When I was a kid I thought that David Bowie (like a lot of the artists back in the 80s) was just another stuck up yuppie and a boring middle aged guy. Even though I adored 'Labyrinth' when it came out when I was 7 (I saw it at the cinema certainly more than once but I couldn't say how many times) to me I knew that it was a character in a movie I liked and not him. It wasn't til I hit 16 and took a liking to a guy in an unsigned band that I got to know that I started to actually like Bowie, as well as other people like The Who, The Kinks and the Rolling Stones to name but a few, and my interest grew from there.
As I gradually began to listen to the music and get beyond the 'hits' I found that he had such a great wealth of sounds to embrace as his musical styling shifted from album to album. He has simply been a musical treasure and I hope that there might still be something to come from him yet.
This week's song is one that I'd liked for a long time before I picked up a copy of 'Alias David Bowie' by Peter and Leni Gillman in a second-hand bookstore in Australia in 2001. I read it, cover to cover, on the flight home and by the end had a much better insight into Bowie. The song had been written about the suicide in 1985 Bowie's half-brother, Terry, who suffered from schizophrenia and it seems mental illness was a big factor on his mothers side of the family. A lot of Bowie's song lyrics, album themes and characters stemmed from this family background and his own fears of becoming another victim of the family 'curse'.
Despite the fact that the subject matter of this song is fairly bleak, I've always seen it as a song that really gives a feeling of 'release'...but maybe that's just me...
Enjoy!
David Bowie - Jump They Say
When comes the shaking man
A nation in his eyes
Striped with blood and emblazed tattoo
Streaking cathedral spire
They say
They say
They say
He has no brain
They say
He has no mood
They say
He was born again
They say
Look at him climb
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say
He has two gods
They say
He has no fear
They say
He has no eyes
They say
He has no mouth
They say hey that's really something
They feel he should get some time
I say he should watch his ass
My friend don't listen to the crowd
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
Watch out
Watch out
They say hey that's really something
They feel he should get some time
I say he should watch his ass
My friend don't listen to the crowd
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe somebody
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe somebody
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe
They say 'Jump'
Juuuuummmppp
Got to believe somebody
'Jump'
Got to believe
'Jump'
Got to believe somebody
'Jump'
Got to believe
'Jump'
Got to believe somebody
'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
They say 'Jump'
David Bowie - Jump They Say
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Song Stuck In My Head This Week - 19th September '09 - The Darkness - Dinner Lady Arms
The Darkness were the shining beacon of musical light that came to us out of the depths of Lowestoft in the glorious summer of 2003. Though they may not have been around for all that long, they left an indelible mark on the souls of many with their stunning music (not to mention Justin's flamboyant outfits!!)
Many saw them as a joke band, just a simple bit of fun, but not me. While, sure, they WERE fun and had songs featuring great plays on words and double meanings (the first song of theirs I ever heard, 'Growing On Me', being a great example of that) but I always felt that they took being fun very seriously and that, for them, this was a vocation and not a great big hoot. I still think that 'Love Is Only A Feeling' is a classic song of our times and the fact that Guns 'N' Roses (aka Axl Rose & 'friends') ripped off part of the 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' intro to use as the opening riff of the 'Chinese Democracy' album says a lot in my opinion. The Darkness were amazing.
By the winter UK tour in 2004, though, you could see it was all going awry and Frankie Poullain's departure shortly afterwards, in my opinion, sealed the fate of the band as they never seemed like the same potent force afterward. That said, their second album 'One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back' still had a heap of great songs on them, some of which I had heard at Wembley Arena at the last gig of theirs I attended. This week's song was one of them.
'Dinner Lady Arms' is a song that has been known, on several occasions, to move me to tears with the poignancy of the lyrics. The yearning for reconciliation with the one you truly love when you know that it's you who's made it fall apart. Despite masking it with lines about dinner ladies (though the staff who work dinner time at school, generally ladies, are always the ones you would seek solace and comfort in if you'd hurt yourself...a bit like the one you love when you're older so not an entirely inappropriate analogy), it shows that if you get past any issues you may have with Justin's hair or dress and then past some of the 'strange' analogies, you'll find that Justin Hawkins is a fantastic lyricist who has been grossly overlooked for all the aforementioned 'issues' that people create.
So please, ladies and gentlemen, sit back and enjoy todays song (with a rather nice home-made video someone's done!!)
The Darkness - Dinner Lady Arms
We had a good thing, it was a blast
That was a long time in the past
You went through changes & I walked away
And I have regretted that to this day
I may not always have quite so much hair
But what you saw in me will hopefully always be there
I'll never hurt you again, I swear
So put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
I couldn't figure out where your figure had gone
I thought that I could live without you honey
I was so wrong, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Your dinner lady arms
Forgive and forget I caused you some pain
Find it in your heart to start again
I know I'll never be your Mr. Right
But I'm happy to be your Mr. That'll Do For Tonight
I'll never let you out of my sight
So put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
I couldn't figure out where your figure had gone
I thought that I could live without you honey
I was so wrong, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Huh!
I may be light years past on my sell-by date
But there's life in the old dog yet honey
It's not too late, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Many saw them as a joke band, just a simple bit of fun, but not me. While, sure, they WERE fun and had songs featuring great plays on words and double meanings (the first song of theirs I ever heard, 'Growing On Me', being a great example of that) but I always felt that they took being fun very seriously and that, for them, this was a vocation and not a great big hoot. I still think that 'Love Is Only A Feeling' is a classic song of our times and the fact that Guns 'N' Roses (aka Axl Rose & 'friends') ripped off part of the 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love' intro to use as the opening riff of the 'Chinese Democracy' album says a lot in my opinion. The Darkness were amazing.
By the winter UK tour in 2004, though, you could see it was all going awry and Frankie Poullain's departure shortly afterwards, in my opinion, sealed the fate of the band as they never seemed like the same potent force afterward. That said, their second album 'One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back' still had a heap of great songs on them, some of which I had heard at Wembley Arena at the last gig of theirs I attended. This week's song was one of them.
'Dinner Lady Arms' is a song that has been known, on several occasions, to move me to tears with the poignancy of the lyrics. The yearning for reconciliation with the one you truly love when you know that it's you who's made it fall apart. Despite masking it with lines about dinner ladies (though the staff who work dinner time at school, generally ladies, are always the ones you would seek solace and comfort in if you'd hurt yourself...a bit like the one you love when you're older so not an entirely inappropriate analogy), it shows that if you get past any issues you may have with Justin's hair or dress and then past some of the 'strange' analogies, you'll find that Justin Hawkins is a fantastic lyricist who has been grossly overlooked for all the aforementioned 'issues' that people create.
So please, ladies and gentlemen, sit back and enjoy todays song (with a rather nice home-made video someone's done!!)
The Darkness - Dinner Lady Arms
We had a good thing, it was a blast
That was a long time in the past
You went through changes & I walked away
And I have regretted that to this day
I may not always have quite so much hair
But what you saw in me will hopefully always be there
I'll never hurt you again, I swear
So put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
I couldn't figure out where your figure had gone
I thought that I could live without you honey
I was so wrong, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Your dinner lady arms
Forgive and forget I caused you some pain
Find it in your heart to start again
I know I'll never be your Mr. Right
But I'm happy to be your Mr. That'll Do For Tonight
I'll never let you out of my sight
So put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
I couldn't figure out where your figure had gone
I thought that I could live without you honey
I was so wrong, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Huh!
I may be light years past on my sell-by date
But there's life in the old dog yet honey
It's not too late, put your
Arms around me
Your dinner lady arms
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Song Stuck In My Head This Week - 12th September '09 - The Wildhearts - The Only One
Here I am with an artist who I've featured before but they recently released their new album 'Chutzpah!' and it's been so amazing I've had it on loop for most of the last couple of weeks. This song, in particular, stuck itself firmly in my head.
While I will always firmly believe that their lead singer Ginger is one of the finest singer-songwriters to ever come out of this country, this song isn't actually written or sung by him! It was, in fact, written and sung by bass player Scott Sorry but fits in just fine with all the other material. This song sounds like it belongs in a great, intelligent romantic movie soundtrack (for the kind of film think current GREAT movie '(500) Days Of Summer'). It really brings in the essence of loving someone so much that no one else matters. I really can't wait to hear this, and the rest of the tracks from 'Chutzpah!', live when I see them on their tour which starts on the 17th September in Brighton.
If you want to catch them, here's where you can find them (and you really should go check them out):
17/09/09: Concorde 2, Brighton
18/09/09: O2 Academy, Bristol
19/09/09: Rock City , Nottingham
20/09/09: Waterfront, Norwich
21/09/09: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
22/09/09: Phoenix, Exeter
24/09/09: O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
25/09/09: The Sugarmill, Stoke-On-Trent
26/09/09: Cockpit, Leeds
27/09/09: Garage, Glasgow
28/09/09: O2 Academy, Newcastle
30/09/09: Club Academy, Manchester
01/10/09: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
The Wildhearts - The Only One
These are the words that I've saved
Saved for the perfect day but they won't get used
If I keep waiting on you
This is the way that I feel
I wish that it wasn't real but it's more than true
I can't keep waiting on you
So open your eyes and see where I'm standing
Straight in your line of sight so you
Should make up your mind and do what it is that you need to
Cos I'm not leaving
You are the only one that I think about
When I'm down and out and miles away
You are the only one when we're falling out
I want to make it better
There are the words that I should have told you
All of the times that I just ignored you
I would give you everything I have
So let's just start all over again
Now that the games we've played
Were stipped down and thrown away I can clearly see
That you've been waiting on me
So open your eyes and see where I'm standing
Straight in your line of sight so you
Should make up your mind and do what it is that you need to
Cos I'm not leaving
You are the only one that I think about
When I'm down and out and miles away
You are the only one when we're falling out
I want to make it better
There are the words that I should have told you
All of the times that I just ignored you
I would give you everything I have
So let's just start all over again
Bygones are bygones
And they should stay that way
We've got the world at our fingers
Let's stick it back together
We could make it better
We could make it better
You are the only one that I think about
When I'm down and out and miles away
You are the only one when we're falling out
I want to make it better
There are the words that I should have told you
All of the times that I just ignored you
I would give you everything I have
So let's just start all over again
Now here's a youtube clip with the track (only a still shot with music over-played but it's the best they had) enjoy!
While I will always firmly believe that their lead singer Ginger is one of the finest singer-songwriters to ever come out of this country, this song isn't actually written or sung by him! It was, in fact, written and sung by bass player Scott Sorry but fits in just fine with all the other material. This song sounds like it belongs in a great, intelligent romantic movie soundtrack (for the kind of film think current GREAT movie '(500) Days Of Summer'). It really brings in the essence of loving someone so much that no one else matters. I really can't wait to hear this, and the rest of the tracks from 'Chutzpah!', live when I see them on their tour which starts on the 17th September in Brighton.
If you want to catch them, here's where you can find them (and you really should go check them out):
17/09/09: Concorde 2, Brighton
18/09/09: O2 Academy, Bristol
19/09/09: Rock City , Nottingham
20/09/09: Waterfront, Norwich
21/09/09: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
22/09/09: Phoenix, Exeter
24/09/09: O2 Academy 2, Birmingham
25/09/09: The Sugarmill, Stoke-On-Trent
26/09/09: Cockpit, Leeds
27/09/09: Garage, Glasgow
28/09/09: O2 Academy, Newcastle
30/09/09: Club Academy, Manchester
01/10/09: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
The Wildhearts - The Only One
These are the words that I've saved
Saved for the perfect day but they won't get used
If I keep waiting on you
This is the way that I feel
I wish that it wasn't real but it's more than true
I can't keep waiting on you
So open your eyes and see where I'm standing
Straight in your line of sight so you
Should make up your mind and do what it is that you need to
Cos I'm not leaving
You are the only one that I think about
When I'm down and out and miles away
You are the only one when we're falling out
I want to make it better
There are the words that I should have told you
All of the times that I just ignored you
I would give you everything I have
So let's just start all over again
Now that the games we've played
Were stipped down and thrown away I can clearly see
That you've been waiting on me
So open your eyes and see where I'm standing
Straight in your line of sight so you
Should make up your mind and do what it is that you need to
Cos I'm not leaving
You are the only one that I think about
When I'm down and out and miles away
You are the only one when we're falling out
I want to make it better
There are the words that I should have told you
All of the times that I just ignored you
I would give you everything I have
So let's just start all over again
Bygones are bygones
And they should stay that way
We've got the world at our fingers
Let's stick it back together
We could make it better
We could make it better
You are the only one that I think about
When I'm down and out and miles away
You are the only one when we're falling out
I want to make it better
There are the words that I should have told you
All of the times that I just ignored you
I would give you everything I have
So let's just start all over again
Now here's a youtube clip with the track (only a still shot with music over-played but it's the best they had) enjoy!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Song Stuck In My Head This Week - 5th September '09 - Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should Have Come Over
This week the song I have had stuck in my head is one by the greatest artist I've been blessed to discover, yet one who I will never have the fortune of seeing live (unless they invent time machines).
For me, if I was told tomorrow I could only own one album for the whole of my life, then Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' would be what I'd pick. The album is so exquisitely constructed with magic, beauty and charm oozing out of every note - whether it be from an instrument or from Jeff's own amazing vocal style. Though Jeff had the same striking beauty as his father Tim, it was his his musical ability and fascinating singing style - something he also shared with his father - which carried him beyond the realm of a 'poster boy' and into the realms of critical acclaim.
From the opening slow build of 'Mojo Pin' through to the intimate intake of breath half way through the album at the beginning of 'Hallelujah' (his acclaimed cover of the Leonard Cohen track), to the final notes of 'Dream Brother' the album is, min my opinion, perfect and only improves with every listen and leaves you feeling as if we were seriously robbed of something special with his untimely passing in '97 just 6 months before his 31st birthday.
This particular track is the one that found it's way into my mind this week and stuck with me, I hope you enjoy it (and if you do, go buy 'Grace'...I think everyone should own a copy!!)
Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should Have Come Over
Looking out the door
I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners
Parading in a wake of sad relations
As their shoes fill up with water
Maybe I'm too young
To keep good love from going wrong
But tonight, you're on my mind so
You never know
Broken down and hungry for your love
With no way to feed it
Where are you tonight?
Child, you know how much I need it.
Too young to hold on
And too old to just break free and run
Sometimes a man gets carried away,
When he feels like he should be having his fun
Much too blind to see the damage he's done
Sometimes a man must awake to find that, really,
He has no-one...
So I'll wait for you... And I'll burn
Will I ever see your sweet return?
Oh, will I ever learn?
Oh, Lover, you should've come over
Cause it's not too late.
Lonely is the room the bed is made
The open window lets the rain in
Burning in the corner is the only one
Who dreams he had you with him
My body turns and yearns for a sleep
That won't ever come
It's never over,
My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It's never over,
all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her...
It's never over,
All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter...
It's never over,
She's a tear that hangs inside my soul forever...
But maybe I'm just too young to keep good love
From going wrong
Oh... lover you should've come over...
Yes, and I feel too young to hold on
I'm much too old to break free and run
Too deaf, dumb, and blind
To see the damage I've done
Sweet lover, you should've come over
Oh, love, well I'll wait for you
Lover, you should've come over
'Cause it's not too late.
For me, if I was told tomorrow I could only own one album for the whole of my life, then Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' would be what I'd pick. The album is so exquisitely constructed with magic, beauty and charm oozing out of every note - whether it be from an instrument or from Jeff's own amazing vocal style. Though Jeff had the same striking beauty as his father Tim, it was his his musical ability and fascinating singing style - something he also shared with his father - which carried him beyond the realm of a 'poster boy' and into the realms of critical acclaim.
From the opening slow build of 'Mojo Pin' through to the intimate intake of breath half way through the album at the beginning of 'Hallelujah' (his acclaimed cover of the Leonard Cohen track), to the final notes of 'Dream Brother' the album is, min my opinion, perfect and only improves with every listen and leaves you feeling as if we were seriously robbed of something special with his untimely passing in '97 just 6 months before his 31st birthday.
This particular track is the one that found it's way into my mind this week and stuck with me, I hope you enjoy it (and if you do, go buy 'Grace'...I think everyone should own a copy!!)
Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should Have Come Over
Looking out the door
I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners
Parading in a wake of sad relations
As their shoes fill up with water
Maybe I'm too young
To keep good love from going wrong
But tonight, you're on my mind so
You never know
Broken down and hungry for your love
With no way to feed it
Where are you tonight?
Child, you know how much I need it.
Too young to hold on
And too old to just break free and run
Sometimes a man gets carried away,
When he feels like he should be having his fun
Much too blind to see the damage he's done
Sometimes a man must awake to find that, really,
He has no-one...
So I'll wait for you... And I'll burn
Will I ever see your sweet return?
Oh, will I ever learn?
Oh, Lover, you should've come over
Cause it's not too late.
Lonely is the room the bed is made
The open window lets the rain in
Burning in the corner is the only one
Who dreams he had you with him
My body turns and yearns for a sleep
That won't ever come
It's never over,
My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It's never over,
all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her...
It's never over,
All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter...
It's never over,
She's a tear that hangs inside my soul forever...
But maybe I'm just too young to keep good love
From going wrong
Oh... lover you should've come over...
Yes, and I feel too young to hold on
I'm much too old to break free and run
Too deaf, dumb, and blind
To see the damage I've done
Sweet lover, you should've come over
Oh, love, well I'll wait for you
Lover, you should've come over
'Cause it's not too late.
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