Neil Young//Four Strong Winds

This used to be a music blog.

But it hasn't been for quite some time. Why?

1. The music business has changed.
2. The Internet has changed.
3. My life has changed.

And, so, it is with a heavy heart that I officially put One Sweet Song to bed.

But wait, you don't think I'd leave you empty-handed, do you? Because I wouldn't.

You can still listen to all your OSS favorites:

I've collected 480 tracks featured on this blog over the last four years, in order, on a Spotify archive playlist I made just for you.

This playlist is one day long. Let the jams begin! Find a song you like? Hit search on the blog to read the story of the song.

I've also made a list of all the songs that aren't on Spotify (it's kind of a relief that not everything's on Spotify, isn't it?).

Please take the time to dig these songs up and pay for them, because they are awesome.

Also, while I may be done here, I'm not done. I keep my personal site pretty updated with my latest work. I also recently contributed a piece about living through storms in NY to The Rumpus and some thoughts on Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" to the excellent long form music blog, One Week One Band. I'll have more music writing up there very soon.

Finally, I want to leave you with one last song.

"Four Strong Winds" was originally written in 1961 by a Canadian songwriter named Ian Tyson of the group The Brothers Four, but I'll always consider Neil Young's version to be the definitive one.
 
This song holds a special place in my heart. It was what we used to sing at closing campfire at my childhood summer camp. At the end of the final session of every summer, all the campers and counselors would gather around a giant bonfire and sing together off crumpled or many-times-folded photo-copied lyric sheets. Everyone, from the oldest camp director to the youngest camper, would be weeping, cuddled up to their closest friends as the impending fall chill crept silent through Catskills air.

When I hear the first chords of this song, the memories I have of singing it summer and after summer all through my youth still instantly bring tears to my eyes. I have been programmed in a Pavlovian manner to respond to this melody with big, sloppy, nostalgic tears. I think I can safely say that this is the song I want played at my funeral. But not played. I want everyone to sing it. Take note, God forbid.

It seems a bit silly to say it, but this blog has been with me through thick and thin, through the fat and the lean of the past four years of my life. While I may have never met many of you who read it, I felt a genuine connection to you through our shared love of songwriting, music and the people who make it. While I know that it's time for the sun to set on One Sweet Song, I'll miss sharing songs with you.

Now, I want you to imagine that we are all huddled around a campfire together. Crickets are chipping softly in the background. Lightening bugs are twinkling in the trees. Someone is quietly strumming a single acoustic guitar. We put our arms around each others' shoulders and start singing:

Four Strong Winds.mp3

If the good times are all gone,
Then I'm bound for movin' on.
I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way.

The Beach Boys//Fun, Fun, Fun

A situation came up tonight that reminded me of this song. In fact, it's probably a bad sign that there are a few ongoing situations in the general vicinity of my life that correlate well to this song. Of course, it would be incriminating for me to tell you who "daddy" is (hint: not my dad) and what the "Thunderbird" is, but I will say that in at least one of the aforementioned scenarios, I may be referring to an actual car.

Is it just me or does, "Your dad took your car away? It's ok. I'll take care of you now..." feel closely related to the ownership/dependancy that transfers from father to son-in-law in traditional ideas about marriage? I'm not even going to touch the extreme patriarchal subcontext of this song with a ten foot pole of post-wave feminist criticism . It was a different time. But let's just say this: girl was not going to work and save her money so she could buy her own T-bird. Girl was just gonna let Boyfriend drive her around and take her out to burgers. Unrelated Sidenote: I imagine them to be In 'N' Out Burgers. Thoughts?

Apparently this song was based on a true story. From Wikipedia:

The song was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love about Shirley England, the daughter of the owner of radio station KNAK in Salt Lake City, Utah (not to be confused with the call letters now assigned to a station in Delta, Utah) where she worked as a teenager. She borrowed her father's Ford Thunderbird to go study at the library. Instead of driving to the library, she ended up at a hamburger stand. When her father found out, he took the car away. The next day she was at the radio station complaining about it to the staff while The Beach Boys were visiting and they were inspired to write this song.

On a lighter note, I think this may actually be one of my favorite Beach Boys songs. That killer Chuck Berry homage riff at the beginning. Makes me want to surf on a golden wave of rock n roll.



Fun, Fun, Fun.mp3

Well, the girls can't stand her,
cause she walks and looks and drives like an ace, now.
She makes the Indy 500 look like a Roman chariot race, now.
A lot of guys try to catch her, but she leads them on a wild goose chase, now.
And she'll have fun, fun, fun til her daddy takes the T-bird away.

The Turtles, The Lightning Seeds//You Showed Me

Alright, all you casual music fans. Today is your day here at OSS. Behold: The Holiday Shopping Guide for People Who Think Music is Just OK.

Look, I know that for the most part, if you're reading this blog you're either (a) someone who is actually pretty into music or (b) a close personal friend (hi, Kot! hi, Karl!). But as people who are pretty insane about music know, almost everyone else in this world is not as insane about it as we are. And this is fine. We don't have to force our relatives to accept our gifts of obsolete 7"s and obscure chillwave CDs when really all they wanted was a nice pair of wool socks for lounging around the house (do 95% of mothers really just want these?). ALSO, if you're reading this, you might be scrambling around trying to get in your last minute online orders before it gets too late for shipping.

Hence, I give you this list of awesome "other" things to get for people (which are, in many cases, also made by awesome people). Ready, go:

Heroes of Science
Because, like music, science is another thing some folks seem to get all nerdy and passionate about. I'm guessing someone you have to buy a gift for would be pretty overcome with ironic or non-ironic appreciation of an ornament featuring Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking or Jane Goodall. Collect 'em all to turn your tree into a genetically modified super tree that can calculate complicated physics equations before you can say, "yuletide."
HoS are made by my homies Sharon and Jon and were previously featured here.


Grammar Love Letterpress Cards
Grammar is yet another thing people tend to nerd out about hardcore. I added hardcore to the end of that sentence to avoid a dangling participle. As the child of a couple of people in the journalism business, we actually had a family car named Gerund, which is why I'm really looking forward to pairing some of these with some of my holiday gifts. The cards are beautiful, hilarious and made my friend Kot, to whom I am entrusting the serious deed of pressing my own wedding invitations. To whom. That's right. I said it.


Tunnel Vision
I feel like it's necessary for me to show a little hometown pride here. These mugs and cheese plates are made for New York/New Jersoids or vice versa, or vice versa TWICE EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. IN. BUMPER-to-BUMPER TRAFFIC! The only things I've ever seen that could make getting stuck in the tunnel fun.


Bacon Magnets and Mustache Pen
Fred Flare has set up the most relevant death match of this holiday season: Bacon vs. Mustache. What I'd like to do is call for world peace. Why can't hipsters and jokesters bond together and live in Baconstache harmony? Actually, that does sound pretty gross.


Daria: The Complete Animated Series DVD
Give the gift of 90s sarcasm with this set that everyone in the entire world was waiting for for years. A and I recently started rewatching some of these and they are so hilarious. This DVD set doesn't include all the original music, but you know you'll still be laughing til you cry when the Morgandorfer family eats poisonous berries that send them running around the woods in search of Jake's spirit animal or when Jane, Daria and Trent don't quite make it to Alternapalooza. Mystic Spiral!

In fact, today's song(s) are inspired by that very episode, where a cover of the original track plays in the background toward the end.

The most well-known version of the song was recorded in 1968 by The Turtles. It was written by Jim McGuinn and Gene Clark of The Byrds. It was original composed to be a much faster song, but a broken harmonium forced The Turtles to record it slow, which actually made it much more powerful.

The cover included in Daria is from 1997 by The Lightning Seeds, a UK band I really don't know much about. They added just a little bit of disaffected edge to the song, which really brought it to a different place. I like them both.



You Showed Me.mp3 (Turtles)



You Showed Me.mp3 (Lightening Seeds)

If you or someone you know thinks music is more than just OK, check out the OSS Holiday Shopping Guide for People Who Love Music.

The Mamas and The Papas//California Dreamin'

Hey guys. I'm going to be taking a few days off. I bet you can guess why.

Until then, enjoy this:



California Dreamin'.mp3

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey.
I been for a walk on a winter's day.
I'd be safe and warm
If I was in LA.

Harry Nilsson, Ron Sexsmith//Good Old Desk

Today is my last day at the company I’ve been working for for almost four years. Crazy. I didn’t really expect it to feel traumatic, but it does a little. I suppose I’m terribly nostalgic under this thin veneer of snark when it comes down to it.

What ended up being the weirdest part was packing up my desk, so I thought I could discuss this song, a perfect ode to the virtues of the desk, and by extension, the dependable pleasure that can come with a job well done.

The original version of this song was written and recorded by Harry Nilsson (do you guys remember the unofficial Nilsson Week?) on his 1968 Aerial Ballet album. Speaking of work, the album was named after the highwire circus act of his grandparents. Speaking of the album, it features many Nilsson gems (and one tremendously popular cover—“Everybody’s Talking”), including the fantastic “One.”

An amusing tidbit from Wikipedia:
Guest-starring on Playboy After Dark, Nilsson told host Hugh Hefner the song was really about its initials... "G-O-D". Even though Nilsson later admitted that he was just joking around, it is still commonly believed that the song actually is about God.

It’s obviously not about God. It obviously is about a desk. The most wonderful desk, in its way.

I also came across this cover and very much enjoyed it, so thought I would post it here too. My stepbrother first turned me on to Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith when I was in high school. I accidently saw him play a solo show in a church in Montclair, NJ, which was very moving. I think he does a great job with this tune…both versions are really solid in different ways.



Good Old Desk.mp3 (Harry Nilsson Version)



Good Old Desk.mp3 (Ron Sexsmith Version)

Such a comfort to know
It’s got no place to go.
It’s always there.
It’s the one thing I’ve got.
A huge success,
My good old desk.

The Excellents//Coney Island Baby

Today, A and I are going to get engagement pictures taken at Coney Island. Gay, right? But still, cute. You have to say, it's cute!

Coney Island is a magical place to me, filled with all my favorite things. Skee Ball. Soft Serve. Ocean Waves. Cotton Candy. Roller Coasters. Photo Booths. Freaks. Beer. And it's in New York City! And it's accessible by subway! Is it heaven? Yes! It is!

This song is about Coney Island and also about love, so basically it's exactly about my day today. And it's Doo Wop. Is it heaven? Yes! It is!

There's not much known about this group, but what there is to know can be found here.



Coney Island Baby.mp3

You're my Coney Island baby.
You're so precious and so sweet.
Since the day I met you,
My life has been complete.
You're my everything.
Soon, you'll wear my ring.
You're my girl.

Marvin Gaye//How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)

All you need is love Sweetness Week.

As everyone knows, there is nothing sweeter than love, except maybe Motown. That's why I decided to end the week with this jam by the legendary Marvin Gaye.

This song was a classic 60s Holland–Dozier–Holland composition. Marvin Gaye recorded this version in 1964 in Hitsville USA Studio A. with background vox by The Andantes and instrumentation by The Funk Brothers. James Taylor made a shitty easy listening version a decade later. Oh my god, it sucks.

I don't know if I told you, but my lady's going away to grad school in a few weeks and I'm feeling kinda bummed about it. I'd like to send this one out to her, because I want to stop and thank you, baby.



How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).mp3

I needed the shelter of someone's arms,
And there you were.
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs,
And there you were.
With sweet love and devotion,
deeply touching my emotion.
I want to stop and thank you, baby.
I just want to stop and thank you, baby.

How sweet it is to be loved by you

I close my eyes at night,
Wondering where would I be without you in my life.
Everything I did was just a bore.
Everywhere I went it seems I'd been there before.
But you brightened up for me all of my days
With a love so sweet in so many ways.
I want to stop and thank you, baby.
I want to stop and thank you, baby.

How sweet it is to be loved by you

Love and Chocolate: Some researchers believe chocolate cravings have something to do with serotonin, a brain chemical that makes us feel happy and relaxed. Recent studies in neuroscience have indicated that as people fall in love, the brain consistently releases a certain set of chemicals, including serotonin, which stimulates the brain's pleasure center. Coincidence? I don't think so.

MC5//Kick Out the Jams

The MC5 always remind me of this one professor I had in college who I totally fucking hated. He taught an American Cultures class on American Counter Culture: Beats, Hippies and Punks, which, in theory, should have been the best thing ever. Was it? No. Why? Because this dude was a sad washed up wannabe and all he could do was name drop his famous friends and tell us to REVOLT! AGAINST! THE! SYSTEM! while wearing expensive professor hiking boots and listening to a sparkly new ipod.

However, there were some high points (no pun intended) in his class and these always came when he decided to ditch the preaching and just tell us wacky stories from his youth. One of my favorites was the one about how he and a friend pretended to work for Con-Ed and blocked off a few key NYC exits, thus messing up the whole traffic grid of Manhattan. In another, which was very complicated but very awesome, he pretended to be a radio personality and got involved in all the controversy surrounding 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and John Sinclair’s arrest. It was wild.

I guess what I’m really trying to say here and not saying at all is that the MC5 rule. They were an amazing bridge between the end of hippie-era rock and the beginning of PUNK!. Their music sounds like a sponge for the political and cultural unrest that was happening at the time. It is fucking rad. KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!



Kick Out the Jams.mp3

Let me be who I am
And let me kick out the jam.
Yes, kick out the jams!
I done kicked ‘em out!

The Velvet Underground//Stephanie Says

Hey sweeties. I’m going on a little hiatus. Until July 19th, this blog will be quiet, as my internet supply will become spotty and/or borrowed. I’ll be in Alaska. And you know what Lou Reed says about Alaska.



Stephanie Says.mp3

But she's not afraid to die.
The people all call her Alaska.

France Gall//Laisse Tomber Les Filles, April March//Chick Habit

Watching But I’m A Cheerleader last weekend also reminded me of this song, which is amazing.

The original version was composed by Serge Gainsbourg (father of Charlotte Gainsbourg) and performed by France Gall. It roughly translates to “Leave the Girls Alone,” an obvious plea to a boyfriend or ex to stop fucking around. It’s a classic “you’ll get yours” song. There’s a full translation here.

Indie popster April March (who was born a year after the original version of this song came out) did two cover versions, one in French and one in English, which appeared in BIAC and also Tarantino’s Death Proof. Apparently March (aka Elinor Blake) was also an animator on Ren and Stimpy? Who is this awesome person? Je ne sais qui.



Laisse Tomber Les Filles.mp3




Chick Habit.mp3

Hang up the chick habit.
Hang it up, daddy,
Or you’ll never get another fix.

Jimmy Smith//Burning Spear

Jimmy Smith aka The Incredible Jimmy Smith was an expert Hammond B-3 organist from Philly. He played a very unique brand of Jazz that I instantly liked the first time I heard it, which was when I was young, because Smith is yet another Dad pick. He also played with a number of late great musicans. Frank Sinatra? Check. You know that Organ solo in Michael Jackson's "Bad?" Yep, that's Jimmy Smith.

When I was about 15 or 16, Dad took Sean and I to see Smith at The Blue Note. It was probably 1999 or 2000. Smith was already in his 70s. He looked like he was about to keel over and die, and yet, gave an incredibly spry and upbeat performance, even using some of his energy to berate audience members. He died a few years later at age 76.

Also, this is one of my favorite album covers ever.



Burning Spear.mp3

Check out a video of Smith playing live here.

Dee Dee Warwick//You're No Good

Ok, so Good (Weather) Week, might be turning into Premature April Heat Wave Week and that’s, well, no good. But, what are you gonna do? A month ago, it was snowing.

For a song called “No Good,” this is pretty delightful—double tracked vocals that peak a little in that awesome fuzzy 60s analog sound, that super hot overdriven guitar that comes in about halfway through and one hell of a rhythm section! Ohh, baby. Bestill my heart.

This is another track from the excellent Girl Group Sounds comp, which I discussed a bit back in February. This might come up at least one more time this week. Turns out Girl Groups were really into the word “good.”

Dee Dee Warwick (or Delia Mae Warrick) (and yes, sister of Dionne Warwick and cousin of Whitney Houston) repped for The Bricks back in the 60s and 70s. She started singing in the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ in the late 50s, forming a gospel group with Dionne and another famous relative, Cissy Houston, called The Gospelaires. By the early 60s, she was cutting a solo record for Jubilee Records. By the early 70s, she was on Atlantic. Sadly, Dee Dee died in 2008 at the age of 63 after a long struggle with narcotics addiction.



You're No Good.mp3

I broke a heart
Who’s gentle and true.
I left a boy for someone like you.
I beg his forgiveness on bended knee
But I wouldn’t blame him if he said to me,
You’re no good, you’re no good
Baby, you’re no good.

“Good” is one of those words that grade school teachers make verboten in long formal essays. It’s so unspecific that it can mean everything from morally excellent to high quality to well-behaved to genuine, it’s understandable why this word gets banned. On the other hand, we have not learned our lesson and we will continue to have a Good Week.

The Four Tops//Bernadette

I had a pretty weird night last night. First, I was at an event put on by my girlfriend's theater company. Not to be name-droppy, but it was such a weird mix of people, I kind of have to spell it out. Ad Rock (Beastie Boys), Anna Clumsky (My Girl) and Kathleen Hanna (Duh) were all there. It was kind of like having a weird dream where you're at a party with your boyfriend from grade school, Michael Stipe, your Great Aunt Joan and Mr. T, but you just can't figure out what these people are doing in the same place. Of course, this was all sans the part where you realize that you're naked or that you're driving a car and you don't know how to drive or that your teeth are falling out. Thank god.

Later, A. and I ran into her friend in the Hoyt station. It quickly became clear that no local A/C train was coming, so we decided to share a cab. We dropped off her friend and headed to my house. As we were getting out, the cabbie started asking which of us was single. I'm thinking, "hmm, the fact that we were just making out didn't tip you off?"
"Uhm...neither of us," I said.
He replied with, "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?"
We were like, "uh? No."
He then announced that he was the Match Maker Cabbie and excitedly began to show us pictures of various appearances on talk shows and other soft news network television programs. You know you're living in a great city when your cabbie has been on The Today Show.

Anyway, there was a DJ after the event last night and he played this song, which has always been a jukebox favorite amongst my friends, mainly so everyone can yell that big giant "Burnadette" that happens at roughly 2:38.

In my opinion, most Four Tops songs kind of sound the same, but that doesn't stop them from being awesome. Something I really love about this song specifically are the background vox. They are so intricate and perfect.

Also, I should point out that our brother song-a-day blog, Daily Beatz, has also covered this song and at least one other that I can think of. This must mean they are truly great. In order to help you find these songs, I'm instituting a new tag called OSS DB X-OVER.



Bernadette.mp3

Bernadette, people are searchin' for the kind of love that we possess.
Some go on searchin' their whole life through and never find the love I've found in you.

Big Brother and the Holding Company//Coo Coo

This morning I woke up with “Mercedes-Benz” in my head and sort of took it as a sign.

Here is a list of the things that Janis Joplin reminds me of, in no order:

-Being in San Francisco
-Jackie Jormp-Jomp
-The best thing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
-Beth Ditto (or rather, the other way around)
-Drugs
-Leonard Cohen’s “The Chelsea Hotel”
-My dad telling me, over and over again, how Big Brother and The Holding Company (see below) was a much better band than the Kozmic Blues Band

I think this song is about some kind of beautiful but cruel love-killing bird with a silly name, although I’m sure they were all on so many hallucinogens that it’s kind of hard to tell. Regardless, it is righteous in that one-minute-fifty-nine-second-thrash-around-your-bedroom way.



Coo Coo.mp3

Every time that she passes,
My true love says goodbye.

Toots and the Maytals, Sublime//54-46

Pat and I played this song the last time we DJed, which got me thinking about it. Then, Mary asked about the Sublime cover, which got me thinking about that. Then, I started thinking (all this thinking!) about how I owed you an extra song to make up for my crazy schedule.

As per covers, the original version of this by Jamaican reggae legends Toots and the Maytals is WAY, WAY better. TatMs (originally just called The Maytals and led by Frederick "Toots" Hibbert) recorded this version in 1969. The song is about Toots’ time in prison, which he served after being arrested for marijuana possession.

The 90s AlternaSkaPunk outfit Sublime covered the song on their classic 40 Oz. to Freedom album, which I enjoyed abundantly in the late middle school and early high school period of my life. Some people hate Sublime, but I still kinda love ‘em (I Am Not Ashamed) and was not afraid to blast this album from my porch during my Ann Arbor days.

I heard a rumor that the band was still touring, but I doubt they could be very good, as the late singer/guitarist Brad Nowell was really who kept them sounding interesting.



54-46 Was My Number.mp3 (Toots Version)



54-46 That's My Number/Ball And Chain.mp3 (Sublime Version)

54 46 was my number.
Right now, someone else has that number.

Mohammed Rafi//Jaan Pehechaan Ho

Lately, I've been going back to some of my old staples. Life's been a little tumultuous and when that happens, I find that listening to favorites from my youth is kind of a soothing thing. Also, I had lunch at an Indian restaurant in midtown with my mom today. Music from my teenage years and Indian food with my mom are the true definition of comfort to me.

This all brings me to this song. When I was a kid, my favorite songwriter was Aimee Mann, and, though I sometimes find her new stuff to be cheesy, I still think she may be one of my favorite songwriters. Few can pen melodies and lyrics as solid as hers.

Of course, Aimee Mann reminds me of Ghost World (she has a song inspired by the incredible Dan Clowes comic, just like I have a tattoo inspired by it (yes, it was that much of a life changer))...and thinking of Ghost World, the book, brings me to Ghost World, the movie, which, in turns, brings me to this song.

In the film version, Enid watches this video, from a Bollywood film Gumnaam, and dances, as the opening credits roll.

Although his name is relatively unknown here in the states, Mohammed Rafi is an incredibly famous Indian singer, whose built a career which spanned five decades on creating successful Bollywood soundtracks. Rafi was so beloved that his funeral in Mumbai (Bombay) was one of the largest ever, with over 10,000 people in attendance.



Jaan Pehechaan Ho.mp3

Jaan Pehechaan Ho!

The Fabulettes//Try the Worrying Way

Anyone with even a mild interest in pop music should probably consider investing in the excellent One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found compilation released by Rhino. These beautiful four discs of rare and not-as-rare girl group tracks are actually packaged in a hat box. I shit you not.

From the Amazon’s description:

Girl groups have enchanted humankind since the era of the ancient Greeks, when legend has it the Sirens attempted to lure wayfarers Odysseus and Jason to their fates; Persephone's chanteuses would eventually even lose a battle of the bands to the Muses. A couple millennia later, female singers would become a dominant force in the pop and rock of the ‘60s, the era anthologized on this four-disc, 120-track collection from Rhino.

This song is about worrying. In this case, the worry is focused around a bad boyfriend. But, let me confess that I’ve been worrying about a lot of stuff lately. Maybe it’s winter madness (thanks, 30 Rock) or maybe it’s just mid-twenties anxiety, but I can’t stop worrying. I’m not going to list all the things I worry about. It would be too long and too sad, but suffice to say, you are not alone if you feel this way too. We are all worrying.

Speaking of sad, general anxiety doesn’t even come close to being as sad as this song’s pre-feminist context. Girl loves boy. Boy cheats on girl. Well, that sucks, but at least girl is losing weight (without taking Metrecal!) fretting over it. Lame.

Too bad about the offensiveness of the situation, because a. ladies, I know you’ve been there (whether you are freaking out over a boy or a girl) and b. this song is so rad. I can’t find anything at all about these Fabulettes (instead I keep getting some kind of 90s girl group parody—-gross). Regardless, they are quite fabulous!



Try the Worrying Way.mp3

I don’t count calories.
I don’t exercise.
I just wonder what woman my man’s been with
When he tells me he’s been out with the guys.

Marvin Gaye//Can I Get a Witness?

I am currently blogging live from Jury Duty, at a courthouse on the corner of Fulton and Adams in Brooklyn, NY. Or at least, I am live at the time of me typing this. I can't actually post it live, because Blogger is blocked on this network. How they decided to block Blogger, but leave Facebook, Twitter, and a host of other questionable sites open, well, I have no idea. But, as a result, you are getting this post on a delay.

Jury Duty is not my favorite thing. You mostly just wait around in a gray institutional room with a bunch of other unhappy citizens. A few highlights so far:

-A video about Jury Duty (they had one of these in NJ too--equally hilarious and dated) which appears to have been put together by a low budget just-out-of-film-school kid. My favorite part was the "Trial by Ordeal" section (it was meta, since the video itself was a trial by ordeal). Some dudes in beards and rags threw a bound and gagged man into the water to see if he would float or sink. Judges of the olden times or angry Williamsburg hipsters?

-The guy running the orientation invited everyone up who couldn't speak English and then berated them, saying "if you can't speak English, how did you understand what I just said to you? You're not getting out of this!"

-The crappy one-step-below-gas-station-mart instant coffee machine.

Anyway, I thought I would bring you a song that is somewhat pertinent to the judicial system today. Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness?" is actually about wanting someone to witness a bad relationship and stand up for you, but hey, there are lots of trials that require witnesses, including criminal ones. Also, my friend Angelina used to yell this question a lot when she was drunk in the college era of our lives, so I feel good about it.



Can I Get a Witness?.mp3

So I'm gonna stick by her till the very end,
But she causes so much misery I forget how
Love is supposed to be.
Somebody, somewhere, tell her it ain't fair.
Can I get a witness?
I want a witness!

The Velvet Underground//There She Goes Again

Since we're just taking the obvious route this week, here's a song by The Velvet Underground, who everyone said The Strokes copied/sounded like when they came out. I'm not sure that that's actually true. The Strokes met in prep school in the late 90s. The Velvets were formed in the mid-60s by Lou Reed, a heroin addict who was interested in avant-garde classical music and received electroconvulsive therapy to cure him of his homosexual tendencies as a child. Uhm? Casablancas kind of tries to sound like Reed sometimes. The Strokes drew on punk influences; The Velvets helped to create punk. They both formed in New York City, I guess. I'm out of ideas here.

My uncle gave me a homemade Velvet Underground mixtape in high school. Sometimes I played it in my room. My dad would come up and tell me that "they were bums!" but then, he would still admit to liking them anyway.

Also, for some reason, at the beginning of college, my friends and I all became obsessed with "I'm Sticking With You." I guess that reason is just because it's hilarious.

According to Wikipedia, "There She Goes Again" is pretty much lifted:
The syncopated guitar riff is taken from the 1962 Marvin Gaye song, "Hitch Hike", but is most likely influenced by The Rolling Stones' cover version, from their 1965 album Out of Our Heads.

There's a lot more I could write about The Velvet Underground here, but I'm sure you already know it. Right?



There She Goes Again.mp3

Take a look,
There's no tears in her eyes.
Like a bird,
You know she will fly.
What can you do?
(There she goes)
You see her walkin' on down the street.
(There she goes)
Look at all your friends that she gonna meet.
(There she goes)

The Monks//Shut Up

Ali gave me this as a birthday present this year. A few months later, she asked me if I had listened to it yet. I hadn’t. I have a lot to listen to. I forget sometimes.

Finally, I ended up picking it up and putting it on. I’m so happy I did. The Monks are SO delightfully weird.

The story: five American GIs stationed in Germany in the mid-sixties start a garage band. They get discharged from the military and keep playing music, calling themselves The Monks and dressing the part.

They didn’t sound like anything else around at the time—and many credit them with being the first to define a certain early lofi proto-punk sound (think Velvet Underground, but weirder), which strayed away from many of the elements found in a popular rock and roll at the time. Drawing from sensibilities that seem like they could only be routed in Dadaism, their lyrics are sometimes nonsensical, sometimes offensive and often hilarious.



Shut Up.mp3

World is so worried,
World is so worried.