Music That Rocks My World

Hanukkah Song - Adam Sandler

So today’s musical meme (or guess techinally yesterday’s) is Happy Hanukkah.

No explanation necessary.

A Warm Place - Nine Inch Nails

So today’s musical meme is High School.

Back in Grade 11 Drama class I had to perform a monologue. I performed my monologue to this song and at the end of the song I committed suicide. It was quite a joyful moment.

Also NIN’s The Downward Spiral was one of the definitive albums of my high school years. Suffice to say I’m lot happier now.

Green Eggs And Ham - Moxy Früvous

So today’s (I guess technically now yesterday’s) musical meme is: this reminds me of my favorite book.

I’ve posted this song a couple of times in the past, but Green Eggs and Ham really was one of my favorite books growing up, and I always get a kick out of this song.

Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement

So today’s musical meme is Summer/Winter. I really don’t have anything to write about this. It just seems to fit.

Purple Haze - The Cure

So today’s musical meme is misheard lyrics.

I know the “excuse me while I kiss this guy” lyric was a obvious but whatever. I did opt for The Cure remake instead of the Jimi Hendrix original because I feel the misheard lyric is alot more pronounced in The Cure’s version.

Boyz In the Hood - Dynamite Hack

So today’s musical meme is Bitches and hos.

It has been a few days since I’ve participated in the themesong meme due to life getting in the way. Today I was originally going to pass on the theme because part of the reason I don’t like alot of mainstream hip hop is because of it’s gangsta posturing, materialism & the way it demeans females. But I can’t lie, I find Dynamite Hack covering NWA’s Boyz in the Hood to be quite humorous. I can’t help it, I get a kick out of it.

Jellybones - The Unicorns

So today’s musical meme (or I guess technically yesterday’s) is: one (album) and done.

This gem is from The Unicorns’ 2003 album, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?. Technically it was their third album but their first album was a demo CD-R album that was never commercially available and their 2nd album was limited to 500 copies on their own label. So this album (which reworks a number of songs off their first two albums) is their 1st (and last) full length (they had one EP) album which was widely available. I really do miss them.

Legend In My Own Mind - The Stepkids

So today’s musical meme is where is my mind?

I don’t necessary think I have a deluded sense of self worth, but I do feel that our mental perceptions of ourselves is quite often different than how others perceive us. Not necessary good or bad, just different.

Tombstone Blues - Bob Dylan

So today’s musical meme is What the hell is this song about?

To begin with I absolutely love Bob Dylan and I think he is a poetic genius. He is one of the greatest lyricists ever. But that being said half the time I don’t what the hell he is saying. This may the quintessential what the hell song. Even if it is nonsense it just seems so profound.

“The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course
The city fathers they’re trying to endorse
The reincarnation of Paul Revere’s horse
But the town has no need to be nervous.

The ghost of Belle Star she hands down her wits
To Jezebel the nun she violently knits
A bald wig for Jack the Ripper who sits
At the head of the chamber of commerce.

Mama’s in the fact’ry
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues.

The hysterical bride in the penny arcade
Screaming she moans, “I’ve just been made”
Then sends out for the doctor who pulls down the shade
Says, “My advice is to not let the boys in”.

Now the medicine man comes and he shuffles inside
He walks with a swagger and he says to the bride
“Stop all this weeping, swallow your pride
You will not die, it’s not poison”.

Mama’s in the fact’ry
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues.

Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, “Tell me great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in ?”
The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, “Death to all those who would whimper and cry”
And dropping a bar bell he points to the sky
Saying, “The sun’s not yellow it’s chicken.

Mama’s in the fact’ry
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues.

The king of the Philistines his soldiers to save
Put jawbones on their tombstones and flatters their graves
Puts the pied pipers in prison and fattens the slaves
Then sends them out to the jungle.

Gypsy Davey with a blowtorch he bums out their camps
With his faithful slave Pedro behind him he tramps
With a fantastic collection of stamps
To win friends and influence his uncle.

Mama’s in the fact’ry
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for food
I’m in trouble
With the tombstone blues.

The geometry of innocence flesh on the bone
Causes Galileo’s math book to get thrown
At Delilah who sitting worthlessly alone
But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter.

Now I wish I could give Brother Bill his great thrill
I would set him in chains at the top of the hill
Then send out for some pillars and Cecil B. DeMille
He could die happily ever after.

Mama’s in the fact’ry
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues.

Where Ma Raney and Beethoven once unwrapped their bed roll
Tuba players now rehearse around the flagpole
And the National Bank at a profit sells road maps or the soul
To the old folks home and the college.

Now I wish I could write you a melody so plain
That could hold you dear lady from going insane
That could ease you and cool you and cease the pain
Of your useless and pointless knowledge

Mama’s in the fact’ry
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley
He’s lookin’ for food
I’m in the kitchen
With the tombstone blues. ”

I’m the Ocean - Neil Young

So today’s musical meme is First Time I Saw …

The first time I saw a real concert (sorry I don’t count Sharon, Lois & Bram) was back in 1993. It was a Neil Young & Pearl Jam double bill at the now defunct Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Soundgarden (Badmotorfinger era - which I feel is stronger than there commercial breakthrough Superunknown) and Blues Traveler were openers. I still remember because I went with my soon to be (and now ex) brother-in-law. At the time I was going primarily because I was a huge Pearl Jam fan (Ten was a defining album of my teen years) and I also thought Badmotorfinger was a rocking album (especially Outshined & Rusty Cage). But as far as Neil Young was concerned I thought of him as some 70’s hippie folksinger I knew little about. I was going to see Pearl Jam but my soon to be brother in-law was going to see Neil Young.

But something happened that was a true musical awakening. Neil Young totally blew my mind, and I was totally captivated by his music. Afterwards I immediately purchased the anthology Decade and shortly after that I starting buying all of the Neil Young I could get my hands on.

In honor of that memory, I choose to post this track from 1995’s Mirror Ball  because it was recorded with Pearl Jam as a backing band (for legal reasons Pearl Jam wasn’t listed, but individuals members got credited in the liner notes). To me it was a really cool album because current Grunge kings teamed up with the Godfather of Grunge. Even though it could be argued that both artists have produced better albums on their own, the album is solid because it contains elements that made both great. These elements made for an album that neither would of been able to record on their own.