Elton John--"Levon" (Live 1971)

Great song, great performance. A quintessential paring of songwriting and performance.

Great Song; Link to Video

Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again, by Kris Kristofferson, is a beautiful song and one of my favorites. It's opening line says it all:

"I have seen the morning burning golden on the mountains in the sky."

Tom Waits: Warm Beer, Cold Women

I've been a bit off lately, so I haven't been able to think of anything useful to post.

I caught this on my iPod during my drive home from work, and I thought that you just might find in it what I do.

My wife hates him, but I think that Tom Waits is a genius.

Beethoven Clip

I've posted about Beethoven before. He was, in my estimation, the finest of all the composers, and I do not make this statement lightly. I am also a huge fan of Berlioz, Bach, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner. Mozart was great, but he never lifted my soul to its feet or dashed it to its knees.

I just ran across this clip from Immortal Beloved. I'm posting it because I think that it is produced well. Two scenes strike me the most. First, when he is a boy in the starlit pond. Second, when the conductor has to turn the maestro around to face the crowd because Beethoven, while able to hear the music of the 9th Symphony in his heart, could not hear the crowd's standing ovation.

Meet the New Boss / Same as the Old Boss

On February 6, 1649, England's parliament abolished the monarchy, calling it "unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous to the liberty, society, and public interest of the people."

Oliver Cromwell then led them into one of the most repressive tyrannies of the island's history. So great was Cromwell's tyranny that the English people demanded the restoration of the monarchy after Cromwell's death.
_____

On July 4, 1776, the 13 United Colonies (i.e. the infant United States) declared their independence from Britain, citing "a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object . . . a design to reduce [the colonies] under absolute Despotism..."

Eleven years later, the "firm league of friendship" that had been the Articles of Confederation, were usurped by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hearing of the convention, the Virginian Patrick Henry said, "I smell a rat in Philadelphia tending toward monarchy."

Seventy-odd years later, the powerful executive of the United States waged an unprovoked war against seven (initially seven, later eleven) former states of the Union who had seceded because they sensed "a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object . . . a design to reduce [the Southern states] under absolute Despotism..."
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In 1789, the people of France rebelled and overthrew their king (eventually executing him--as the English had Charles I). In the spirit of "Liberty, equality, and fraternity," the leaders of the French Revolution slaughtered critics, opponents, suspected critics, and suspected opponents, each other, until finally the savior of the revolution, one Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France and tried to liberate Europe by seizing territory to be held beneath his thumb.
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In 1917, Tsar Nicholai Alexandrovich II--absolute ruler of 1/6 of the earth's surface--was forced to abdicate his crown and submit to an elected Duma. Within a year, the Bolsheviks took over the Duma and made the Tsar's powers and deeds look as harmless as a purring kitten.
______________

In November 2008, Americans elected Barack Obama to replace the tyrannical governace of George W. Bush.
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Won't Get Fooled Again

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

Yeah!

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss


Check out the video clip below: Pete Townshend's blazing guitar as he leaps about and plays with the energy of a dozen dynamos.

For that matter, look at the brilliant bass work by John Entwissle!

If I Can Dream

I can see Obama trying to hijack this song and suggesting that its message echos his agenda.

Ironically, I listen to this song for comfort from Obama's agenda.

I dream of an America without pandering socialists and closet fascists.

Maybe one day my dream will come true. If it does, then I promise you all that I will not support a bailout of the idiot industry (i.e. Congress).

This is Elvis at the peak of his abilities. Note the control, the pitch, the raw power. It's from his 1968 Comeback Special--one of the highest rated airings in television history.

Try to forgive the senseless 20 seconds of nothing before it gets underway.

More Johnny Cash ('Cause He's So Darn Good)

Sure, this isn't the first post with Johnny Cash videos--and some may be repeats--but listen again and feel his pain, feel his faith, feel his faith and talent.

















This isn't the original--but it's cool!


This song makes me decide to attend mass.

31 Years After His Death, Elvis Makes More Money in 12 Months Than You'll Make In a Lifetime (especially if you keep voting Republican or Democrat)

How awesome is/was Elvis Presley?

The guy has been dead for 31 years, but he still earned 12 million more than Madonna and 8 million more than Justin Timberlake did this year.













Goddamn, was he cool or what?

The Gipsy Kings--Hotel California

Well, if I'm going to post one Spanish language song (see below post), then I have to post my favorite.

You'll recognize it as a cover of the Eagles' "Hotel California."

You'll also notice that it's better.

Way better.

Antonio Banderas and Los Lobos - Cancion del Mariachi

Terrible movie, no matter how hot Salma Hayek is in it. However, this song almost redeems the whole thing.

Chocolate Jesus

If you listen to the songs on my playlist.com widget, then click on "Chocolate Jesus," and tell me what you think.

The song is about little Jesus candies--or, as Waits claims, for those who simply have trouble waking up on Sunday morning.

My favorite verse from it is

When the weather is rough
And it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane.
He flows like the big muddy
But that's OK
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait.


For those of you too lazy to search on my playlist, here's a link to Waits on Letterman.

It goes without saying that if you don't appreciate Waits, then it's probably because you're stupid (which is not the same as saying "If you don't like Waits, then you're stupid."--think on that before you're offended).

What the heck, click here to see Waits on Letterman.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Not everything ages poorly, eh Golf Guy? Still, I think that Simon ought to have let Garfunkel do the whole song by himself, as originally recorded.

I am nearly thirty-two years old, and these guys stopped recording as a band years before I was born. However, they are to this day my favorite still.

When I saw them in concert five (I think) years ago, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I had long bemoaned that my favorites were out of commission (e.g. Elvis, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Beethoven). When they announced their reunion tour (from which this clip was taken), I was overwhelmed with anticipation and not disappointed when I saw them perform.

Flight of the Conchords "Think About It"

This one too. Thanks, KV.

Flight of the Conchords "Jenny"

Thank you so much, KV for introducing me to this duo. Biobandit is hooked on them as well.

He Stopped Loving Her Today

I rank this as one of the saddest songs ever written. No one has done it better than George Jones.

Sammy

Everyone in my family always hated Sammy Davis, Jr. I learned this when I was very young and trying out impersonations of Billy Crystal impersonating Sammy (though my grandfather said that I sounded more like a gay Ed Sullivan--which meant nothing to me in the mid-1980's).

I will probably always enjoy Frank Sinatra's and Dean Martin's material more (as a whole), but Sammy had a presence that cannot be rejected--to the extent that he probably put on a better solo show.

Here are a few clips of some of my favorite Sammy Davis, Jr. songs. It is an incomplete presentation, for some of the choice ones are not posted to youtube.

"Cotton Fields" Multiple Covers

Below are some interpretations of the same tune, "Cotton Fields," by blues singer "Lead Belly" Huddie Ledbetter. For my money, The Beach Boys, under Brian Wilson's genius, covered it best.

There's just something about listening to different versions of the same tune.

The Humans Are Dead

By Flight of the Conchords

The Rubber Biscuit Song

The Star Wars Cantina--by Richard Cheese