John Richards

Why is this day special? Among other reasons, it's John's birthday! Thanks so much for listening to The Morning Show! -- "I wish that I knew what I know now...When I was younger..." This great song was written by Ronnie Wood and Ronnie Lane. The lead vocals were provided by Wood, a rarity in the band's catalogue; lead vocals were usually performed by Rod Stewart and less often by Ronnie Lane. Stewart and Lane each recorded lead vocals for the song, but reportedly neither was satisfied by their attempt. Their producer Glyn Johns then suggested that Wood give it a try, and this version was used for the track on the album.

"What a drag it is getting old..." Happy birthday, John. --- Stones guitarist Brian Jones played the sitar on this track - it was one of the first pop songs to use the instrument. The Beatles "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," which came out the year before, was the first.

David Byrne says that the lyric is pretty much about what it says it's about. In an interview with NPR, Byrne said: "We're largely unconscious. You know, we operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven't really stopped to ask ourselves, 'How did I get here?'"

If it's your birthday today, this one's for you! --- See the official video for "Birthday." (Watch out for those spiders, snakes, and....icebergs!): www.youtube.com

Are you like John and love this song? Here's a paean of praise for this great song: atwoodmagazine.com

"The lyrics are non-specific. Like all the best lines in pop music, they invite you to project your own meaning onto them. As a depiction of adolescent longing, though, “On a live wire right above the street, you and I should meet” is up there with “I’ll dig a tunnel from my window to yours”, taken from Arcade Fire’s ‘Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)’. Ultimately, this is a track about teenage restlessness, boredom and the burden of your adolescent freedom, as childhood recedes and the shadows of adult responsibility edge into your life." Read this tribute to the song and "the greatest music video of all time.": bit.ly

This sultry track was conceived by Love And Rockets guitarist Daniel Ash, who also handled lead vocals. "I'd gone to a party on Saturday night, and I was married at the time, and I saw this woman over the other side of the room, and I was completely transfixed which is very odd because I was freshly married," he said. "It was very weird, but I was completely infatuated by her and so much so that I couldn't go near her to even speak to her, it was just this overwhelming thing. I can't explain it to this day. That's why the first line is, 'I don't know what color your eyes are.' Because I didn't get that close, I just saw this person in the distance."

Bono references poet Charles Bukowski in "Dirty Day." The best advice from Bukowski, via Bono— “if you’re going to try, go all the way. otherwise, don’t even start." : dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com

"One day like this a year would see me right..." Owen Murphy interviewed Elbow in 2019 about staying hopeful -- something we can all use: tinyurl.com

The wonderful lyric video for this song features scenes from "Black Orpheus": www.youtube.com

Foals came to our studio for a live performance in 2013: www.youtube.com -- Here's another eye-popping video: www.youtube.com

This was the English singer-songwriter’s seventh album and remains her most successful commercially and critically. It was nominated for multiple Grammys and won the coveted Mercury Prize, given to the United Kingdom’s best album. -- But what did he say, PJ?: thenervousbreakdown.com

Georg Holm explained the meaning of "Hoppipolla": "We like to play with words a lot, put two words together for example, and make a new word out of it. It means jumping into puddles. It should be two words but it's almost like a name now. The lyrics describe an atmosphere, a memory or something, like being a kid jumping into puddles, falling down and getting a nosebleed, getting back up... It doesn't really matter when you're a kid."

Take an in-depth look at ODESZA's third studio album, "A Moment Apart": thesightsandsounds.com and check out the local group's KEXP live performance in 2017 here: www.youtube.com

"Dearly beloved We are gathered here today To get through this thing called LIFE. Electric word "life" It means forever and that's a mighty long time...": www.prince.com

This review of the 2011 double album "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming" says that it "serves as a framework to realize the marvelous capability of our dreams and daily lives.": pitchfork.com -- Watch the video for "Midnight City" which is a tribute to the films 'Village of the Damned' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' here: youtu.be

Ahhh....the Friday song. Thanks, Henry, for that fine introduction! KEXP embodies the message that "Music Heals." Here's a guide to mental health resources: www.kexp.org

Thanks, Amy, for this New Order request. Happy birthday tomorrow to Scott! -- "When 'Age of Consent' was debuted live in Blackpool in August 1982, it marked the band's’ first foray into pop music and soon became the fans’ firm favorite. Opening with one of Hook’s most infectious twangy riffs, and powering forth on Morris’s kinetic drumming, this is the sound of New Order throwing back the curtains and letting the sun come in. When John Peel first played it, he singled out Sumner’s two-note guitar motif at 4’14” as the song’s most sublime moment – playing the five-second burst over and over – but the entire song is New Order playing pop music at its most headrushing, joyful and flawless.": www.theguardian.com

On this date in 2009, eighties pop fan Justine Thompson was ordered to pay more than £1,040 for repeatedly playing The Cure's 'Boys Don’t Cry' at full blast. She played it so loudly it shook flats around her home in Brighton. City magistrates found her guilty of ignoring a noise abatement notice. Perhaps she was celebrating her birthday?!

Tim Booth talked about the trouble with recording “Frustration”: : “[…] and then I did walk into that dumb thing on ‘Born of Frustration’ where I did those ‘la-la-las.’ And I hadn’t heard Simple Minds. We recorded it, and Mark and Saul from James took me into a room before we mixed it and played me Simple Minds, and I went ‘Oh, f**k.’ They said ‘Do you want to change it?’ And I said, ‘Well, I honestly came on this unconsciously.’ And Iggy Pop did la-la-las, which I’m much more likely to have been influenced by.” --- Wooooowooooowoooowooo! Watch the official video for this one here: www.youtube.com

Watch a live performance by Bob Mould for KEXP's Grand Opening in April, 2016: www.youtube.com

Good morning, John. How are you? I was wondering if I could make a request for Low's "Sunflower" today in honor of my father, who passed away from complications of Covid two weeks ago. Like so many others who have suffered at the hands of this illness, I have been crushed by the reality of having to live without him for much longer than I ever anticipated. He was the constant anchor in his children's lives and the most stabilizing parent one could ask for growing up in a chaotic, often unhappy household. I've missed him everyday since he fell I'll on New Year's Eve and am heartbroken at knowing the list of things we still had to do together will never be fulfilled. I remember you played this song two years ago to celebrate the first day of spring, as I was visiting Seattle that week to watch the band perform at Neumos. It was an incredibly beautiful day that year that I'll never forget. I feel it's fitting and somewhat symbolic that we will be burying my father tomorrow, on this year's spring equinox and the time for new beginnings, perhaps a last gift from him. I would like to say goodbye to him with this song. As always, thank you for all that you and KEXP do for the community to remind us that we are all in this together and that we are never alone. All my best. Julie from NYC

Hello John First of all, happy birthday! Today is my son’s birthday too, when he was to be born I heard Jose Gonzalez's cover for '' Heartbeat "and that version touched me a lot that day, so I want to request Jose Gonzalez Heartbeat. Hugs, Gustavo Sao Paulo, Brazil --- Jose Gonzalez was joined by the international artist collective, the String Theory, for an enchanting performance live on KEXP in 2019. Watch their performance here: www.youtube.com

The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers was a stage name adopted by indie pop artist Perry Wright in 2003. The name was taken from the Coen Brothers film "The Big Lebowski."

Here's an oral history of The Wrens' "The Meadowlands": www.stereogum.com

John selected this song from Tim Showalter's (Strand of Oaks) sixth album, "Eraserland," as a KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org -- Tim Showalter performed "Weird Ways" during a live session in the KEXP studio in 2019. See that whole wonderful performance: www.youtube.com

Bowie came up with this after he was asked to put English lyrics to a French song called "Comme d'habitude." Paul Anka ultimately bought the rights to the original French song and rewrote it in English as "My Way," later made famous by Frank Sinatra. "Life On Mars?" uses practically the same chords as "My Way" and the "Hunky Dory" liner notes state that the song is "inspired by Frankie." -- Watch the official video for "Life on Mars?": www.youtube.com

David Bowie wrote, “And love dares you to care for / The people on the edge of the night; / And love dares you to change our way of / Caring about ourselves.” --- Listen to Freddie Mercury and David Bowie's isolated vocals for "Under Pressure": bit.ly

Joe Strummer admitted in an interview in 1988 that he had nicked the bassline from the Queen hit "Another One Bites The Dust" (which in itself shares many similarities with another disco classic, Chic's "Good Times"). The song as a whole is the band's tribute to New York rap acts such as the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - indeed, Strummer's sinister high-pitched laugh at the start of the song was directly inspired by Grandmaster Flash's "The Message."

English Beat singer/guitarist Dave Wakeling said of this wonderful song: "I wrote it when I was a teenager. I wrote it before The Beat started. And it was about turning from a teenager to someone in their 20s, and realizing that the effortless promise for your teenage years was not necessarily going to show that life was so simple as you started to grow up. So it was about being lost, about not really knowing your role in the world, trying to find your place in the world....and you'd have all sorts of people telling you this, that, and the other, and advising you, and it didn't actually seem like they knew any better. So it was like keep your advice to yourself. Save it - for later."

You'll want to own this song from Seattle renaissance man Rudy Willingham. John selected it as a free KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org

Yesterday, The Go! Team announced a new album. Recorded around band-member Ian Parton’s diagnosis with Meniere’s disease, "Get Up Sequences Part One" arrives July 2 via Memphis Industries.: pitchfork.com

Beyoncé’s historic headlining Coachella performance took place on two weekends in April 2018. Beyoncé was the first African American woman to headline the festival and her performances received immediate widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike for the staging and celebration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The set includes over two dozen songs that moved over 125,000 concert goers in the Valley. The epic pyramid-shaped bleachers held some 100 dancers and band, with special guest performers including Solange, JAY-Z, and Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, who brought Destiny’s Child magic, harmony and nostalgia. shop.beyonce.com

Someone wrote, "Life began when i heard Beyonce's Lift Every Voice and Sing." Read the story behind the "black national anthem.": www.npr.org

Roger Waters composed the ascending riff on guitar using an open tuning in G major that he learned from Syd Barrett. That open tuning gives the song its ringing quality. Waters played this riff and other rhythm guitar parts on the studio recording, despite his job as the band's usual bassist.

"Now if you're feelin' weary...If you've been alone too long....Maybe you've been suffering from...A few too many...Plans that have gone wrong..." Here are the lyrics: www.azlyrics.com -- Want to read a lovely tribute to this now-36 -year-old album?: bit.ly

This is the first single released off the Scottish band's seventh album, 'Once Upon a Time' - and that's Robin Clark on backing vocals, who also appears on David Bowie's 1975 album 'Young Americans' --- Watch the video for "Alive and Kicking" here: www.youtube.com

R.I.P., Andrew Wood, who died on this date in 1990: www.kerrang.com