Music

Anything music.

There are 320 posts filed in Music (this is page 18 of 32).

Wind-up Bird

It’s lyrics ain’t Shakespeare but this song is still strangely catchy.

Wind-up Bird (YouTube)
Pink Grease

I can’t take it anymore
You keep on dancing in my nowhere
I am the preacher, the preacher’s son
You keep on landing in my nowhere

You are the wind-up, wind-up bird
You keep on sounding in my nowhere
You are the cancer, cancer girl
You keep on landing in my nowhere

But now my cat is dead
my cat is dead, gone down the well
Yeah, now my cat is dead
gone down the well
my cat is dead
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Bring back acoustics to the studio

I was poking around the Mailboat Records site this morning and enjoying the version of Margaritaville that Nadirah Shakoor sang in the [auto-playing!] Flash music of the site. It was recorded live and it sounds like it. The acoustics are very warm. You can hear the music bouncing off the walls.

It made me recognize that these acoustics are part of what I admire in the old Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Hot record. It was recorded in a house in New Orleans – and again, you can hear the musicians in the room. Same goes for this Jolly Boys songs I have. The stand-up bass sounds like it’s right inside your head. And the O Brother, Where Art Thou record wall full of this – it’s a great record.

Recording studios think they’re improving the sound when they dampen the acoustics so that all you hear is the source. But that’s not the way music is really played, or enjoyed. The lack of these acoustic details puts a barrier between the artist and the audience, saying “what you hear isn’t real – it’s plastic.” It’s the audio equivalent of the airbrushed pin-up: sure she’s cute but she’s not real.

I think artists and producers should make an effort to put more acoustics in their recordings. It’s only natural.

Rocket Roll

Rocket Roll (YouTube)
The Phenomenauts

Spent some time on Rigel 9,
Walkin’ waist deep in the Rigel slime,
Slid fifty feet into a Rigel hole,
Bent my fender but I still know how to

Rocket Roll
–(Rocket Roll!)
Rocket Roll!
–(Rocket Roll!)
Rocket Roll.
–(Rocket Roll)

Some of you people may be out of control,
But I wanna see the rest of you Rocket Roll!
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Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)

A song about pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning: how awesome is that? Pandora does it again.

Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)
Artichoke

do you know Mary Anning? born on a southern shore
her father Richard was a cabinetmaker
and Richard died too early and left the Annings poor
but lucky Mary Anning found an icthyosaur

by circa 1820 she ran a fossil store
she put the bones together for the collectors
and science was the province of men of noble birth
but I’d take Mary Anning over those stuffed white shirts
ancient life that sleeps as fossil

she was walking the cliffs on her own by the sea
she was wondering if there were shapes underneath
there were men with their cash but that’s not what it took
she could read every line on the ground like a book
she assembled the bones of the past in cement
and she sold them in town for a couple of pence
and she showed all the men how the bones could connect
though at first some would scoff they would grow to respect

(repeat first verse)
how did you get in here? show me what you found dear
hello isn’t that queer do you have any more?

S-N

What does it say about me that I’ve got this stupid song stuck in my head?

S-N (YouTube)
Tom Lehrer

Like a rooster loves a hen
Like a lion loves his den
Like Barbie loves Ken
I love to do things that begin with “S-N”

(For example…)

I love to sneeze…(AH-CHOO!)
Pardon me, please…(AH-CHOO!)
I like to sniffle; it really feels nice
One handkerchief’ll just never suffice
But, brother, watch out for the breeze…
When I sneeze! (AH-CHOO! AH-CHOO! AH-CHOO!)
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Record stores

I woke up with The Police’s Born In the Fifties on my mind. That got me thinking to my early exposure to The Police – in a music store of all quaint places. I vividly remember browsing through The Record Bar in a Columbia, S.C. mall and seeing the Ghost In The Machine logos everywhere. Must have been 1981.

That got me missing the glory days of record stores. My kids may never grow up to know the joy of browsing actual, physical records in racks. There was a kinship there with other customers: just being around would often lead to someone suggesting a band to you you would’ve not otherwise heard. Its not so easy doing that in the age of iTunes (though Pandora comes close).

Eat Steak

Eat Steak
Reverend Horton Heat

Eat steak, eat steak eat a big ol’ steer.
Eat steak, eat steak do we have one dear?
Eat beef, eat beef it’s a mighty good food.
It’s a grade A meal when I’m in the mood.

Cowpokes’ll come from a near and far
When you throw a few rib-eyes on the fire.
Roberto Duran ate two before a fight,
‘Cause it gave a lot of mighty men a lot of mighty might.
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These Days

These Days (YouTube)
R.E.M.

Now I’m not feeding off you, I will rearrange your scales
If I can, and I can
March into the ocean, march into the sea

I had a hat I put it down and it sunk, reached down,
yanked it up, slapped it on my head
All the people gather
Fly to carry each his burden
We are young despite the years we are concern
We are hope despite the times
All of the sudden, these days
Happy throngs, take this joy wherever, wherever….
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Let’s Talk Dirty In Hawaiian

John Prine: Best. Songwriter. Ever.

Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian (Youtube cover)
John Prine

Well, I packed my bags and bought myself a ticket
For the land of the tall palm tree
Aloha Old Milwaukee, Hello Waikiki
I just stepped down from the airplane
When I heard her say,
“Waka waka nuka licka, waka waka nuka licka
Would you like a lei? Eh?”

Let’s talk dirty in Hawaiian
Whisper in my ear
Kicka pooka mok a wa wahini
Are the words I long to hear
Lay your coconut on my tiki
What the hecka mooka mooka dear
Let’s talk dirty in Hawaiian
Say the words I long to hear
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