Songs You May Have Missed #823

28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: , , ,

Maná: “El Rey Tiburón” (2006)

From Maná’s Grammy-winning seventh studio album Amar es Combatir (“To Love Is To Fight” in English). The album shared the distinction with Shakira’s Fijación Oral Vol. 1 (2005) as the highest debut of a Spanish language album in the history of Billboard until surpassed by Bad Bunny in 2020.

“El Rey Tiburón” (“The Shark King”) is a warning to the, uh, “mermaids” to beware the one who will “eat you with his kisses”. Or something:

I’m the king of the seas, the shark

The one who smothers you with kisses

But I’m the king of the sea, the shark

The one who eats you up, my love

Ay Ay Ay Bom Bom My mermaid of my love

Beware of the kiss

Oh, this is excess of love, that the shark has arrived

Compositionally, the song catches the ear by resolving minor-chord verses with a major, then ending the major-chord chorus by returning to a minor.

Cha cha cha!

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2024/01/01/songs-you-may-have-missed-740/

Songs You May Have Missed #822

28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Kevin Jonas: “Changing” (2025)

The last of the three Jonas Brothers to step out with a solo single, Kevin Jonas had previously contented himself supporting brothers Joe and Nick as songwriter, guitarist and backing vocalist.

However his reflective “Changing” has been warmly received since he debuted it at the Fenway Park stop on the Brothers’ 2025 tour.

To quote Danielle Holian’s excellent summation in Atwood Magazine:

The lyric that has already become its signature appears in the opening verse, “This coffee’s cold like these same old conversation.” The line has a lived-in realism. This song is truly an awakening. A recognition of the subtle erosion of routine, the quiet hollowness that can creep into the corners of adult life, even when nothing is technically wrong. It’s the soundtrack of a person lifting their head one morning and thinking, “What if I am overdue for a new chapter?”

From a songwriting perspective, “Changing” perfectly displays a mastery of the contemporary hit formula of following a verse with a climb (in this case, melodically-speaking a literal one) to a memorable chorus.

We dedicate this one to the crusty, taste-locked “new music sucks” curmudgeons who won’t listen to anything less than 40 years old.

There are still people out there who know how to do this pop music thing.

Video of the Week: The Bennett Family sings ‘Because’ by the Beatles

28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags: , ,

From 2011.

“Here we are (in the kitchen again, because the acoustics are nice in there!) with our three daughters (age 11, 8, and 8) plus their friend Jessilyn (age 12), spending a snowed-in evening working on an a cappella version of ‘Because.'”

Video of the Week: The Beatles Masterpiece–Abbey Road

28 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags: ,

John Blackstone issues a love letter to his favorite band.

Songs You May Have Missed #821

22 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Jim Stafford: “Cow Patti” (1981)

Self-taught on guitar, fiddle, piano, banjo, organ and harmonica, James Wayne Stafford did alright for himself.

Best known for a trio of 1974 hits, “Spiders and Snakes”, “My Girl Bill” and “Wildwood Weed”, his true musical talents enabled him to parlay his relatively brief comedic country success into a 30-year headlining gig at his own theater in Branson, Missouri.

From the “Any Which Way You Can” soundtrack comes “Cow Patti”, probably a parody of Lorne Greene’s “Ringo” from 1964. (Also “Ringo” was a gunfighter ballad which had nothing to do with the Beatles’ drummer.)

Shame that over the years a parody song can be like a stick of gum that loses its parody flavor when the original object of parody has faded from memory.

“Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh!” comes to mind, as does the work of Spike Jones, and this brilliant Pat Donohue parody tune too.

Songs You May Have Missed #820

17 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

Emily Kinney: “I Went Looking For You” (2021)

Actress/singer-songwriter Emily Kinney wrote “I Went Looking For You” about the 2018 funeral of her “TV dad”, as she called Scott Wilson, who played Kinney’s character’s father on The Walking Dead.

Beyond the particulars, though, there is a universal idea most of us can relate to–that of looking for a loved one who is no longer there…or perhaps still is in some way.

I thought I felt you, and the sun was burning my skin
As I climbed the stairs to handshakes and embraces
I thought I saw you in the screens, or heard you in the speeches
Or maybe in the tears running down your best friends’ faces

Take it in, one last look
We all hesitantly stood
Take a view, past the church pews
I was just staring at my shoes
But as expected, at the last second
Paper skin and bright white hair
I went looking for you, my friend
But you weren’t there

I guess you’re in the heavens
I guess you’re in the sky
I guess you won’t be coming back to say goodbye
More questions than answers
Your guess as good as mine
And though you’ve lived such a beautiful life
It doesn’t seem fair
When I went looking for you, my friend
You weren’t there

There were whiskey shots and dancing
Handouts with your name
We all kept our composure
Though the world would never, ever be the same
In this life, the hits keep coming
Oh, our bodies wear and tear
I spent the evening circling, looking
For you, my friend
But you weren’t there

I guess you’re in the heavens
I guess you’re in the sky
I guess you won’t be coming back to say goodbye
More questions than answers
Your guess as good as mine
And though you’ve lived such a beautiful life
It doesn’t seem fair
When I went looking for you, my friend
You weren’t there

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2023/12/10/songs-you-may-have-missed-738/

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