elton John and Bernie Taupin blended often dark or reflective lyrics to melodies acceptable for popular airplay and sales.

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972, comprising Agnetha FältskogBjörn UlvaeusBenny Anderssonand Anni-Frid Lyngstad. ABBA is an acronym of the first letters of the band members’ first names and is sometimes stylized as the registered trademark ᗅᗺᗷᗅ. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982. They are also known for winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, giving Sweden its first victory in the history of the contest and being the most successful group ever to take part in the contest.

ABBA has sold over 370 million records worldwide and still sells millions of records a year, which makes them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. ABBA was the first pop group to come from a non-English-speaking country that enjoyed consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UKIreland, the U.S.CanadaAustraliaNew Zealand, and South Africa. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

Rhode Island DJ ABBA Happy New Year Song

Happy New Year’s to all!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman

Roy Orbison was one of our great voices in pop music. He grew-up listening to and playing Rockabilly and Country and Western in Texas.  Between 1960-1964, Orbison had 22 singles place on Billboards Top 40. He was elected into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Bruce Springsteen was his presenter. Roy Orbison Pretty Woman reached #1 on Billboard and stayed there for three weeks.

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman Music Video

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman is a great song that has been covered by many artists and still is today. Roy Orbison Pretty Woman shows up in films including Dumb and Dumber and Pretty Woman, as well as a Van Halen cover in Weird Science. Roy Orbison Pretty Woman has even made its appearance in several Bollywood films.

Roy Orbison Pretty Woman from Film Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts

http://youtu.be/B5T1QY9SoX8

Roy made a comeback when teaming up with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne to form the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. He died of a heart attack soon after that. His first wife and two of his sons died of separate accidents.

Five years after its release, in 1969, the single was awarded gold record by RIAA. Orbison posthumously won the 1991Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his live recording of the song on his HBO television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. In 1999, the song was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and was named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame‘s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #222 on their list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

Beautiful Bride Dancing with Rhode Island Wedding DJ and Roy Orbison Pretty Woman

Believe it or not, I had the “45” of Roy Orbison Pretty Woman when I was a kid. It was not a hit any more by that time though, but as a child that did not matter to me. Now I still play Roy Orbison Pretty Woman as a professional DJ.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne

Every year at this time, Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne comes to mind. It is a sad song but touching and beautiful.

 

Dan Fogelberg was a writer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. He died December 16, 2007.  This song was from his most commercially successful album The Innocent Age in 1981. The double-album with three other hits including “Leader Of The Band” was also regarded critically as one, if not his best work.

 Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne Music Video

Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne has that bittersweet feel that suites the New Year’s feeling of reflecting back and looking forward simultaneously not sure what to make of both.

 

Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne references two lovers from long ago who run into each other at a supermarket. They deicide to have a drink together and it ends up to be a six-pack in her car. After the second toast, the conversation runs dry and they say their goodbyes.

Beautiful Rhode Island Wedding with Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne

After Fogelberg’s death, the women Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne was written about came forward and shared her story. She said there were a couple of inaccuracies in his lyrics but mostly true of their high school romance and break-up at departure for college. The liquor store they bought the six-pack is still in business today.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya

I heard Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya first during the opening and closing of the film The Inside Man with Denzel Washington. It blew me away immediately and searched online from South Korea, where I was living at the time, for the Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya to download. It has since been one of my favorite songs to dance and move to. As a professional DJ, I do not have many events where this song can make its appearance.

Chaiyya Chaiyya Inside Job Clip

Like many Indian hit songs, it initially was from the film, Dil Se, and gained popularity from the great music video on the train.  The lyrics are based on a Sufi folk song, originally in Urdu named “Thaiyya Thaiyya” by the poet Bulleh Shah.

Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya ChiayyaMusic Video

The lyrics below are in both English and transliterated for English readers. Beautiful stuff!

Fun Rhode Island Wedding Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya

 Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi Chiayya Chiayya Lyrics

Jinke Sar Ho Ishq Ki Chaaon
He whose head is in the shadow of love

Paanv Ke Neeche Jannat Hogi
Will have heaven beneath his feet

Jinke Sar Ho Ishq Ki Chaaon
Whose head is in the shadow of love

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in heaven

Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Walk in the shadow

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Saare Ishq Ki Chaaon Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in heaven

Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Paanv Janat Chale Chal Chaiya Chaiya
Walk in the shadow

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

Woh Yaar Hai Jo Khusboo Ki Tarah
There’s a friend who is like a sweet fragrance

Jiski Zubaan Urdu Ki Tarah
Whose words are like poetry ( Urdu , the language of poetry )

Meri Shamo – Raat Meri Kaynaat
Who is my evening , my night , my existence

Woh Yaar Mera Saiyyan Saiyyan
That friend is my beloved !

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

Gulposh Kabhi Itraye Kahin
Sometimes ( My beloved ) flirts like a flower

Mehke To Nazar Aa Jaye Kahin
So fragrantly that you may see her scent

Gulposh Kabhi Itraye Kahin
Sometimes ( My beloved ) flirts like a flower

Mehke To Nazar Aa Jaye Kahin
So fragrantly that you may see her scent

Taabeez Banaa Ke Pahnoo Use
Having made it into an charm , I will wear it

Aayat Ki Tarah Mil Jaaye Kahin
She shall be obtained as a miracle is obtained

Taabeez Banaa Ke Pahnoo Use
Having made it into an charm , I will wear it

Aayat Ki Tarah Mil Jaaye Kahin
She shall be obtained as a miracle is obtained

Gulposh Kabhi Itraye Kahin
Sometimes ( My beloved ) flirts like a flower

Mehke To Nazar Aa Jaye Kahin
So fragrantly that you may see her scent

Mera Nagma Wahi Mera Kalma Wahi
She is my song, my declaration of faith ( Kalama: the Muslim confession of faith , as in , “La ilaaha il Allah” – “There is no God but Allah” )

Mera Nagma Wahi Mera Kalma Wahi
She is my song, my declaration of faith ( Kalama: the Muslim confession of faith , as in , “La ilaaha il Allah” – “There is no God but Allah” )

Woh Yaar Hai Jo Imaam Ki Tarah
My friend is like a priest to me

Mera Nagama Nagama
My song…..

Mera Qalama Qalama
My declaration of faith…..

Yaar Misaale Os Chale
She moves like the dew

Panv Ke Tale Firdaus Chale
She walks with the garden of heaven beneath her feet

Kabhi Daal Daal Kabhi Paat Paat
Sometimes through the branches , sometimes amidst the leaves

Main Hawa Pe Dhoondho Uske Nishaan
I shall search the wind for her trail !

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

Main Uske Roop Ka Sedaai
I trade in her beauty

Woh Dhoop Chhaanhon Sa Harjaaii
Fickle , she flits shamelessly from sun to shade

Woh Shokh Rang Badalta Hai
She changes her bright colors

Main Rang Roop Ka Saudaai
I negotiate that as well

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

Woh Yaar Hai Jo Khusboo Ki Tarah
There’s a friend who is like a sweet fragrance

Jiski Zubaan Urdu Ki Tarah
Whose words are like poetry ( Urdu , the language of poetry )

Meri Shamo – Raat Meri Kaynaat
Who is my evening , my night , my existence

Woh Yaar Mera Saiyyan Saiyyan
That friend is my beloved !

Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Chal Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya Chaiyya
Walk in the shadow

 

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Bush Landslide (Rooftop Version)

Amazing version #4! I loved Landslide when it was first released by Fleetwood Mac in 1975 written by Stevie Nicks.  I had the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac perform Landslide outdoors twice in the summer of 1977 on their Rumors Tour. I had such a crush on Stevie:)

Fleetwood Mac Landslide Music Video

Then there was an excellent cover by Smashing Pumpkins which took residence in my car CD player for a month or so.

http://youtu.be/AR42F88-000

Amazing version #3 was by The Dixie Chicks who had a huge crossover hit with it and I just recently had a request for this version.

Now, Bush has released another version that is equally as forceful and full of Soul and passion!

Bush Landslide (Rooftop Version) Music Video

Stevie Nicks wrote this while debating going back to college or what to do with her romantic and musical partner Lindsay Buckingham. She was gazing out a window in Aspen, Colorado reflecting on her choices, “looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us … at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways.”

Bride and Groom Dance at Wedding with Rhode Island Wedding DJ playing Landslide

Landslide Lyrics 

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
‘Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Oh, I’m getting older too

Oh, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turned around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide will bring it down
Oh, the landslide will bring it down

 

Which is your favorite version of Landslide?

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

U2 Beautiful Day

U2 Beautiful Day. On this day, December 9th, in the year 2000, U2 made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live. As much as they are viewed as a commercial band today, that was not always the case. In fact, U2 was a band that started by Larry Mullen, Jr, the band’s drummer at age fourteen. He had posted a flier at his school looking for guys to start a band.  The other three members that are still with the band showed-up along with a few other guys who either chose not to stick with the group or faded away. Their first meeting and rehearsal was in his kitchen. It was not till four years later that they received their first recording contract and were not very successful.

U2 Beautiful Day Music Video

An interesting note about the band. After their second album, The Edge, Bono and Mullen joined a Christian rock band named “Shalom Fellowship” and U2 almost broke-up over the spiritual direction of the band, long before U2 Beautiful Day.

U2 Beautiful Day with Rhode Island Wedding DJ

U2 Beautiful Day is the first track from their 2000 album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, and it was released as the album’s lead single. It was a commercial success, helping launch the album to multi-platinum status, and is one of U2’s biggest hits to date. Like many tracks from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, U2 Beautiful Day harkens back to the group’s past sound. The tone of The Edge‘s guitar was a subject of debate amongst the band members, as they disagreed on whether he should use a sound similar to that from their early career in the 1980s. Lead vocalist Bono explained that the upbeat track is about losing everything but still finding joy in what one has.

U2 Beautiful Day received positive reviews, and it became their fourth number-one single in the UK and their first number-one in the Netherlands. The song peaked at number 21 in the United States, the band’s highest position since “Discothèque” in 1997. In2001, the song won three Grammy Awards for Song of the YearRecord of the Year, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The group has played U2 Beautiful Day at every one of their concerts since the song’s 2001 live debut on the Elevation Tour.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ