Tribute to the Sky

In Mooseville, we spend a great deal of time looking up in April. We watch for clouds, storms, blue skies and orange sunsets. That’s why we’re paying tribute to the sky this week at Vinyl. After all, it’s the limit.

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SONG OF THE monDAY

Blue Skies was written by Irving Berlin in 1926 for the musical, Betsy, and first performed by Belle Baker. It was one of the first songs featured in a talkie when Al Jolson performed it in The Jazz Singer (1927). Willie Nelson covered it in 1978 for his album, Stardust, but we prefer Eva Cassidy’s version from her 1996 album, Live at Blues Alley.

SONG OF THE tuesDAY

Written and produced by Jeff Lynne, Mr. Blue Sky is from Electric Light Orchestra’s seventh studio album, Out of the Blue (1977). Released as the second single, it peaked at No. 35 in the US on Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the UK Singles chart. Lynne said he wrote Mr. Blue Sky after a two-week bout of gloomy weather in Switzerland. When the sun came out, he wrote 14 songs in just two weeks.

SONG OF THE wednesDAY

Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds is from the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Written by John Lennon but credited to Lennon-McCartney, the song's allegedly based on a drawing by Lennon’s son Julian and was inspired by Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Others say that Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds is about drugs, and the title is an acronym for LSD.

SONG OF THE thursDAY

Wheel In the Sky is by Journey and was released in 1978 from Infinity, their fourth studio album, the first with vocalist Steve Perry. It started as a poem called “Wheels In My Mind” by Diane Valory, bassist Ross Valory’s wife. The song was part of a new, edgier sound the band was going for and became their first hit on Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 57.

SONG OF THE friDAY

Ribbon In the Sky is a 1982 hit by Stevie Wonder that was originally featured on the album, Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium I. The song peaked at No. 54 on Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on Hot R&B. It earned a Grammy nomination and has been covered or sampled by artists like Boyz II Men, Will Smith, and Diana Ross. In 2012, Wonder performed the song Whitney Houston’s funeral.

SONG OF THE saturDAY

Written by Roger Waters, Goodbye Blue Sky is an anti-war song from Pink Floyd's 1979 double album, The Wall. The song starts with chirping skylarks followed by a child's voice, recorded by Harry Waters, and then airplanes. The lyrics go on to describe the Blitz, a German bombing campaign in Britain between 1940 and 1941.

SONG OF THE sunDAY

Spirit in the Sky was written and originally recorded by Norman Greenbaum. It was released in December 1969 from the album, Spirit in the Sky. It peaked at No. 3 on Billboard Hot 100  and stayed in the Top 100 for 15 weeks. Greenbaum wrote the song after watching Porter Wagoner sing a gospel song on TV.

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