Blogs are so passe and pretentious. Oh well, here's my blog about music that's stuck in my head when I wake up in the mornings along with adventures of the Cash family and wacky wacky crazy wacky shenanigans.
When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would always be honest about the song playing in my head in the mornings. That being said, this one is a little tricky. It comes from Tyler Glenn who is the lead singer of successful pop band, Neon Trees.
There are 3 groups that are pretty dang successful that have Mormon roots, The Killers, Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees. It's been interesting to see some of my fellow Mormons in the spotlight as a result of popular success.
In 2014, Tyler Glenn announced his homosexuality. As a Mormon, being gay is tricky. The church teaches love and tolerance and tries to understand homosexual lifestyle, while at the same time condemning homosexual acts.
For Glenn, and many other gay, believing Mormons, this has been a tough time. Tyler Glenn released a single earlier this year called "Trash" along with a controversial music video. I've watched the video once, and the song has found its way into my head today, particularly the line in the chorus which says "One man's trash is another man's treasure."
It's a bold, daring song. As active members of the LDS church, I think it's very important that we listen to what Tyler Glenn is trying to say. I don't have anything to say other than listening and trying to understand is important.
I won't post the video, you can find it if you want (but for believing Mormons, be warned) regardless here is the song, Tyler Glenn's "Trash"
This one came as a surprise this A.M. This comes from Rhett Miller, who I like, but mostly I like his band Old 97's. Mr. Miller has released 7 studio albums without his well-respected alt-country band. I happen to own one of his solo albums, which has more of a mainstream feel, which may be why two songs from this very album (The Believer) have now weaseled their way onto this blog, in spite of having less actual attention from my ears.
Today's song is called "I Believe She's Lying" and it's the sixth track on this now decade-old album.
SURPRISE! This song is actually written by some other artists which I tremendously respect, Aimee Mann & Jon Brion (who frequently collaborate, quite magically.)
Well whaddya know, Jon Brion recorded this very song on his ONLY studio album from 2001. Here's Brion's version:
Who did it better in your opinion? I think I like Brion's version better, how fun to have discovered it just now.
Quickly, I'm going to teach you a game I made up and you can use it next time you're bored or if you're on a roadtrip or something.
The game doesn't have a name yet, but I'll call it "Shazam Surmisal!™" (The exclamation mark is extremely important at the end.)
Here's how you play, first download Shazam on your smartphone, which, if you don't know, is an App that tells you the name and artist of a song you hear playing. One other thing it does is that it tallies how many times a certain song has been "Shazammed"
So, how you play Shazam Surmisal! is simple. Pick a friend, any friend, but preferably someone you like. Go on a roadtrip and bring your favorite mixtape (preferably one you've won on thesongsstuckinmyhead.blogspot.com) or an iPod or the radio or whatevsies. Start playing music and before you Shazam a song, guess how many times the song has been Shazammed! You have to factor in several things as you play the game, such as:
-the song's popularity
-the artist's popularity
-radio play
-etc. etc. etc.
Then whomever gets closer to the actual Shazam number is the winner! Simple and fun!
To get the best effect, listen through the whole song so that you're getting a neat musical experience as you play (rather than skipping the song after each shazam)
I'm going to Shazam each version of this blog post's song and give it my best guess as an example.
First, Rhett Miller's cover of "I Believe She's Lying." I'm gonna say there are 526 Shazams of this song......
Welp, as of today there are 205 Shazams, so if I were playing against my bff and they had guessed closer I would have lost.
Next, Jon Brion's original of the song..... hmmm, I'm guessing he's had less exposure than Rhett Miller, but I could be totally wrong, so I'll say 79 Shazams.... SHAZAMMING NOW.....
Well dang, I just ruined my own game.
Shazam doesn't recognize this song and I'm guessing it's because the album isn't available through iTunes?!? Whatever, screw Shazam Surmisal! it's a dumb game and I hate it!
This song is everywhere! It's by a little group called Imagine Dragons. You've likely heard of them. The song is about Demons, that's why it's called "Demons!"
But not literal demons you guys! It's about the demons that each one of us hides!
Here's "Demons" which is the fourth track on the band's 2012 debut album, NIGHT VISIONS.
Did you know that this band first got it's start in my home state, Utah? They may be the biggest thing that Utah has produced besides Donny and Marie.
I'm sorry to tangent to the Osmonds, but I have a funny story- I'll try to be quick.
I went to high school with the son of one of the original four Osmonds. He was a good friend, we even sang together in show choirs.
Well... this friend got called to serve an LDS mission I went with a group of friends to see him speak in church (what is called in Mormon culture a "missionary farewell") and looked on in wonder as Donny and Marie arrived with their families (this would be their nephew's farewell) late to the church meeting. I could have sworn that the congregation audibly gasped as these famous Mormons arrived.
There was an after-party too and I happily attended, not only because it was for my friend's farewell, but because Donny and Marie would be there too!
We were an obnoxious group of 18-year-olds and we decided that we were going to try to subtly meet either D or M...
Donny was nowhere to be found, but Marie was there, sitting on a couch talking to somebody. That's when my pal Kristy decided to take it upon herself to work her way over to make conversation with the celebrity in our midst, and she has a plan how to do it!
She somehow found a garbage sack and walked around the room asking guests if she could take their trash for them. "What a nice young lady" and other compliments were heard as Kristy collected dirty plates in her garbage, but the houseguests didn't know that Kristy was secretly working her way toward Marie.
After making the rounds, Kristy reluctantly approached Ms. Osmond- "Can I take your garbage Ma'am?" Marie turned and looked at Kristy, scoffed, and continued chatting with her family members. Kristy turned bright red and scurried off.
It. was. on. Nobody, not even a celebrity, scoffs at our friend!
This is where we put our ability at being totally completely and utterly obnoxious to good use. And we did this by singing songs, especially from "The Sound of Music" (Marie Osmond was playing Maria on Broadway at the time) with harmonies, improvisations and anything else annoying. Before long, we got a few looks from people, including our friend who was preparing to leave on his mission, and we decided to leave the party early.
But as we were exiting, my buddy, Kevin, at the door turned around and with his booming baritone voice (He's a professional singer now) sang with all his might "Donny and Marie, look at meeeeeeeeeeee!" with a loud booming vibrato.
Was it rude and inappropriate? Absolutely. What is hilarious and unforgettable? You betcha.
Today's melody comes from Josh Garrels. I don't think that you can marginalize this dude by saying his music is a certain genre, he's like a folksy-rocky-hip hoppy-Christian singer-songwriter with one of the coolest voices I've ever heard.
Here's "Flood Waters" which is the second track on the brilliant 2011 album "Love & War & The Sea Between". Seriously. This album is amazing. Stream it or buy it.
I love the way Garrels just rolls with each note, where one syllable could just be one simple note, he embellishes and extends the phrase into lovely combinations of notes. Isn't his voice rad?!?
Even raddest is that this song is about hope, that through love you can make it though the roughest of things- flood waters yo.
Did you like that song? Had you heard of Josh Garrels? If not, this is why I write this blog. I love music and I love you!
