Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let’s go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.
As always, thanks to 
Today I have another mix of different genres. Trying to keep switching things up to stay interesting.
As so often happens, I had a plan. We all know how that goes. The best laid plans of mine and men, eh? But then I opened the music profile of my YouTube page and suddenly my plan fell away.
As an aside, the recommendations page of YouTube is dangerous! I was confronted by so many videos I wanted to watch: old songs, new covers, strange AI songs, and other. After being distracted for too long, I pieced together a new set of songs, completely different than what I had originally intended.
Ah well. The power of the internet, eh? Anyway, enjoy what I have for you today!
Third Space Symphony - Africa [Toto]
When I saw this on my recommended page, how could I not click on it? Africa is one of those defining songs of the 1980s that I grew up with. It’s almost mythic at this point — the kind of song that somehow survived irony, memes, and decades of overplay.
And yet put it in the hands of an orchestra, slow it down just a touch, let the strings swell where the synths used to shimmer, and suddenly it feels… well, not new. But this is a great sound. Almost cinematic.
Gigi Vibes - Fly Me to the Moon
How about some swing? I haven’t done a jazz post in a while. I really should fix that. But in the meantime, how about this classic number filtered through a slightly rock-inflected lens.
There’s something about this song that refuses to age. Everyone from crooners to lounge singers to YouTube jazz ensembles has taken a crack at it.
This version has just enough grit in the vocal to keep it from becoming background music. It swings, but it doesn’t float away.
Jackson Browne (with David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Lindley) - Lives in the Balance
In light of another war, I thought this might be appropriate.
“Lives in the Balance” isn’t subtle. There’s tension in it. Unease. A sense that something is deeply wrong, even if you can’t fix it. It’s a warning. Or maybe a plea.
So what’s your favorite?
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |