Day 117 - Moneybrother - They’re Building Walls Around Us
Moneybrother comes from Sweden, and when I first saw the videoclip some years ago I thought “this should be the summer hit of 2005″. But no.
The video was hard to find though. Not on YouTube, and only through a very bad link on the site of recordcompany Burning Heart. A bit of searching brings a nice working link on MySpace.
Day 106 - Eric Clapton - Layla (Unplugged)
Part 6 of the “songs that suck” theme week.
Without no doubt Eric Calpton can play guitar. And write some nice tunes. The problem here is called “unplugged”. Instead of a good rock song with a classic guitar riff, Clapton plays it like its a dull ballad, bending his wooden guitar with nylon strings. That realy sucks!
YouTube: Layla, how its supposed to be
YouTube: Layla, when it realy sucks
Day 105 - The Beatles - When I’m Sixty-Four
Day 5 of the “Songs that suck” theme week.
A song by one of the most overrated bands in the world, from one of the most overrated albums in the world. When I’m Sixty-Four. From Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. By The Beatles. The whole album sucks, but this song realy sucks. It’s all happy and lovely and sweet. It’s so Paul McCartney. It’s so boring.
YouTube: When I’m Sixty-Four sing-a-long (with lyrics in comic sans, that realy sucks!)
Day 103 - Simon & Garfunkel - El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
“Songs that suck” theme week, day 3.
Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel is realy a great album. After almost 40 years this album is still enjoyable. Except for one song. One song that wasn’t enjoyable even when the record came out. The one song that realy sucks. El Condor Pasa (If I Could). It sounds like BZN or those Peruvian street musicians you sometimes see (the so called “panfluit maffia”). Or even worse: BZN and the pan flute maffia collaborating. Thank god for the cd burner. I ripped my Bridge over Troubled Water and burned a new copy with one song less. A great album became even greater.
YouTube: El Condor Pasa (If I Could), original recording with photo’s
Day 99 - Nena - 99 Luftballons
Day 99, so a song with 99 in the title. Simple, still good, eighties song.
YouTube: 99 Luftballons, videoclip
YouTube: 99 Red Balloons (English version), videoclip
YouTube: 99 Luftballons (2002 version), videoclip
Day 98 - Neil Diamond - Solitary Man
Chris Isaak did a cover, Johnny Cash did a cover and HIM did a cover. I like the Cash cover as the best of these three. But nothing is better then the original version by Neil Diamond, two-and-a-half minute of heartbreak and self-affirmation.
Day 86 - Barbara Gaskin & Dave Stewart - It’s My Party
I thought that It’s My Party was a little younger then dating from 1963, but I guess I was more familiar with the 1981 cover version by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin. Another thing I didn’t knew was that Dave Stewart is not the same as that guy with the same name who’s playing in the Eurythmics.
But man, what does this cover version sounds dated with all these synthesizers! It’s so eighties, check the videoclip, that I’m even surprised that Marilyn Manson hasn’t done a cover yet. And watch the Top of the Pops performance, with hilarious comment during the song, that one guy is only hitting some electronic pads, that ain’t drumming.
YouTube: It’s My Party, videoclip
YouTube: It’s My Party, live(?) at Top of the Pops
Day 85 - Lesley Gore - It’s My Party
Girlpop from 1963, and still an enjoyable song. Lesley Gore was 16 years old when she recorded this song, which was produced by Quincy Jones. In 2005 Lesley Gore recorded a come back album and she still performs live.
Day 83 - The Brat - Chalk Dust (The Umpire Strikes Back)
Playing tennis on the Wii brings back memories of an early eighties popsong called Chalk Dust. Well, actualy I had to google for that, I only remebered the line “the ball is in”.
Chalk Dust is a parody song on tennis player John McEnroe’s behaviour during matches, made by comedian Roger Kitter and Kaplan Kaye, who’s running a managment agency these days.
YouTube: Chalk Dust (The Umpire Strikes Back), fan made video
Day 75 - Ryuichi Sakamoto & Iggy Pop - Risky
Great song by Japanese keyboard player Ryuichi Sakamoto and American rock singer Iggy Pop. The music video for “Risky”, written and directed by Meiert Avis, won the first ever MTV “Breakthrough Video Award”. The ground breaking video explores transhumanist philosopher FM-2030’s (Persian: فریدون اسفندیاری) ideas of “Nostalgia for the Future”, in the form of an imagined love affair between a robot and one of Man Ray’s models in Paris in the late 1930s. Additional inspiration was drawn from Jean Baudrillard, Edvard Munch’s 1894 painting “Puberty”, and Roland Barthes ” Death of the Author”. The surrealist black and white video uses stop motion, light painting, and other retro in-camera effects techniques. Meiert Avis shot Sakamoto while at work on the score for “The Last Emperor” in London. Sakamoto also appears in the video painting words and messages to an open shutter camera. Iggy Pop, who performs the vocals on “Risky”, chose not appear to in the video, allowing his performance space to be occupied by the surrealist era robot.
About this/me
About this:
Inspired by Tuuur, who was inspired by Glenn Case, I will be posting some song of the day posts over here. This blog is written in (poor) English, but since I’m from the Netherlands there will be some Dutch songs and/or lyrics passing by.
About me:
I live in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, a short train ride from Amsterdam. I like open source software, open-minded people and bars open all night.
