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!!
On This Day (March 14) in 1991, Howard Ashman who wrote the lyrics for “Beauty and the Beast” passed away at age 40 from complications due to AIDS. He also wrote the lyrics for The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. While finishing “Beauty and the Beast” his health began to decline due to his illness. He grew weaker but he remained productive and continued to write and he completed the lyrical work on “Beauty and the Beast” before succumbing to AIDS. The film was released mere months after his death and is dedicated to him. “Beauty and the Beast” is dedicated "To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950–1991. I’d like to dedicate this performance to my dear friends Peggy and Dan, who treated my new wife and I to an unforgettable performance of the play at the Schubert Theatre in Los Angeles in 1995. 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 [...]
"Have I Told You Lately" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison for his nineteenth studio album Avalon Sunset (1989). C’mon, this has to be one of the best love songs ever, by one of the best singer songwriters! Clocking in at 1:20 (despite a dropped verse), this is not quite a Weiss Music Minute. I guess there was just too much love in this song to be contained in 60 seconds. This version is dedicated to my wife, who first turned me on to Van Morrison, on her birthday (today). More than 27 years ago, I surprised her with an intimate surprise party wedding (a story for another time.) I had produced a multi-track recording of me playing this song as we walked down the aisle (on a cassette!) I still never get tired of playing it. 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 [...]
On This Day (March 5) in 1981, Yip Harburg, the lyricist of “Over The Rainbow” passed away. Critics have ranked Judy Garland’s rendition of “Over the Rainbow” as the Number One recording of the 20th century! Yip put words to Harold Arlen’s music for “Over the Rainbow" for the movie The Wizard of Oz, for which he won an Academy Award for best original song. He also contributed much of the script for The Wizard of Oz, including the part where they give out the heart, the brains and the nerve. Unbelievably, the song was deleted (and later thankfully reinserted) from the film after a preview because MGM chief executive Louis B. Mayer thought it "slowed down the picture”! Yip also wrote the lyrics to the standards "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", "April in Paris", and "It's Only a Paper Moon", as well as all of the songs in The Wizard of Oz. He was known for the social commentary of his lyrics, championing racial and gender equality and union politics. Tragically, although never a member of the Communist Party, he was falsely accused and blacklisted in McCarthy’s fake communist witch hunt of the 1950s. He refused to identify other [...]
On this day in 1925, Jimmy Cox passed away after giving us the immortal Roaring Twenties hit “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” written for Bessie Smith (one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s) who originally made it famous back in the day, before being widely re-popularized in 1992 by Eric Clapton on MTV Unplugged. Interestingly, Clapton had previously recored the song with his band, Derek and the Dominos, for their first album (Layla). It was Duane Allman’s first song with the group and was recored live, vocals and all, with no overdubs on the first take! The song’s lyrics, told from the point of view of a one-time millionaire during the Prohibition era, reflects on the fleeting nature of material wealth and the friendships that come and go with it. Tragically, it wasn’t recorded and released by Bessie Smith until 1929, just two weeks before the Wall Street Crash that ushered in the depression, and 4 years after Jimmy Cox died at the age of 42. So Cox never even knew of his enduring legacy! I was fortunate to first be exposed to this song at a long closed Greenwich Village supper [...]
Minute Waltz On This Day (March 1) in 1810 Frederic Chopin was born in Warsaw, Poland. Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest superstars, his association with political insurrection, his high-profile love-life, and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era. He was a child prodigy (giving public concerts by the age of 7), and at the age of 21, settled in Paris where he lived for the last 18 years of his short life. He died at the age of 39, probably of pericarditis aggravated by tuberculosis (Mozart, another child musical prodigy, was born about 50 years earlier and also died at a tragically young age - 35.) The Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, has long been known as the "Minute" Waltz. Its nickname was intended to mean "small" in the sense of a "miniature" waltz. Chopin never intended for this waltz to be played in just one minute. A typical performance of the work will last between 1½ and 2½ minutes (this one clocks in at about 2 min, 20 seconds), but sounds great to me when played even slower! Chopin got the inspiration for this waltz as [...]
Something - On This Day On This Day in 1943 George Harrison was born. On February 25, 1969 - his 26th birthday - Harrison entered Abbey Road Studios and taped solo demos of ”Something”, a song written by George and recorded by the Beatles for their 1969 album Abbey Road. Up to the late 1970s, it had been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles composition after "Yesterday.” The song initially received little interest from Lennon and McCartney, and George Martin was also unimpressed by "Something" at first, considering it "too weak and derivative!” However, John Lennon came to think it was the best song on Abbey Road. Elton John said: "'Something' is probably one of the best love songs ever, ever, ever written ... It's better than 'Yesterday,' much better ... It's like the song I've been chasing for the last thirty-five years." Frank Sinatra was particularly impressed with "Something", calling it "the greatest love song of the past 50 years". One more thing about Paul McCartney’s bass part, which I’ve tried to replicate pretty closely. I only recently learned this bass part and came to appreciate its understated, subtle addition to the song. With such a beautiful melody [...]
On This Day: Al Dubin passed away in 1945. He wrote the lyrics to what is formally called "The Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)", from the 1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933, sung in the opening sequence by Ginger Rogers. The song's lyrics reflect a positive financial turnaround and a fantasized end to the Great Depression, which in the U.S. began to turn around in early 1933 but wouldn't actually end until the late 1930s. Al Dubin, like me, was a Jewish guy from Philadelphia, perhaps explaining my affinity for this song. He also wrote "Tiptoe through the Tulips", "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Lullaby of Broadway." Harry Warren wrote the music and was the first American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars. He wrote the music for the first blockbuster film musical, 42nd Street, choreographed by Busby Berkeley and over a career spanning four decades, wrote more than 800 songs. Other well known Warren hits included "I Only Have Eyes for You", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", "Jeepers Creepers", "That's Amore", "There Will Never Be Another You", [...]
John Walter Bratton, died on this day (February 7) in 1947. Bratton was a Tin Pan Alley composer and wrote “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” in 1907. I guess that makes the song 102 years old! He wrote it without lyrics, and during the silent film era it was used as background music for a number of popular movies and later, even as background music in some of the Looney Tunes cartoons. He wrote over 250 songs, but this song is his only lasting hit. Twenty-five years later, Jimmy Kennedy wrote the lyrics in 1932! Interestingly, Kennedy, in a career spanning more than fifty years, wrote some 2000 songs, of which over 200 became worldwide hits, and about 50 are all-time popular music classics. Until Lennon and McCartney, Kennedy had more hits in the United States than any other Irish or British songwriter!!! [Incidentally, Stephen, Kennedy also wrote “South of the Border”, a popular song describing a trip to Mexico, inspired by a holiday picture postcard he received from Mexico. Frank Sinatra recorded “South of the Border” when I was 2 weeks old! But I digress. “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” was one of the earliest sound recordings, released by Edison Records [...]
"Candle in the Wind", written by Elton John, was released on this day (February 4) in 1974. It was written about the late Marilyn Monroe, famed Hollywood actress and pin-up model of the 1950s. The opening line "Goodbye, Norma Jean" refers to Monroe's real name, Norma Jean Baker. "Candle in the Wind 1997" or "Goodbye England's Rose" is a re-recording of "Candle in the Wind" as a tribute to Princess Diana. This version, released in 1997, was one of the best selling singles of all time and was produced by George Martin, of Beatles fame. This song was requested by and dedicated to my friend Heather B, as well as my partner in surgery, Jackie Smith, who recently saw Elton John in concert during his farewell tour! Enjoy! 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!!
Casablanca is consistently rated as one of the most important and influential movies ever made. Many of its elements are synonymous with classic Hollywood - black and white film grain, Humphrey Bogart in a trench coat, the oh-so-quotable lines and of course, the indelible soundtrack! Today's On This Day is a performance of the song "As Time Goes By", memorably performed by Sam in the famed nightclub, in honor of composer Herman Hupfeld's birthday. Interesting factoids: The "piano player" Dooley Wilson was actually a drummer, so the piano was actually played by someone off screen! Also interesting, is that one of the lines most often associated with the film ("Play it again, Sam), is actually a misquote! When Ilsa first enters the Café Americain, she spots Sam and asks him to "Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake." After he feigns ignorance, she responds, "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'". Finally, the aforementioned song might have been dropped from the film entirely if not for a haircut Ingrid Bergman got for her next film - making reshoots impossible. So if not for a haircut, we might never have known this song!! Thanks for watching and "here's looking [...]
