28 October 2006
October 28, 2006
"Jumping Someone Else's Train" by The Cure
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I've known this song for literally 24 years, and I still like it enough to have it creep into my consciousness from time to time. The lyrics aren't terribly profound - telling someone (probably an ex) that they're unoriginal, a scenester, a follower, etc., but it's a pretty good phrase for the trendy affliction. Should we try to reintroduce it into the popular vernacular? Screaming at passing hipsters: "hey you unoriginal posers, aren't you happy, you're finally all the same, you're always jumping someone else's train!!!!" In New York, you could just wait for the L train subway to pull up in the morning and spew forth it's trendy contents. Sounds like an amusing weekday diversion - coffee and hipster harassment.
P.S. Listen to the bass line.
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Guitar PowerTab
I've known this song for literally 24 years, and I still like it enough to have it creep into my consciousness from time to time. The lyrics aren't terribly profound - telling someone (probably an ex) that they're unoriginal, a scenester, a follower, etc., but it's a pretty good phrase for the trendy affliction. Should we try to reintroduce it into the popular vernacular? Screaming at passing hipsters: "hey you unoriginal posers, aren't you happy, you're finally all the same, you're always jumping someone else's train!!!!" In New York, you could just wait for the L train subway to pull up in the morning and spew forth it's trendy contents. Sounds like an amusing weekday diversion - coffee and hipster harassment.
P.S. Listen to the bass line.
27 October 2006
Clarence Rosario: October 27, 2006 -- "Shake That Ass"
[taps mike] Is this thing on?
Well, since Stephen left the keys in the ignition, I might as well go for a joyride. When the cat's away, and all that.
"Shake That Ass" by The Lovemakers
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Ever since I heard this Oakland 4-piece, I've been evangelically trying to spread their word. Fits with the theme of this site. I've seen them live 3 times -- at Slim's, The Bottom of the Hill, and Bimbo's -- and they are in my top 4* bands to see live. Why?
Well, since Stephen left the keys in the ignition, I might as well go for a joyride. When the cat's away, and all that.
"Shake That Ass" by The Lovemakers
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Ever since I heard this Oakland 4-piece, I've been evangelically trying to spread their word. Fits with the theme of this site. I've seen them live 3 times -- at Slim's, The Bottom of the Hill, and Bimbo's -- and they are in my top 4* bands to see live. Why?
- Musically, they're tight as Hell. They've been described as "sexually energized dance rock". Their first single, "Prepare For The Fight", made me worry that they were just a little gimmicky. Not so. They can bring it. Lisa's a killer on the violin, and their drummer wails. While a lot of their lyrics are fanciful, "Falling Apart" shows their serious side.
- They're performers. Their live show is awesome, and they get into it with a sincere form of theatricality that is infectious. The crowd at Slim's chanted "Let's Go Oakland!" to get the band out for an encore. Not bad for a San Francisco crowd.
- They're smart. They've already done two solid club remixes of "Prepare For The Fight" (I own one on vinyl). They took it upon themselves to get in on the mashup craze with an awesome, self-produced mashup of them with 50 Cent. They have one of the best band merch t-shirts I've seen.
- Lisa Light is hot. I can almost overlook the fact that she went to Stanfurd.
You can't have my love
Take my body
You can have anything you want
If you shake that ass for me.
* The other 4? The Beastie Boys, Stereolab, Superchunk.Take my body
You can have anything you want
If you shake that ass for me.
17 October 2006
Clarence Rosario: October 17, 2006 -- "Boyz In The Hood"
"Boyz In The Hood" by Dynamite Hack
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Crap, I'm on a roll. I couldn't resist this one, since it came up on my ShuffleLog last night while I was running in Central Park.
Usually, when I'm running, I dig the more upbeat songs to keep my mind off of the fact that, inexplicably, I'm voluntarily running in Central Park. But the notion of two white guys -- who sound like they should be doing Nelson covers on MTV Unplugged -- doing an acoustic rendition of NWA's "Boyz In The Hood" is just too awesome to pass up. Especially when two white guys with acoustic guitars reprazent:
Don't hate the playah. Hate the game.
By the way, what sort of funky misanthrope does the lyrics at lyricsdepot.com? "Butt ass hell and I wanna get ill"? Damn, my dogs could probably do better.
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Lyrics
Crap, I'm on a roll. I couldn't resist this one, since it came up on my ShuffleLog last night while I was running in Central Park.
Usually, when I'm running, I dig the more upbeat songs to keep my mind off of the fact that, inexplicably, I'm voluntarily running in Central Park. But the notion of two white guys -- who sound like they should be doing Nelson covers on MTV Unplugged -- doing an acoustic rendition of NWA's "Boyz In The Hood" is just too awesome to pass up. Especially when two white guys with acoustic guitars reprazent:
Cruisin' down the street in my 6-fo'
Jockin' the bitches, slappin' the ho's
Jockin' the bitches, slappin' the ho's
Don't hate the playah. Hate the game.
By the way, what sort of funky misanthrope does the lyrics at lyricsdepot.com? "Butt ass hell and I wanna get ill"? Damn, my dogs could probably do better.
16 October 2006
Clarence Rosario: October 16, 2006 -- "New Moon On Monday"
"New Moon On Monday" by Duran Duran
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LyricsFreak
Damn, it's been a month since I contributed. A thousand pardons, perhaps I've been pre-occupied with this bit of business.
But I'm back, with a doozy. No idea how this one popped up. Last week, I had "Just a Thought" by Gnarls Barkley going through my head, which includes the disturbing lines "And I've tried / Everything but suicide / But it's crossed my mind". Nothing could be further from my mind, of course, but the song does have a sweet break beat in the middle of the verse. Anyhooo...
At first, you'd think that there would be a correlation with this song and it being Monday and all. Or that it's a new moon today (it's not, it was on the 11th). No idea. But it certainly belies my deep-rooted past interest in Duran Duran: it was the first "real" concert I ever saw, at the Fabulous Forum in LA no less. I don't count seeing Melvin and the Meateaters -- the band my 6th grade math teacher was a roadie for in Texas -- as my first real concert. Go figure.
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LyricsFreak
Damn, it's been a month since I contributed. A thousand pardons, perhaps I've been pre-occupied with this bit of business.
But I'm back, with a doozy. No idea how this one popped up. Last week, I had "Just a Thought" by Gnarls Barkley going through my head, which includes the disturbing lines "And I've tried / Everything but suicide / But it's crossed my mind". Nothing could be further from my mind, of course, but the song does have a sweet break beat in the middle of the verse. Anyhooo...
At first, you'd think that there would be a correlation with this song and it being Monday and all. Or that it's a new moon today (it's not, it was on the 11th). No idea. But it certainly belies my deep-rooted past interest in Duran Duran: it was the first "real" concert I ever saw, at the Fabulous Forum in LA no less. I don't count seeing Melvin and the Meateaters -- the band my 6th grade math teacher was a roadie for in Texas -- as my first real concert. Go figure.
14 October 2006
October 14, 2006
"Flying" by Chris Isaak
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If fIREHOSE is the band I think I might have become, Chris Isaak is the guy I've never been and will never be. But that doesn't mean I don't like any of his music. In fact, I like about 15% of it, and this song just got stuck in my head.
It's a pretty little ditty about a short affair in Paris. We can all identify with the main sentiment: met her on Monday, on Tuesday I was flying. But then when she leaves on Wednesday, Friday finds him crying. That's where he kind of loses me. First, what happened on Thursday? Maybe he didn't notice she was gone, or thought she was coming back. Maybe Thursday just isn't as lyrical? Then the tearful Friday... what can you say? The guy is a wuss. Sure, it's nice that he's tender and he fell for the girl and all, but he's gonna get all teary about some little Frenchy he just met on Monday?? That's just not right.
Thus further proving, I'm no Chris Isaak.
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RhapsodyLyricsFreak
If fIREHOSE is the band I think I might have become, Chris Isaak is the guy I've never been and will never be. But that doesn't mean I don't like any of his music. In fact, I like about 15% of it, and this song just got stuck in my head.
It's a pretty little ditty about a short affair in Paris. We can all identify with the main sentiment: met her on Monday, on Tuesday I was flying. But then when she leaves on Wednesday, Friday finds him crying. That's where he kind of loses me. First, what happened on Thursday? Maybe he didn't notice she was gone, or thought she was coming back. Maybe Thursday just isn't as lyrical? Then the tearful Friday... what can you say? The guy is a wuss. Sure, it's nice that he's tender and he fell for the girl and all, but he's gonna get all teary about some little Frenchy he just met on Monday?? That's just not right.
Thus further proving, I'm no Chris Isaak.
12 October 2006
October 12, 2006
"Funky Liza" by New Orleans Nightcrawlers
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Well this is just a four star song by a four star band on a four star album (all from a four star city). Funky, funky, fun, swinging, get up and move kind of music. The kind of music that makes it look to the outsider that I may suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome (but it's just the rhythm).
Apparently the song is based on an old traditional brass band tune called "Little Liza Jane". I wasn't familiar with the title, but when I listened to a few versions I was familiar with the tune. So that's either because of the similarity with "Funky Liza" or because at some point I heard the song around New Orleans and Mardi Gras and such. But then, if you dig a little deeper, you find that this song is a real traditional number and there are all kinds of bluegrass, jazz, and country renditions. And that's even more interesting to me because I read about the history of a song called St. James Infirmary, which ties back throught the history of New Orleans music, to traditional country, all the way to England - the old country - under some other names. Who'd have thought that modern funky brass band music comes from such traditional sources
Now if you search the internet for this kind of stuff, it turns out there are lots of people who spend a good amount of time making these connections and documenting them for posterity, and it's not so uncommon knowledge, but it's new knowledge for me and that's all right.
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RhapsodyWell this is just a four star song by a four star band on a four star album (all from a four star city). Funky, funky, fun, swinging, get up and move kind of music. The kind of music that makes it look to the outsider that I may suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome (but it's just the rhythm).
Apparently the song is based on an old traditional brass band tune called "Little Liza Jane". I wasn't familiar with the title, but when I listened to a few versions I was familiar with the tune. So that's either because of the similarity with "Funky Liza" or because at some point I heard the song around New Orleans and Mardi Gras and such. But then, if you dig a little deeper, you find that this song is a real traditional number and there are all kinds of bluegrass, jazz, and country renditions. And that's even more interesting to me because I read about the history of a song called St. James Infirmary, which ties back throught the history of New Orleans music, to traditional country, all the way to England - the old country - under some other names. Who'd have thought that modern funky brass band music comes from such traditional sources
Now if you search the internet for this kind of stuff, it turns out there are lots of people who spend a good amount of time making these connections and documenting them for posterity, and it's not so uncommon knowledge, but it's new knowledge for me and that's all right.
07 October 2006
October 7, 2006
"Down With The Bass" by fIREHOSE
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That's down with the bass, as in "I'm down with the bass, yo", not as in "the musical revolutionaries chanted repeatedly 'down with the bass, down with the bass'". And it's bass guitar, not bass the fish, in which case the counter example might have been "the trout revolutionaries chanted repeatedly 'down with the bass, down with the bass'".
I think if I were a musician I would have ended up playing music like this. And I would have been proud, but not very rich. fIREHOSE are always original.
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That's down with the bass, as in "I'm down with the bass, yo", not as in "the musical revolutionaries chanted repeatedly 'down with the bass, down with the bass'". And it's bass guitar, not bass the fish, in which case the counter example might have been "the trout revolutionaries chanted repeatedly 'down with the bass, down with the bass'".
I think if I were a musician I would have ended up playing music like this. And I would have been proud, but not very rich. fIREHOSE are always original.
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01 October 2006
October 1, 2006
"Sunnyside of the Street" by The Pogues
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I've been meaning to write this post for at least a week. Every time we get in the car young Walker pipes up from his car seat in the back and says "Sunnyside of the Street daddy!, I want to hear Sunnyside of the Street". I usually don't mind. The CD is always in the car, the Pogues are great, and this seems like just another one of their slightly sarcastic odes to immigration and USA. I even figured that the name was a reference to Sunnyside, Queens - a very common destination for Irish immigrants. But then I looked up the lyrics.
The actual words don't help with understanding what the song is about, but among the choicest nuggets are:
"So I saw that train
And I got on it
With a heartful of hate
And a lust for vomit."
And...
"As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore."
So the dilemma is, do I continue to play the song for Walker, or get all puritan and stick to the Clancy Brothers? Not really a dilemma - I couldn't understand Shane McGowan's slurred growl and I've been listening to that song for 15 years. Maybe in another 15 Walker will be able to explain it to me.
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I've been meaning to write this post for at least a week. Every time we get in the car young Walker pipes up from his car seat in the back and says "Sunnyside of the Street daddy!, I want to hear Sunnyside of the Street". I usually don't mind. The CD is always in the car, the Pogues are great, and this seems like just another one of their slightly sarcastic odes to immigration and USA. I even figured that the name was a reference to Sunnyside, Queens - a very common destination for Irish immigrants. But then I looked up the lyrics.
The actual words don't help with understanding what the song is about, but among the choicest nuggets are:
"So I saw that train
And I got on it
With a heartful of hate
And a lust for vomit."
And...
"As my mother wept it was then I swore
To take my life as I would a whore."
So the dilemma is, do I continue to play the song for Walker, or get all puritan and stick to the Clancy Brothers? Not really a dilemma - I couldn't understand Shane McGowan's slurred growl and I've been listening to that song for 15 years. Maybe in another 15 Walker will be able to explain it to me.
