I’m in a weird mood tonight. I was watching the live “Little Mermaid” thing on ABC but they’re just showing the movie and having people sing the songs. It’s weird to flip back and forth between animated and one voice to live and a different voice. Plus, it turns out, I don’t really remember “The Little Mermaid” very much at all so I got bored. But, it’s been a weird week for me in total. I’m itching to have as many shows as possible lined up so I can A) give myself something to look forward to, B) have a release for some pent up anger/sadness and, of course, C) make some money. But, I have a brief lull so I’m stuck with myself for a bit, which is never a good thing. The Boss wrote about it in his book if you want to get into that fear of self even more but I’m going for a pick me up. So, now I’m in the mood for some music. Let’s see what we got this week…
1) The B-52’s - “Private Idaho”
Man, did a lot of great bands come from Athens. And these guys and gals are definitely one of my favorite. I love their energy, their vision for this band, their uniqueness, and, of course, their tunes. They just look like they’re having so much fucking fun all the time. I want to have that much fun on stage sometime. I think I need to get weirder and more… I don’t know what. But, I can tell you I’ve had plenty of one man dance parties to the B-52’s over the years, which, I think is a trend likely to continue. This isn’t my favorite of their tunes but I do love the video and I just saw a commercial for french fries which got me thinking of Idaho. So, that’s probably how we ended up here to begin our musical journey.
2) Talking Heads - “Take Me to the River”
I can never get enough of “Stop Making Sense,” the big suit and Mr. Byrne and co. This is another thing that always brings a smile to my face. As does THIS VIDEO OF BRIANNE DOING THE BIG SUIT (at around 3:30 in the video) which is the moment I realized I’m a terrible/awesome influence on people. But Mr. Byrne is unabashedly one of the most creative, wondrous, thoughtful and thought-provoking artists we have. I can’t tell you how often I cue up “More Songs About Buildings and Food” on the turntable. It always takes me to a different world for those 40 or so minutes. That’s what I always look for in a record. The earliest examples of that happening for me was with Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” and Metallica’s “Black” album. As I’ve mentioned many times before, the greatest example of this, however, is the moment the needle touched down on “Born to Run” which I had accidentally put side B on first so the first tune that came majestically blasting out of the speakers on my grandma’s old console record player was “Born to Run” itself. Which, (cue Rob Lowe voice) literally changed my entire life. It’s my “hold your fire, there's no life forms aboard” kickoff to the whole Star Wars adventure moment. If you don’t know what that means, WATCH THIS AND LEARN.
3) Vanessa Carlton - “White Houses”
Stupid fucking YouTube ads. I don’t give a shit about Grammerly (though I’m sure many of you are shouting at me to be more succinct, less rambly, less erratic, less using of commas to string thoughts together with utter disregard to tenants of good writing…). This song strangely takes me back to a time in my life I’d rather not think about but somehow feels comforting at the same time. I guess that’s what music is for: making us feel OK about ourselves. These lyrics just hit the right notes for my soul:
Stay up too late, and I'm too thin
We promise each other it's til the end
Now we're spinning empty bottles
It's the five of us
With pretty eyed boys girls die to trust
I can't resist the day
No, I can't resist the day
Jenny screams out and it's no pose
Cause when she dances she goes and goes
And beer through the nose on an inside joke
And I'm so excited, I haven't spoken
And she's so pretty, and she's so sure
Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her
The summer's all in bloom
The summer is ending soon
It's alright and it's nice not to be so alone
But I hold on to your secrets in white houses
There’s something so familiar and warm/fuzzy feeling about Vanessa’s songs. I don’t know what it is and why I’m so drawn to it. But Christian James Hand (a fellow Asperger’s) also stated his love for this tune on his amazing podcast “Man vs. Radio” at one point so maybe there’s something there too. I also generally prefer female singers to male as it just sounds more “right” to me. I don’t know why that is either. But, anyways…
4) Lisa Loeb - “Stay (I Missed You)”
This was fucking 25 years ago… How old does that make you feel? But, somehow this came out the same years as this…
5) All-4-One - “I Swear”
Which seems like it was a hundred fucking years ago at this point. Middle school slow dances, anyone? Which is weird because this song was already 5 or 6 years old then but apparently Wisconsin is a bit behind the times in a lot of ways. It’s weird, I clicked on this song as a joke but had to listen to it in its’ entirety. It still grooves. Those guys could sing the skin off an apple, if that was a saying that I didn’t just make up right now. But, it’s true, I think. Strange memory just came back to me though. My sister bought this cassette and was kind enough to make me a copy and it became my after-dinner-chores listening music for months. I’d pop my Walkman on and vacuum, dry dishes, etc. while these guys sang that skin off that apple. It’s weird to remember going up and down the stairs with a Dirt Devil while singing along to “I Swear” probably annoying the shit out of everyone else not living in that world for those 4 minutes… Ah, good times…
6) George Michael - “Freedom”
OK, so full disclosure, I wasn’t actually thinking of this song as much as I was thinking ABOUT THIS. Shit is fucking ridiculous and brings a great big smile to my face, which I could use right now. Anna Faris fucking kills in the next scene too. Maybe I’ll watch “Keanu” later. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, but for now, we go a couple more tunes to play.
(As a sidenote, poor YouTube has no fucking clue how to recommend songs/videos for me anymore. I’ve been too random over the years and my brain already doesn’t work linearly to begin with. Thank you Asperger’s! But, this is the same problem with Spotify and Netflix. Though Netflix is mainly confused by how fucking polar opposite my wife and I’s watching patterns are. I don’t know how to set up an alternate profile or whatever so Netflix always gives us the recommendations no one wants since it can’t figure it out.)
7) Sam Cooke - “Another Saturday Night”
Fucking Grammerly. Go the fuck away. Goddammit! YouTube, you suck… OK, sorry. I goddamn love this man’s voice. I could listen to him sing forever. Such a talented man. Heard he was a big asshole but who isn’t who is this talented? I am definitely putting this on the set once I get a band back together (which is soon, hopefully). Just a great singalong tune that’s so brilliant in its simplicity.
8) Chumbawamba - “Tubthumping”
You can’t not have a smile on your face when this song is on. Well, at least I can’t. I know many people find it annoying as hell but I fucking love it. “Pissing the night away” as a refrain type thing? Amazing. It’s pure fun and just makes me want to crush a beer and do some shots like I’m fucking 22 again. This is one of the songs that remind me of the good times, maybe not the better times, but definitely the good times. Good times… Which brings me to the greatest drinking song in the history of mankind (which makes it the greatest drinking song of all-time unless some other animal throughout history somehow learned how to make alcohol which seems unlikely so I’m going with greatest drinking song of all-time…)…
9) Dexys Midnight Runners “Come On Eileen”
Goddammit Grammerly! I’m never using you ever you music interrupting piece of shit! AHHHHHH!
But, this is in my top 10 songs of all-time which, I know, seems strange but it’s true. Is it “Bold as Love” or “Born to Run?” No, but it’s definitely in the next tier for me. It instantly takes me to a happy place that I never want to leave. Tell me singing along with a roomful of strangers while pounding the bar or your table during that breakdown isn’t the most fun you’ve had in a while… It absolutely is when it happens. If I ever own a bar, I’d play this song at midnight every night and it would be required of everyone to sing along and pound the bar and have that experience so they can pass it along to their friends. I miss New York…
(dictated but not read)
Dexys Midnight Runners… Glorious…