Category: memories

Tuesday’s Theme Music

A news article brought today’s theme music to mind. I was reading about Lucy McBath’s electoral victory in Georgia. Her son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed in 2017 for being in a car where the music was being played too loud for a man with a gun and a grudge, Michael Dunn. Lucy McBath was running on a gun control platform, and the story about her victory included mention of Nena’s “Ninety-nine Red Balloons” (1983) (“99 Luftballoons”).

Naturally, my mind was hooked. Streaming the song immediately commenced. Well, I thought, this is clearly today’s theme music, just so I can push it back out of my head. I like the song, but I had other things going on in my head, and it was distracting.

I got into the car, and guess what was playing? Yarp, “Ninety-nine Red Balloons”. It ended. A Bee Gees song replaced it, so I flipped channels, where “Ninety-nine Red Balloons” was playing. First I thought, I wonder if that song was released on this day or this week, or if those folks read the same article that I read. Then I thought, well, that cements it. That song is destined to be today’s theme music.

Enjoy.

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Monday’s Theme Music

For no particular reason other than that I like this song, I was just streaming this and singing it aloud while I was doing things in the house the other day, and thought I’d put it up as today’s theme music.

Here’s Chris Rea’s “Road to Hell” (1989).

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Sly and the Family Stone gave us a lot of awesome music when I was young. Today’s theme song, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is a favorite. This song’s deliberate mondegreen in its title delighted me. I always knew it as just “Thank You.” When I bought the greatest hits album (actually, on an eight-track tape that the machine ate within a year, but not before torturing the sound into a strange warbling), the full title baffled me. I’d always heard the lyrics correctly, not something that always happened with songs, but did happen at the time. That’s when I was first introduced to mondegreens.

That greatest hits album deserved that title, and that’s why it was worn out. That was common for that time, to wear music out because of its medium, whether it was tape or vinyl. Digital has made a huge difference.

Onward.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

I was reading about the militias heading south to the border to meet the caravan. Some had already arrived in a few towns, where the people were confused about why the militia were. People interviewed in those towns felt that the caravan issue and illegal immigrant issues were being overblown. Of course that may be a result of what I read, and not the truth.

All of that paramilitary talk reminded me of how volatile the UK was for so long, which triggered memories of an old Sex Pistols’ song, “Anarchy in the U.K.” (1976). The song contains chunks of initials. When I first heard it, the meanings behind the initials were a mystery. The press took it up and gave us explanations that it was about the paramilitary groups, primarily Irish, that were for and against the British.

It all provides some hope that if the UK can survive, maybe America can as well. Well, honestly America will survive. It’s a question of what form it’ll have in the future, whether it’ll be fifty states or several republics, a dictatorship or some other form of government. Inherent in that question are the greater questions of equality, freedom, and the environment.

Let’s rock.

 

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Friday’s Theme Music

I started this morning by streaming some old ELP, “Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends, we’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside.” Any ELP fan recognizes that opening from one of the Brain Salad Surgery “Karn Evil 9 Impressions” (1973).

But the stream drifted, bringing in “Still…You Turn Me On” from the album. I also enjoy thinking about the song’s enigmatic lyrics. It’s like they’re singing about trying to understand someone, and failing while guessing at who they are, and despite that, being attracted to them.

Many of us find ourselves in like situations in life, trying to understand others, and sometimes loving or hating them for reasons that we can’t explain.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Thinking of many things today, and from that morass streamed an old Tom Petty song.

Many consider “Breakdown” (1977) to be the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ breakout song. It’s a mellow, reflective sound with some edges, a sweet and weary reflection of love and trying. I prefer the live version included in An American Treasure.

 

 

 

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Well, here we go. The mid-term elections are done. Results are mostly in. Almost all issues are decided. A few exceptions are out there. Let’s go to James Brown singing “Living in America” (1985) for some reflection about WTF it all means.

 

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

It seems like pop-music styles are shifting.

Well, duh? How different was the music from the forties to the fifties to the sixties to the seventies until now? We went from gospel, the blues, rockabilly, and rock and roll to bubblegum, soul, R&B, folk and folk-rock, the British invasion, hard rock, psychedelic rock, acid rock, heavy metal, synth rock, techno-pop, country and western, young country, alternative country, classic country, hip-hop, rap, adult contemporary, soft rock, and every manner of hybrid of these styles.

Those are just a few that streamed through my coffee-less brain (just having the first sip…now…ah.) Today, music seems to be more about sounds, focusing on vocals, with catchy rhymes and repetition, while telling a story For example, my song today is “Jackie Chan” (2018) by Tiësto and Dzeko. Preme and Post Malone provide the vocals.

What intrigues me about it are lyrics such as these:

She said she too young, don’t want no man
So she gon’ call her friends, now that’s a plan
I just ordered sushi from Japan
Know your bitch wanna kick it, Jackie Chan

h/t to lyricsmode.

Not knowing what’s being sung, I sang alternative lyrics.

She said she too young, don’t want no man
So she gon’ call her friends, now that’s a plan
I got to go and use the can
I stand up to take a pee like Jackie Chan

Sometimes, encouraged by the delivery, I just go stream-of-thought freestyle on the whole thing, rhyming on man/plan/can/sand/band/land/hand, etc.

Yes, it’s different, catchy, interesting, intriguing. That’s what’s not new about popular music, and how pop-music in all its forms finds and keeps audiences. A hook is found, and a form is born.

 

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Monday’s Theme Music

“Back in the U.S.S.R” by the Beatles (1968) is today’s theme music. I thought it was appropriate to give a nod to a nation that no longer exists, one who built walls to keep their nation safe while building up a huge military and cutting their social safety nets and education, a nation whose primary concern became driven by the ruling party, who did everything they could to remain in power, control and intimidate their citizens.

It’s a pretty good song.

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Saturday’s Theme Music

Today’s choice is for my little buddy, the mighty Quinn. Here’s Manfred Mann performing their hit-record version of the Bob Dylan song, “Quinn the Eskimo” (1968).

 

 

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