EARLY MORNIN’ RAIN

PETER, PAUL & MARY
SONGWRITER: Gordon Lightfoot
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: GOLDEN STAR PORTRAIT
LABEL: WARNER RECORDS
GENRE: FOLK
YEAR: 1975
 
        Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961, during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio was composed of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Noel Paul Stookey and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repertoire included songs written by Yarrow and Stookey, early songs by Bob Dylan as well as covers of other folk musicians. After the death of Travers in 2009, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform as a duo under their individual names.
           Mary Travers said she was influenced by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and the Weavers. In the documentary Peter, Paul & Mary: Carry It On — A Musical Legacy, members of the Weavers discuss how Peter, Paul and Mary took over the torch of the social commentary of folk music in the 1960s.
         The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. Peter, Paul and Mary received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.

In the early mornin' rain with a dollar in my hand
And an aching in my heart, and my pockets full of sand
I'm a long way from home, and I miss my loved one so
In the early mornin' rain with no place to go.
 
Out on runway number nine, big seven-o-seven set to go
But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows
Well the liquor tasted good and the women all were fast
There she goes my friend, she's rollin' down at last.
 
Hear the mighty engine roar, see the silver wing on high
She's away and westward bound far above the clouds she'll fly
Where the mornin' rain don't fall and the sun always shines
She'll be flyin' o're my home in about three hours time.
 
This old airport's got me down, it's no earthly good to me
Cause I'm stuck here on the ground,
Cold and drunk, as I might be.
Can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train
So I'd best be on my way in the early mornin' rain.
So I'd best be on my way in the early mornin' rain.

I NEVER CRY

ALICE COOPER
SONGWRITERS: ALICE COOPER & DICK WAGNER
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: ALICE COOPER GOES TO HELL
LABEL: WARNER BROS.
GENRE: SOFT ROCK
YEAR: 1976
 
         Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spans over 50 years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock". He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences.
           Originating in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, "Alice Cooper" was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and Neal Smith on drums. The original Alice Cooper band released their debut album in 1969, and broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit song "I'm Eighteen". The band reached their commercial peak in 1973 with their sixth studio album, Billion Dollar Babies. They broke up in 1975 and Furnier adopted the band's name as both his legal name and his stage name, beginning his solo career with the 1975 concept album Welcome to My Nightmare.
               Expanding from his Detroit rock roots, Cooper has experimented with a number of musical styles, including art rock, hard rock, heavy metal, new wave, glam metal, and industrial rock. He helped to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and has been described as the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock and roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". He is also known for his wit offstage, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide calling him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a radio DJ with his classic rock show Nights with Alice Cooper.
              "I Never Cry" is a song by American singer Alice Cooper. It was originally released on his Alice Cooper Goes to Hell album in 1976.
         The song was written by Cooper and Dick Wagner. The song peaked at Nº. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at Nº. 9 on Cash Box in January 1977. In Canada, it spent two weeks at Nº. 5.
          "I Never Cry" was performed live by Cooper, though not consistently, during all tours up to his break in touring due to his addiction to crack cocaine and eventual relapse into alcoholism following 1981’s Special Forces tour. When Cooper returned to touring after Constrictor, "I Never Cry" was never again performed until the 2002 ‘Descent into Dragontown’ tour, following which the song became was a regular part of setlists on the 2005–06 ‘Dirty Diamonds’ and 2009–10 ‘Theatre of Death’ tours.

If there is a tear on my face
It makes me shiver to the bones
It shakes me, Babe
It's just a heartache that got caught in my eye
And you know: I never cry, I never cry?
 
Sometimes I drink more than I need
Until the TV's dead and gone
I may be lonely
But I'm never alone
And the night may pass me by
But I never cry
 
Take away, take away my eyes
Sometimes I'd rather be blind?
Break a heart, break a heart of stone
Open it up but don't you leave it alone
 
'Cause that's all I got to give to you
Believe me Babe, ain? T it been used
My heart's a virgin, ain? T never been tried
And you know I never cry
And you know I never cry
And you know, And you know, And you know
Never cry, I never cry
 
Break a heart, break a heart of stone
Open it up but don't you leave it alone
'Cause that's all I got to give to you
Believe me Babe, ain't it been used
My heart's a virgin, its never been tried
And you know: I never cry!
I never cry!

SCARS TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL

ALESSIA CARA
SONGWRITERS: ALESSIA CARACCIOLO; WARREN FELDER; ANDREW WANSIL; COLERIDGE TILLMAN & JUSTIN FRANKS
COUNTRY: CANADA
ALBUM: KNOW-IT-ALL
LABEL: DEF JAM RECORDING
GENRE: R & B
YEAR: 2016
 
         Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara (/əˈlɛsiəˈkɑːrə/), is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. After producing acoustic covers, she signed with EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in 2014 and released her debut single the following year. "Here" peaked at number 19 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart and was a sleeper hit in the United States, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
          Cara's debut studio album, Know-It-All (2015), peaked at number 8 on the Canadian Albums Chart and at number 9 on the Billboard 200. The album's third single, "Scars to Your Beautiful", peaked number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2016. In 2017, Cara collaborated with DJ and producer Zedd to create the single "Stay", and with rapper Logic to feature in his song "1-800-273-8255". Cara has received nominations for four Grammy Awards, including a win for Best New Artist in 2018. She was nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the 2019 Latin Grammys for her collaboration with Juanes on "Querer Mejor". Her second studio album, The Pains of Growing (2018), saw the moderate commercial success of the singles "Growing Pains" and "Trust My Lonely".
           "Scars to Your Beautiful" is a song recorded by Canadian singer and songwriter Alessia Cara. Def Jam Recordings and Universal Music Group serviced it to contemporary hit radio on July 26, 2016, as the third single from her debut studio album Know-It-All (2015). The song was written by Alessia Caracciolo, Warren Felder, Andrew Wansel, Coleridge Tillman and Justin Franks, and produced by Pop & Oak and the latter two.
          It peaked at number eight and thus became Alessia Cara's second top-ten single on US Billboard Hot 100. 
 

She just wants to be beautiful
She goes unnoticed
She knows no limits
She craves attention
She praises an image
She prays to be sculpted by the sculptor
 
Oh, she don't see the light that's shining
Deeper than the eyes can find it
Maybe we have made her blind
So, she tries to cover up her pain
And cut her woes away
'Cause covergirls don't cry
After their face is made, but
 
There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We're stars and we're beautiful

Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We're stars and we're beautiful
 
She has dreams to be an envy
So she's starving
You know, covergirls eat nothing
She says: Beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything
What's a little bit of hunger?
I can go a little while longer
She fades away
 
She don't see her perfect
She don't understand she's worth it
Or that beauty goes deeper than the surface, oh, oh, oh, oh
So to all the girls that's hurting, let me be your mirror
Help you see a little bit clearer
The light that shines within
 
There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We're stars and we're beautiful
 
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We're stars and we're beautiful
 
No better you than the you that you are
(No better you than the you that you are)
No better life than the life we're living
(No better life than the life we're living)
No better time for your shine, you're a star
(No better time for your shine, you're a star)
Oh, you're beautiful
Oh, you're beautiful
 
There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We're stars and we're beautiful
 
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful
We're stars and we're beautiful.

STONE CRAZY

BUDDY GUY
SONGWRITER: BUDDY GUY
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: I WAS WALKIN’ THROUGH THE WOOD
LABEL: ALLIGATOR
GENRE: BLUE
YEAR: 1979
 
          George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues and has influenced guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a house guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with the harmonica player Junior Wells.
         Guy was ranked 23rd in Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". His song "Stone Crazy" was ranked 78th in the Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". Clapton once described him as "the best guitar player alive". In 1999, Guy wrote the book Damn Right I've Got the Blues, with Donald Wilcock. His autobiography, When I Left Home: My Story, was published in 2012.
          The Blues Giant (also known as Stone Crazy!) is the fourth studio album by Buddy Guy. It was an attempt to capture Buddy's ferocious live performance style in a studio setting. It contains some of his most aggressive and unpredictable guitar solos.
            The 1970s was a very hard time for traditional Blues musicians. Only one Buddy Guy studio album had been released in that decade (Hold That Plane! - recorded in 1969, released in 1972), until he and his band entered Concoret Studios in Toulouse, France for these sessions. Buddy was pleased to record with French producer Didier Tricard. To release this album, Tricard founded a new label, named "Isabel" by Buddy Guy after his mother.
Woman you must be stone down crazy
Either you're going to lose your mind
Yes I said baby you must be stone crazy
Either you're going to lose your mind
Yes I wanna know how could you treat me so dirty baby
You must think my little heart is made of iron
 
Lord as I sit here in my dark room
Tears rolling down from my eyes
Yes I sit I sit here in my dark room
Tears rolling all down from my eyes
Yes you know my little baby looked at me and said daddy
Ohh, God knows you're the hurted child
 
Oh yeah
Somebody come and get me
 
Yes I think I'm going back down south
People where the weather suits my clothes
Yes I said I'm going back down south
People where the weather suits my clothes
Yes you know that I'm playing around in this big city so long man
Ohh, 'till I'm almost just done froze
 
Darling you must be stone crazy
Or either you're going to lose your mind
Yes I said woman you must be stone down crazy
Either you're going to lose your mind
Yes I wanna know how could you treat me so low down and dirty
You must be think my little heart is made of iron
 
Wow as I sit here in my dark room
Tears rolling all down my eyes
Yes I sit I sit right here right here in my dark room
Tears rolling all down from my eyes
Yes you know my little girl looked at me and said
Ohh, my daddy is a hurted child
 
Ohh, Look-a-here now
Somebody come here
 
Lord I believe I'm going back down south
Where the weather suits my clothes
Yes I believe I'm going back down south
People where the weather suits my clothes
Yes you know that I've played around in these big cities so long man
Ohh, 'till I'm almost done froze.