4 posts tagged “song”
I am still using the Mystery Meat setting on my iPod, and not all the way through sampling every song on there. I don't have everything I want on there yet, but what I do have keeps me pretty entertained. So on the way back and forth to the office I hook up the thing to a crappy radio adapter, and sing along. Loudly (as if you didn't know already).
First one on the list this afternoon was one of my own songs. Listening to it, and realizing that I was the person who wrote it, I decided that I'd go with the idea I had for a new site redesign and start on it right away. You can only let procrastination win for so long before it becomes boring, and you become stupid. Now to find a flattering photo to use... good luck and godspeed on that one.
Next was Stewart Copeland's "Strange Things Happen". I had been in the middle of pre-ordering his unreleased book by this same name last night before I was foiled by a glitch on the website, so I was actually heading home to complete that order before my computer packed it in and lost my shopping cart.
I know a whole bunch of folks who are even more thrilled about the release of this book than I am. They have probably already predicted what strange things have happened in the story. After Sting's rather sparse (read: non-gossipy) account of the band's history, and then Andy Summer's more rambunctious joyride through his Police memories, I'm wondering if being last to tell the tale has its merits.
And Stewart talks the way other people write. You can never be sure just what the man will say -- you know it will be absolutely unfiltered, and chances are it will be surprising. But while other people take some time to think up clever answers and spend time thinking about what they are writing, and what they SHOULD be writing, and the best words to say it with... well... that stuff just comes rapidfire right out of his mouth. With no thesaurus-thumbing and really no thinking gap at all. There's barely a chance to really take in the full meaning of what he's just said before he goes on to something else. I'm amazed and impressed with this ability because I've never met anyone like this in my entire life. I wish I could think in words that quickly. But because he talks like other people write... what is he going to write?
Anyway. I've just now finished my pre-order of the book, along with a second readable copy of Andy's "One Train Later" (the autographed one from Luminato is now untouchable). Like the rest of us, Stewart's put out some questionable stuff (and I'm willing to take my licks on that from the nutters -- plus I'm first in line to showcase some of the really horrible songs I'm forced to take credit for myself) but this book is going to be something to really look forward to and devour no matter how it turns out. And there's always the chance of a booksigning tour :)
There are rules for this list, such as one that controls your choices, but I'm not playing by them. In a way these lists remind me of the Bill McNeil character from NewsRadio selecting his walking sticks: "I don't like this one, it displeases me. You, I like -- I keep" sort of thing. So I'm just going to pick some favourites and then you get to read why. Or not.
1) Bed's Too Big Without You (Mono Version)
This has been my favourite Police song since the very first time I heard that bash... you know the one. I remember where I was, what I was wearing, and I remember how fierce the sun was shining on me when I turned up the volume knob. Sometimes I sing this in the shower or in the car, and it becomes a very mournful jazz tune when it's a cappella, and I miss the harmonies. But that groove, that groove that flips inside out and back again, I will never forget. Not to mention some very fine stickage from Monsieur Copeland.
2) Does Everyone Stare
Sometimes it's painful to remember feeling like this towards someone. And sometimes it's painful to think that no one will ever feel this way towards me ever again.
3) Don't Stand So Close To Me
Yep, I grew up listening to this song, just like everyone else. I listened to it a thousand times, if not more, I'm an 80s girl and I did have a radio and friends with radios. But the first time I really heard it was in July 2007, when I first saw the Police in Toronto. Sting sang it like he was sharing a secret with you, and it was positively erotic, which was just unbelievable to me at the time -- and thank God for it, because although I saw three other concerts in that tour it never happened again.
4) Can't Stand Losing You
Or as I spent the last couple of years seeing it, "CSLY". I love the fierceness of this song.
5) Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
When we got home from the concert we saw together, my husband said his favourite moment of the entire night was the first chorus of this song. "The whole place... the crowd, the entire venue... just LIT UP when they played this", he told me. Yep.
6) De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
I can't believe I just typed that out.
7) Hungry For You (J'aurais Toujour Faim de Toi)
Well, again we are back to the whole thing about how it's unlikely anyone will ever murmur these types of things to me in my lifetime. No more first-love thrills for me. But also my husband and I have this running joke where one of us will sing or say something pretty obscure, and the other will say "How could you possibly KNOW that? You don't know THAT" when obviously we do because we just sang it. This song is one of those inside jokes for us. I know -- things get convoluted when your best friend is also your spouse.
8) Next To You
I adore the recorded, album version but it's always fun to listen to the live ones to see how fast Stewart can play this, and how he pushes the tempo even further. Also the live ones have hysterical backup singing, and a better song ending.
9) Masoko Tanga
Ahhhhh. I have no idea of any lyrics in this song, I don't know what it's about and I don't know how it was recorded. Because I'm a composer I tend to pull songs apart and peer into them to see how they work, but I can't with this song and that's why I love it. Listening as a passive, non-competitive sport can be nice, too.
10) On Any Other Day
Because the other ones were complete bullshit. And because yes, it is true -- I wanted something corny and I got it.
I
can't name five more songs without thinking that I would have to name five more
after that, so I'll leave it at ten (in case you needed even more proof that I'm
a badass I disregarded that rule too).
But two others on my iPod that get a lot of Buttercup love are
Man in a Suitcase, Driven to Tears, and Canary in a
Coalmine, for the boring reason of I just like them. And all of them make me so very thankful for
the time I got to spend soaking up the second-hand joy or even better -- experiencing
it first-hand myself, holding a well-traveled green
flag.
[ if you got here through one of my tags but didn't find what you were looking for... this is the explanation why ]
It's really very simple.
Being a writer is a shitty job. People think that writers should just write for the pleasure of it, and therefore writing is a job they won't pay you for. Not true. People think they can just sit down and decide one day to be a writer. Not bloody likely. People also think they can control what other people write. You can't.
I've always said that if you know a writer, you will eventually find yourself in one of Mork's reports back to Orson.
Does Mork care if you are in the report? Nope. Does Orson think it's wrong for people to interfere with Mork filing his report? Hell, yes.
So I'm going to admit it. I'm sick to death of the scrutiny. Quite frankly, I'm embarrassed for you -- that you think you have the right to control the things I say, what I do, what I think, and what I write about. I'm tired of feigning respect for, and continuing to smile and nod at, the people who just want to judge me. Worse: when they communicate these judgments to me and then expect me to change to fit their ideas.
I'm taking my control back. Here's what I've left for you: your scrutiny, your judgments, and your ideas. You can have them. They are, after all, just yours. I've never shared them.
This is not my first VOX blog post. I've moved almost everything into
"neighbourhood only" so that I can select who sees what, and when. How's that for showing some lady balls? I hope you aren't feeling threatened. All I'm doing is living my own life. Which is, like it or lump it, the life of a writer.
If you need access to one of my previous posts, whether through a Google search or a link that one of my friends has shared, just message or contact me, and I'll hook you up.
If you could perform alongside any artist (actor, dancer, musician, etc.), who would it be, and what would you perform?
Submitted by Kristin.
There are three songwriter/composer -type people I'm hoping to work with someday.
The first one is Stewart Copeland. Right now there's this little matter of a huge reunion tour with the Police, but his "day job" is writing soundtracks for film. He's used to having all of his fingers in the pie, like me (writing, playing, singing, producing, etc.) and the more I listen to what he's already done, the more I believe we could come up with some wicked magic stuff together. I suppose that performance-wise, I'd like something big and classical, with violins and piano and a big horn section, and of course some heavy artillery. I think a lot of harmony would be in order, as well as many different layers of whatever we can jam in there that sounds good.
Danny Elfman, of course, is the talented dude behind the Simpsons theme song, and half of the coolness you'll find in Tim Burton movies. I didn't know about him until someone compared my songs to his, and they are indeed very much in the same style and sound similar. I don't know if he'd want to work with someone who isn't much different than he is, though. Also I haven't gotten any phone calls from Tim Burton, asking if I'll score his movies. Still... it would be fantastic to collaborate with him someday. Even if he'll just let me watch his spooky choir in action :)
Three other people I'd love to work with: Jack Lenz (a Canadian songwriter who has worked on many and varied projects, like Nanalan' and The Passion of the Christ), and Rachel Portman (UK soundtrack artist for many of my favourite films from the 90s -- Road to Wellville, Cider House Rules, Beloved, Home Fries, etc.). Mitch Girio has been a hero of mine since I first met him, and though we did collaborate together on one song, it was done long-distance.
I'd give my -- actually, I don't know what I could say here that would fully explain what I'd do, give, kill, or die for -- just to work with these talented and impressively awesome people. I know it's been said that living out a fantasy is never as fun as you imagined, but in this case... I know it would be even better than I imagined.
As an added bonus, since we are talking about partners in the spotlight, here's a song that Mike Southern (formerly of King Apparatus) and I wrote together:
