John Richards

Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Morning Show with John Richards! It's an all-request show! -- In an interview, ELO leader Jeff Lynne talked about how he came up with this song after he locked himself away in a Swiss chalet attempting to write ELO's follow-up to A New World Record. "It was dark and misty for two weeks, and I didn't come up with a thing. Suddenly the sun shone and it was, 'Wow, look at those beautiful Alps.' I wrote 'Mr. Blue Sky' and 13 other songs in the next two weeks." According to science, "Mr. Blue Sky" is the happiest song on earth! Want to know more?: groovyhistory.com

The idea of basing a song on a single chord was something The Beatles had attempted with ‘The Word’, and was a direct result of their growing interest in Indian music. "Indian music doesn’t modulate; it just stays. You pick what key you’re in, and it stays in that key. I think ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was the first one that stayed there; the whole song was on one chord. But there is a chord that is superimposed on top that does change: if it was in C, it changes down to B flat. That was like an overdub, but the basic sound all hangs on the one drone." --George Harrison

New Candys is a four-piece post-punk band from Venice, Italy.: newcandys.com "Vyvyd," their fourth album, is due out in June and is available for pre-order here: newcandys.bandcamp.com

Bachelor is friends Jay Som (Melina Duterte) and Palehound (Ellen Kempner). -- In a statement regarding this song, Kempner explained: “I wrote the lyrics to ‘Stay In the Car’ back in December of 2019 when I was in Florida for my partner’s top surgery. I had run out one afternoon, post op, while he was healing to grab lunch for us and as I was gathering my stuff in the parking lot, a big car pulled up and this absolutely beautiful woman got out. “She was yelling at the man behind the wheel asking him what he wanted from the store and I wished I was that man. I wanted to be a part of her life, her best friend, her driver, whatever she wanted me to be. I was completely mesmerized.”: bit.ly

This weird and aggressive song was inspired by the cruel and surrealistic movie Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) by Spanish moviemaker Luis Bunuel. The song is about the movie "debasing" morality in the art world. -- Read the story of this song from the Pixies second album 'Doolittle' here: www.loudersound.com

Imperial Teen performed "Yoo Hoo" live for KEXP listeners from Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop during SXSW way back in 2012: www.youtube.com

On Reddit, a writer talked about this song in a stream entitled "What's the best song you discovered on KEXP during quarantine ...? --- Watch Brandon Summers of The Helio Sequence performing live in the KEXP studio in 2018 (John was there!): www.youtube.com

This wonderful George Michael cover is from the trio's recent sophomore album, "I Told You So.": bit.ly Go here to purchase this album of "feel good music": delvonlamarrorgantrio.bandcamp.com

"This video was so incredibly fun to make because director Alan Ferguson brought all my hovercar dreams to life!" Monáe said in a statement....This one is for all the dirty computers out there! Never forget, 'We are not America's nightmare, we are the American dream.'": www.youtube.com

"Answer to Kenya...Check in with Uganda...Remember Rwanda...I see Tanzania...Oh, we got, we got, we got, we got rights": genius.com

"We ended up writing that whole song basically (in a late-night meeting after a Seattle show)," Clayton Knight says. "We re-recorded some of the elements back in Texas, but everything was basically written in that studio in that eight-hour period. When that happens, it's usually a good sign, because things are flowing easily and fast. You know they're there. It's a complete honor to work with him. He's honestly a genius.": bit.ly --- Watch Leon Bridges shimmy through a backyard barbecue in the video for this song: www.youtube.com

Mornin' John! My 7 yr old son Walter is working on his latest mix tape. He says he wants "that song where it starts with a lady talking about space and tapping on the table, then they rock out." Pretty sure he means Odesza's "A Moment Apart" along with the Intro. Any chance you can play this for him today? That'd be awesome!---Tom in Snohomish Watch the local group's KEXP live performance in 2017 here: www.youtube.com

The lyrics were inspired by Bono's experience with Jubilee 2000, a benefit urging politicians to drop the Third World Debt. Bono describes the song as about "a man who has lost everything, but finds joy in what he still has." Musician Nichole Nordeman, who covered this song, said: "'Beautiful Day' just cries out for what's ahead. What's next. The light peering over the hill. The dawn. The crack in the heavy drapes. Don't let it get away." - bit.ly

"One day like this a year would see me right..." Our own Owen Murphy interviewed Elbow in 2019 about staying hopeful: tinyurl.com

This one's for you, Ryan! -- Smashing Pumpkins recorded their acclaimed sophomore album, ‘Siamese Dream,’ in Georgia to keep away from drugs. In a bid to keep drummer and heroin-addict Jimmy Chamberlin away from his regular drug dealers, Smashing Pumpkins reportedly relocated to Marietta, Georgia to record their second album ‘Siamese Dream’ in 1992. Read some more "geeky" facts about Smashing Pumpkins: www.nme.com

Someone wrote, "I have determined that it is an objective fact that Kim... is one of the top ten greatest pop songs in the history of the Universe." --- Joe Ross tells the actual story of Kim the Waitress here: www.angelfire.com --- Watch a live version from Seattle's Silver Platters Records: www.youtube.com

Hi! As long as we're on the theme of singing the praises of this awesome morning, how 'bout a little Bill Withers? --Katie --- Bill Withers held a note for 18 seconds in this song. (Don't try this at home!) Legendary singer and vocalist Withers died last year at the age of 81. Read a KEXP tribute to this great artist: www.kexp.org

This is Fiona Apple's brilliant cover of The Waterboys' 1985 classic. Apple called on frequent producer Tony Berg to help with the recording of the track. Berg then called on some other collaborators — including Matt Chamberlain to play on drums, Patrick Warren to play on chamberlin, Ethan Gruska to play on piano, Wendy Melvoin to play on bass, and (Yes!!) none other than Punisher singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers to provide some back-up vocals.: bit.ly

Wonderful covers, anyone? -- Watch Brandi Carlile with Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron (and Peter Frampton on guitar) as part of a Chris Cornell Tribute Concert in 2019: bit.ly

According to Butch Vig, the inspiration for the song was a newspaper article about a woman who had gone back to get revenge on an abusive husband, "so we thought it would be cool to get a bit of retribution in there." bit.ly -- Watch a powerful live performance of "Vow": www.youtube.com

Love and Rockets was guitarist/vocalist Daniel Ash, bassist/vocalist David J, and drummer Kevin Haskins, all former members of the pioneering goth band Bauhaus. -- Someone wrote, "As a suburban sheltered teen, this music opened my eyes to a whole new world." Watch the video for this "compulsively danceable and bliss-inducing track.": www.youtube.com

David Bowie co-wrote this song with Iggy Pop, with Bowie composing the music on a ukulele. Musically, it was inspired by the opening to the American Forces Network News, which the pair listened to in Berlin. Iggy recalled: "Once a week the Armed Forces Network would play Starsky & Hutch and that was our little ritual. AFN would broadcast an ID when they came on the air, a representation of a radio tower, and it made a signal sound, 'beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-ba-beep.' And we went, 'Aha we'll take that!'. David grabbed his ukulele, worked out the chords, and away we went." Check out this fantastic mini-documentary on the creation of this song: bit.ly

"Flagpole Sitta" was 20 years old in 2017. Here's an interview from that year with (KEXP's own) Sean Nelson: www.stereogum.com

Oh, don't miss this live version from Santiago, Chile in 2008: www.youtube.com

Ahhh....the Friday song. KEXP's most recent Sound & Vision podcast discusses Brandi Carlile's new memoir, "Broken Horses.": www.kexp.org

The Bell Score: 3.85624 www.ultimatecowbell.com --- The Time was put together by Prince, and included Minneapolis musicians Morris Day, Jesse Johnson, Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis. The group released two albums before "Ice Cream Castle," and they broke up shortly after "Jungle Love" was released. It's unclear how much each group member contributed to this song and how much involvement Prince had in it, but Prince, Morris Day and Jesse Johnson are the credited writers, and Day is listed as a producer on the album. -- Don't miss the dancing: www.youtube.com

"He says I'm sorry but I'm out of KY jelly...Never mind sugar, we can catch the early movie..." This is a cover of Rod Stewart's 1978 song (with a few modifications).

It's so much fun to see Jake Gyllenhaal starring as a serial killer in the video for "Time to Dance": www.youtube.com

Found on the debut album from the Compton band, released in 1988, the song features a sample from the 1970 song "Express Yourself" from Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. "...rather than rapping about taking literal shots at other gang members, “Express Yourself” is full of metaphorical shots at their peers: rappers who are all f**ked up on drugs, rappers who won’t curse on the mic (ironically on a song that doesn’t have profanity), rappers who don’t have anything original to say, but always circling back to hook and the point: “Express yourself!”: medialoper.com

The video is the result of a collaboration between the David Byrne and the Detroit School of Arts. Radio and TV Department students from the school had a hand in the filming of the video, while the clip also stars the Vocal Jazz Ensemble singing ‘Everybody’s Coming to My House’ Speaking about the video, Byrne said: “When I saw what the DSA students did with my song, it completely changed the way I thought of the song. In face, it changed the meaning of the song — I realized it was about inclusion, welcoming and not being alone.” .: www.youtube.com

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?'" Read the story behind this song: faroutmagazine.co.uk

Lauryn Hill tapped a 19-year-old junior at the University of Pennsylvania to play the piano on this song after he impressed her with a Stevie Wonder cover. That student was John Legend. --- See Ms. Lauryn Hill performing "Everything Is Everything" live in 2020: www.youtube.com

"Some bands I like to name check And one of them is R.E.M. Classic songs with a long history Southern boys just like you and me R – E – M!" Read a tribute to Stephen Malkmus' goofy tribute to R.E.M.: medialoper.com

R.E.M. was opening for the Human League at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles on June 11, 1983, when they got word of downpours in the South Central region of Georgia. The band is from Athens, Georgia, which is located in this area, so they tried to call their families and friends to make sure they were OK, but the phones were out because of the torrential rain. The band wrote "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" in response to this incident.

I listen to KEXP every morning while I work making coffee on Vashon Island⭐️ Could you play some My Bloody Valentine for me? Maybe Loveless? --Whitney -- My Bloody Valentine have signed to Domino, and on March 31st, the independent label released the influential shoegaze band’s entire Creation Records catalog onto streaming services for the first time.: bit.ly

R.I.P., DMX. -- "Earl Simmons, the snarling yet soulful rapper known as DMX, who had a string of No. 1 albums in the late 1990s and early 2000s but whose personal struggles eventually rivaled his lyrical prowess, died on Friday in White Plains, N.Y. He was 50.": www.nytimes.com

Rachel Goswell of Slowdive was interviewed by KEXP back in 2017 about their new self-titled album and reflections on the 25th anniversary of their album Souvlaki. www.kexp.org -- KEXP selected this song from iconic shoegaze band Slowdive as a free Song of the Day. Download it for yourself here: www.kexp.org -- Their self-titled 2017 album was the first music they put out in 22 years. The same year they stopped by KEXP to perform some songs: youtu.be