Patrick Walsh
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100 Favorite Songs #80 - 61
posted Wednesday, 2 August 2006
It's 4:47 in the morning and I have to be up in a little over two hours. You better enjoy these. And please, I'm temping again, keep the comments rolling in, it makes the day so much more fun.
My 100 Favorite Songs #80 - 61
80) "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star
I want to hold the hand inside you. I want to take the breath that's true. I look to you and I see nothing. I look to you to see the truth.
This sounds like it's being performed by angels or something. That simple acoustic guitar strum, the little piano touches, the slide guitar solo, the shaking tambourine, the buttery singing, delicious. This was the first song on the album and I literally have never listened past it. What happened to these guys?
You might remember it being used over the exquistely moving final scene of Angus, in which Angus finally gets to share a dance with the girl from Jurassic Park? Anyone? That movie was very important to me.
79) "Dosed" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I've just been endlessly surprised by the evolution of the Chili Peppers. Never liked their whole rap/rock thing at all. Respected the instrumentation, I guess, but didn't have much use for someone yelling "Flippy Dippy! Doopa Doopa Doopee Didee!" at me. Never got it. "Under The Bridge," yes. "Breaking The Girl," yes. Everything else...whatever. Then I heard "Scar Tissue" on the radio. I was like, where the hell did this come from? And pretty much everything's been incredible since. Maturity and actual songwriting certainly look better on these guys than tube socks and white-boy dancing. Apparently all the harmonies are designed by John Frusciante, he deserves a medal, they have done some incredible vocal stuff in the past several years. Like this song, their best, off their finest album By The Way. Sounds haunted.
78) "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
I think my finest ever dance performance was on this song. A bar packed to the gills. No room to move. I was drenched in sweat (big surprise). I had recently developed a real crush on this song, and when it came blasting out from the frat shit they had been playing all night, I seized the opportunity and danced that motherfucker out. Space was cleared, there was a "dance circle," there was some chanting. I think I found God that night. Not sure where he went after that.
77) "Misery" by Soul Asylum
So it's the summer before freshman year of high school. I had been obsessed with this girl Dennery Watts for quite some time, but was stuck in the friend zone. One day, her and I and her best friend Sarah Rau are hanging out, playing some board games. Dennery leaves and Sarah gives me a handwritten note from Dennery. It was a poem, a really touching and romantic and lengthy and heartfelt poem, confessing her love for me and letting me know that she truly believed we could make it as "more than friends."
I still have that note.
I was a freshman, I felt things more strongly then. This might have been the happiest moment of my life. I rushed home, I called her, told her that I'd love to be her boyfriend. It was settled, and I started the summer with a spring in my step and a song in my heart. A girl liked me! I was "in love!" I told all my friends. Finally! Dennery and me! Together! Bliss!
And then the next day she called and told me she had changed her mind.
Totally out of nowhere. It felt like someone hacking through my rib cage with a bone saw. I argued a bit, (a lot of "But why'd you give me that poem? I don't understand!"), until I realized how pathetic I sounded, and I hung up. Then I walked into the living room, a shell of a man, and turned the stereo on. I was desperate to hear a song that put my pain to music.
"Alright, here's the new single from Soul Asylum, check it out!"
And so began the beguiling lyrics of "Misery:"
They say misery loves company.
We could start a company...and make misery.
Frustrated incorporated!
Reading them now, yes, they seem to have been written by someone with Down's Syndrome. But on that particular day, as I cranked up the stereo, every word burrowed deep into my soul. And freed it from it's asylum.
EPILOGUE:
The song wasn't a big hit, and I hadn't heard the thing in years. And then Kevin Smith just used it (brilliantly, by the way) over the final scene of (the surprisingly really good) Clerks 2! And I could barely sit still, the pummeling wave of memories crashing over me.
Years later, I still love the song. And I still don't trust girls. At all.
76) "A Long December" by Counting Crows
OK, this one won't earn me any cool points. Like a lot of people, I went through a period of loving this band, loving that whole mopey scene. Their music doesn't do much for me now, except for this, which is absolutely beautiful. I was driving around the other night, unable to sleep as always and this song came on the radio. It's about being depressed in California, and now that I live here it hit more of a nerve than usual, as I was having the exact same feelings as the narrator, (wishing a certain someone was here with me, loneliness, a desire to see the ocean). I think if they played this in bars at midnight on New Year's Eve, the suicide rate would go up by thousands.
75) "A Little Respect" by Erasure
It doesn't get much gayer than Erasure, and yet if this song came on in a club I'd be out there with assless chaps and a single tear rolling down my cheek. Beautiful song.
74) "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters
One last thing before I quit I never wanted any more than I could fit into my head I still remember every single word you said and all the shit that somehow came along with it still there's one thing that comforts me since I was always caged and now I'm free!
What an angry, balls-out climax this song has. Anyone who got in a car with me for about a four year block in college would have heard me belt the finale of this song out at beyond top volume, without taking a breath, veins bulging out of my neck. Better times.
73) "You Can Have It All" by Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo makes some of the prettiest music there is, music that makes you want to crawl inside it and float around for a while. This is their prettiest, and certainly on a short list for prettiest songs of all time. That Bom-ba-bom-BA-ba-bom-bom loop in the background will burrow its way into your head. Seriously, like sititng on a cloud, this song.
This is on my "Romantic Fucking" iTunes playlist. Works every time.
72) "World's A Mess; It's In My Kiss" by X
No one is united. And all things are untied.
Yup. That's about right.
This is what punk music should be. Ridiculously catchy, the lyrics are poetry without being all pretentious and Jim Morrison-y, and this is pretty much the only song with a tolerable organ solo. God, even the title is incredible. That's this song and this band in a nutshell. The world is falling apart, but you've got me.
Also holds a special place in my heart as being the last song played by my ex-band, The PTA. Perhaps you've heard of them? No? I'll move on.
71) "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens
I don't even particularly love Cat Stevens, but he really nailed a feeling here. The whole twisted, tough, complicated, lifelong fathers and sons "thing" is something all guys experience but never talk about, until they find themselves bawling like an infant at Field of Dreams.
Have you heard this? Download it, or at least go look at the lyrics. This song is like a kick in the heart. If I may share a more personal story than I'd really like to: When I first left Missouri to live in disgusting Jersey City, New Jersey, my misery knew no bounds. I completely abandoned all human emotion for roughly a year. Be thankful you didn't know me then.
One day I received a package from my father. We had had a lot of problems before I left. In the package was a ridiculously supportive and loving note, encouraging me to stay strong, never give up on my dreams, and find a way to be happy. Also in it was a cassete tape of Cat Stevens' Greatest Hits, with this song circled on the case. I had never heard it. Played it in my room and just sobbed, letting out everything that I'd shut in. I still don't listen to this song.
Oh, and if it wasn't moving, depressing, masochistic enough...Johnny Cash covered it! A couple months before he died!
70) "Do You Love Me Now?" by The Breeders
This will not be the first time I've said this, even in this countdown, but there is no sexier voice on Earth than Kim Deal. And this might be her sexiest moment. And as much as I love the nonsensical lyrics of both Pixies and Breeders, when she plays it straight, as she does here, the results are pretty breathtaking. The backup vocals at the end of this song make me thank God I have ears. Drop dead gorgeous.
69) "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan
If you hear that opening call of This Is How We Do It! and don't tip up your cup and throw your hands up? I have no use for you as a human being. This thing could still effortlessly pack dance floors, if they'd stop playing "Baby Got Back" for a damn minute. I feel this song should be played over the loudspeakers at every office building in America, each Friday at 5PM.
I miss this kind of music. Hate to be an old man here, but I liked rap when it was fun. You still see flashes of it now and then, but it's not the same. Everyone has to appear all hard. Montell, we hardly knew ye!
For more involving this song, check the post here: http://patrickwalsh.blog-city.com/slipndied.htm
Oh, and honestly, I did not plan the first hip-hop song on the countdown to be number 69.
68) "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by The Postal Service
I am finally seeing that I was the one worth leaving.
Man, I've had that revelation before. I really love the unfortunately named Death Cab For Cutie, but I'll be damned if I don't like this 80's throwback side project even more. "Such Great Heights" was the "hit," and certainly deserved to be, it's one of the best love songs of the past few years. This one just hits me a little harder. Walking that line between depressing and romantic brilliantly. And when it really kicks in there at the end, with the dance beats and everything? Jesus.
67) "One More Hour" by Sleater-Kinney
Oh, you've GOT the darkest Eye-e-e-e-e-e-e-s!
Hey, nice work never listening to this band, America. They just announced last week that they're breaking up. One of those voices that you either love or want to throw something at. I happen to love it a lot. The vocal interplay these two chicks have is incredible, maybe never moreso than here. And they can play some fucking guitar, too.
66) "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
A big part of me finds it easy to write this song off as stupid, overplayed, tired.
And then I have a sip of beer. And it becomes the most awesome song in the entire world.
Plus, it makes girls dance all slutty and start thinking about sex. Truly a bar song for the ages.
65) "Midnight Train To Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips
I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine.
I would give my right nut to have been a Pip and have gotten to sing these little backup parts. Some of the best echoes in Motown: Dreams don't always come true. Uh-uh. No. Uh-uh! What a tune, I'm always a sucker for a good story song, and this is about as good as they come.
Used to hilarious effect in Broadcast News. "I can read while I sing, I'm reading...and singing...BOTH!" If you don't know what I'm talking about, rent that movie today.
64) "Nightswimming" by REM
THE song about losing your innocence, this is REM's best ballad. The lyrics are exactly what I look for, the music is almost classical, the piano is perfect. Ebenezer Scrooge would be moved by this song.
63) "When You Were Mine" by Prince
Very poppy, very Cars-y, not sure why this isn't cited among his best stuff more often. I think I respect it all the more because he finally spelled out the word "You" in the title as opposed to "U." As usual, the lyrics conjure up some pretty heady images. It's just like a train. You let all my friend come over and eat. You were so strange. You didn't have the decency to change the sheets. Ewww. I love that he slipped this shit into his music and got away with it, an unbelievably underrated lyricist. Although, if dudes are running a train on your girlfriend...come on, Prince! Might be time to get out of that relationship!
I never cared, I never was the kind to make a fuss when he was there sleeping in between the two of us.
Now, Prince, the girl's just being unreasonable there!
62) "What Is Life" by George Harrison
Phil Spector really just vomited every possible gorgeous sound onto this thing. This song is like an injection of joy. Harrison's best solo joint. (And yes, I'm counting "I Got My Mind Set On You"). Actually I'll go further and call this the best solo Beatles recording overall, better than any solo Lennon song, and the less said about McCartney's post-Beatles work, the better. Also, it was in Goodfellas, so it wins by default.
61) "No Surprises" by Radiohead
During my eight month stint of not speaking to anyone, I did a lot of wandering around New York City, wondering when my life would start getting good. Wandering and wondering. That's what I did. That and masturbate and hate people. One Thursday night about 1AM, I was totally lost, and it began to pour down rain. I ducked into the first bar I saw and took a seat to wait it out. It was a piano bar (and I'm pretty sure a gay bar, although that was not confirmed).
Anyway, the man playing the piano (who was most definitely gay) was taking requests from the audience all night. He had a really great voice, and I listened to a few tunes. The crowd was pretty drunk and sometimes individuals would walk up next to the piano, join him for a duet, and usually ruin the song.
There was a frail black woman there, about 40 years old, completely bald and clearly in the middle of some sort of struggle with cancer. She looked very ill, and she was there with a woman I assume was her partner.
The piano player called out for another request, and the cancer woman yelled out "No Surprises!"
"Fat chance this guy knows that," I thought. He'd been playing the standards, "Piano Man," "Tiny Dancer," etc. He looked right up at her and said "You got it."
And he proceeded to play a version of that song so powerful and quiet and forceful that literally the place stopped. No drinks were being poured, no one spoke, no one went to the bathroom, nothing. His version, like the actual song, started low and built intensity as it went on. As he sang, the cancer woman and her partner mouthed the words along with him, drying their eyes and holding hands.
A heart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you,
Bruises that won't heal.
You look so tired, unhappy,
Bring down the government,
They don't, they don't speak for us.
I'll take a quiet life,
A handshake of carbon monoxide
With no alarms and no surprises
At this point, this cancer woman struggled to stand up and her partner helped her up to the piano.
Forgive me, but my thought was "Oh God, this is gonna be embarassing."
You have to know the song, but you know the part in the middle where the music kind of drops out and it's just his voice?
This is my final fit, my final bellyache
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises please
She sang that part a capella. It was phenomenal. Then he came pounding back in on the piano and sang the harmony with her until the song ended, their voices booming, perfectly matched.
Such a pretty house and such a pretty garden
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises please
Her partner was crying pretty hard during all of this, a lot of people were. The song finished and everyone applauded and the woman said "God bless you," and she struggled back to her seat and kissed her partner on the forehead. I went back out into the rain.
I miss New York.
My 100 Favorite Songs #80 - 61
80) "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star
I want to hold the hand inside you. I want to take the breath that's true. I look to you and I see nothing. I look to you to see the truth.
This sounds like it's being performed by angels or something. That simple acoustic guitar strum, the little piano touches, the slide guitar solo, the shaking tambourine, the buttery singing, delicious. This was the first song on the album and I literally have never listened past it. What happened to these guys?
You might remember it being used over the exquistely moving final scene of Angus, in which Angus finally gets to share a dance with the girl from Jurassic Park? Anyone? That movie was very important to me.
79) "Dosed" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I've just been endlessly surprised by the evolution of the Chili Peppers. Never liked their whole rap/rock thing at all. Respected the instrumentation, I guess, but didn't have much use for someone yelling "Flippy Dippy! Doopa Doopa Doopee Didee!" at me. Never got it. "Under The Bridge," yes. "Breaking The Girl," yes. Everything else...whatever. Then I heard "Scar Tissue" on the radio. I was like, where the hell did this come from? And pretty much everything's been incredible since. Maturity and actual songwriting certainly look better on these guys than tube socks and white-boy dancing. Apparently all the harmonies are designed by John Frusciante, he deserves a medal, they have done some incredible vocal stuff in the past several years. Like this song, their best, off their finest album By The Way. Sounds haunted.
78) "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
I think my finest ever dance performance was on this song. A bar packed to the gills. No room to move. I was drenched in sweat (big surprise). I had recently developed a real crush on this song, and when it came blasting out from the frat shit they had been playing all night, I seized the opportunity and danced that motherfucker out. Space was cleared, there was a "dance circle," there was some chanting. I think I found God that night. Not sure where he went after that.
77) "Misery" by Soul Asylum
So it's the summer before freshman year of high school. I had been obsessed with this girl Dennery Watts for quite some time, but was stuck in the friend zone. One day, her and I and her best friend Sarah Rau are hanging out, playing some board games. Dennery leaves and Sarah gives me a handwritten note from Dennery. It was a poem, a really touching and romantic and lengthy and heartfelt poem, confessing her love for me and letting me know that she truly believed we could make it as "more than friends."
I still have that note.
I was a freshman, I felt things more strongly then. This might have been the happiest moment of my life. I rushed home, I called her, told her that I'd love to be her boyfriend. It was settled, and I started the summer with a spring in my step and a song in my heart. A girl liked me! I was "in love!" I told all my friends. Finally! Dennery and me! Together! Bliss!
And then the next day she called and told me she had changed her mind.
Totally out of nowhere. It felt like someone hacking through my rib cage with a bone saw. I argued a bit, (a lot of "But why'd you give me that poem? I don't understand!"), until I realized how pathetic I sounded, and I hung up. Then I walked into the living room, a shell of a man, and turned the stereo on. I was desperate to hear a song that put my pain to music.
"Alright, here's the new single from Soul Asylum, check it out!"
And so began the beguiling lyrics of "Misery:"
They say misery loves company.
We could start a company...and make misery.
Frustrated incorporated!
Reading them now, yes, they seem to have been written by someone with Down's Syndrome. But on that particular day, as I cranked up the stereo, every word burrowed deep into my soul. And freed it from it's asylum.
EPILOGUE:
The song wasn't a big hit, and I hadn't heard the thing in years. And then Kevin Smith just used it (brilliantly, by the way) over the final scene of (the surprisingly really good) Clerks 2! And I could barely sit still, the pummeling wave of memories crashing over me.
Years later, I still love the song. And I still don't trust girls. At all.
76) "A Long December" by Counting Crows
OK, this one won't earn me any cool points. Like a lot of people, I went through a period of loving this band, loving that whole mopey scene. Their music doesn't do much for me now, except for this, which is absolutely beautiful. I was driving around the other night, unable to sleep as always and this song came on the radio. It's about being depressed in California, and now that I live here it hit more of a nerve than usual, as I was having the exact same feelings as the narrator, (wishing a certain someone was here with me, loneliness, a desire to see the ocean). I think if they played this in bars at midnight on New Year's Eve, the suicide rate would go up by thousands.
75) "A Little Respect" by Erasure
It doesn't get much gayer than Erasure, and yet if this song came on in a club I'd be out there with assless chaps and a single tear rolling down my cheek. Beautiful song.
74) "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters
One last thing before I quit I never wanted any more than I could fit into my head I still remember every single word you said and all the shit that somehow came along with it still there's one thing that comforts me since I was always caged and now I'm free!
What an angry, balls-out climax this song has. Anyone who got in a car with me for about a four year block in college would have heard me belt the finale of this song out at beyond top volume, without taking a breath, veins bulging out of my neck. Better times.
73) "You Can Have It All" by Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo makes some of the prettiest music there is, music that makes you want to crawl inside it and float around for a while. This is their prettiest, and certainly on a short list for prettiest songs of all time. That Bom-ba-bom-BA-ba-bom-bom loop in the background will burrow its way into your head. Seriously, like sititng on a cloud, this song.
This is on my "Romantic Fucking" iTunes playlist. Works every time.
72) "World's A Mess; It's In My Kiss" by X
No one is united. And all things are untied.
Yup. That's about right.
This is what punk music should be. Ridiculously catchy, the lyrics are poetry without being all pretentious and Jim Morrison-y, and this is pretty much the only song with a tolerable organ solo. God, even the title is incredible. That's this song and this band in a nutshell. The world is falling apart, but you've got me.
Also holds a special place in my heart as being the last song played by my ex-band, The PTA. Perhaps you've heard of them? No? I'll move on.
71) "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens
I don't even particularly love Cat Stevens, but he really nailed a feeling here. The whole twisted, tough, complicated, lifelong fathers and sons "thing" is something all guys experience but never talk about, until they find themselves bawling like an infant at Field of Dreams.
Have you heard this? Download it, or at least go look at the lyrics. This song is like a kick in the heart. If I may share a more personal story than I'd really like to: When I first left Missouri to live in disgusting Jersey City, New Jersey, my misery knew no bounds. I completely abandoned all human emotion for roughly a year. Be thankful you didn't know me then.
One day I received a package from my father. We had had a lot of problems before I left. In the package was a ridiculously supportive and loving note, encouraging me to stay strong, never give up on my dreams, and find a way to be happy. Also in it was a cassete tape of Cat Stevens' Greatest Hits, with this song circled on the case. I had never heard it. Played it in my room and just sobbed, letting out everything that I'd shut in. I still don't listen to this song.
Oh, and if it wasn't moving, depressing, masochistic enough...Johnny Cash covered it! A couple months before he died!
70) "Do You Love Me Now?" by The Breeders
This will not be the first time I've said this, even in this countdown, but there is no sexier voice on Earth than Kim Deal. And this might be her sexiest moment. And as much as I love the nonsensical lyrics of both Pixies and Breeders, when she plays it straight, as she does here, the results are pretty breathtaking. The backup vocals at the end of this song make me thank God I have ears. Drop dead gorgeous.
69) "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan
If you hear that opening call of This Is How We Do It! and don't tip up your cup and throw your hands up? I have no use for you as a human being. This thing could still effortlessly pack dance floors, if they'd stop playing "Baby Got Back" for a damn minute. I feel this song should be played over the loudspeakers at every office building in America, each Friday at 5PM.
I miss this kind of music. Hate to be an old man here, but I liked rap when it was fun. You still see flashes of it now and then, but it's not the same. Everyone has to appear all hard. Montell, we hardly knew ye!
For more involving this song, check the post here: http://patrickwalsh.blog-city.com/slipndied.htm
Oh, and honestly, I did not plan the first hip-hop song on the countdown to be number 69.
68) "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by The Postal Service
I am finally seeing that I was the one worth leaving.
Man, I've had that revelation before. I really love the unfortunately named Death Cab For Cutie, but I'll be damned if I don't like this 80's throwback side project even more. "Such Great Heights" was the "hit," and certainly deserved to be, it's one of the best love songs of the past few years. This one just hits me a little harder. Walking that line between depressing and romantic brilliantly. And when it really kicks in there at the end, with the dance beats and everything? Jesus.
67) "One More Hour" by Sleater-Kinney
Oh, you've GOT the darkest Eye-e-e-e-e-e-e-s!
Hey, nice work never listening to this band, America. They just announced last week that they're breaking up. One of those voices that you either love or want to throw something at. I happen to love it a lot. The vocal interplay these two chicks have is incredible, maybe never moreso than here. And they can play some fucking guitar, too.
66) "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
A big part of me finds it easy to write this song off as stupid, overplayed, tired.
And then I have a sip of beer. And it becomes the most awesome song in the entire world.
Plus, it makes girls dance all slutty and start thinking about sex. Truly a bar song for the ages.
65) "Midnight Train To Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips
I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine.
I would give my right nut to have been a Pip and have gotten to sing these little backup parts. Some of the best echoes in Motown: Dreams don't always come true. Uh-uh. No. Uh-uh! What a tune, I'm always a sucker for a good story song, and this is about as good as they come.
Used to hilarious effect in Broadcast News. "I can read while I sing, I'm reading...and singing...BOTH!" If you don't know what I'm talking about, rent that movie today.
64) "Nightswimming" by REM
THE song about losing your innocence, this is REM's best ballad. The lyrics are exactly what I look for, the music is almost classical, the piano is perfect. Ebenezer Scrooge would be moved by this song.
63) "When You Were Mine" by Prince
Very poppy, very Cars-y, not sure why this isn't cited among his best stuff more often. I think I respect it all the more because he finally spelled out the word "You" in the title as opposed to "U." As usual, the lyrics conjure up some pretty heady images. It's just like a train. You let all my friend come over and eat. You were so strange. You didn't have the decency to change the sheets. Ewww. I love that he slipped this shit into his music and got away with it, an unbelievably underrated lyricist. Although, if dudes are running a train on your girlfriend...come on, Prince! Might be time to get out of that relationship!
I never cared, I never was the kind to make a fuss when he was there sleeping in between the two of us.
Now, Prince, the girl's just being unreasonable there!
62) "What Is Life" by George Harrison
Phil Spector really just vomited every possible gorgeous sound onto this thing. This song is like an injection of joy. Harrison's best solo joint. (And yes, I'm counting "I Got My Mind Set On You"). Actually I'll go further and call this the best solo Beatles recording overall, better than any solo Lennon song, and the less said about McCartney's post-Beatles work, the better. Also, it was in Goodfellas, so it wins by default.
61) "No Surprises" by Radiohead
During my eight month stint of not speaking to anyone, I did a lot of wandering around New York City, wondering when my life would start getting good. Wandering and wondering. That's what I did. That and masturbate and hate people. One Thursday night about 1AM, I was totally lost, and it began to pour down rain. I ducked into the first bar I saw and took a seat to wait it out. It was a piano bar (and I'm pretty sure a gay bar, although that was not confirmed).
Anyway, the man playing the piano (who was most definitely gay) was taking requests from the audience all night. He had a really great voice, and I listened to a few tunes. The crowd was pretty drunk and sometimes individuals would walk up next to the piano, join him for a duet, and usually ruin the song.
There was a frail black woman there, about 40 years old, completely bald and clearly in the middle of some sort of struggle with cancer. She looked very ill, and she was there with a woman I assume was her partner.
The piano player called out for another request, and the cancer woman yelled out "No Surprises!"
"Fat chance this guy knows that," I thought. He'd been playing the standards, "Piano Man," "Tiny Dancer," etc. He looked right up at her and said "You got it."
And he proceeded to play a version of that song so powerful and quiet and forceful that literally the place stopped. No drinks were being poured, no one spoke, no one went to the bathroom, nothing. His version, like the actual song, started low and built intensity as it went on. As he sang, the cancer woman and her partner mouthed the words along with him, drying their eyes and holding hands.
A heart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you,
Bruises that won't heal.
You look so tired, unhappy,
Bring down the government,
They don't, they don't speak for us.
I'll take a quiet life,
A handshake of carbon monoxide
With no alarms and no surprises
At this point, this cancer woman struggled to stand up and her partner helped her up to the piano.
Forgive me, but my thought was "Oh God, this is gonna be embarassing."
You have to know the song, but you know the part in the middle where the music kind of drops out and it's just his voice?
This is my final fit, my final bellyache
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises please
She sang that part a capella. It was phenomenal. Then he came pounding back in on the piano and sang the harmony with her until the song ended, their voices booming, perfectly matched.
Such a pretty house and such a pretty garden
No alarms and no surprises
No alarms and no surprises please
Her partner was crying pretty hard during all of this, a lot of people were. The song finished and everyone applauded and the woman said "God bless you," and she struggled back to her seat and kissed her partner on the forehead. I went back out into the rain.
I miss New York.
What do you think? Leave me a comment! (22)
1. Jackson left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 8:35 am
Wait, wait, wait. You had a crush on a girl named Dennery Watts? That
sounds like the name of someone Harrison Ford would be chasing around in
Blade Runner.
2. RØB left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 11:03 am :: http://www.pancakeproductions.net
Regarding "Misery": "The song wasn't a big hit"? Excuse you, but "Weird
Al" Yankovic doesn't parody songs that aren't "big hits," and he most
certainly parodied that one.
3. Patrick Walsh left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 11:59 am
Jackson,
4. Denny left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 12:41 pm
First of all.. i just want to say that the story about "No Suprises" was
amazing. I had a few butterflies in my stomach, you are a wonderful story
teller. Second.. I'm proud of your selection from the Prince catalogue.. I
LOVE that song. I discovered it in the 7th grade, not really knowing what
it was all about but.. by 8th grade, totally knowing, since the thoughts of
sleeping with literally ANYONE were twirling around in my head..(Puberty,
anyone?) Anyway.. its a great song, very classic rocky, and very ballsy. He
plays the shit out of this. "when you were mine" was given by Prince to
Cyndi Lauper in the 80s for her 1st album, as most of his good songs usual
end up..including "How come you dont call me" which he gave to Alicia Keys
for her 1st album as well, and became a minor hit. If you're looking for
more great Rockish songs by Prince, I suggest "Why you wanna treat me so
bad?" which has some unbelieveable guitar parts. If you want.. I'll sing it
with you sometime when we're wasted.
5. Flick left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 1:01 pm :: http://kaflickastan.blogspot.com
I cried during "Father and Son" just because of the song itself, so I can't
imagine what I'd do if I had heard that song in the circumstances you did.
Probably would not be alive to write this post, I guess.
6. Flick left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 1:31 pm :: http://kaflickastan.blogspot.com
Also, a local radio station (JackFM) has been playing acoustic music all
day and they played an unplugged "A Little Respect". Great stuff, I don't
care what anyone says.
7. Mike Russo left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 3:40 pm
Pat,
8. RØB left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 6:09 pm :: http://www.pancakeproductions.net
I guess there's no accountin' for taste. Just don't think Lennon's solo
stuff is much to care about, in spite of what pop-rock radio tells me
(note, I'm not trying to suggest that you like Lennon better because that's
what pop-rock radio suggests, I'm celebrating diversity here).
9. Mike left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 6:31 pm
I love the AC/DC, but what about Back in Black. It is probably the
greatest guitar lick ever written. Also it rocks the shit out of "You
Shook Me All Night Long" which in turns rock the shit out of music made by
everyone else not named Van Halen.
10. Jackson left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 7:28 pm
See, and I admit this is a matter of personal taste, for me the greatest
guitar lick ever written is in Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers.
11. RØB left...
Wednesday, 2 August 2006 10:00 pm :: http://www.pancakeproductions.net/
Isn't this ALL a matter of personal taste? That's what makes it so
GLORIOUS!
12. M. Kemper Brown left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 12:51 am
DIRTY DEEDS (DONE DIRT CHEAP) is the best AC/DC Song. Your list doesn't
account for the power of alliteration nearly enough.
13. M. Kemper Brown left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 1:41 am
Just saw on the Onion they have a list of Tom Petty's greatest opening
lines. American Girl (#1) and Freefallin' (#11) are both on the list.
Check it out here:
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/51202/1
14. Mike Russo left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 2:36 am
Pat,
15. Flick left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 10:23 am :: http://kaflickastan.blogspot.com
Rob & Pat,
16. Patrick Walsh left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 12:21 pm
Denny,
17. Mike Russo left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 1:36 pm
Pat,
18. Mike Russo left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 1:43 pm
Pat,
19. Patrick Walsh left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 1:46 pm
Russo,
20. Mike Russo left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 2:04 pm
Just pointing out that I did amend my earlier comment to what you actually
wrote.
21. Matthew left...
Thursday, 3 August 2006 2:19 pm :: http://www.turboshark.blogspot.com
Mel Gibson hates all your choices.
22. RØB left...
Tuesday, 8 August 2006 3:09 pm :: http://www.pancakeproductions.net
I've always been a fan of the Pretenders' "The Isle Of View" (an unplugged
album not sponsored by MTV). Before I go lambasting you for excluding them
from yer list, though, I'll read the rest of the list (and will thereafter
prob'ly either forget or not care enough to do it anyway). Most of their
songs lend well to an acoustic rendering, though--you're right about it
being all about choices.