Category: The Beatles

We’ve Got Nearly An All-Brit Saturday With Our Great ‘British Are Coming’ EP, Dusty Springfield, and John Mayall! Then There’s LIVE DEAD! Later, March 26, 2022

Good Morning, Kids! It’s Grand Central Saturday here in The Mermaid Lounge as we bring you a nearly All-Brit Saturday. Read on for details!

The British Invasion and beyond here today!

Here’s today’s line-up:

10:00 a.m. The British Are Coming: Various Artists

We celebrate The British Invasion (and beyond) today with our great EP. You’ll hear The Beatles, The Who, Dave Mason, Electric Light Orchestra, The Zombies, The Hollies, Petula Clark, Lulu, Dusty Springfield, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Queen, Dave Clark Five, The Bee Gees, Moody Blues, Rod Stewart, George Harrison, Them, Herman’s Hermits, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Badfinger, The Yardbirds, Traffic, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Yes, The Animals, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Spencer Davis Group, and more!

4:00 p.m. Album of The Week: The Sun Is Shining Down by John Mayall FINAL AIRING!

Yes, it’s the final airing of our great Album of The Week by the Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall. He brought along some of his friends on this one. Tune it in to find out who. (I’ll give you just one hint. One guy used to play with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.)

7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Dusty Springfield

The early evening brings us a real treat, as we put Dusty Springfield In the Spotlight. Dusty brought us her special brand of blue-eyed soul for nearly five decades, and she’s a Mermaid Lounge favorite for sure.

10:00 p.m. LIVE DEAD! The Grateful Dead Live at Barton Hall, Cornell University, New York, May 8, 1977

This is not a new performance, but a requested repeat. We’ve had a few people ask for this one over the past month or so. The last time we played it was back in 2020, so it’s like new. Many consider this to be the finest live Grateful Dead performance ever. I don’t know how you choose one out of the many they’ve had over the years, but here it is!

It’s Saturday and the first full day of the weekend. What could be better than adding some great music to the mix, free of charge, with no mouthy DJs and no commercial interruption? Come on. You know you want to.

The British Are Coming!

Today We’ve Got Our ‘Folk Music From A-to-Z’ EP and The Beatles Own Our Album of The Week, Sunday, February 20, 2022

Good Morning, Music Historians! I hope this sunny Sunday (at least it is here in the Boston area) finds you in great musical spirits. If not, we hope we can help you to get there!

The Beatles land in America, February 7, 1964

Here’s your Sunday Funday line-up:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Meet The Beatles by The Beatles NEW!

As you know, The Beatles are the other half of our ‘house band’ line-up (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers being the other half). We here in The Mermaid Lounge are very careful not to overplay either band, but this is a very special month for Beatles fans, especially myself. The Beatles first landed in America on February 7, 1964…on my tenth birthday. My present from my mother on that day was Meet The Beatles, their first U.S. release. The album changed my musical life forever. It gave me my own generation of music after having listened to my sisters’ music for several years which, by the way, I acknowledge as the beginning of rock n’ roll. The Beatles were listening to my sisters’ music as well, and drew their inspiration from those artists. We will talk about that later, however.

It is time Meet The Beatles gets its due as our Album of The Week. The Beatles changed everything, not just popular music, but popular culture as well. In England, their debut album was titled With The Beatles, and had a different line-up of songs. Today we give you the U.S. version of their debut album with the iconic cover photographed by Robert Freeman, who also photographed several other Beatle album covers. In the UK, the cover was straight black & white. In the U.S., it was released as a blue duotone.

3:00 p.m. Folk Music From A-To-Z: Various Artists

We also have a great EP celebrating another important part of popular music history called folk music. Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Odetta inspired Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and so many others you’ll hear in this playlist. Those “others” include Nanci Griffith, The Band, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Andersen, Peter, Paul & Mary, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Jesse Winchester, The Stone Poneys, John Prine, Cat Stevens, Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, Arlo Guthrie, The Wallflowers, and more!

Come on. It’s a day of rest and relaxation. And before the Blue Laws were dropped here in Massachusetts, there weren’t any stores open to continue the capitalism game. It’s time to, as The Beatles once said, “get back to where we once belonged.” This is a good day to start.

Get Back, People!

We’re at Midweek With Our ‘Here Comes The Night’ EP and The Beatles Album Openers Later, Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Good Morning, Musicologists! We’ve hit our midweek stride with a great EP about night time, and a brand new playlist of songs that open the Beatles US and UK album releases.

The Beatles album openers are on tap for later!

Here’s today’s musical landscape:

10:00 a.m. Here Comes The Night: Various Artists

We’ve got an EP dedicated to the morning, and we’ve got one for the night. Songs with the word “night” in the title, lyrics, or both is on tap for this morning. You’ll hear Warren Zevon, the J. Geils Band, Poco, Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, Bonnie Raitt, The Traveling Wilburys, The Beatles, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Joe Walsh, the Ronettes, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Wilson Pickett, Steelers Wheel, Gregg Allman, Sam Cooke, Phoebe Snow, The Electric Prunes, Jimmy Cliff, and more!

7:00 p.m. The Beatles: The LP Opening Songs NEW!

Some playlists are long; others short. By our standards, this one is pretty short but oh, so sweet. We give you the opening songs from both the US and UK Beatle album releases. As you know, some were different country-to-country and, in some cases, albums were released in one country and not in another. We do not focus on compilations or post-career releases…just the studio albums released on the Beatles labels over the years (Capitol, Parlophone, Apple, and so on).

A couple of more comments on this playlist, there is a complete list (with notes) on the blog under the Playlist tab should you wish to take a look. And while some sources do not include “With A Little Help From My Friends” as part of the opening to Sgt. Pepper, we here in The Mermaid Lounge do.

Come on, people. It’s midweek and we’re going strong around the planet this morning. It’s time to tune us in. We’re free 24/7. No credit card or subscription required. No personal information requested. We’re all about the music.

Just Push Play.

We’ve Got a Mudcrutch Monday, a Brand New Beatles Playlist, and Lukas Nelson & POTR In The Spotlight Later, December 20, 2021

Yes, I’ll say it: Happy Monday, Musicologists! We’ve got a great opening day of the work week that features a fun, new Beatles playlist, Mudcrutch, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real later.

We’ve got a great, new Beatles playlist up today at 3:00 p.m.

Here’s your Monday line-up:

11:00 a.m. MUDCRUTCH MONDAY! Mudcrutch Live at The Fonda Theater, Hollywood, California, June 26, 2016

Yes, it’s a Mudcrutch Monday again and we’ve got the tour I may never forgive myself for missing. Why? Because it was one of the last opportunities I had to see Mudcrutch for the first time ever, and Tom Petty for the fifth. And, by the way, they blew the doors off the Boston House of Blues with Hungry No More, my favorite Mudcrutch song. What’s not to be upset about here?

3:00 p.m. The Beatles: Songs With Character NEW!

This was a fun one to put together. It’s all about the man in the mack, a lonely woman named Eleanor Rigby, an ode to Dear Prudence, the barber shaving another customer on Penny Lane, a serial killer with a hammer, the walrus, the eggman, the taxman, Bungalow Bill, a racoon named Rocky, a lady trying to make ends meet, a Nowhere Man named Jeremy Hillary Boob, Ph.D., a chick flying around the sky with diamonds while another leaves home, and more! The Beatles know how to tell a story.

7:00 p.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real

Also known as POTR for short. A week ago we played Dylan’s boy. Today we feature Willie’s boy, and he’s no slouch either. Get yourself ready for some great country rock to cap off our programming.

Monday. Start the week on the right foot here at #BecomeUngovernable Radio. We’re totally free and uninterrupted by commercial bullshit and DJ banter. It’s all about the music, people. And we’re 24/7.

Happy Monday!

At Week’s End, We Turn the Spotlight On Our Two ‘House’ Bands, Friday, December 10, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists! If you follow us, you know we’re very careful not to overplay our two house bands, a very difficult task since we consider them the two best bands ever to strap on guitars. Today, we’re not worrying about such things.

Our programming today focuses on our House Bands!

Here’s today’s programming:

11:00 a.m. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Live and Loving It!

This playlist just underwent a very modest update, and it remains one of our favorite playlists. Here we have our very subjective favorite ‘live’ performances by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (and some stuff from Mudcrutch is indeed included). This is like a smorgasbord of the greatest live stuff from one of the greatest live bands on the planet, and includes some great covers of songs that Mike Campbell says come from bands that are part of The Heartbreakers’ DNA.

7:00 p.m. The Beatles: The Let It Be Sessions

In light of Peter Jackson’s new documentary about The Fab Four and the 50th Anniversary of Let It Be, we are giving you a great playlist here. It includes about thirty minutes of sessions that were previously unreleased, and then there are the final songs from Let It Be the way it was originally planned for listening (before the sessions were handed over to Phil Spector and he applied the Wall of Sound), which resulted in the album Let It Be Naked.

Celebrating our house bands together is something we’ve not done before, so this would be a great day to tune us in! It doesn’t cost you a penny, folks. That’s all on us. All we are doing is playing great music all day long. Tune us in.

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Today We Celebrate The Music of John Lennon, Hear a Live Acoustic Session Between Two Friends, and Listen to Our AOW on Thursday, December 9, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists! Here we are again inching toward the weekend. I don’t know how it is where you are, but here in Massachusetts we got our first dusting of snow last night. A taste of things to come.

We lost John Lennon 41 years ago yesterday. Today, we put him In the Spotlight.

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. In The Spotlight: The Music of John Lennon

We lost John Lennon to an assassin 41 years ago yesterday. I remember it well; I was totally stunned. I was still in my twenties and I recall the horror I felt thinking “who the hell would want to kill John Lennon?” Today, we celebrate the music John Lennon left us as the heart and soul of The Beatles, as a solo artist, and with the various iterations of The Plastic Ono Band.

3:00 p.m. Album of The Week: Smiley Smile by The Beach Boys

I know I say this every week, but we’re winding down on this particular AOW selection. Your last chance to hear it will be on Saturday. On Sunday, we’ve got a brand new album for you.

7:00 p.m. Jackson Browne & Warren Zevon, Live Acoustic Set at VPRO Studios, Holland, December 8, 1976

Here we simply have two old friends hanging out together and trading tunes at VPRO Studios in Holland. That they just happen to be a couple of the best singer-songwriters on the planet is a bonus.

We’re lively here this morning with listeners from Germany, the UK, France, Japan, Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Switzerland, the Faroe Islands, Russian Federation and points beyond. We’ve even got U.S. representation here this morning from Texas and Florida. Come on in. The music’s just waiting for you.

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Friday. It’s Finally Here and We Have Some Toots & The Maytals, Trifectas In The Afternoon, and The Final Segment on Our Beatles Feature Later, November 12, 2021

Good Morning, Reggae-ologists! We’re here in The Mermaid Lounge and we’re breaking out some great Reggae today to start off our musical programming. We’ve also got a series of new Trifectas debuting this afternoon!

We’ve got some Toots & The Maytals for you this morning!

Here’s Friday’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. In The Spotlight: Toots & The Maytals

The Maytals were formed in the early 60s in Jamaica, and became one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups, playing a key role in popularizing the Reggae sound. We put them here In the Spotlight today.

Trifecta Afternoon NEW!

We’ve got a set of four brand new Trifectas to help get you through the afternoon:

2:00 p.m. Fats Domino

3:00 p.m. Badfinger

4:00 p.m. Paul Revere & The Raiders

5:00 p.m. Jimi Hendrix

7:00 p.m. The Beatles: The Endgame

You know, I look forward to Peter Jackson’s Beatle documentary coming up this month. Did the Beatles fight? They did. All bands fight. They’re like a family. But if the Beatles hated each other they way it was played up in the media, they would not have been able to remain as great as they were to the bitter end. Later on, they worked out their issues. It was real life under a media microscope.

Tune us in, folks. We’re here for you 24/7 completely free-of-charge every single day. We don’t ask for your personal info or a credit card, and we do not play commercials. Ever.

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At Midweek, It’s Dan Fogelberg In the Spotlight, An Afternoon Trifecta-Fest, and The Beatles This Evening, Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Good Morning, Musicologists! Here we are again at midweek. It’s Truck Day at the old slave shack, but I certainly have you covered musically in my absence. The Music Mermaid will see that everything is carried out to the letter.

The Beatles touched down in the U.S. on February 7, 1964, my tenth birthday. It changed everything.

Here’s your mid-week programming:

11:00 a.m. In the Spotlight: The Music of Dan Fogelberg

This guy’s name doesn’t always roll off people’s tongue, but it should. Fogelberg was a singer, songwriter, musician, and multi-instrumentalist who, for me, provided an oasis in the dry desert of the eighties music scene (absolutely not my favorite generation of music), along with a few others, most notably Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. People can debate an artist’s “best” album all day and night because that decision is subjective and personal. For me Souvenirs was not only his best album, but one of the best albums ever put on vinyl.

Afternoon Trifectas

Starting mid-afternoon, we’ll open each hour with three-in-a-row from one artist.

3:00 p.m. Emmylou Harris

4:00 p.m. Sam Cooke

5:00 p.m. Talking Heads

6:00 p.m. Van Morrison

7:00 p.m. The Beatles: The Early Years

The Beatles touched ground here on my tenth birthday. Up until that point, I had been listening to my sisters’ music pretty regularly. When the Beatles landed, it changed everything for me. In fact, it changed everything in the house because my sisters became fans pretty quickly as well. This is the other half of our House Band duo, and over the next few days we’ll be playing their stuff in chronological order.

Come on, people. Join your friends. Wednesday always seems to be fairly active early in the morning: Sweden, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Russian Federation, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and the UK are on so far. These people know good music when they hear it.

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Sunday Brings Our New Album of The Week by The Flying Burrito Brothers and Our Original Sixties Rotation, November 7, 2021

Good Morning, Sixties Lovers! This is our day. We give you a great new Album of The Week and dust off our Original Sixties Rotation this afternoon. Read on!

Five hours of original sixties music kicks in at mid-afternoon!

Here’s today’s line-up:

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: The Gilded Palace of Sin by The Flying Burrito Brothers NEW!

There have been many players in the evolution of what has come to be known as country-rock. This 1969 release, the first from The Flying Burrito Brothers, continued the work of two of the most notable musicians in this process, Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, both veterans of The Byrds (who were also players). These guys married country to other forms of popular music, like gospel, soul, and psychedelic rock, and it’s all on display here in this great new Album of The Week.

3:00 p.m. The Original Sixties Rotation: Various Artists

This one is due for an update soon, but it remains formidable as it is, as this first sixties EP focuses on early-to-mid music of the great generation. You’ll hear Sonny & Cher, The Monkees, Mary Wells, Dusty Springfield, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Drifters, Fats Domino, The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Petula Clark, The Hollies, Buddy Holly, The Kinks, Neil Diamond, The Band, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Temptations, The Yardbirds, The Searchers, The Rolling Stones, Donovan, and more!

Sunday is a day of rest, so go ahead and take yourself some rest. Kick back and tune us in. We’ll keep you aurally pleased for hours here. In fact, 24/7 to be precise. At no cost whatsoever to you. Hey, what else could you ask for as we end Daylight Savings time here.

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Sunday in The Mermaid Lounge Brings Volume Two of Our Sixties Rotation, and Gram Parsons With Our Album of The Week, September 19, 2021

It’s a great day in The Mermaid Lounge because we bring you the music that inspired us to start this station to begin with. We focus on the 60’s and deliver a brand new Album of The Week as well.

The Sixties are back starting at 3:00 p.m. EST!

Here’s your Sunday programming!

11:00 a.m. Album of The Week: Grievous Angel by Gram Parsons NEW!

Gram Parsons never lived long enough to see just how influential he truly was. He died at the age of 26 from multiple drug use in a Joshua Tree, California, on this very day (September 19) in 1973. It’s only fitting we pay him tribute with our Album of The Week.

Parsons was a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who played with The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The International Submarine Band, and as a solo artist. He also collaborated with Emmylou Harris and, in spite of the rumors, they were not lovers. Their connection was music. She, of course, went on to become a country-rock legend.

Gram Parsons brought country to rock n’ roll and helped forge the country-rock genre in the same way that Bob Dylan brought folk to rock. He was that influential in a very short lifetime.

3:00 p.m. The Sixties Rotation, Volume Two: Various Artists

We’re back with the music that helped to bring us to live here in The Mermaid Lounge. This volume focuses more on the mid-to-late sixties. You will hear The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin (with and without her various bands), The Four Tops, Roy Orbison, The Yardbirds, James Brown, The Box Tops, Vanilla Fudge, Sly & The Family Stone, The Doors, The Zombies, and many more. It’s over five hours of sixties music!

We’re waiting for you here in The Mermaid Lounge where we are all about the music. We are free to all, accept absolutely no advertising, and employ only one DJ. We do not require a “subscription” or your credit card number. We also do not seek out your personal information. What the hell are you waiting for?

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