Carry On Wayward Son

This one's been milling about in my head since playing Rock Band with Amber and the nieces and nephews last weekend. At the risk of tipping the vote on my geo-band poll, I will share that my nephew Jonathan said, "Definitely the best song by a 'location' band."

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high...

It should be mentioned that even more than the bitchin' guitar riffs, I love/loathe this song for its epic hero's journey lyrics, so emblematic of the crossover between certain proggy classic rock bands and the Ren Faire aesthetic.

(Right - the album from whence this song came; Left - another great example of prog-meets-medieval times on Jethro Tull's album The Broadsword And The Beast.)

Artist: Kansas
Year: 1976
Rating: Hotter than a bubbling cauldron of the witch's brew!
Link: Check out this survey of absurd prog rock album cover art at the Onion AV.

Pictures of You

Beautiful song. Perfect guitar lines. Brings tears to my eyes on almost every listen. It reminds me of a lover long gone from my life, who once put the song on a mixed tape* for me.

Artist: The Cure
Year: 1989
Rating: Hot!

*Some people refer to them, by the way, as "mixtapes," but "mix tape" and "mixed tape" are also in usage. I've always preferred "mixed tape" because it seems more grammatically correct, but I understand how "mixtape" just flows better. When I burn CDs for people these days, I call them "mixes."

That Little Sleeper Car

The Little Sleeper Car by Jonathan Richman

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A sweet ditty from Jonathan Richman's Surrender to Jonathan album, in which the proto-punk legend utilizes traditional pop form to tell the story of a sad little train car who the narrator believes has been given a bum rap. Quirk is the word.

Artist: Jonathan Richman
Year: 1996
Rating: Luke Hot

Piece of My Heart

Angel of the Morning continues to cycle through, and this song has been creeping in as a medley. Somehow, maybe the melody or the chord progression is similar, 'cause just as I come to "Just touch my cheek before you leave me, baby..." I segue into, "You know you got it, if it makes you feel good."

Artist: Janis Joplin
Year: 1968
Rating: Luke Hot

Cemetry Gates by the Smiths

Cemetry Gates by The Smiths

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Already used in my post about my musical DNA, Cemetry Gates is one of my favorite Smiths songs, and it makes me utterly gleeful when I hear it. I love the jangly guitar melody, Morrissey's British pronunciation of "plagiarize," the assertion of the main character that his compatriot is on the (staid and canonical) side of Keats and Yeats, while he himself is on the (free and life-filled, and perhaps homo-) side of Wilde.

Year: 1986
Rating: Hot!

That's All by Genesis

I'm fond of this song, even though the lyrics are admittedly not much beyond what an eighth grader could muster during composition class. It's a bit of nostalgia for loving the song as a sixth grader when it came out, mixed with my appreciation of Tony Banks's moody keyboards. Dig Phil's thinning-on-top, lion's-mane-in-back hair during this period.

Year: 1983
Rating: Warm

Edit, 11/8/09: Unfortunately, the live footage I originally posted here got yanked from YouTube, so now you only get this weak still shot vid. Sorry folks! -S

I'm Cold by the Cure

I'm Cold by The Cure

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The B-side of The Cure's single Jumping Someone Else's Train, released in 1979 (the demo version here is from '77). Piercing and raw, it's not a bad one to have on the brain. It allows me to identify with my callous side, a part of me I tend to disavow, as if I'm always all loving and kind.

Year:1977 (1979)
Rating: Hot!

Mack the Knife by Louis Armstrong

The Louis Armstrong version of this song is certainly the definitive in my mind, though I will admit that it usually morphs into the McDonald's commercial eventually.

Year (original): 1928 (Weill/Brecht)
Year (Armstrong): 1956
Rating: Luke Hot

Wishing Well by Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby, née Terence Howard, now Sananda Maitreya is an outstanding singer, but this mediocre song doesn't quite showcase it. Nice little electric xylophone (?) synthesized pan flute (??) riff there in the middle.

Year: 1988
Rating: Lukewarm

Perfect Way by Scritti Politti/Digging Your Scene by the Blow Monkeys

Two songs have been entering consciousness the last few nights just as I hit the pillow in a melange of mid-eighties madness.

This one by Scritti Politti blends a rather sophisticated lyric which is by turns Lacanian and Derridean...

I don't have a purpose or mission
I'm empty by definition
I got a lack girl that you'd love to be

...into the most commercial, poppiest musical composition. Most of the song seems more a stream of consciousness, alliterative mish-mosh, but lyricist Green Gartside throws in the deconstructionist rhetoric whenever he gets a chance. Bully for him!

Year: 1985
Rating: Warm
Note: Do you like the anime? Couldn't find another video for it, but this is kinda fun!



This one by the Blow Monkeys (awful band name!) is cute, but way simpler (and whinier) lyrics

Tell me why is it I'm digging your scene
I know I'll die baby.

Year: 1986
Rating: Warm