STOP IT!!!!

While the death of Michael Jackson is a tragedy for his fans and family let’s remember who he was. A very talented child and young adult who got pretty freaky as he got older. I just heard him compared to MOZART for Christ’s sake. The man hit his peak at 10, after that it was a long slow decline. Yes he was talented, but no he wasn’t Mozart, and no, he wasn’t bigger than The Beatles, and no he wasn’t bigger than Elvis. Tragically, his offstage life by far overshadowed his talent. Death and hyperbole go together I guess.

eMusic – get you some!

I’m a professional geek – I design computer systems in corporate America. But some of the geeky trends seem to pass me by and it takes me a while to catch up. For the third time now I’ve subscribed to eMusic.com. For the intertubes or musically challenged eMusic is a rights free digital music store featuring independent label artists. The first two times I used my 25 free downloads and quit because I couldn’t find many artists I’d heard before. This time I’ve started to explore a little bit more and have found some amazing new music (or new to me, some of the albums are 5 or 6 or more years old).

Anyway, sleeping less and less lately and looking for something to do I end up surfing eMusic’s library. I’m really a fan of the artists who end up in the “Americana” or “alt-Country” categories. We used to call them singer-songwriters. You can surf my blogroll for some of my favorites.  There’s so much good and great music there my library has grown by about 1000 tracks in the last few months. A new mp3 player (NOT an iPod) is ecoming a necessity as soon as I can afford it. 

Most of the artists on emusic are the ones you’ll find playing in your local live music venues, coffee houses, small theaters etc. The play for the music, sure as hell not for the money. So much so that you can hear it when they play. So give emusic a try – it’s free. Find somebody new, download their music, then go see them live when they come around. One of the best deals in the interwebs.

lyric of the day #6 – the Friday song

“We’re gonna lay around the shanty mama, and put a good buzz on”

“The Shanty Song” – Jonathon Edwards

There was, and still may be a radio station around here that plays an edited version of this song every Friday afternoon at 5, to get the weekend started. The video sucks, because there wasn’t a real one ever made, but the song is perfect for starting off the weekend or a vacation.

lyric of the day #5

“Well I’m a happy boy, a happy boy
Oh ain’t it good when things are going your way – hey hey!”

“The Happy Boy Song” – The Beat Farmers

Just a stupid, silly, funny song from a really good band – ENJOY

 

lyric of the day #4

Singin: dont worry bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin: dont worry (dont worry) bout a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right!

“Three Little Birds” – Bob Marley

Long before everyone heard this in “I am Legend“, Bob Marley was preaching revolution and peace through music. I’ve owned this song, and the landmark album it comes on – “Exodus“ - on vinyl, eight track, cassette, CD, and MP3. You really should have a copy.

 

Lyric of the day

I love music, some of almost any kind. I can’t play anything, wish I could. But I’ve tried several times and it’s just not something I’m wired for I guess. I admire the hell out of those who do have that talent, not only to play, but to write. Good music, or a good song will provoke some kind of emotional response – joy, amusement, melancholy, longing, anger, calm – whatever. And that association of emotion to music is different for everybody and different things trigger it – a memory of what you were doing or what happened to you the first time you heard a particular song, relating to the lyrics, the emotion of the performer that comes through the performance, the melody or rythym – something makes you respond to a song or a piece of music, otherwise it’s just noise.

For me it’s usually the lyric, actually just a part of a lyric. I love what some call “story songs” because they make you pay attention and draw you in. Good ones make you put yourself in them. But story song or not, lyrics are the hook for me most of the time. So, because a blog needs content, and the lyric game is pretty popular I’m starting a series of entries that highlight my favorite lyrics. There may or may not be an explanation, but there will always be the writer and song titel, and a link to the writer’s site if I can find one. Play along – leave your favorites in the comments. To kick things off:

“It’s hard to see the future looking backwards through a telescope.”
“The Leaving” by Jeff Black