Sunday’s Theme Music

I don’t know why this song streamed into my mind this morning. I guess my neurons were bored with the chicken and avocado kibble dream.

“Road Rage” by Catatonia came out in 1998. I don’t recall hearing it, though. I encountered it in Paris a few years later when I was doing a trade show. It was always interesting to discover what other countries were listening to, and how different some of the music sounded in comparison to America’s radio blarings.

I liked the lyrics of “Road Rage” but didn’t understand them all. I was singing some of it to myself at our booth. Eventually, one of the people from the U.K. who was attached to the exposition organizers told me the song’s name.

The Internet was getting strong and healthy by then, so I hunted down the song, eventually learning about the murder it was based upon, and finally reading an interview with the singer, Cerys Matthews, about the song and her telephone conversation with the victim’s mother. It’s not a new premise, how technology drives us crazy sometimes, and sporadically ends with murder.

Anything can drive us over the edge.

Saturday’s Theme Music

I stumbled across an article about the rise of arena rock. The article mentioned that Cream, on its farewell tour, headlined the first rock concert at Madison Square Gardens. That’s all it took for me to start streaming some Cream. As a big Cream fan, I enjoy a number of Cream songs. I started with “Strange Brew”, shifted to “Brave Ulysses”, followed with “Sunshine of your Love”, but then went to an old blues standby, “Crossroads”.

There I stayed, caught on the rock rhythm, but thinking about the lyrics, fixated on the final line. “And I’m standing at the crossroads, believe I’m sinking down.”

Every day brings a crossroads. You make choices. Some blindly follow the same road, and some willfully follow that road. Both refuse to consider the crossroads that they’ve reached, pressing on.

As writers, we’re often at crossroads about what a character will say or do, and how the story will change to advance the plot. Every day brings the opportunity to feel like you’re sinking down, or the belief that’s what’s happening. It’s easy to get caught there, especially when you thought you’d be making more progress, or that things would become easier. Each novel and chapter, though — each crossroad — is unique. You can learn some hints about how to navigate these places, but they often require a fresh approach.

Friday’s Theme Music

This isn’t the usual rock stuff that I listen to, but “Rubberband Man” by the Spinners is a secret favorite song. I enjoy the lyrics, beat, bass, vocals, and lyrics. Upbeat, but mellow, it’s a song that makes me move as I re-stream it in my mind while walking.

“You’re bound to lose control when the rubberband man starts to jam.”

Thursday’s Theme Music

Lyrics once again drive this song.

I began streaming it in my mind yesterday when I was walking and saw a yellow cab. Song fragments took turns with the connection for a bit before I settled into Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”. A bit maudlin, the reflective song addresses our aspirations and shortcomings, and what we become instead of the people we want — or expected — to be in the rush of youth.

It also encompasses a bit of Sylvia Plath poetry in the middle. What the hell is he saying there, I used to ask myself, listening. Eventually, the intertubes revealed the Sylvia Plath connection, once again providing proof of the web’s usefulness.

I don’t think “Taxi” was ever as popular or well-known as “Cat’s in the Cradle”. From way, way back in 1972, here’s the late Harry Chapin and “Taxi”.

 

 

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Notorious RBG is playing locally. My thoughts go to Notorious B.I.G. when I hear or read comments about the Ruth Bader Ginsburg movie. That’s how my mind and its connectome plays. Likewise, I connect specific groups or performers with certain genres and categories of music. Right or wrong, Biggie Smalls was a handful of performers who I link to classic rap.

Here’s to the music and the art, and the past and the future. Notorious B.I.G. with “One More Chance” from 1995. It’s a mellow sound.

 

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Ah, a little Tuesday Weezer. “Say It Ain’t So.” It’s a relationship song.

Somebody’s Heine’
Is crowdin’ my icebox
Somebody’s cold one
Is givin’ me chills
Guess I’ll just close my eyes

Oh yeah
Alright
Feels good
Inside

Flip on the tele
Wrestle with Jimmy
Something is bubbling
Behind my back
The bottle is ready to blow

h/t azlyrics.com

1995. Fun video. Terrific album.

(The formatting issue is a WordPress matter. Looks fine on the draft, doesn’t work on the published version.)

My Amended Dirty List

I saw that Pitch Black was available on HBO last night. I was like, I gotta watch it! And did.

Thinking about that, I decided to add it to my dirty list, along with others that mentioned in comments.

Here we go, round two.

Original list:

Unforgiven (1992) – “It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.”

Fail Safe (1964) – “You learned too well, Professor. You learned so well that now there’s no difference between you and what you want to kill.”

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – “I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn’t believe anything.”

A Christmas Story (1983) – “Oh, fudge. Except I didn’t say fudge.”

The Great Escape (1963) – “Cooler.”

Tropic Thunder (2008) – “I know who I am. I’m the dude playin’ the dude, disguised as another dude!”

Being There (1979) – “It’s for sure a white man’s world in America. Look here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant. And I’ll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir. Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th’ ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you’ve gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want. Gobbledy-gook!”

No Country for Old Men (1997) – “What you got ain’t nothin’ new. This country’s hard on people. You can’t stop what’s coming. It ain’t all waiting on you. That’s vanity.”

On The Beach (1959) – “The trouble with you is you want a simple answer. There isn’t any. The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained – – by arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn’t possibly use – – without committing suicide. Everybody had an atomic bomb, and counter-bombs, and counter-counter bombs. The devices outgrew us; we couldn’t control them.”

Fifty First Dates (2004) – “Sharks are like dogs, they only bite when you touch their private parts.”

Bladerunner (1982) – “Time…to die.”

Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) – “Are they both mad? Or am I going mad? Or is it the sun?”

Love Actually (2003) – “A tiny, insignificant detail.”

Men In Black (1997) – “No, ma’am. We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor we’re aware of. May we come in?”

The Dirty Dozen (1967) – “I reckon the folks’d be a sight happier if I died like a soldier. Can’t say I would.”

Doctor Strangelove (1964) – “Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader’s mule, the radio is gone and we’re leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we’d need sleigh bells on this thing… but we got one little budge on them Rooskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain’t gonna spot us on no radar screen!”

Added:

Pitch Black (2000) – There are a lot of goofs in it, which is part of the fun. “They kept calling it ‘murder’ when I did it.”

Silverado (1985) – “The world is what you make of it, friend. If it doesn’t fit, you make alterations.”

Kelly’s Heroes (1970) – “Definitely an antisocial type. Woof, woof, woof! That’s my other dog imitation.”

Secondhand Lions (2003) – “WE’RE OLD, DAMN IT! LEAVE US ALONE!”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – “You never had a rope around your neck. Well, I’m going to tell you something. When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel the Devil bite your ass.”

Hang them High (1968) – “Some people call this hell, but you’re still in Oklahoma.”

A Few Dollars More (1965) – “I was worried about you – all alone, with so many problems to solve…”

High Plains Drifter (1973) – “What makes you think I care?”

What of you? Andy dirty secrets about the movies you watch again and again?

Monday’s Theme Music

I know exactly when I started streaming this song. After completing some yard-work, I went for a walk. As I did, I wondered about the number of Priuses in Ashland. It seems like the number one car. Subaru is well represented, too, followed by BMW models. More Teslas are showing up, but they have a long way to go before they catch the Prius.

As I thought this, I thought about counting cards and remembered, “We count only blue cars, skip the cracks in the street and asked many questions, like children often do.”

Yes, it was Dishwalla and “Counting Blue Cars” from 1995.

Sunday’s Theme Music

It’s a fun song in a fun time streaming through my memory. We’re talking about the final stages of a long party, when few lights are on and only a few close friends remain. UB40 with “Red, Red Wine” begins. Smiling, we all sway and sing wherever we were sitting or standing. Yes, I know Marley did it first, but this was 1983 on Okinawa, and that’s what song plays in memory.

Good way to end a party.

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