And Watch The Dream Die

Lyrics to the first song I've written in years. Amazing what heartache will do for the creative juices…

And Watch the Dream Die

You're gone for good E

You've made your choice now. A

And if I could A

I'd really love to hear your voice now. E

And even though you're miles away E

I feel you like you're next to me A

But I know that's illusion A

I know you've set me free B  

Still I don't want to say goodbye B    

And watch the dream die E

We took a mighty chance E

We took a fearsome risk A

It shouldn't surprise me now A

that it would come to this. E

But I thought that we'd do better E

I thought that we'd appeased the gods A

I really didn't see the hubris A

in thinking that we'd beat the odds. E  

And I've got nothing to offer 

you haven't seen before

and you're not interested 

in that stuff anymore

Yet I'd give it all to you

if I thought you'd return

If I thought that you'd be happy

If I thought that I could learn

But I don't want to say goodbye B

And watch the dream die  E

bridge

It's not late to hesitate, to turn around G

We could push through, we could undo what brought us down C

Just take my hand, repair this band that's torn apart G

F We'll find our way back, end up in C each other's heart  G  E

Yeah, I know better than that

to want to have you back

You've found a new one now

you've head on down the track

We are now a memory 

A broken story line

A piece of history

An old, discarded sign

Still, I don't want to say goodbye 

And watch the dream die

No, I don't want to say goodbye 

And watch the dream die

But I know it's time to say goodbye 

And watch the dream die

AnnieMac's Music Blog

Annie's finally got a proper blog, AnnieMac's Music. Go check it out.

Silversun Pickups

I don't remember how, but I discovered this band earlier this year and fell in love with their song (and its cute, nostalgia-inducing video), "Lazy Eye." The band is from L.A. and has a sort of low-fi, indy sound. Lots of fuzzy guitars and distorted vocals. 

With a female bass player who shares vocals with a male front man, and the soft-loud-soft thing, they obviously invite comparisons to the Pixies. But they remind me more of Smashing Pumpkins or a poppier, more structured Sonic Youth. But never mind comparisons, they stand on their own. 

Anyway, if you're into that sort of thing, go to their website and check them out. I especially recommend the "Lazy Eye" video, but the video for "Kissing Families" is pretty cool, too. (I'd embed them, but they don't offer the option.)

Sister Rosetta

God, it's things like this that really make me love the Internet in general and blogging in particular. In the course of my usual blog browsing (blowsing? brogging?), I stumbled upon this post from Kathy G. at The G Spot. She has a regular feature called "Diva of the Week"; this week she featured a woman named Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I'd never heard of her before (though she was described by Kathy as legendary) which is a crying shame, because she rocks the house. Here's a clip of the post as well as vid clip:

This week's diva is the legendary gospel and blues singer and guitarist, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Born in Arkansas in 1915, she began playing music as a child, accompanying her mother, who was a traveling evangelist, in tent revivals throughout the South. She became a star attraction on her own, mainly as a gospel singer, although she also made significant jazz and blues recordings. Indeed, her combination of the sacred and the secular was considered somewhat scandalous back in the day.

Sister Rosetta, who died in 1973, is probably best known as an important precursor to early rock and roll. With her virtuoso rocking guitar playing, she pioneered an original sound all of her own. Musicians from Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis to Bob Dylan to Isaac Hayes and Aretha Franklin have cited her as an influence, and both Little Richard and Johnny Cash have said she was their favorite singer.

Here's Rosetta in a clip from the early 60s, performing her classic rendition of "Down by the Riverside." As you'll see, she totally rocks.

Here she is performing "Didn't It Rain" circa 1964-66. She arrives onstage in true diva style -- via a horse-drawn carriage!

Click here for a couple more videos.

Forever In Debt To Your Priceless Advice

Well, that NIN video got me thinking about what great year for rock 1994 was. It gave us albums like NIN's The Downward Spiral, Soundgarden's Superunknown, Portishead's Dummy, Tori Amos' Under The Pink, Beck's Mellow Gold,  Pearl Jam's Vitalogy, Offspring's Smash, and several others.

Ninety four capped a four year run of incredibly innovative and authentic music (music that actually got airplay), that started with 1991's Nevermind—the seminal album of the era and one of the best rock albums ever. Thinking of Nirvana reminded me of their best video, "Heart Shaped Box."

It's one of my favorites, so I figured I'd pass it along for you all to enjoy. Oh, and it's another one with deliciously disturbing imagery. 

Happy Birthday

Here's a shout out to the first-ever mp3 player:

The first MP3 player celebrates its 10th birthday. Odds are, you take your iPod or Zune for granted. You probably don't think about the crazy technological advancements we've made, but take a 10-year look back at the world's first MP3 player -- the MPMan F10 -- and you'll get a sense of just how far we've come. 

Manufactured by Korea's Saehan Information Systems, the device was launched in March of 1998 at CeBIT, and went on sale in the Summer through Eiger Labs for $250. The player featured 32MB of flash memory (which could be upgraded to 64MB via mail-in scheme), connected to PCs via parallel port, and had a miniscule LCD for playback info -- but it laid the groundwork for the tech we have today. Following the MPMan's release, Rio unleashed its PMP300, which received a warmer reception and all-but eclipsed the F10's status as "first" amongst players, likely due to the company's well-known (and groundbreaking) legal battle against the RIAA. 

Still, first is first, so help keep the MPMan's rich history alive, and celebrate its 10-year anniversary this month with campfire songs and story-telling. Check out the archived read link of the original Eiger Labs site for a wild and wacky trip through time.

The Gayest Songs Of All Time

Come out of the closet with these classics (compiled by Inside Out Australia).

Surprise rankings: "It's Raining Men" is only #4 and "YMCA" is only #2. What could beat them out? Click here to find out.

h/t: Daily Dish

Just A Shot Away

We all know the story of the poor guy getting stabbed to death by the Hell's Angels at Altamont. Well, it turns out the Angels didn't want to stop there. Pissed off by Jagger's response to the incident, they attempted to assassinate him.

BBC: Hells Angels sought to kill Mick Jagger
Altamont concert presenter says they tried to attack Rolling Stone by boat
LONDON - Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger escaped an assassination plot hatched in 1969 by the Hells Angels, a new British Broadcasting Corp. documentary has claimed.

A program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday says the rock star was the target of the plot following a purported dispute with the motorcycle gang over concert security. […]

Lennon Returns To Liverpool…As A 10ft Illuminated Pie

Wha? BBC has the story.

Lennon to light up city once more
John Lennon is once again going to light up a Liverpool club - in the form of two 10ft figures which were formerly part of the Blackpool illuminations.

The figures of the music legend once formed part of a Beatles tribute display in the Lancashire town.

But when club owner Brian Corrigan, who runs Lathom Hall in Seaforth, saw them in a sale he said he jumped at the chance to buy them.

The Fab Four even played at the venue ten times between 1960 and 1961. […]

Mr Corrigan said: "I think it's the only original stage that the Beatles actually played on that is still here - so I'm really please the figures are here, they'll just add to everything."

Purple Lame, Purple Lame

Holy shit! I'm getting old! How can I tell? Prince—Prince!—is getting a goddamn hip replacement. I need a drink...and a double dose of Celexa. 

Prince crippled by sexy dancing
Pop legend Prince is having a secret hip replacement at the age of just 49—after being crippled by years of sexy dancing.

The pint-sized US star would develop a severe limp and have to use a walking stick without surgery.

Strange Fruit

In honor of National Black History Month, a post about one the most haunting, heart-breaking songs of the 20th century.

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

This song began its life as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher who lived in the Bronx. He set the poem to music and published it under the pseudonym of Lewis Allan. It was later famously recorded by Billie Holiday and became of sort of signature song for her as well as an iconic piece of the Civil Rights movement. 

Meeropol was inspired to write the poem after seeing this horrific photograph showing the lynching of two black men in the American South:

Quintessentially American. "Strange Fruit" is, in my opinion, the most important American poem/song of the 20th century. It's poignant, haunting words send chills down the spine. Sadness and pain ooze through Lady Day's vocals. It captures a main element of the brutal reality of what was arguably the defining issue of American life in the last hundred years—what W.E.B. Dubois called the color line—race. 

But Meeropol's outrage and the words that came from that anger inspired change and managed to turn the gruesome pasttime of photographing lynchings, creating postcards of them and passing them around like vacation souvenirs back on itself. A transmutation of evil to good.  

Also, the fact that it was written by a Jewish man and sung by an iconic African-American singer (my personal favorite) and moved the hearts of people across the continent only adds to its power and ironically, I think, conveys a latent message of hope not found (or intended) in its lyrics.

For a more detailed history of the song click here, here, and here. 

Look and Listen. Take a listen to the song:   powered by ODEO 

Or better yet, watch this video:

Sting also recorded a surprisingly moving version of the song for the 1986 compilation album called Rock for Amnesty, a fundraiser for the human rights organization Amnesty International. I'll link if I can find that version, but in the meantime, this video's not bad (though, frankly not as haunting and spare as the album version). 

Glimpses of Evil. For more on the history of lynching postcards, please check out this site: Without Sanctuary. It's a difficult visit, but it is an integral part of American history, and one I think we shouldn't shy away from if we're to continue moving forward. 

The Galaxy Song

From Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

"Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite enough.

"Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.

"The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.

"Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.

"We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

"The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.

"So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."


Thank you, Eric Idle.

New Music Distribution Model

This is very cool: 

Redesigning the Music Economy

Deeper info:

Free the Music

The actual site:

last fm