May 6th, 2013 by Martin | Topic: Music |
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The Fall – Bury! Pts 2 + 4
I’m on, I’m on All that road is battle, battle plan I’m from Bury, as in Bourrée A French composition On a fluted instrument I can, I can
I can make strong lands Rendering, writing off Of the milk of my elbow Read folders left-handed CD
And you will suffer all the seasons On the sides of municipal buildings And used to stop drafts In glass fronted art homes
And one day a Spanish king With a council of bad knaves Tried to come to Bury
A new way of recording A chain round the neck Ding, off he trots You can’t say anything nowadays I said if I’m from Bury
Don’t mess around, pal I’m wolverine I’m from Bury ‘A French prince,’ I said
This song means something Every song means something Automatic Swap again Hit it!
And two kids to go with it
I’m not from Bury I’m not from Bury, man I’m not from Bury I’m not from Bury, man
Is the artistic Mark in fact Got rid of vermin Like the grey squirrels By rooting out Ben Marshall’s articles Or user recordings On his vile manufacturing community
May 3rd, 2013 by Martin | Topic: Music |
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Lambchop performs “I Believe In You” live on the streets of Bastille Saint Antoine. “I Believe In You” was written by Roger Frederick Cook & Samuel Harper Hogin
I don’t believe in superstars Organic food or foreign cars I don’t believe the price of gold The certainty of growing old
That right is right and left is wrong And north and south can’t get along And east is east and west is west And being first is always best
But I believe in love I believe in babies I believe in mom and dad And I believe in you
I don’t believe that heaven waits For those that only congregate I like to think of God as love He’s down below, He’s up above
He’s watching people everywhere He knows who does and doesn’t care And I’m an ordinary man Who sometimes wonders who I am
But I believe in love I believe in music I believe in magic And I believe in you
Well, I know with all my certainty What’s going on with you and me Is a good thing and it’s true And I believe in you
Well, I don’t believe virginity Is as common as it used to be In working days and sleeping nights That black is black and white is white
That Superman and Robin Hood Are still alive in Hollywood And gasoline’s in short supply The rising cost of getting by
I believe in love I believe in old folks I believe in children And I believe in you
David Bowie performing the song, “Blackout,” live in Dallas, 1978.
In 1974, Bowie read Nova Express by William S. Burroughs, met with Burroughs (Beat Godfather Meets Glitter Mainman, Rolling Stone, February 28, 1974), and was influenced by Burrough’s “cut up” writing technique. Here are Bowie’s cut up lyrics for Blackout, which appears on the 1977 album Heroes:
Oh you, you walk on past Your lips cut a smile on your face Your scalding face To the cage, to the cage She was a beauty in a cage
Too, too high a price To drink rotting wine from your hands Your fearful hands Get me to a doctor’s I’ve been told Someone’s back in town the chips are down I just cut and blackout I’m under Japanese influence And my honour’s at stake
The weather’s grim, ice on the cages Me, I’m Robin Hood and I puff on my cigarette Panthers are steaming, stalking, screaming
If you don’t stay tonight I will take that plane tonight I’ve nothing to lose, nothing to gain I’ll kiss you in the rain Kiss you in the rain Kiss you in the rain In the rain Get me to the doctor
Get me off the streets (get some protection) Get me on my feet (get some direction) Hot air gets me into a blackout Oh, get me off the streets Get some protection Oh get me on my feet (wo wo)
While the streets block off Getting some skin exposure to the blackout (get some protection) Get me on my feet (get some direction, wo-ooh!) Oh get me on my feet Get me off the streets (get some protection) Get a second Get wo wo Yeah Get a second ? breath on advice ? And a second blow Blackout
David Bowie and William Burroughs, 1974; Photograph by Terry O’Neill; Courtesy of The David Bowie Archive 2012
Burroughs: Do you get any of your ideas from dreams?
Bowie: Frequently.
Burroughs: I get seventy per cent of mine from dreams.
Bowie: There’s a thing that, just as you go to sleep, if you keep your elbows elevated you will never go below the dream stage. And I’ve used that quite a lot and it keeps me dreaming much longer than if I just relaxed.
Burroughs: I dream a great deal, and then because I am a light sleeper, I will wake up and jot down just a few words and they will always bring the whole idea back to me.
Bowie: I keep a tape recorder by the bed and then if anything comes I just say it into the tape recorder. As for my inspiration, I haven’t changed my views much since I was about 12 really, I’ve just got a 12-year-old mentality. When I was in school I had a brother who was into Kerouac and he gave me On The Road to read when I was 12 years old. That’s still a big influence.
The cut up method of writing that Burroughs and Brion Gysin invented in 1959 can perhaps be thought of as conjuring the dream state of any piece of text. Burroughs described the process in The Cut Up Method (1963), and included at the end of his essay a cut up version of what he had just written, which perfectly demonstrates the process and its poetic value:
ALL WRITING IS IN FACT CUT UPS OF GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR OVERHEARD? WHAT ELSE? ASSUME THAT THE WORST HAS HAPPENED EXPLICIT AND SUBJECT TO STRATEGY IS AT SOME POINT CLASSICAL PROSE. CUTTING AND REARRANGING FACTOR YOUR OPPONENT WILL GAIN INTRODUCES A NEW DIMENSION YOUR STRATEGY. HOW MANY DISCOVERIES SOUND TO KINESTHETIC? WE CAN NOW PRODUCE ACCIDENT TO HIS COLOR OF VOWELS. AND NEW DIMENSION TO FILMS CUT THE SENSES. THE PLACE OF SAND. GAMBLING SCENES ALL TIMES COLORS TASTING SOUNDS SMELL STREETS OF THE WORLD. WHEN YOU CAN HAVE THE BET ALL: “POETRY IS FOR EVERYONE” DOCTOR NEUMAN IN A COLLAGE OF WORDS READ HEARD INTRODUCED THE CUT UP SCISSORS RENDERS THE PROCESS GAME AND MILITARY STRATEGY, VARIATION CLEAR AND ACT ACCORDINGLY. IF YOU POSED ENTIRELY OF REARRANGED CUT DETERMINED BY RANDOM A PAGE OF WRITTEN WORDS NO ADVANTAGE FROM KNOWING INTO WRITER PREDICT THE MOVE. THE CUT VARIATION IMAGES SHIFT SENSE ADVANTAGE IN PROCESSING TO SOUND SIGHT TO SOUND. HAVE BEEN MADE BY ACCIDENT IS WHERE RIMBAUD WAS GOING WITH ORDER THE CUT UPS COULD “SYSTEMATIC DERANGEMENT” OF THE GAMBLING SCENE IN WITH A TEA HALLUCINATION: SEEING AND PLACES. CUT BACK. CUT FORMS. REARRANGE THE WORD AND IMAGE TO OTHER FIELDS THAN WRITING.
The cut variation images shift sense advantage in processing to sound sight to sound. Bowie: “I will sit right down, waiting for the gift of sound and vision.” No advantage from knowing. “And I will sing, waiting for the gift of sound and vision.” We can now product accident to his color of vowels. “Blue, blue, electric blue / That’s the colour of my room / Where I will live.” Systematic derangement: seeing and places. “Blue, blue.” Cut back.
If you find yourself in London soon, check out the exhibition David Bowie is at the Victoria and Albert Museum (modestly, “The world’s greatest museum of art and design”), 23 March – 11 August 2013:
The V&A has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive to curate the first international retrospective of the extraordinary career of David Bowie – one of the most pioneering and influential performers of modern times. David Bowie is will explore the creative processes of Bowie as a musical innovator and cultural icon, tracing his shifting style and sustained reinvention across five decades.
The V&A’s Theatre and Performance curators, Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh have selected more than 300 objects that will be brought together for the very first time. They include handwritten lyrics, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, Bowie’s own instruments and album artwork.
March 12th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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Norah Jones covering the Neil Young song, Tell Me Why (sorry, audio only). Recorded during the 2010 MusiCares Tribute to Neil Young concert in Los Angeles.
Tell Me Why by Neil Young
Sailing heart-ships thru broken harbors Out on the waves in the night Still the searcher must ride the dark horse Racing alone in his fright. Tell me why, tell me why
Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself, When you’re old enough to repay but young enough to sell?
Tell me lies later, come and see me I’ll be around for a while. I am lonely but you can free me All in the way that you smile Tell me why, tell me why
Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself, When you’re old enough to repay but young enough to sell?
March 8th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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France Gall has one of the best stage names ever. Often dismissed as a mid-1960s “baby pop” singing “doll” of the immortal and twisted Serge Gainsbourg, she was born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall on 9 October 1947 in Paris, France, and managed to create (or was given) a galling Gallic name that James Joyce would have been proud to have coined. Gall was (is?) a popular French “yé-yé” singer.
I love France Gall’s song, “Laisse tomber les filles” (“Stop messing around with the girls”), written by Gainsbourg, and the pre-video video of the song above, from 1964 (age 17!), is wonderful, like a time capsule from a vanished world. Possibly the first example of really great terrible lip-synching.
Laisse tomber les filles by France Gall Lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg
Laisse tomber les filles
Stop messing around with the girls
Laisse tomber les filles Laisse tomber les filles Un jour c’est toi qu’on laissera Laisse tomber les filles Laisse tomber les filles Un jour c’est toi qui pleureras
Oui j’ai pleuré mais ce jour-là Non je ne pleurerai pas Non je ne pleurerai pas Je dirai c’est bien fait pour toi Je dirai ça t’apprendra Je dirai ça t’apprendra
Laisse tomber les filles Laisse tomber les filles Ça te jouera un mauvais tour Laisse tomber les filles Laisse tomber les filles Tu le paieras un de ces jours
On ne joue pas impunément Avec un cœur innocent Avec un cœur innocent Tu verras ce que je ressens Avant qu’il ne soit longtemps Avant qu’il ne soit longtemps
La chance abandonne Celui qui ne sait Que laisser les cœurs blessés Tu n’auras personne Pour te consoler Tu ne l’auras pas volé
Laisse tomber les filles Laisse tomber les filles Un jour c’est toi qu’on laissera Laisse tomber les filles Laisse tomber les filles Un jour c’est toi qui pleureras
Non pour te plaindre il n’y aura Personne d’autre que toi Personne d’autre que toi Alors tu te rappelleras Tout ce que je te dis là Tout ce que je te dis là
Stop messing around with the girls Stop messing around with the girls One day you’ll be the one who’ll get dropped Stop messing around with the girls Stop messing around with the girls One day you’ll be the one who’ll cry
Yes, I have cried, but that day No, I won’t cry No, I won’t cry anymore I will say that you deserve it I will say it serves you right I will say it serves you right
Stop messing around with the girls Stop messing around with the girls That will play a bad trick on you Stop messing around with the girls Stop messing around with the girls You’ll have to pay for it one of these days
One cannot play without being backfired With an innocent heart With an innocent heart You’ll see what I feel Soon Soon
Chance forsakes The one who knows nothing else But leaving wounded hearts You’ll have no one To comfort you You’ll deserve it!
Stop messing around with the girls Stop messing around with the girls One day you’ll be the one who’ll get dropped Stop messing around with the girls Stop messing around with the girls One day you’ll be the one who’ll cry
For your whining There will be no one else but you There will be no one else but you And then you’ll remember Everything I said now Everything I said now
The Secret World of Serge Gainsbourg (Vanity Fair, November 2007): “Serge, who had big ears that stuck out and who was considered ugly, often said he wished he had looked like the American movie actor Robert Taylor, but also said, ‘I prefer ugliness to beauty, because ugliness endures.’ He started to smoke and drink at 20, when he went into the army. His sister says his cynical persona was always a defense: ‘When you feel weak, you attack.’ He showed talent as a painter and attended the Académie des Beaux-Arts, but eventually realized he had to earn a living, and said he ‘had fear of the painter’s bohemian life.’ Like his father, he played piano in clubs, then branched out to write songs. He won the 1965 Eurovision contest with a song he wrote for the cutesy pop star France Gall; he then wrote a sexually sly song for her, which she thought was about sucking lollipops. He started to write successful songs for others and then, later, himself. He wrote and directed 4 movies and acted in 29. He became really famous at 40 with the orgasmic ‘Je T’Aime … Moi Non Plus,’ then even more so with songs that ranged from lush and romantic melodies to Surrealist poetry to caustic and dark concept albums. He used American words in his songs—’blue jeans,’ ‘flashback,’ ‘jukebox’—and studied the Ford Motor Company catalogue for phrases to use in his song ‘Ford Mustang.’”
March 6th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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When the world was flat as a pancake Mona Lisa was happy as a clam. John Prine can show you a thing or two about what to do with your similies.
It’s A Big Old Goofy World John Prine
Up in the morning Work like a dog Is better than sitting Like a bump on a log Mind all your manners Be quiet as a mouse Some day you’ll own a home That’s as big as a house
I know a fella He eats like a horse Knocks his old balls Round the old golf course You oughta see his wife She’s a cute little dish She smokes like a chimney And drinks like a fish
There’s a big old goofy man Dancing with a big old goofy girl Ooh baby It’s a big old goofy world
Now elvis had a woman With a head like a rock I wished I had a woman That made my knees knock She’d sing like an angel And eat like a bird And if I wrote a song She’d know ever single word
Kiss a little baby Give the world a smile If you take an inch Give ‘em back a mile Cause if you lie like a rug And you don’t give a damn You’re never gonna be As happy as a clam
So I’m sitting in a hotel Trying to write a song My head is just as empty As the day is long Why it’s clear as a bell I should have gone to school I’d be wise as an owl Stead of stubborn as a mule.
February 11th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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Jazz great Donald Byrd died last week at the age of 80. The the video above is his amazing jazz hymn, Cristo Redentor, which appeared on the classic 1963 album A New Perspective. About the project, Byrd said: “I mean this album seriously. Because of my own background, I’ve always wanted to write an entire album of spiritual-like pieces. The most accurate way I can describe what we were all trying to do is that this is a modern hymnal. In an earlier period, the New Orleans jazzmen would often play religious music for exactly what it was – but with their own jazz textures and techniques added. Now, as modern jazzmen, we’re also approaching this tradition with respect and great pleasure.” [Wikipedia: A New Perspective]
Here is the lineup on the album:
Donald Byrd – trumpet Hank Mobley – tenor saxophone Herbie Hancock – piano Kenny Burrell – guitar Donald Best – vibraphone, vocals Butch Warren – bass Lex Humphries – drums Duke Pearson – arranger Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson – choir direction
R.I.P Donald Byrd, you will be missed, and remembered.
January 28th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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Annie Erin Clark, better known by her stage name St. Vincent, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She began her music career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree and was also part of Sufjan Stevens’ touring band before forming her own band in 2006. Above are three versions of her great song, Actor Out of Work. The first one is the official video of the song; number two is a live version performed in a chapel in the middle of a Brooklyn graveyard; and third is a wonderful solo acoustic version of the song that demonstrates just how great Annie Clark’s voice is. After you’ve watched/heard them all once each, try playing them all together, in different phases, and in different combinations. It’s better than sleeping. (If you’re an out of work actor, that is.)
Actor Out of Work St. Vincent (Annie Clark)
You’re a supplement, you’re a salve You’re a bandage, pull it off I can quit you cut it out You’re a patient, I am love
You’re a cast signed broken arm You’re an actor out of work You’re a liar and that’s the truth You’re an extra, lost in the scene
You’re a boxer in the ring With brass knuckles underneath You’re the curses through my teeth You’re the laughter, you’re the obscene Uhhh uuuuh
You’re a supplement, you’re a salve You’re a bandage, pull it off I think I love you, I think I’m mad
You’re a cast signed broken arm You’re an actor out of work I think I love you, I think I’m mad You’re a boxer in the ring With brass knuckles underneath I think I love you, I think I’m mad
January 23rd, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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Here’s a great clip of David Bowie performing “Starman” on the TV show “Top of the Pops” in 1972. This is the height of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust phase, and he’s backed by the Spiders from Mars: Mick Ronson on guitar and backing vocals, Trevor Bolder on bass, and Mick Woodmansey on drums. (Via Pitchfork)
Starman by David Bowie
Goodbye love Didn’t know what time it was the lights were low oh how I leaned back on my radio oh oh Some cat was layin down some rock n roll lotta soul, he said Then the loud sound did seem to fade a ade Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase ha hase That werent no d.j. that was hazy cosmic jive
There’s a starman waiting in the sky Hed like to come and meet us But he thinks he’d blow our minds There’s a starman waiting in the sky Hes told us not to blow it Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile He told me: Let the children lose it Let the children use it Let all the children boogie
I had to phone someone so I picked on you ho ho Hey, that’s far out so you heard him too! o o Switch on the tv we may pick him up on channel two Look out your window I can see his light a ight If we can sparkle he may land tonight a ight Don’t tell your poppa or hell get us locked up in fright
There’s a starman waiting in the sky Hed like to come and meet us But he thinks he’d blow our minds There’s a starman waiting in the sky Hes told us not to blow it Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile He told me: Let the children lose it Let the children use it Let all the children boogie
Starman waiting in the sky Hed like to come and meet us But he thinks he’d blow our minds There’s a starman waiting in the sky Hes told us not to blow it Cause he knows it’s all worthwhile He told me: Let the children lose it Let the children use it Let all the children boogie
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
January 18th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Film, Music |
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This a great. A young, unknown Frank Zappa (Allen and the announcer keep pronouncing his name “Zoppa”) on the Steve Allen show creating an interactive music happening with two bicycles, the studio band (playing “non-musically”), and recorded electronic music. Obviously inspired by John Cage, but very funny. Steve Allen makes some funny jokes, but has adds a nice, respectful coda, and Zappa cracks up repeatedly.
Zappa takes the opportunity to promote his new album, How’s Your Bird, due for release one week later, and the “world’s worst move” — The Worlds Greatest Sinner — for which he composed the score. The movie, by iconoclastic “grindhouse” actor/writer/director Timothy Carey, was not released, and would not be seen by the public for 50 years. So of course we’ll have to hunt it down and see it. Carey’s biography is very interesting, and among his many strange appearances on the fringes of popular culture, he is on the iconic Beatles Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, album, in a still from Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, though all but a small part of the back of his shirt (seen directly behind George) is obscured in the final version released with the album. Check out “The Sgt Pepper Album Cover Shoot Dissected” for more fascinating details about the murkier aspects of this most famous of album covers.
January 11th, 2013 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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“Dum Dum Boys,” from Iggy Pop’s first solo album, The Idiot, 1977, produced by David Bowie. It is a tribute/lament for Pop’s former Stooges band mates, which Pop’s biographer Joe Ambrose, calls “an exceptionally insensitive use of old colleagues for theatrical effect” (via Wikipedia). No information on when and where the live recording in the YouTube video above was made.
Dum Dum Boys by Iggy Pop
What happened to Zeke? He’s dead on Jones, man How about Dave? O.D’d on alcohol
Oh, what’s Rock doing? Oh, he’s living with his mother What about James? He’s gone straight
Well, things have been tough Without the Dum Dum Boys I can’t seem to speak the language I remember how they Used to stare at the ground
They looked as if they Put the whole world Looked as if they put The whole world down
The first time I met the Dum Dum Boys I was fascinated They just stood in front of the old drug store I was most impressed No one else was impressed, not at all
And we’d sing Da, da, da, da, da Dum, dum day
Well, where are you now my Dum Dum Boys? Are you alive or dead? Have you left me the last of the Dum Dum daze? And then the sun goes down And then the boys broke down
People said we were negative They said we would take but we would never give
But we’d sing Da, da, da, da, da, da Dum, dum, day
We’d sing Da, da, da, da, da, da And hope it would pay
We’d sing Da, da, da, da, da [Incomprehensible] Dum, dum day
Well now, I’m looking for the Dum Dum Boys Hey, where are you now when I need your noise?
Now, I’m looking for the Dum Dum Boys The walls close in and I need some noise
December 20th, 2012 by Martin | Topic: Music |
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Long Road by Pearl Jam
I wished for so long… I cannot stay All the precious moments… Cannot stay Its not like wings have fallen… I cannot say Still something is missing… I cannot say
Holding hands of daughters and sons In their phase theyre falling down Down, down, down
I have wished for so long… How I wish for you again
Will I walk the long road? I cannot stay Theres no need to say goodbye
Oh, the friends and family… All the memories going round Round, round round…
I have wished for so long… How I wished for you today
And the wind keeps rollin And the sky keeps turning grey And the sun is set The sun will rise another day
I have wished for so long… How I wish for you today
I have wished for so long… How I wish for you today Will I walk the long road? We all walk the long road
December 12th, 2012 by Jay | Topic: Music |
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We celebrate the life of Indian composer and sitar master Pandit Ravi Shankar, who died yesterday at the age of 92 (one week after the death of Jazz great Dave Brubeck, the day before his 92nd birthday).
One of my favorite albums is “Passages,” a beautiful 1990 collaboration between Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, who first met in the early 1960s. Here is the entire album on YouTube to give you a taste — I heartily recommend that you buy the real deal to hear it in the fidelity it deserves. I can’t think of a more fitting memorial and tribute to Ravi Shankar than the opening track, “Offering,” which he composed:
Tracks 1,5,6 Composed by Ravi Shankar Tracks 2,3,4 Composed by Philip Glass
The start times are approximate ~ 00:00 Offering 9:40 09:40 Sadhanipa 8:31 18:11 Channels and Winds 7:56 26:07 Ragas in Minor Scale 7:32 33:39 Meetings Along the Edge 8:05 41:44 Prashanti 13:37
It’s impossible to overstate the influence of Ravi Shankar on the music and culture of the world. In the ideal afterlife of our imagination, Ravi Shankar and George Harrison can pick up where they left off after George’s death in 2001, and maybe John Lennon will drop by to sing a little. Happy travels, Ravi Shankar.
