Day #25 - of the 30 Day Song Challenge

[shadowkat]

Day #25 of the 30 Day Song Challenge - a song you like by an artist no longer living.

Seriously, there are so frigging many to choose from. Eeny Meany Miney Moe...

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[cactuswatcher]

Yep, this one is too easy. How about a singer to your generation who died when they were at their peak?

Seemed like Country Music stars died in car crashes every month in those days, so they'd hardly count. Ritchie Valens was only 17 when his plane went down. But he really belonged to a slightly older group of fans than me than me. Janis Joplin was terrific. I can't tell you how she made us feel back then. But I think I wasn't the only one who thought then that she'd quickly burn out one way or the other, kill herself with drugs (which she did) or destroy her voice... Cass Elliot had it all except a slim figure and choked to death on a sandwich trying to eat in bed... Lots of sad stories...

One more sad story. One more plane crash. I'll pick:
Otis Redding, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyPKRcBTsFQ

[shadowkat]

Yeah...I mean who do you pick? Warren Zevon? David Bowie? Prince? Aretha? John Lennon? Buddy Holly? The lead singer of the Cranberries...? The list is endless. And over past few years, it was beginning to feel like they were dying every other week.

Otis Redding is a great pick. And I love that song! Thank you. A favorite.

[atpo_onm]

Just recently passed, a man who like Warren Zevon could seamlessly mix humor and pathos in many of his songs, who came from humble origins to become beloved and admired by millions, myself included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF8S5XB-eYs


Bewildered, Bewildered, / you have no complaint
You are what you are / and you ain't what you ain't

Good advice then, good advice now.
We miss you, John.

[cjlasky7]

I saw Sarah Vaughan only once, at the legendary Blue Note Cafe, touring her final album (Brazilian Romance). Her band played for a long time before she came out, and looking back, she might already have been too ill to sing for us at all.

But she did sing, and her voice was still a remarkable instrument. She may have lost a bit at the top of her range, but it seemed to me that her lower register had deepened, and the resulting performance was something unexpected and new.

It was only 55 minutes, but it was unforgettable.

Sara Vaughan, "So Many Stars"

https://youtu.be/R1Ozo59sGLA

[shadowkat]

Good choice - I love Sarah Vaughn.

[shadowkat]

John Prine has quite the following - and yet, I never heard of him until he died. (I have heard the songs here and there, but no memory of them.) My mother's cousin loves him - so much, he hunted down a movie in which he appeared. Wendahl has posted ten songs on this song challenge by John Prine. You, CJL, beergood have all done likewise. My ex-college boyfriend posted himself singing a John Prine song, which he'd be taught by another college buddy and folk-singer.

Yet no one mentioned him prior to his death to my knowledge. Interesting.

I like his songs, but not his voice - feel the same about Bob Dylan and Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline - so he's in good company.