songs:365

  • day 247: Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

    Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude, by Jimmy Buffett.

    Inspired by a day in the sun at a soccer tournament and the Cucumber Lime Gatorade I serendipitously plucked out of a gas station fridge on the way home. And my wife who recommended Jimmy Buffett to go with these refreshing flavors, and who then patiently listened to my explanation of the Times Square Margaritaville story in Eater this week and its place in the genre.

    This song, and its completely original intro not at all basically the same as Margaritaville's intro, honest approach is delightfully derivative, and yet somehow leads off the album that song is on. To play off of Jaya Saxena’s analysis of that song in the Eater story, Changes in Latitude, etc., starts off with a serious attempt at reflection that is unapologetically derailed by getting drunk with a friend, and a repeated chorus of “if we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane” that translates neatly as “ignorance is bliss, and if you say otherwise, you’re crazy,” which is rather rude in the year 2021, aside from being generally small-minded, and also a reminder that this particular attitude in THE SEVENTIES led to THE EIGHTIES somewhat directly.

    Also, yes, I am sunburnt in September. The Weather.

    And I kinda wanna sing Come Sunday next time the Buffett urge strikes.

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  • day 246: Daniel and the Sacred Harp

    Daniel and the Sacred Harp, by The Band.

    I hadn’t thought about this song in at least a decade, maybe two, but the great thing about looking at long lists of songs by your favorite bands is finding gems like this. A story song, biblical references, moral lessons, your basic monkey’s paw / cursed musical instrument situation.

    And btw, I no longer have any idea what the canonical version of this song is, since there have been multiple rounds of remasters of this album.

    Did my best to slightly vary my voice between Levon and Richard, but I don’t have the stamina tonight to, well, play a harp solo, or to do anything that sounds like an accordion or whatever else the heck is in play on this number.

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  • day 245: Phoenix

    Phoenix, by Big Red Machine.

    Not as brand new as that Sturgill Simpson song a few days back, but only a few weeks “old,” if that’s a thing. What if Robin Pecknold but not Fleet Foxes and Justin Vernon but not Bon Iver and Anais Mitchell and other people, too, but not one of several tracks featuring Taylor Swift?

    This song is one, they’re all good, listen to the whole album. Is it about the dog? Maybe. Is it about the US Men’s National Team (Soccer)? Maybe. Is it about [waves hands wildly at the rapidly deteriorating society] other stuff? Yes.

  • day 244: Black Water

    Black Water, by the Doobie Brothers.

    Sometimes I just can’t resist the voice(s) in my head dredging up long forgotten Love 94 materials from the deep recesses of my brain pretty mama and they take me by the hand hand and I am moved to dance with your daddy all night long and so it goes.

    This song is barely a thing, and yet it was a huge hit, and seemed appropriate for a rainy week with a hurricane battering the Mississippi Delta.

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  • day 243: Since U Been Gone

    Since U Been Gone, by Kelly Clarkson.

    I probably never watched an entire episode of American Idol, but this song was always fun to belt out with the car radio. Not that I ever learned the words (other than the first line and the chorus, natch), or that I have any idea how the bridge is supposed to go. (Or the verses, now that I listen to it again.)

    Sometimes I try and cover something like this and slow it down, make it a sensitive Ryan Adams dude thing a la the Taylor Swift cover album, but it just doesn’t work out, because, in this case, I get excited about the changes in the chorus, which raises the question of a more pop-punk version, but I don’t have the chops or patience for that today. Honestly, the original is pretty close to that.

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  • day 242: Midnight Special

    Midnight Special, by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

    OK, so when I hear this song in my head, sometimes it’s Leadbelly’s original, of course — yes, this is a #cover-of-a-cover — but also, mostly, I hear the guys in the semi cab in Creepshow singing along with Creedence. Wait, was it Creepshow? Or Twilight Zone (The Movie)? Oh, wow, it’s Twilight Zone. And it’s Albert Brooks. And Dan Aykroyd. And it’s the opening scene. And while it is indeed “something really scary” it’s somehow mashed up deeply in my head with “Tell ’em Large Marge sent ya” but also watching that one again, it’s kinda cute? Ah, memories. They’re not complicated at all.

    So I guess this is at least the second Leadbelly cover I’ve covered, and I might need to play more Creedence, because, y’know.

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  • day 241: Love Bites

    Love Bites, by Def Leppard.

    Making an executive decision to leave this song raw, because the temptation to overproduce the heck out of it with backup vocals and guitar solos and the robot voice in the beginning and end, and… well, honestly, that sounds like fun, but I don’t think it will make my performance any better, because the whole falsetto hard rocker lead vocal thing might just be something I’ve aged out of.

    I’m also mildly surprised at how long it goes on! Maybe there was a radio edit. 😉

    The best thing about Def Leppard is that when we were 11 at summer camp and there was an airband contest and we couldn’t resist the literal interpretation, so we poured sugar on the singer (I think I was a tennis-racquet guitar player), and mopped it up ourselves to avoid punishment. But that’s another song.

    This one was probably a slow dance option that summer, and boy, did we ever not know what to do with our hands.

  • day 240: Straight and the Narrow

    Straight and the Narrow, by Spiritualized.

    This song makes much more sense in the context of, well, all of Spiritualized’s songs, which have a lot to do with drugs, frankly. And I was positive I had already done one Spiritualized song, but I guess those were all Spacemen 3 so far? OK, there’s a body of work to unpack a little further then, and a couple stories to tell.

    1. At Sophie’s bar on 5th between A and B in the years we, uh, frequented it, the jukebox had the first Spiritualized CD and it’s important to note it was the CD, because the whole thing was divided up into just four tracks, so you could easily get 12 minutes of a Spiritualized soundtrack to your evening conversation or pinball game for fifty cents. (Though I preferred Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up for the latter purpose).
    2. Relatively late in my run in New York [EDIT: Nope, it was in 1997.], I saw Spiritualized play Webster Hall? Yes, I’m pretty sure that happened, and I went alone? And it was lovely. I remember everyone marking out when they played Electricity and it was a reminder, again, that when you learn about bands somewhat after the fact and listen to whole albums, you really don’t know which ones were the singles that people are excited about. See also: The Sea and Cake (Parasol), Stereolab (Super Electric), etc.

    //

    An electric track! A tambourine track! Backup vocals! It’s Saturday, and the new dog is having a restful afternoon with me. (He is snoring.)

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  • day 239: Add It Up

    Add It Up, by Violent Femmes.

    This song is longer than I remember it? I was creepily accurate with the length though, within 10 seconds of the album version, I think. It’s only two chords, so, like, what could go wrong? Plenty, apparently. Kinda dripping sweat when it was over, a little bit.

    Still a little confused about why Kiss Off has the countdown if this one’s called Add It Up, but let’s just pretend the “G” on my shirt is for Gordon.

    I know smashing out two-chord songs as fast as I can with no editing is not exactly improving any of my skills other than spending the mental and physical energy to do it, but it still feels good to get loud once a day when I can.

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  • day 238: This Year

    This Year, by The Mountain Goats.

    A favorite, an anthem, an elegy, a requiem, a memoir (not mine), absolute poetry, “twin high maintenance machines.” This song has it all, in all its low fidelity glory.

    If it wasn’t the song for our 2020, it was the song for so many years before that, and for this one, too, because 2021 has taken things from us that we held dear, but we’ll make it.

    The kids both went back to school today, and, uh, we’re in our feelings, as they say.

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    Put just enough effort into this, but I could’ve stopped with the vocals and piano.

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