Monday, May 2, 2011

Paul Simon "Late In The Evening"

Here's a fun game you can play as you listen to the radio (or your iPod). I'll even give you one of the hardest "gets."

A few years ago, we thought it would be cool programming to take the entire mvyradio library, and, for a week, play the songs in Alphabetical Order.

"A Case Of You" through "Zebra."

At the time, I was the Production Director at mvy, which meant that I was in charge of making commercials and other promotional IDs and such.

We created some simple between-song sounds (we call them "sweeps") to identify the station, and let people know about the special programming.

"You're listening to mvyradio A to Z. We're playing all our songs in alphabetical order this week, and we're up to the letter---"

We made 26 of these, and when the copy got to the letter, we played a snippet of a song that featured the letter.

Some letters were simple. Like I pulled out the "B" in "Let It Be" by the Beatles.

Some sounded really funny. Like the big breath Donald Fagen takes in as he says the "F" in the song "FM."

Some letters weren't the letters, exactly, but sounded good. I got "C" from Neil Young's "Good To See You." Get it? "See"?

As the list of letters I needed to get dwindled down, I had to get crafty.

Since no one (outside of Sesame Street) ever sings about the letter "W" I knocked together the word "Double" from "When I Paint My Masterpiece" and a "You" from "Sweetheart Like You," to create the "Double-You/W."

But I was stuck looking for a "J."

It's not really a letter that is the first syllable of a commonly said word ("jay-walking" is not a common song-subject). And while there are lots of songs about "Joe" and "Jimmy," no one really sings about "Jay."

I was wracking my brain for days, trying to figure out how to get a "J" when this song popped into my head.

If it's not coming to you right away, listen to the track to see if you can figure out where I found a "J" (it's pretty obvious when you hear it).

And next time you're listening to the radio, as a challenge to yourself, see what other letters you can get.


Hear it on Youtube.

See the original music video.

1 comment:

  1. i love Paul Simon i cant wait to see him concert. at the hangout festival. hes amazing when he takes the stage

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