John Richards

INXS cover by Beck and St Vincent! Beck described it as, "Annie from St. Vincent takes lead vocal this week and gives everybody the chills with her one take rendition of the album's big hit ballad." Annie described it herself as "I'm doing my best Michael Hutchence meets James Hetfield impression." - bit.ly

Hi John, I remember sometime near the beginning of the pandemic, you opened your show with a special “morning show” edition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, where you blended the original song with the Liverpool fans chanting the song in the background. Would you be able to play that again? This year has been taken it’s toll on me both mentally and financially, so at times when I get too stressed or overwhelmed in the present, I think back to the various travels I’ve had years before the pandemic. One trip that is always on top of my mind is the trip of a lifetime I took last spring to England, where I attended a business conference in Liverpool. I happened to be there during the last game of the EPL season, and while I am not a big soccer fan, I appreciated the significance of how close Liverpool was to winning their first title in many years. I couldn’t afford the 500 Pounds that the ticket scalper wanted outside of Anfield, so I went to a pub next door to the stadium, which was absolutely packed, shoulder to shoulder with diehard Liverpool fans. While the beginning of the game was quite exciting, the atmosphere became muted once it seemed obvious that Man City was going to win their game, thus taking away Liverpool’s chance at the title. While that was the end result, the fans stayed at least a good half an hour singing soccer chants, revving themselves for the upcoming Champions League match to take place in Madrid that next month. I had the opportunity to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone, with my awful American singing voice, in that room full of Liverpool fans before leaving that pub. That day and trip particularly have significance for me because I listened to your show for years before, hearing Pink Floyd’s Fearless a number of times as well as you says “You’re Not Alone”, which isn’t far from You’ll Never Walk Alone. It provides me a happy memory to dwell back upon as we continue to try to make it through 2020. While there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, there is still ways to go before we get to that better place. Thank you for your consideration. Fin from Kent, WA ---- When you walk through a storm // Hold your head up high // And don't be afraid of the dark // Walk on, walk on // With hope in your heart // And you'll never walk alone

Hello Sparkle Motion! Been getting into Arthur Russell recently and stumbled upon a version of Talking Heads Psycho Killer with Arthur’s cello on it. Can you dig it up and well…DIG IT! Thanks! Mike

This updated version of The Clash‘s ‘Rock The Casbah’ featuring Ranking Roger on vocals was released to raise money for Joe Strummer’s charity. joestrummerfoundation.org

Ryan Cordell, an associate professor of English at Northeastern University twitter.com

Good morning John. Liking the playlist a lot. My wife Heather is requesting "Over the Rainbow" Iz version & maybe even Judy Garland? Just want to power through this lockdown Judd

"Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone. The song, released as a double A-side single with "Everybody Is a Star", reached number one on the soul single charts for five weeks, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 19 song of 1970.