I might lie a lot but never in my lyrics.
- Courtney Love
Have you ever noticed that nearly every Natalie Merchant or 10,000 Maniacs song, the first few words in the lyrics are the actual song title? It makes “Name That Song Title” kind of easy.
Nothing like peaceful music on a Sunday morning…
I’m diggin the ukelele cover Danny:
Star Trek – Bein’ Red – Filk song. It’s not easy being a red shirt:
My favourite is Gary Young and “Plantman”:
Never trust a skinny chef
- My dad
My parents were already pretty old when they had me, so because they were raised in the 50s, Lawrence Welk was a typical guest in our house thanks to his weekly TV program. I dreaded it outwardly, but secretly, I loved it. The women in their pretty dresses, the dancers, the singers, the bubbles.. oh so many bubbles.
But there developed my favourite sound in the entire world. The sound of dancing shoes on the Lawrence Welk show floor. I don’t know what it is about that particular floor, but the sound is so crisp… I just looked forward to hearing that week after week.
Hear it for yourself. By the way.. Tea for Two is a kick ass song. 
If you talk bad about country music, it’s like saying bad things about my momma. Them’s fightin’ words.
- Dolly Parton
I have a love/hate relationship with Country music. I’m really not into the melodies, but I really dig the stories they weave. Dolly (to me) being the greatest of all. I think she’s one of the last ones to really come from the country and strike it big the hard way. The rest of these people had it easy compared to country people from long ago. That’s why they only sing about trucks, screwing cowboys (i.e. “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy”), USA, and infidelity.
Where was I originally going with this post? Oh yea.. I really like the country music songs that are basically short stories.
Sunday morning I’m waking up
Can’t even focus on a coffee cup
Don’t even know whose bed I’m in
Where do I start
Where do I begin
- Chemical Brothers
Do you have one of those songs that immediately transport you to a certain time or place? Maybe we all do.
Mine is Chemical Brothers “Where Do I Begin”.. instantly I’m transported to 1994 and sitting in a 1989 Ford Escort named Boo-Boo. My friend and I would wake up Sunday morning with a hangover, nod at each other, put on our sunglasses, and drive to the nearest McDonald’s for our Quarter Pounder hangover cure.
The first song we would play is “Where Do I Begin”. I still ask myself on Sunday morning for the hell of it.
A fan club is a group of people who tell an actor he’s not alone in the way he feels about himself.
- Kenneth Williams
When I was a kid I joined every fan club I could get my sticky fingers on. I signed up for everything, wrote letters to everyone, and got a lot of things back. Newsletters, stickers, t-shirts… you named it and I had it sent to me (all free of course, we could never afford those fan club dues).
I wrote to everyone, even ones that had no fan club. My mom was clever enough to save all my responses in a photo album, so now I can look back on those days and say, “Wow! I was a dork!”
But I was a cool dork. And you can be too. What’s stopping you from making your own fan club? There’s plenty of meetup sites that you can get together with other fans and start your own club. Start one for some band that doesn’t have groupies yet… or start one for an up and coming actor… or hell, start one for yourself. By the way, Spandau Ballet Fan Club meeting 2nd Tuesdays at 8pm in downtown Atlanta. Pass the word.
I was listening to Talking Heads today and as I sang along I realized I had no idea what I was singing. I sing their songs like a Russian sings to Michael Jackson, just sing what it sounds like.
Here’s some pretty strange song lyrics. Feel free to comment and add your own!
I am made of skin
And you are made of skin
Rain or shine, all jets are gonna fall today
There’s no time, we’re all gonna fall today
You’re trash, you’re in trash
There was nothing, you made trash
Rain or shine, all jets are gonna fall today
There’s no time, we’re all gonna fall today
- Chocolate USA “All Jets Are Gonna Fall Today”
Birds in traffic, gonna do the back flip
Trampoline, what a scene
Down with the birds from which way they came
- Gary Young “Birds in Traffic”
(Those lyrics may be way off, I had to figure them out myself)
America: It’s like Britain, only with buttons.
- Ringo Starr
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from the Beatles had a little gem on there that’s been covered countless number of times. I even do a sufficient cover of it in the shower.
“With a Little Help From My Friends” was written by Lennon and McCartney specifically for Ringo Starr and his limited vocal range. It’s comprised of only 5 notes, and all 5 of those are ones that Starr can hit. The last note that he sang, he worked on with his friends.
Which just goes to show you that if you’re limited in any capacity, milk it for all it’s worth and get your friends to help push you a little further.
Oh, and another insight for you. Sometimes fancy isn’t necessarily better. That song is 5 notes. Simple and effective.
