11/14/05
I'm in a hotel room in Kingman, Arizona (yes, I-40 follows Route 66 in the desert Southwest) so I'll keep this short, but I have to say everyone's lists from yesterday's blog blew my mind. I hope none of you cheated. It gives me hope for mankind.
The lovely and enchanting Caren asked that we name three important (to us, anyway) songs that not many people would know, and I thought of my three somewhere outside Needles, CA:
1. XTC - "Season Cycle"
You can have a weeklong debate about XTC's most gorgeous song, but I keep coming back to this sparkling gem on their fabulous Skylarking. It ends the first side of the album, the "youth" side, from birth to the splendor of being in your twenties. It is unabashedly twee, but it is what would happen if Paul and John stopped arguing, Brian Wilson never went crazy, and the entirety of Britain became the pastel chalk puddles of "Mary Poppins."
I think this song is important because it's emblematic of the music business' absolute lack of meritocracy. If gorgeous melodies were properly rewarded, then Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory would be millionaires able to retire in Swindon without constant fear of financial crisis (hence the songs you probably know, "Earn Enough For Us" and "Love on a Farmboy's Wages"). Rumor has it, early on, the lads had to work at a movie theatre between albums. This is not fair, a lesson everyone should learn as they learn their first three chords.
2. Cocteau Twins - "Heaven or Las Vegas"
The Twins took pop idioms, beautiful hooks, classic song structure and threw out the playbook. Before they began to sound homogenous on their last two albums, "Heaven or Las Vegas" was the bridge between their less-accessible work and the bubblegum of their future. This song is so powerful, it needs to be played at 90 decibels - otherwise you're just being ginger with a chainsaw.
They sang in Gaelic, they sang in nonsense, they just made these unearthly heartbreaking noises - R.E.M. may have started the "singer as another sound" philosophy, but the Cocteau Twins brought it to apotheosis.
Liz Fraser has one of those four-and-a-half octave ranges without getting screechy (like early Kate Bush) that is a Scottish brogue orchestra in voice. I have so many daydreams to this song, and I do believe it saved my life one night on the red-eye train from Madrid to Barcelona. More on that story some other time.
3. 41st Symphony ("Jupiter") - W.A. Mozart
I'm not going to get all musicologist on your ass, but there are bits of this very short, very brilliant symphony that presaged the Romantic movement, jazz, and having sex to music. Written at the end of his life, this (his last) symphony became the work by which all composers measure themselves - which, of course, is impossible, because they wouldn't exist in the first place if it weren't for the Jupiter symphony.
Usually on a CD with the almost-as-fabulous 40th Symphony, buy or download them both, hop in the car, and take one last speeding jaunt through the autumn leaves with the volume way, way up.
1. St. Johnny "a car or a boy?"--a thorny bit of proof that the lo-fi movement wasn't just hype.
2. Sonic Youth "candle"--haunting and beautiful.
3. Tom Jones "Help Yourself"--hard to know what to say. it's like a hypnotic command to feel good and start strutting. you will look very silly, but it will feel good.
**note: my girlfriend says i look silly. readers may find they actually look good.**
Captain Beefheart - Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles
Pigeon John - High School Reunion
Some Girls - Necessito(for my pal CL, whom I once called grandpa...)
"When The Stars Go Blue" - Ryan Adams (I proposed to my wife onstage before MC'ing a Ryan Adams show)
"Anytime" - Neil Finn - Illustrates quite beautifully the fragility of life.
"You Couldn't Have Come at a Better Time" - Luka Bloom Fairly obvious, really.
Okay - I mentioned a couple of these singes yesterday. I've included their websites in case you wanted to hear any soundclips.
1. "Difficult" - Peter Eldridge, Decorum. A painfully touching ballad - www.petereldridge.com
2. "House" - Luciana Souza, Neruda. This is from a CD on which Luciana has set the poems of Pablo Neruda to music. She finds the perfect musical setting for his words. www.lucianasouza.com
3. "I Outdid You" - Chris Orbach, Safely Through The Night. The perfect competition song. www.chrisorbach.com
Oh, I already know ALL those songs - just kidding! Wow, thanks...I'm going to listen to excerpts on iTunes today and get back to you. You are all like the cool brother I never had.
1. Radiohead's "Talk Show Host," from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. The gun and the pack of sandwiches get me every time.
2. Johnny Cash doing the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt," on American IV. Johnny owns it. So powerful.
3. Nick Drake's "One of These Things First," on Bryter Layter. I know you know it, but isn't it perfect?Thanks, Ian!! This was even more fun than yesterday.
The Las - Son of a Gun
Nicola Conte - The In Samba (original, not remix)
Chignon - Cuka Roka
The problem here given this blog audience is that I probably don't know of many songs that most haven't already heard. However, here are 3 songs I'll never skip on my iPod.
1) Romeo and Juliet -- Dire Straights
2) Pictures of You -- The Cure
3) I'll Take Your Man -- Salt-n-PepaNow, I like most kinds of music, and I have more than a lion's share of Ludacris, Nelly, and Missy Elliot, but on the other end of the spectrum, I have a decent amount of "christian rock/contemporary." There's a newer artist out now, Sarah Kelly (Take Me Away) who is very talented, as well as Third Day (Southern Rock-ish) for those with an open mind.
(1) "Smalltown Boy"-Bronski Beat: Their angle was describing what it's like to be gay and a teenager; as a true smalltown boy, it was accessible to me as what it's like to be so different from everyone around me that I wanted to disappear. This song got me through my mid-teens.
(2) "I Can't Forget"-Leonard Cohen: you can hear the miles accumulating on Cohen's life odometer as he sings this semi-country ballad about the ability to remember the good and the bad. Everyone should hear this song at least once.
(3) "The Great Destroyer"-Low: Shattering. As good an intro to slo-core as there is out there.
First, a comment about Ian's #2 song. Back in 1989, I walked into Schoolkids Records on Franklin Street as that very Cocteau Twins album was playing. The song I heard was, "Frou-Frou Foxes In Midsummer Fires." After hearing that, I abandoned the reason for entering the store, went to the counter and bought that CD.
Here are my three songs:
1. "LAUGHTER" by Josh Rouse. (The first line is: "Thinking so much my crowded head became sore.") This song came to me at the time I was contemplating leaving my first law firm, a few weeks after rupturing my other Achilles tendon and on the heels (no pun intended) of having my girlfriend break up with me. It turned out well, however, because I ended up finding the woman I married. She had been right under my nose all along.
2. "A SORT OF HOMECOMING" by U2. Very powerful, very moving, great lyrics, classic Bono.
2a. "THE WHOLE OF THE MOON" by The Waterboys. Awesome song that just moves you.
Ironically both 2. and 2a. are good Irish bands.
3. "YOU MIGHT RECALL" by Genesis. My all-time favorite song. Period. If I've only got 5 minutes and 34 seconds left on this Earth . . . I want to listen to this song.
For what it's worth:
1. Sting: Shape of My Heart. Sting is often too pretentious; even the old police songs can become pedantic... you do remember "rhetoric of failure"... and this one toys with stretching a metaphor to the breaking point. But I like it anyway, especially the fantastic harmonica solo. But maybe that's not obscure enough for you...
2. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, Second movement. Some of the most sublime music ever written, and with the beating heart that was probably the only thing ole Ludwig could hear at that point. A musical cri de coeur with amazing tructural wizardry.
3. Jamie Block: Cockles and Mussels, (Alive Alieve-O). I could listen to this once a day and not get tired of it. It just flat out works, and should be on everybody's playlist just to make them happy (in spite of Molly's sad demise.)
I can attest, having lived with "Greg from Winston Dorm" during our junior year at UNC that he played that damn Genesis song until I thought I would die. You know how some songs need to end about 3 minutes sooner than they actually do (full version of Tainted Love comes to mind)? The song by Genesis should have ended about the time Peter Gabriel left the band. In other words, it should have never bene written.
By the way, Greg, because it needs to be said in light of your postings today and yesterday, you are clearly gay and I am send Renae and email asap.
Thanks for all of the recommendations! When Boss Man is not hovering near the shared printer, I am going to print the lists and go straight to iTunes.
You know, I have been trying to think of recommendations, but I keep coming back to one group. U2. I am still on my high from seeing their recent concert, and I heart U2 in a big way. Seeing U2 in concert is like going to a Revivalist Meeting for me . . . I am reminded of the good in the world, our global responsibility, and why I was a Democrat in the first place, before I became a Disgruntled Working Mom Corporate Cubicle Dweller With a Mortgage. So, I recommend U2 for your IPod. All of their songs are good, but I'd add these:
1. One
2. Miss Sarajevo
3. A Sort of Homecoming (yes, I copied from Greg)Oh, and you gotta have some Tom Jones, as sb noted. What's new Pussycat? Whooa, whooa, whooa!
LFMD, I think I need to change my name to LFMD's little sister! I feel like I have grown up to U2. It is the closest thing to a soundtrack of my life. I remember hearing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" when I was around 10 and realizing for the first time that music had a message. Although I had no idea the point they were trying to make, I knew it was important. "All I want is you" was my love song to my first boyfriend and we ended things to "one". "I still haven't found . . ." has been a pervasive theme for most of my adult life. Each song that I love holds a thread of who I was at a certain time. My current favorite . . ."Beautiful Day".
I've seen U2 in Rome in '93, Dublin at the Special Olympics World Games Opening Ceremonies in 2003(unbelievable joy!) and we'll see them in Charlotte December 12.
So, after much rambling, my most important songs are
1. most anything by U22. Ribbon in the Sky- Stevie Wonder (our wedding dance song)
3. You are the everything R.E.M. and
Luckiest- Ben Folds
I'm not sure if this fits into the category of "not many people would know," but my favorite song ever and personal mantra is Rush's "Time Standstill."
And, since the stores are putting out holiday decorations already, my all-time favorite holiday song is a piece done by the Hickory (N.C.) Choral Society that is a combination of The First Noel and Pachelbel's Canon in D. Every time I play this on the air at WCPE, the phones light up with folks wanting to buy it. I'm slowly spreading the word. (And for those who HATE Pachelbel and call it Top 40 twee classical crap...I understand, but this work is AWESOME.)
Also, I'm a big fan of anything written by Mozart. My current favorite is 12 Variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" (Twinkle, twinkle). Not only because it's just plain cool, but it's also the song that Caleb first started to sing. And there's really nothing sweeter than the sound of your own child singing for the first time.
Eric - "miles accumulating on Cohen's life odometer" = priceless
Mom, that Block song is called "Molly Malone" and hasn't been released yet, but if Jamie lets me I could have a version for download. That's me on violins in that one.
I'd be interested in a massive mix tape of all these songs.
Song for Sharon by Joni Mitchell has to be on the list.
love "When the stars go blue" and "ribbon in the sky"....gorgeous both of them. have been digging "lately" by Stevie Wonder too. beautifully rendered picture of helplessness.
as for my three, too many to choose from but here goes:
"Hickory Wind" - The Byrds w/Gram Parsons....anything from Sweetheart of the Radio is a cliche, i guess, but there's a reason it's become a cliche. And if you dig anything that falls under that ubiquitous and vague title of alt country, you can see where a lot of those bands got their influence.
Mercy Mercy Mercy - Cannonball Adderly......there is a live version of this on Limewire that is just mindblowing. Just one of those very cool instrumental songs that fills you with hope somehow. It's in the gut.
The Dangling Conversation - Simon and Garfunkel....again, the beauty and the pain. paints what it feels like when the air in a relationship is dead. and if there were any question as to the epic songwriting genius of Paul Simon, try this one out.
Beethoven: 9th symphony, 3rd movement
Tortoise: DJed. or Stretch.
The Pixies: Ed is Dead
SLS -- you are too cute. A little sister like you would have been a lot of fun!
Bono asked me to send this to all of you. Well, actually, he asked a stadium full of people to log on and support his ONE campaign. . . but I felt like he was talking to me (and SLS).
Log on and write to your representatives!
Love, LFMD and Bono
1. The Pogues, "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"
2. The Fall, "New Face in Hell" - without precedent as far as I can tell; also Mark E. Smith should have a good plagiarism case against Pavement for "Conduit for Sale."
3. Molly Hatchet, "Gator Country" - better than it sounds.
1.)"Don't Stop Now"-Guided By Voices
2.) "Raging Bull"-Silkworm
3.) "White Rosary"-Mark Eitzel
1. “Blue Moon” – Cowboy Junkies. Sweet, romantic and sad.
2. “Emma Jean” – Amazing Rhythm Aces. With a tropical lemonade twist.
3. “New Speedway Boogie” – Grateful Dead. Politically charged, from the early seventies, yet relevant for today’s times, too.
does anybody know a song that starts out with a guitar strum "dooooo do doo dooooo do doo"
I do like the "50's" reputation that Kingman Has especially in Old Town with the Train and the Dinner. It is hard to believe that over 70 trains a day (and NIGHT) pass thru Kingman
My spouse and i absolutely need to think far more in that area and find out things i can do about this.