5/24/06
Lucy had a temperature of 105.1 last night, which was odd, not because she temporarily became the hottest human being I've ever touched, but because the rest of the night I couldn't stop thinking about 105.1 FM, a radio station I loved when I was a kid. It was one of those stations that played all the new music first: REM, early Thompson Twins, Erasure, the Vapours.
Then one day they said they were switching to an "Urban Contemporary" format. And sure enough, I tuned in at 8am as the station switched over. Their first song? "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. I have never been so depressed by a song in my life, and now, when I hear it, I feel gloomy.
Lucy's temperature is back to around normal - you know, because babies are made of rubber and titanium - but her worried parents need a little more time. Plus, I need a song to get "Celebration" out of my head. Suggestions welcome.
Posted by Ian Williams at May 24, 2006 08:06 PMI hate to mention this song, but I remember how much you loved "You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round..."
i hate to do this to you....but your post reminds me of something i heard on NPR way too many years ago. some academic was on explaining his study of the types of songs that stick in your mind. after he explained all the science behind his analysis, he declared the "winner" to be "the candy man" (talk about your childhood wishes....you can even eat the dishes!) try very hard not to think of this song....because i think he was right.
glad to hear lucy is better!
I can recommend a foolproof prescription for "Celebration" - watch an entire hour of "The Alternative" on VH1 Classic. I guarantee you'll find a gem. Right now I'm watching the vid for "The Metro" by Berlin. Nope, now it's Ministry... It really doesn't matter, Kool & the Gang will be history.
Speaking of which, does anyone besides me think that reruns of the original "120 Minutes" would instantly become the best thing on television if MTV/VH1 Classic would bring it out of the archives?
celebration is the eternal bar mitzvah song.
celebration
we are family
it takes two
hava nagilatry dick dale's hava nagila.
or def leppard's new album, where they cover a bunch of songs including 20th century boy, stay with me, rock on, and the happy mondays' she's gonna step on you again. surprisingly cool, if goofy, stuff.
happy to hear the little one has returned to a resonable temperature. yikes.
Thank God her temperature wasn't 69.
Ew, 105.1 FM around here is the worst radio station! The same 4 songs in rotation, and the absolute worst DJs on earth.
One of the four songs is "My Humps." You may not like "Celebration", but I'm willing to bet it's better than that mudflap.
Oh yeah, mudflap is the filter word for shit on another blog I was on.
Glad Lucy's feeling better!
typos:
reasonable.
he's gonna step on you again. (which incidentally was a cover for the happy mondays as well, which I never knew.)anyway, had just woken up from a nap, a deep one, and was foggy.
now I go to bed.
You want a new song to get into your head?
How 'bout this>"She's a smalllll wonder
a smalllll wonder..."No thanks necessary.
She hasn't had a tick bite lately has she?
We are over run with ticks down here in the land of Rocky Mt Spotted Fever.
Here's another song option - Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. It burns, burns, burns....
I hate that the wonderful "Ring of Fire" was ruined a little bit for me by this story:
There's few things in modern life as sad as good radio stations gone bad.
KAAY was a clear channel station that throughout the late 60s and early 70s that played what was then called "underground" music -- all the really good stuff off the commercial radio map -- after midnight. It could be received all the way into Canada. I used to listen when I was supposed to be sleeping. The music was great, but it was also enhanced by having to bounce off the ionosphere...
KFMH
Sorry, misfire on the post. KMFH in Ottumwa Iowa was a great redneck-hippie-rock station that went down the tubes in the early 90s....
"Lakeside Park" by Rush seems appropriate.
Why the temp?
So true, Ian. Why only 'Celebrate' when there are these other Kool & The Gang wonders that are not only better songs, but appropriate to Lucy's feverish night and, hopefully, this morning's cool recovery? Songs like these help a loving husband and father cherish the love, indeed cherish the life, he has. First there is:
TOO HOT
...I remember love's fever
In our hearts, girl,
And in our minds
Can't imagine that this love is through
Feeling the pain girl
When you loseOhh it's too hot
Too hot lady
Gotta run for shelter
Gotta run for shade
It's too hot
Too hot lady
Gotta cool this thing girl
What a mess we made...
Second, don't forget this mega hit...FRESH
...She's a lady
That I really wanna know
Somehow I got to let my feelings show
She's fresh!
Exciting
She's so exciting to me
She's fresh!
Exciting
She's so inviting to me, yeah
Wow, so many comments before I'd even gotten my coffee. The song that never fails to put me in a good mood and stays with me is "Here Comes Your Man" The Pixies.
Growing up in Columbia SC meant NO exposure to any decent music. If it hadn't been for a buddy's big brother in college, I wouldn't have even known who REM was. Then a new guy at school who moved from A Big City and was miserable to be stuck in Redneckville spent hours introducing me to U2, Erasure, Cockteau Twins, etc.
But the best radio station I've ever encountered was the old WDRE 92.7 in NYC/LI. Back in the early 90's when I first started going to visit my now husband, I couldn't wait to get close enough in NY to pick it up. Unfortunately, its not there in the same format and I think the call letters are a 105ish station.
I recommend that you purchase a Sirius Satellite Radio. Ian, it would be perfect for your cross-country excursions. Commercial free music, only the occasional interruption by the DJ - most of whom are actually entertaining - and every possible type of music you could want. Just in the 30 minute commute this morning, I heard Mozart's Symphony #41, that damn S.O.S. song by Rihanna, some song by the Smiths that I can't remember the name of right now, Cheeseburger in Paradise, and a few minutes of Howard Stern - who is actually funny and entertaining now. Not trying to sell anything, but I just had to sing the praises of this gadget.
I've never been
The one to raise my hand
That was not me
and now that's who I am
Because of you
I am standing tallMy heart is full
of endless gratitude
You were the one
The one to guide me through
Now I can see
And I believe
It's only just beginningThis is what we dream about
But the only question with me now
Is do I make you proud
Stronger than I've ever been now
Never been afraid of standing out
Do I make you proudEverybody needs to rise up
Everybody needs to be loved
To be loved
You're a bastard, caveman. The AI singles are uniformly terrible, and this is no exception. And also, I call BS on Taylor not being one to raise his hand.
My infallible earworm is Blister in the Sun. You may not like it, but it's guaranteed to (at least temporarily) replace whatever else is stuck.
(Crowded House) ....Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you, everywhere you go, you always take the weather, you always take the weather......
afternoon delight will clear anyones head
Sorry, k
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2655422?htv=12
Best. Song. Ever.
I agree with Scruggs. I love Here Comes Your Man and that leads right into the Breeders' Cannonball.
Caveman makes me laugh, as usual.
Blondie's "The Tide is High" -- first thing that popped into my head, and I don't know why.
Unfortunately, in my book, "Celebration" forever besmirched Kool & the Gang's reputation. I prefer "Ladies Night" or "Too Hot" or "Misled". "Cherish"? Bleh.
Alan (and any fellow Tar Heels) - that Gunther video on iTunes looks like JJ Reddick, which makes it quite a surreal experience.
Kevin - we have XM, and LURVE IT!
Re: radio stations, I used to take road trips from North Carolina going north just to hear WHFS in the D.C. area. I loved that station so much that I looked into a directional antenna to put on top of the Purple House, but was told it was just too far away (Annapolis, MD). Apparently it's not as cool now.
By the way, we don't know exactly that Lucy had, but (correct me if I'm wrong, Neva) apparently toddlers are supposed to average eight viruses a year. Our pediatrician called it "doing their viral homework." It might be Roseola, but there's no rash. Either way, she's back to being a little delight today.
Let Go by Frou Frou or anything by Everything But The Girl from Temperamental. I know it's on your ipod somewhere...and if not, it should be!
Foreigner..."Hot Blooded"
oh yeah...ian, i'm contemplating going to see Toto (yes...Toto) at Irving-fucking-Plaza in late June. You should contemplate the same thing.
Anything from Ben Fold's latest album "Songs for Silverman". Particularly "Jesusland" and "Sentimental Guy". I haven't heard songwriting this smart in quite a while, and either of these songs would pound "Celebration" out of your head like a sonic sledgehammer.
Go Heels!
WHFS was truly great and was a pathbreaker for a ton of good bands. It is now WLZL, an all Spanish station, playing salsa, merengue, and reggaeton.
Which is bad.
Unless you studied abroad in Mexico while you were a heel and developed an obsession with all things Latin. In that case, you longed for a station like WLZL for years. (But I would have gladly traded another of DC's corporate crap stations rather than give up HFS.)
Speaking of bad Latin music, have you considered that paragon of artistic Brazilian music excellence, K-Fed's "Popozao", to get you out of your Celebration funk?
Ian (& JBoogedy if you're listening), maybe Dubya's tune du jour to keep him skipping tight along is "Killing An Arab" by the Cure. Anybody remember the fun lyrics to that one? Am too lazy to search'em. Sorry to be caustic and Happy Meme-orial Day!
When I was in high school and living in north AL, I started listening to a radio station that was piped in from Nashville. KDF played a great mix of rock and alternative music, and somehow managed not to repeat songs every 45 minutes. When I moved to Nashville for college, the radio was permanently on 103.3. My junior year, though, they hired some big shot DJ who only wanted to play country music, so they switched to a country format on April 1, 1999. I remember hoping it was only an April fools joke, but starting at midnight, they played Semisonic's Closing Time on a repeat loop, until the country took over. One of the saddest days of my college life.
Songs continuously in my head as of late (but I love them):
The Streets -- Irony of it all
Ben Folds -- Bitches Ain't Shit (probably not good to play around Lucy!)
The New Pornographers -- The Bleeding Heart Show
if you like latin music you should check my husband's band spigga, they are rock and electronica en espanol/spanglish/english. they are charting on latin alternative and latin urban radio so wlzl is probably playing their reggaeton or hip hop rework of RATM's people of the sun. and they are on tour right now. www.myspace.com/spigga. check their song "bionic" if you want to get one stuck in your head for days, that one is in english. i tunes, amazon, tower records, etc., etc.
WHFS was dead before they cahnged the format. They had eliminated all the fun and were just playing the same lame 15 songs every 45 minutes that all the rest of the Clear Channel stations (technically, they weren't CC they were Infinity broadcasting, but I can't tell the difference) that claimed to be alternative were playing that week.
If anyone cares, the DJ who made WHFS work (Weasel) has a show on a classic rock station now and it's become the best thing on radio in the DC area. Check out 94.7 if you're ever in the area - especially if you're listening around 9pm when Weasel is on.