Music A to Z: D is for…

This week’s Music A to Z blog hop letter is D. Here’s the rules… Use the letter D to create a theme, choose artists or groups whose names begin (or end) with the letter D, and share your five D songs through the blog hop! Simple, right? Hop in!

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This week I’m going with artists/groups.

I love Dire Straits. I love Shakespeare. It would make perfect sense then that Romeo and Juliet would would be my favorite Dire Straits song. And it is!

The “official” video, which I have chosen to include here is hysterical. For a song about passion, it’s utterly and completely passionless. Very 80’s and pseudo-artistic. It’s a hoot!

Back in the day, Bobby Darin was the shit — THE SHIT. He was married to iconic “good girl” Sandra Dee. That’s how much of the shit HE was. Theirs was not a happy marriage, but for a guy from The Bronx who grew up thinking his mother was his sister, he did alright. His first hit was Splish Splash — a kind of a novelty song about, well, taking a bath. Yeah. The song most associated with him, though, is Mack the Knife. He wrote it. He recorded it. It made him more famous than he ever dreamed possible.

Still, I love Beyond the Sea. There’s just something about it that has always appealed to me. It epitomizes the confidence, cool and effortlessness that WAS Bobby Darin. The horns are pretty good, too. Take a listen.

No “D” post about music would be complete without the inclusion of Bob Dylan. I’ll admit that I’ve never been particularly fond of Dylan’s singing voice, but his impact on rock music cannot be denied.

This version of Forever Young is from “The Last Waltz”. It’s Dylan and The Band at their very best.

I know I’m breaking all the rules here, but this Joan Baez song, written by Ms. Baez about Dylan, is one of my all-time favorite songs. Diamonds and Rust says it all. Consider it a bonus track.

Every time I hear Touch Me by The Doors I am stunned by it’s musicality. There’s a lot going on here. Lots of horns, drums, and keyboards, but they are used solely to complement Jim Morrison’s voice. Seriously, it’s an amazing song. Even if you’re not a Doors fan, take a moment to listen and to appreciate this song for what it is — genius.

Duran Duran were in no way ordinary. Yet, it’s their song Ordinary World that I like best. Great lyrics. Awesome guitar solo. And, damn, they were good looking!