Songs »The End

the doors the endMy dad always says if he had to play a single song on a jukebox, The End is the one because, coming in at 11 minutes and 40 seconds, he'll get the most bang for his buck.

This dreamy artscape of incest and murder is certainly the band's most controversial and probably the most disliked by all you Doors haters (you know who you are, and I'm still disappointed), but we Hagues know a good rock epic when we hear it. You say pretension, I say … ambition.

There is an amazing live version from The Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl in 1968 that Jim and I just rocked out to at “the end” of our evening. Morrison is totally wild: he yells at the light man for like 5 minutes because he won' turn the lights down, then riffs on subjects like silverware, grasshoppers, bachelors and their brides, and the way he wants to die (not in an automobile accident, but by being devoured by nature in a field).

My dad is so cool he heard it live himself when he took his sister Jennifer to see the Doors back in the day. My aunt threw a strand of love beads to Jim, he caught them and flung them right back out into the audience. Ecstasy can be so fleeting.

Also worth noting is Nico's laconic, tone-deaf version of this classic, one that many Doors fans abhor and really doesn't hold a candle to the original but wins major points in my book for being so creepy.

I have just been informed there is also a Nirvana version. Dad is so cool he also took me to the last Nirvana concert in the US with The Breeders and The Melvins. Sadly, Kurt and Co. unfortunately did not play this song.

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Posted on June 11, 2007

Songs »A Thousand Stars in the Sky

a thousand star in the sky kathy youngAs if bright-eyed, smiling Kathy Young didn't look innocent enough and have an innocent enough name, she sang with a backup band called “The Innocents” just to drive the point home.

This, her biggest hit, had previously been a minor hit for the Rivileers, but Kathy made it bigger even though she was only 15 at the time it was recorded. Her other singles, “Happy Birthday Blues” and “The Great Pretender” never met with the same popularity of this romantic, innocent ballad. Thank goodness for Wink Martindale and his local TV show on which she was discovered.

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Posted on June 4, 2007

Songs »Dr. Who Theme Song

dr whoWhile the Dr. Who Theme Song may have been composed composed by Ron Grainer, it's unique out-of -this-world sound, which has secured its spot in the annals of music history as one of the greatest TV theme songs of all time, was actually created by Delia Derbyshire one of the pioneers of electronic music. And not just any old electronic music that any fool who never bothered to learn to play an instrument can make with the latest computer technology. Derbyshire went to painstakingly laborious lengths to achieve the awesome sounds in this piece of music and created a masterpiece.

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Posted on May 28, 2007

Songs »Eighty Eight Lines About Forty Four Women

eighty eight lines about fourty four womenThe catch-22 of becoming famous for something is that it may be the only something you get famous for, and all of a sudden you end up resenting the very thing that made you famous.

I feel like this song is just that for The Nails, a band who punctuates their website with the phrase “88 Lines and So Much More”. They really want you to know how much more there is to them–on their front page of their web site is a sycophantic ode to the band from a fan who claims that they are as important as Lou Reed and The Doors to rock and roll history. It all makes me almost feel bad about praising them for their own “I Touch Myself“, but I honestly couldn't get ahold of any of their other work.

Perhaps when I do, I too will praise them as highly as Steven Bode, number one Nails fan, but until them I, along with everyone else, will remain happy with this fun, vibrant hit that catalogues the many lovers of one lucky man. My favorite of the lines is this one:

Jackie was a rich punk rocker/ silver spoon and a paper plate

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Posted on May 21, 2007

Songs »Organ Donor

dj shadow organ donorEverytime I think there is something I dislike absolutely, someone comes along to make me seem that I'm too harsh in my judgments. Take DJs for example. I used to shirk from any artist with DJ in the name since Jazzy Jeff and start my eyes a rolling anytime there is a DJ at a restaurant or some event that I'm forced to attend.

But I really enjoy Organ Donor from DJ Shadow AKA Josh Davis. I think DJ Josh Davis is a more honest name for a guy that looks like he went to my high school, but hey, Shadow works too. The song is from the album Preemptive Strike and is really catchy and fun.

Maybe there is room for a DJ in my heart… actually I better make room for two–in news unrelated to this song, but worth a mention since we're on the subject–I found myself completely smitten with the raven haired cute girl spinning at a recent party and her amazing set list of old motown and r&b, many songs I had never even heard before.

She goes by the name Honeydripper (of Daptone Records) and is at Savalas every Tuesday night.

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Posted on May 14, 2007

Songs »The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

roberta flackThe First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is my parent's “song”. So romatical.

Also well known as a folk song performed by Marianne Faithfull and The Kingston Trio among others, but Flack's version is a standout. This appeared on Flack's first album, the aptly titled First Take and introduced the world to a new soul singing sensation.

A few years later the song gained new popularity in the film Play Misty for Me as the musical backdrop for former Brix Pick hunk Clint Eastwood's love making. Seems there's one more reason for me to rent it.

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Posted on May 7, 2007

Songs »Paloma Negra

lola beltranLola Beltran possesses the kind of lovely voice that has captivated audiences for decades. Considered the best performers of ranchera music; a traditional Mexican form of music. Ranchera music is often about love and the pains of love, and Paloma Negra (meaning “black dove”) is certainly about that. She sings:
“There are moments when I would prefer to split”
“and finally pull out the nails of my torment”
“but my eyes die without the sight of your eyes”.

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Posted on April 30, 2007

Songs »Magic

Magic by PilotThis song makes me which I was at prom in 1974. It's a perfect slow, fast song to dance with someone you kind of-sorta like but don't know if you like-like because they might not like-like you, you know?

This was the band's only real hit, but what a hit it was! And making a comeback too–I just found out it's featured in Herbie: Fully Loaded, which, in theory, should make it lamer, but if it didn't hurt Matt Dillon too much, what harm can come to a disco one hit wonder that most people find lame to begin with? My guess is it was the best part of the film.

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Posted on April 23, 2007

Songs »Where Have All The Flowers Gone

Joan BaezWhen you attend a private school the teachers are bound to be at least one third hippie. How else can I explain singing this classic song at some school concert in kindergarten? Written by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson in 1960 with lyrics adapted from a Ukrainian folk song, this became an anthem for the young and disillusioned. The Kingston Trio were the first to record it, followed by Peter Paul and Mary and many, many others.

My favorite version, however, is Joan Baez's available live on the album Very Early Joan. Of course the Marlene Deitrich version is also worth a listen too.

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Posted on April 16, 2007

Songs »Miss Being Mrs.

Loretta Lynn & Jack WhiteWhile I don't hate this album at all, I do feel like it could have benefited from more of everything that makes this song so perfect. It feels intimate and timeless and I have been enjoying listening to Loretta sing it everyday. It's a very sad song that brings tears to my eyes. Can't you just almost taste her sorrow for Doo?

She looks like the country queen she is in the video too, right down to the white lace and cameo pin. Seriously as good or better than her older, timeless hits.

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Posted on April 9, 2007