John Richards

As chosen by Henry... == Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to the Special Segue Edition of The Morning Show with John Richards and Morgan! Today, these musical curators will challenge and collaborate with each other to create seamless transitions between one song and the next—throughout the entire show! Thanks so much for being here!! -- Ahhh...the Friday song! What better way to begin the Friday show? KEXP's Fall Drive begins today. Take a look at the fabulous thank-you gifts and donate now: www.kexp.org

Morgan selected this one... This is a remix of a 1971 song by the short-lived UK group Colonel Bagshot called "Six Day War." The song is about war and regret, with the refrain, "Tomorrow never comes until it's too late." -- "You hear a whistling overhead Are you alive or are you dead?" Here are the lyrics for this very appropriate song today: genius.com

John picked this song to segue from the previous "Six Days." -- Brian Eno, Flood, and The Edge produced this song.

John selected this one... -- The song's title is a reference to the otherwise unrelated song "Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" by Bruce Cockburn, from his 1978 album "Further Adventures Of". Its chorus consists of a sample from the B.B. King song "How Blue Can You Get" from his 1971 album "Live in Cook County Jail.": "I've been downhearted, baby, ever since the day we met."

Smooth transition by Morgan to this local favorite... Don't you love Mary Jane Dunphe's voice in this song? Her new solo record, "Stage of Love," is out now.: maryjanedunphe.bandcamp.com Olympia, WA supertrio CCFX gave their first live radio performance at KEXP on The Morning Show in 2018. It included the wonderful "The One to Wait.": youtu.be

John selected this after hearing CCFX's "The One to Wait". -- "In Between Days" was released in July 1985 as the first single from their sixth album "The Head on the Door." "In Between Days" is considered one of the classic Cure songs and has been described as "jangly, pure pop perfection".

Not to be outdone on Friday the 13th, John selected this little ditty from "Stranger Things." -- Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein are half of the Texas-based band S U R V I V E, In this interview, they talk about composing the "Stranger Things" theme: composer.spitfireaudio.com

Hello, stranger! It gets stranger and stranger as Morgan picks this one... -- This is a mashup of the themes of "Stranger Things" and "Twin Peaks." Despite being made 25 years apart, the shows resemble each other, both featuring strange mysteries in small towns and lawmen searching for the truth. The Duffer Brothers, who created Stranger Things, have even cited Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch as a big influence on their work.

So...John chose the theme to "Twin Peaks".... - When Angelo Badalamenti died at age 85 in 2022, this NY Times critic wrote that the Twin Peaks Theme ("Falling") "Isn’t Just a Song. It’s a Portal.": nyti.ms

Morgan segued to this classic Chris Isaak song. -- Whew! The fashion photographer Herb Ritts directed the track's racy video. It features model Helena Christensen seducing Isaak on a beach.: www.youtube.com

John picked this one. Wonder where he got the idea? -- Here's Widowspeak performing a live cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game": www.youtube.com

Morgan chose this lead-off track on Mazzy Star‘s 1990 debut LP, "She Hangs Brightly." to follow the Chris Isaak cover. That's vocalist Hope Sandoval accompanied by guitarist Dave Roback. -- Kurt Cobain listed She Hangs Brightly in his top fifty albums of all time. Here is the entire handwritten list: bit.ly

From Hope Sandoval to Margo Timmins...John made this segue. -- Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alt-country band formed by three siblings from the Timmins entertainment family (Margo Timmins, vocals; Michael Timmins, songwriter & guitars; Peter Timmins, drums) plus Alan Anton on bass. The group formed in Toronto in 1986. -- This song was originally written by Lou Reed, who was often quoted as saying that the Cowboy Junkies' version was his favorite.

You hear what Morgan did there? A Lou Reed cover to a Lou Reed sample... -- The original version of "Can I Kick It?" contains samples from Lou Reed’s 1972 classic “Walk on the Wild Side." It also samples “Spinning Wheel” by Dr. Lonnie Smith and “Sunshower" by ‘70s pop group Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band. -- Check out the music video for "Can I Kick It?": youtu.be

John selected this song, which was sampled in the previous "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest... -- Here's a biography of Dr. Lonnie Smith, "master and guru of the Hammond B-3 organ": www.drlonniesmith.com

A request from Minnesotans Karin and Ginny... --- Here are the lyrics: "Mahna Mahna do do do do do Mahna Mahna do do do do Mahna Mahna do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do Mahna Mahna" -- And, here's the video: www.youtube.com

Famous Morning Show producer Owen stepped in to select this one... According to Rolling Stone Italia, Celentano decided to test his country’s obsession with American music by donning an American English accent while singing nonsensical lyrics (with the exception of the phrase "all right!"). Here's the story behind this gibberish tune: www.today.com

And John chose "Via con me." -- One of the most idiosyncratic, charismatic, and internationally successful Italian singer/songwriters of the past four decades, Paolo Conte created his own unique style, combining a love for jazz and music hall together with a weary yet sympathetic and humorous understanding of human foibles.: www.allmusic.com -- Watch Fred and Ginger dance to "Viz con me": www.youtube.com

Morgan selected this Francoise Hardy song. -- In 2018, The NY Times published this feature about chanteuse Francoise Hardy: www.nytimes.com

John segued to this song... -- Originally performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot, the song tells the story of the outlaw couple Bonnie and Clyde. It is based on an English language poem written by Bonnie Parker herself a few weeks before she and Clyde Barrow were shot, entitled "The Trail's End." It was released on two albums in 1968: Gainsbourg's album "Initials B.B.," and Gainsbourg and Bardot's album "Bonnie and Clyde." Luna (with Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab on vocals) covered it for Luna's album "Penthouse." The song was later released as a single subtitled "the Clyde Barrow version" with a slower version subtitled "the Bonnie Parker version."

Morgan selected this song, which samples "Bonnie and Clyde" by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. We just heard Luna's version of the song. -- "Nouveau western" also sampled "Sing A Simple Song" by Sly & The Family Stone, Lee Dorsey's "Get Out of My Life, Woman" and Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride."

A John pick... MC Solaar, the previous artist, is a French rapper of Senegalese and Chadian origin. This artist, Plastic Bertrand (Roger François Jouret) is from Belgium. -- "Wham! Bam! My cat, Splash Is rolling around on my bed He swallowed his tongue as he drank all my whisky As for me, I've hardly slept, I feel empty and reprimanded..." For your edification, here's an English translation of the lyrics: genius.com

The theremin is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer. It is named after its inventor, Leon Theremin,: www.bbc.com

Selected by Henry... -- This was the first US #1 hit for Tears for Fears. The band had trouble getting into the original incarnation of the song, which featured the lyric "everybody wants to go to war." When it was changed to the title phrase, everything clicked. "Once we got those lyrics, it was a joyful song," Roland Orzabal explained. --- See the official music video: www.youtube.com

Morgan picked this Van Halen tune... (Maybe influenced by Roland Orzabal and Neil Taylor's guitar solos in the previous song...) --- Here's a 1983 live performance, marked by David Lee Roth's squeal, Eddie's guitar solo, and Michael Anthony's backup vocals.: www.youtube.com

Speak of the devil... (not you, John, although you selected this tune..) -- The drums in the chorus and drum breaks come from Pretty Purdie’s “Soul Drums”. The drumbeat during the verses comes from Them’s cover of James Brown’s “Out of Sight”. The guitar riff was taken from another Them cover, of “I Can Only Give You Everything”.

Morgan responded to John's playing "Devils Haircut" by picking this song, which was sampled by Beck. --

John chose this song, which was originally written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It was first recorded by Paul Revere & the Raiders and appeared on their album Midnight Ride, released in May 1966. -- This is The Monkees' cover.

A Morgan pick... Happy birthday to 12-time Grammy winner Paul Simon, born on October 13th, 1941.: www.paulsimon.com -- Drummer Hal Blaine found a spot for the drums in front of an elevator in the Columbia offices. He recounted the recording process, "There we were with all these mic cables, my drums, and a set of headphones," says Blaine. "When the chorus came around — the 'lie-la-lie' bit — Roy [Halee] had me come down on my snare drum as hard as I could. In that hallway, by the elevator shaft, it sounded like a cannon shot! Which was just the kind of sound we were after."

Speaking of Paul Simon....John picked The Lemonheads' cover of the Simon & Garfunkel classic. -- "Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson..." Watch The Lemonheads perform it live in 1992: www.youtube.com

Morgan segued to The Jesus and Mary Chain. --- "So why do I love “Head On” so much? Chalk it all up to the attitude, my friends. I place so-called rock ‘n’ roll attitude low on my list of musical priorities (all the posturing in the world means nothing to me if your melodies are weak and your riffs suck), but here Jim Reid has his hooks in me from the first word go with the understated yet utterly self-assured way he delivers his lyrics." Here's a paean of praise for this song: www.popmatters.com

It's so surprising that John would play this Pixies cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain song! -- Watch Pixies perform it live in London in 1991: www.youtube.com

This song, selected by Morgan, leads to a phenomenal segue! -- This is Hot Chip covering Bruce Springsteen (and LCD Soundsystem--"All My Friends"): www.youtube.com

Here's that segue... Thanks, Thorsten in Berlin, for the request! -- An Australian reviewer writes, "'Don't Change' was INXS's first single to be released internationally. There's another way to look at it: this was the last time INXS could really be called "ours" ... what makes the song so powerful? For my money, it's down to two things: that wafty keyboard riff from Andrew Farriss and the vocal harmonies from Kirk Pengilly." -- www.theguardian.com

Morgan chose "Bastards of Young" to follow INXS's "Don't Change." -- Paul Westerberg's little sister Mary played into the song's inspiration. At 18 she'd left their Minneapolis home to take a crack at being an actress in New York City. Westerberg saw this as her need to fill an emotional gap with the love and praise of strangers. "It is sort of the Replacements feeling the same way... not knowing where we fit," he said in Trouble Boys. "It's our way of reaching a hand out and saying, 'We are right along with you. We are just as confused.'"

Picked by Morgan... Cody ChesnuTT wrote this song and is featured on guitar and vocals on The Roots' version. Enjoy this NPR feature on ChesnuTT: www.npr.org