Random Music Talk CXXVII: Crickets

[Moonlit_Angel]

I think about that, too, when I listen to some '90s stuff. It feels like such a simpler time.

I love that decade of music. So much great stuff came out then (and yes, that includes all the teenybopper stuff I listened to as a teenager ).

 

[LemonMelon]

I wasn't even 9 yet when the decade ended, but I still have much fonder memories of the 90s than I do the 00s.

 

[LemonMelon]

RIP to the legendary John Prine. He died today from COVID-19.



Me and Loretta, we don't talk much more,
She sits and stares through the back door screen
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen
Someday I'll go and call up Rudy,
We worked together at the factory
But what could I say if asks "What's new?"
"Nothing, what's with you? Nothing much to do."

Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."



Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree

By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said

Your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore
We're already overcrowded from your dirty little war
Now Jesus don't like killin', no matter what the reason's for
And your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore

We're at war with a virus and some of our greatest artists are among the casualties.

 

[bono_212]

For some reason I always associate "Right Here Right Now" with "The Way It Is" so you've reminded me of a question I've always kinda wondered about:

Is that song considered "Lame" or good?

 

[cobl04]

Good. Because it gave us one of the greatest moments in television history:

 

[LemonMelon]

The Way It Is = musically dated but a certified classic with lyrics that have aged like fine wine

Right Here, Right Now = dated and goofy, not good IMO

 

[Axver]

Gotta be honest, for a long time I thought John Prine was some really obscure rando because everybody on RYM talked about how strange it was that in the early days of the website one of his albums reached #1 on the all-time charts. Didn't realise he was a much more widely known musician until recently, and still didn't fully appreciate his popularity until his illness and death prompted a whole bunch of tweets on my timeline from people who rarely talk about music.

 

[bono_212]

Good. Because it gave us one of the greatest moments in television history:

I just watched this episode last night. Pretty much why the thought was on my mind. Now that the show's finally on Netflix, I'm giving it a watch-through. I don't feel like I was missing out on that much, but it *is* pretty funny.

 

[DaveC]

The Way It Is = musically dated but a certified classic with lyrics that have aged like fine wine

Right Here, Right Now = dated and goofy, not good IMO

this is the right take.

 

[lazarus]

For some reason I always associate "Right Here Right Now" with "The Way It Is" so you've reminded me of a question I've always kinda wondered about:

Is that song considered "Lame" or good?

The Way It Is = musically dated but a certified classic with lyrics that have aged like fine wine

Right Here, Right Now = dated and goofy, not good IMO

I mean, the Hornsby track was sampled multiple times by rappers so I guess by that rationale it's achieved some kind of cool/classic status.

Right Here, Right Now is just as dated as EMF's Unbelievable.

Gotta be honest, for a long time I thought John Prine was some really obscure rando because everybody on RYM talked about how strange it was that in the early days of the website one of his albums reached #1 on the all-time charts. Didn't realise he was a much more widely known musician until recently, and still didn't fully appreciate his popularity until his illness and death prompted a whole bunch of tweets on my timeline from people who rarely talk about music.

Prine is a major blind spot for me. I've heard many songwriters sing his praises over the years, but I never managed to check him out. And I was similarly shocked to see how many people in my FB feed were mourning his loss, including those who I didn't think were even that much into less-mainstream, older solo artists like him.

I get the sense, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, that he's not as exceptional a performer as he is a writer? I'm thinking along the lines of Kris Kristofferson, Warren Zevon, or Gordon Lightfoot. Either way, will be trying to listen to something of his in the near future.

 

[bono_212]

I mean, the Hornsby track was sampled multiple times by rappers so I guess by that rationale it's achieved some kind of cool/classic status.

Right Here, Right Now is just as dated as EMF's Unbelievable.

To clarify, I was referring to Hornsby's song. Which I now see is loved and this makes me happy.

Gordon Lightfoot.

How dare you, sir.

 

[DaveC]

the lyric "right here right now, there is no other place i want to be, watching the world wake up from history" pretty much pins the song in the early 90s at the end of the cold war. the lyrics of "the way it is" have a much more timeless quality which definitely helps its enduring popularity.

 

[Hewson]

the lyric "right here right now, there is no other place i want to be, watching the world wake up from history" pretty much pins the song in the early 90s at the end of the cold war. .

Or could pin it to now as Kenneth Copeland blows away Covid-19.

 

[cobl04]

Anyone have a song that they really, deeply love one part of but not the rest?

The fucking love I feel for the first three minutes of Beach House's "Last Ride"... that piano line is absolute magic, so simple, it feels intensely sad to me, but also really warm and comforting. And then there's these beautiful synth and guitar flourishes in the background around it, as well as Legrand's vocals, which just feel like another instrumental addition to the mix. It's heavenly and I reach for it quite a lot.

But then, at the three-minute mark, the piano line is taken out, and it becomes this much more hopeful, uplifting, slow building tune. If it was a song of its own, I'd think it's really good, but I am always so upset that it moves away from the piano line that I end up feeling resentment for the song as a whole. Kinda feels like I've had a really special full song taken away from me.

 

[the tourist]

Magic by Pilot is one of the quintessential songs of great chorus, but well below average on everything else. At least for me.

 

[Jerry Dunk]

Anyone have a song that they really, deeply love one part of but not the rest?

The fucking love I feel for the first three minutes of Beach House's "Last Ride"... that piano line is absolute magic, so simple, it feels intensely sad to me, but also really warm and comforting. And then there's these beautiful synth and guitar flourishes in the background around it, as well as Legrand's vocals, which just feel like another instrumental addition to the mix. It's heavenly and I reach for it quite a lot.

But then, at the three-minute mark, the piano line is taken out, and it becomes this much more hopeful, uplifting, slow building tune. If it was a song of its own, I'd think it's really good, but I am always so upset that it moves away from the piano line that I end up feeling resentment for the song as a whole. Kinda feels like I've had a really special full song taken away from me.

I really, really like the first half of the Interpol song "Obstacle 1" and really don't like the second half. I find the guitar riff that emerges after the second chorus to be annoying, and then they don't really return to the best parts of the first half of the song.

 

[cobl04]

Another point... I listened to Cenizas, hoping to love it as I love Jaar's AAL alias, but I find his own-name solo work to be a whole lot of nothing for me sadly. Bummed, cos I got to the last song, "Faith Made of Silk", and fucking really liked that. Big Radiohead vibes.

 

[LemonMelon]

Magic by Pilot is one of the quintessential songs of great chorus, but well below average on everything else. At least for me.

Ha, it's the other way around for me. Overplay has made the chorus grating to my ears, but the sprightly and interesting chord changes in the verses got me more interested in the band. That album is actually pretty decent.

 

[bono_212]

Legit, I feel that way about "Sunglasses At Night". No jokes. I LOVE the "She's deceiving me" part. The rest? Ugh.

 

[DaveC]

Anyone have a song that they really, deeply love one part of but not the rest?

The fucking love I feel for the first three minutes of Beach House's "Last Ride"... that piano line is absolute magic, so simple, it feels intensely sad to me, but also really warm and comforting. And then there's these beautiful synth and guitar flourishes in the background around it, as well as Legrand's vocals, which just feel like another instrumental addition to the mix. It's heavenly and I reach for it quite a lot.

But then, at the three-minute mark, the piano line is taken out, and it becomes this much more hopeful, uplifting, slow building tune. If it was a song of its own, I'd think it's really good, but I am always so upset that it moves away from the piano line that I end up feeling resentment for the song as a whole. Kinda feels like I've had a really special full song taken away from me.

i feel this way about venice queen by RHCP. the second half with the fast spanish guitar chords is nice, but i really wish they had just stuck with the vibe of the first half all the way through.

 

[cobl04]

That's a great call Dave, for sure.

 

[cobl04]

On Bobby D, who just got his first ever #1 in the US as I undertand, Nick Cave's opinion is perfect - https://www.theredhandfiles.com/bob-dylans-new-song/

 

[cobl04]

Venice Queen call made me play that song, which led into Californication cos that was up next in my iTunes, great band. Around the World is so good. but fuck me dead that "ding dong dang" bit is horrendous, and I worry that it's meant to be an imitation of Asian languages..?

 

[DaveC]

maybe, but anthony kiedis also puts gibberish into like half the songs he writes so i'm inclined to think it's that and not just an ignorant imitation.

 

[Hewson]

I've always thought it sounded like an imitation of an Asian language.

 

[DaveC]

yeah it totally sounds like what someone would do if they were making an ignorant or racist caricature, i'm not denying that. it's just that the lyrics around it have nothing at all to do with asia so it would be super weird to just insert an ignorant "generic asian voice" imitation there. he's known to just put nonsense that scans well or rhymes into his songs so maybe he just thought that sounded good, i dunno.

you guys could very well be right, this was still a few years before gwen stefani decided to blatantly appropriate japanese culture and everyone still bought her album, so it's possible there may not have been anyone around him to call that out if that's what he was going for. that doesn't excuse it if that's what it actually was, though.

 

[Hewson]

And if (big if) that's what he is doing, I don't get the impression from what I know of him (including my brief meeting with him, just had to toss that in) that he would do it as a consciously racist thing, possibly just thinking it was a way to try and sound like singing from another part of (Around the) world.
More likely you're right and its just silly Kiedis-speak, but the sound of it (much more so than seeing it written out) is like someone imitating an Asian person.

 

[U2inUtah]

I had never thought of it as anything but gibberish until i read this thread, although I can see where you're coming from. Fwiw, Kiedis still sings the ring ding dang part when they play it live today, which makes me think it was never his intent.

from wikipedia:

"The different final chorus originates from a request from Flea's daughter. While writing the album in Flea's garage his daughter would listen to their songs. At the time of writing, Kiedis was struggling to come up with lyrics for the songs, so just filled in with scat. When a final draft of the album was made and Flea's daughter listened to the final version, she was disappointed that the scat had been removed. So, on the final version of the song in the last chorus, the original demo recording was used instead "

 

[DaveC]

the beatles broke up 50 years ago today.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...weller-booker-beatles-split-50-years-ago-fans

 

[djerdap]

It's silly Kiedis-speak.

He does the same thing in Soul to Squeeze.