The Violent Femmes, Gnarls Barkley//Gone Daddy Gone

I’m Goin'! Gone Daddy Gone Daddy Gone! Chain Reaction Week! Yesterday’s last word was: Gone.

I’m going to be gone, daddy, gone from OSS tomorrow, so today you get double the linked songs, or more accurately, two versions of the same awesome song that work so well as the finale of Chain Reaction Week.

Not to be confused with Go Daddy (oh helllll no), Gone Daddy Gone is an amazing, amazing early 80s Violent Femmes song, written by Gordon. The song is so amazing that it spawned this second version from the also totally-solid but different-as-you-can-be-from-the-Femmes hip-hop/soul outfit Gnarls Barkley. From Wikipedia:


The lyrics borrow a complete verse from Willie Dixon's 1954 song "I Just Want To Make Love To You" (originally recorded by Muddy Waters). The Femmes give proper credit for this in the liner notes of their debut album. For this reason, the song is occasionally referred to as "Gone Daddy Gone/I Just Want To Make Love To You", as on Permanent Record: The Very Best of Violent Femmes. It features two xylophone solos.
A cover version of the song was the third single released in the United States by Gnarls Barkley, and is taken from their debut album St. Elsewhere (2006). An animated music video was also made.



Gone Daddy Gone.mp3 (Violent Femmes Version)




Gone Daddy Gone.mp3 (Gnarls Barkley Version)

When I see you,
Eyes will turn blue.
When I see you,
A thousand eyes turnin’ blue.
Cuz it’s gone, daddy, gone,
Her love is gone.
Gone, daddy, gone,
Here love is gone away.


Chain Reaction is also a 1960s band previously known as The Strangeurs, a song by Can from Soon Over Babaluma and a square dance call. Seriously—a square dance call?

Lykke Li//I'm Good, I'm Gone

Oh Hell Yes Please and Thank You: Chain Reaction Week!
Yesterday’s last word was: Good.

Sweden’s Lykke Li’s (real name: Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson, so you can see why she doesn’t go by that) first album, Youth Novel, got a lot of hype upon release. I have to say, I think it was all just that; hype.

To disagree with the “blogosphere” (I’ve always hated that term) at large, I don’t like this album. To me, it feels flat, poorly written and somewhat shoddily produced—catchy, but fluffy; mostly unremarkable. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t particularly love the “mix of soul, electro and ‘powdered-sugar pop’” (Pitchfork, duh) that her style embodies. I think, if you’re looking for good indie music coming out of Sweden, there are plenty of people doing it way better than Li.

That said, Li might have just one really, really good idea in her life and that idea, I think, is this song (no surprise that her album was produced by another one-hit-wonder Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John--maybe it’s contagious). I heard this track first, loved that sexy, bassy piano line set against her willowy-but-solid voice, thought she was awesome and got the album. Learn from my mistakes. Just download this and feel good about it. The word of the day is good and this is really good…but it’s also as good as it gets.



I'm Good, I'm Gone.mp3

You’ll be calling but I won’t be at the phone.

Chain Reaction is also a 1996 movie starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Morgan Freeman, and Fred Ward, a game show, an episode of the television series Stargate SG-1 and a BBC Radio 4 chat show. Ha.

ESG//You're No Good

Remember it’s Chain Reaction Week!
Yesterday’s last word was: You.

ESG, which, without much explanation stands for Emerald, Sapphire and Gold, was a much-sampled no-wave/post-punk band from the South Bronx consisting mostly of the Scroggins sisters and occasionally of some of their friends.

Actually, Update: Trusty old All Music Guide explains the name:

The four Scroggins sisters -- Deborah (bass, vocals), Marie (congas, vocals), Renee (vocals, guitar), and Valerie (drums) -- formed a group with the support of their mother, who bought instruments to keep her daughters busy and away from trouble; at the time, each sibling was teenaged. Basing their sound on a mutual love for James Brown, Motown, and Latin music, the sisters went through a number of name changes before finally settling on ESG. "E" stood for emerald, Valerie's birthstone; "S" stood for sapphire, Renee's birthstone; and as for "G," well, neither Deborah nor Marie had a birthstone beginning with that letter, but they did want their records to go gold. After permanently adding non-relative Tito Libran to the lineup as a conga player (some male members came and went prior to this), ESG was officially born.

I think it must be cool to be a much-sampled no-wave band. You don’t get to say that every day. “Hi. My name’s Gina. I’m in an oft-sampled now-defunct (maybe) no-wave band. Yeah, you probably already heard some of my stuff in your favorite hip-hop hits. Yes, I said, ‘no-wave.’ Yeah, I meant that.”

There’s a reason everybody likes to sample ESG and that’s because they’re AWESOME. Started in the late 70s/early 80s, the sound has a lot of weird stuff going. Analog quality, rattle-y weirdly-rhythm-ed drum lines and heavy bass characterize the sound, in addition to a unique genre mix of funk, R+B and avant garde (not so unlike the man I saw last night, although a lot more low-energy).

There’s also this very funny story, via Wikipedia:

On May 9, 2007, ESG drummer Valerie Scroggins was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on charges of taking more than $13,000 in workers' compensation payments. Scroggins, then working as a bus driver for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York), told them that she suffered a shoulder injury in September 2006. In November 2006, Scroggins went on tour with ESG, where an MTA investigator filmed her playing "drums for an hour or more and on every song the band played, doing things very similar to actions she told her employers she could not perform," according to the Brooklyn DA's press release. Scroggins asserts that her injury is legitimate and that she could not safely drive a bus.

Maybe not the smartest thing to do on her part, but doesn’t this make you hate the MTA just a little bit more (I didn’t know this feeling was possible!)!?How many “investigators” are they paying to spy on former no-wave band members, instead of just running the fucking G train? The MTA, you’re no good.



You’re No Good.mp3

But you’re no good.
You’re no good.
You are no good.
You’re no good.


Chain Reaction is also an album by Canadian singer Luba, a song by Diana Ross, covered by Steps and a 1970s band.

Mouthful of Bees//Please and Thank You

Monday --> Mail --> Bag --> Lady --> Finger --> Point --> of no Return -> to Sender
What is Monday Mail?

It seems like more and more of my friends are science nerds these days. What’s up with that? Did it just become cooler to love science (obviously, yes) or are there just more science nerds in the world these days or did I just get to be friends with more of them recently? Either way, I’m totally happy. I think it’s an interesting discipline, but it’s never been a natural strong suit for me.

That said, I thought it would be fun to celebrate the World Science Fest along with my UBER-SMART/UBER-CUTE/UBER-NERDY friends in my own little literary/music-infused way. Thus, I declare this week Chain Reaction Week at OSS. Here’s how it works: tomorrow's song will start with the last word of today’s song, and so on and so forth, forming a week-long chain of titles.

We’ll start with some mail about a very pretty (and very mannerly) song from (a painfully titled, but animal-named) band called Mouthful of Bees (YOUWCH!).

Ian from Afternoon Records says:

“Thought I'd pick your brain on the new Mouthful of Bees record. It's amazing. If you're into the whole Grizzly Bear/Animal Collective/Brian Wilson crew, I think you'll really like it.”

I listened to the album and I do like it. The music is lush, meandering and twinkly. Also, any band that has a song called Thomas Aquinas (after all, I do think Science is the new Religion) is pretty much fine with me.



Please and Thank You.mp3

MoB recently released their first album on Afternoon Records. Find out more here.

A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In layman's terms, a chain reaction is a type of reaction in chemistry and physics, in which the formation of one product leads directly to another or series of any events where each one is triggered by the previous event.