Welcome to my music blog -
The Soundtrack of My Life!
Many of you have asked me “What’s with all the music, Dr.
Weiss?” Well, as I’ve told some of you:
I personally call every surgery patient on the evening of
surgery just to make sure they are doing well and have no questions that need
answering. Occasionally, I would be at the piano and play a song that we had
listened to that day. I gradually realized that I wanted to go through all the music
that I had played during my life and at least start making a list of the songs that
I had recently played.
Well, there are now about 600 songs on the list and I realized
that it in a way it represented the ‘soundtrack of my life’! And that’s how I got
the idea to record these songs and share them with my patients, friends and family.
After I record them they will reside here, for easy access.
Music is truth. It’s honest. It’s really the first social
media, where in a way, people could share their souls directly. And isn’t that what
the purpose of social media is and why it’s so popular - trying to share who you
really are, as completely and directly as possible?
Finally, it has been (and will continue to be) a genuine
pleasure sharing these different songs with you and I really appreciate all of your
positive feedback!!
"Fields of Gold" is a song written and recorded by Sting. It first appeared on his 1993 album Ten Summoner's Tales. This is such a beautiful poem that I’ll just show it to you right here. Notice that it works perfectly as a poem. You can get a sense of the rhythm of the lyrics just by saying them to yourself. You can even see the rhythm of the words - you don’t even need to read the words themselves to imagine waving fields of golden grain by seeing the shape of the lines on the page. You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold So she took her love for to gaze awhile upon the fields of barley In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold Will you stay with me, will you be my love among the fields of barley? We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we lie in fields of gold See the west wind move like a lover so upon the fields of barley. Feel her [...]
"Hold On" is a song from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band by John Lennon released in 1970 (my first year in college.) I’ve always liked this song but I don’t know how it came into my head just now, except that I find it very reassuring and especially comforting for these troubling times. The music alone is soothing, but then Lennon adds words like these: Hold on It’s gonna be alright You’re gonna win the fight You’re gonna see the light So hold on Lennon has explained the song as follows: “Hold on now, we might have a cup of tea, we might get a moment's happiness any minute now. So that's what it's about, just moment by moment. That's how we're living now, but really living like that and cherishing each day, and dreading it too. It might be your last.” [1] I’m not even going to try to add any more comments to his. This performance is dedicated to Yoko in memory of John. Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Related posts: Imagine, We Can Work it Out 1. Rogan, J. (1997). The Complete Guide to the Music of John Lennon. Omnibus Press. pp. 38–39. ISBN 0711955999. Bosendorfer piano sound [...]
“All That Heaven Will Allow” was written by Bruce Springsteen for his 1987 album Tunnel Of Love. Once again, it has those same familiar changes but Bruce adds in words that fit just right to describe the joy and enthusiasm of young love. He makes the changes his own by adding the second and the forth tone at certain places to add a sophisticated unique sound. Bruce took tight control of his artistic vision on this recording. He does vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass, keyboards, harmonica, and percussion, with Max Weinberg on drums. Dedicated to Alan L. and Bob S. Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Related posts: Thunder Road Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (based on Bruce's arrangement) Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever owned!!
In the "Forward" to Imagine: John Lennon in 1988 Yoko One said that John is still singing and talking, and that he was "a wind that never dies." I agree, and have a feeling that his voice will inspire for years to come. He was certainly an inspiration to me when I founded the One World Sight Project to help cure blindness around the world. Dedicated to Christine C. Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Related post: We Can Work It Out Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever owned!!
"I Will" is a song recorded the Beatles, from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by Paul McCartney. I’ve always particularly liked this song. Paul must agree, because according to McCartney: "It's still one of my favorite melodies that I've written. You just occasionally get lucky with a melody and it becomes rather complete and I think this is one of them; quite a complete tune.” Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Related posts: Maybe I'm Amazed, Let It Be, We Can Work It Out Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever owned!!
Leon Russell must have known he had written this instant jazz classic as soon as he finished it. I mean, how could he not? Once again, the chord changes are universal, but the truth of the words makes the song. This song has a special place in my heart because I once hired Leon to play at a medical conference I put together in Deer Valley and he didn’t disappoint (he did go on a little late though!) Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Dedicated to Jerry S and Tom M Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert Grand piano. Try listening to it with a good set of headphones! It sounds better than any piano I've ever owned!!
OK, two of my favorites, The Beatles and Stevie Wonder. What geniuses!! What’s so special about this Rick Weiss cover of Stevie Wonder’s cover of the Beatles ‘We Can Work It Out’ ? Besides the song’s compelling melody and timeless universal lyrics such as these: Try to see it my way. We can work it out. You can get it wrong and still you think that it's alright. And my personal favorite: Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend. My version of this song was ‘inspired’ by Stevie Wonder’s take on this song. I’ve always known there was something particularly special (aside from being, well, Stevie’s version) about his version, but it’s taken me many years (actually, until tonight) to understand the major but subtle changes he made in one of the main rhythm hooks of the song - the ‘We Can Work It Out’ part. I sensed that Stevie had made some kind of change but I didn’t know what. Listen closely. In Stevie’s version (or rather, in my interpretation of Stevie’s), those five syllables are of equal length and start a half a beat earlier. In the well-known Beatles version (which [...]
On This Day (September 23) in 1949 Bruce Springsteen was born in New Jersey. ‘Thunder Road’ is one of Bruce Springsteen's most performed songs, audience favorite, and the opening track on his 1975 breakthrough album Born to Run. It is ranked as one of Springsteen's greatest songs, and often appears on lists of the top rock songs of all time. (In fact, in 2004, it was ranked #1 on the list of the "885 All-Time Greatest Songs" compiled by the University of Pennsylvania's public radio station!) The song's title comes from the Robert Mitchum film noir about a bootlegger entitled ’Thunder Road’. Springsteen declared that he was somehow inspired by the movie despite not having seen it. As he once said: "I never saw the movie, I only saw the poster in the lobby of the theater." (I only recently learned that “The Ballad of Thunder Road”, the theme song for the 1957 movie, was performed and co-written by actor Robert Mitchum!) Where I grew up (in Northeast Philadelphia) we were all early Springsteen fanatics from when he released his first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, in January 1973 - earlier than he broke nationally. The Jersey shore was just an hour [...]
On this day (September 19) in 1974 Bob Dylan recorded 'Simple Twist of Fate' in New York City. It’s been reinterpreted by artists as varied as Jerry Garcia and Diana Krall. I’ve always been attracted to this song. Perhaps one reason is that Dylan's lyric notebook reveals that it was originally titled "4th Street Affair” referring to a time when he lived in an apartment on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village. I lived around the corner on Cornelia Street in the early ’70’s while I was at NYU. In my opinion, this is an example of one of the ways Dylan changed song writing by throwing out conventions. Even without the need for any words, chorus or bridge, he had (has) me with the just the song name and the simple repetitive 5-chord progression that is evocative of nostalgia of the title ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ . I’ve included the first 4 verses that seemingly describe a fleeting one night affair. I look at this song as kind of a minimalist musical mantra, another example of Dylan’s genius. This performance is dedicated to my patient Barbara M. Enjoy, Dr. Weiss Related Posts: Forever Young If Dogs Run Free Bosendorfer [...]
The Weiss Cosmetic & Laser Procedures team saw Jackson Browne at the Pacific Amphitheater last night, which got me to thinking about this version of the classic Jackson Browne piano ballad ‘Rosie’, from his seminal album “Running on Empty.” I’ve always loved to play this song. Browne explained that Rosie actually was a true story. The song’s lyrics are seemingly about a lonely groupie getting an entrance ticket from the sound man, who she later abandons for the drummer coming off stage. “This is a true story about a guy I knew who used to sit right over there and he mixed the monitors onstage,” Browne said in 1978. There is another somewhat hidden meaning to the song, one which I shall let those who are interested discover with a tool called Google, which was decades away when this song came out. Enjoy. Dr. Weiss Another New Music Post: Liebestraum (A Dream of Love) No. 3 Theme Bosendorfer piano sound - For this recording I’m playing a Yamaha Clavinova – which has the same keyboard action as a traditional acoustic piano, but there are no strings. Pressing a key activates (in this case) a sound which was sampled from a Bösendorfer Imperial Concert [...]
