In the Neighborhood

I only own one album by Tom Waits.  I never thought I would like his stuff, but if you can get past his gravelly voice, you'll find that he's an immensely talented and extremely versatile songwriter. 

The song stuck in my head is from his 1983 album SWORDFISHTROMBONES.  It's called "In the Neighborhood."  My kids always laugh at the first lyric of this song.

"Well the eggs chase the bacon, in the frying pan"  in fact my 8 year old made a drawing of it for me!

It's with this strange lyric that Waits sets the scene for a strange song.  The music sounds almost like a carnival or circus and insinuates more or less the circus-like neighborhood in which the singer lives: 

Well Big Mambo's kicking
his old grey hound
and the kids can't get ice cream
'cause the market burned down


It's safe to say that Tom Waits lives in an interesting neighborhood. 


 There's a couple Filipino girls
gigglin' by the church
and the window is busted
and the landlord ain't home
and Butch joined the army
yea that's where he's been
and the jackhammer's diggin'
up the sidewalks again
In the neighborhood

I dig the song.  There's a couple of "gd's" in the song- just to forewarn those with sensitive ears.  The music video is a perfect reflection of what's happening in the song.  A sort of distorted carnival of some kind.  Enjoy. 

Personent Hodie

I'll make this one quick.

A song playing in my head frequently these days has been one I learned in high school.  I had forgotten the Christmas Carol until recently joining the church choir where we are learning some really cool music.  This is one of the songs.  Have a listen and then we'll talk about what the heck is up with this song!

 

 

 

This medieval melody is extremely old and I dig it.  Its origins go back to 1582 from a Finnish songbook of holy music.  The lyrics, originally in Latin glorify Christ and his birth.

Have a great Christmas errybody! 

 



Stupid Thing

Man oh man I love Aimee Mann-  I'm a little late posting but here is Aimee Mann's song "Stupid Thing" which is from her 1993 album WHATEVER. 







I really love this song- and to celebrate my love for this song I'm going to do a little blog giveaway! 


I'm going to give away another compilation disc but I'm starting a new set.  Here is the compilation disc you could win.  It's called "Now That's What Brady's Subconscious Calls Music! Volume 1"  The word is out about this compilation and critics are hailing it as "pretty OK"

Here's a picture of what your disc will look like:

To be clear, this is a compilation of songs I've blogged about here over the last half-year or so.  My mom listened to it and described it as "above average"

Along with the CD you could be the lucky recipient of a 25$ iTunes card.  This way you can download what you want rather than listen to the garbage that's on the compilation disc.

The way to win is simple- you just "Like" or "Comment" or share on the posts I share on Facebook, either on my blog page "The Songs Stuck In My Head" or my personal Facebook page.  Or you can make a comment on this blog post to automatically be entered.  I'll try to get the stuff to you before Christmas too.

Also if you're my friend on Instagram, Vine or Twitter you can find me @lurpino where I will be sharing posts about this contest.  You can comment or "like" any of those posts as well to be eligible to win.   YES THIS MEANS MULTIPLE ENTRIES ARE POSSIBLE!   Feel free to unfriend and unfollow me if I get annoying.

I'll contact the winner this Sunday- December 20th!

Merry Christmas pals.

I'll Be Seeing You

This weeks post is brought to you by the jazz standard "I'll Be Seeing You."  You know this one, right? 

Maybe you've heard this version, by Bing Crosby:

Or this version by Billie Holliday:

Or this version by Dean Martin:

Or this version by Rosemary Clooney:

Or this version by Michael Buble:

Or this version by Bernadette Peters:

Or this version by Liberace:

Or this version by Stevie Wonder:

ANYWAY.  You get the point.

(For anyone who cares, this song originally was in a Broadway musical called RIGHT THIS WAY in 1938.  The play bombed and closed after only a few weeks, but the song remained.  The music is by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal.  If I were smart I could tell you more about these fellows.  If I weren't exhausted, I would do some more research.)

Hugs.

Brady