September 18, 2026

Songs On the Viewfinder

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I have written about many record, CD and reel to reel and VHS albums (links below) but I have also written about individual songs. This is a list of those songs.  

 
 
 
 

2cellos ~ Whole Lotta Love & Beethoven        
Band Aid ~ Do They Know It's Christmas? 12"   
Beach Boys ~ Surfin' U.S.A.       
Harry Belafonte ~ Banana Boat Song (Day O)     
Busby Berkeley ~ I Only Have Eyes for You   
Big Black ~          
          Bulldozer          
             Songs About Fucking         
Martine Bijl & Don McLean ~ Vincent          
Blue Oyster Cult ~ (Don't Fear) the Reaper     
David Bowie ~ Fame 9012" 33 RPM    
Buchanan & Goodman ~ The Flying Saucer      
Buck Naked & the Bare Bottom Boys ~ Teenage Pussy From Outer Space 12"  
Eric Burdon & The Animals ~ San Franciscan Nights Winds of Change    
Red Buttons ~ Strange Things Are Happening     
Gene Chandler & the Dukays ~ Duke of Earl  
John Cale ~ Animal Justice & Hedda Gabler           
Chubby Checker ~ The Twist                   
Don Cherry ~ Band of Gold       
Patsy Cline ~ Walkin' After Midnight        
The Coasters ~  
         Poison Ivy         
         Yakety Yak    
Leonard Cohen ~ Hallelujah: A Magical Song     
Perry Como ~ Catch A Falling Star            
Sam Cooke ~ You Send Me        
Aaron Copland ~ Fanfare for the Common Man        
Wayne Coyne ~ Experiments in sound & other misdemeanours        
Michael Damian ~ Rock On with 12"         
Glenn Danzig - Who Killed Marilyn?          
Sammy Davis Jr. – Six Bridges To Cross & George Nader        
Depeche Mode ~             
         Just Can't Get Enough 12" single           
         Master & Servant 12" single      
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF) ~ Der Räuber Und Der Prinz          
Devo ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction           
Little Jimmy Dickens ~ May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose         
Dire Straits ~ Money For Nothing        
Bill Doggett ~ Honky Tonk Pt. 1 & 2          
"Fats" Domino ~ 
         Blueberry Hill          
         I'm Walkin'      
Gaetano Donizetti ~   
         La fille du régiment: Joan Sutherland excerpts Reel-to-Reel Tape          
         Lucia Sextette & Vessella's Italian Band       
Jimmy Dorsey & Orchestra w/Bob Eberly & Helen O'Connel ~ Amapola   
The Drifters ~ Save the Last Dance For Me & Doc Pomus          
Antonín Dvořák ~ New World Symphony (Goin' Home)          
David Essex ~ Rock On      
Every Mother's Son ~ What Became of Mary? Reel-to-Reel Tape        
Extrabreit ~ Welch Ein Land! Was Für Männer: (in 3-D)            
Marianne Faithfull ~ Broken English 12" single       
Tennessee Ernie Ford ~ Sixteen Tons        
Aretha Franklin ~ Spanish Harlem          
Stan Getz ~ Another World         
Charles Gounod ~ FaustJoan Sutherland excerpts Reel-to-Reel Tape         
Bill Haley ~     
         13 Women & Only One Man In Town    
         Rock Around the Clock       
         See You Later Alligator      
Hawkshaw Hawkins ~ Ling Ting Tong a Honky Tonk song          
Clarence "Frogman" Henry ~ Ain't Got No Home         
Herman's Hermits – I'm Henry VIII, I Am         
Bob Hope ~ Thanks for the Memory                
Mary Hopkin ~ Those Were the Days          
Ferlin Husky ~ Gone         
Jørgen Ingmann ~ Apache             
Chris Isaak ~ Dancin'          
Joe Jackson ~ I'm the Man (box set)           
Jichael Jackson ~ A 12" Thriller         
Etta James ~ At Last         
Rick James - Super Freak 12" 45         
Grace Jones ~ The Apple Stretching 12" 45                  
The Judds ~ Why Not Me?           
Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night         
Ben E. King ~ 
           Spanish Harlem      
           Stand by Me          
Buddy Knox ~ Party Doll & My Baby's Gone          
Gene Krupa & Benny Goodman ~ Swing, Swing, Swing      
The Latin Rascals ~ 12" of Macho Mozart (Disco Daze 5)          
Brenda Lee ~ Jambalaya        
Smiley Lewis ~ Shame, Shame, Shame        
Guy Lombardo ~     
           Auld Lang Syne & New Year's Eve in 2020       
           June Is Bustin' Out All Over             
Louis and Zach ~ Ding Dong Song    
Lulu ~ To Sir With Love & Neil Diamond        
Madonna ~ La Isla Bonita           
Silvana Mangano ~ Anna soundtrack        
The Marcels ~ Blue Moon & John Dillinger        
John Marks ~ Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - my first record        
Master/Slave Relationship ~ This Lubricious Love            
Miracle Of Sound ~ Valhalla Calling         
The Monkees ~ Last Train to Clarksville      
Marilyn Monroe ~ I Wanna Be Loved by You Some Like It Hot         
Jaye P. Morgan ~ Pepper-Hot Baby          
Ennio Morricone ~ Chi Mai & Sandra Sakata          
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ~ Don GiovanniJoan Sutherland sings excerpts      
Johnny Nash ~ I Can See Clearly Now         
Gary Numan ~ Cars            
Orchestral Manouvers In the Dark (OMD) – Maid Of Orleans        
Dolly Parton ~ Dance with Dolly 12" single PINK vinyl       
Carl Perkins ~ Blue Suede Shoes           
Peter, Paul & Mary – If I Had A Hammer      
Edith Piaf ~ Milord & the Paper Doll      
Bobby (Boris) Pickett ~ Monster Mash       
PIL (Public Image Ltd.) ~ Metal Box            
Pink Floyd ~ 
           Another Brick in the Wall (PartII)          
           La Carrera Panamericana [VHS] (no less)               
           Shine On You Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett      
The Platters ~            
           Only You (And You Alone)             
           (You've Got) The Magic Touch        
Professor Bop Presents Santa's White Christmas EP           
Elvis Presley ~       
           All Shook Up & Otis Blackwell        
           Are You Lonesome To-night?     
           Blue Suede Shoes          
           Heartbreak Hotel: his first big hit              
Prince ~       
            Batdance        
           Kiss     
           Little Red Corvette       
Giacomo Puccini ~ Butterfly = Licia Albanese         
The Residents ~ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction          
Ottorino Respighi ~ The Pines of Rome, The Appian Way Fritz & Obiko      
The Rolling Stones ~     
           Harlem Shuffle 12" 45        
           Jumpin' Jack Flash        
David Rose ~ The Stripper          
Todd Rundgren ~ radio show LP promo            
Camille Saint-Saens ~ The Third ("Organ") Symphony & Sandra Sakata        
Bob Seeger ~ Still the Same             
Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen      
Del Shannon ~ Runaway & Max Crook's Musitron            
Artie Shaw ~ Nightmare            
Dinah Shore ~ Sleepy Lagoon         
Frank Sinatra ~ Strangers in the Night              
Frank Sinatra & Harry James ~ On a Little Street In Singapore         
Skatt Brothers ~  
           Disco Daze    
           Don't Be Cruel (Disco Daze 4)          
Sonic Youth ~ Sonic Youth EP & Thurston Moore         
Spın̈al Tap ~ Christmas With The Devil          
Kay Starr ~             
           Allez-Vous-En & Half a Photograph      
Gale Storm ~ I Hear You Knocking & My Little Margie                       
The Supremes –     
           Baby Love       
           Buttered Popcorn w/Florence Ballard lead          
           Come See About Me        
           I Hear a Symphony        
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky & the Nut Rocker           
Tiny Tim ~  
            Keeping My Troubles To Myself      
            Tiptoe through the Tulips          
Cal Tjader ~ Huracán 12" White Vinyl           
The Tubes - White Punks On Dope - VHS video tape             
Big Joe Turner And His Blues Kings ~ Shake, Rattle And Roll         
Tuxedomoon ~ Ninotchka Greta Garbo         
Gene Vincent And His Blue Caps – Be-Bop-A-Lula            
Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians ‎~ A Visit From St. Nicholas          
Joan Weber ~ Let Me Go, Lover           
Paul Whiteman ~ King of Jazz         
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari ~ "His Master’s Voice"& Nipper         
The Yobs - Auld Lang Syne           
The Yobs & Guy Lombardo ~ Auld Lang Syne & New Year's Eve            



      
         
         
Styrous® ~ Friday, September 18, 2026         
         















September 17, 2026

The Supremes ~ Baby Love

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It was exactly sixty-two years ago today, on Thursday, September 17, 1964, that Motown Records released Baby Love by The Supremes. It was a wonderful time in San Francisco with great music and little cable cars that didn't quite climb half-way to the stars, but they tried.     
 
Baby Love was the second song by The Supremes I ever knew and I heard it at an after hours drag club in the Tenderloin of downtown San Francisco. Those were wild and wonderful days. The gay scene was still pretty much underground (except by the cops, of course) and  except for the occasional bust by the a fore mentioned cops, the future looked bright, promising and endless. How little we knew!      

      
      
      
Viewfinder links:       
      
Net links:       
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
      
YouTube links:       
         
History of San Francisco 8: San Francisco in the 1960s          
San Francisco in 1960s in color  8 mins.)        
The Supremes ~     
                Baby Love         
                Baby Love (live)                
         
         
         
         
                  
         
         
         
         
Styrous® ~ Thursday, September 17, 2026         
         














September 16, 2026

Tankytine, Steve, John & Tom

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Styrous - 2026  
self-portrait 
   
 
 
When my brothers Steve and John were very little. They were always mispronouncing words. One word was the movie character, Frankinstein. They called him, "Tankytine" 
 
Tom thought that was hilarious!          
 
I fell down a couple of months ago, cracked my forehead open and broke my nose. If Tom had seen me, he would have laughingly and with a great deal of love, called me, "Tankytine!"      
         
                 
Viewfinder links:
                 
Bernard (Steve) E. Simonson III         
John Gilbert Simonson          
Tom White          
          
          
          
          
Styrous® ~ Friday, September 20, 2026         
          
 
 
 
 
 
 

September 14, 2026

The Styrous Viewfinder 5,000,000 Pageviews

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screenshot by Styrous®
 
 
Today, while I am in Barcelona, Espanya, The Styrous Viewfinder hit 5,000,000 Pageviews! 


Un cop més, és increïble! Gràcies a tothom! 

¡Una vez más, esto es increíble! ¡Gracias a todos! 
         
         
        
        
Viewfinder links:         
         
Miracle Of Sound ~ Valhalla Calling           
         
         
         
                 
         
         
         
Styrous® ~ Monday, September 14, 2026        
       











September 8, 2026

Miracle Of Sound ~ Valhalla Calling


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The heavy metal music by Miracle Of Sound, is actually produced by one man, Gavin Dunne who also works with other musicians on occasions. I know, you're probably saying to yourself, "Heavy Metal! Yech!" But there is a song from the Level Seven album, in which he collaborated with Peyton Parrish, that is an absolute knock-out!            
      
Valhalla Calling is VERY slow and ponderous and moves with the speed of a massive glacier on steroids. To me it has the feeling of what it might have been like to have been a seafaring viking that loved the life of a wandering, pillaging warrior at the height of the age of the Vikings which had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Northern and Eastern Europe.      

In Norse mythology Valhalla (Hall of the slain) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard as a beautiful hall for the dead but it can also be seen as a lofty stylization of a battlefield after a fight and was not only their desired afterlife but a way to cope with the horrors of battle. It was presided over by the god Odin.       


Odin - 1886
painting by Georg von Rosen 


Valhalla was originally understood as the "rock of the Slain" as opposed to a hall. Odin is seen to have pet ravens which he sends out and the warriors of his hall are dead men and ghosts who fight battles and die.  
  
The most common image of the Vikings is the longship of which there were various forms used for various purposes.        




The feeling of absolute freedom and power the Viking must have felt as the wind and rain blew his hair to and fro is beautifully reflected in this song. It is like nothing I've ever heard before!   


 Valhalla Calling 


(Verse 1)

Ships on vigor of the waves are skimming

Barren summits to the verdant plains

Each horizon is a new beginning

Rise and reign

Far from the fjords and the ice cold currents

Ravens soar over new frontiers

Songs and sagas of a fate determined

Shields and spears

Vows of favor or the thrill of plunder

Pull together for the clan and kin

Clank of hammers and the crash of thunder

Pound within


(Chorus)

Oh-ho-oh

The echoes of eternity

Oh-ho-oh

Valhalla calling me

Oh-ho-oh

To pluck the strings of destiny

Oh-ho-oh

Valhalla calling me

Valhalla calling me


(Verse 2)

Sails a' swaying on the crimson rivers

Blood and glory in the fighting fields

Shields a' shattered into splintered timbers

Iron and steel

Fires are rising and the bells are ringing

Glory take us into Odin's halls

Golden glimmer and the sound of singing

Asgard's call


(Chorus)

Oh-ho-oh

The echoes of eternity

Oh-ho-oh

Valhalla calling me

Oh-ho-oh

To pluck the strings of destiny

Oh-ho-oh

Valhalla calling me

Valhalla calling me


(Bridge)

Wind and the waves will carry me

Wind and the waves will set me free

Wind and the waves will carry me

Wind and the waves will set me free


(Chorus)

Oh-ho-oh

The echoes of eternity

Oh-ho-oh

Valhalla calling me

Oh-ho-oh

To pluck the strings of destiny

Oh-ho-oh

Valhalla calling me

Valhalla calling me


There are two versions of the song; the original with Gavin Dunne singing solo and the "official" with Peyton Parrish and him as a duet (links below).    


Viewfinder links:

Gavin Dunne      
Miracle Of Sound        
Peyton Parrish                 
     
YouTube::

Valhalla Calling (Official Version)     
Valhalla Calling (Original Video)     












         
         
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, September 9, 2026