Ethan Teaches You Music Podcast

Music in this episode:

The Beatles - “She Loves You” (1963)

Elvis Presley - “All Shook Up” (1957)

The Andrews Sisters - “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (1941)

John Williams - Imperial March (1977)

The Isley Brothers - “Twist and Shout” (1962)

Keely Smith - “She Loves You” (1964)

Mary Wells - “He Loves You” (1965)

Adam and the Ants - “Family Of Noise” (1979)

The Beatles - “All You Need Is Love” (1967)

I can’t find a direct attribution for the George W. Bush quote about the early vs late Beatles; the closest I can come is a reference to it in this article.

As always, I refer you to the invaluable A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs podcast for historical background.

Previously: Part 1 - “Twist and Shout”

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

The Beatles - “Twist and Shout” (1963)

The Top Notes - “Twist and Shout” (1961)

Ritchie Valens - “La Bamba” (1958)

The Isley Brothers - “Twist and Shout” (1962)

David Bowie - “Let’s Dance” (1983)

Salt-N-Pepa - “Twist and Shout” (1988)

For background on the song, I drew extensively on A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, which you will definitely enjoy listening to if you enjoyed listening to this.

Next: part 2 - “Twist and Shout”

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

Louis Armstrong - “What a Wonderful World” (1967)

Louis Armstrong - “Hello, Dolly!” (1964)

Louis Armstrong - “When The Saints Go Marching In” (1938)

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (1950)

Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven - “Melancholy Blues” (1927)

Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five - “Hotter Than That” (1927)

Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five - “West End Blues” (1928)

Jimmie Rodgers - “Blue Yodel No 9” (1930)

Hoagy Carmichael - “(Up A) Lazy River” (1930)

Louis Armstrong - “Lazy River” (1931)

Louis Armstrong - ‘When It’s Sleepy Time Down South” (1931)

Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers - “Old Folks At Home” (1937)

References:

Charles Hiroshi Garrett - Struggling to Define a Nation: American Music and the Twentieth Century (2008)

Charles Hersch - “Poisoning Their Coffee: Louis Armstrong and Civil Rights” (2002)

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

Dolly Parton - “Traveling Man” (1971)

Dolly Parton - “Jolene” (1973)

Dolly Parton - “9 to 5” (1980)

Dolly Parton - “Travelin’ Prayer” (1999)

Dolly Parton - “Marry Me” (2001)

Dolly Parton - “Stairway to Heaven” (2002)

Dolly Parton - “Don’t Think Twice” (2014)

Dolly Parton - “Purple Rain” (2023)

References:

I include excerpts of a couple of interviews with Dolly. There’s this one:

and this one:

I also include an excerpt of this excellent Paul Thompson video about the bassline in “Traveling Man”:

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode, not counting my Suno output:

Fleetwood Mac - “Dreams” (1977)

Thelonious Monk - “Round Midnight” (1968)

Cordelia’s Dad - “Montcalm and Wolfe” (1998)

The Bee Gees - “Stayin’ Alive” (instrumental) (1977)

Catherine Sikora - “The Knowing of Sums” (2016)

Ethan Hein - “The Knowing of Sums remix” (2020)

The Velvet Sundown - “Dust on the Wind” (2025)

Neil Young - “Out on the Weekend” (1972)

Koji Kondō - “Super Mario Bros Underworld Theme” (1985)

References

I refer to Margaret Boden’s 2004 book, The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms.

I also refer to a study of a songwriting class that quotes a student talking about the difference between musicians and artists. You can read that study here:

Dweck, J. (2023). Children as songwriters: The social-emotional benefits of songwriting in the elementary grades. Research Studies in Music Education, 46(2).

Here’s the interview with Mikey Shulman where he says that people don’t enjoy the process of making music.

Here’s my summary of the research on the learning impacts of LLM use:

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

Mormon Tabernacle Choir - “Old Folks At Home (Way Down Upon the Swanee River)” (1968)

Al Jolson - “Swanee River” (1950)

Bing Crosby - “Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)” (1945)

Pete Seeger - “Swanee River” (1959)

Paul Robeson - “Old Folks at Home” (1930)

Louis Armstrong & the Mills Brothers - “The Old Folks At Home (Swanee River)” (1937)

Ray Charles- “Swanee River Rock (Talkin Bout That River)” (1957)

The Honeys - “Surfin’ Down the Swanee River” (1963)

Fu-Schnickens - “Sneakin’ Up On Ya” (1994)

The Barbershop Singers - “Way Down Upon the Suwannee River” (2011)

Hugh Laurie - “Swanee River” (2011)

Al Jolson - “Swanee” (1945)

Judy Garland - “Swanee” (1954)

Aretha Franklin - “Swanee” (1966)

Matthew Morrison’s book Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States is a must-read.

Read more about the history of these songs and the music education challenges they pose.

Here’s my 20th century American popular music history syllabus.

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

Julie Andrews - “My Favorite Things” (1965)

John Coltrane - “My Favorite Things” (1960)

Ethan Hein - “My Favorite Things jam track” (2026)

Mary Martin - “My Favorite Things” (1959)

Ariana Grande - “7 Rings” (2019)

John Coltrane - “Acknowledgment” (1964)

Miles Davis - “So What” (1959)

John Coltrane - “Giant Steps” (1960)

John Coltrane - “Chim Chim Cheree” (1965)

John Coltrane - “Spiritual (C)” (1961)

John Coltrane - “Greensleeves (B)” (1961)

John Coltrane - “My Favorite Things Live in Comblain-La-Tour” (1965)

References

Thembi Dunjana - “What McCoy Tyner does on My Favourite Things”

Sami Linna - McCoy Tyner, Modal Jazz, and the Dominant Chord

Cristinel Manascurta - “My Favorite Things - transcription”

Milton Mermikides - “‘Straight and Late’: Analytical Perspectives on Coltrane’s Time-feel”

Aimee Nolte - “Discovering McCoy Tyner: My Favorite Things Transcription”

Lewis Porter - John Coltrane: His Life and Music

John Seery - ““My Favorite Things” as Civil Disobedience: a Mingling Descant on Creativity and Contumacy”

Vinnie Sperrazza - “Raindrops on Roses”

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

Paul Dukas - “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (1897) performed by the Moscow City Symphony

Claude Debussy - “Clair de Lune” (1905) performed by Alexis Weissenberg

Don Golding - “Untitled Goose Game Soundtrack” (2019) based on Debussy’s “Prelude No. 12: Minstrels” (1910)

Richard Wagner - “Ride of the Valkyries” (1870) performed by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Stockton’s Wing - “The Drops Of Brandy” (1978)

Bulg Folk - “Daychovo Horo” (2012)

Kibariye - “İllede Roman Olsun” (2014)

Kostas Tzampazis - “Karsilimas” (2012)

Balkan Beat Box - “9/4 The Ladies” (2005)

Orchéstre Baka Gbiné - “Kopolo” (2012)

Toumani Diabaté - “Konkoba” (1988)

Fodé Seydou Bangoura - “Konkoba” (2006)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Blue Rondo à la Turk” (1959)

Led Zeppelin - “The Crunge” (1973)

Paul Simon - “The Cool, Cool River” (1990)

Tortoise - “Magnet Pulls Through” (1994)

Sungazer - “Bird on the Wing” (2019)

Ethan Hein - “Clair de Lune - Jazz Mix” (2020)

Ethan Hein - “Clair de Lune jam track” (2026) - learn more about the jam tracks project

References

Kate Wagner - “adorned with delicate armouries spring subdues the world”

Nikolai Ruskin - “9/8 Rhythms Explained on Frame Drum: Karşılama & Turkish Rom”

David Bennett - “Songs That Use 9/8 Time”

Adam Neely - “How to Play Music in 9/8”

David Bruce - “Radiohead and the Rhythmic Illusion”

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

Peter Gabriel - “Solsbury Hill” (1977)

Pink Floyd - “Money” (1973)

Dave Brubeck - “Unsquare Dance” (1961)

The Beatles - “All You Need is Love” (1967)

The Grateful Dead - “Uncle John’s Band” (1970)

The Grateful Dead - “Estimated Prophet” (1977)

Cordelia’s Dad - “Brother Judson” (2002)

Venetian Snares - “Szamár Madár” (2005)

Eleni Prodana - “Milo Mou Kokkino” (2014)

Gothart - “Jovano, Jovanke” (2000)

Şevval Sam feat. Onay Şahin - “Çay Elinden Öteye” (2008)

Vojko V - “Zovi Čovika” (2018)

Angine de Poitrine - “Fabienk” (2026)

Here’s Angine de Poitrine’s iconic KEXP performance:

References:

Ulf Olsson - Listening for the Secret: The Grateful Dead and the Politics of Improvisation

David Bruce - “Angine de Poitrine’s Math Rhythms Explained”

Andrew James Gustar - “The Closest Thing to Crazy: The Shocking Scarcity of Septuple Time in Western Music”

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe

Music in this episode:

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Take Five” (1959)

The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Blue Rondo à la Turk” (1959)

John Coltrane - “My Favorite Things” (1961)

Lalo Schifrin - “Theme from Mission: Impossible” (1966)

Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln - “Tears for Johannesburg” (1961)

Jaco Pastorius - “Portrait of Tracy” (1976)

Brad Mehldau - “Anything Goes” (2004)

The Beatles - “Eleanor Rigby” (1966)

Ethan Hein - “Eleanor Rigby Takes Five” (2026)

The Beatles - “Within You Without You” (1967)

Nick Drake - “River Man” (1969)

Tim Eriksen & Peter Irvine - “The Fitchburg Tragedy” (2026)

Béla Bartók - Mikrokosmos, Book 6, BB 105 No. 150. 6 “Dances In Bulgarian Rhythm III” (1940) performed by Jenő Jandó

Gustav Holst - “Mars” (1917) performed by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Led Zeppelin - “Four Sticks” (1971)

Sungazer - “Sequence Start” (2014)

Kendrick Lamar - “DUCKWORTH.” (2017)

Noname - “Don’t forget about” (2018)

Grateful Dead - “Playing in the Band” (1971)

Radiohead - “Everything in its Right Place” (2000)

Ethan Hein - “Hit Em” (2024)

Read more about Hit Em.

Read more about time signatures.

Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe