I have been posting the songs included on each episode of Life on Mars (although I missed last week). I am including a list of last night’s songs, plus a pick for song of the day that was from last week’s episode.
On top of this, I would love people to check out two sights. My friend Wrekehavoc has been posting every day this month for National Blog Posting Month (nablopomo). She always has a theme for things like this and she has chosen blatantly bad 70s music. Check it out, it’s fun. On the other hand, if you would like to hear blatantly GOOD 70s music, go to the Life on Mars website and they have a 70s radio stream, playing great songs from the 70s.
Anyway, here are last night’s songs.
Sweet Lucy by The Propositions
Sweet Lucy
We’re an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad
[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo6HONeuT-M]
Going to Make a Time Machine by The Majestic Arrows
Tuesday’s Dead by Cat Stevens
[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0a-1e6Xktk]
And my pick for song of the day is from last week’s episode. The episode was about race relations in the 1970s which of course is a very difficult topic, but I think they played it fairly well. In 1954 David Arkin (father of Alan and grandfather of Adam) and Earl Robinson wrote a song as a response to the landmark decision of the US Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. This was the decision that overturned the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson and others by declaring the establishment of separate public schools or black and white students unconstitutional. It stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
The song that these men wrote was called Black and White. It was first recorded by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957 but became a number one hit when Three Dog Night recorded it in 1972. This song was in many ways as landmark as the Supreme Court decision, especially the version by Three Dog Night. This was a group of white people singing about racial equality in 1972. Something that till that time was unheard of. I cannot say that the song had any major impact in of itself, but I can say that it was due to people like this that helped to change the world and bring racial equality to a time when a black person can be elected President of the United States.
Enjoy!
[youtube= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVCTyRqePQc]