Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let’s go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.

As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it! Follow the tags to find a ton of good music recommendation.

Today I have another mix of different genres. Trying to keep switching things up to stay interesting.

As so often happens, I had a plan. We all know how that goes. The best laid plans of mine and men, eh? But then I opened the music profile of my YouTube page and suddenly my plan fell away.

As an aside, the recommendations page of YouTube is dangerous! I was confronted by so many videos I wanted to watch: old songs, new covers, strange AI songs, and other. After being distracted for too long, I pieced together a new set of songs, completely different than what I had originally intended.

Ah well. The power of the internet, eh? Anyway, enjoy what I have for you today!

Third Space Symphony - Africa [Toto]

When I saw this on my recommended page, how could I not click on it? Africa is one of those defining songs of the 1980s that I grew up with. It’s almost mythic at this point — the kind of song that somehow survived irony, memes, and decades of overplay.

And yet put it in the hands of an orchestra, slow it down just a touch, let the strings swell where the synths used to shimmer, and suddenly it feels… well, not new. But this is a great sound. Almost cinematic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ByvzWEK6-I

Gigi Vibes - Fly Me to the Moon

How about some swing? I haven’t done a jazz post in a while. I really should fix that. But in the meantime, how about this classic number filtered through a slightly rock-inflected lens.

There’s something about this song that refuses to age. Everyone from crooners to lounge singers to YouTube jazz ensembles has taken a crack at it.

This version has just enough grit in the vocal to keep it from becoming background music. It swings, but it doesn’t float away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5nTgS9qeg

Jackson Browne (with David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Lindley) - Lives in the Balance

In light of another war, I thought this might be appropriate.

“Lives in the Balance” isn’t subtle. There’s tension in it. Unease. A sense that something is deeply wrong, even if you can’t fix it. It’s a warning. Or maybe a plea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98YG_xnz1zo

So what’s your favorite?

❦

David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky.

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Toto-Africa

Original

And a bonus write which version you liked more ))