"One Tin Soldier" - Song #38

This past summer, one of the more popular songs among both girls and boys at Camp Ajawah was "One Tin Soldier," a pop song from the early 1970s.  Unlike many camp songs, its origins are clear and the writers are still alive.  OTS was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who wrote many Top 40 hits, from "Don't Pull Your Love Out On Me Baby" to "Ain't No Woman Like The One I've Got."

Dennis Lambert was nice enough to do a Q+A with me.  You can read at my other music blog, which consists of interviews with pop musicians.  The name of the blog says it all: One Song, Seven Questions.

Please check it out.  In the meantime, here's the original version of the song from 1969:

Choo'n Gum (variation on a song from Girls' Camp)

Link to Camp Lisa

Here, at last, is the link to the new album I mentioned in the last post - check it out...

Lisa Loeb's new album

Just saw on iTunes' new releases that Lisa Loeb, who had a big alternative hit with "Stay" a few years back, has just put out "Camp Lisa." Listened to two excerpts of songs from Camp Ajawah which couldn't be more different:

Granny's in the Cellar - a rarely sung humorously gross song from Boys' Camp.

Linger - A sweet song that was part of the closing medley at all Girls' Camp evening campfires.

Check them out; I will try to get a link up soon...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame - song #21

In honor of yesterday's All Star Game, I turn my attention now to the unofficial baseball anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame. At camp we would sing it occasionally. For many years there was a traditional game of softball one of the last days of each session, pitting the staff versus the "all stars" campers from the softball league that played games during morning swims.

I believe that all may have transitioned to soccer - don't get me started on that - but back in the day we sang TMOTTB, which perhaps many already knew from the 7th inning stretch at Twins' games.

So, here are three sites about the song:

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Out_to_the_Ball_Game
Now we know that this is the 100th anniversary of the song's debut as a pop music hit. And that it is the third most commonly sung song in America.

2 http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1556376&vid=141873
A Minnesota indie band (now based in Brooklyn) covers the song for the Twins (do they now play this at the Metrodome??)

3 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn/takemeout
Nine popular acts record versions for an ESPN battle of the bands.

Atkins and Idol

First, as a follow up to yesterday's post, here is Nicole Atkin's performing "The Way It Is" on David Letterman:



Second, as long as I am on pop music, here's an idea - why not have one episode's theme for American Idol be "summer camp songs"? They would probably never do it, but it sure could be a fun change of pace.

Nicole Atkins

OK, so it would be a stretch to really tie this post to summer camp songs, but I think Nicole Atkins is such an amazing new artist that I just want to get word out. Maybe I can claim that repeated exposure to the same songs at summer camp over many summers influences all campers' musical tastes. Maybe I can say that would incline them to like some of the same pop music I like. Or maybe I can just post a link and let you decide for yourself.



My favorites: The Way It Is; Neptune City.

Sixteen Tons: Song #15

I suppose I should have made this song the next one (#16), but why wait? This one was a perennial favorite at boys' camp. With the economy struggling now, the line "another day older and deeper in dept" rings a little too true.

This song originated as one of the biggest pop recordings of the 1950s. Here it is in all its glory: