Wessell Anderson - "Four Of Five Times"
Joe Strummer - "Ramshackle Day Parade"
Outkast - "Intro"
David Cross - "Sing-Along"
Oops. Back-to-back reasons why solely shuffling your iPod can sometimes be more annoying than fun. I've already railed against the hip-hop "bits," so nothing to say except that 1 minute and 29 seconds of my life was wasted with feedback, the sound of crickets and a computer-ized female voice singing "Speakerboxx." And when it comes to having comedy on your iPod, well that's probably not such a good idea. I've already listened to most of the David Cross bits I have uploaded, so hearing them now is a bit redundant. And this isn't even a real bit! The super-hilarious Cross just does some call-and-response thing with the audience singing Italian lyrics. I think you had to be there.
Ra Ra Riot - "Dying Is Fine" (live)
Bright Eyes - "Don't Know When But A Day Is Gonna Come"
The Rolling Stones - "Street Fighting Man"
As I've already mentioned, my iPod is predominantly loaded with new-ish songs, simply because I haven't uploaded the majority of my music collection. (Although I'm very intrigued by this thing
which could quadruple my digital library.) But I like how listening to the iPod, and furthermore writing this blog, have forced me to re-think the classics. Take this Stones staple - - it's never been my favorite. Musically, I like the acoustic guitar and the building urgency, but lyrically I always found it a little too overtly political for the Stones. (What, no sex? No drugs?) Yet, I never really knew what it was being political about - - although I assumed it was about Vietnam era anti-war protesting. Is it? Let's go to the 'Pedia!
Originally titled and recorded as "Did Everyone Pay Their Dues?", containing the same music but very different lyrics, "Street Fighting Man" is known as one of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' most politically inclined works to date. Jagger allegedly wrote it about Tariq Ali after Jagger attended a March 1968 anti-war rally at London's U.S. embassy, during which mounted police attempted to control a crowd of 25,000. He also found inspiration in the rising violence among student rioters on Paris's Left Bank, the precursor to May 1968.
So who is Tariq Ali, you may wonder. (As I did.)
Tariq Ali is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, and commentator. (...) His public profile began to grow during the Vietnam War, when he engaged in debates against the war with such figures as Henry Kissinger and Michael Stewart. As time passed, Ali became increasingly critical of American and Israeli foreign policies, and emerged as a figurehead for critics of American foreign policy across the globe. He was also a vigorous opponent of American relations with Pakistan that tended to back military dictatorships over democracy.
And since I'm already letting Wikipedia do my blogging for me, one more tid-bit:
Bruce Springsteen would comment in 1985, after including "Street Fighting Man" in the encores of some of his Born in the U.S.A. Tour shows: "That one line, 'What can a poor boy do but sing in a rock and roll band?' is one of the greatest rock and roll lines of all time. ... [The song] has that edge-of-the-cliff thing when you hit it. And it's funny; it's got humor to it."
Well, if the Boss thinks so...
Johnny Cash - "One"
Miles Davis - "Half Nelson"
Josh Rouse - "Nice To Fit In"
The Band - "Jam"
And then I got to work.
Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 12
Total minutes of music (approx.): 50
Song with the most previous plays: "One" - 6
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: I am sad. The greatest hitting catcher in the history of baseball (debatable?), and the most prolific home run hitting catcher in the history of baseball (fact), has unceremoniously retired. There was nothing more exciting than watching Mike Piazza bat, in his prime. And he helped lead the once hapless (now seemingly hapless again) Mets to the playoffs in 1999 and the World Series in 2000. My favorite Piazza moment of all time has to be his three-run home run capping a 10-run inning that helped the Mets come back from and 8-1 deficit against their arch rivals, the Braves, in July 2000. So even though you only got the back page of the NY Times sports section today, Mike, I salute you and your mighty swing. See you in the Hall in 5...
3 comments:
If we're just talking hitting, I'm not sure it's debatable. Piazza's lifetime BA is 40 points higher than Bench's. Berra might be closer - but Piazza still has him by a good measure.
Another Bishop Allen track. Hmmm...I did pick up their latest and plan to get the monthly EP's, maybe through iTunes. (Argh!)
Ah, the Stones. They have been one of the staples in my family for as long as I can remember. I can still picture my sister singing "Get Off of My Cloud" at the age of three.
Hip-hop records really could do without the skits. The problem is that it's a singles-centric genre. It's harder to make a great hip-hop album than it is to make a great rock record.
I'm still a Bench man, but Piazza does have him in numbers and hair...and Belle & Sebastian songs.
I always wondered if Piazza was aware that there's a Belle & Sebastian song named after him. I guess if he knew, he'd probably hold a press conference to explain that his tastes, you know, don't swing that way.
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