Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

The lights are all blinking red.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

The revolution will be supervised.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

You are here: Home / Music / I was dreaming of the past

I was dreaming of the past

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For some reason, my wife and I decided to watch a terrible Diane Keaton/Michael Douglas rom-com that began and ended with the song “Both Sides Now”. As you may know, the popular version of that song prominently features a harpsichord.

What are the best songs with harpsichords in them? I’ll go with “In My Life”, though I also find that early Linda Ronstadt song “Different Drum” pretty catchy.

Have there been any songs with harpsichords in them in the last 30 years or was is just 60s/70s thing?

Update. I forgot about “Cypress Avenue”, that’s the best one. I have a weakness for “Walk Away Renee” too.

Update. Worst song would be “Touch Me Baby” by the Doors.

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  4. 4.

    John Revolta

    They’re creepy and they’re kooky
    Mysterious and spooky…………………..

    harpsichords, I mean.

  8. 8.

    Germy Shoemangler

    There is actually no harpsichord on the Beatles’ “In My Life” (Lennon had not decided what instrument to use, but he subsequently asked George Martin to play a piano solo, suggesting “something Baroque-sounding”. Martin wrote a Bach-influenced piece that he found he could not play at the song’s tempo. On 22 October, the solo was recorded with the tape running at half speed, so when played back at normal pace the piano was twice as fast and an octave higher, solving the performance challenge and also giving the solo a unique timbre, reminiscent of a harpsichord.)

  10. 10.

    dedc79

    Yes, Cypress Avenue blows away the competition.

    There are a bunch of Joanna Newsom songs with harpsichord, but she (her voice, particularly) is admittedly an acquired taste.

    ETA: God Only Knows uses one, doesn’t it?

  14. 14.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Mike J: Mike Nesmith’s mom invented White Out, so he was set for life from an early age. This freed him to compose wonderful tunes and get grumpy about being a Monkee.

  19. 19.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @delk:

    Elvis Costello. “You Little Fool”

    When Costello’s “Imperial Bedroom” came out, so many people were comparing it to the great american songbook that someone played the album for Ira Gershwin. After hearing it for a few minutes, he yelled “What the hell is this shit?”

    I still love the songs of Elvis Costello.

  27. 27.

    jacel

    Lots of late 1960s recordings by The Kinks used harpsichord in the texture.

    Artie Shaw included a harpsichord in his small group Gramercy Five recordings in the 1940s.

  28. 28.

    Zinsky

    If I’m not mistaken, “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds” by the Beatles starts with a harpsichord.

  33. 33.

    pete

    @Mike J: Nesmith wrote Different Drum as a guy song, and as such it’s kinda meh if not offensive; but as sung by Linda it’s hot, playing against rather than reinforcing stereotype.

  34. 34.

    Zinsky

    Rick Wakeman of Yes also used it extensively on “Six Wives of Henry VIII”, one of his early solo albums.

  37. 37.

    pete

    @Germy Shoemangler: Great list! And it includes not one, two, not three but FOUR Rolling Stones tracks, Play with Fire being much the best. (The others are Dandelion, Yesterday’s Papers and In Another Land.)

  38. 38.

    trollhattan

    Am newly informed “Lady Jane” features a dulcimer played by Brian, not a harpsichord. Shows you what you can “learn” listening to AM radio.

  40. 40.

    mai naem mobile

    I think there’s a bunch of 60s stuff using harpsichord. I think the Doors stuff uses harpsichord – Touch Me and Don’t You Love Me. Never been a fan so might have the wrong title. Also Traffic – Mr Fantasy and I think the Moody Blues have a couple of songs as well.

  41. 41.

    Origuy

    I remember in seventh grade music class going to another teacher’s house to see his harpsichord. He had a beautiful house. Three things in that memory show my age: music class in junior high, a field trip, and a teacher with the income to own a large house.

  42. 42.

    Rasputin's Evil Twin

    At least one version of “Windmills of your Mind” had harpsichord ? Which one is beyond my recall. Also, “To Sir, With Love”?

  44. 44.

    Randy P

    There was a 60s TV show that had an (electronic) harpsichord intro, but which one it was escapes me. I so far have checked out “The Saint” and “Secret Agent”, but it’s not either of those. But something in my brain tells me it was a show in that general type of action genre.

  46. 46.

    DeathbyBass

    Simon & Garfunkle’s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary , and Thyme has harpsichord fill throughout.

  47. 47.

    Vtr

    I’m sorry, please forgive me, but Lawrence Welk-m-ah, Calcutta-m-a, anda one anda two… Somewhere around 1967.

  48. 48.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @japa21: Bring it! I’m drawing a blank

    OT: Charlie Pierce wants to chat about Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and I agree, it’s time

    So there’s a history there. But this latest fiasco is different by an order of magnitude. If DWS wants to oppose the Iran deal in her capacity as an otherwise insignificant member of the House minority, that’s fine with me. But if, as it appears, as national chairman of the president’s party, she actively campaigned against a measure designed to show the support of the president’s party for a monumentally important White House policy initiative, then she should have been fired from that post yesterday. If Jonathan Martin is right, and Jennifer Granholm really is waiting in the wings, then I may throw a parade.

  49. 49.

    pete

    @Germy Shoemangler: Magpies, weren’t they? Give them a shiny new sound and they’d work it in, but then they’d go looking for another one. Admittedly, there are four entries on that list, not including the speeded-up piano, but I don’t think you can say they overdid it.

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @Randy P:

    There was a 60s TV show that had an (electronic) harpsichord intro, but which one it was escapes me.

    Episodes of The Prisoner may have had some harpsichord.

    The British show Danger Man had harpsichord in the opening and end credits, but I don’t know if this was shown much in the US

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wwm2_JJLYY

  52. 52.

    gbear

    The first harpsichord song that came to mind may be one of the worst songs ever: Grove of Eglantine by Styx. Now I can’t get it out.

  54. 54.

    Vtr

    By the way, it, but I’ve seen a YouTube video of Zappa playing a tune on the inverted bicycle and stick. I believe it was a 26″ Raleigh. Long before the Mothers or even Lumpy Gravy. It inspired me to go for my music major.

  55. 55.

    gogol's wife

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    That’s mind-blowing.

    So Enoch Light and the Light Brigade (haven’t thought of that monicker for a while) used harpsichord for “Zorba the Greek”? That’s hilarious!

  56. 56.

    Randy P

    @Brachiator: That’s the show known as “Secret Agent” in the US. That’s exactly the theme song I was trying to remember. But the YouTube I found for “Secret Agent” had an electric guitar and a singer. Maybe they changed it for US release when they changed the title? Yet I remember that harpsichord opening.

  57. 57.

    gogol's wife

    John Williams makes nice use of harpsichord in the score for Hitchcock’s Family Plot. The only thing that diminishes my enjoyment of it is that he made similar use of harpsichord in his score for Fitzwilly nine years earlier.

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    @Brachiator:
    Danger Man was repackaged as Secret Agent for the US market, for which they added the excellent “Secret Agent Man” theme song sung by Johnny Rivers.

  63. 63.

    Shakezula

    I have it in my head that there’s a Love song (not a love song) with harpsichord, but I could be imagining things. I did not recall that Both Sides Now has a harpsichord, but that’s probably down to the fact I do not like that song. It’s twee.

    @Gin & Tonic: Yes please.

  66. 66.

    burnspbesq

    @Alex:

    For Harpsichords, I go with Bach …

    Father or sons? Mahan Esfahani has made a wonderful recording of C.P.E. Bach’s “Wurtemburg” sonatas.

  71. 71.

    NickM

    I’ve Got Something on My Mind by the Left Banke. I initially thought one of my favorite songs, She May Call You Up Tonight by the LB also had a harpsichord, but listening to it again I think it’s only a baroque-sounding piano.

  74. 74.

    M31

    lol, as an actual harpsichordist and composer of serious music for the harpsichord, I’m enjoying this thread

    No one mentioned the Beatle’s Piggies song yet?

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Danger Man was repackaged as Secret Agent for the US market, for which they added the excellent “Secret Agent Man” theme song sung by Johnny Rivers.

    Yep. I wasn’t sure if they showed all the episodes of the British version when they re-packaged it for the US (as with the Avengers).

    And yeah, great Johnny Rivers main theme.

    I was looking at the Wiki and see that Rivers has never been selected for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That’s not right.

  80. 80.

    lgerard

    @Shakezula:

    I have it in my head that there’s a Love song (not a love song) with harpsichord, but I could be imagining things.

    That would be “Stephanie Knows Who” from De Capo

  81. 81.

    gnomedad

    By sheer coincidence, I watched an old Man from UNCLE last night; that used the harpsichord a fair amount.

  83. 83.

    AdamK

    Donovan! Wear your love like heaven! Sunshine superman! You people aren’t hip at all, are you?

  86. 86.

    Porco Rosso

    Kinks Face to Face had Too Much on My Mind and Session Man

    Didn’t Two Sisters also feature a harpsichord?

  88. 88.

    Porco Rosso

    How did Beecham describe the sound produced by a harpsichord–“two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm.”

  89. 89.

    Cervantes

    Have there been any songs with harpsichords in them in the last 30 years or was is just 60s/70s thing?

    Well, I liked Telemann.

    that early Linda Ronstadt song “Different Drum”

    Technically, that was by the Stone Poneys.

    I liked it, too.

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel

    @Shakezula:
    Back in the early 80s there was a place that sold harpsichord kits. You got the guts and all the wooden case parts you had to sand and do some finish work on the wood and assemble it. I often regret not doing it . . . but then we would have to have moved it several times so maybe not so much.

  99. 99.

    oldswede

    @pete: Harpsichords were featured in a lot of Brian Jones era Rolling Stones music. Jones, Jack Nitzsche, and Ian Stewart all have liner credits for the instrument. A few tunes include Ride On Baby, Sitting on a Fence, Lady Jane and ones mentioned above.

  102. 102.

    oldswede

    @AdamK: Way back in the sixties, I was involved with a concert promotion group. One of our bookings was Donovan and the contract from his people included a requirement that we provide an electric harpsichord. Not easy to find, but we managed.

  104. 104.

    RobNYNY1957

    I think that both “Love is Blue” (“L’amour est bleu”) and “I Think I Love You” (David Cassidy’s big hit around 1970) both had harpsichord. Harpsichord was pretty common in suspenseful TV scores, as well.

  108. 108.

    Cervantes

    @RobNYNY1957:

    I think “L’amour est bleu” rendered as an instrumental by Paul Mauriat used the harpsichord, and Claudine Longet’s version as well — but I don’t recall any in the original by Vicky Leandros.

    Anyhow, I’m off. Have a great evening.

  109. 109.

    Death Panel Truck

    The Yardbirds’ “For Your Love,” the song that drove Eric Clapton out of the band.

  111. 111.

    Cervantes

    @J R in WV:

    Hey, thanks so much for that insightful comment the other day about your dad and how he took a stand for civil rights.

    I have not had a chance to respond properly, hence this short note for now.

  113. 113.

    jacel

    @japa21: The first to come to mind is The Kinks doing “She Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina’s”. Also country singer Marty Cooper (with the Big Town Kazoos) “Mr. Kazoo Man” — a 45 I picked up about twenty copies of at a record store’s clearance sale (at five cents each) forty-five years ago. “Mr. Kazoo Man / I’m just like you man / What can I do, man? / I’m Mister Kazoo”.

  119. 119.

    Dan Myers

    “Girl With No Eyes” from the album “it’s a Beautiful Day” Harpsichord and violin

  121. 121.

    oldswede

    @Omnes Omnibus: My apology is in order. Further research reveals that Brian Jones was playing a dulcimer on that song (according to an interview with Mick Jagger and various collections of album credits). The harpsichord was played by Jones, Jack Nitzsche, Ian Stewart, or even Bill Wyman. They are all credited for harpsichord on the album, but none specifically for Lady Jane.

  122. 122.

    J R in WV

    @JPL:

    Yes, it is. Thank you for noticing, we work hard for that feeling! And Cole allows us to be like that.

  125. 125.

    J R in WV

    @Cervantes:

    You’re welcome. He was an interesting guy in many ways. Worked hard at things he loved! Hated prejudice of all sorts, gays, racial, you name it, he was ag’in it, if it was prejudice. Uncommon for Republicans now-a-days, not so rare back then.

    He once lost a libel suit, the other guy was awarded $1.00 by the jury, and spent FSM only knows appealing it to the US Supreme Court, where he got his dollar back.

    True fact! He’s in the law books as fundamental journalism libel law. I’m sure it cost many thousands more than the verdict he was fighting but it was the principle of the thing!

  127. 127.

    Amir Khalid

    She’s The One off Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run album, with new E Street Band hire Roy Bittan on the instrument.

  128. 128.

    smintheus

    A tasty hint of harpsichord at the beginning of Georgie Fame’s Peaceful, which is one of my favorite Brit pop recordings.

    But for the full harpsichord treatement, I kinda like this obscure Zombies recording, Imagine the Swan.

  130. 130.

    Cole Moore Odell

    “One For the Cutters” by the Hold Steady is a fun song with tons of harpsichord

  131. 131.

    dn

    Another Van Morrison entry – “Everyone”.

    ETA: More recently, I’m pretty sure Arcade Fire used one on “Rococo”.

    ETA again: Dillard and Clark used one very effectively on “The Radio Song” and other songs from the Fantastic Expedition album.

  135. 135.

    Joel

    half a world away by REM?

    I can’t wait for the “Melodica” thread. I call dibs on Augustus Pablo.

  136. 136.

    Heliopause

    Haven’t read all the comments but I assume that by now you’ve been told that In My Life did not have a harpsichord in it.

  137. 137.

    lowcountryboil

    Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” from their “Mezzanine” album in 1998 uses harpsichord. Funny thing — I’ve loved that song for years, but only recently learned that it was used as the theme song for the show “House.”

  140. 140.

    moderateindy

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    @Mike J: Mike Nesmith’s mom invented White Out, so he was set for life from an early age. This freed him to compose wonderful tunes and get grumpy about being a Monkee.

    That’s a common misconception. His mother invented Liquid Paper when he was 13, and it took a great deal of time before the company made his mother any real money. She sold it for a tidy sum in the late 70’s, and he really didn’t see any money from it till she died in 1980.
    He actually joined the Air Force in 60, and was an airlpane mechanic for a couple years. All his money came from being a Monkee, and faced financial problems in the early 70’s due to having pay back part of that cash as a stipulation of getting out of his Monkees contract

  144. 144.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I wouldn’t call it the “best” but Magnetic Fields had a song called “In an Operetta” that is a fun and humorous combination of lampooning and homage to Gilbert and Sullivan. Features harpsichord of course.

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