And now, to round out our Valentine’s Day programming, a few of our writers wanted to take this time to dedicate songs and albums to special people in their lives! This one is for you guys! Best, the WERS writing team.
AJA by Steely Dan
To my Dear Friend, Sophia
This one’s for you. ♡
This is a band of recent discovery for me as during my current year in my rooming with my best friend, I happened to learn that her favorite band was Steely Dan, and after entertaining my latest spark of interest in Jazz and Jazz-like music, with the band Architects of Sound (of which I am proud to say that my friend, yes Sophia, illustrated all of the artwork you see on their album covers) I found myself finally listening to Steely Dan’s album AJA, soon becoming endlessly obsessed with the album’s dynamic melody, incredible drum fills, energetic keyboard and guitar. Eventually, after my first couple of listen-throughs, I personally found myself gravitating towards a few specific tracks on the album, claiming them as my top three, those being: Aja (the title track), Deacon Blues, and Home at Last. These specific tracks had a level of authenticity and flow that captured my attention as opposed to jazz music I have listened to in the past from other bands that has been hard to follow. Steely Dan is mixing occasional vocals yet, still keeping the focus on the instrumentals in a way that always keeps me engaged and gets me excited whenever I hear someone put the album on.
The story of the album’s conception is, in my opinion, just as interesting and entertaining as the album itself. It was 1977 when Donald Fagen and Walter Becker had made the decision to go fully in-studio, abandoning their path as a touring band, wanting to opt for a different approach to their music creation that aimed to assemble elite session musicians (often reaching groups of 40+ musicians) for their complex recordings. Their goal with this? To push musical boundaries through sophisticated arrangements, jazz-infused compositions, and unprecedented production quality. The resulting album is a beautiful blend of pop and complex jazz, as demonstrated by the intricate melodies of songs such as Aja and Black Cow. From there, the album grew in both critical and commercial success, achieving numbers even nowadays of over 118,000,000 streams on spotify and apple music. Additionally, upon the Album’s initial release, It had peaked at number three on the Billboard chart as well as winning a Grammy for Best Engineered Recording.
Ultimately AJA was a massive turning point in the face of Pop Jazz music, but it is both in writing this and looking back on the past year that I come to be even more greatful for the way in which my friend and I have been able to bond over our shared music taste and I hope to continue exploring the world of new and old time music with her for many years to come.
– Jadore C. Lasner, Staff Writer
“Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles
A love letter to my dad,
On my camcorder, there is a video of my little sister sitting in an office chair. From behind the camera, I yell, “Dad! Dad! Come listen! My sister knows all the words to Yellow Submarine!” My dad comes into the office, sits on the floor next to me, and my sister begins her performance. She sings an off-key version of the song, her L’s are pronounced as D’s. It’s very cute. My dad sits next to us proudly. He’s overjoyed to have introduced my sister and me to something that we both love so much.
The first song I ever called my favorite was “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles. Yellow Submarine was released in 1966 and was a chart topper for four weeks after it came out. It’s sung by drummer Ringo Starr, and was released on a double-sided album with “Eleanor Rigby.” The album was so popular that in an interview, John Lennon said it was “more popular than Jesus,” which was so controversial that some radio stations banned the Beatles from being played. Yellow Submarine is cheery, experimental, and psychedelic. (The idea for a song about a yellow submarine was actually inspired by a vision John Lennon had during his first LSD trip!) The song features sound effects, including bubbles, voices in the background, and water sounds. The combination of the instruments, Starr’s voice, and the sound effects gives the song a very whimsical and imaginative feeling.
I am very grateful for the music that my dad has introduced me to. He is the reason why I have good taste at all. The Beatles have been a huge part of my music journey, and I still listen to them often. Whenever Yellow Submarine comes on, I think of my dad and the many times we spent together listening to the Beatles.
– Elizabeth Golaski, Staff Writer
“Francesca” by Hozier
I’d like to dedicate this song to my wonderful friend Naimah. Unfortunately, Naimah lives 16 hours away back home in Illinois where she is attending community college, so I haven’t seen her in a month and won’t until summer break. Still, Naimah, you have been the one person I can count on, the one person I know I can be the truest version of myself. One moment we can be silly, goofing around about your messy co-workers, and the next we can be totally serious, talking about our fears for the future, who we want to be.
This song applies to our friendship because it totally embodies the way I feel about you and our friendship. In the song, the lyrics describe how this person would go through hell, over and over again, just to have one more moment with the person they love. It is complete devotion. My favorite lyric is “If I could hold you for a minute, I’d go through it again.”
For me, this song signifies how I would change nothing about my life because it all led me here, to you, and it will always lead me back. So, no matter how much I miss you or how lonely I may feel in Boston, I know I have you at the end of it all. And that’s the most important thing. Forever keeping me going.
– Rebecca Kasuba, Staff Writer
“Better Distractions” by Faye Webster
This song goes out to my lovely girlfriend. I’m lucky enough to be entering year three with my valentine, and though we’ve enjoyed many songs together in that time, and she would argue that “our song” is “Linger” by the Cranberries, I am dedicating “Better Distractions” by Faye Webster to her. When we first started dating she used to make me playlists to try and convince me to listen to “happier” music (I like indie folk, what can I say?) and the first featured LOTS of Faye Webster. I was already a fan, but there were a few I had never heard, this one included. The song, to me, encapsulates all of the thrill and anxiety of falling in love. Faye Webster has a unique ability to capture big emotions in modest displays. Her music is cool and often relaxed in sound and vibe, but not lackluster in its content and emotional pungency. This song reminds me of being head over heels for the first time, as electrifying and terrifying that is. Luckily for me, it worked out in my favor, and every summer I can reminisce on that first alongside my love and our newfound jams.
– Avieana Rivera, Music Coordinator
