John Richards

Bonus song 322 1/3 because it's Tuesday.

Countdown song 322.. -- 'Madman Across the Water' was Elton John's 4th studio album, released right as he was beginning to rise to prominence. “Tiny Dancer” with lyrics by Bernie Taupin and music by Elton John. Taupin in an interview with Rolling Stone clarified the meaning of the song. “We came to California in the fall of 1970 and it seemed like sunshine just radiated from the populace,” Taupin says. “I guess I was trying to capture the spirit of that time, encapsulated by the women we met, especially at the clothes stores and restaurants and bars all up and down the Sunset Strip. They were these free spirits, sexy, all hip-huggers and lacy blouses, very ethereal the way they moved.” Read the full story here: bit.ly Building on Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s Californian inspiration, Max Weiland filmed a video for “Tiny Dancer” that reflects on life in Los Angeles from a dozen different perspectives. youtu.be

1... 2... 1, 2, 3, uh... 321! -- Prince was notorious for planting hidden messages in his songs, so fans were confounded when the video for "Raspberry Beret" included a coughing jag before Prince started singing. What could it possibly mean? The answer is simple: "I just did it to be sick, to do something no one else would do," he told Rolling Stone in 1985.: www.youtube.com

320. Like several other tracks on The Cars, "Just What I Needed" originated as a demo tape recorded by the band in 1977. Founding member Ric Ocasek originally wrote the song in the basement of the commune he lived in at the time. -- A donation to your favorite radio station ever is just what I needed: www.kexp.org

Countdown #319. "Svefn-g-englar" is an Icelandic pun mixing "sleepwalkers" and "sleep angels. Sigur Rós will be playing at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on May 13, 2022. It will be magical and you 100% do not want to miss it: sigurros.com

Countdown #318. The cover of this album is a reproduction of the painting "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, which is part of the National Gallery's permanent collection in London. Peter Saville, the cover's designer, had originally planned to use a Renaissance portrait of a dark prince to tie in with the Machiavellian theme of the title, but could not find a suitable portrait. At the gallery Saville picked up a postcard with Fantin-Latour's painting, and his girlfriend mockingly asked him if he was going to use it for the cover. Saville then realised it was a great idea. Saville suggested that the flowers "suggested the means by which power, corruption and lies infiltrate our lives. They're seductive." New Order will be playing at Climate Pledge Arena with Pet Shop Boys, joined by a DJ set from Paul Oakenfold, on October 14th, 2022. bit.ly

Countdown #317. KEXP remembers Mark Lanegan, lead singer of Screaming Trees and an icon of Seattle music in the ‘90s, who passed away last month at age 57. www.kexp.org -- Support KEXP by donating to the Spring Drive at kexp.org. In case you missed it, if you donate $20 a month, you can get three t-shirts and a jolly turntable slipmat (while they last!)

Countdown song 316 is Modern Love. Bowie said this song's call-and-response vocal arrangement "all comes from Little Richard." A defining moment in Bowie's childhood was when his dad came home with a copy of "Tutti Frutti." --- Stevie Ray Vaughan played guitar on this track. Bowie asked him to play on the Let's Dance album after seeing him perform at a music festival. You can show KEXP some modern love by donating to our Spring Drive at: kexp.org

Countdown #315. Billy Duffy of The Cult talks about how his quasi-psychedelic guitar intro came about: "I found a violin bow, and I started to play the guitar with the bow like Jimmy Page. I did it to amuse Ian Astbury, who was in the control room, and in order to make it sound weirder, I just hit every pedal I had on the pedal board. Then once I stopped banging the strings and doing all that, I played the middle section of the song, which was kind of a pick thing with all the BOSS pedals on, and that sound just leaped out. The producer went, 'Hold it, hold it, that's great!' And we decided to start the song with that mystical sound. If I hadn't found that violin bow laying around, we wouldn't have gone there."

Countdown #314. Rock Steady is from the Young, Gifted, and Black, the 18th album of Aretha Franklin, released in 1972. She won a Grammy for this release in the Best R&B Vocal Performance category that same year.

Countdown #313. This samples the 1988 Prince song "Alphabet Street," but just the word "Tennessee." Speech explains that he didn't clear the sample: "I didn't know to in 1991, the sample laws weren't very clearly set out back then. It was our first record, we definitely weren't vets in the industry, we didn't understand all the game play and the rules. So we didn't ask for permission. I learned as a producer pretty quickly the laws of sampling: it's the wild, wild West out there. So what happened was the record obviously was getting some pretty good heat. MTV had a show called Buzz Clips, and they added it and it just became this huge phenomenon. And as the song moved up the chart the album got to #3 on the pop charts. And once it went down, the very week it went to #4, we got a call from Prince's representation. They waited for that song to sell as many possible copies as they could wait for. As soon as it started to go down the charts we got a call, and the Reaper became the reaped. So we got charged for that sample pretty heavily. I paid $100,000 for that word."

Countdown #312 is American Girl. From their debut album, released in late 1976. This was, sadly, the last song the band every played live, as the great Tom Petty passed away three weeks after that 2017 show. blog.kexp.org Here is American Girl live in 1985 at Live Aid: youtu.be

Countdown #311. The song's themes include love, "We believe in a land of love" and death, "the perfect kiss is the kiss of death". The overall meaning of the song is unclear to its writer today. In an interview with GQ magazine, Bernard Sumner said "I haven't a clue what this is about."

Countdown #310 is The Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog. ❤️ Thank you, lovers and dreamers, for listening to KEXP! www.kexp.org

Bonus song, by listener request: Morning John! Home with my stuffy 4 year-old daughter, Cecilia, who's listening to the show with me this morning while we both work from home (she's working on some cool drawings for friends). She'd love to hear the frog song if you'd be willing to throw it on! Xo Christina + Cecilia Brooklyn

One, two, ready, go! L.O.V.E, it’s a mystery / Where you’ll find me, where you’ll find / All is love, is love, is love, is love L.O.V.E., K.E.X.P. www.kexp.org

Resuming the countdown with #309. Never stop believing. Show support to KEXP by donating to our Spring Drive at: www.kexp.org

#308. Following the success of 1986's 'Graceland', Simon turned to Latin America for much of 'The Rhythm of the Saints'. Simon recalled to Mojo magazine: "One day we were driving through the old part of Salvador in Bahia when we heard this incredible drumming coming from Pelouinho Square. It was the group Olodum practising outside and (Simon's percussionist) Mazzola asked if we could record them. We did it in their back yard, just rented a couple of 8-tracks, and that was our backing-track for 'The Obvious Child.'"

#307. This song, and the rest of the Naked album, was co-produced with the band by Steve Lillywhite, known for his work with Peter Gabriel and U2. He was married to the folk singer Kirsty MacColl, who contributed backing vocals to this song. Johnny Marr played 12-string guitar on this track at the suggestion of Lillywhite. -- The video was directed by David Byrne and Sandy McLeod, a filmmaker who worked on Talking Heads' 1984 concert movie "Stop Making Sense." In the video, the band is joined by the musicians who played on the track, including Johnny Marr and Kirsty MacColl. As they perform in a studio setting, they are overlaid with design typography enhancing the visuals with various statements, factoids and words from the lyrics.: www.youtube.com. -- Nothing but flowers and support. Donate to KEXP at: www.kexp.org

#306. Not only is this one of 1977's best songs, but, according to science, "Mr. Blue Sky" is the happiest song on earth! #science groovyhistory.com Wishing all of you the bluest of skies! If you can, we appreciate any donations for our Spring Drive. Thank you for listening to KEXP and being with us! www.kexp.org

#305. The Stones recorded this in the musty basement of the Villa Nellcote, a place Keith Richards rented in France so the band could avoid paying taxes in England. They would sleep all day and record at night with whoever showed up. Mick Jagger also played guitar on this song, something he rarely did.

#304. This is a cover of The Equals' 1968 song. "We used to play the Equals' version on the tour bus, Mick was the first one to play it to me" said bassist Paul Simonon. "We recorded it at the Power Station, just the three of us, me, Mick (Jones, guitarist) and Topper (Headon, drummer). Paul put his bit on later in Wessex," noted singer Joe Strummer. Check out this live performance of the track in Tokyo from 1982 on YouTube: youtu.be

Bonus song, 304.5! This song was inspired by the book "Elvis and Me" by Priscilla Presley. According to Martin Gore, the song is about being "a Jesus" for somebody else. "Someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis Presley was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?"

Bonus song, 304.5 2.0 "Everything Counts" specifically addresses the issue of corporate greed and corruption, as the chorus sings of "grabbing hands" that "grab all they can".