A few weeks ago I was dancing with some dear friends at their home and this song was played, a couple of times in fact. Now it’s stuck in my head and won’t go away.
That’s not a bad thing though, because I lurv this song by The Monkees. Thanks Lee-Ann.
Daydream Believer
Cheer up, Sleepy Jean.
Oh, what can it mean.
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen.
Yep, Pearl Jam again. This time, it’s a song with a curious history… and great guitar riffs at the beginning and end.
As I’ve mentioned previously, guitar riffs drive me wild. The riffs at the beginning and end has a striking resemblance to Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughn’s rendition of Little Wing.
Yellow Ledbetter never featured on any of Pearl Jam’s studio albums. It was an outtake from their debut album 10, and was released as a B-side on the released single Jeremy. It did however feature on a B-sides and Rarities album, and their Greatest Hits album.
And it seems that nobody really knows precisely, the lyrics to the song. Lead singer Eddie Vedder is known to change the lyrics at nearly every live performance. Vedder once jokingly replied in response to a question from a live audience, “Wait…you mean there’s lyrics?”
Not surprisingly this lyrical ambiguity has stirred up some ingenuity in elucidation by others – the famous misheard lyrics videos. Catch a load of this:
I get up every weekday morning to the buzz from the alarm clock radio and then switch over immediately to my favorite radio station. Usually I’m accosted by the voice of some deejay trying bravely to tune listeners in at this godforsaken hour, or some annoying radio commercial insert.
But every now and again I’m pleasantly surprised by a great tune from the past. This morning it was Green Day’s American Idiot. This one was not that distant past, but old enough, because I hadn’t listened to any Green Day in a while.
American Idiot is not my favorite Green Day song, but this…
If that had woken me up this morning, I swear I would have been playing air guitar jumping up down on my bed. Now pay attention to the lyrics.
Welcome to Paradise
Dear Mother
Cant you hear me whining?
It’s been 3 whole weeks
Since I have left your home
This sudden fear has left me trembling
Cuz now it seems that I am out here on my own
& I’m feelin so alone
Pay attention to the cracked streets & the broken homes
Some call it slums some call it nice
I wanna take you through a wasteland I like to call my home
Welcome to paradise
A gunshot rings out at the station
Another urchin snaps & left dead on his own
It makes me wonder why I’m still here
For some strange reason it’s now feelin like my home
& I’m never gonna go
Pay attention to the cracked streets & the broken homes
Some call it slums some, call it nice
I wanna take you through a wasteland I like to call my home
Welcome to paradise
Dear Mother
Can you hear me laughing?
It’s been 6 whole months
Since I have left your home
It makes me wonder why I’m still here
For some strange reason it’s now feelin like my home
& I’m never never gonna go
Pay attention to the cracked streets & the broken homes
Some call it slums, some call it nice
I wanna take you through a wasteland I like to call my home
Welcome to paradise
Paradise….
I must be turning into a sentimental old fool for digging up this song, but there you have it. I really like I’ve Never Been To Me by Charlene, full name Charlene Marilynn D’Angleo Oliver.
When first released in 1976 it did not make much of an impression, but when a disc jockey on a radio show played it in 1982, it became a hit. A one-hit wonder, off course.
Some of you may remember the song from the opening titles in the hit 1994 film Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, being mimed by a drag queen.
Lyrics: I’ve Never Been To Me
Hey lady, you lady, cursing at your life
You’re a discontented mother and a regimented wife
I’ve no doubt you dream about the things you’ll never do
But, I wish someone had talked to me
Like I wanna talk to you…..
Oh, I’ve been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
I took the hand of a preacher man and we made love in the sun
But I ran out of places and friendly faces because I had to be free
I’ve been to paradise but I’ve never been to me
Please lady, please lady, don’t just walk away
‘Cause I have this need to tell you why I’m all alone today
I can see so much of me still living in your eyes
Won’t you share a part of a weary heart that has lived million lies….
Oh, I’ve been to Niece and the Isle of Greece while I’ve sipped champagne on a yacht
I’ve moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed ‘em what I’ve got
I’ve been undressed by kings and I’ve seen some things that a woman ain’t supposed to see
I’ve been to paradise, but I’ve never been to me
Hey, you know what paradise is?
It’s a lie, a fantasy we create about people and places as we’d like them to be
But you know what truth is?
It’s that little baby you’re holding, it’s that man you fought with this morning
The same one you’re going to make love with tonight
That’s truth, that’s love……
Sometimes I’ve been to crying for unborn children that might have made me complete
But I took the sweet life, I never knew I’d be bitter from the sweet
I’ve spent my life exploring the subtle whoring that costs too much to be free
Hey lady……
I’ve been to paradise, (I’ve been to paradise)
But I’ve never been to me
(I’ve been to Georgia and California, and anywhere I could run)
I’ve been to paradise, never been to me
(I’ve been to Neice and the isle of Greece while I’ve sipped champagne on a yacht)
I’ve been to paradise, never been to me
(I’ve been to cryin’ for unborn children that might have made me complete)
I’ve been to paradise, never been to me
(I’ve been to Georgia and California, and anywhere I could run)
I’ve been to paradise, never been to me
I’ve been playing Driver’s Seat in my car for weeks now, and I never tire of listening to it over and over again. I do believe that it’s just shaded Radar Love as my favorite road song.
Released in 1978 off the album Fickle Heart, it was the only hit for British band Sniff ‘n The Tears. Pity that, because they do sound like a good band.
It’s unlikely that I’m ever going to get the chance of seeing a live performance by Pink Floyd in South Africa, so the gals and I went to the next best thing – a tribute to them at the Barnyard Theatre last night.
Mel Botes, the local lead guitarist knows his stuff all right. He was simply awesome. The backup artists on rhythm, bass, drums, keyboard and sax were quite accomplished but Mel’s rendition of all the popular Pink Floyd songs since their first album was superb, and the historical information provided as commentary during the set was very informative and at times left me feeling sad at how talented artists have this penchant for destroying themselves.
My favorite Pink Floyd song The Fletcher Memorial Home was disappointingly not performed, but Wish You Were Here more than made up for it.
Lyrics – Wish You Were Here
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue sky’s from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
I played Hallelujah for a friend of mine on road trip to Durban a couple of weeks ago, and he thought it was some sort of Christian gospel song. “Can’t be,” I said, “Cohen is Jewish.”
Leonard Cohen, a Canadian, has sung a few songs with Christian religious references in them, but I don’t think he’s praising the Christ figure in any of them. He’s a poet after all, and they’re notoriously ambiguous, nay metaphorical in anything they say. I’ll leave the lyrics further below, so you can make up your own mind. At 78 years of age, he’s still touring and singing. Simply amazing.
There are far too many Cohen songs that I like, but I guess this has to be my favorite.
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
Lyrics
I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Sarah Brightman may well be better known for her roles in Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, but she is an accomplished solo artist in her own right. And being able to sing in English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese is no small feat.
The duet Time To Say Goodbye with Andrea Bocelli is a well-loved and well-known classic, but I had all but forgotten that she fronted for the 70′s band, Hot Gossip, who had a disco hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper.
However, my favorite Brightman songs remain:
Nella Fantasia
Il Mio Coure Va
Today I thought I would share with you two songs from the movies which have not only made an impression on me cerebrally, but always puts a smile (smirk) on my face.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, from Monty Python’s Life of Brian
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life was written by Eric Idle and sung by him in the film while strung up on a cross, just prior to the closing credits.
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So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
So Long And Thanks For All The Fish is featured in the opening titles of the film sung by Hilary Summers, Kemi Ominiyi and The R’SVP Voices, to a Joby Talbot soundtrack. A reprise version is also available on the movie soundtrack with vocals by Neil Hannon.
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In truth, I like these songs so much because they provide irreverent commentary on man’s feeble belief systems. So come on now, give a whistle.
I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic this week, so here’s one all the way back from 1969. These Eyes was written by guitarist Randy Bachman who later went on to found Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and lead singer Burton Cummings who I remember best for Break It To Them Gently.
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Feel proud Canucks; they’re one of your’s…
