John Richards

Good morning, happy Monday, and welcome to the Morning Show with John Richards. --- Nick Cave mentioned in an interview that the [original] video was really hard to shoot because he was just released from rehab and his body felt beaten up. He also had fallen in love and moved to Brazil to be with Viviane Carnerio, the mother of his son Luke. Watch that video and then see several live performances: therumpus.net

These two lovely voices covered Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" from 1995's " The Bends." Bridgers takes lead on vocals, with rising UK artist Parks accompanying on piano and adding harmonies. It was recorded in a London church for BBC Radio 1’s Piano Sessions.: liveforlivemusic.com

"With an almost ridiculous sense of optimism, vocalist Jenny Lewis happily bobs her head to the catchy beat, idly singing “Ba…ba…ba…ba.” (Meanwhile, the “ba’s” likely refer to the sound our bodies make when they “finally go.”) Read a review of the video for this cheery, but dystopian tune.: blogs.baruch.cuny.edu

“Her Revolution/His Rope” is a limited-edition (300 pressings--!) 12-inch vinyl with two new tracks from the trio, available only at a few London record stores. It got out on Youtube quickly. --- This is the second collaboration from Yorke, Burial and Four Tet, coming nine years after the release of their double track released "Ego"/"Mirror."

This song may have launched the trip-hop movement. It was the lead single off Portishead's 1994 debut album, "Dummy." Listen to Beth Gibbons' voice as you watch the official video: www.youtube.com

This is a 3-track standalone digital release, presenting two brand-new songs from Valerie June, "Stay" and "You And I" along with the instrumental interlude, "Stay Meditation." "Can beauty be found in the impermanence of each moment? With our numbered days here, “Stay” is a song that encourages us to live fully without regrets. At the close, a short, reflective meditation allows us to steal just a few seconds of stillness before returning to the busy world.: valeriejune.bandcamp.com --- Check out Valerie June performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded June 2, 2017. bit.ly

Hey John, I'm nearing the end of writing the manuscript to "Brick...House," a sci fi memoir from an aging Gen Xer who uses a time travel music app powered by his nostalgia to try to save his mom but has to save the world instead. I like to describe it as "Hot Tub Time Machine" meets "Terms Of Endearment." Anyway, it's really bittersweet completing this newest novel. Anyway, just as I needed it, you provided "The Ship Song" and Phoebe Bidgers' version of "Fake Plastic Trees." That really worked for me. Thank you. Sincerely, Michael Juge from Houston, TX -- This is actually two songs in one (the clue's in the title!). "Fly Boy Blue" is a stream of consciousness images of travel and coming home. "Lunette" is not only a first draft lyric, but also a one-take vocal too. "It's a love song to three things," Garvey said. "Smoking, drinking and a woman. If it just had pasta in there it would be complete! Though, actually," he added, very seriously, "I have an aversion to food in songs. I just do." : www.youtube.com

Good Morning John, If it fits, can you please play Phosphorescent's C’est La Vie No. 2? Cheers from a chilly TO and stay well. Blair --- Ohhh...it was wonderful when Matthew Houck and Phosphorescent performed this song live for KEXP listeners in 2018: www.youtube.com

In 2013, "Nutshell" was ranked No. 9 on Rolling Stone's readers' poll "The 10 Saddest Songs of All Time". The lyrics were written by vocalist Layne Staley. Bassist Mike Inez said, "Layne was very honest with his songwriting. And in "Nutshell," he really put everything in a nutshell for everybody. That song still gets me choked up whenever I play it. I get a little teary-eyed, and sometimes when we're doing the arena runs especially, they'll have some video footage of Layne. And I look and see me and Jerry [Cantrell, vocals and guitar] and Sean [Kinney, drums] looking the wrong way. We're not looking at the audience, we're looking back at Layne, and it's pretty cool that there's still that song for us. Yeah, it's just a sad thing." --- Alice in Chains performed "Nutshell" live on MTV Unplugged: www.youtube.com

The Highwomen are made up of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires. On this live version of the Fleetwood Mac cover, they are backed by Jason Isbell and brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth on acoustic guitars. Don't miss Shires' soaring fiddle accompaniment to this song: www.youtube.com

This cover of the Soundgarden classic was backed with "Black Hole Sun" and was released on September 26th as part of Record Store Day. The collaboration brought Carlile and her backing band together with Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron.

"The song is iridescent. Depending on your perspective, the colors change. It can be unsettling, uplifting, soothing, even scary. Or all of those at once. It’s a five-minute-and-18-second psychedelic journey—bifurcated and then ripped in half by a Thayil solo...." Rad about the making of Soundgarden's biggest and most enduring hit: www.theringer.com

Good morning John! I'm a Seattle native who's lived on the East Coast for a couple decades now. Without fail, every year since I moved away, I've come back to spend the holidays with my parents and sister, and connect with dear old friends. It's now become a cherished tradition for my husband and my 11-year-old daughter, too. Last night, we made the final decision to cancel our travel plans for this year. It definitely feels like the responsible thing to do, but it's still a big blow. Could you play Shipwrecked by Sky Cries Mary? It reminds me of old college friends and times, and I'll certainly be feeling like I've "been gone too long" when 2021 rolls around. Best, Wendy --- Sky Cries Mary was a Seattle band formed in the late 1980s by Roderick Wolgamott and Ben Ireland. The video for "Shipwrecked" was directed by Seattle singer Barbara Ireland: www.youtube.com

Today is my daughter Madeleine’s birthday. We’re very happy because she is now home with us in NYC from Montréal. We did not see her for nearly 9 months since the pandemic started and the borders were closed. Could you please play “Lucky Man” by The Verve. I believe it was released in 1997 (the year of Madeleine’s birth). If that doesn’t work, please pick another awesome song from that time. I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you for all that you do! All the best, Jeanne -------- Richard Ashcroft said, ""The definitive Richard Ashcroft song will be when the cream of a particular emotion or a particular scenario in the human condition plays out, and that song mirrors it... So, if it happens to be 'Lucky Man' for that feeling of transcendence, of liberty within yourself, your body, your partner in life, you can actually fleetingly feel that moment and you want to put it in a bottle. And that's what music's about. It should be about capturing those moments for yourself and then the listener can put it on over and over again, if they want."

This song was based on the '60s surfer/financial criminal Miklos "Miki" Dora. Damon McMahon (Amen Dunes) said, "Miki Dora was arguably the most gifted and innovative surfer of his generation and the foremost opponent of surfing’s commercialization. He was also a lifelong criminal and retrograde: a true embodiment of the distorted male psyche. He was a living contradiction; both a symbol of free-living and inspiration, and of the false heroics American culture has always celebrated. With lyrics of regret and redemption at the end of one’s youth, the song is about Dora, and myself, but ultimately it is a reflection on all manifestations of mythical heroic maleness and its illusions." --- John selected this song as a free KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org

The song was supposedly inspired by a Myra Poleo story called The Dark Power of Ritual Pictures ... except that there is no such story or author. Cure fans have pointed out that Myra Poleo is an anagram for Mary Poole (Robert Smith's wife), for what it is worth. Smith has also stated that the inspiration for the song came after a fire damaged his house, and left him looking through old photographs from his wallet. Whatever the source, "Pictures of You" remains a haunting, sad and romantic song.

"Brandon Williams' first new material since releasing last year's Home Made Satan features studio vet Makeda Francisco on backup vocals and finds the pair singing about a sense of optimism for the future in the midst of the trash fire that has been the year 2020." You can purchase this anthemic delight here: chastitysongs.bandcamp.com

Revisit when the local group stopped in to KEXP for a live performance in 2017 here: www.youtube.com

"Follow the light...Hold it in your hand...Our love belongs among the stars...Expanding from within...": genius.com --- This track was inspired by the love affair between writer Ann Druyan and her late husband, the American cosmologist Carl Sagan. The Avalanches' Robbie Chater said, ""When we were in the studio, I told him [Leon Bridges] the story about Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan and how her lovestruck brain waves were sent out into space on the Voyager’s Golden Record. And this song came out of that." bit.ly

Mark Hollis, founder and lead singer for Talk Talk, passed away in February 2019 at the age of 64. Read our tribute to him here: www.kexp.org

Good morning John. I hope all is well with you this morning. How about "Reckoner" by Radiohead or whatever cover of it you would like. -Judd ---- Radiohead's 2008 record "In Rainbows" pulls its title from the lyrics of "Reckoner." Because we separate / Like ripples on a blank shore / (In rainbows)”: www.azlyrics.com

Oh man. It's my birthday. It's a big one. And usually I throw a huge party, but not this year. Living on my own, working from home and some days it's 100% your show that keeps me going. Love you! Can you play something to lift my spirits? How about "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers? If it fits… Rachel --- A very happy birthday, Rachel! This one's for you! --- Read KEXP's tribute to the late Bill Withers, who died earlier this year at age 81: www.kexp.org

Good morning John = working up against deadlines and looking to hear some sweet McMelty guitar. Can you play Yellow Ledbetter? Many thanks and Air hugs to you, Melissa ---- Wasn't it great when Pearl Jam performed "Yellow Ledbetter" live at Seattle's Safeco Field during The Home Shows in 2018?: www.youtube.com

Good morning, I’d love to hear some songs to brighten my very lonely birthday week here in Bozeman, MT. I’d love to hear beyond by Leon bridges or landslide by fleet wood Mac Thank you Amaya -- "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?" Stevie Nicks wrote “Landslide” in 1974 in Aspen’s snow country, while her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham was on tour with Don Everly. Nicks has said in interviews that the song was about her romance with Buckingham and their career struggles, as well as her relationship with her business-executive father. Read the story behind this wonderful song: americansongwriter.com

Good morning! Can you please play "Faith Healer" by Julien Baker for my wife Georgina's birthday today? She's an avid listener, former volunteer, and amplifier. We love KEXP and thanks for reading ☺️🤘🏼 Meagen in Atlanta ----- This is the new single from her upcoming album to be released on February 26th. Pre order it via her website. julienbaker.com -- Watch the powerful video for "Faith Healer": www.youtube.com

Songwriter Fran Healy said, "First of all, I love the idea of having the word 'sing' repeated in the chorus of a song—it's just so silly," and he explained that the emotional weight of the song originates from the belief that "feeling free enough to cut loose and sing in front of someone you love is an indication of extraordinary intimacy and trust."

Remy Zero vocalist August Cinjun Tate talks about his cancer treatment, recovery, and never being the same again in this exclusive KEXP "Music Heals" interview: www.kexp.org

This song was originally recorded by a group from Beaumont, Texas called The Clique, who released it as the B-side of their only Top 40 hit: "Sugar On Sunday.": medialoper.com

English songwriter Nilüfer Yanya's 'Feeling Lucky?' EP will be out on this Friday, December 11th. "Crash," co-written with Nick Hakim, was the first single from that release. This was also KEXP's Song of the Day recently: www.kexp.org.

“I had just been in Tom’s,” Suzanne Vega said in 2010, “and I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to have a song called ‘Tom’s Diner’ about alienation, where you’re not connected to anything you see, you’re kind of seeing everything through a pane of glass. Lately on the internet I’ve been reading people saying this song is really random and it’s about nothing. It’s not about nothing! It’s about something! Every single scene has been set up to show that this person is alienated from life in general.”: ig.ft.com

Jeff in Minnesota says we should all check out the video for “Scotchgard Lanyerd” by Dry Cleaning Here it is: www.youtube.com -- London, UK band Dry Cleaning performed this song during a live performance in our studio just before our state locked down for the pandemic.: youtu.be

The Lounge Society say that they are "Four misfits, from the West Yorkshire moors. The antidote to the 1975." “The lyrics [of "Burn the Heather"] are our interpretation of some of the darker aspects of where we live, and our personal reaction to them,” they’ve said. “Musically, Burn the Heather is intended to be an adrenaline shot to the brain. We don’t want to be just another post-punk band, and we knew Heather would keep people on their toes.”: www.live4ever.uk.com

This song was Paul Weller's angry outcry against the British Conservative government. In particular it was an indictment of the government's policy on arms in which they seemed to be keener on spending taxpayers money on a nuclear arsenal rather than beneficial government programs. They view their own countrymen as being apathetic in terms of the direction in which their government is taking them.: www.songmeaningsandfacts.com

Front man Richard Butler had a specific audience in mind when he penned the lyrics to this song. He explained in an interview in 1982: "It's basically addressed to people who are f--ked up about their sexuality, and says 'Don't worry about it.' It was originally written for gay people.": www.youtube.com

Can you play Tom Waits (it's his birthday) 'I can't wait to get off work ' for Melissa (she's my baby and it's her 40th) birthday today Anthony in Gainesville Florida --- Here's a biography of the birthday boy: www.allmusic.com

Formed in 1983 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Check out Live Video from The Waterboys' 2013 KEXP In-Studio: bit.ly.