Time to get it, before you let it get to you

A quick round-up of Daisy's latest earworms.

I heard this two weeks ago and it hasn't stopped torturing me yet.

My parents used to sing it. :)

Does anyone know who is harmonizing with her? Mandolin-player? What is the line-up of this particular band? SPEAK UP, DEADHEADS!

Emmylou Harris - If I could only win your love



EDIT: Eagle-eyed (eared?) reader, Blue Heron, spotted VINCE GILL on mandolin. I didn't know he could even play mandolin, but I did think it sounded like him on the last verse. THANK YOU!


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I have tried to post this for OVER FOUR YEARS--ever since I started blogging... usually I would find the video and it would get yanked by nightfall.

SO LISTEN NOW, before evil greedheads snatch it away again.

Greatest guitarist in the history of the world, his unique playing seemed to replicate the way emotions swirl in the heart. That's why we can't really say what it is about his work that moves us so much. It bypasses our critical centers and goes straight for that part of us that is most human.

After he sings the word, "anything"--he plays the CONCEPT of "anything" and what that feels like to us.

Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing



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This haunting song totally hypnotized me as a lovesick 18-year-old, and made me cry and everything. I had no idea what it was about, except it seemed that the narrator had escaped death or was contemplating it. From Wikipedia:

The third and final single [from the album "Stampede"] was Patrick Simmons' "I Cheat the Hangman", released November 12, 1975. It is a somber outlaw ballad that was inspired by the story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. "It's about a ghost returning to his home after the Civil War and not realizing he's dead," said Simmons about the song. The album version of the song is a progressive rock-style composition ending in a twisted collage of strings, horns and synthesizers made to sound like ghostly wails. "We'd cut the track, and we kicked around how to develop the ending-I thought about synthesizers and guitar solos. Ted [Templeman] got to thinking about it, and he ran it past [arranger] Nick DeCaro for some orchestration ideas. 'Night on Bald Mountain' by Mussorgsky really inspired the wildness of the strings, and Nick came up with the chorale thing at the end." The ambitious "I Cheat the Hangman" only managed to reach #60 on the music charts.

Doobie Brothers - I Cheat the Hangman



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Last time I tried this one, also got yanked. LISTEN NOW.

Does it make you feel old? Then you are. :)

And its where we get today's blog post title.

Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot



Ah, here it comes
I know it's someone I knew

It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it...

I've been listening to Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground...actually I've nearly worn it out.

It's hard to locate some of this stuff now, but I have managed to find a couple of these gems to share with you all. (I apologize that they aren't in chronological order, since I confess I looked up the exact years after the fact. Hey, I can't remember everything!)

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The title of my post comes from this song, which I try to keep in mind when I get too sanctimonious for my own good.

Faith No More - We Care a Lot (1987)



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Just like the winsome heroine of the movie JUNO, Mr Daisy unsympathetically trashes Sonic Youth, thereby hurting my feelings. :(

See if you can spot all the famous people flitting by in the film clips.


Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot (1988)



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Just some really elegant racket!

Gang of Four - To Hell with Poverty (1981 -live)



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One can hardly believe music can be this bad. Even worse, by the middle of the song, you realize the badness is the POINT, and it's time to make REVOLUTION! YES, WE ARE BAD, AND WE ARE PROUD OF IT! Fuck your bourgeois quality standards!

I imagine it could have been truly dangerous to actually perform this live, amidst all that flying proletarian debris. And this was way before Henry Rollins was getting quoted like some sage on VH-1.

Lyrics are helpfully included in this video, except for the chorus:

We!
Are tired!
Of your!
Abuse!

Try!
To stop us!
It's!
No use!

Really a mosh-pit special.

Black Flag - Rise Above (1981)



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This one is decidedly strange, but it can really grow on you. The lead singer of Japan, David Sylvian, sounded like equal parts Bryan Ferry and David Bowie, and didn't seem to be at all ashamed of his outright, unabashed impersonations. I'm also not quite sure what to call the music, "synth-pop" or early techno? (At least hang around for the pretty chorus, even though all that techno-curlicue noise can get on your nerves.) Great visuals, but also decidedly strange.

Another song that speaks to me very personally:

Just when I think I'm winning
When I've broken every door
The ghosts of my life
Blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life
Blew wilder than the wind


Japan - Ghosts (1981)



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Me oh my, take a listen to this...they were just little babies! (Ahh, weren't we all?) If you own Murmur, you'll notice this version is a bit different. It was re-recorded for Murmur in 1983.


R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe (1981)