John Richards

A great idea from Megan on Beacon Hill --- Written by country music "outlaw" Mickey Newbury as a song about junkies, this was first recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis on a country album in 1967. -- According to Kenny Rogers, Jimi Hendrix once told him that this was his all-time favorite song. -- R.I.P., Kenny Rogers, who died in 2020 at age 81: www.rollingstone.com

Trent Reznor was working as an assistant engineer, janitor and all-round dogsbody at Right Track Studios in Cleveland, Ohio when he wrote and recorded the song that would put Nine Inch Nails on the map. Learn the story behind this song: www.loudersound.com -- See a live performance from 1994: www.youtube.com

"Girls, we run this mutha (yeah)..." -- Beyoncé's first single from her fourth solo album was this club track, which samples the martial drum beat from dancehall duo Major Lazer's 2009 track, "Pon de Floor." -- Watch that performance from Coachella in 2018: www.youtube.com

Depeche Mode will be at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, November 26th, 2023. -- The song was written by the group's primary songwriter, Martin Gore, with lead vocals by Dave Gahan.

A reference to John's colonoscopy? !n an interview, Roger Waters said part of the song is about the time he got hepatitis but didn't know it. Pink Floyd had to do a show that night in Philadelphia, and the doctor Roger saw gave him a sedative to help the pain, thinking it was a stomach disorder. At the show, Roger's hands were numb "like two toy balloons." He was unable to focus, but also realized the fans didn't care because they were so busy screaming, hence "comfortably" numb. He said most of The Wall is about alienation between the audience and band. -- Here's a live performance from The Wall tour in 2010: www.youtube.com

Producer Steve Albini used some unusual recording techniques on "Surfer Rosa"as he was desperate to avoid "the studio sound." For instance he moved all the studio equipment to its bathroom in the hope of achieving a real rather than studio echo on bassist Kim Deal's backing vocals for this and her lead vocals on "Gigantic." Albini later admitted that the record could have been completed in a week were if not for the time wasted experimenting on projects like this. -- In this issue of NME Song Stories, Joey Santiago and David Lovering from Pixies talk through the story behind their classic track.: www.youtube.com

Kindt: "It is no secret that I am a big admirer of the Pixies. I discovered them way back in 1989 when a school friend slipped me a cassette of Doolittle. I was 14 and up to that point my musical world had been almost entirely classical. I was blown away. Their use of contrasting dynamics, unorthodox song structures and multilayered melodies were a revelation to me and have heavily influenced me as a musician ever since. During last year’s lockdown I found comfort in the piano and decided to revisit and rearrange some of my favorite Pixies tracks. This resulted in the release of Pixies Reimagined in August 2020." -- You can go here to purchase that "Pixies Reimagined" release: www.amazon.com

"Not Enough Time" was written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence. -- See the "fragmented" official video for "Not enough Time": www.youtube.com

My 3 weeks shy of 4-year-old Neve (rhymes with “Rev”) is home today and would LOVE to hear "Our House" by Madness if you get a chance. --Eileen -- Written by vocalist Chas Smash and guitarist Chris Foreman. "'Our House' grew from the idea that each band member would write about his family. No one else bothered. I did.”- Chas "Smash" Smyth -- The song's video features the band as a cloth-cap wearing family squashed into a terraced house. Drummer Dan "Woody" Woodgate recalled: "The knocking-on-the-door bit where somebody comes out, goes, 'Where are they?' and the others sneak in and close the door... That's The Flintstones. We stole lots of ideas from the Keystone Kops and Benny Hill.": www.youtube.com

The opening drum break comes from a 1974 song called "Funky Snakefoot" by Alphonse Mouzon; the "That's The Joint" line is from a song that influenced Beastie Boys' style: "That's the Joint" by Funky 4 + 1. Here's a list of the 13 songs sampled in "Shake Your Rump": www.whosampled.com

"Situation no win Rush for a change of atmosphere I can't go on, so I give in Gotta get myself right outta here..." Do you know all the lyrics, so that you can lustily sing along?: genius.com

It all began with a story Neil Diamond learned while touring in Canada. After chatting with an interviewer whose parents were missionaries, he asked her for some of the local folk tales. The one that stuck with him was about a reservation where men outnumbered women. Over the weekend, “these poor chaps would rush down to their local general store and get themselves a large bottle of a very cheap wine called Crackling Rose. The story goes that the wine becomes their woman for the weekend.” -- Read the story of this song about red, red wine: www.udiscovermusic.com

Wet Leg is a British indie rock group from the Isle of Wight, founded in 2019 by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. They debuted with the single "Chaise Longue" in 2021. -- Watch Wet Leg perform live for KEXP listeners at the 2022 THING Festival in Port Townsend, Washington: www.youtube.com

This was Beth Ditto's take on Tommy James & The Shondells' 1968 song "I'm Alive." Ditto said of the cover: "Being alive is radical right now. So let's live!"

This was written by the group's lead singer, Michael Been, who was in his late 30's when it was released. The very talented, but somewhat unrecognized, musician died in 2010 at age 60 from a heart attack: www.theguardian.com -- Simple Minds sometimes performed "Let The Day Begin," and recorded it for their 2014 album "Big Music." "'Let The Day Begin' is like a gospel for the working man," said Jim Kerr . "We feel really proud to play it, especially to people that don't know it, therefore it's a kind of lost treasure."

This was heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, especially the way Dylan sang "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Michael Stipe had once imitated Dylan in a low-budget film called Just Like a Movie, which was a play on the Dylan song "Just Like A Woman."

The Bug Club are a three piece from the little-known rock n' roll hotbed that is Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales. After years of gigging relentlessly in Cardiff and Bristol, they're finally releasing their upcoming double album, "Rare Birds: Hour of Song," on Oct. 18! thebugclub.bandcamp.com -- They rhymed "marriage" with "garage": genius.com

"I've got plenty of energy..." --Amy Taylor -- Watch a stirring live performance by this Melbourne band in our studio in 2022 (It included "Guided by Angels."): www.youtube.com

"“To Hell With Poverty” makes quite an impact!.. This [song] doesn’t sound as if any synths were used at all, and the abrasive guitar lines sounded like air raid sirens while the bass issued thick planks of sound that hit so hard you might feel your breath knocked out of you." Enjoy this review: postpunkmonk.com -- Don't miss the live version of "To Hell With Poverty": www.youtube.com

"The raw spirit of indie rock. An amplified, rocking version of ’60s protest folk. The soulful passion of the Violent Femmes and The Waterboys.” All of these comparisons have been made in attempts to describe Delta Spirit, the southern California five-piece...": thevogue.com -- Watch the San Diego band combine this song with "Shout":www.youtube.com

Jessica: I just introduced my kid to The Scissor Sisters and she is OBSESSED with "I Can't Decide." She doesn't believe me that you can request songs from the radio, so can you play "I Can't Decide" for her and blow her mind? Her name is Winter, she is 9 and she knows EVERYTHING 😫 -- Here's a live performance of this dissonant song in London in 2007: www.youtube.com

"Movin' Right Along" is sung in The Muppet Movie by Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear as they set out together in Fozzie's Studebaker for California.: www.youtube.com -- The song was written by Kenneth Ascher and Paul Williams.

Ahhh....the Friday song! Donate now to get an early start on KEXP's Fall Drive (and check out those T-shirts): www.kexp.org

Did you know that this collaboration with songwriter Tom Petty wasn't meant to be a duet at all? The Heartbreakers (with Donald “Duck” Dunn filling in for the band’s usual bassist Ron Blair) had finished “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” right down to Petty’s lead vocal, but producer Jimmy Iovine persuaded him to give this track to Nicks. As a result, what you hear in the recording that became a #3 Billboard hit in 1981 is Nicks singing on top of the Heartbreakers recording. Find out more here: americansongwriter.com

John, My friend Shana completed her Hospice journey yesterday surrounded and cherished by loved ones on a beautiful fall day. It is now time to celebrate her life. I’d like to request "One Day Like This" by Elbow. Thank you so much. Jeff from Minnesota -- Speaking in 2022, Guy Garvey reflected on the power of "One Day Like This." "It's that one great big song we've got, isn't it?" he said. "When we were writing it we were feeling that it might become a popular anthem. The balance of the song is that the tone that it strikes is not saying that everything's rosy, it's saying 'this moment is rosy'. That gives people reason to throw their mouth open and their head back in song."

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr sang lead, introduced as "Billy Shears." The first line was originally "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?" Ringo did not want to sing it, fearing that if they ever did it live he would be pelted with tomatoes. -- The Beatles recorded 10 takes of ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ on 29 March 1967, with Paul McCartney on piano, John Lennon beating a cowbell, George Harrison playing lead guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. Following the final take, Starr overdubbed his lead vocals.

Perhaps Peter Gabriel will sing this in Climate Pledge Arena this Sunday, October 8th. -- This 1977 release was Gabriel's first single as a solo artist. Most of Peter Gabriel's songs have lyrics made up of various images that come to him, but "Solsbury Hill" was a rare autobiographical song, dealing with his break as lead singer of the band Genesis and anticipation of his new challenge as a solo artist. Solsbury Hill is located near Bath, England, where Gabriel would often walk or jog.

Peter Murphy was the vocalist for Bauhaus. In an interview with Murphy, he was asked what it is that cuts you up and spits you out. He replied: "The path of discovery, self-knowledge, wisdom... once you feel you have it. Then the path will spit you out or off the way and ruin your assumptions of this path. In fact, a great mighty necessity for those spiritual seekers or so-called 'holy state' desires when getting arrogant." --- The song is driven by a violin riff played on a synthesizer. According to Simon Rogers, who produced the track, they brought in a musician to replicate it on viola, but it didn't sound right.

The origin of this song was a visit to a museum of tractor parts. Read about the making of this song: www.theguardian.com

David Byrne directed the wonderful video for "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" It contains delightful home videos of Talking Heads band members.: www.youtube.com

Car Seat Headrest (Will Toledo) joined Seattle's Naked Giants for this great cover at The Neptune Theatre in November, 2016. -- John was the host when Naked Giants played live in our studio back in 2017: www.youtube.com

"One, two One, two, three, uh..." (Nice segue, John!) -- The video is an odd mashup of performance footage and animation. Simon Fields, who was one of the top music video producers at the time, said in the book I Want My MTV: "We filmed a whole video, then Prince got a Japanese animator to do a completely different video and we mashed the two up. He would mess with directors. He would give them the impression that they'd be in charge of the video, then halfway through he'd go 'Thank you,' take what he liked, and edit it himself.": www.youtube.com

Hey John, I'm a therapist at the end of a long week and want to send out a love letter to all my clients and all the people everywhere doing the soul work of healing and finding that abundance and joy for their lives. It can be a hard slog through the dark soul of the night, and I stand in awe, every week, of the bravery and dedication they bring - learning to love themselves, when that didn't happen for them originally. If you have time or the inclination, I'd like to request That Old Pair of Jeans by Fat Boy Slim to send out to the universe to wrap everyone in love this morning. You know, like you do every day. --Emily -- This song features Lateef the Truthspeaker. Here are the lyrics: genius.com

Len is Canadian brother-sister duo Marc and Sharon Costanzo. -- Marc Costanzo tells how this song was conceived: "We were at this huge three-day rave and I ended up partying, partying, partying. We went back to my house and Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene was DJing and played More, More, More by Andrea True Connection. I ended up sampling it that morning and looped it, it sounded great. Somewhere in the next couple of days I recorded it,... It's just a song about what happened that night of the party."

"Wake up, kids We got the dreamers' disease..." -- Watch the official video for "the baby Friday song," which is also the New Radicals' signature song: www.youtube.com

Read an oral history of the video for this great song, featuring interviews with models Naomi Campbell and Tajana Patitz, among others: www.nytimes.com

This is a reggae-infused version of an old Rolling Stones song. The Stones originally released it as a B-side to the United States version of their single "Get Off My Cloud" in 1965. Although it's not an exact cover, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are the credited songwriters. -- This features Junior Reid, the Jamaican reggae/dance hall artist.