1000 SONGS - DAY 209 SONG # 240

Day 209 - 8 times 30 songs

Song # 240 marks the end of the eighth triakontad. The last song in the original 30 days song challenge should be one that was my favourite one one year ago; what came to my mind was a song that was my favourite one more than 10 years ago, when I was finishing my habilitation thesis in 2001.  It nearly took two more years to finish the academic process and the book wasn't published before 2009, but in a way, all things come to an end. The patron saint of that little book of mine is a (THE) Greek God of ecstasy, so Rock Music is kind of an apt soundtrack. On page 330, the motto for the chapter on Nietzsche's Untimely Meditations # 3, "Schopenhauer as Educator", is taken from a song by the Hamburg band Kante, "Die Summe der einzelnen Teile". I really was in love with that track back then and I still think that it is a rousing piece of music indeed. There is the official video by the band to be found on UTUBE but I think the video is a bit strange (at least I do not understand it and find it rather irritating), that's why I am putting on a version with a still (or just an image) here, followed by a live version (rather poor sound quality). Wir leben von einem Glauben, der unserer Gegenwart vorauseilt.

1000 SONGS - DAY 208 SONG # 239

Day 208: A Song from my Childhood

My childhood was a time, when so many people now old or gone were still young. For example Alex Chilton, just 9 years older than me (which means he was 17 when he recorded the song featured here), who died in 2010. The Letter, a song by the Box Tops, Chilton's first(?) band, is a nice memory from my childhood:

The song has been covered by Joe Cocker on his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, spastic as he was, supported by some fine musicians, among them the cool guy on the piano, Leon Russell. Both of them were young in 1970, although not as young as poor me:

1000 SONGS - DAY 207 SONG # 238

Day 207 Another song about personal relationships

Aretha Franklin surely deserves our respect as one of the great soul singers of all time. A  black woman covering Otis Redding's RESPECT in 1967, what a fine idea by the producers, and what a fine version she did in reversing gender-roles in a time when there was still 'some' race talk in the land of the free:

What you want Baby, I got

What you need  do you know I've got it

All I'm askin' is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)

Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home

(Just a little bit) mister (just a little bit)

I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone

Ain't gonna do you wrong  'cause I don't want to

All I'm askin' is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)

Baby (just a little bit) when you get home (just a little bit)

I'm about to give you all of my money

And all I'm askin' in return, honey

Is to give me my profits

When you get home (just a, just a, just a, just a)

Yeah baby (just a, just a, just a, just a)

When you get home (Just a little bit)

Ooh, your kisses sweeter than honey

And guess what -  so is my money

All I want you to do for me

Is give it to me when you get home (Re, re, re ,re)

Yeah baby (Re, re, re ,re)

Whip it to me (Respect, just a little bit)

When you get home, now (Just a little bit)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care, TCB

(Suck it to me, suck it to me, suck it to me, suck it to me)

A little respect (suck it to me, suck it to me, suck it to me, suck it to me)

Whoa, babe (just a little bit) a little respect (just a little bit)

I get tired (just a little bit) keep on tryin' (just a little bit)

You're runnin' out of foolin' (just a little bit)

And I ain't lyin' (just a little bit)

(Re, re, re, re) 'spect

When you come home (re, re, re ,re)

Or you might walk in (respect, just a little bit)

And find out I'm gone (just a little bit) I got to have (just a little bit)

A little respect (just a little bit)

For the sake of completeness, here is the OR version, with appeasing horn arrangements, but never ever to match with the queen's rendering of the song:

And for the sake of good music, here's another one of my favourite Aretha Franklin versions of great songs, Chain of Fools, another song about personal relationships:

1000 SONGS - DAY 206 SONG # 237

Day 206: A Song That fits into several categories

This song is (one of) my favourite song(s), it is a song I can play on an instrument (drums) and it is a song I wish I could play, since I wish I could sing like the singer, one of my favourite singers, could. The song reminds me of many occasions when I heard it and was  taken away, to the point of crying. It is pure emotional expression and it always struck me that a singer being dead still can reach me, touch me, turn me around and take me with her on that very deep, intimate personal level (which is some very special thing about MUSIC). My favourite version still is the one from the live record, but I start with the studio version, from the album  I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!:

  

Time keeps movin' on,

Friends they turn away.

I keep movin' on

But I never found out why

I keep pushing so hard the dream,

I keep tryin' to make it right

Through another lonely day, whoaa.

Dawn has come at last,

Twenty-five years, honey just in one night, oh yeah.

Well, I'm twenty-five years older now

So I know we can't be right

And I'm no better, baby,

And I can't help you no more

Than I did when just a girl.

Aww, but it don't make no difference, baby, no, no,

And I know that I could always try.

It don't make no difference, baby, yeah,

I better hold it now,

I better need it, yeah,

I better use it till the day I die.

Don't expect any answers, dear,

For I know that they don't come with age, no, no.

Well, ain't never gonna love you any better, babe.

And I'm never gonna love you right,

So you'd better take it now, right now.

Oh! But it don't make no difference, babe, hey,

And I know that I could always try.

There's a fire inside everyone of us,

You'd better need it now,

I got to hold it, yeah,

I better use it till the day I die.

Don't make no difference, babe, no, no, no,

And it never ever will, hey,

I wanna talk about a little bit of loving, yeah,

I got to hold it, baby,

I'm gonna need it now,

I'm gonna use it, say, aaaah,

Don't make no difference, babe, yeah,

Ah honey, I'd hate to be the one.

I said you're gonna live your life

And you're gonna love your life

Or babe, someday you're gonna have to cry.

Yes indeed, yes indeed, yes indeed,

Ah, baby, yes indeed.

I said you, you're always gonna hurt me,

I said you're always gonna let me down,

I said everywhere, every day, every day

And every way, every way.

Ah honey won't you hold on to what's gonna move.

I said it's gonna disappear when you turn your back.

I said you know it ain't gonna be there

When you wanna reach out and grab on. 

By the way, the singer is Janis, the song is called Kozmic Blues, here is the live version: 

 

1000 SONGS - DAY 205 SONG # 236

Day 205: Another Song by Tuxedo Moon

It is strange to hear an "underground/alternative" band playing music pretty acceptable to many persons who would have shrugged at hearing some of the early recordings of that very band; nevertheless, this song from Tuxedo Moon's 2004 album "Cabin in the Sky" is worthwhile listening to, even for the hardboiled fan:

And for those hardboiled gals & guys, here it is, the true essence of musique noire:

1000 SONGS - DAY 204 SONG # 235

Day 204: Another song about the rain

This is a short song about the rain. The second song by Violent Femmes featured ín the 1000 Song Challenge, it is the second song from their second album, Hallowed Ground. I hear the rain.

1000 SONGS - DAY 203 SONG # 234

Day 203: A song to be played at my funeral

As I have said before, at my funeral, I want people to dance. And I definitely do want them to dance to some pretty awful good kind of music. One suggestion is to dance to Dixie Chicken, the most famous song of the kings of the shuffle, Little Feat. I imagine this as the end of the funeral: me, I'm dead and gone, the few guys & gals who care about it, dance out of the cemetery to that tune, in their best clothes. Lowell George is dead for more than 30 years and also Richie Hayward has passed away some years ago. But their music will live on. BTW, does anybody know why they have put on Emmylou and Bonnie on the show and have either forgot to put on their microphones or have lost their voices in the mix?

1000 SONGS - Day 202: Song #233

Day 202: Another fine jazz tune

"Nice Try" is a fine tune by Bobby Previte & Bump. Mr. Previte is one of my favourite drummers (he is acknowledged as a composer, too). He has worked with musicians like John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Zeena Parkins and Eliott Sharp. The most widely known album that he has played the drums on surely is Tom Waits' Raindogs. The instrumental piece featured here is from the 2002 album "Just Add Water" and is an example of the more sensitive side of Bobby's music. The personnel is: Marty Ehrlich on tenor sax, Wayne Horvitz on piano and Steve Swallow on bass.:

1000 SONGS - DAY 201 SONG # 232

Day 201: A song you listen to when you are sad

Maybe you'll find it strange, that I listen to that song, when I am sad. But, to me Astral Weeks has an overall melancholic feeling, and Ballerina is my favourite track from that album - one of the best albums from the last 50 years of popular music, certainly. I do not think that anybody who might read this blog would need any explanation concerning Van Morrisson.

Spread your wings
Come on fly awhile
Straight to my arms
Little angel child
You know you only
Lonely twenty-two story block
And if somebody, not just anybody
Wanted to get close to you
For instance, me, baby
All you gotta do
Is ring a bell
Step right up, step right up
And step right up
Ballerina
Crowd will catch you
Fly it, sigh it, try it
Well, I may be wrong
But something deep in my heart tells me I'm right and I don't think so
You know I saw the writing on the wall
When you came up to me
Child, you were heading for a fall
But if it gets to you
And you feel like you just can't go on
All you gotta do
Is ring a bell
Step right up, and step right up
And step right up
Just like a ballerina
Stepping lightly
Alright, well it's getting late
Yes it is, yes it is
And this time I forget to slip into your slumber
The light is on the left side of your head
And I'm standing in your doorway
And I'm mumbling and I can't remember the last thing that ran through my head
Here come the man and he say, he say the show must go on
So all you gotta do
Is ring the bell
And step right up, and step right up
And step right up
Just like a ballerina, yeah, yeah
Crowd will catch you
Fly it, sight it, c'mon, die it, yeah
Just like a ballerina
Just like a just like a just like a ballerina
Get on up, get on up, keep a-moving on, little bit higher, baby
You know, you know, you know, get up baby
Alright, a-keep on, a-keep on, a-keep on, a-keep on pushing
Stepping lightly
Just like a ballerina
Ooo-we baby, take off your shoes
Working on
Just like a ballerina

And a bonus track from the same album, Cyprus Avenue:

1000 LIEDER - TAG 200 LIED # 231

Tag 200 - Ein Lied, das ich höre, wenn ich glücklich bin

Für jeden Nichtösterreicher schwer verständlich: Kottans Kapelle. Es kann hier nur empfohlen werden, sich alle Folgen der Serie "Kottan ermittelt" bis zur endgültigen Auflösung jeglichen Erzählzusammenhanges in "Tohuwabohu" anzusehen. Und dann alle Folgern von letzterem, das ja nur die Konsequenz aus Ersterem ist. Und wenn Sie dann noch nicht auf einer neuen Bewusstsseinsstufe sind, ist Ihnen nicht zu helfe, mein Herr oder meine Dame, je nachdem.

1000 SONGS - DAY 199 SONG # 230

Day 199: A Song about contempt

Getting rid of anger, we introduce another emotion/mood/temper, or whatever it may be: contempt. Normally, we do not like stupid people; but do we hate them? To call someone "stupid" can be an expression of hate; very often, it is an expression of contempt. There is a song by Neil Young about a stupid girl; this is tricky one to post and comment, as it involves gender-relationship/s (oh my golly!) and points to some rumours about the concrete person uncle Neil had in mind, back then, when writing that song (it was not John Mellencamp). To avoid this skylla and that charybdis without having to deafen our ears, lets listen to the scottish siren Shirley and her utterings of contempt directed to a person of the same sex/gender. It isn't just garbage, this song, methinks.

 

You pretend you're high 
Pretend you're bored 
Pretend you're anything
Just to be adored
And what you need
Is what you get

Don't believe in fear
Don't believe in faith
Don't believe in anything
That you can't break

You stupid girl
You stupid girl
All you had you wasted
All you had you wasted

What drives you on
Can drive you mad
A million lies to sell yourself
Is all you ever had

Don't believe in love
Don't believe in hate
Don't belive in anything
That you can't waste

You stupid girl
You stupid girl
Can't believe you fake it
Can't believe you fake it

Don't believe in fear
Don't believe in pain
Don't believe in anyone
That you can't tame

You stupid girl
You stupid girl
All you had you wasted
All you had you wasted
You stupid girl
You stupid girl
Can't believe you fake it
Can't believe you fake it

You stupid girl

1000 SONGS - DAY 198 SONG # 229

Day 198: A Song from your favourite album

At the beginning of this millenium, I realised that Wigan may not have a good football team, but they got Starsailor, named after an album by Tim Buckley. "Alcoholic" is a song that describes me (no, my father was no alcoholic, not even anonymous), and it is a song from one of my favourite albums, Starsailors debut "Love is Here":

Don't you know you've got your daddy's eyes?
Daddy was an alcoholic,
But your mother kept it all inside,
Threw it all away,
I was looking for another you,
And I found another one,
I was looking for another you,
When I looked round you were gone,

Stand by my side,
And the pipe dream is yours now,
Stand by my side,
And the cynics won't get in our way,

Don't you know you've got your daddy's eyes?
Daddy was an alcoholic,
But your mother kept it all inside,
Threw it all away,
I was looking for another you,
When I found another one,
I was looking for another you,
When I looked round you were gone,

Don't you know you've got your daddy's eyes?
Daddy was an alcoholic,
But your mother kept it all inside,
Threw it all away,
I was looking for another you,
When I looked round you were gone,
I was looking for another you,
When I looked round you were gone,

Stand by my side,
And the pipe dream is yours now,
Stand by my side,
And the cynics won't get in our way,

I was looking for another chance,
See your blue eyed problem

Here is another one from that album, that describes me: Poor Misguided Fool

1000 SONGS - DAY 197 SONG # 228

Day 197: A song no-one would expect me to love

I like this one take of this one song by Tori Amos. It is said to be about her father. The "official video" is simply pathetic, Tori dancing around aimlessly surrounded by little children. There is a live-version on UTUBE from the beginning of her career. This is kind of overdone and I cannot look at her singing it. Other live versions, from when she had already a career and played a Steinway grand piano are also somewhat artsy-fartsy in my opinion, to say the least. But I really do like the take from her first album, Little Earthquakes, although I always feel a bit uncomfortable about confessing it.