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!!

Musical Genres

Thunder Road

Thunder Road

September 23, 2019

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 [...]
Bob Dylan Simple twist of fate

Simple Twist of Fate

September 19, 2019

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 [...]
Rosie pic2

Rosie

August 17, 2019

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 [...]
Jerry Garcia

If I Had the World to Give

August 9, 2019

On This Day (August 9) in 1995 Jerry Garcia passed away (8 days after his 53rd birthday) from a heart attack.  For me, this is when the final spirit of the sixties really ended (along with John Lennon’s death years earlier).  As one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire 30-year career (1965–1995). He was renowned for his musical and technical ability, particularly his ability to play a variety of instruments, and his ability to sustain long improvisations with The Grateful Dead. Regarding his soloing style, I thought this was interesting (and useful, to a soloist): When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it's broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they'll occur in the same places in the song.” Garcia first met lyricist  and poet Robert Hunter in 1961, who would become a long-time friend and lyricist for the Grateful Dead, officially a non-performing band member. Of note, Hunter was [...]
Desperado

Desperado

July 22, 2019

On this day (July 22) in 1947 Don Henley was born in Gilmer, Texas. Desperado was written for the Eagles by Don Henley and Glenn Frey (their very first song.) It was based on a song he had started in the style of old songs by Stephen Foster (Way Down Upon the Swanee River.) In fact, he imagined a Stephen Foster song as sung by Ray Charles.  Well, they came up with an enduring classic with instantly relatable chord changes and a compelling cowboy story. I mean, who can’t relate to ‘you ain't gettin' no younger’, ‘walking through this world all alone’, ‘don’t your feet get cold in the wintertime’ and letting someone love you? Once again, this song is so much fun to play - especially this one, to which I have the following somewhat tenuous connection.  This performance is dedicated to my friend Alex McArthur, who played the heroic title role of Duell McCall in Desperado, an indelible but short-lived series of five Western TV movies in the ’80s. Throughout the film series, McCall is "a man of principle who roams the West of yesteryear helping people in trouble while struggling to get himself out of trouble—clearing himself [...]
Let it be pic

Let It Be

June 18, 2019

On This Day (June 18) in 1942, Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool. I’m sure glad he met the other guys and I was around to hear it. I’ve always thought that “Let It Be” is one of the true classic piano solos. For years I thought I understood that ‘Let It Be’ meant ‘to leave things as they are’, with a pacifist connotation. And also that ‘Mother Mary’ had religious overtones. Now I understand that ‘Let it Be’ was meant more in a prayerful way, hoping for words of wisdom and an answer to times of trouble (as in, ‘let it be soon’) with a timeless message. Anyway, it’s a beautiful, inspiring song. I know that it’s inspired me over the years. And ‘Mother Mary’ was actually about his deceased mother Mary, who had just seen in a dream - but I’m sure that Paul was OK with the ambiguity. Happy Birthday, Paul Dr. Weiss 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. [...]
Stella Blue pic

Stella Blue

June 17, 2019

On This Day in 1972 (June 17), “Stella Blue” was first performed by the Grateful Dead at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles (47 years ago today!) If you’re already a Grateful Dead fan, the song needs no introduction.  But for those of you who have never been to a Dead show, after you hear the first notes of this song you just settle down into your chair to enjoy a mellow few minutes and enjoy the tasteful light show! I look at it as a musical impressionistic work of art. Impressionism is a style or movement in painting originating in France in the 1860s, characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and color. It’s an artistic style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction. In music it’s a style of composition (associated especially with Debussy) in which clarity of structure and theme is subordinate to harmonic effects. Robert Hunter’s phrases such as ‘all the years combine, they melt into a dream’, ‘there's nothing you can hold for very long’, and ’it seems like all this life was just [...]
Cars Hiss photo play e1555954338446

Cars Hiss By My Window

April 19, 2019

On this day (April 19) in 1971 the Doors released their sixth studio album, L.A. Woman, which included this song, Cars Hiss By My Window. We were BIG Doors fans in my Philadelphia neighborhood! This is the song where I first learned to play the blues.  (I didn’t realize at the time that it was a very common but slightly altered  I/IV/V blues progression, borrowed from generations of black blues musicians, originating in the Deep South of the United States around the 1870s.) Another interesting thing I didn’t suspect at the time (pre-Google in our pockets!) were the other musical influences: for this recording, the Doors hired Elvis Presley's bassist Jerry Scheff and Leon Russell’s rhythm guitarist Marc Benno to round out their sound. The band began recording without much material and needed to compose many songs, including this one, on the spot in the studio!  Keyboardist Ray Manzarek recalled that "Jim said it was about living in Venice [Beach], in a hot room, with a hot girlfriend, and an open window, and a bad time…” Listening to this song, I can easily imagine the cars, waves, headlights and beaches of Venice. The ending’s pretty dark, but he was obviously [...]
Maybe Im Amazed btn

Maybe I’m Amazed

April 17, 2019

On this day (April 17) in 1970, Paul McCartney released “Maybe I’m Amazed’ on his first solo album after the Beatles, simply entitled ‘McCartney’. I was a freshman in college, and at that time no one could get enough of McCartney’s voice, or his songs. He also played all the instruments himself -  guitars, bass, piano, organ and drums - onto just a four track tape machine! Despite the spare arrangement, it’s been regarded as one of McCartney's finest love songs, and McCartney once said "Maybe I'm Amazed" was "the song he would like to be remembered for in the future". I’m not sure I agree with Paul on that, but I’ve always enjoyed this song! McCartney dedicated this song to his wife, Linda. I’d like to dedicate this performance to my wife, Portia. 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!!
George Harrison from The Beatles

Something – (George Harrison)

February 25, 2019

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 [...]