Songs We're Sick Of: Anything Taylor Dane

Lillian's Choice. I knew Lillian from church, and we shared lockers in Cegep, along with another church friend, who had a crush on her, but unfortunately he didn't have a good handshake, and anyway she was in love with Bryan Adams. She went to church-university and married The Bad Boy (or so I gather from facebook.)

There are some excellent 80s fashions in here.


Antidote:

I'm so screwed

I've got a problem. My story not only has a lot of characters, which is always confusing, but they're all related to each other in a complicated back story. This isn't my fault, it's the source material--the lead up to the War of the Roses. I've even cut out an entire generation (Edward III's) but it's still confusing.

Isabella the She Wolf was the daughter of a French King, and married the English King Edward II. Then came Ed III. Then his kids, Richard II and John of Gaunt. Richard II was King for awhile, but he was party-hearty, and he also stole all of Gaunt's lands. So Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke (who Richard had banished) came roaring back to town, with some allies, and dethroned Richard, and then had his murdered. Bol became Henry IV. Then Henry's allies weren't too pleased with him, so he had to kick their asses--Mortimer, Glendower, Hotspur, Hot's dad, Hot's uncle, York and Douglas. And then Bol dies and his son becomes Henry V, and decides to take on the French (whose throne he claims through the She Wolf), but only after cutting one of his best friends, and hanging another for treason.

Once you translate this into a modern setting, it gets even more confusing, cause you can't have modern day people running around killing each other over throne succession.

Wodehouse for everyone!

I didn't realize that much of (or all?) PG Wodehouse's works were public domain. Kobo--the Canadian ebook site, with an open download format (meaning you can read it on a number of devices, or on your computer) has a ton of Wodehouse's works available for free.

So if you've got a device, or don't mind reading on your computer, it's time to discover Wodehouse!

here is some free advice

I just watched the entire interview of Dave Chappelle on Inside the Actor's Studio. Here is some very good advice that his father gave him at the start of his career, and which he clearly followed by getting out of Hollywood when he couldn't take it anymore:

"'But name your price in the beginning, if it ever gets more expensive than the price you named, get out of there.' Thus Africa."

Why I Love the Song: The Nightshift

"Nightshift" by The Commodores was written for Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson who both died in 1984 in their forties. Gaye was shot by his father in an argument, and Wilson had a heart attack and was in a coma for 9 years, then died.

I grew up on this song (it was on the radio and my mother probably owned it), but it was only a year or so ago that I heard it in the background at a restaurant and thought to go home and buy it that night. (iTuuuuunes!) I love it more and more, in part because I've reached the point in my life where I'm getting into classic soul artists. (I add on an appreciation for an older artist, or genre, every year. I'm saving contemporary jazz for when I'm 80.)

The music and the singing on "Nightshift" are both beautiful--I love the churchy feeling of reverence. But lyrically, the song is genius. Four minutes without a single cheap rhyme* or filler line:

In the first verse he...
- works in Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" ("I can still hear him say: Talk to me so you can see what's going on")
- pays tribute to the content and social impact of Gaye's songs ("he opened up our minds") as well as his delivery ("his heart in every line")
- and by using their names, the song takes on this really intimate feeling... you're being given a glimpse into the heart and mind of the person writing the song, of how he felt when these two greats died young within the same year. It's a bit like listening in on a prayer.

Marvin, he was a friend of mine
And he could sing a song
His heart in every line
Marvin sang of the joy and pain
He opened up our minds
And I still can hear him say
Aw talk to me so you can see
What's going on
Say you will sing your songs
Forevermore (evermore)

In the second verse he...
- works in two of Jackie's songs ("Work It Out" and "Higher and Higher")
- switches to second person, which now moves the song to an even more intimate level
- refers to his electric on stage style which influenced so many artists and drove the crowds wild ("you set the world on fire")
- and has one of the most beautiful, tender, perfect lines: "you came and gifted us"

Jackie (Jackie), hey what you doing now
It seems like yesterday
When we were working out
Jackie (Jackie, oh) you set
The world on fire
You came and gifted us
Your love it lifted us
Higher and higher
Keep it up and
We'll be there
At your side
Oh say you will sing
Your songs forevermore (evermore)

And then the chorus with its great image of death as being the night shift, and of these great artists still existing somewhere, "pulling crowds" and entertaining people. And considering how much influence they've had in music (see the Jacksons movie clip below) it's pretty accurate to say that they're still alive. Just look at Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)" - how many songs are that perfectly relevant after 39 years? And as far as I know, soul singers didn't sing about trees dying back then--folk singers did that.

Gonna be some sweet sounds
Coming down on the nightshift
I bet you're singing proud
Oh I bet you'll pull a crowd
Gonna be a long night
It's gonna be all right
On the nightshift
Oh you found another home
I know you're not alone
On the nightshift

In the repeat of the chorus, at the end, he then plays on the "night shift" metaphor: "at the end of a long day, it's gonna be okay" -- which I take both as a reference to the role of music in our lives, when things suck; or it's addressing the grief of losing someone.

Gonna miss your sweet voice
That soulful voice
On the nightshift
We all remember you
Ooh the songs are coming through
At the end of a long day
It's gonna be okay
On the nightshift
You found another home
I know you're not alone
On the nightshift

"What's Going On"


"Mercy Mercy Me"


"Sexual Healing" What awesome music, it would sound sexy even if there were no lyrics (though hear the gals scream at the first "baby.") Everytime I listen to the Ben Harper version I too think I'm capsizing. (And then I get up and dance! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!) And for those of you who prefer girls. And if you're Swis and your last name starts with B: this version. And if you're my dad: this version. And if you're in a uke band. So versatile.


Movie version of little Michael Jackson being inspired by Jackie Wilson's "Work It Out". (That's a great mini-series by the way. Joe Jackson is played by Freddie Boom-Boom Washington!)


Jackie Wilson "Higher and Higher" - look how effortlessly this guy sings and dances. You can see why they called him Mr Excitement. (I love the Otis Redding version too.)


And the first Jackie song I knew. She's sooooo fine. ("Reet Petite")


* I love Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" but it is a lyrical mess. But that's for another post.

cats in the hood

This is Sherry's personal basket, next to my bed. It's just filled with blankets and such for him to stretch out on. He's so cute. Look at him! Look!!

Here's me stretched out with the laptop, and the Demon Monkey demanding attention.

new sade

I'm sampling the new Sade album, because the first single is gorgeous. But I didn't post the actual video cause it detracts from the music. There's some serious cheese, and the dancers are out of sync with each other, which is annoying. (Now that we've all watched America's Best Dance Crew, we have Standards right?) Look at the above picture--see how their arms are all at a different position? Tsk tsk tsk.