A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left

I don't get to go to concerts very often, what with watching little babies when I'm not working to pay for little babies.  This week, a miracle occurred, I got to go to 2 concerts in 2 nights! 

Monday night I got to see The Gipsy Kings a flamenco group from southern France.  Tuesday night I went to see Andrew Bird. 

If you are wondering whether or not I liked these concerts, the answer is yes. 

My subconscious is rewarding all of us with an Andrew Bird song that I really enjoy.  You will too. 

Whenever I've introduced Andrew Bird's music to people, they always tell me they enjoy the music but they're confused as to what he's singing about.  But I don't think it's that hard- so I will break down a sampling of the song's meaning line by line with handy visual aides.   

Over prescribed
Under the Mister



We had survived to turn on the History Channel

And ask our esteemed panel
Why are we alive?

And here's how they replied,
You're what happens when two substances collide
When by all accounts you really should have died




That's just the introductory verse of the song.  I'm not gonna do the whole song, but if you think about it, the lyrics to the song TOTALLY make sense. 

Joking aside, I do think Andrew Bird's lyrics are different and a bit vague at times, but this is what makes his music clever and challenging.  For me, lyrics have always been a challenge. 

He's great live too, he was switching off between violin, guitar and xylophone and looping instruments to make all kinds of noise and complex music.  A cautionary note, however, don't dig too deep or you might get a nervous tic motion of your head as well. 

Souverian

Wow, this was a doooooooozey. 

The last time I made an effort to sing the song stuck in my head, it turned out to be the perfect song to sing with my kids.  I put too much trust in my subconscious this time, and it backfired a bit. 

Anyway, the song stuck in my head Friday morning was another by Andrew Bird (I'm finding some artists are coming to me in twos) called "Souverian."  I thought to myself "we're awesome, we can pull this off."  Unfortunately, this song isn't much fun for kids to sing.  I tried, but could only get good ol' Zoe to participate. 

My wife tried to convince me to do something else.  Unfortunately, one of my more unflattering traits is that I can be a bit compulsive about dumb things.  "I told people reading my blog that I would perform the song stuck in my head Friday morning, and by golly, I'm gonna sing it!  It doesn't matter if it's 'Stairway to Heaven' or the theme song to 'Thundercats.'  I'm anal, so I'm gonna do it anyway!" 

A few things, before you watch the video.  The original song is 7 minutes long.  I kind of chopped it up to make it shorter and easier to perform.  Also, we couldn't find the sheet music, so we're doing our best, although I'm sure the melody is off a few times.  If I had my way, we would have had guitar and violin to go with the piano.  Sadly, I can't always have what I want. 
So, here it is, enjoy?

And here is the real song by Andrew Bird.  I really think this is a beautiful song. 

I will work on being more selective about which song is more fitting when involving my kids. 

Thanks for caring.

Oh No

I find the process of putting these songs on a blog very scientific.  This is why I choose to blog so often.  I blog every other day, and I am 100% honest about the first song that comes to me when I wake up in the morning.  I know there are probably more interesting songs that I could talk about, but I find doing it this way fascinating. 

That being said, today's song, "Oh No" by Andrew Bird is both unique and interesting.  I own 3 of his albums.  Each song is clearly and unapolgetically Andrew Bird.  Not surprising, after researching this song, I learned that he writes traditional songs "backwards."  Most song writers have notebooks full of lyrics and poetry from which they form melodies, then adding chords complete the song.  I took a course on song writing in college and was taught to write this way as well. 

Andrew Bird instead has 100's of melodies going through his brain, and later fits lyrics into the melodies.  As you listen to his music, you'll find the lyrics are like nothing you've ever heard.  This song was inspired when unexpectedly he was stuck sitting behind a toddler on a plane. 

You can read about the process here:

http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/words-will-tell/

I'll sum up as well, since this is getting a little wordy as is.  The way the kid was crying started sounding like a moaning violin and then eventually evolved into a chord progression.  Also, he was crying "Oh No" again and again, which inspired Andrew Bird to write lyrics about being trapped in a calcium mine and Harmless Sociopaths walking arm in arm. 

This whole thing may be so odd to others, but I find it so fascinating, almost magical in a way.  Here is the song if you'd like to hear it:

So forgive my indulgence with this one, but I really love this music.  I don't know that this is the first song I would ever play for you to introduce you to Andrew Bird's music, but this was the one in my head so it's what you get. 

Also a big congratulations to each of the winners in our BIG IMPORTANT GENEROUS SONGSSTUCKINMYHEAD GIVEAWAY.  I bet anyone who didn't win or enter the contest is really jealous. 

Clara in Sandy UT won the CD.  You can't find such musical compilational brilliance in music stores, karaoke bars or at your mom's house. 

Kathryn in Dallas TX won the wax candy and beef jerkey.  Rich in protein and waxy deliciousness, Kat will be talking about this snack for years to come. 

Rochelle in Heber UT won the rare Cheers VHS tape.  Blah blah blah, you can find it on Netflix, is what the kids are telling me.  But pull out your VHS player and the duster and enjoy the nostalgia of the greatest sit-com about a bar ever made the way it should be enjoyed:  On an old out of date machine that you have to rewind and you get a bad picture out of, with tracking issues etc. 
Rock On. 

Brady