Call me Al
Aug. 10th, 2006 02:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinclair_furieRight, I should start by saying that my musical roots are sort of enmeshed in 70's folk music, so my love for Simon & Garfunkel is given. I grew up with my mom's music: Hindi music which I paid no attention to and my mom's English music which I eventually learned to love. Somewhere along the line I also listened to music older cousins did, and then developed this bizarre and disturbing love for pop rock (woe) such as Dashboard Confessional. But freshmen and sophomore year I was all about the sound of silence, baby.
So, somewhat inspired by karaoke today for Sachi's farewell, but also the Supernatural soundtrack...
7 (+1) Songs you should listen to, pre-1980's (as far as I know):
1. The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel
I'd probably heard this song for ages before I liked it; my mother would always play it and I'd get angry and tell her to shut it off. In eighth grade, the boys middle school choir sang it, and we sort of did a sing through in my choir class. For some bizarre reason, I liked it then, and thus began my love for Simon and Garfunkel.
The song itself is about moving to New York for a better life and failing to find it- it has such wonderful lines as "I have squandered my resistance/for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises:/all lies and jests." It's beautiful and wonderful and it has a nice (acoustic) guitar solo at the end that I usually skip. :)
2. Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas
Right, I'm slightly afraid to admit I really like this song, because I hadn't actually heard it until I downloaded songs from the Supernatural soundtrack a few days ago, but it's like. Perfect for the season finale. Yes, I know, Kansas, with the AWFUL HAIR OMG and it's a somewhat cheesy song but I still really like it.
It is bizarrely enough, a spiritual song, and it starts "carry on my wayward son/there'll be peace when you are done," which if you've seen the Supernatural season finale, will make you squee like a mad person.
Don't judge me.
3. Chelsea Hotel No.2 by Leonard Cohen
Ok, I love Leonard Cohen in general, so you could also check out his awesome cover of the song The Partisan, which is the best ever.
But this song is slow and depressing and about beauty and love and life, just like any other Leonard Cohen song. Leonard Cohen writes the most beautiful songs, even if they have a tendency to make you incredibly morose. Take, for example: "And clenching your fist for the ones like us/who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,/you fixed yourself, you said, 'Well never mind,/we are ugly but we have the music.'"
Or, "I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,/I can't keep track of each fallen robin."
4. Peace Train by Cat Stevens
This song brings out the optimist in me. Seriously. It's a great "let there be peace on earth, let man love his brothers" kind of song. It's so hippy-esque. And the funniest thing is that Cat Stevens, now going by Yusuf Islam, is on the no-fly list for the States, presumably for sharing a name with a terrorist or some such nonsense.
Anyway, Cat Stevens is awesome good fun. I was tempted to recommend Banapple Gas, just because, wtf, that song is such a drugtrip, but alas. Sense prevailed.
5. The Stranger by Billy Joel
It's the title track to his album, The Stranger, which has other awesome songs on it as well, such as Moving Out and Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.
But anyway, this song is about that unknown person in each of us. For example: "Some are silk and some are leather/They're the faces of the stranger/But we love to try them on."
6. Tin man by America
Hm... This rec is somewhat inspired by my finishing Wicked, which is an epic, wonderful book, but really I've liked it for a long time.
It's a bit drug trippy and a lot of fun and it's sort of about Oz and about some bizarre place you go to, I guess.
It begins: "Sometimes late when things are real/ And people share the gift of gab between themselves."
And if anybody can understand the following lines, I'll give you cake, or something: "And cause never was the reason for the evening/Or the tropic of Sir Galahad."
7. Me and Julio by the Schoolyard by Paul Simon
EEEH, Paul Simon!
I'm such a Paul Simon fangirl. He's quite possibly one of the best songwriters to ever exist, and he makes up half of Simon & Garfunkel since their breakup. I'm recommending this song because it's fun and also because it's about "Mama Pajama" seeing something that was "against the law" and nobody knows quite what it was.
Hm... I think I'll rec a serious Paul Simon song as a bonus for you.
8. (or 7+1) American Tune by Paul Simon
This song never fails to make me want to cry. Like, weep tears of joy and sadness. I don't usually, but it's that good, I promise.
It's vaguely about the American Dream, about life and success and failure. And it's so beautiful.
"We come on the ship they call the Mayflower/We come on the ship that sailed the moon/We come in the age's most uncertain hour/and sing an American tune."
Ask and I shall upload the songs you want, I suppose.
Now, all this talk of the seventies is making me think of the movie A Home at the End of the World, which has one of my very favorite Colin Farrell performances, ever. It has Me and Julio down by the Schoolyard in the soundtrack! And it's by Michael Cunningham! It wasn't that popular because it's a rather bizarre story about family and sexual orientation (sort of) and it's realistic to point of depressing at times and totally contrived at others. I don't know, it's the kind of story you just have to go with and then have a sort of resolution but not really at the end.
To conclude...
The song Losing my Religion by R.E.M. is best coming-out song ever. That's kind of a bizarre song category, but whatever, it's still a great song. And also, my friends were losers today because they all didn't know it, except Francis, who didn't mention he knew it so I had to sing it alone. But yes, awesome song, because the lyrics include: "And I don't know if I can do it/Oh no I've said too much/haven't said enough" and "Of every waking hour I'm/Choosing my confessions/Trying to keep an eye on you/Like a hurt lost and blinded fool."
I don't think it was written to be a coming-out song, exactly (though who knows, the lead singer of R.E.M. is bisexual) but it works very well as one.
And I thought I was going to sleep early tonight.
So, somewhat inspired by karaoke today for Sachi's farewell, but also the Supernatural soundtrack...
7 (+1) Songs you should listen to, pre-1980's (as far as I know):
1. The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel
I'd probably heard this song for ages before I liked it; my mother would always play it and I'd get angry and tell her to shut it off. In eighth grade, the boys middle school choir sang it, and we sort of did a sing through in my choir class. For some bizarre reason, I liked it then, and thus began my love for Simon and Garfunkel.
The song itself is about moving to New York for a better life and failing to find it- it has such wonderful lines as "I have squandered my resistance/for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises:/all lies and jests." It's beautiful and wonderful and it has a nice (acoustic) guitar solo at the end that I usually skip. :)
2. Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas
Right, I'm slightly afraid to admit I really like this song, because I hadn't actually heard it until I downloaded songs from the Supernatural soundtrack a few days ago, but it's like. Perfect for the season finale. Yes, I know, Kansas, with the AWFUL HAIR OMG and it's a somewhat cheesy song but I still really like it.
It is bizarrely enough, a spiritual song, and it starts "carry on my wayward son/there'll be peace when you are done," which if you've seen the Supernatural season finale, will make you squee like a mad person.
Don't judge me.
3. Chelsea Hotel No.2 by Leonard Cohen
Ok, I love Leonard Cohen in general, so you could also check out his awesome cover of the song The Partisan, which is the best ever.
But this song is slow and depressing and about beauty and love and life, just like any other Leonard Cohen song. Leonard Cohen writes the most beautiful songs, even if they have a tendency to make you incredibly morose. Take, for example: "And clenching your fist for the ones like us/who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,/you fixed yourself, you said, 'Well never mind,/we are ugly but we have the music.'"
Or, "I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,/I can't keep track of each fallen robin."
4. Peace Train by Cat Stevens
This song brings out the optimist in me. Seriously. It's a great "let there be peace on earth, let man love his brothers" kind of song. It's so hippy-esque. And the funniest thing is that Cat Stevens, now going by Yusuf Islam, is on the no-fly list for the States, presumably for sharing a name with a terrorist or some such nonsense.
Anyway, Cat Stevens is awesome good fun. I was tempted to recommend Banapple Gas, just because, wtf, that song is such a drugtrip, but alas. Sense prevailed.
5. The Stranger by Billy Joel
It's the title track to his album, The Stranger, which has other awesome songs on it as well, such as Moving Out and Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.
But anyway, this song is about that unknown person in each of us. For example: "Some are silk and some are leather/They're the faces of the stranger/But we love to try them on."
6. Tin man by America
Hm... This rec is somewhat inspired by my finishing Wicked, which is an epic, wonderful book, but really I've liked it for a long time.
It's a bit drug trippy and a lot of fun and it's sort of about Oz and about some bizarre place you go to, I guess.
It begins: "Sometimes late when things are real/ And people share the gift of gab between themselves."
And if anybody can understand the following lines, I'll give you cake, or something: "And cause never was the reason for the evening/Or the tropic of Sir Galahad."
7. Me and Julio by the Schoolyard by Paul Simon
EEEH, Paul Simon!
I'm such a Paul Simon fangirl. He's quite possibly one of the best songwriters to ever exist, and he makes up half of Simon & Garfunkel since their breakup. I'm recommending this song because it's fun and also because it's about "Mama Pajama" seeing something that was "against the law" and nobody knows quite what it was.
Hm... I think I'll rec a serious Paul Simon song as a bonus for you.
8. (or 7+1) American Tune by Paul Simon
This song never fails to make me want to cry. Like, weep tears of joy and sadness. I don't usually, but it's that good, I promise.
It's vaguely about the American Dream, about life and success and failure. And it's so beautiful.
"We come on the ship they call the Mayflower/We come on the ship that sailed the moon/We come in the age's most uncertain hour/and sing an American tune."
Ask and I shall upload the songs you want, I suppose.
Now, all this talk of the seventies is making me think of the movie A Home at the End of the World, which has one of my very favorite Colin Farrell performances, ever. It has Me and Julio down by the Schoolyard in the soundtrack! And it's by Michael Cunningham! It wasn't that popular because it's a rather bizarre story about family and sexual orientation (sort of) and it's realistic to point of depressing at times and totally contrived at others. I don't know, it's the kind of story you just have to go with and then have a sort of resolution but not really at the end.
To conclude...
The song Losing my Religion by R.E.M. is best coming-out song ever. That's kind of a bizarre song category, but whatever, it's still a great song. And also, my friends were losers today because they all didn't know it, except Francis, who didn't mention he knew it so I had to sing it alone. But yes, awesome song, because the lyrics include: "And I don't know if I can do it/Oh no I've said too much/haven't said enough" and "Of every waking hour I'm/Choosing my confessions/Trying to keep an eye on you/Like a hurt lost and blinded fool."
I don't think it was written to be a coming-out song, exactly (though who knows, the lead singer of R.E.M. is bisexual) but it works very well as one.
And I thought I was going to sleep early tonight.
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Date: 2006-08-09 08:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-10 08:36 am (UTC)Dude, I had my mp3 player on shuffle, and I was 3/4 asleep and 1/4 listening to music. I can assume the weirdest music kept coming up, becuase my dreams were wacky, yo.
Like those Bright Eyes songs with Ambulence, or something, where there are kids talking for most of the song.
I'm not sleepy enough to repeat the experience, alas.