Day 8 -- A Song You Know All the Words To
"Dream a Little Dream of Me" -- The Mamas and the Papas, The Papas and the Mamas (1968)
I know all the words to a lot of songs. That's what we people who "can sing" do. We sing songs over and over again and remember the words. Sometimes, we are asked to perform. Usually when someone we know points to us and says, "You know, so-and-so can sing." This has happened to me on numerous occasions. I usually don't sing on command but I'm always tempted to show off a little and the first song that comes to mind is "Dream a Little Dream of Me".
It's a simple little song from the 1930s and has been covered dozens of times. It's usually found on those BLANK Does the American Songbook albums. So, The Mamas and the Papas weren't the ones who made the song big, but their version (actually a solo sung by Cass Elliot) is the first I heard.
It's short and sweet and easy to remember. Very cute and little nonsensical. I mean, one of the lines is "sweet dreams til sunbeams find you". It's hard not to remember the words.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
30 Day Song Challenge REDUX -- Day 7
Day 7 -- A Song That Reminds You of a Certain Event
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" -- The Beatles (1963)
What I consider to be mine and Tyler's second date, wasn't really a "date" in the traditional sense. We didn't go out to dinner or a movie or to the roller rink or whatever the kids are doing these days. We walked in the rain, holding hands.
By this time, Tyler and I had already been out on our first date to the coffee shop. We had been texting at night and flirting covertly at work. This particular day (the day of the second date), Tyler had to work the closing shift. I didn't work that day (or I did and it was the morning shift) so I went out to an early dinner with a coworker of ours named Amanda. I liked Tyler, but I wanted a second opinion. Since Amanda had known Tyler for far longer than I, I wanted her to tell me if there was any reason not to date him. If he was womanizer or a drunk, I wanted her to tell me so.
At dinner, she said nothing but good things and I felt more confident about the situation. She knew that Tyler liked me and wanted to see him happy, so that probably had something to do with it too. (I secretly hoped Tyler would ask Amanda about me and how I was when I was in a non-date situation.) After dinner--in which I had two beers--Amanda and I both had to use the bathroom, so why not stop by our place of work where Tyler just happened to be? I flirted shamelessly and Tyler was effected by it. He told Amanda "to get me out of there".
A little while later, Tyler texted that he wanted to see me after work. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those fancy phones that saves every text ever, so I'll have to paraphrase. He wrote something about just wanting to hold my hand. So I said I'd meet him after work where he dropped me off after our coffee date. I was still apprehensive about being alone with Tyler. To deter his possible advances, I wore unsexy clothes: a hoodie and my crappiest jeans. Well, unsexy to me. I was so thickheaded back then that I didn't realize the giant holes in my jeans were showing off my legs--which I didn't think were all that--but Tyler thought were hot stuff.
So, Tyler got off work and I met him in the parking lot by my apartment. We held hands. It was wonderful. Sweet. Romantic. Innocent. Perfect. We walked and talked for a long time. It began to rain, but we continued to walk. I love rain and didn't mind getting wet, but Tyler was still in his work clothes. He asked if it was all right if we went to his house so he could change. I said yes, but that I wasn't coming in. I waited in the car until he came out (with Simpsons artwork! But that's another post.) We drove back to my apartment and sat in his parked car and talked for several more hours. We cuddled and he touched my legs through the giant rips in my jeans...
Wait a minute. Aren't I supposed to be writing about a song?
Oh yeah.
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is one of the Beatles' biggest hits. It's the song that shot them to stardom in America. It is a pop standard. It is a classic. I grew up listening to it. I grew up wishing that this song would come to life for me. Because when you're a kid, holding hands is a biggie on the spectrum of physical affection. As I grew older and other things on the spectrum of physical affection became more relevant to my peers, I still looked forward to hand holding. I wished that someone would just want to hold my hand. That someone would like me so much that touching my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine, would be all he needed. Tyler made that come true for me and thusly, whenever I think of that night, I think of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and vice versa.
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" -- The Beatles (1963)
What I consider to be mine and Tyler's second date, wasn't really a "date" in the traditional sense. We didn't go out to dinner or a movie or to the roller rink or whatever the kids are doing these days. We walked in the rain, holding hands.
By this time, Tyler and I had already been out on our first date to the coffee shop. We had been texting at night and flirting covertly at work. This particular day (the day of the second date), Tyler had to work the closing shift. I didn't work that day (or I did and it was the morning shift) so I went out to an early dinner with a coworker of ours named Amanda. I liked Tyler, but I wanted a second opinion. Since Amanda had known Tyler for far longer than I, I wanted her to tell me if there was any reason not to date him. If he was womanizer or a drunk, I wanted her to tell me so.
At dinner, she said nothing but good things and I felt more confident about the situation. She knew that Tyler liked me and wanted to see him happy, so that probably had something to do with it too. (I secretly hoped Tyler would ask Amanda about me and how I was when I was in a non-date situation.) After dinner--in which I had two beers--Amanda and I both had to use the bathroom, so why not stop by our place of work where Tyler just happened to be? I flirted shamelessly and Tyler was effected by it. He told Amanda "to get me out of there".
A little while later, Tyler texted that he wanted to see me after work. Unfortunately, I don't have one of those fancy phones that saves every text ever, so I'll have to paraphrase. He wrote something about just wanting to hold my hand. So I said I'd meet him after work where he dropped me off after our coffee date. I was still apprehensive about being alone with Tyler. To deter his possible advances, I wore unsexy clothes: a hoodie and my crappiest jeans. Well, unsexy to me. I was so thickheaded back then that I didn't realize the giant holes in my jeans were showing off my legs--which I didn't think were all that--but Tyler thought were hot stuff.
So, Tyler got off work and I met him in the parking lot by my apartment. We held hands. It was wonderful. Sweet. Romantic. Innocent. Perfect. We walked and talked for a long time. It began to rain, but we continued to walk. I love rain and didn't mind getting wet, but Tyler was still in his work clothes. He asked if it was all right if we went to his house so he could change. I said yes, but that I wasn't coming in. I waited in the car until he came out (with Simpsons artwork! But that's another post.) We drove back to my apartment and sat in his parked car and talked for several more hours. We cuddled and he touched my legs through the giant rips in my jeans...
Wait a minute. Aren't I supposed to be writing about a song?
Oh yeah.
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is one of the Beatles' biggest hits. It's the song that shot them to stardom in America. It is a pop standard. It is a classic. I grew up listening to it. I grew up wishing that this song would come to life for me. Because when you're a kid, holding hands is a biggie on the spectrum of physical affection. As I grew older and other things on the spectrum of physical affection became more relevant to my peers, I still looked forward to hand holding. I wished that someone would just want to hold my hand. That someone would like me so much that touching my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine, would be all he needed. Tyler made that come true for me and thusly, whenever I think of that night, I think of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and vice versa.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
30 Day Song Challenge REDUX -- Day 6
Day 6 -- A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere
"First Date" -- Blink 182, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
I was there when Ashley got Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. We were at Costco with her mom. Ashley wanted the latest Blink 182 CD, but alas, it had that dreaded "Parental Advisory Explicit Content" sticker on it. What's a thirteen year old to do? Why, she simply covered it with her hand and asked her mom. Ashley's mom, a lovely lady but not the most observant, bought it. She was too classy to get the title's pun.
Ashley and I became best friends after I moved to Oakesdale in the fifth grade. One of the first things we bonded over was music. We both listened to "Oldies" while the others in our class were drowning in a hormonal pool brought on by the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. Maybe it's because our parents were in their 40s and everyone else's were a little younger. Or maybe we were just weird. But we sure liked our hits from the 50s and 60s. Whenever we hung out, the radio was tuned to Oldies 101.1.
Like so many things, that all changed in seventh grade. Our musical tastes began to cleave. I was getting into the Carpenters. soft rock, and 70s pop in general. Ashley was getting into pop punk and alternative. Obviously, these are very different styles of music. But since we weren't going to let a little thing like evolving melodic inclinations destroy our friendship, we made a rule: whoever's house we were at was who's music we listened to. Fair was fair. ABBA on Monday. Linkin Park on Tuesday.
Therefore, "First Date", the one song I actually liked from Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, reminds me of Ashley's room. It's a fun song. Sort of cute and immature and romantically themed which was all I needed from any form of entertainment when I was thirteen.
"First Date" -- Blink 182, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
I was there when Ashley got Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. We were at Costco with her mom. Ashley wanted the latest Blink 182 CD, but alas, it had that dreaded "Parental Advisory Explicit Content" sticker on it. What's a thirteen year old to do? Why, she simply covered it with her hand and asked her mom. Ashley's mom, a lovely lady but not the most observant, bought it. She was too classy to get the title's pun.
Ashley and I became best friends after I moved to Oakesdale in the fifth grade. One of the first things we bonded over was music. We both listened to "Oldies" while the others in our class were drowning in a hormonal pool brought on by the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. Maybe it's because our parents were in their 40s and everyone else's were a little younger. Or maybe we were just weird. But we sure liked our hits from the 50s and 60s. Whenever we hung out, the radio was tuned to Oldies 101.1.
Like so many things, that all changed in seventh grade. Our musical tastes began to cleave. I was getting into the Carpenters. soft rock, and 70s pop in general. Ashley was getting into pop punk and alternative. Obviously, these are very different styles of music. But since we weren't going to let a little thing like evolving melodic inclinations destroy our friendship, we made a rule: whoever's house we were at was who's music we listened to. Fair was fair. ABBA on Monday. Linkin Park on Tuesday.
Therefore, "First Date", the one song I actually liked from Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, reminds me of Ashley's room. It's a fun song. Sort of cute and immature and romantically themed which was all I needed from any form of entertainment when I was thirteen.
30 Day Song Challenge REDUX -- Day 5
Day 5 -- A Song That Reminds You of Someone
"Seasons" -- Grace Slick, Dreams (1980)
Every six months or so, my mother wants me to make her a mix CD, usually as a birthday or Christmas present. I'm happy to do it, of course. She is my mother after all. And plus, it's fascinating. One important thing to know about my mom is that she isn't really a fan of music. She will listen to it in the car on the way to work, but you won't find her unwinding to an Enya CD or anything. She doesn't seek out music. It's just not her thing.
My dad, on the other hand, is a frequent concert goer and buyer of CDs. Over the 40 years my parents have been together, my mom has been exposed to a lot of music. Most of which she doesn't really care for. That is why it's so interesting to me when my mom hands me these lists of random (and I do mean random) songs. What kind of music does she listen to when she's all alone?
Odd stuff. "Seasons" by Grace Slick (who was the former lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and plain ol' Starship of "We Built This City" fame) is one of these weird songs. Wikipedia categorizes the song as "psychedelic rock" but sounds more like a Russian folk song. It simply describes the changing of the seasons and its effect on the people. It is dramatic and weird and totally a song my mom would like. And now I like it too because it reminds me of my mom.
"Seasons" -- Grace Slick, Dreams (1980)
Every six months or so, my mother wants me to make her a mix CD, usually as a birthday or Christmas present. I'm happy to do it, of course. She is my mother after all. And plus, it's fascinating. One important thing to know about my mom is that she isn't really a fan of music. She will listen to it in the car on the way to work, but you won't find her unwinding to an Enya CD or anything. She doesn't seek out music. It's just not her thing.
My dad, on the other hand, is a frequent concert goer and buyer of CDs. Over the 40 years my parents have been together, my mom has been exposed to a lot of music. Most of which she doesn't really care for. That is why it's so interesting to me when my mom hands me these lists of random (and I do mean random) songs. What kind of music does she listen to when she's all alone?
Odd stuff. "Seasons" by Grace Slick (who was the former lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and plain ol' Starship of "We Built This City" fame) is one of these weird songs. Wikipedia categorizes the song as "psychedelic rock" but sounds more like a Russian folk song. It simply describes the changing of the seasons and its effect on the people. It is dramatic and weird and totally a song my mom would like. And now I like it too because it reminds me of my mom.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
30 Day Song Challenge REDUX -- Day 4
Day 4 -- A Song That Makes You Sad
"I Need to Be in Love" -- The Carpenters, A Kind of Hush (1976)
Before I write about today's song, I want the following to be known: In the big picture of my life, I have only very recently stopped being sad. That is all owed to Tyler. This is not just because I have a man in my life now who loves me, it is also because he has shown me a different perspective on life. If something bad happens, it's usually my natural inclination to get sad instead of flaming pissed. And I used to enjoy it. There was comfort in sadness. It felt good to feel bad, to feel low. I do not feel that way now. I do not like to purposefully watch something or listen to something that brings me down. Therefore, this is not an enjoyable category to write about, but it's part of the challenge, so here we go...
"I Need to Be in Love" was Karen Carpenter's favorite song in the entire Carpenters discography. From the title you can gather that it is about a woman who thinks it's time she find real love because she's wasted too much time in casual relationships. She is lonely and feels she is destined to remain alone because her standards are too high. Karen's brother Richard, painfully aware of his sister's insecurities and issues with men, wrote this song specifically for her. Sort of rude, right? Yeah...but she loved it. Like I said, it was her favorite song.
Yes, the song is sad in and of itself and even if you knew nothing about Karen Carpenter, it would still probably make you sad. And in the days when I could relate to "I Need to Be in Love", I enjoyed getting sad to it. I enjoyed the shared comraderie between Karen Carpenter and I. The line "I'm wide awake at four a.m. without a friend in sight/I'm hanging on a hope, but I'm all right" was totally me. I wasn't the only one desperate for love. Misery loves company and all that.
But here's what makes me sad now. Karen Carpenter was a complex woman with a lot of problems. She wanted both fame and a cozy suburban family life. She was very open about this, apparently, as her brother knew enough to write a song about it. It makes me sad that she liked making herself sad. She liked having everyone know how lonely and desperate for love she was. She liked (let's say it together now) being the victim. But unlike, say Taylor Swift, a man isn't to blame. Karen Carpenter is the victim of her own inadequacies. (Which is par for the course in anorexics.)
Here's me nitpicking: The song is also...inactive? I guess that's the word. The singer knows she should be in love, wants to be in love, but doesn't make plans to change her situation. There's no line about "tomorrow I'll go looking" or whatever. She's content to stay lonely because sadness feels good to her. She refuses to do the one thing that will make her feel better. She is an emotional masochist.
I used to relate to this song. I used to be living this song. And so yes, when I think of this song it reminds me of sad times and therefore, has the possibility to make me sad. If I let it. But I don't let it. I look at my life now and how far I've come and have absolutely no reason to feel sorry for myself. It still makes me sad for Karen Carpenter though. That can't be helped. I also think of how close I came to living out the rest of my life with the same attitude. Luckily Tyler helped me pull my head out of my ass. Thanks, Babe!
"I Need to Be in Love" -- The Carpenters, A Kind of Hush (1976)
Before I write about today's song, I want the following to be known: In the big picture of my life, I have only very recently stopped being sad. That is all owed to Tyler. This is not just because I have a man in my life now who loves me, it is also because he has shown me a different perspective on life. If something bad happens, it's usually my natural inclination to get sad instead of flaming pissed. And I used to enjoy it. There was comfort in sadness. It felt good to feel bad, to feel low. I do not feel that way now. I do not like to purposefully watch something or listen to something that brings me down. Therefore, this is not an enjoyable category to write about, but it's part of the challenge, so here we go...
"I Need to Be in Love" was Karen Carpenter's favorite song in the entire Carpenters discography. From the title you can gather that it is about a woman who thinks it's time she find real love because she's wasted too much time in casual relationships. She is lonely and feels she is destined to remain alone because her standards are too high. Karen's brother Richard, painfully aware of his sister's insecurities and issues with men, wrote this song specifically for her. Sort of rude, right? Yeah...but she loved it. Like I said, it was her favorite song.
Yes, the song is sad in and of itself and even if you knew nothing about Karen Carpenter, it would still probably make you sad. And in the days when I could relate to "I Need to Be in Love", I enjoyed getting sad to it. I enjoyed the shared comraderie between Karen Carpenter and I. The line "I'm wide awake at four a.m. without a friend in sight/I'm hanging on a hope, but I'm all right" was totally me. I wasn't the only one desperate for love. Misery loves company and all that.
But here's what makes me sad now. Karen Carpenter was a complex woman with a lot of problems. She wanted both fame and a cozy suburban family life. She was very open about this, apparently, as her brother knew enough to write a song about it. It makes me sad that she liked making herself sad. She liked having everyone know how lonely and desperate for love she was. She liked (let's say it together now) being the victim. But unlike, say Taylor Swift, a man isn't to blame. Karen Carpenter is the victim of her own inadequacies. (Which is par for the course in anorexics.)
Here's me nitpicking: The song is also...inactive? I guess that's the word. The singer knows she should be in love, wants to be in love, but doesn't make plans to change her situation. There's no line about "tomorrow I'll go looking" or whatever. She's content to stay lonely because sadness feels good to her. She refuses to do the one thing that will make her feel better. She is an emotional masochist.
I used to relate to this song. I used to be living this song. And so yes, when I think of this song it reminds me of sad times and therefore, has the possibility to make me sad. If I let it. But I don't let it. I look at my life now and how far I've come and have absolutely no reason to feel sorry for myself. It still makes me sad for Karen Carpenter though. That can't be helped. I also think of how close I came to living out the rest of my life with the same attitude. Luckily Tyler helped me pull my head out of my ass. Thanks, Babe!
Monday, April 25, 2016
30 Day Song Challenge REDUX -- Day 3
Day 3 -- A Song That Makes You Happy
"Theme from A Summer Place" as sung by Jasper Beardsley in the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" of Season 5 of The Simpsons (1993)
The Simpsons is my favorite TV show, now and forever. The proof is tattooed on my fanny. Over the years, the show has had dozens of funny songs: "See My Vest", "We Put the Spring in Springfield" and "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart". I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but the one that has easily made me laugh the most is Jasper's rendition of "Theme from A Summer Place."
A Summer Place was a popular movie in the 1950s. Its string laden theme, an instrumental everyone has heard before, even became a number one hit on the Billboard charts, back when instrumentals had such lofty goals. What makes Jasper's version so funny is that he is singing an instrumental song by inserting lyrics. Simply "Theme from A Summer Place/from a Summer Place/the Theme from A Summer Place/It's the Theme..."
Hilarious. Ridiculous. Gets me every time.
See for yourself.
"Theme from A Summer Place" as sung by Jasper Beardsley in the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" of Season 5 of The Simpsons (1993)
The Simpsons is my favorite TV show, now and forever. The proof is tattooed on my fanny. Over the years, the show has had dozens of funny songs: "See My Vest", "We Put the Spring in Springfield" and "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart". I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but the one that has easily made me laugh the most is Jasper's rendition of "Theme from A Summer Place."
A Summer Place was a popular movie in the 1950s. Its string laden theme, an instrumental everyone has heard before, even became a number one hit on the Billboard charts, back when instrumentals had such lofty goals. What makes Jasper's version so funny is that he is singing an instrumental song by inserting lyrics. Simply "Theme from A Summer Place/from a Summer Place/the Theme from A Summer Place/It's the Theme..."
Hilarious. Ridiculous. Gets me every time.
See for yourself.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
30 Day Song Challenge REDUX -- Day 2
Day 2 -- A Song You HATE
"F♥ck Buddies" -- Jordyn Auvil, 2012
This was always going to be the song I HATE.
To bring you up to speed, this is from a post from last November:
Several years ago, I wrote a shitty song and published it on the internet. It was a mistake. I was proud of it despite its vile subject matter. That was also a mistake. (But hey, you can use the word “mistake” to describe most of my life.) Since then I have tried to ignore this horrid song to no avail. The only thing I can do to remedy—excuse me, attempt to remedy—the damage caused by this song is to write another one that comes from the heart and is inspired by someone truly worthy and events that truly happened.
"F♥ck Buddies" is the shitty song I'm talking about. (It's also the shittiest song of all time.)
The song came about because I didn't like the fact that Taylor Swift never wrote songs about sex. She sometimes made allusions, but it was usually derogatory. (Take this line from her song "Better Than Revenge" for example: "She's not a saint and she's not what you think, she's an actress/she's better known for the things that she does on the mattress".) It bugged me. She was in all these relationships and yet, she avoided the subject. Why? Did she not have sex? Was that it? It couldn't be because she liked her privacy because she was/is so open about everything else. (These were my feelings at the time. Now, I don't give a shit.) Anyway, I thought I could do what Taylor Swift did--write a detailed, catchy song--but do it like an "adult"--border it on crass, but make it ultimately fun and clever.
In the words of Wayne Campbell: "NOT!"
What I wrote was a justification of certain events along with twisted facts and borrowed details from other overtly sexual songs and the slew of rom-coms about casual sex that were recently released. Thinking about the lyrics turns my stomach and makes me cringe. It's just so horrible. I was seriously messed up at the time I wrote it and even more messed up when these events took place. (Or maybe it's the other way around. That can be debated.) These events weren't even worth writing about. I wanted my life to seem more glamorous and I idiotically thought rhyming would make it so. I had no idea what good sex even was then, so how could I dare write any song that even mentioned sex? (For the record, I didn't even have decent sex until Tyler, who is, of course, a dynamo in the sack). I was trying to be someone I wasn't. I was trying to be the opposite of who I was, who I thankfully am again.
Look, the song is awful, I hate it, and I wish I had never thought it up. I wish I had never spun my head around to think any of it was a good idea. I would have rather not brought it up at all, but that would be doing a disservice. Yes, there are other songs I HATE, but not one more than this one.
Okay. Now let's get that bad taste out of our mouths and take a look at this.
"F♥ck Buddies" -- Jordyn Auvil, 2012
This was always going to be the song I HATE.
To bring you up to speed, this is from a post from last November:
Several years ago, I wrote a shitty song and published it on the internet. It was a mistake. I was proud of it despite its vile subject matter. That was also a mistake. (But hey, you can use the word “mistake” to describe most of my life.) Since then I have tried to ignore this horrid song to no avail. The only thing I can do to remedy—excuse me, attempt to remedy—the damage caused by this song is to write another one that comes from the heart and is inspired by someone truly worthy and events that truly happened.
"F♥ck Buddies" is the shitty song I'm talking about. (It's also the shittiest song of all time.)
The song came about because I didn't like the fact that Taylor Swift never wrote songs about sex. She sometimes made allusions, but it was usually derogatory. (Take this line from her song "Better Than Revenge" for example: "She's not a saint and she's not what you think, she's an actress/she's better known for the things that she does on the mattress".) It bugged me. She was in all these relationships and yet, she avoided the subject. Why? Did she not have sex? Was that it? It couldn't be because she liked her privacy because she was/is so open about everything else. (These were my feelings at the time. Now, I don't give a shit.) Anyway, I thought I could do what Taylor Swift did--write a detailed, catchy song--but do it like an "adult"--border it on crass, but make it ultimately fun and clever.
In the words of Wayne Campbell: "NOT!"
What I wrote was a justification of certain events along with twisted facts and borrowed details from other overtly sexual songs and the slew of rom-coms about casual sex that were recently released. Thinking about the lyrics turns my stomach and makes me cringe. It's just so horrible. I was seriously messed up at the time I wrote it and even more messed up when these events took place. (Or maybe it's the other way around. That can be debated.) These events weren't even worth writing about. I wanted my life to seem more glamorous and I idiotically thought rhyming would make it so. I had no idea what good sex even was then, so how could I dare write any song that even mentioned sex? (For the record, I didn't even have decent sex until Tyler, who is, of course, a dynamo in the sack). I was trying to be someone I wasn't. I was trying to be the opposite of who I was, who I thankfully am again.
Look, the song is awful, I hate it, and I wish I had never thought it up. I wish I had never spun my head around to think any of it was a good idea. I would have rather not brought it up at all, but that would be doing a disservice. Yes, there are other songs I HATE, but not one more than this one.
Okay. Now let's get that bad taste out of our mouths and take a look at this.
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