Song Of The Day 11/27/2016: Kay Starr – “Wheel of Fortune”


This is going to be the last stand-alone song until Dec. 26 -- against all odds and incredible lack of concern, I have almost all the rest of this year's songs sketched out, if the theme week that begins tomorrow doesn't scare everyone off SOTD until the bitter end.

Kay Starr died at age 94 last November 3. Had there not been a personal connection I could make with her, I might not have commemorated her passing since the bulk of her hits came before the rock and roll age happened. As it turns out "Wheel of Fortune" is a song straight from my childhood: It was one of my dad's favorite songs, so I heard it a lot. I grew to love its chord progression, which is typically how I enter listening to a song. Starr was also one of the very first professionally staged music concerts I ever saw. She was playing in Reno when I was a kid and my family packed it in and went to check her out at Harrah's. I can't recall if Starr was my first show or whether it was Helen Reddy. Same venue. Anyway. Here's another of 2016's flickered-out flames. RIP Ms. Starr.