A friend recently drew this to my attention and I’m glad he did as it’s awesome. This is a really beautiful cover, but it has prompted me to revisit Neil Young, which is always a trip worth making.
Provided to YouTube by Polyvinyl Records Ambulance Blues · Jeff Rosenstock · Laura Stevenson Still Young ℗ 2019 Polyvinyl Record Co. Composer: Neil Young
[Verse 2] All along the Navajo Trail Burn-outs stub their toes On garbage pails Waitresses are crying in the rain Will their boyfriends pass this way again?
Oh, Mother Goose, she’s on the skids Shoe ain’t happy, neither are the kids
She needs someone that she can scream at And I’m such a heel for making her feel so bad
I saw today in the entertainment section There’s room at the top for private detection To Mom and Dad this just doesn’t matter But it’s either that or pay off the kidnapper
[Verse 4] So all you critics sit alone You’re no better than me for what you’ve shown With your stomach pump and your hook and ladder dreams We could get together for some scenes
Well, I’m up in T.O. keeping jive alive And out on the corner it’s half past five But the subways are empty And so are the cafes Except for the Farmer’s Market And I still can hear him say:
I have been quiet on my blog lately. Partly because life is happening all around me and I can barely keep up, so there’s no time for reflection, or if there is it’s fleeting and I can’t pin it down and put it into words.
But I have been listening to a lot of music. And I have been getting angry about things, which I combat by escaping into music or, if I’m really lucky, into sleep.
It’s Black Friday today, so here’s a brilliant song to mark this sorry occasion.
Director: Oscar J Ryan Production Company: Head & Wrecker EP: Ash Teague Producer: Ellis Fox DOP: Emma Langguth AD: Dave Neale Editor: Beth Roberts Colourist: Jules Willeman Online: James Bradley 1st AC: Davide Scalenghe 2nd AC: Matthew Hollis Camera Trainee: Ben Keeling Sound Op: Charlie Hinde Gaffer: Kian Altmann Spark: Will Jensen Art Director: Annie Harmenston Runner: Freddie Reeve BTS: Daniel Bailey Graphics: Studio 108 Cast: Sean Ryan, Pete Howard, Jack Horwood
The Future’s Not What it Used to Be -The King Blues
Provided to YouTube by Pias UK Limited The Future’s Not What it Used to Be · The King Blues Punk & Poetry ℗ 2011 Transmission Recordings ℗ 2011 Transmission Recordings ltd / V2 Benelux ℗ Transmission Recordings Released on: 2011-04-18 Mixer: Peter Miles Producer: Peter Miles Composer: Jonny Itch Fox Lyricist: Jonny Itch Fox
Well outside on the street at 5am you know the world has a different face And at dawn in the park as the sunbeams break, the drunks sing amazing grace While the ladies of the night take flight as a big bright light comes crashing down You and I put the world to rights, in this forgotten little part of town Well I heard that they say that the traffic wardens dances dick van Dyke does Throwing shapes around parking meters, to adored rapturous applause Singing 5 part harmonies and jumping over cars while others dare to sleep With this city is my playground, yeah my circus is my street Singing now, woah the future’s not what it used to be So will the last one out please turn off the light, turn off the light Woah the future’s not what it used to be So will the last one out please turn off the light, turn off the light When they came to collect the names of the lads who want to sign up for the army They said they wanna grow up to be a G, gave up on trying be like dad the sparky Why run around 360, like a dog chasing his tail Or the schoolgirls dressed like hookers, the hookers dressed like schoolgirls Singing now, woah the future’s not what it used to be So will the last one out please turn off the light, turn off the light Woah the future’s not what it used to be So will the last one out please turn off the light, turn off the light Killing and drilling, well it’s all they understand In the Middle East and Afghanistan They fight over turf, they fight over land If you give them a ting-a-ling While their trigger finger lingers With the second gun slingers They fight over that There’s no unity, just to you and and me Trying to keep our head above the lunacy It’s just the way we’re living And we will never give in To this -ism schism prison That all men and women live in They war over guns, they war over god War over land and they war over drugs They war, they war, they war over love War over which god watches from above They war over oil, they war over race Some of them are warring just to save face They war, they war, they war over debt If it’s a war they want, it’s a war they’ll get Singing now, woah the future’s not what it used to be So will the last one out please turn off the light, turn off the light Woah the future’s not what it used to be So will the last one out please turn off the light, turn off the light
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Ocean to Ocean · Tori Amos Ocean to Ocean ℗ A Decca Records Recording; ℗ 2021 Tori Amos, under exclusive licence to Universal Music Operations Limited Released on: 2021-10-29 Producer, Associated Performer, Hammond B3, Keyboards, Piano, Rhodes, Vocals, Wurlitzer electric piano: Tori Amos Studio Personnel, Mixer, Recording Engineer, Associated Performer, Guitar: Mark Hawley Studio Personnel, Mixer: Adrian Hall Associated Performer, Bass, Studio Personnel, Recording Engineer: Jon Evans Associated Performer, Drums, Percussion, Studio Personnel, Recording Engineer: Matt Chamberlain Studio Personnel, Asst. Recording Engineer: Adam Spry Studio Personnel, Mastering Engineer: Jon Astley Studio Personnel, Mastering Engineer: Miles Showell Composer Lyricist: Tori Amos
Ocean to Ocean – Tori Amos
Ocean to ocean, tales of the sea Tales deeply troubling
Stay with me until we Unravel this fishing net
Ocean to ocean, queen of the sea Warning of these needless killings
Stay with me until we Unravel this fishing net
There are those who don’t give a goddamn That we’re near mass extinction There are those who never give a goddamn For anything that they are breaking There are those who only give a goddamn For the profit that they’re making
Ocean to ocean, where have I been? While all of this has been escalating
There is a way out of this There is a way out of this
There are those who don’t give a goddamn That we’re near mass extinction There are those who never give a goddamn For anything that they are breaking There are those who only give a goddamn For the profit that they’re making
Stay with me until we Unravel this fishing net Stay with me, stay with me
Faith, where have you gone? Gone nature’s sons Faith, will you return? Return nature’s sons
To ocean to ocean To ocean to ocean To ocean to ocean
It’s been a while since a support act actually grabbed me enough for me to 1) think ‘I definitely want to download their music when I get home’ and 2) actually remember to do it. Well, Low Hummer definitely made enough of an impression for me to manage two out of two. All their songs are good but this one particularly appealed to me (“Are you a Northerner Pretending to be Southern?” -LOL, I guess I am, but what do you want me to do about it? Take Arms, you say? Erm…. not sure about that TBH, but I like your song.)
Take Arms Low Hummer
For all the northerners pretending to be southern, TAKE ARMS! All the business class still living with your mothers, TAKE ARMS! All the billionaires that don’t believe in sharing, TAKE ARMS! Now all the single parents scrounge to make a living, TAKE ARMS!
I don’t want us to be friends I just want a little piece of mind You always said we’re too young to be loved, Well now I’m too old to judge, You seem to think we’ll jump when you jump, My father said enough is enough, Instead we’ll all get drunk til we drop, Escape the bores of the job, Our way of saying I won’t take it, I won’t take it, I won’t take it, I won’t take it
Do you think there’s Southerners who wish that they were Northern? Cos we’re all weekend zombies drinking through the boredom Is this the modern age that we all live in? TAKE ARMS! TAKE ARMS!
I don’t want you to hate me I just want a little piece of mind You always said we’re too young to be loved, Well now it looks like death from above You seem to think we’ll jump when you jump, My sister said enough is enough, Instead we’ll all get drunk til we drop, Escape the bores of the job, Our way of saying I won’t take it, I won’t take it, I won’t take it, I won’t take it.
It was very hard to pick just one song from this wonderful singer but I went with this one. I think “just give me one fine day of plain sailing weather, And I can fuck up anything” should be inscribed on my tombstone.
Just give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
And I can fuck up anything, anything
It was a wonderful life when we were together
And now I’ve fucked up every little goddamn thing
Amélie lied to me, this was supposed to be easy
I found the one damn person to help me fall asleep in the night
But sleeping gets tiring, and dark reminds me of dying
And as long as this feeble heart is still beating
You will find me rushing through every room, switching on all the lights
The problem with falling in love in late night bars
Is that there’s always more nights, there’s always more bars
The problem with showing your lover your scars
Is that everybody’s lover is covered in scars
So give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
And I can fuck up anything, anything
It was a wonderful life when we were together
And now I’ve fucked up every—
Things got fractious, and I felt faithless
At that moment just before the dawn when everything falls apart
But baby, I didn’t mean it, for things to get desperate
I let slip my guard, I let go of the rudder
Now we’re drifting in the current away from one another
Give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
And I can fuck up anything, anything
It was a wonderful life when we were together
And now I’ve fucked up everything
Give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
And I can fuck up anything, anything
It was a wonderful life when we were together
And now I’ve fucked up every little goddamn thing
Every little goddamn thing
Every little goddamn thing
Every little goddamn thing
And I’ve been skirting round the rim
Of doing something brave
And not just standing, but jumping in
Of making circles into squares
Of laying down the bare facts
Like a burden I can’t bear
And I can almost find the words
But I can see the way you’d
Fold your hands, speak my name like a curse upon your pretty lips
The pressured white behind your fingertips
And when you see me for all that I am
I couldn’t make mistakes to make a difference any more
I’d throw myself down on my knees, at your hands
And beg you for forgiveness for my fuckups and my faults
And maybe you’d relent and return my hope for our forever
Lift up your precious hands, and then bring yours and mine together
So give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
Just give me one fine day of plain sailing weather
UMG (on behalf of Polydor Records); BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., Abramus Digital, BMG Rights Management (US), LLC, ARESA, LatinAutorPerf, ASCAP, MINT_BMG, CMRRA, LatinAutor – PeerMusic, and 6 music rights societies
[Merlin] FUGA Aggregation (on behalf of FROM HERE RECORDS)
In a box of the stone jug I was born Of a hempen widow the kid forlorn And my father, as I’ve heard say Was a merchant of capers gay Who cut his last fling with great applause For a hearty choke with caper sauce The knucks in quod did my schoolmen play And put me up to the time of day
Verse Until at last there was none so knowing No such sneaksman or buzgloak going Fogles and fawnies soon went their way To the spout with the sneezers in grand array No dummy hunter had forks so fly No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly No slourd hoxter my snipes could stay None knap a reader like me in the lay
Verse Soon then I mounted in swell street-high And sported my flashest toggery Fainly resolved I would make my hay While mercury’s star shed a single ray And ne’er was there seen such a dashing prig With my strummed faked in the newest twig With my fawnied famms and my onions gay My thimble of ridge and my driz chemisay
Verse All my togs were so niblike and plash Readily the queers screens I then could smash But my nuttiest blowen one fine day To the beaks did her fancy-man betray And thus was I bowled at last And into the jug for a lag was cast But I slipped my darbies one morn in May And gave the dubsman a holiday
No particular reason for sharing this, except that I heard it the other day and remembered just how wonderful it is. I honestly don’t think it’s possible to have too much REM in your life.
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group Swan Swan H (2011 Remaster) · R.E.M. Lifes Rich Pageant ℗ 2011 Capitol Records, LLC Released on: 2011-01-01 Producer, Studio Personnel, Mixer, Associated Performer, Recorder: Don Gehman Studio Personnel, Mixer, Associated Performer, Recorder: Greg Edward Studio Personnel, Mastering Engineer: Robert Vosgien Composer Lyricist: Bill Berry Composer Lyricist: Peter Buck Composer Lyricist: Michael Stipe Composer Lyricist: Mike Mills
Swan, swan, hummingbird Hurrah, we are all free now What noisy cats are we Girl and dog he bore his cross Swan, swan, hummingbird Hurrah, we are all free now A long low time ago people talk to me
Johnny Reb what’s the price of fans Forty a piece or three for one dollar? Hey captain don’t you want to buy Some bone chains and toothpicks?
Night wings her hair chains Here’s your wooden greenback sing Wooden beams and dovetail sweep I struck that picture ninety times I walked that path a hundred ninety Long, low time ago, people talk to me
A pistol hot cup of rhyme The whiskey is water, the water is wine Marching feet, Johnny Reb, what’s the price of heroes?
Six in one, half dozen the other Tell that to the captain’s mother Hey captain, don’t you want to buy Some bone chains and toothpicks?
Night wings, her hair chains Swan, swan, hummingbird Hurrah, we are all free now What noisy cats are we Long, low time ago, people talk to me A pistol hot cup of rhyme The whiskey is water, the water is wine
Songwriters: Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, William BerryFor non-commercial use only. Data from: Musixmatch
A blimmin’ awesome song from a blimmin’ awesome band, and highly appropriate to my recent posts.
If you don’t listen to Pixies (and it seems an alarming number of people in my life don’t) then seriously, you’re missing out. As well as being superb in their own right I find that every time I listen to them I can hear so many of the bands that came after (I can hear Eels in this one, and Nirvana in most of them). Their impact continues to be huge.
Provided to YouTube by Beggars Group Digital Ltd. Where Is My Mind? · Pixies Death to the Pixies ℗ 1997 4AD Ltd Released on: 1997-10-06 Associated Performer: Black Francis Associated Performer: David Lovering Associated Performer: Joey Santiago Associated Performer: Kim Deal Composer Lyricist: Black Francis. Original release 1988.
With your feet on the air and your head on the ground (whoo-oooh) Try this trick and spin it, (yeah) yeah (whoo-oooh) Your head will collapse (whoo-oooh) If there’s nothing in it and you’ll ask yourself
Where is my mind? Where is my mind? Whhere is my mind? (Where is my mind? Where is my mind? Where is my mind?)
Wayy out in the water, see it swimmin’
I was swimmin’ in the Caribbean (whoo-oooh) Animals were hidin’ behind the rock (whoo-oooh) Except for little fish (whoo-oooh) Bumped into me, swear he was trying to talk to me coy koi
Where is my mind? (Where is my mind?) Where is my mind? (Where is my mind?) Where is my mind? (Where is my mind? Where is my mind? Where is my mind?) Way out in the water, see it swimmin’
With your feet on the air and your head on the ground (whoo-oooh) Try this trick and spin it, yeah (whoo-oooh) Your head will collapse (whoo-oooh) If there’s nothing in it and you’ll ask yourself
Where is my mind? (Where is my mind?) Where is my mind? Where is my mind?
(Where is my mind? Where is my mind? Where is my mind?) Way out in the water, I see it swimmin’
(Whoo-oooh)
Yeah, our feet on the air and our heads on the ground (whoo-oooh) Try this trick and spin it, yeah (whoo-oooh) Our heads will collapse (whoo-oooh)
If there’s nothing in it and we’ll ask ourselves (whoo-oooh)
(Whoo-oooh)
Songwriters: Francis Black, Thompson Charles Michael Kittredge Iv
As I am supposed to be educating my children in our spare time I thought I should start their musical and cultural education in earnest. So today we watched this. Had the whole set on the TV. The kids wandered in and out but mostly they were captivated, stopping by to dance, comment and ask questions. I don’t blame them. Everything about it is fab -the sun soaked atmosphere, the dogs on blankets, the crowd yelling at that photographer to get down!
R said this is his “favourite music ever” and that he wants to learn the guitar. S says the “guitar sounds crunchy and strong”. At one point they were both jumping and spinning round the living room in a mixture of break dancing and wrestling.
I totally blew their minds by saying that the young people in the crowd are Grandma and Grandad’s age and older. “Even the pretty lady?”. “Yes, the pretty lady is about Grandma’s age now”. That got me sceptical, wide-eyed stares. “How old were you mummy?”. “I wasn’t born yet”. Wider eyes “Really? Not at all, not even a little bit born?”
Ah, the passing of time. Tricky one to get your head round.
I am frankly disappointed in myself that I have got this far into posting songs and haven’t put any Tori Amos. She is probably my favourite solo artist and her albums Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink can be added in to that special category of ‘music that saved my life’ (and yes, the majority of the things in that category are from the mid 90s -because those were my teenage years).
Tori is magnificent and important to me. I can’t really put it better than that. Her music is on every device I own and I have CDs of those two albums in my car (yes, it’s a very old car, circa 2002) because I need to know they are not far off should I ever have the need. It’s hard to pick a favourite but I am going to nominate Precious Things. The anger, the beauty, the rawness …it has a cleansing effect on me every time. Cathartic.
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WMG; LatinAutorPerf, UMPI, União Brasileira de Compositores, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, LatinAutor, Downtown Music Publishing, ASCAP, and 10 Music Rights Societies
So I ran faster But it caught me here Yes, my loyalties turned Like my ankle In the seventh grade Running after Billy Running after the rain
These precious things Let them bleed, let them wash away These, I said precious things Let them break their hold over me
I, I, I, I said I go He said, he You go and I said, I said, I said I go with you
He said, you’re really an ugly girl But I like the way you play And I died But I thanked him Can you believe that? Sick, sick Holding on to his picture Dressing up every day I want to smash the faces Of those beautiful boys Those Christian boys
Beautiful boys I said, Christian boys Beautiful boys So you can make me come That doesn’t make you Jesus
These precious things Let them bleed now, wash away These I said precious things Let them break their hold over me
I, I, I said In and I said, you go and I, you
I remember, yes In my peach party dress No one dared No one cared to tell me Where the pretty girls are Those demigods With their nine inch nails And little fascist panties Tucked inside the heart of every nice girl
These are my, are in my life, I said Bleed now, bleed now These in my heart and You in my head and Bleed now, just bleed now You in my heart and these in my head And bleed now, bleed
I said these, oh precious things Let them bleed, yes Wash these things, daddy Wash away these things These are my precious things Let them bleed, yes Wash these things, daddy Wash away these things
These are my precious things Let them bleed now, girls just bleed These are my precious things Let them break, break their hold over me I, I, I, I said, I said, I said I can’t let you, let you go, yes Precious Precious
Abigail's Library 