Sh’Boom (1954), The Chords
Church Bells May Ring (1956), The Willows
Everyday (1958), Buddy Holly
Words of Love (1958), Buddy Holly
What’d I Say (1959), Ray Charles
Blue Moon (1961), The Marcels
Sherry (1962), The Four Seasons
Do You Want To Know A Secret (1963), The Beatles
A Quick One While He’s Away (1966), The Who
Different Drum (1967), Linda Ronstadt w/The Stone Poneys
Pata Pata (1967), Miriam Makeba
Heroin (1967), The Velvet Underground
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (1969), Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Carry On (1970), Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Ventura Highway (1972), America
I Saw the Light (1972), Todd Rundgren
Satellite of Love (1972), Lou Reed
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (1976), The Ramones
Year of the Cat (1976), Al Stewart
Sentimental Lady (1977), Bob Welch
The Passenger (1977), Iggy Pop
Message To You Rudy (1979), The Specials
Cruel To Be Kind (1979), Nick Lowe
Once In A Lifetime (1980), Talking Heads
Ashes to Ashes (1980), David Bowie
Seven Year Ache (1981), Rosanne Cash
Come On Eileen (1982), Dexys Midnight Runners
This Must Be The Place (1983), Talking Heads
Harborcoat (1983), R.E.M.
Back to the Old House (1984), The Smiths
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1984), The Smiths
What She Said (1985), The Smiths
The Headmaster Ritual (1985), The Smiths
Here Comes Your Man (1987), The Pixies
Birthday (1987), The Sugarcubes
Waiting Room (1989), Fugazi
Vanity Fair (1989), The Ocean Blue
Halah (1990), Mazzy Star
Silent All These Years (1991), Tori Amos
Don’t Panic (1999), Coldplay
Californication (1999), Red Hot Chili Peppers
Country Grammar (2000), Nelly
Island in the Sun (2001), Weezer
Girl Inform Me, (2001), The Shins
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect (2002), The Decemberists
Saint Simon (2003), The Shins
Believe Me Natalie (2004), The Killers
Good People (2005), Jack Johnson
When You Were Young (2006), The Killers
The Funeral (2006), Band of Horses
Upside Down (2006), Jack Johnson
Riptide (2013), Vance Joy
A Sky Full of Stars (2014), Coldplay
No Tears Left To Cry (2018), Ariana Grande
everything i wanted (2019), Billie Eilish
MILLE (2021), Fedez, Achille Lauro, Orietta Berti
Tag: Singing
1st Ever United States Promposal: 1991
The first print reference to a “promposal” was in the Dallas Morning News in 2001. Our mariachi-inspired band publicly serenaded our dates ten years earlier.
Country Music
Charley Pride on bathroom
laptop, while I shave, his voice
forlorn longing, whiskers
collect on razor’s edge, this
morning mirror apart from wife
and son. I feel for Merle Haggard,
travails, time on the road, love
found and lost, like Loretta Lynn
in Topeka, daydreaming of that
different life, away from crumpled
hamper laundry and the last
cereal bowl bits clinging to old
milk. Somewhere in Nashville
they are still singing with Jesus,
waiting for my return.
Pleading For The Muse
i give up
nothing to say
words won’t play
for me tonight
want the muse
to sing that
siren song, crash
me into rocks
but no, her
throat is raspy
and i’m just
a mere mortal
not a god
or someone worthy
of such love
but that voice
please, just that
strong slight voice
where are you?
Young At Heart
No one sees the
gray-haired lady in
a wheelchair, hands shaking
Parkinson’s pulsating through her
whole body. But when
Sinatra sings, eyes aglow
grandma is someone again.
She belts out the
best part, you have
a head start, if
you are among the
very young at heart.
Life Could Be A Dream
Used to sing this
song with my 4th
graders in a classroom
of barred windows and
boys who fought over
pencils. But when they
joined sh-boom, we forgot
about all the rest,
everyone sang like paradise
up above, and life
was a dream, sweetheart.
Blue Bayou
I suppose it was
Roy Orbison first, for
me it was always
Linda Ronstadt, straight long
hair and bright album
cover smile, couldn’t imagine
her with a worried
mind, or lonesome all
the time, then again
I was only nine
Born During Vietnam
I was born in 1972
when the drafted were
fragging officers, rolling
grenades under cots,
because going on patrol
was pointless.
Raised by teachers who
listened to Joan Baez,
had us play earth ball. That
world was better than agent
orange cancer, napalm blasts,
M-16 bullets and exit wounds.
They spoke of peace,
harmony, we held hands
and sang so many songs.
This land is made for
you and me, and it’s
alright to cry.
In the closet I still saw
my dad’s green Marine hat
that he wore on Veteran’s Day.
We never spoke about the war,
what to say to a ten-year old
kid about sand bags, and
hearing loss?
But he took me to the
memorial, we touched
names, our dark shadows
together in the wall.
Daniel W. Polk 