Sorry, Fred, I haven't heard The Gossip.
I have finally gotten around to loading my (xmas) iPod. I'm so 90s. (Also, I didn't get a CD player until they stopped making LPs for most domestic releases.)
Who's got a favorite podcast to share?
I loaded up the iPod so I could listen to Tom Waits while I'm sitting in cafes working on the book. I've been circling around
Swordfishtrombones
and careful not to listen to it now because I don't want to get burned out on it. So I'm listening to the rest of his catalogue.
As punishment for your sins, I'll be posting a few TW playlists at Buffistarawk. Sort of a thinking out loud process for me, as I view his songwriting through various lenses and prisms: Tom the folkie, Tom the jazz balladeer, Tom the avant noisemaker, Tom the pop craftsman, Tom the mutant bluesman, Tom MacHeath, Tom the storyteller, Tom the jazz hipster, Tom the mud-mucker, Tom a' Bedlam, etcetera.
Trivia: Name the two different categories in which Tom has won grammies. Notable because these are not where you'd normally stack his CDs in the record store.
Answer:
Alternative for Bone Machine, Contemporary Folk for Mule Variations
Plus, since I know his voice is an impediment to entry for some, I'll do a whole set of covers. Though listening to his earlier tracks like "Ol '55" or even "Heart of Saturday Night" I'm struck by how well he can sing in a fairly conventional voice. Not great, but without the deep phlegmy gargle some dislike.
t /Tom Likes Carrots For the Next Year
Now Playing: "The Pop Singer's Fear Of The Pollen Count" - Divine Comedy
And on topic, anybody else heard of The Gossip?
Yeah! I am so jealous of her powerful voice. (Also, her youth but that's fleeting so...)
So, yesterday and today, CNN.com had a pair of articles on the worst songs ever written.
Heh. That Archies image they've got up for "Sugar, Sugar" is the CD cover for the compilation where I did the liner notes.
Looks like the usual candidates from "Having My Baby" to "MacArthur Park."
"We Built This City" only really bugs me because it's so apposite to what The Jefferson Airplane were about. Also the bowel clenching sensation of thinking about "We Built This City" and Journey's "When The Lights Go Down In The City" representing San Francisco in the 70s.
I like some Culture Club songs (like "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" or "Church of the Poison Mind"), but their "War Song" was one instance where I remember thinking, "This is so fucking awful. Self important and poorly written. They must have been doing tupperware bins full of coke." when I heard it.
lisa, check out the video for "Standing" if you haven't already. It's a riot of imagery and color. That's the only way to describe it.
(Also, her youth but that's fleeting so...)
Yeah, but she'd be jealous of your hair.
Also the bowel clenching sensation of thinking about "We Built This City" and Journey's "When The Lights Go Down In The City" representing San Francisco in the 70s.
"We Built This City" is the most sucktastic song ever. But "When The Lights Go Down In The City" isn't as bad as "The Night Chicago Died." That all took place on the "East side of Chicago." Apparantly Al Capone and his gang were fresh-water mermen....
And I heard "Sugar, Sugar" in the weirdest context this morning.
The morning show on XM's '60s channel is very heavily request-oriented. And the listeners don't feel limited to the obvious candidates.
So this morning, a caller wanted to dedicate a song to her sister. Seems caller had just stolen sister's husband. And wanted to dedicate "Little Arrows" by Leapy Lee.
A few minutes later, sister calls in. Sister explains that they're twins, and original caller accomplished the theft by pretending to be sister. And that as far as she was concerned, original caller could have the man. Sister then went on to request "Sugar, Sugar."
Sister explains that they're twins, and original caller accomplished the theft by pretending to be sister
Anyone want to place bets that the entire sequence of calls was a prank from one woman?
