Way back into love (Music and Lyrics)

Music and Lyrics isn't a band, it's a movie with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. It's about an old washed up 80's pop star who tries to make his comeback by writing a song for the popular pop artist of the current time period. But he can't seem to write good enough lyrics for the song on his own. One day the substitute for his house maid comes in while he is writing and she comes out with an obvious talent for writing song lyrics. You can kind of guess how it goes on from there. They write the song together, they fall in love. They get into a fight and then when the new pop star performs their song they meet backstage and make up or whatever. It's an okay movie with completely okay music. It's not really anything super different or special really. Here are the tabs from tabnabber, I don't know if they are completely accurate because the author of the tabs said they did it by ear and they also said it was very hard to make the arragement.

http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=3130&sArtist=Music+%26+Lyrics+Movie&sName=Way+Back+Into+Love

New Soul (Yael Naiem) & Love Story (Taylor Swift)

This song called New Soul is about a person who comes to America hoping to learn something new and hoping for a new experience in a new place. It's a fun song to sing along to and has a catchy tune. I don't really know how the piano tabs are because I haven't even tried to play this song yet. But here they are...
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=6409&sArtist=yael+naim&sName=new+soul

Now obviously I don't care for the Country genre, but I really love this song. It's called "Love Story" and it's by Taylor Swift. It's about Romeo and Juliet, not their tragic ending mind you, but the love they go through. (I wonder if she meant to show it ends in tradgedy... she probably should have thought that through before writing that song.) Well, regardless it's a very good song. The music video is cute too. Here are the tabs for it:
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=12886&sArtist=taylor+swift&sName=Love+Story

Enjoy.

Everything (Michael Buble)

This song called "Everything" is one of my favorites. Michael Buble has a slower more classy sound in his songs and I really like that. This song is obviously a love song, but its a classy one. Michael Buble's style kind of reminds me of Harry Connick Jr. who sang "Heavenly" (The man in the moon is smiling, cause he's in love, the man in the moon is smiling 'cause he's in love with the girl in the world). Michael Buble uses a combination of piano and some percussion, etc and smooth vocals. The lyrics are also good. This is definitely a song I want to learn soon. Here are the tabs. (These tabs are actually very good and they are in the correct key, despite what the comments from people on Tabnabber say.)
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=1619&sArtist=michael+buble&sName=Everything

Disney songs

This song "April Showers" is from the Disney movie "Bambi". The movie is about a little deer named Bambi (which in Italian means "child") and it pretty much personifies life in the view of woodland creatures. The song "April Showers" comes up when it starts to rain and thunder and lightning start in the woods. It's a really interesting song to hear sung by a choir and the numerous instruments in the song are also a really interesting part of the song.
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=13776&sArtist=Disney's+Bambii&sName=Little+April+Showers

This song is from the movie Aladdin, it's called "A Whole New World". The song also has lyrics and the two characters, Jasmine, and Aladdin sing it together. It's a love song/ duet. If you watch the movie there's a really good set of images to go with it. In the movie they are riding on Aladdins magic carpet and Jasmine starts trusting Aladdin (or right now, Prince Ali) and all that jazz. Best sung as a duet with a female voice and a male voice.
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=8778&sArtist=Disney&sName=A+Whole+New+World

This last song is from the movie Enchanted. It's a really great movie about a girl named Giselle who meets her "Prince Charming" in her animated world and she is supposed to get married to him. But on their wedding day, the evil queen disguises herself as an old woman who pushes Giselle into a waterfall that sends her to the live-action world in New York City. It's a fun movie and it's full of great and catchy songs. The song posted is called "That's how you know" In the scene she's trying to get the guy she met in New York to be more open about how he feels about his girlfriend and to let her know how much he cares about her. It's a great song and I love to sing it to myself a lot.
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=8778&sArtist=Disney&sName=A+Whole+New+World

Review etc.

Take a bow (Rihanna)
Over the weekend I decided to give this song a try on the piano. I found that it was fairly easy because its basically the same chords repeated throughout the whole thing. It's also pretty easy to sing the lyrics with it. Since its the same chords, once you practice them for a while its simple to add the lyrics in. Although it's an easy song to play on piano, it's a hard song (for me anyway) to sing.

Also I was just playing around with the right hand and I found the melody for Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Although I dislike the song very much... especially the words and Lady Gaga herself... the piano part is really catchy and you don't have to sing along with it. Maybe, if I feel like it and I find a left hand part, I will post that for you.

Take a bow (Rihanna)

This song is pretty well known I think. The tv show Glee did a cover of it in one of the episodes so you may recognize it from that. Personally I like the original version better. I love Glee, but Rihanna's voice is much more suited for the song (and its her song).
Well the lyrics are pretty much just telling about a girl who is angry at an ex-boyfriend for cheating on her. He keeps apologizing but she's had enough and she says "don't tell me you're sorry 'cause you're not... I know you're only sorry you got caught." She's basically mocking him for pretending to be sorry for cheating on her and hurting her. She is rubbing it in his face and trying to teach him that she is not going to forgive him, and that you don't cheat on people when you're in a relationship with them. She mocks him by saying "you put on quite a show" (because she doesn't believe that he's sorry. She thinks he's just putting on a 'show' to pretend he's sorry. "That was quite a show, very entertaining, but it's over now. Go on and take a bow." Basically she's telling him that it's all over now so he can stop pretending that he feels guilty for hurting her.
Just from experimenting with the tab for a few minutes I can say that it is a good one. The parts are simple and its basically ten seconds of melody that keeps repeating throughout the whole song. Here they are:
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=5538&sArtist=Rihanna&sName=Take+a+Bow

Wait for you (Elliot Yamin) & Apologize (Onerepublic)

If you watch American Idol and you have been for a while, then you probably remember this guy Elliot Yamin. (Or you may not...) I think he is really an incredible artist because he made it into the top 12 in American Idol and he is deaf in one ear. This song called Wait for you has been played at probably nearly every High School dance and was played many times over the radio when it first came out. It is still on every once in a while. It's a really slow song and the lyrics are very sweet. The song is pretty much simply about this guy who knows he and some girl can't be together right now but he's willing to wait for her. Here's the tab:
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=2787&sArtist=Elliot+Yamin&sName=Wait+for+You
The second song is called Apologize by Onerepublic feat. Timbaland. Pretty much someone apologizing for who knows what and the other person isn't accepting their apology, saying its too late for apologies. Great piano parts though. Look at all the tabs for the song for some variety.
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_piano_sheet_music.asp?song=Timbaland_feat._One_Republic-Apologize.txt&tabID=2220&nick=atownes&sArtist=Timbaland+feat%2E+One+Republic&sName=Apologize

http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=3561&sArtist=One+Republic&sName=Apologize

http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=4534&sArtist=One+Republic&sName=Apologize

The Nutcracker [Dance of the sugarplum fairy]

The Nutcracker is a classic ballet. If you don't know it or have never seen or heard of it you probably already know the tune to the song I'm posting. It's called "Dance of the Sugarplum fairy". It's a fairly easy tune to learn. Even if you just sit at the piano for a little while you could probably get it straight from ear or memory. Here are the tabs for it.
http://www.tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=8531&sArtist=The+Nutcraker&sName=dance+of+the+sugar+plum+fairy

Move Along (All American Rejects)
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=6&sArtist=The+all+american+rejects&sName=move+along

Halo (Beyonce Knowles)
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=10298&sArtist=Beyonce&sName=Halo+(Full)

Baba O'Reilly (The Who)
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=5873&sArtist=The+Who&sName=Baba+O'Riley

Good Riddance [Time of your life] (Green Day)
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=1626&sArtist=Green+Day&sName=Good+Riddance+(Time+of+Your+Life)

God Bless the Broken Road
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=7474&sArtist=Rascall+Flatts&sName=God+Bless+the+broken+road

Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

Everyone knows this song. This is such a fun song about who knows what. Since I don't have much of anything else to say about this one I will post another song too.
So here is is. Piano man by Billy Joel. It's just a song about a dude who sings in a bar and plays piano with a bunch of people who come every night to get drunk and listen to him play. Then they all ask him what he's doing in a bar with all that talent.
http://forpiano.com/FILEX/P/02eh89wswr/billy_joel--piano_man.pdf

Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn) and Angel (Sarah Mclachlan)

This is a song that has been redone many times by many different artists. Although there are different versions done by different artists, the piano part has remained the same. That's one of the things I really like about this song. The piano part is rather dominant in the song so it won't sound too different than the song recording. Another really good version of this song besides the original is the one by Lonestar. Although Country doesn't really ever appeal to me, I really enjoy his voice with the lyrics. So here's the link for the ACTUAL sheet music. From just scanning through it appears to be a legitamate source... so far...
Here's the link for the ACTUAL sheet music (with Lyrics!). :D Enjoy.
http://forpiano.com/FILEX/W/82dojoa0wi/cher--walking_in_memphis.pdf

Angel:
I love this song. I don't really know why, it's just one of those songs I have known for a long time. I guess it's about knowing you are loved and cared for wherever or whoever you are. Great song and I think reasonably easy piano part.
http://www.forpiano.com/FILEX/A/9d0v8s8v0a/sarah_mclachlan--angel.pdf

Vanilla Twilight (Owl City)

This is one of my favorite songs and it has a really great piano part. Once you get the piano part for it, it's not hard to figure out how to put the lyrics in with it. I don't really know what the lyrics mean altogether, since Owl City's lyrics are sometimes really random. But the music video and most of the lyrics tell me it's about a guy who misses someone and wishes she were there. He talks about the spaces between his fingers being right where hers fit perfectly and he says I wish you were here.
I would think that it should be reasonably easy to play, especially if you know the song well. Here's the link for the tabs. This tab is really good because it shows you what to do for both hands:
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=13117&sArtist=Owl+City&sName=Vanilla+Twilight
Enjoy

Hero (Enrique Iglesias)

Now, this song has a very special memory for me. It was a song I slow-danced to with my bestest friend at Prom this year. Although it is rather cheesy, I love it :) The lyrics are really rather self explanitory so I won't bother to explain. Below is the link to the chord tabs. Enjoy.

http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=3180&sArtist=Enrique+Inglesias&sName=Hero

Somewhere out there (American Tale)

I was just humming to myself last night while trying to find my sheet music to play some piano when I caught myself humming the tune for "Somewhere out there" from those little mouse movies (American Tale). If you've seen the movies then you probably remember the little mice brother and sister Fivel and Tanya mousekewitz. They are the two little mice who sing this song in a duet. It's a very sweet song and easy to sing. I have never tried to play it on piano because I just found this pdf file today for it. So I'll try and get at least a little bit of it learned and give you some feedback in the comments section of this post.
The lyrics in this song are in my opinion the best part of the song, other than the fact that it's a beautifully crafted duet song. The whole song is basically the two people (or mice in this case) singing to the moon that there must be someone out there thinking about them or loving them. In the movie the whole family is seperated when they are on a boat trip to America from Russia and they are trying to find each other again. (In the end they find each other and it's a tearful and joyous reunion and stuff.) The movie is great too. I highly reccomend it. I'm pretty sure it's G-rated. Great animated movie with amazing music. Here's your link:
http://www.pianomoz.com/somewhere-out-there.pdf

Hallelujah (Rufus Wainwright's version)

In case you don't know this song simply by the title, you may know it from the Dreamworks movie "Shrek". It's the background music when Fiona is human and she is getting fitted for her wedding dress for her marriage to Lord Farquad, and when Shrek goes back to his swamp and it goes between scenes of the two of them eating alone. I really like this song because you can adjust it to any key you feel comfortable singing it in and it has some good lyrics and a good message to it. I think it is a really enjoyable song and the way Rufus wainwright sings it and plays it in the movie is really well done.
As far as the lyrics go, I am not really sure what it means because I haven't really taken the time to think about them. So I guess I'll just take it verse by verse and describe what I think it means.
In the first verse it says "I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the lord, but you don't really care for music do you?" Obviously that has some Biblical references, but I think it means that the person doesn't care for the music as much as the gospel. (maybe) I don't really know the meaning behind the second verse... it's a little difficult for me to figure out. So I just take what it says literally. He saw some girl bathing and she caught him and whatnot. I don't really know. I guess the third verse kind of clears things up in this story, sort of. He's saying that he used to be different before he met her. Maybe seeing her bathing on the roof was the first time he saw her and that meeting changed him from not caring about something to her bringing him to say "Hallelujah". I guess it's kind of a love story then. Anyways, that's what I get from it. Here are the chord tabs for the song:
http://tabnabber.com/view_Tab.asp?tabID=4483&sArtist=Jeff+Buckley&sName=hallelujah

*note: if you don't know what keys to play when you see the chord names on the tab, there are pictures on the very bottom of the tabs page. Just scroll down and that should help.

Thinking of you (Katy Perry)

Here is an internet copy for the sheet music for Katy Perry's "Thinking of You". I couldn't figure out how to get it off the internet so my apologies, you'll just have to read it off the internet or print it.
As far as the song goes, I haven't played it all the way through yet so I don't know how easy the piano part for it is yet. I love the original song and the music video for it too. Oh! I also thought to start describing what the songs are about if there are lyrics in it. So, basically in this song she is singing about the fact that she is with a guy who makes her think of another previous boyfriend or husband or something along those lines. In the music video the story is that she was with a soldier before he went off to war. He ended up dying in the war and she decides to try and move on and be with another man. Obviously it doesn't work too well as is exhibited in the lyric "'cause when I'm with him I am thinking of you" In the end of the video she is walking to the funeral of the soldier guy she was with before he died in some kind of war.
Overall it is kind of a sad song but it is very sweet and I really like it. I hope you do too.

Link:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5085376/Katy-Perry---Thinking-of-You

Update: Don't stop Believin'

Okay so I printed out that last bit of sheet music I gave you for the song "Don't Stop Believin'" and I tried playing through the way it was written... I only got as far as one bar and to be honest, I thought it was crap. It didn't sound anything like it should SO... I will either try to find an arrangement that isn't well, crap. Sorry about the bad sheet music. Look out for that as well as a new song.

Don't stop believin' (Midnight Train) ~ Journey

Here's a classic song that is really easy to play on the piano. Once you get a hang of the chord switches and the beat it's easy to add the lyrics in on your own. Here's a pdf file that gives you the entire sheet music.
http://forpiano.com/FILEX/D/d93l2u9d6w/journey--dont_stop_believin.pdf

A couple of easy pieces for beginners

1 Theme from Sonata K.331
This is an easy one to learn. It took me about 20 minutes. It's a theme from Wolfgang A. Mozart's sonata k.331. It should be played elegantly. When I learned it I thought of those fancy old english people who acted all uppity and important. If that makes any sense. It's not a particularly interesting or challenging song but it's pretty sounding.

2 Turkish March
Also a really easy to learn and somewhat pretty sounding. Again, not particularly interesting but there you go piano learners.

About

This is a blog where I research piano arrangements for some of my favorite songs. I'll learn to play each arrangement I find and then I will rate it and critique it. Then you can leave your input below if you learn to play it as well. Today I found Seasons of Love from the musical "Rent".

http://tabnabber.com/tabLinksFrame.asp?exturl=forpiano.com%2FFILES%2Fseasons_of_love__rent.pdf&tabID=996&nick=&sArtist=Rent+-+Musical&sName=Seasons+Of+Love

Just copy and paste the link into your address bar and you should be able to see all 5 pages of the song on the website. You also should be able to print directly from the webpage.

As far as a review...
I am still sort of learning how to play this one because it is after all 5 pages long. It's not hard to play really. If you know the song from the actual musical then it should be much easier to play. In this piano arrangement the lyrics are also included. I plan on probably learning the lyrics so I can sing as I play the song on the piano. As far as critiquing the actual song goes, I love it! I love this song in the musical and on the soundtrack. It's a fun song to listen to and sing along to.