…Your Dog.
Go!
Aug 062008
Aug 062008
Townsman Mac has suggested the following thread, which I think you’ll agree is worthy of our consideration:
Creepiest lyric ever. This came to me while listening to Blood and Chocolate, an album by a man who has written many a creepy lyric. The persona (or self portrait) Costello creates is one of the creepiest ever. I would save my favorite creepy lyric from that album for the thread, but as an example: E from Eels sings on the song “Going Fetal” (which is done in the tradition of ’50s dance crazes):
“Everyone is going fetal.
It’s the dance the kids all feel.
Just get done under your desk.
Feels like your momma’s nest, alright.”Which is hi-larious, but downright creepy.
I wonder in a head to head who the creepiest lyricist would be: Costello or Waits?
The long interview clip I’ve set at the top of this thread provides another example, one that Townsman Chickenfrank and I have had many a laugh over. Now let’s creep Mac out!
Aug 052008
I know some of our Townspeople dig Randy Newman and will find the release of Harps and Angels, his first album of new, non-soundtrack material since 1999, to be an occasion for joy. The New York Times opens its Critics’ Choice review with these words:
Randy Newman can do saccharine and he can do sour. At his best, though, his songs deliver complex flavors, with a pungent but searching ambivalence. “Harps and Angels,” his first album of new songs since “Bad Love” in 1999, presents a mess of conflicting feelings and motives. Intermittently brilliant, occasionally belligerent, it presents a vision of American identity as sprawling and ultimately as confused as the country itself.
Wow, it’s like the guy assembled that paragraph out of a box of Rock Critic Refridgerator Magnets! Ignore my sarcasm; I have been working on appreciating the guy the last few years, even going as far as to buy an album and burn a copy of another. Mitchell Froom co-produces this new one! Fans of Randy Newman and fans of Rock Town Hall, I urge you to consider supporting both Newman and the Halls of Rock by buying this album through the portal that follows. Thanks!
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Aug 052008
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The last All-Star Jam actually got used. So, for your pleasure, here’s a fresh Jam for you to comment on anything you like. Keep it clean.
Aug 052008
Some time ago, in a thread far, far beyond my memory, I complimented some song’s chorus for wrapping up with an exquisitely designed “bow,” or some such phrase. I highly appreciated the craft that went into the final section of said chorus.
As songwriters of any degree on Rock Town Hall can attest, choruses can be a bitch to write effectively. The pressure’s on: the chorus is expected to provide the song’s “take-home message.” Even when the message is garbled, as may be the case on, say, David Bowie’s “Changes”, a well-crafted arrangement and delivery can provide the necessary “money shot.”
The Animals, “We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place”
Granted, this is a matter of personal taste, but occasionally there’s a mostly great chorus that wraps up in a way that makes me think the songwriter ran out of steam or interest. One that’s recently struck me as such an example is The Animals‘ “We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place”. The life-or-death build up as the chorus gets underway – all those sweat-and-grime moans that accompany Eric Burdon‘s “He’s been working so hard…” prechorus lead into a strong singalong to the song’s title. Then, when I’m all worked up and feeling part of something special, I’m left with what I find to be a disappointing and somewhat cheap “Girl there’s a better place for me and you.” The little chord riff and pounding drum part that follows does its best to restore authority, but I can’t help but hear that last line to be anything more than a device worthy of a dinner theater rock band like Blood, Sweat & Tears.
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Aug 052008
Taco House!
One of the most enlightening articles I ever read in the old, great Musician magazine was a big piece on Lynyrd Skynyrd. At this point, there’d already been the big plane crash and other disasters, which decimated even the surviving members of the Rossington-Collins Band. I was never a big fan of Skynyrd, but my guitar mate and old friend, John Quincy Nixon, cut his teeth on their stuff. I felt proud of my friend while reading things like the band thinking of themselves as following the tradition of The Rolling Stones and not, as the rock press had assumed, The Allman Brothers.
For the first time in my life I felt a kinship with the band. This occurred while reading a segment on the late Ronnie Van Zandt‘s theories on proper diet before taking the stage. According to one of the surviving members interviewed, Van Zandt felt that musicians should take the stage either ravenously hungry or stuffed to the gills–no state in between. It was a serious choice, in Van Zandt’s opinion, and being slaves to humor, our band soon adopted that guidance, only choosing to eat nothing at all in the hours leading up to a gig or eating more than would otherwise seem wise, especially while burping up an “encore” of a beef burrito platter leading into the second verse of a set’s opening number.
I would like to ask the musicians among Rock Town Hall to share their dietary practices before shows. Do you play hungry? Do you play stuffed? Are there foods you must have leading up to a show or, similarly, must avoid at all costs? Any particularly memorable pre-show eating experiences?
I look forward to your gustatory tales.
Aug 052008
