Welcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Over and Over by Rio Romeo. (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).
The youngest Bryant is fond of songs where there's a contrast between the sound and the content and it's a vibe that has really grown on me after all these years of letting them DJ when we're in the car together.
This one sounds very cheerful on the surface with all those bouncy "boom ba da"s at the outset, but there's a rough edge to the voice and the strain begins to show. It appeals to the dark humor side of me. The one that thinks ya gotta laugh or you'll cry.
Welcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Nowhere Fast as included in the movie soundtrack for Streets of Fire. (If my embed doesn't
work, listen at this link).
Streets of Fire: A Rock-n-Roll Fable is a wonderful, weird 1980s film featuring Michael Paré as our reluctant hero, Tom Cody, called back to town by his sister because his ex-girlfriend, Ellen Aim, played by Diane Lane is in trouble. It's very stylized, with a Retro look, but including contemporary-at-the-time elements (80s styles) that have since become a whole 'nother kind of Retro, so it's this 50s-80s mix that I adore!
Ellen Aim is a popular singer in the movie, so of course there's a soundtrack, and I love several of the songs. It's hard to choose a favorite, but this one definitely makes the list. It captures that frenetic energy that some of us had when we were young to just get out there and do something, feeling held back by whatever our ordinary lives are and dreaming of something amazing.
Lying in your bed and on a Saturday night
You're sweatin' buckets and it's not even hot
But your brain has got the message
And it's sending it out
To every nerve and every muscle you've got
You've got so many dreams
That you don't know where to put 'em
So you'd better turn a few of 'em loose
Your body's got a feeling that it's starting to rust
You'd better rev it up and put it to use
And I don't know how I ever thought that I could make it all alone
When you only make it better
And it better be tonight
And we'll fly away on those angel wings of chrome in your daddy's car
Waiting there for you tonight
I'll be there for you tonight
Even if you don't have anywhere to go
You go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll
And even if you don't have anywhere to go
You go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll
And your speed
Is all you'll ever need
All you'll ever need to know
Darlin', Darlin'
You and me we're goin' nowhere slowly
And we've gotta get away from the past
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere, baby
But we should be goin' nowhere fast
Everybody's goin' nowhere slowly
They're only fighting for the chance to be last
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere, baby
But we should be goin' nowhere fast
It's so much better goin' nowhere fast
Stalkin' in the shadows by the light of the moon
It's like a prison and the night is a cell
Goin' anywhere has gotta be heaven tonight
'Cause stayin' here has gotta be hell
Dyin' in the city like a fire on the water
Let's go runnin' on the back of the wind
There's gotta' be some action on the face of the earth
And I've gotta see your face once again
And I don' know where I ever got the bright idea that I was cool
So alone and independent
But I'm depending on you now
And you'll always be the only thing that I just can't be without
And I'm out for you tonight
I'm comin' out for you tonight
Even if you don't have anywhere to go
You go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll (ready to roll)
Even if you don't have anywhere to go
You go down on the pedal and you're ready to roll
And your speed
Is all you'll ever need
All you'll ever need to know
Darlin', Darlin'
You and me we're goin' nowhere slowly
And we've gotta get away from the past
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere, baby
But we should be goin' nowhere fast
Everybody's goin' nowhere slowly
They're only fighting for the chance to be last
There's nothin' wrong with goin' nowhere, baby
But we should be goin' nowhere fast
It's so much better goin' nowhere fast
Godspeed
Godspeed
Godspeed
Speed us away!
Godspeed
Godspeed
Godspeed
Speed us away!
Godspeed
Godspeed
Godspeed
Speed us away! We're goin' nowhere fast!
Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com
Welcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: The Main Character, as
recorded by Will Wood. (If my embed doesn't
work, listen at this link).
Will Wood is an artist my youngest kiddo introduced me to and I quickly fell in love with their wordplay and intermixing of musical styles. He's recorded quite a variety of types of music and themes, but I picked this one to share with y'all because it's "writerly."
It's kind of hilarious to me to imagine the main character of the book stepping up, clearing their throat, and demanding that I love them, especially since I have a tendency as a reader to fall for the side characters :-)
I'm that first person they talk about in all the books I'm that perspective you cannot doubt, see how I look Control the narrative reliably, baby, it's all about me And I wrote the book about throwing the book At those who don't do it by it So now I'm holding myself hostage Stockholm lust just looks like justice And enough lefts don't make the right but two wrongs do
Oh man, Sun tzu would love this Beating my dead high horse off the high road to low ground 'Cause if you shake your fist at snakes in grass It looks like punching down So God forbid, I'm seen just as an average human being I mean, imagine if protagonists just died in the first scene I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy
Don't come at me I'm the main character, and you have to like me I loot plot armor from npc's Well, they are to me Trite, tropes, traits, traumas, trinkets, and treats, it's all xp Look in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's superego The underdog you cheer for
Villains are everywhere, that's how I know that I'm a hero So tie me to the train tracks, laugh and snidely twist your mustache Snidely whiplash, boris badenov, ignoring me's bad enough Where do you get off? Da, das vedanya, darling Daleks in high collars monologue And I outsmart them with a ray-gun and a tweet
So God forbid, I'm seen just as an average human being I mean, imagine if protagonists just died in the first scene I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character, and you have to like me
Judge me by what my cover shows Author becomes beyond reproach You don't know the prose or if the spine is still intact Oh, like alice fell to wonderland, come astroturf my overton And bolden my demand to live by alternative facts Her majesty says: The royal, we demand a standard of loyalty An agreement to be reverent, lick the emperor's new boots The court fool got the guillotine The witches the stake, you the dopamine And siemens made the zyklon b but we all still get the flu We all do what we need to to get through (It's nothing new) But I ain't done a fucking thing to you
So God forbid, I'm seen just as an average human being I mean, imagine if antagonists lacked any evil scheme I'm the gap between a tragedy and comedy Don't come at me I'm the main character, and you have to like me
Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com
Welcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Lotta True Crime, as
recorded by Penelope Scott. (If my embed doesn't
work, listen at this link).
It was my youngest kiddo who introduced me to Penelope Scott, I think, though I associate this song more with my eldest who is a True Crime podcast sort of girl, or at least has been in the past. I enjoy Penelope Scott's snarky content (check out Rät while you're at it) and conversational style that feels almost like having a chat with someone as much as like listening to a song. Punk attitude and sort of a pop sound? She's hard to define, and that might be why I love her.
"Lotta True Crime" offers a view into why so many women find true crime so oddly comforting. Some really biting lines. "He was just charismatic and white, all right" (soooo true!). I also love: "You're not special for winning a game/With someone who you know was never playing." And her giggle. Yeah, this one works for me.
So this girl's out back behind the bar
She's a good girl, she called a car
You got three motherf*ckers in a big white van
Two dumb friends and one mean man
Well she'll f*ckin' kill you, she wins every fight
She's gonna rock your shit by the end of the night
And the only advantage that a killer has
Is they think they have the right
I listen to a lotta True Crime
I listen to it at night
I like the girl talk
It makes me feel alright
I like scary stories in the morning
And I like 'em at night
I like the girl talk vibes
They make me feel just fine
I listen to a lotta True Crime
[*laughing*]
"Ya' know, Dennis Rader and David Parker Ray actually sit together in Hell
Shaking, quaking, terrified that one day, somehow, someway
They might meet me."
They took our girls away from home
They're in the woods, they're all alone
The ropes are heavy and the knots are tight
Tied by a monster and his oblivious wife
Well I hope this doesn't seem too impolite
But Ted Bundy was just never that f*ckin' bright
He was just sorta charismatic and white, alright?
And he was so f*ckin' sure he had the right
But he's ugly, and I'm glad he's dead
'Cause there was no f*ckin' candle in his pumpkin head
You're not special for winning a game
With someone who you know was never playing
She could've killed you, she had every right
You just caught her off guard tonight
But it's alright, she'll be fine
We listen to a lotta True Crime
One of our young turned up last night
They found their body but not their eyes
Somebody new must've gone bad
Where's the lord to take care of that?
Where is the lord to take care of that?
I listen to a lotta True Crime
I listen to it at night
I like the girl talk vibes
They make me feel alright
I like scary stories in the morning
And I like 'em at night
I like the girl talk vibes
They make me feel just fine
I listen to a lotta true crime
Oooo!
Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com
Welcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Karma Chameleon by Culture Club. (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).
I first heard this song when it was new and I was a teenager. It's one of those songs that worked it's way into my brain as a catchy bop, and mostly I had no idea what the song was supposed to mean. I mean, I can parse it line by line, but what's it about? Something about being in love with someone wishy washy about you? Or maybe it's the singer who's ambivalent? You know, all these years later, I'm still not sure what it means, but it does make me want to dance.
There's a loving in your eyes all the way
If I listened to your lies would you say
I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man who doesn't know
How to sell a contradiction
You come and go
You come and go
Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Didn't hear your wicked words every day
And you used to be so sweet I heard you say
That my love was an addiction
When we cling our love is strong
When you go you're gone forever
You string along
You string along
Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Every day is like survival
You're my lover not my rival
Every day is like survival
You're my lover not my rival
I'm a man without conviction
I'm a man who doesn't know
How to sell a contradiction
You come and go
You come and go
Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon
You come and go
You come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red, gold and green
Red, gold and green
Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com
Welcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: Jolene by Dolly Parton. (If my embedded video won't work, you can listen at this link).
In the 70s, I mostly listened to whatever music the adults in my life listened to, since I was but a wee lass myself. My parents listened to folk rock and country music at the time, in the era of folks like Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gale, Waylon Jennings, and, of course, Dolly Parton.
One of the great things about Dolly's songs is their sing-along-ability, if that's a word. She sings in a pretty ordinary vocal range and whether you're an 8 year girl or her 30 year old mother, you can probably at least kind of sing with her. I have fond memories of doing just that, singing along to the radio with my mother to this and many other of Dolly's great songs.
Wlcome
AtoZ-ers and other blog friends! This month I'm participating in the
AtoZ blogging challenge, and you'll see a post every day (except
Sundays) about one of the Songs of my Heart. Today's edition: I'm Shipping up to Boston, as
recorded by the Dropkick Murphys. (If my embed doesn't
work, listen at this link).
There are certain songs that just startle something in my heart or ears or soul or whatever it is, and I feel awake in a whole different way when I hear them. They express something I haven't been able to express for myself with such perfection. That's I'm Shipping Up to Boston for me.
I mean, I'm not a pirate--I even pay for my movies and books! And I'm not all that Irish all these generations after the Irish portion of my ancestors crossed the Atlantic. But there's such black comedy in this man yelling about having lost his leg and it's just…satisfying. I don't think I can explain it any better than that. You'll have to listen and see what you think.
