OK, now it's Lent. The season of penance.
But that doesn't mean we have to be miserable. This is no time to be a gloomy Gus.
Remember, nowhere does it say "Thou shalt be a mope." So we're not, because -- dang it -- this is the Big Show!
And we at 3 Chords & the Truth will meet Lent with music. Good music.
And so will you. All thou needest to do is hearken and findeth thou joy.
God said.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
In the Age of Trump, when bomb squads are poring over band rooms because of apparent IEAs -- improvised explosive accordions -- it is time to take drastic measures.
Repeat after me on 3 Chords & the Truth. . . .
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
Again. . . .
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
There is no Welk but Welk, and Myron Floren is his prophet.
Now. . . .
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
AGAIN. . . .
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
This is a bomb; this is an accordion.
THIS WEEK on the Big Show, we step away from the stupid. And while we're at it, we'll step toward the calm, the cultured and the classy.
Apparently, we are in great need of that.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
There's a new kid in town in rock 'n' roll heaven, and we're not feeling too good ourselves.
So, yes, we'll be playing some Eagles -- and, thus, Glenn Frey -- on 3 Chords & the Truth this week as we chug Geritol as the records play. Because old. And tired blood.
Apart from that, I just don't know what to say about the Big Show. There's the Eagles stuff, and there's lots of good music, as always, and we have a nifty set from the ladies of jazz.
THERE probably is more to be said about the program this go around, but I lack the energy to say it.
Really. I mean, are you unpoopular? Do you pop out at parties? Then pass the nutritional supplements from the left hand side. That is all.
No, really. I'm tired. And old. Just listen to the show, will ya?
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
It's on Amerika's tortured brow . . .
That Mickey Mouse
has grown up a cow
Now the workers
have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it
ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
GOOD QUESTION. I got no answer, but then again we've all been feeling a little lost this week.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, and this week we're all about what you probably think we're about. Remembering David Bowie. And wondering whether there's life on Mars.
Be there. Aloha.
Re-entry's a bitch.
Re-entry, as in the holidays are done, pretty much, and it's time to get back to the daily grind . . . AND I DON'T WANNA!
That's where we are here in 3 Chords & the Truth land, so here's the game plan: Gonna ease into it. Gonna be mellow.
Have you never been mellow?
Have you never tried to find a comfort from inside you?
Have you never been happy just to hear your song?
Have you never let someone else be strong?
WAIT . . . hang on. That's Olivia Newton-John, No. 1 on the pop chart, March 1975. Well, we're not playing Olivia this week. But we are chilling out to some great, great music.
So, won't you join me on the Big Show? We can be mellow. Or whatever. Can't rush these re-entry things.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
It's the day before Christmas and all through this space, gorgeous music fills every little place.
Not a discordant note will be found on the show . . . not a stinker or a clunker or a misplaced fanfare.
3 Chords & the Truth has been uploaded with care, and if you love Christmas music, there's no cause to despair.
The Big Show nestles sweetly in your ear, and good cheer will carry you to the New Year.
And out on the Internet you'll hear clever patter, and all the fine tunes that we can gather.
ON AARON, on Harry, on Tony and Bing . . . on with the songs that you sing! To the top of the charts, to the heights of our culture!
Spread holiday cheer . . . joy you will nurture!
Etcetera and so on, this poem grows more tortured. Lo, I'm painting myself into a corner!
So dash away, dash away, dash away all! Seek out the Big Show, oh, answer my call!
That's it . . . I'm done . . . no more shall I write. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
Listen, it's almost Christmas. Give your brain a rest, your ears a treat and your egg-nog receptors what is necessary at this time of the year.
No, this isn't the official Christmas episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, but we're getting there. This is the warm-up episode for the Yuletide edition, but it's right nice in its own way.
That is why your Mighty Favog strongly recommends that you de-stress, chill out, don't think (too much, at least) and let the music wash over you this holiday season.
And that's how we warm up for the big Christmas edition of the Big Show just days away from the event.
TRUST ME. You're gonna love the show this week.
And you're really gonna love it next week.
And if you haven't listened to the last show (or three), you'll bloody well love them, too.
So just do it. Egg nog. Good music. Chill . . . in a warm and cozy way.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
This week on the Big Show, we take dead aim on who and what we are as Americans.
And I think we've picked some songs that hit the target.
Of course 3 Chords & the Truth, hits the musical bullseye every week, but this episode draws a bead on something specific about American culture these days. Something we just love to death.
Or is it that we love death? Oh, well. Whatever.
ALSO ON the program this week, we have a little of this and a little of that, and we also start rolling out the Christmas music now that we have achieved bleak midwinter-ish.
And that's all we have to say about that. The Big Show, that is.
So. . . .
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
This week on the Big Show, we're up to our @$$ in stacks of vintage shellac.
Shellac? Let me explain: Before there was vinyl, there was shellac. As in 78 r.p.m. records.
Way back there then, before the advent of the long-play record, a.k.a. the "LP," a record album was just that -- an album of four or five 78s. When LPs ascended and 78s eventually disappeared, the name stuck. Thus, a single LP, cassette, CD or group of digital downloads is an "album" to this day.
We're going to be playing some stuff off of albums this week on 3 Chords & the Truth. Album albums, not the faux albums we've become accustomed to the past 60 years. One of the albums features one legend and his orchestra playing the music of another legend -- Paul Whiteman, the guy who brought George Gershwin to prominence by commissioning a work called "Rhapsody in Blue," does Irving Berlin, author of huge swaths of the "American Songbook."
IT'S GREAT MUSIC. It's history. It's part of our culture and our national DNA. It's on the Big Show, and it's just a click away. Maybe two, if that's how you roll.
Of course, that's just one middling-sized part of the show this week -- we're nothing if not eclectic and full of surprises around the studio here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska. And believe me, there's plenty of amazing stuff on the program this week . . . and every week.
And it's all yours for the taking for the low, low price of nothing. It's free. All you have to do is click. Or download. Or whatever.
Now get to it. There's a world of music waiting for you here.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
It's another rainy day in River City.
Drizzly, bleak, pervasive is this pall,
It's the soggy side of fall.
Music brightens the day in River City,
The Big Show fights off the brooding sky.
And spirits, they will fly!
Music and good cheer,
Your blues will disappear.
ANOTHER rainy day in River City,
Another wet fall day in this old city,
Sitting in this cozy studio,
The tunes are good to go.
Windy, wet and gray in River City,
You're the only one want to see . . .
Here at 3C&T!
Now suddenly you feel
The music's bright appeal . . .
Another rainy day in River City.
IT'S 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
The Cricket is the father of the Beatle.
This week on 3 Chords & the Truth, we explore Buddy Holly and his influence on The Beatles, which I submit was huge. In short, had Holly not lived and blown open rock 'n' roll with all kinds of then-not-rock 'n' roll influences and instrumentation -- A full string section? Harps? Heresy!!! -- you have to wonder whether it would have been possible for John, Paul, George and Ringo to make the music they ultimately did.
Maybe so. Then again, maybe everybody would have been remaking "Roll Over Beethoven" and the greatest hits of Fabian over and over and over again.
But Buddy Holly blew it open, and the boys from Liverpool reaped the musical benefits.
THAT'S WHERE we're going this week on the Big Show. And you are going to reap the musical benefits as we revisit some classic Holly and some live Beatles, as broadcast back in the day on the British Broadcasting Corporation.
We're live on the BBC, and we're on top of lots of other exceptional stuff this go around. You're gonna love it.
So. . . .
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Way down among 3 Chordsians . . .
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So we've got to find those extra cups to fill
We've got an awful lot of coffee in the till
You can't get cherry soda
'cause we gotta fill that quota
And the way things are I'll bet we never will. . . .
We've got a zillion tons of coffee on the bill
No tea or tomato juice
You'll see no potato juice
'cause the Favog in the Big O's saying "No, no, no"
A Big Show listener's daughter
Was accused of drinkin' water
And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill
We've got an awful lot of coffee songs to shill
IN OTHER WORDS, this week on 3 Chords & the Truth . . .
I love coffee, i love tea
I love the java jive and it loves me
Coffee and tea and the java and me
A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup (boy!)
IT'S 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
We almost interrupt this program due to technical difficulties.
Almost.
It's a little late this go around, but 3 Chords & the Truth is here . . . and the music is good. Really good.
IN A FEW instances, as usual, your mind will be blown by the latest edition of the Big Show. Take safety precautions to prevent ill effects similar to those occurring when the Adobe Audition audio editor comes in contact with the latest Mac OS, El Capitan.
In short, your mental state could resemble Donald Trump's hair.
Be prepared. Be safe. Hold on.
COME TO think of it, we are on, right?
Testing. Testing. One, two, three, four, five. . . . Testing.
Whew! I was worried there for a second. Carry on.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Don't be a wet blanket, pally. Get hep to the 3 Chords & the Truth Fan Club and never miss another jivin' tune again.
All you have to do to be with the swingin' crowd is become a regular listener of the Big Show. And the best thing about it is that you get the whole wide world of solid sounds for exactly nothin'.
That's right, won't cost you a thin dime, Ain't no better bargain than free, buddy boy.
So join all the cool kids in the 3 Chords & the Truth appreciation society and hear everything from the Syndicate of Sound to Southern Culture on the Skids. From She & Him to Dale & Grace.
And that ain't the half of it, Daddy-O.
SIGN ON with the Big Show, and you get some bonus Otis Redding and Shawn Mullins for a small shipping and handling charge. That would be your undying devotion, sister. Or brother. Either way, man -- it's copacetic.
Oh, the things you'll hear!
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
I've got a phonograph, and I'm not afraid to use it. Don't mess with me.
Man, that kind of sums up the whole of 3 Chords & the Truth, doesn't it?
Actually, I've got more than a few phonographs, and I use 'em plenty. That's where the bulk of the music on the Big Show comes from -- musical gems I've had forever, and treasures I've dug up at estate sales, thrift shops, used-record bins and elsewhere all over creation.
A lot of it you're not going to find on the Internet or on CD. So if you want to hear a lot of this stuff. . . .
For instance, remember Lou Bega's big hit from 1999, "Mambo No. 5"? Well, this week, you're going to hear the original by Perez Prado and His Orchestra from way back in the day. If you ask me, Prado's version swings a lot harder than the 1990s iteration.
OTHERWISE on 3 Chords & the Truth this week, your Mighty Favog has . . .
A little bit of Stafford in my life, a little bit of Van Damme by her side
A little bit of Cugat is all I need, a little bit of Dusty is what I see
A little bit of the Moodies in the sun, a little bit of Nick Lowe all night long
A little bit of Root Boy here I am, a little bit of Stan Getz is my plan.
Get the drift?
No? Let me elaborate.
A little bit of Arlo in my life, a little bit of Crenshaw by my side
A little bit of Elgart is all I need, a little bit of J-Cash is what I see
A little bit of Pozo in the sun, a little bit of Seco all night long
A little bit of Prado here I am, a little bit of you makes me your man.
BELIEVE ME, you ain't heard nothing like this.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
It's a twin-spin weekend on 3 Chords & the Truth!
That's right, you hip, happenin' and now music fans, we're staring off this week's episode of the Big Show with artists so nice, you've got to hear 'em twice. And I'm also going to play you the 1966 Petula Clark album cut that I think should have been a single, because it's that good.
Of course, there were one or two more album cuts on her My Love LP that also should have been hit singles, but you can't play 'em all. Well, I suppose I could, but I restrained myself. I'm a professional.
And that's just the first music set this go around on 3 Chords & the Truth. There's so much more good stuff on the rest of the program, you just can't imagine.WELL, if you're a regular listener to the best musical spot on the Internet, you can imagine. But saying that doesn't work as well rhetorically, so just go with me here.
So sit down, grab a snack and a drink, and treat yourself to an hour and a half of music-media bliss. If you don't, you'll just be cheating yourself.
Trust me on this.
So, without taking up more time reading that you should spend listening. . . .
IT'S 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times.
Aye, it is true that we see through a glass darkly. But sometimes, it is too dark to even see the glass.
That's the theme of this week's 3 Chords & the Truth. No, this isn't the kind of program that tries to fool you into thinking it's sunny all the time.
But this is the kind of program that tries to lift your soul even while we're trying to make you think about some stuff that maybe you'd rather not. Sometimes, thinking can be entertaining, too.
Nevertheless, there will be no pledge-week hard sell after the Big Show. Perhaps there would be if we had a pledge week -- but we don't. You can put your credit card away.SO this week, events have pushed us into thoughtfulness, if not out-and-out solemnity . . . though there's a touch of that, too. As we put this week's show together, it's the 14th anniversary attacks on New York and Washington, and that's plenty of reason to reflect on a lot of things. A few of those things make it into the show, for your reflection and, one hopes, edification.
Also as we wrap up another edition of 3 Chords & the Truth, we've just finished watching the remastered, 25th-anniversary edition of The Civil War on that channel that does have pledge breaks. It seems to me that that's food for plenty of thought, too, in this summer of controversy over Confederate symbolism and monuments. Thus, a Civil War set . . . submitted for your approval.
Lest I start to bog you down right here in the description of the podcast, I'll just stop my touting right here and humbly ask you to set aside a spare 91 minutes and 15 seconds and listen to the thing. I don't think you'll be sorry you did.
And you may even be ecstatic that you did. So listen. Click the player or the link and have at it.
IT'S 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
If you're younger than your Mighty Favog, who apparently is something of a fossil, you probably don't remember when your TV picture being in living color was a pretty big (and expensive) deal.
It was a glorious entertainment development way back when, during the Age of Wonders, when the wonders of technology were spaced out just enough for us to appreciate them all.
Now, it seems, I'm always at least one wonder behind. Because fossil, no doubt.
Too, the wonders don't seem so wonderful anymore. Just kind of "meh" as wonders go. Maybe we just have too many of them too fast today. Maybe I'm just jaded in my old age.
And that, Cap, is kinda, sorta the inspiration for this episode of 3 Chords & the Truth.
THUS, we start the Big Show with seriously wonderful music from the time when color TV was a true wonder. And, looking back on that era, so was the music. Especially our opener this week, Lenny Dee's wondrous 1966 take on Chris Montez's fantastic 1965 take on Petula Clark's 1965 original of "Call Me."
And if it's possible, the program just might get better from there. A little trippy at times, too.
So, that's about all I have to say about that. Just do yourself a huge favor and listen. Preferably on one of those massive 1960's console stereos. Those things were awesome.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
This week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is so huge that I don't know where to start touting it.
Nice problem to have, eh?
To preserve some small semblance of mystery about this week's prompt proceedings -- yeah, the Big Show is a few days early this week -- I'll just highlight a couple of cool things and call it good. You'll have to listen to catch the rest . . . duh.
First, your Mighty Favog is proud to announce that we're unveiling the official Donald Trump campaign theme song at the top of this episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. This is a Big Show exclusive of the highest order -- you'll hear the song that will frame The Donald's run for the White House (and from his creditors) right here on the web channel well before it's unveiled by the Trump campaign itself.
Really, it doesn't get much more exciting than this on the Internet, and 3 Chords & the Truth is proud and thrilled to get this scoop to you before everybody else.
Tune in for the big news, and then stay for the rest of the exceptional music on the Internet's most eclectic corner.
Well, that's it for now, so be sure . . . wait!
YOU'RE wanting the other tidbit about this week's Big Show, aren't you?
Allow me to sum it up thusly: You can hear this little bit of heaven now, or you can wait a while, live a good life, love Jesus and die so you can experience it later. And it won't cost you a cent.
It was the turn of a new decade, the dawn of the Space Age 1960s. And in the year of our Lord nineteen-hundred and sixty, Brook Benton released a new LP on Mercury Records with a deceptively simple -- simplistic, if you will -- title. Songs I Love to Sing, though, was a Benton masterpiece.
Somewhere in the way-out stereophonic groovage of this Space Age, bachelor-paddish, mid-century modern pop classic resides the perfect version of Rube Bloom's and Johnny Mercer's musical masterpiece. I can't listen to it enough (and, too, there's the wild early-stereo production of the track to get into), and I'm betting you won't be able to get enough of it, either.
From the production, to the arrangement, to Benton's smooth, lush voice and his masterful and deft phrasing, this version of "Fools Rush In" is . . . simply heavenly. Obviously, this is one place that fools rushed in just ahead of the angels.
A good time was had by all.
SO, THAT'S the short version of this week's Big Show highlight reel. Or demo tape. Whatever.
Whatever you do, just do yourself a favor and listen to the thing.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
