Category: pop culture

Today’s Theme Music

Today’s blast from the past comes via The Americans’. The show is taking place in 1983 and features music, news and events from ’83. It included this song, ‘Major Tom (Coming Home)’, in the episode I watched the other night on Amazon.

‘Major Tom (Coming Home)’ is a continuation of a theme begun with David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ of 1969 about an astronaut, Major Tom, victimized by a malfunction while in space. ‘Space Oddity’ was an early hit for Bowie and drew me into his fold of fans. One of the best concerts of my life was seeing him in Charleston, WV during his glam rock period.

Peter Schilling released his song, ‘Major Tom (Coming Home)’ in 1983. Its techno-beat and clear, overly dramatic but positive lyrics work as background music streaming in my head while walking around Earth.

 

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Today’s Theme Music

This song – ‘Right Place Wrong Time’ by Doctor John – strikes me as the perfect theme music for today’s meanderings.

The song came out in 1973, the year before I graduated high school. The album, ‘In the Right Place’, quickly fell into part of the regular rotation of my listening habits as I drove about in my 1965 Mercury Comet sedan. I feel like I’ve been born in the wrong era although the more cynical slice of me comments, “You’d probably feel like that in whatever era you’re in.” True.

I always enjoy this particular song’s funkiness. The Meters back him up, with Art Neville on organ, Leo Nocentelli on guitar, bass performed by George Porter, Jr, and Ziggy Modelisti on drums. Dave Spinozza is that guitar solo in the middle. Doctor John’s lyrics and style convey the essence of just feeling like I’m out of sync and don’t really belong anywhere in this era.

I been in the right place but it must have been the wrong time
I’d have said the right thing but I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip but I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place and I’m wondering what it’s good for
I been the right place but it must have been the wrong time
My head was in a bad place but I’m having such a good time

I been running trying to get hung up in my mind
Got to give myself a good talking-to this time
Just need a little brain salad surgery
Got to cure my insecurity

Perfect for today.

h/t to Lyrics Mode.

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Today’s Theme Music

This one has been downloaded from the memory cloud formed immediately after retiring from the USAF in 1995 and my new work commute to Progressive Angioplasty Systems.

I lived in Mountain View, in a little cul-de-sac not far from Moffett Boulevard and the Highway 101 ramps. PAS was located in Palo Alto off Univesity. Easy commute, right?

Sure, in the morning. It was eleven miles, if I remember it right. The morning commute required twenty minutes because I enjoyed working early and leaving early. I typically was the first or second to arrive, at 7:00 AM, and then would leave at 4:30 PM.

The 4:30 PM return trip was a completely different story. Those eleven miles consumed forty-five to fifty-five minutes on a good day. Rain and traffic accidents would mar that stellar time, creating a sixty to ninety minute commute. Bleah.

So I listened to music, news and audible books. This is a song from that commute era. Here is Jewel with ‘Who Will Save Your Soul’.

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Today’s Theme Music

I know I’ve posted this song before. I’m being indulgent. It’s a song I enjoy, a product of talented people who I admire. A couple of them have passed away so the song returns with a patina of bittersweet nostalgia.

‘Under Pressure’, created by David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Queen, came out in 1981. I was stationed on Okinawa, Japan, when it did. Armed Forces Radio and Television Services provided us with our television and radio entertainment while providing time for the Armed Forces Network Okinawa to provide us with news and weather. Air time was divided among multiple needs and demands as the outlet strove to provide everything to everyone.

I didn’t hear much of ‘Under Pressure’ on the radio because of all this, but I liked it. Most of my friends had no idea what song I was talking about whenever I mentioned it. Years later, it was included in the movie, ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’. GPB, starring Minnie Driver, John Cusack and his sister, Joan, Alan Arkin and Dan Ackroyd, only receives 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. But it’s one of those movies that I stay to watch when I encounter it, one of my secret vices.

‘Under Pressure’ has been used in other movies, sports events, commercials and trailers. Others have covered it, so most people know it, even if this isn’t their style of music or if they were born decades after 1981.

I believe the last time I posted this, I may have used the Annie Lennox and David Bowie cover. I’m going with the originals recorded performing live this time.

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Today’s Theme Music

I often sing the blues. My version is the first world blues. I’m blue about the state of the world, environmental concerns, human rights. I’m also blue ’bout computer issues and awful television shows while simultaneously, hypocritically decrying our consumer society. I’m blue because I love auto racing and hate its economic and environmental impact. I’m blue because while I have plenty to eat, my metabolism has slowed and I can’t eat all the foods I want all the time. I’m blue because my hair is thinning and graying even while I know I’m in a pretty damn good place. I’m blue because I’m a basket of contradictions and because my cats don’t get along better. And the blues strike, too, because I’m pretty healthy while so many friends and loved ones suffer from health issues. I sing the blues because there are too many people who seem evil for the sake of being evil and care about no one but themselves.

That’s why I sing the blues. That’s why I’m thankful for an era where we had folks like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Etta James, Albert King, Doctor John, Phil Collins, Robert Cray, Paul Butterfield and more to lift me out of the blues via that terrible technology that I love and hate.

Here they are, strong of voice, at the top of their skills, performing ‘Why I Sing the Blues’. 

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Today’s Theme Music

Admittedly, I don’t know much about Phillip Phillips. I know a couple of his songs, including this one. It was released in 2013.

I like the chorus of the song. Deciding to use it today after thinking about the song earlier in the week, I found this YouTube video. I like the children singing with him and the simple setting.

Here’s Phillips with the PS22 Chorus singing, ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’. Have a wonderful day. Beware of cravings.

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Today’s Theme Music

I’m a big fan of The Weeknd. I’ve already done one or two of his songs as my daily theme music, with ‘In the Night’ coming to mind. What can I say? His lyrics and melody stay in my stream as I walk about.

I’m not alone. This song, ‘Can’t Feel My Face’, came out in 2015. It was nominated for a few awards and Rolling Stone Magazine named it their top song for that year. As others have noted, his style mixes unusual lyrics with a soft, smooth delivery that is somewhat Michael Jackson-esque. Here it is, ‘Can’t Feel My Face’.

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Today’s Theme Music

‘Keep On Rollin”, by Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio, is a big fun song. I find myself singing it as I walk about, playing the air piano and air guitar, and generally be-bopping and scatting. Great song for a sunny day of walkin’ ’bout.

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Today’s Theme Music

This was an intense song. My mind immediately began streaming it during my walks and it stayed lodged in my head for several months. Seeing the video reinforced its effect.

‘Too Close’, by Alex Clare, 2011, captures the essence of a long-term romantic relationship to me. The song sounds like a soliloquy, an emotional epiphany. It feels like you’re going separate ways; it feels like you’re just too close. Matters become combative and intense. Words are said, parry, thrust, circle,  en garde, but sometimes the fencing is done in silent expectation of what could have been said. Then there is always the pondering, what was meant, what was meant, what was meant?

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Today’s Theme Music

This song, from 2011, is quirky. I enjoy the video, especially the female response. It’s a good song for streaming in my head as I’m conducting a catabout.

Here’s Gotye with ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’.

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