One day you catch a train/never leaves the station

(Nice readers that wrote to me today while I was out and about, thank you for the heads up. I have fixed the mp3 links, so they all should work now. I am a dingbat and a half who can't spell.)

Dear friends,

The first 49 seconds of this song are simple. Tambourine, rattling away like a warning, organ hum and a single guitar. The guitar is paradoxically, both sure of itself and wobbly. It sounds intoxicated and dangerous. A beautiful woman that you know is bad news, smiling at you crookedly and sliding onto your lap. Like a classic film noir patsy, you won't be able to resist her and she will be the end of you. Then it stops.

Thompson didn't always rock a beret.
Calvary Cross first appears on I Wanna See the Bright Lights Tonight. Despite the genuine menace of the intro, the rest of the song finds the then 24 year-old sounding a bit muted, removed somehow. It's almost like he can't believe what happened to him so he'd prefer to think the story is about someone else. When he hits the chorus and sings what the woman of the song assures him, "Everything you do/EVERYTHING you do/you do for me" his voice raises slightly, the enormity of the situation is apparent. But it's like he's in a dream and he's opening his mouth to scream and finds that he can't. The song fades out. The promise-threat hangs in the air.

Calvary Cross (Original)/Richard and Linda Thompson

Buy I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight by Richard and Linda Thompson.

"The woman in Calvary Cross was music; a view of music as something that can posses you - in that you're looking for it, rather than the other way around...I used to feel very enslaved by music." - Richard Thompson

I've seen Richard Thompson live more than any other act. He is either, according to the Rock Snob's Dictionary, "Wry, bearded singer-songwriter-guitarist...unaccountably deified by rock critics for his intelligent yet never transcendentally great albums" or simply, a brilliant guitar player whose songs reveal both a dark sensibility and sometimes, a big dollop of corn-pone humor; all sung in his distinctive, wolf-y voice. His guitar solos* are ridiculous. He is incapable of freeze-dried musicianship, he tries to re-invent his solos ever time he plays live and it isn't always pretty. He makes a righteous mess of things at times, he's tearing out floorboards, shit is flying everywhere, and then, quite suddenly, you realize that what he's doing, right at this moment, is a million times better than what you always heard on your headphones. I'm not into the jam bands, that ain't my thing. But I'm into RT and his freak-outs; I can follow his solos-as-conversation. He isn't in it to hear himself talk.

RT making the gas face.
Thompson has re-visited Calvary Cross live. Give this ferocious take, performed some ten years after the original was recorded, a listen.

Calvary Cross (Live)/Richard Thompson

He sounds like he's staring the song DOWN. The intro sidesteps the gipsy mysticism and goes for delicacy. But, god forbid you're volume is up, 'cause those first proper chords are gonna bust your ears. At 3:08, around the time the original stars fading out, he brings back that slither guitar of the original and goes off. Pay attention to how it mutates. The guitar goes, improbably, from the unmistakable sound of bagpipes to something like a whirlpool with you as the ship at the center, disappearing from view.

Buy Watching the Dark: The History of Richard Thompson by Richard Thompson.

If you ain't tired yet of hearing this lighthearted ditty about how creativity will crush you with her cold, pale hands, then here's a couple of covers! The first is a disappointment. I usually love Will Oldham's vocals, their crack and quaver, but his vocal on this is just painfully misguided. It sounds like he's going for an objective narrator/tour guide interpretation, "Here on the left is where the muse steals your soul! And here is where the black cat crosses your path!" etc... It's bloodless and I don't buy it. For completist cover-hounds only.

Calvary Cross/Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Buy The Brave, and The Bold by Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy.**

The second is something else entirely. Peter Laughner sounds like a desperate, ragged man. A million years old and begging to die. But it's not the vocal that convinces, it's the fact that he, and I have to quote myself here from this past Laughner post, doesn't try to do it like the Hebridian pagan hallucination original. Instead he gives us his own uniquely American translation. An extraordinary rendition.

Calvary Cross (Live)/Peter Laughner

Buy Take the Guitar Player For a Ride by Peter Laughner WHY OH WHY IS THIS OUT OF PRINT?

Love, D

* I am not, generally, a fan of solos. This is an important detail to remember.

* * Ever contradictory, you should know that while I dislike their Calvary Cross cover, this album is totally worth it for their take on Thunder Road.

And we ran through the moonlight far beyond

Dear friends,

There was a young woman, Daphne, who liked to run with Artemis, goddess of the Moon and hunt. The description of their nights is always the same: a group of nymphs, all virgins, sprint through the woods looking for deer with Artemis leading the way. It's always summer, there's always laughter and boys never come into the picture. The story wasn't really about this though. It was about Apollo, brother of Artemis and god of the Sun. One day, he makes the mistake of mocking Cupid's little arrows. "You can't slay animals with those," Apollo sneers. To which Cupid replies, calmly, one hopes, in order to make the threat plain, "No, these are for you." Apollo scoffs, walks away, fixes his sandal, does whatever it is Gods do. And Cupid takes his tiny love arrow and directs it straight to Apollo's heart. (Cue: ABC's Poison Arrow)

Unfortunately, the woman that Apollo immediately falls in love with is the aforementioned Daphne. He's never been in love so he doesn't really know what to do. He begins to follow her, desperately trying to woo her and winds up, understandably, terrifying her. Considering that she is not interested in marriage or men to begin with, Cupid over-eggs the pudding a bit when he shoots her as well, with an arrow of hate. Apollo is a million times more loathsome now so she starts to run away from him. He gives chase. She runs through those very same woods that she enjoys at night, this time in the dappled light. He gains on her, grabs her waist, and it is then that, depending on which version of the story you read, she cries out either to Artemis or her own father, Peneus, to save her. Her prayer is answered. Her outstretched arms grow hard and dark, her skin turns to bark and leaves shoot out from her fingertips. Apollo finds himself seizing a tree. A laurel tree.

Bernini was good at the whole sculpting thing
Girls' Night Out by The Knife reminds me of this myth. Not the event but the foreshadowing, the inkling that things are going to change, come down. The landscape is different of course. It's a modern city, night clubs, not forests, she runs through, and she ain't looking for deer. Karin Dreijer Andersson sings "We aimed for high speed/And for someone who could catch me" but it doesn't sound like she wants to be caught. What is happening to her right now is much too exhilarating. I wonder what her transformation would be if someone tried to mess with her.

Song to seek:

Girl's Night Out/The Knife (mp3)

Purchase Deep Cuts

Love, D

Ring the alarm

Dear friends,

He had a hard look to him yet when he smiled he looked like someone else entirely; a 5 year-old on his birthday or someone incapable of deceit. Whenever I saw him across the street in the neighborhood deli, he would count each coin carefully, unused to the denominations and founding father faces. His family had just moved from Jamaica and were renting a one family home that was practically attached to my apartment building. Their second floor windows and my third floor window were close enough that I could easily hand over some supplies should they need any. But people didn't do much of that in my hood*. I had read about the phenomena in books and the thought that there were places in the world where people borrowed sugar from one another filled me with peace. It was just about the nicest thing I could think of. I can't really explain why I felt that way, certainly not now.

So Barry, the neighbor, for that was his name, loved to blast music from his bedroom window. Usually dancehall but sometimes other, more recognizable classics. One night he was blaring a song that had a familiar refrain.

Ring the Alarm/Tenor Saw (live video)



I knew that song! I knew it! I had to reply! I ran over to my cds, grabbed the one I needed, inserted it into the tiny boombox, placed it on the windowsill and as soon as his was done, played this one right back at the same wall pumping volume.

Fell, Destroyed/Fugazi (mp3)

I could hear the next track on his side play for about 30 seconds and then he turned it off. It was just my "reply" playing in the twilight. The same refrain, but from another place entirely. When it ended, I pressed stop. He didn't play anything the rest of the night but I could see his seated silhoutte at the window, writing. I didn't play anything either. I moved out a short time later so I never got to ask what he thought.

Buy Red Medicine by Fugazi.

Love, D

* Dropping by the neighbors just wasn't done unless you knew each other from church and my moms was not down with forced socializing.

I live among the creatures of the night

Dear friends,

So I was at Mandee's (don't ask) and Say it Right by Nelly Furtado came on and I found myself doing an involuntary albeit discreet shimmy/shuffle. I was a little conflicted about it. Now, I'm no hater, I adore pop music and I'm not afraid to groove to it BUT I've never liked Furtado. Something about the quivering texture of her sharp little voice grates on me and while I worship Timbaland, his presence alone couldn't be it. And then it came to me. This song reminds me of Laura Branigan's Self Control*. I remember being at the Mandee's at Cross County Mall when I was a kid with my older cousins as they tried on bright banana yellow pants with big black stars on them and I couldn't wait until I was old enough to wear that kind of stuff. Yeah, I know.

Self Control/Laura Branigan (video)



So standing in the racks, holding a hideous shirt I'd never buy or much less wear, I spied a little girl watching her mother? her sister? her cousin? model a tight black dress with ruching that, while lacking in class, she was certainly working. The little girl moved her feet to the song and mouthed the words.

Say it Right/Nelly Furtado (video)



Even if the yearning I hear in it is only the projection of my nostalgia, this is a fine pop number and I want to move to it. Even if I mostly stick to jeans and ratty t-shirts with John Travolta on them. Even if I'm all grown up.

2. I'm going out of town with some friends to enjoy the outdoors 'cause this lady loves her countryside. If you are staying in the city, I urge you to go The Music Slut's Spring Fling at The Delancey on Saturday. I'm not familiar with some of the bands on the bill (though I'm a big fan of Cassettes Won't Listen and The Midnight Hours) but Jen and Matt Slut got some ears on 'em and I know it will be a ball.

Love, D

* If, you know, Say it Right had metal guitars and was way less fun.

See what you've done

Dear friends,

1. Tiffany aka New York from I Love New York, said the following on her last show in response to one of her suitors getting his weep on: "Everybody cries. Babies cry. Dogs cry. Even Doves cry." Sigh. I love this show. I will miss it when it's gone.

2. Speaking of big manly tears, this is the number that stoic types should cough up their jukebox quarters for when their relationships go kaput. It's a rare breakup song that acknowledges heartbreak, doesn't overtly announce "It will get better" but still manages to suggest that it will, without condescension. Sam Cooke's buttery vocals are defiant and precise. You hurt him bad but he will be okay. You'll keep doing whatcha do and that's just fine with him, he's done with you. It's not his problem anymore.

Sam Cooke, being real fine

Song to seek:

Get Yourself Another Fool/Sam Cooke (mp3)

Buy The Rhythm and The Blues by Sam Cooke.


Love, D

Well, it's no no no no fault of mine

Dear friends,

Busy building dams. Tonight I will be going to The Delancey to see Spy Alarms play their debut gig at 8 PM. They have no album to sell (yet) or even songs available but to satisfy your ear-curiosity, here's a My Bloody Valentine cover they did for my birthday last year with the unstoppable Marta De Leon on lead vocals.

You Made Me Realise/Spy Alarms (mp3)

(I'll upload the proper mp3 tomorrow)

You Made Me Realise/My Bloody Valentine (mp3)

You Made Me Realise/My Bloody Valentine (YST link)


I've written about this old fave before so pardon the lack of words. Just think: amusement park rides in summer, love like bittersweet chocolate, self-righteously indignant arguments and running out of gas before you get home.

Befriend Spy Alarms on My Space.

Love, D

In the light I saw

Dear friends,

1. I had a post idea up and ready but am missing the necessary mp3s* to make it happen. It's a story about blasting music out the window at your neighbor. It will have to wait until Wednesday.

2. Spent Saturday playing Carioca with Moms** and The Monkey. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was playing in the background. She looked up from her cards at the screen and said, "Isn't that the guy that sings with the whites of his eyes?" (In Spanish this makes much more sense) to which I replied, "Si." She meant Eddie Vedder, who, as you may recall, has a habit of rolling his eyes when he's feeling particularly impassioned during a vocal so that all you see are two white slits, like a zombie.

Jeremy/Pearl Jam (video)



See what I'm talking about?

I won't front, I loved me some Pearl Jam back in the day and while I don't hate them now or anything, I find it interesting that I never listen to their cds anymore. Not even in nostalgia. I don't know if it's because the music didn't age well for me OR because the vocal progeny of the Vedder vibrato are just SO AWFUL that listening to Pearl Jam would be a painful reminder of the fact. Think about it. Vedder is indirectly responsible for most of the horrible, horrible "modern rock" singers that you accidentally hear on the radio or see on MTV/VH1, in a video where they sing a ballad in a studio or in the freakin' rain. I know it's not his fault and yet, it is. Still, on Saturday night, I felt kinder to Vedder than I have in years when he said, in his sweet fan kid induction speech for REM, that he listened to Murmur about twelve thousand times***. Suddenly, it all made sense. The bleat, the marbles in the mouth. I am going to transfer that anger towards Michael Stipe instead. It's all his fault.

Moon River/Pretty Persuasion/REM (video from Old Grey Whistle Test)



Ah, but isn't that nice?

It was great to see Bill Berry playing with them. Despite his brain going boom, he looks way better than Peter Buck who is still rocking that kicked off a plane look. I love you though Bucky, you and your Rickenbacker are cool beans.

Mike Mills will outlive us all.

A commercial for the new Amy Winehouse came on several times during the broadcast. My mom said "I like her. Who is that?" I told her, even though I knew she wouldn't remember her name the next day or that she even asked. This is no knock on my mom's memory, which is elephantine about most things, it's just that, unlike her spawn, she's not an obsessive. Which means she doesn't know the names of the people in her favorite bands because she really doesn't need to. The song is enough. She used to stare at me in bemusement when I was a kid, endlessly alphabetizing all my cassette tapes. She said I must've gotten the trait from her father, who collected tango 45s and used to sweep her up in his arms and dance her around the kitchen whenever she came in from playing outside. I realized that if I ever have a child, they may not care to remember the name of the drummer in New Order or who Donnie Hathaway is. They may just ask me now and again, "Who is that? I like them." and immediately forget after I tell them. And that's just fine.

You Know I'm No Good/Amy Winehouse (video)



I have more to say about Miss Winehouse but I'll save that for the proper album review.

Love, D

* The cds are at mi mami's

** Yes, I know I was just there. I forgot to take them. I am a space cadet.

*** I can't say I listened to it as many times as Vedder but I did listen to Murmur quite a bit. Enough to still get the line "So much more attractive/inside a moral kiosk." stuck in my head every now and again, on an endless loop. Yes, it is as painful as it sounds.

Fuzzy are the lights, fuzzy like your smile

Dear friends,

1. This song, this vocal is like a perfect short film. Economic, honest and true. Two people say goodbye. One promises that they'll see each other soon but will they really? Have they missed their chance? Dearie's whispery little voice is both rueful and tender. The hesitant delivery behind her casual words makes her sound like she can barely contain her disappointment. Listen to her "Oh well..." sigh, it's the sound of regret.

Blossom Dearie
Song to seek:

Some Other Time/Blossom Dearie (mp3)

Buy Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green by Blossom Dearie

2. You know those satin cha cha heeled slippers with the fluff ball at the tip that Gabor-manqués of the late 50's used to favor? Whenever I hear this brief vamp, I picture a woman wearing those, sashaying wildly about her kitchen in a silk kimono, holding a martini and cooing "Hello stranger" to her reflection. As long as she keeps drinking and dancing inside her apartment, she'll never have to worry about the rejection that awaits out there. A strange combination of breeze and terror.

Nellie McKay
Song to seek:

Pink Chandelier/Nellie McKay (mp3)

Buy Pretty Little Head by Nellie McKay.

3. Here's something for those who don't feel like ending their week with ladies and their pianos. Several years ago, I was having dinner at a friend's home. Her husband is quite the chef, so when he said he was cooking, I dawdled until I got a place at the table because I am transparent like that. During the after-dinner smoke, he cough-laughed and mentioned that he'd just gotten a cd of his old punk band playing the Rat in Boston. Huh? The Rathskeller?!? Naturally, I had to hear this. We went upstairs to one of the many rooms in their house that was a mess of pictures and clothes in shades of blue and green and he put it on. One of his phenomenal daughters, then 8 years-old, bounded in. She began jumping up and down, shouting "Please don't be weird!" along with the music. Nevermind the polite request for normalcy or the jerky, stabbing beat; I had to join her in the get down. That was a good Friday.

Song to seek:

Please Don't Be Weird/The Girls (mp3)

Buy Live at The Rathskeller 5.17.79 by The Girls

Love, D

Write it on a piece of paper

Dear friends,

I'm slowly but surely chipping away at all the mixes I owe for various birthdays, holidays and other sundry arrangements that are too complicated to get into. Here are some of the selections.

1. Mix Selection One

Friend X is a cackle and finger point type of gal. She also plays a mean, tippy-toes sneaky geeetarr. And no one does sneak like Polly Jean. I saw PJ Harvey do this song on TV dressed in a fuzzy red sweater mini-dress, her wide crimson lips carefully enunciating all the antics of Automatic Slim and his cronies. It certainly didn't sound "pretty" or make me comfortable but I couldn't stop watching.

Here is that performance:

Wang Dang Doodle/PJ Harvey (video)



I love her covers because she always makes them sound like she wrote 'em. Now if anyone has an mp3 of her doing Captain Beefheart's Dropout Boogie, do send it my way.

Wang Dang Doodle/PJ Harvey (mp3)

Buy The Peel Sessions 1991-2004/PJ Harvey

2. Mix Selection Two

Gonna borrow from this old Soft Communication post if you don't mind:

"I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Four Tet remixes. The song is always stripped down to something breathable and organic. And my ears rejoice, because all of a sudden, a smattering of hidden elements come to the foreground. Like in this case: the bell changes that signal the constant mind-shifts of the song's protagonist."

Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet laughs WITH you, never AT you
I just found out belated birthday boy, Friend Y, runs. This track is meant for his weekend jaunts into Prospect Park. I know he likes the cock rock but something tells me this is a good one to listen to on the dash as the sun peekaboos through the trees.

Skttrbrain (Four Tet Remix)/Radiohead (mp3)

Buy Com Lag (2Plus2IsFive) by Radiohead

3. Mix Selection Three

Friend Z is owed a mix CD for every month since last June. Gulp. Don't ask. I've actually made most of them and am now up to February. Naturally, since that month is for lovers and companies that make cash money off of lovers, I thought I'd theme it up a bit. This selection was played for me by The Monkey. I don't think he was trying to set a mood or anything, he just put it on and started getting his work clothes ready for the next day. Somewhere between the aching, shivering strings and Peter Green's lazily sensual vocal, I was ready to take J behind the middle school and get him pregnant*. Now, that's a song that does its job. Word.

Need Your Love So Bad/Fleetwood Mac (mp3)

Before Linds and Stevie, Peter Green WAS Fleetwood Mac. You might be familiar with a little ditty he wrote called Black Magic Woman that was covered by a guitar player so bad ass he didn't even have to sing in the band named after him? Not that Green was a slouch in the playing department. Watch below.

Like It This Way/Fleetwood Mac (Video)



Buy The Best of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac/Fleetwood Mac

Love, D

* I'm contractually required to drop Jordanalia every week. Also: "I believe that vampires are the world's greatest golfers but their curse is that they can never prove it."

I'm dressed in white noise

Dear friends,

Before she became the electro Lady T-Rex we all know and love, cooing "Ooh la la" in the soundtracks of car commercials, Alison Goldfrapp had a distinctly cool, Alpine vibe.

I want to steal Alison Goldfrapp's sweet, sweet blouse

Song to seek:

Pumpkin (feat. Alison Goldfrapp)/Tricky (mp3)

Alison Goldfrapp lends her voice to this ditty from Tricky's 1995 solo debut. I love this number not just because it doesn't get any simpler/stupid/brilliant than basing a song on a Smashing Pumpkins sample and calling the results Pumpkin BUT because Goldfrapp's vocal on this is a languid thing of beauty. As Tricky wheezes about his lady trouble, Goldfrapp uses the open spaces to stretch out notes in her sweet, unforced soprano. Light meeting dark.

Buy Maxinquaye by Tricky.

Video:



Along comes Will Gregory in 1999 and Goldfrapp, the duo, is born. Utopia is a little off-putting, what with its mention of "fascist babies" and the sheer, nosebleed-giving heights of it. The operatic intro leads into a low, hesitant expression of oneness with a partner. But the declaration is glacial in every sense of the word so it makes you wonder if it's real or it's been induced in some way. Is she really in love or is she under a spell?

Song to seek:

Utopia/Goldfrapp (mp3)

Buy Felt Mountain by Goldfrapp.

Live video:



Song to seek:

Strict Machine/Goldfrapp (mp3)

2003, buh bye chill out, hello electro-glam. Is Strict Tempo a song about fucking your Pro Tools? Perhaps. What I love about this track is not the sexuality but just how utterly GLEEFUL it is about being controlled by the beat. Like I Feel Love gone completely digital, which, of course, is the most nonsensical comparison ever, because I Feel Love IS completely digital and sounded like the FUTURE when it came out so how could it ever be analog? But that's just it. It's the chirpiness of Goldfrapp's vocal that makes Strict Tempo sound more modern. She's so obviously alive and human, she didn't just discover computers, in fact, they're taking her out on dates! What could be more Judy Jetson than that? Best believe, despite the BPM, this song belongs on the Man/Machine slow jamz mix tape.

Buy Black Cherry by Goldfrapp.

Video:



Befriend Goldfrapp on My Space.

Love, D

Can't you see that I'm in love with you?

Dear friends,

1.
Bert Jansch has always confused me. There is something about his vocal quality that is too aloof, too gentlemanly to really register as authentic. He sounds like an man reading the book, not living the life. Even on Needle of Death, a song about a friend's drug addiction that clearly has personal resonance, seems removed. I love his music and his words but ultimately, I see him as a technician; working on something until it is exactly as he wants it.

Jansch is a phenomenal guitarist; there is no refuting that. His technical ability is almost divinely suited to the intricate, ivy-like guitar patterns of the English folk tunes that are his bread and butter. On instrumentals, there are few acoustic guitar players that can touch him.

This song posted below is not an instrumental. Or a ballad about a dead maiden. It's a pop song. Jigga huh? Exactly!

Song to seek:

A Little Sweet Sunshine/Bert Jansch (mp3)

An unexpected, loosey-goosey piano and horn led walk down a London street. This song pops out on the album in an odd way. Was this Donovan-lite trifle included so it could chart* and encourage album sales? Lord knows, dour, single guitar traditional ballads were a mite heavy for 1960's radio. Still, despite the "Now!"-pandering of it, I love how the song's very disposability frees up Jansch to give his most relaxed vocal ever. He's a man without a care and it's charming.

Befriend Bert Jansch on My Space.

Buy Nicola by Bert Jansch.

2. Speaking of 60's sounds, Contributor Jenny P's Hot Rocks party is tonight at The Delancey. This time there's live bands as well and FREE BEER from 11:30 to 12:30. Do drop in!

Love, D

* Though according to the Bert Jansch Wikipedia entry, it was a b-side. Go figure.

A crowd of people stood and stared

Dear friends,

I wish I could hang up a "Gone Fishing" sign 'cause in a sense, that's what I'm doing right now. Please bear with me and enjoy these covers.

1. The elegant Captain commands from the dunes.

Mojo magazine decided to get a bunch of bands to cover Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in its entirety and Captain had the nerve to do A Day in the Life. We heard it in the car on the way to New Paltz. J drove the long way just so I could look out the window at the Hudson. As the song came on over a stretch of barren turnpike, I wondered just how it would work on a shoestring. It's lovely really. Like the original in matchbox form. No strings but still shimmering somehow. When the last chord rang out, cutting off sooner than the original, The Monkey said "Lame." I don't agree. Not everyone has simultaneous access to multiple pianos. One does what one can.

Song to seek:

A Day in the Life/Captain (mp3)

Befriend Captain on My Space.

Buy This Is Hazelville by Captain

2. Bryan Ferry has been playing the soulful lounge lizard for years now. I like this crackadoodle cover because I can almost picture the prancing, bored with the Beguine-ing, winking Ferry of Roxy singing it. He gives you a tiny, menacing smile and goes back to his martini without a hair out of place.

Song to seek:

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue/Bryan Ferry (mp3)

Buy Frantic by Bryan Ferry

3. I'll never forget reading an article on Serge Gainsbourg's passing in The Voice and asking my moms what "provocateur" meant. Because of that word, I HAD to find out about this guy and his music. Mick Harvey knows provocation, just give a listen to the sleazy neon cabaret of Crime and the City Solution and of course, his work as a Bad Seed. Harvey recorded a couple of Gainsbourg cover albums sung in English. In theory, they should have been lousy* but weren't. I loved the original paean to Brigitte Bardot that much more once I understood the voyeuristic urgency of the lyric. The way the strings correspond with the movement; the fluttering hair on a beautiful woman as she runs through the street. Both cover albums are fantastic, though I'm partial to the first for this song and also for the seasick carnival swirl of Harvey's Intoxicated Man cover.

Song to seek:

Initials B.B./Mick Harvey (mp3)

Buy Intoxicated Man by Mick Harvey

Love, D

* I'm not opposed, generally, to French to English song translation, but Gainsbourg in English seemed like an especially bad idea.

The World's Limit

Helpful as always, I am here simply to supplement my sister's post below with a link to the song itself (courtesy of Tavietown, USA.)

I especially love that her post referenced the Pete's Dragon soundtrack, so as a completely unrelated bonus, please enjoy this terrible-quality video of Jim Dale and the late Red Buttons singing "Every Little Piece", a song which never fails to make me happy. (And it references various world currencies, including yen, bringing us back to Japan, bringing us back to
この世の限り-Kono Yo no Kagiri- (The World's Limit).

It's The End of the World

Hi,

この世の限り-Kono Yo no Kagiri- (The World's Limit)

If I ever met my doom in a poetic Tarantino bloodbath, I'd wanna draw my last slow motion gasp to this song.

I am shamelessly in love so I am selfishly pushing it on you. It's by Shiina Ringo. It's bilingual. That's her older brother, Junpei, singing with her. If I ever recorded a song with my sibling, I'd want it to be just like this one singular sensation.

Or, eh, anything off the "Pete's Dragon" soundtrack (with the exception of that Candle on the Water drek)

I've been waiting for a Showa-Tei, footlight parade, Oh-So-Quietish number from Shiina since she let Tokya Ska Paradise cover "Sid and the Daydream". She almost met my needs with "Invisible Man" on Tokyo Jihen's ADULT but no, I didn't envision the chorus line, the mirrored stairs, the fireworks or Daddy Warbucks until this one.

This will stop your show. Suddenly, I don't care that it's allergy season and I can't breathe worth a damn.

The song is off her latest album "Heisei Fuuzoku". When I fall out of love with this track, I'll tell you about the rest.

Here's a romanization/translation of the Japanese. I'm not-so-covertly hoping Tavie will like it enough to learn it so we can sing together.

Kono you ni kagiri wa aru no?
moshimo hate ga mieta nara

dou yatte warau ka tanoshimou ka
mou yari tsukushita ne

jaa nando datte wasureyou
soshite mata atarashiku deaereba subarashii
sayounara
hajimemashite

ENGLISH:
Is there any limit to this world?
And if in fact we've seen the end
How could we ever laugh or enjoy ourselves again?
We've already exhausted everything, haven't we?

So, let's forget each other countless times
And when we meet again, it will be wonderful
Goodbye
Nice to meet you


I need some "Mucus-Be-Gone". In an elephant sized hypodermic. Applied directly to my sinuses. Woe betide me.

Gotta find a distraction.

Buvant tout mon whisky

Dear friends,

1. I am going to this on Saturday, tuberculosis be damned!


Found out what "petanqué" is and I am sad to report that it is not a type of crêpe. No matter, I will still show up dressed in a striped shirt/beret combo, a small, curlicued moustache drawn above my lip. I do so love a theme.

Plastic Bertrand cover to seek:

Ca Plane Pour Moi/Sonic Youth (YST link)

2. Jeff K has completed his wrap-up of the Neon Lights presents... show on 2/17. Where is my wrap up? Eh...Monday? Maybe?

Love, D

PS It is my fervent wish that Miss Melody Nelson joins Die Romantik onstage for a Serge Gainsbourg cover or two. (Crosses fingers)

And then let me in

Dear friends,

1. Still hacking. My cough won't let me sleep. I've been staring at these words on the page:

Tell your doctor or seek medical treatment if you experience any signs or symptoms that may indicate you have developed an infection such as:

• a cough that doesn't go away
• weight loss
• fever
• chills
• congestion
• flu-like symptoms

If these or any other signs of infection appear after you take HUMIRA, tell your doctor right away.

Part of me doesn't care enough to make the trip up to the doctor. And part of me thinks that I'm going the way of Camille. This is the sound of one shoulder shrugging.

2. Speaking of koans, Mike B's got some things to say about House. I'm not down with House though I know at least one Soft Communication contributor who is. I just hate hospitals. I don't even want to hear about them in songs much less see them on my television at night.

3. These guys are playing tonight at Fontana's. I wrote about them before here.



Song to seek:

Machine/The Lisps (mp3)
Machine/The Lisps (YST link)

Buy The Vain, The Modest and The Dead by The Lisps.

Love, D