Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
We wish everyone a very merry Christmas. This year, one of the best new Christmas songs comes from John Legend. In the upbeat song “Bring Me Love,” from Legend’s A Legendary Christmas album, Legend asks for one thing for Christmas.
Bring me love this Christmas,
‘Cause I deserve you here;
Bring me love this Christmas,
‘Cause I’ve been good this year.
Here’s wishing you are surrounded by love this holiday season.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
One of the upcoming movies that has received a lot of buzz is La La Land. The movie is directed by Whiplash (2014) director Damien Chazelle and stars Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and John Legend. Oh, and it is a musical.
Featuring two of our current era’s most charming actors, La La Land follows the struggles of aspiring actress Mia (Stone) and jazz musician Sebastian (Gosling), both working to survive in modern day Los Angeles. Critics have already been singing their praises of the movie, which also won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Check out the new trailer for La La Land.
La La Land hits theaters on December 16, 2016.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
On July 2 in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The important act, which had survived heated discussion in the Senate and the House of Representatives, made racial segregation in public places illegal.
The law had an even broader impact. It also prohibited discrimination on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in schools and in employment.
President Johnson, who worked hard to push through the legislation after President John F. Kennedy’s death, used more than 75 pens to sign the legislation. He gave out the pens to many people who helped with the bill, including Martin Luther King, Jr. King later said the pen was one of his most cherished possessions.
The video below features President Johnson giving the pen to King. It also includes some of Johnson’s speech before the signing.
One of the songs that played a significant role in the civil rights movement was “We Shall Overcome.” The song developed from an African-American hymn first used as a protest song by striking tobacco workers in 1945.
“We Shall Overcome” grew to help inspire changes that shook the world. Many continue to recognize its importance. In recognition of the song’s role in the civil rights movement, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, members of Congress joined hands and sang the song.
The video below is from a recording by a number of artists — including John Legend, Joss Stone and The Blind Boys of Alabama — for Soundtrack for a Revolution
One of the artists who helped popularize the song was folksinger Pete Seeger. In this video, Seeger explains the history behind the song.
Of course, the Civil Rights Act did not end racial discrimination. But it was an important step in the ongoing process.
One of the reasons “We Shall Overcome” is a great song is its timelessness. It is not a song of “we have overcome” about past accomplishments. It is a song that reminds us that there are always more struggles ahead of us to overcome. And we shall.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
This week on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” John Legend and The Roots performed an excellent cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” from Springsteen’s Born in the USA (1984). To top it off, Legend also made the performance MP3 available to fans with a free download.
2024 Update: Unfortunately, the performance with the Roots is no longer available, but here is another performance by Legend singing “Dancing in the Dark”:
What do you think of John Legend’s cover? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)
This week on American Idol, Haley Reinhart sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” She did a good job, and it may have been the best song choice of the night. Her performance helped her avoid being the second person in three weeks to go home after singing a song with the word “deep” in the title.
Adele’s version of “Rolling in the Deep” is hard to beat, as her voice perfectly balances the song’s heartbreak pain (“The scars of your love, they leave me breathless”) and kiss-off anger (“Think of me in the depths of your despair”). But there are some excellent covers of the song. John Legend does a great acappella cover of the song. While looking for a video of Legend singing the song, I ran across an abbreviated cover of John Legend’s version by a new rising artist named Jason Ray. [April 2014 Update: Unfortunately, Ray no longer has the “Rolling in the Deep” video on YouTube, but you should check out some of his other songs at his website, linked below.]
Jason Ray, whose real name is Jason Raymond Garrett, is a classically trained pianist and singer-songwriter from Houston with influences ranging from Prince to Led Zeppelin. He started off with a successful YouTube page, and his website states that his first album will be released soon. The website appears relatively new, so it seems like he is just starting out. Check him out, as you likely will hear more of him soon.
For those looking for the American Idol version of the song, here is the link to Haley Reinhart’s version. There is not an official video of John Legend’s acappella cover, but you may hear his excellent version here. Finally here is a link to Adele’s official video of “Rolling in the Deep” and a live version from a performance on Ellen.
What do you think of the various versions of “Rolling in the Deep”? Leave a comment.
(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)