# original song (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover original song. Page: Feed: --- ## [Tunes on Tuesday: Harmony](https://ohljazz.com/2026/08/04/tunes-on-tuesday-harmony-2/) _2026-08-04 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? This week’s song is one of ten originals I chose to record in October for my next album. I’m traveling to Los Angeles for the sessions, working there with an experienced producer and an array of talented LA-area musicians, including some of my favorite singers. I’m planning to sing two songs on Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: Harmony" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: But Beautiful](https://ohljazz.com/2026/07/29/tunes-on-tuesday-but-beautiful-2/) _2026-07-29 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? I shared an instrumental version of this classic Jimmy Van Heusen song a few years ago. I’m returning to it this week with a vocal version, trying to do justice to Johnny Burke’s elegantly crafted romantic lyric. It’s been recorded almost 500 times since Bing Crosby sang it first in 1947, so Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: But Beautiful" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: Nice ‘n’ Easy](https://ohljazz.com/2026/07/21/tunes-on-tuesday-nice-n-easy/) _2026-07-21 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? I’ve been working on my singing lately, preparing for a recording session in LA in October. I committed to singing two of the ten original songs on my next album, a fun swinging tune and a ballad. I am working with a vocal coach and have started to sing a few songs Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: Nice ‘n’ Easy" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: Appetite](https://ohljazz.com/2026/07/14/tunes-on-tuesday-appetite/) _2026-07-14 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? This week’s tune marks Bastille Day, the French national holiday, with a silly song about how we rely on a French phrase to start our meals in the USA. I responded to a songwriting prompt to use “foreign words” and took this idea to an absurd extreme. This was the second of Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: Appetite" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: My Country](https://ohljazz.com/2026/07/07/tunes-on-tuesday-my-country/) _2026-07-07 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? Once in a rare while, inspiration strikes and there’s no choice but to follow it. That happened to me on the morning of July 4, when we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence. I had an image in my head of an enormous American flag flying over a Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: My Country" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: Be Free](https://ohljazz.com/2026/06/30/tunes-on-tuesday-be-free-2/) _2026-06-30 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? In honor of this week’s celebration of Emancipation Day in the US Virgin Islands and US Independence Day, I’m sharing “Be Free,” a song I wrote back in 2018 for The Lucky So and So’s, a funk/latin/jazz/hip-hop band I was part of for a while in DC. The song has a simple, Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: Be Free" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: You Would Rather Have the Blues](https://ohljazz.com/2026/06/24/tunes-on-tuesday-you-would-rather-have-the-blues/) _2026-06-24 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? This week’s tune comes from the songbook of the late great Dave Frishberg, a brilliant pianist and songwriter who passed away in 2021. If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember his classic “I’m Just a Bill” from Schoolhouse Rock, or other classics like “I’m Hip” and “Peel Me a Grape” which Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: You Would Rather Have the Blues" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: Day By Day](https://ohljazz.com/2026/06/16/tunes-on-tuesday-day-by-day/) _2026-06-16 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? This week’s tune “Day By Day” is a popular song from 1945 written by Alex Stordahl and Paul Weston with lyrics by Sammy Cahn. Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford recorded it first soon after it was written. Sinatra returned with another version in 1961. The song has remained a popular standard in Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: Day By Day" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: What About Us](https://ohljazz.com/2026/06/09/tunes-on-tuesday-what-about-us-2/) _2026-06-09 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? This week’s tune is an update of my Torah Tune for Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1). It tells the story from Numbers 27 about the five daughters of Zelophehad, who successfully petitioned to inherit their late father’s share of the Promised Land, establishing a rule that daughters could inherit property if there were Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: What About Us" ## [Tunes on Tuesday: On the March Again](https://ohljazz.com/2026/06/02/tunes-on-tuesday-on-the-march-again/) _2026-06-02 · Oren Levine · Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter_ Why this tune? For this week’s tune, I’m, going back to my ongoing Torah Tunes project with a song for this week’s portion, Beha’alotcha (בְּהַעֲלֹֽתְךָ֙). The song was inspired by the story of the Israelites’ journey through the desert starting in Numbers 9. The lyrics reference the cloud that covered the Tabernacle during the night. Continue reading "Tunes on Tuesday: On the March Again" ## [Retro Grid Dungeon Crawler (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/UTHTR8llmzAW) _2026-06-02 · **Sponsored**_ Retro grid movement with first-person combat, loot and skill-tree progression. ## [Wattershed, by Foo Fighters](/music/journal/guitar-covers/wattershed-foo-fighters/) _2025-09-27 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ The best Foo Fighters song! They’ve got lots of good ones, but this one is THE BEST ONE. Original # ## [AI For History Teachers](/history/ai-for-teachers/) _2025-09-07 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ AI has been a whole thing for several years now and it’s been hyped beyond belief. One of the ways we notice how excessive the hype has been is how many people are sure AI is going to change everything, yet they can’t quite describe how anyone should use it. They’re just convinced it’s the future and that we’re all going to lose our jobs. Between working for UPenn and… ## [Panasonic Youth, by Dillinger Escape Plan](/music/journal/guitar-covers/panasonic-youth-dillinger-escape-plan/) _2025-07-15 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ what a beast of a song… cripes. i spent a month watching ben eller videos to get the skills to play this mf. i’ve played guitar for 30 years but practicing this song gave me blisters in new places on my fingers and now they’re calloused like steel Original # ## [Kids, by Descendents](/music/journal/guitar-covers/kids-descendents/) _2025-06-18 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ KIDS ON COFFEE KIDS ON COFFEE KIDS ON COFFEE Original # ## [New Boobs, by NOFX](/music/journal/guitar-covers/new-boobs-nofx/) _2025-06-17 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ Another shredder from NOFX! The song was written in the 80’s to mock the superficial people in LA who believed the only way to get ahead in life was to have a boob job. It’s also a rager on guitar. Original # ## [Your Destructive Self, by Overcast](/music/journal/guitar-covers/your-destructive-self-overcast/) _2025-05-30 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ I love this band so much. They were my introduction to New England’s metalcore scene and I couldn’t get enough. Saw them live whenever I could and I learned how to play as much of their as I could figure out. Here’s to yall, Overcast! Legends! Original # ## [The Wild Man of the Revolution, Samuel Adams](/history/wild-man-adams/) _2025-03-31 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ I had been curious about Samuel Adams’ story for a while, but his story is so rarely told in any detail that I also didn’t know why I should care about him. What little I knew, I knew from the history of John Adams, the second US President, and Samuel’s cousin. Each bio I read of John Adams mentioned a detail about his trip to France, during the Revolution, that suggests… ## [DNB From Scratch](/music/journal/dnb-from-scratch/) _2025-02-22 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ I have listened to drum n bass for a long time. For me, it always felt like the punk rock side of EDM. I learned of it during the 90’s when it was still rudimentary but still had a distinct direction. I had never seen engineering done the way dnb producers did it back then. Inventing new subgenres and seeing how far they can be stretched out creatively is a lot of work. I bet it didn’t… ## [Learning With Covers](/music/journal/learning-with-covers/) _2024-11-11 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ I have been teaching myself how to record music for several years. To get started, I figured I should do a bunch of cover songs where I play drums, bass, the guitars, and sing to quickly create a bunch of data for me to learn with. Once I got the hang of it, I would switch to recording my own music. This is what I did to learn how to record so I could then record the music I wrote for American… ## [Algorithmic Underground](/tech/algo-underground/) _2024-11-01 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ I have been thinking about something Jean Baudrillard said a lot recently. It comes to mind because of the current moment and what is happening around generative AI. Prior to the current moment, I believed he was more cynical than necessary. The current moment changed that for me because I found myself wondering if we might actually bring about some of the futures Baudrillard talked about. In… ## [Meet Claude, an AI assistant (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/x4sjnqOqO3zB) _2024-10-31 · **Sponsored**_ Chat with Claude at claude.ai — a conversational AI assistant. ## [The Founders On Virtue](/history/on-virtue/) _2024-11-01 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ People paying attention to politics in the US have probably come across the term virtue signaling . It is typically used to mock anyone that expect others to live for a cause higher than self-interest. Folks have claimed it is virtue signaling, instead of virtuous, to resist racism, homophobia, sexism, or to support noble causes like helping the poor. Instead of adjusting to be more virtuous,… ## [Cartons](/tech/cartons/) _2024-09-25 · A sonic soul with a relentless drive to make ideas real on JmsDnns_ I’ve learned to use many programming languages over the years. Most of them could reasonably described as ordinary, but every now and then I come across something unlike anything else I’ve seen before. After all these years programming, it’s also just been a long time since I felt a language offered a genuinely new idea to the world. And yet, Rust actually is like no other…