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.
Here's another that came to me as quite a surprise-- this is from English rock band Elbow's 2005 album "Leaders of the Free World" Their lead singer Guy Garvey (great name!) writes all the lyrics and the band composes the music.
Some of their later albums are less mellow. But this is a good listen as a record. The song stuck in my head is track 4, called "The Stops" which is more or less about a deteriorating relationship, whether it's with a person or drugs, nobody knows!
"Goodbye, My Love" is the song that the character 'Mother' sings at the beginning of the Musical "Ragtime" If you haven't seen this musical, you really should- it's an entertaining and educational piece about America at the turn of the 20th century. The music is some of the best written for musical theater in the last 25 years. What's best about it is the merging of music from the era along with contemporary sounds.
Back in 1997, as a newly-graduated high schooler, I went to California to tour with my choir. We forked over some cash for the tour and were told that we would be seeing a Broadway musical. We anticipated it would be Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables, and were sorely disappointed to find out we would be seeing something called 'Ragtime'
Long story short- it was really good and I'm still a fan of the show.
So, if you're curious what's going on in this song, the character of Mother is singing just as her husband (Father) is leaving on an expedition to the north pole. Father leaving on this adventure forces Mother to go on a journey of her own and I suppose this song sets up her character. It's a fine song, probably not the first one I would share with you from this production, but since it's the one in my head, it's what you'll hear. But if you're looking for a pretty decent musical, and you're not already familiar with 'Ragtime,' I'd suggest taking a listen or two.
Here's "Goodbye, my love" from Ragtime. (the recording I found on YouTube rolls into another song about 2 minutes in)
There's only one Fiona Apple and I will forever be a fan of hers.
A quick, sad story and then I'll share the song stuck in my head.
During the first year of my marriage, in 2006, I managed a Costa Vida Mexican Restaurant with my brother. It was a fun job, one that I still miss to this day. There was a girl who would come in frequently on lunch break, come through the line and order her food. She came regularly, and I remember her because of her striking resemblance to Fiona Apple. She had the same big eyes, and pouty lips, which I first fell hard for when Ms. Apple exploded on the music scene back in 1996.
I never spoke to the doppleganger as she passed through line, until one day when she looked at me, smiled and handed me a piece of paper with her phone number on it. I can't say that something like that happened to me frequently in my life, but I was always surprised and beyond flattered when it did.
As a line worker at Costa Vida I would wear gloves, so I suppose Fiona Apple's twin didn't notice that I wore a wedding ring. So I told her thank you for the note, but took my glove off and showed her that I wore a ring. I was taken. The doppleganger turned red and rushed through the line, and I never saw her again. I suppose I shouldn't have told her that I was married, as to not embarrass her, but the truth is I would have gladly gone out with her, had I not already found the woman of my dreams.
Today's song comes from Apple's second album (from 1999) which has the longest title ever. "When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right."
Incidentally this record has, in my opinion, Fiona Apple's best collection of songs. It's really, really really good.
Today's song is the second track on the record, which is titled "To Your Love" Nobody does angry piano girl music quite like Fiona Apple. I love her for it:
It's pretty rare that I wake up in the morning without a song in my head. Such was the case today- a rare instance where I go "crap, there's no song, think of a song, think of a song, any song" and sure enough one comes immediately and this was the one today:
For the record, I've written about enough songs to compile what will be my 17th playlist related to this blog. If you'd like to listen to it on Spotify, here's the link to connect:
For some reason there are lots of songs about Amsterdam. I have probably 5 in my collection. Maybe I'll keep adding to my collection just by searching for more songs about Amsterdam.
Anyway, this one weaseled its way into my head a few weeks ago and it was one of the rare instances where the song was playing in my head and I didn't know what it was! I could hear the guitar riff clearly in my head and as I explored how my subconscious knew the song, I could the melody without words. It took me a minute to figure out that the voice I recognized (again, without clear lyrics) was that of Imagine Dragon's lead singer. So I took out my iPod and started playing all the Imagine Dragons songs I have in my collection until I figured out which song it was.
This is "Amsterdam" by Imagine Dragons-- not one of their radio hits, but still a pretty fantastic song and recording in my book. Enjoy friends!
