to get you through
it is wednesday, and if i need a little help getting over the hump, you probably do too - to get us there, i present:
"Samba de Orfu" by Jobim and Bonfa -- this comes from the Black Orpheus soundtrack, which helped popularize brazillian music in the US back in the 50s. i've been a big fan of Jobim for a long time, and this song is so pretty the way it holds the balance between simple brazillian jazz guitar, and the crazy childrens-chorus breakdown that rules the second half of the song. yummy... (the rest of the soundtrack is great, and heavy on the batucada, buy it here)
"I Am Blue" by Grover -- yes, from sesame street - who knew grover was a blues-man? i love this. it makes me wish i'd been a little kid when this came out - of course i was young enough in the late 70s/early 80s to have watched sesame street religously, but still. i wish children's music was still this fucking good. (this is out of print, but you can probably find it at your local swapmeet, garage sales, or on gemm.com)
and
"Brown Skin Girl" by Harry Belafonte -- yeah yeah, "day-o, dayyyy-o" whatever. i sang that song all the time when i was a kid, then it showed up in Beetlejuice (holla!), but this song is something else entirely... its so soft and pretty. listen to that gentle guitar at the bridge, and the little pauses? man. i met him a little while ago when he came into the lounge i DJ at (fridays, at flute in midtown). i introduced myself and told him how much i liked his music, and he was pleasant and humble in return - HB is the man. (pick up the album on the cheap)