THE AIR THAT I BREATHE

THE HOLLIE

SONGWRITERS: ALBERT HAMMOND & MIKE HAZELWOOD

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: HOLLIES

LABEL: POLYDOR RECORDS

GENRE: SOFT ROCK

YEAR: 1974

 

        The Hollies are a British pop rock group formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid 1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash founded the band as a Merseybeat-type music group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns further north in East Lancashire. Graham Nash left the group in 1968 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash.

      They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries (with at least 60 singles or EPs and 26 albums charting somewhere in the world, spanning over five decades), although they did not achieve major US chart success until "Bus Stop" was released in 1966. The Hollies had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.

           The Hollies are one of the few UK groups of the early 1960s, along with the Rolling Stones, who have never disbanded and continue to record and perform. In recognition of their achievements, the Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

          "The Air That I Breathe" is a ballad written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, initially recorded by Albert Hammond on his 1972 album It Never Rains in Southern California. It was a major hit for the Hollies in early 1974, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart.

            "The Air That I Breathe" was a major hit for the Hollies in early 1974, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart. In mid 1974, it reached number six in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number five on the RPM magazine charts. The audio engineering for "The Air That I Breathe" was done by Alan Parsons. In an interview, Parsons mentioned that Eric Clapton said the first note of "The Air That I Breathe" had more soul than anything he'd ever heard.

      This version of the song featured a string orchestra arrangement, which also featured a horn section.

         The 1992 Radiohead song "Creep" uses a similar chord progression and shares some melodic content with the 1972 version of "The Air That I Breathe". As a result, the song's publisher sued Radiohead for copyright infringement and a settlement was reached in which Hammond and Hazlewood were given co-writing credits and a portion of the royaltie.

If I could make a wish

I think I'd pass

Can't think of anything I need

No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound

Nothing to eat, no books to read

 

Making love with you

Has left me peaceful, warm, and tired

What more could I ask

There's nothing left to be desired

Peace came upon me and it leaves me weak

So sleep, silent angel, go to sleep

 

Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe

And to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe

Yes to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe

 

Peace came upon me and it leaves me weak

So sleep, silent angel, go to sleep

 

Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe

And to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe

Yes to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe

 

Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe

And to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe

Yes to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe

And to love you

All I need is the air that I breathe.

TAKE THIS WALTZ

LEONARD COHEN

SONGWRITERS: GARCIA LORCA & LEONARD COHEN

COUNTRY: CANADA

ALBUM: I’M YOUR MAN

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: SOFT ROCK

YEAR: 1988

 

      Leonard Norman Cohen(September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death and romantic relationships. Cohen was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011, Cohen received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize.

         Cohen pursued a career as a poet and novelist during the 1950s and early 1960s, and did not begin a music career until 1967 at the age of 33. His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen(1967), was followed by three more albums of folk music: Songs from a Room(1969), Songs of Love and Hate(1971) and New Skin for the Old Ceremony(1974). His 1977 record Death of a Ladies' Man, co-written and produced by Phil Spector, was a move away from Cohen's previous minimalist sound. In 1979, Cohen returned with the more traditional Recent Songs, which blended his acoustic style with jazz, East Asian, and Mediterranean influences. Cohen's most famous song, "Hallelujah", was first released on his studio álbum Various Positions in 1984. I'm Your Man in 1988 marked Cohen's turn to synthesized productions. In 1992, Cohen released its follow-up, The Future, which had dark lyrics and references to political and social unrest.

         Cohen returned to music in 2001 with the release of Ten New Songs, which was a major hit in Canada and Europe. His 11th album, Dear Heather, followed in 2004. Following a successful string of tours between 2008 and 2013, Cohen released three albums in the final four years of his life: Old Ideas(2012), Popular Problems (2014) and You Want It Darker(2016), the last of which was released three weeks before his death. A posthumous album, Thanks for the Dance, was released in November 2019, his fifteenth and final studio album.

      I'm Your Man is the eighth studio album by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, released on February 2, 1988 by Columbia Records. The album marked Cohen's further move to a more modern sound, with many songs having a synthesizer-oriented production. It soon became the most successful album which Cohen had released in the US, and it reached number one in several European countries, transforming Cohen into a best-selling artist.

Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women

There's a shoulder where death comes to cry

There's a lobby with nine hundred windows

There's a tree where the doves go to die

There's a piece that was torn from the morning

And it hangs in the Gallery of Frost

 

Aey, aey, aey, aey

Take this waltz, take this waltz

Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws

 

Oh I want you, I want you, I want you

On a chair with a dead magazine

In a cave at the tip of the lily

In some hallway where love's never been

On a bed where the moon has been sweating

In a cry filled with footsteps and sand

 

Aey, aey, aey, aey

Take this waltz, take this waltz

Take its broken waist in your hand

 

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz

With its very own breath of brandy and death

Dragging its tail in the sea

 

There's a concert hall in Vienna

Where your mouth had a thousand reviews

There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking

They've been sentenced to death by the blues

Ah but who is it climbs to your picture

With a garland of freshly cut tears?

 

Aey, aey, aey, aey

Take this waltz, take this waltz

Take this waltz it's been dying for years

 

There's an attic where children are playing

Where I've got to lie down with you soon

In a dream of Hungarian lanterns

In the mist of some sweet afternoon

And I'll see what you've chained to your sorrow

All your sheep and your lilies of snow

 

Aey, aey, aey, aey

Take this waltz, take this waltz

With its, I'll never forget you, you know

 

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz

With its very own breath of brandy and death

Dragging its tail in the sea

 

And I'll dance with you in Vienna

I'll be wearing a river's disguise

The hyacinth wild on my shoulder

My mouth on the dew of your thighs

 

And I'll bury my soul in a scrapbook

With the photographs there, and the moss

And I'll yield to the flood of your beauty

My cheap violin and my cross

 

And you'll carry me down on your dancing

To the pools that you lift on your wrist

Oh my love, oh my love

Take this waltz, take this waltz

It's yours now, it's all that there is.

LA LA LAND

DEMI LOVATO

SONGWRITERS: LOVATO DEMITRIA; JONAS JOSEPH ADAMS; JONAS NICHOLAS JERRY & JONAS PAUL KEVIN II

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: DON’T FORGET

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 2008

 

           Demetria Devonne Lovato(/ləˈvɑːtoʊ/ lə-VAH-toh; born August 20, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actresse. After appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends(2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence as Mitchie Torres in the musical television film Camp Rock(2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam(2010); the former film's soundtrack contained "This Is Me", Lovato's debut single and duet with Joe Jonas, which peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

         After signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released their pop rock debut album, Don't Forget(2008), which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Its follow-up, Here We Go Again(2009), debuted at number one in the U.S., while its title track reached number 15 on the Hot 100. Lovato's third studio album, Unbroken(2011), experimented with pop and R&B and spawned the U.S. platinum-certified single "Skyscraper". They released their eponymous fourth album in 2013, which debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and contained the top-ten international hit "Heart Attack". Lovato's fifth and sixth albums, Confident(2015) and Tell Me You Love Me(2017), infused soul and mature themes; they earned a Grammy Award nomination for Confident, while "Sorry Not Sorry", the lead single from Tell Me You Love Me, became their highest-charting single in the U.S., reaching number six. After a hiatus, Lovato released their seventh album, Dancing with the Devil... the Art of Starting Over(2021), which reached number two on the Billboard 200.

         On television, Lovato has starred as the titular character on the sitcom Sonny with a Chance(2009–2011), served as a judge on the music competition series The X Factor USA for its second and third seasons, and appeared as a recurring character on the musical comedy Glee(2013–2014) and the sitcom Will & Grace(2020). They also starred in the television drama film Princess Protection Program(2009), the animated comedy film Smurfs: The Lost Village(2017), and the musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020).

          Lovato has sold over 24 million records in the United States and has also received numerous accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, 14 Teen Choice Awards, five People's Choice Awards, two Latin American Music Awards, a Guinness World Record, and was included on the Time 100 annual list in 2017. An activist for several social causes, Lovato's struggles with an eating disorder and substance abuse have been well-documented by the media, in response to which they published a book, Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year(2013), and released the documentaries Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated(2017) and Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil(2021).

         "La La Land" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato. It was written by Lovato, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas and Kevin Jonas and produced by the Jonas Brothers alongside John Fields, for Lovato's debut studio album, Don't Forget(2008). It was released as the album's second single on December 18, 2008, through Hollywood Records. "La La Land" is one of six songs on the album co-written by the Jonas Brothers, who also contributed backing vocals and guitars to the track. Lovato said that they wrote the song about being yourself in Hollywood and not letting other people change who you are. Musically, the song is a guitar-driven pop rock song and the lyrics speak of Lovato feeling "out of place" in Hollywood.

        The song was met with positive reviews from critics. Commercially, "La La Land" peaked at number fifty-two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number thirty-five on the UK Singles Chart. The song achieved its highest peak in Ireland, where it reached number thirty on the Irish Singles Chart. It was less successful in Australia and Germany, where it peaked in the lower half of the charts. The song was used to promote Lovato's Disney Channel sitcom Sonny with a Chance and its music video features appearances from their co-stars.

I am confident, but

I still have my moments

Baby, that's just me

 

And I'm not a supermodelo

I still eat McDonalds

Baby, that's just me

 

Well, some may say I need to be afraid

Of losing everything

Because of where I've

Had my start and where I made my name

Well everything's the same

In the La la land machine, machine

 

Who said I can't wear my

Converse with my dress?

Oh, Baby, That's just me!

 

And who said I can't be single?

And have to go out and mingle?

Baby, that's not me

Noo, noo.

 

Some may say I need to be afraid

Of losing everything

Because of where I've

Had my start and where I made my name

Well, everything's the same

In the La la land

 

Tell me do you feel the way I feel?

'Cuz nothing else is real

In the la-la land machine

 

Well, some may say I need to be afraid

Of losing everything

Because of where I've

Had my start and

Where I made my name

Well, everything's the same

In the La la land machine

Well, I'm not gonna change

In the La la land machine

I will stay the same

In the La la land...

Machine

Machine

Machine

I won't change anything in my life

(I won't change anything in my life)

I'm staying myself tonight

(I'm staying myself tonight).

OUT OF CONTROL

U2

SONGWRITERS: CLAYTON ADAM; EVANS DAVID; MULLEN LAURENCE & HEWSON PAUL DAVID

COUNTRY: IRELAND

ALBUM: BOY

LABEL: ISLAND RECORDS

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 1980

 

          U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin, formed in 1976. The group consists of Bono(lead vocals and rhythm guitar), the Edge(lead guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals), Adam Clayton(bass guitar), and Larry Mullen Jr.(drums and percussion). Initially rooted in post-punk, U2's musical style has evolved throughout their career, yet has maintained an anthemic quality built on Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's chiming, effects-based guitar sounds. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal and sociopolitical themes. Popular for their live performances, the group have staged several ambitious and elaborate tours over their career.

        The band was formed when the members were teenaged pupils of Mount Temple Comprehensive School and had limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album, Boy(1980). Subsequent work such as their first UK number-one album, War(1983), and the singles "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Pride (In the Name of Love)" helped establish U2's reputation as a politically and socially conscious group. By the mid-1980s, they had become renowned globally for their live act, highlighted by their performance at Live Aid in 1985. The group's fifth album, The Joshua Tree(1987), made them international superstars and was their greatest critical and commercial success. Topping music charts around the world, it produced their only number-one singles in the US to date: "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

          Boy is the debut studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 20 October 1980 by Island Records and was produced by Steve Lillywhite. Boy contains songs from the band's 40-song repertoire at the time, including two tracks that were re-recorded from their original versions on the group's debut release, the EP Three.

          Boy was recorded from July to September 1980 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios, which became U2's chosen recording location during the 1980s. It was their first time working with Lillywhite, who suggested recording drummer Larry Mullen Jr. playing in a stairwell, and recording smashed bottles and forks played against a spinning bicycle wheel. The band found Lillywhite to be very encouraging and creative, and he subsequently became a frequent producer of their recorded work. Thematically, the album's lyrics reflect on adolescence, innocence, and the passage into adulthood, themes represented on its cover artwork through the photo of a young boy's face.

        Boy received generally positive reviews and included one of U2's first singles to receive airplay on US radio, "I Will Follow". The release was followed by the band's first tour of continental Europe and the US, the Boy Tour. The album peaked on the UK chart at number 52 in August 1981 and in the US at number 63. In 2003, Boy was ranked 417th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2008, a remastered edition of Boy was released.

Monday morning

Eighteen years of dawning

I said how long?

You say how long?

 

It was one dull morning

I woke the world with bawling

I was so sad (so sad)

They were so glad

 

I was of the feeling it was out of control

I had the opinion it was out of control

 

Boys and girls

Go to school

And girls

They make children

Not like this one

 

I was of the feeling it was out of control

I had the opinion it was out of control

 

I was of the feeling it was out of control

I had the opinion it was out of control

 

I fought fate

There's blood at the garden gate

The man said childhood

It's in his childhood

 

One day I'll die

The choice will not be mine

Will it be too late?

You can't fight fate

 

I was of the feeling it was out of control

I had the opinion it was out of control.