Are we done with Presidential debates, at least for now? Good. Let’s debate some Friday random music instead. Cue ’em up…
1. “Momamma Scuba” – John Cale. I have no idea what this song is about. Hell, I don’t even know what the title means. But who cares? It was the 70s. You had to be there.
2. “Gypsy Wedding” – Moby Grape. Back when I was a geeky high schooler taking a class that was called Unified Math and which covered some non-traditional-for-high-school-math topics as group theory, we encountered the following riddle:
Q. What’s purple and commutative?
A. An Abelian grape.
Apparently, grape-themed humor has also been used in the application of band names. I feel oddly comforted by this.
3. “Topaz” – The B-52s. Cosmic Thing was one of those CDs I never quite got around to buying back in the day. Listening to it again now, I realize that I’d forgotten how good it was. It’s way more than just “Love Shack”.
4. “Superstition” – Beck, Bogert & Appice. Not a bad cover, but when you’re competing with the Stevies Wonder and Ray Vaughn, the bar is pretty high. On a completely random tangent, if you’ve never seen the video for Beck’s song “Ambitious”, check it out. In addition to an awesome array of 80s hairstyles, it features a hilarious appearance by Donny Osmond. Need I say more?
5. “The Day The Bass Players Took Over The World” – Trout Fishing In America. – That would sure eliminate the need for these tedious debates.
6. “Old Friends” – Simon and Garfunkel. From the Concert in Central Park. How terribly strange it is to realize that in less than four years, the two of them will find out what it’s like to be 70.
7. “I Knew The Bride” – Dave Edmunds. I’d like to be invited to the kind of wedding that would feature this song at its reception.
8. “End Of The World” – Great Big Sea. Also a pretty good cover, with all of the manic energy of the original, but as it doesn’t have an equivalent to the Leonard Bernstein moment, I’ve gotta award the prize to REM.
9. “Suavecito” – Malo. I played an arrangement of this tune in high school jazz band. Why there was a jazz band arrangement of it, I couldn’t say.
10. “Twenty Naked Pentecostals In A Pontiac” – Cornerstone. Based on an actual true news story from 1993 that was like manna from heaven for pretty much every Wacky Morning DJ in America. When people say that truth is stranger than fiction, this is the sort of thing they have in mind.
“4. “Superstition” – Beck, Bogert & Appice. Not a bad cover, but when you’re competing with the Stevies Wonder and Ray Vaughn, the bar is pretty high. ”
Believe it or not, “Superstition” was originally written by Stevie Wonder for Jeff Beck. however, Stevie’s manager convinced him to record it first.
If you like the original Stevie Wonder version, check out what is probably the funkiest moment in the history of mankind here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE
Yes, Sesame Street let Stevie jam for nearly 7 minutes. Of course, that was in 1973. Now, you would have to deal with Elmo inside of 2 minutes. 🙂
Stevie Ray Vaughan, on the other hand, turned funk into a guitar master class with his version. Nice to see Stevie Wonder at the end of the video as well. You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPDJicA816s
3:00 am music comment….Woot!
Word on the B-52s…way more than just Love Shack for sure. The early stuff like Rock Lobster, Private Idaho, and Legal Tender (which sounds like a freakin’ Go-Go’s song) are all radical. You can really hear in the sound that they grew out of the same scene as REM.
Simon and Garfunkel just make me cry, so I stopped listening to them. I secretly hate songwriters who have that much power over me.
Malo es bueno. Fo sho’.
Beck covers: The Beatles “Across the Universe” with Moby and Rufus Wainright. Sure it’s on YouTube. At least I think Beck is the third. I know Beck did a cover of Bowie’s Diamond Dogs, worth hearing.
Speaking of Bowie, after multiple viewings of The Life Aquatic, I finally “get” early Bowie. Recommendations go out for the movie and for early Bowie songs.
But to end, I’ll pass on a recommendation that I really think you’ll enjoy. You may have heard of them already — they are the big rage on college radio and recently did SNL: The Arcade Fire
Wake Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEKC5pyOKFU
Haiti: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6BMyqSdOXc
Anyway, hope your as excited in Harris as I am here in Fort Bend. I can’t sleep, but I realized at 2 am that there’s nothing more I can do from my laptop. No more lists to make, no more emails to write. So just to get my mind of all this madness, I thought I’d rap music with you.
Because frankly, we’re going to need good music for all the celebration parties on March 4th…
I’m pretty sure you have been to a wedding like that, even if the song didn’t get played. But if a miracle ever happens, and I get married, I’ll invite you and make sure to play the song.
Love the blog.