Culture Has Declined

In the past, the music world bestowed upon posterity Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. Now they give a Pulitzer to a rap crooner (not musician and not singer, nor artist). Culture has declined a great deal since the 1800s.

So-called musicians of today merit no more than tavern singers of yesteryear: a meal, a drink, a few coins here and there for a good performance, if the audience is well-to-do. Anything more is pelf. Their stuff isn't likely to still be played a hundred years from now. Their frequent protestations about deserving more money are preposterous. What they need to do is work harder, compose and edit their existing compositions to be better.

Popularity is based upon sexual urges and aspirations, that is, what folks want to become. Rap deals with stealing, rape, and murder, so one can conclude what the listening public wants to do based upon that.

Rather than give a Pulitzer to a rap crooner, the award should be given to a teacher. Teachers work really hard and have to deal with all kinds of criticism, disrespect and long-term liabilities in today's society, one of which involves being underpaid for the work they perform.

Songs of Meaning

These songs have meaning for me.

Sara - Fleetwood Mac - I remember several through this song. It is potent. Play it at high volume. That is the only way to appreciate its subtleties. The witch casts a spell.

1963 - New Order - I remember my best friend through this song. We have not spoken in over thirty years.

b - Nada Surf - A beautiful dream transports the listener. "I've got no time I wanna lose / to people with something to prove. What can you do but let them talke / and make your way down the block."

Strange Magic - ELO - magic is strange if it is not useful. I do have a strange magic. I am not rich and powerful. I write on a blog for free.

Nite & Day - Al B Sure - I can listen to this over and over. It never gets old. "If you and I were one, the love would share would be so fun. Just take my hand and you'll see that we'd take off into another world."

Say It Isn't So - Hall and Oates - I really like this song and, like "Nite & Day," can listen to it over and over. It may be the best of Hall and Oates.

One Hundred Ways - Quincy Jones - relationship advice that guys tend not to take! If guys would only listen to this song, they could make a happy life for themselves with a good and gentle person. Everything is spelled out here. All that is required is to listen with an earnest and receptive heart. There are real advantages to compassion, to kindness, to thoughtfulness.

Always Love - Nada Surf - wisdom distilled into a song. Few will understand or, understanding, follow. Always love is invincible. Hatred is poison to the bearer. "To make a mountain of your life / is just a choice." Brilliant!

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths - clubbing in my twenties. emptiness, excitement, despair.

I Heard a Rumour - Bananarama - saying no to a second chance is sometimes right. I have had to say No to many. I do not regret shutting them out, because they were base.

Our Lips Are Sealed - The Go-Gos - "Pay no mind to what they say. Doesn't matter anyway! Our lips are sealed." Truth may be found in the silence of the soul. The modern obsession with blurting out secrets is not always wise. With silence comes dignity. Think of the mountain, the tree, the stars, the moon.

A Tale of the Tribe - Beyond Life - "Break the mind-forged manacles. Correct the berserk machine." Is it too late for us?

Feel So Alive - Pod - "you have given me peace of mind."

Too Hot - Kool & the Gang - every beat is right.

Kryptonite - Three Doors Down - "I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind. I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time." Indeed.

Jeremy - Pearl Jam - me in ninth grade, but for the Grace.

Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots - "Leaving on a Southern train." That is me. I am always Southward-bound.

Plush - Stone Temple Pilots - "And I feel and I feel. When the dogs begin to smell her, will she smell alone?"

Photograph - Def Leppard - sometimes all that is left is a photograph.

Shoot To Thrill - AC/DC - "I'm like evil, I get under your skin just like a bomb that's ready to blow."

Bring Me to Life - Evanescence - "Wake me up inside."

Getting Away with Murder - Papa Roach - "I drink my drink and I don't even want to." Drinking opens a gateway for evil to enter our world.

Lying from You - Linkin Park - "Let me take back my life. I’d rather be all alone." There is much to be said for solitude.

A Place in Time - Bosshouse (featuring Amanda Abizaid) - I loved the show, 4400, of which this is the theme song.

Take It Easy on Me - Little River Band - resonated with me when it first came out, though no more. As a supplication, it proved ineffectual!

I Used to Love Rock Music

When I was young, all the kids were excited about rock concerts. I went to one once. I hated it. The music was so loud that it bruised my eardrums. All I could think about was when I could leave and what I would be doing after the show. I never went to another rock concert.

However, the only thing my peers listened to was rock and roll, rap, country, punk, and heavy metal music, so that was what I listened to, and I thought it wasn't so bad, played at a moderate level. Over time, I began to play it louder as I got used to loud music. I think "getting used to loud music" actually involves permanent hearing loss.

As I got older and upgraded my friends, I became exposed to better music, such as classical, folk, and jazz. It is like going from cow manure to diamonds. Both are carbon-based and certainly have their uses, but the diamonds are more elegant. I began to notice how simple, boring and predictable rock music was. I think the clincher for me was reading the lyrics of my former favorite songs. Unfortunately, most rock musicians write at the fifth-grade level.

I watched two documentaries about Pink Floyd yesterday that featured several of their live performances. The music left me unmoved, which I thought was strange, because I used to think it was great, even the work of genius. One of the performances was "Comfortably Numb," and the lyrics remained with me. I thought about them this morning as I woke up.

Just a little pinprick. There'll be no more aaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaah,
But you may feel a little sick.
This'll keep ya going for the show, come on it's time to go.

The clingy-clangy rhyme scheme seems all wrong. The words don't fit. They just are there because of the stupid, stupid rhyme.

Why does the pinprick make one sick? Does it always result in sickness? If so, then why receive the injection at all? The only reason "you might feel a little sick" is that "sick" rhymes with "pinprick."

Why is it time to go? Can't a junkie have a moment? The only reason it is time to go is that "go" rhymes with "show."

I know of a junkie that wrote better lyrics than Pink Floyd, and his name was Samuel Coleridge. He would give a junkie a moment, and he wouldn't make him sick, either.

Pink Floyd is the purest overrated pink polka-dot poppycock. And I used to listen to them all the time. They were a little pinprick that made me sick. I was programmed by the radio, constantly streaming in nothing but cow manure, and by all my friends who were also programmed by radio. Maybe I'm being unfair to radio, though. We could have tuned into PBS. Why didn't we? I think it was due to hormones. Rock celebrates the erotic urge. It is not about music at all. Rock is an outlet for sexual expression that may seem very attractive due to the censorship of sexuality in other areas of society. But I wonder if it is really quite as necessary now as it was back in the 1960's.

I hope that one day our society can dispense with rock altogether and fully embrace real music again. We should pay attention to actual musicians rather than erotic performers.

I have gone to many classical and jazz concerts featuring live instruments, and I have always had a good time. Yet when I look around at the audience, mostly I see gray heads. That's too bad. I think I would have enjoyed such concerts even at a young age, if I had been exposed to them. It's a pity that young people learn to like garbage instead of music.

The Silly Sisters

The Silly Sisters released two musical gems in "The Lass of Loch Royal" and "Geordie," both so excellent that I can't decide which is better. Sometimes I favor one, sometimes the other. For now, I prefer "Geordie." Everything about the two songs is superb. It is very strange that the songs and their performers are not better known.

Anita Baker

I can't imagine why anyone talks about Whitney Houston. I've never found a Houston song I like, but Anita Baker has produced some real jewels, classics that will be played long after we are dust, restorative & soothing to the soul.Post a Comment

by igor 04:20 4 replies by igor 09:32 0 comments

The Mamas and Papas

The Mamas and the Papas are a better group than the Beatles. I think the Beatles were overplayed and over-promoted. Radio stations in my day only played a handful of songs from Mamas and Papas, but they played the Beatles and John Lennon over and over again. In reality, the Mamas and Papas are better in every respect than the Beatles, though not John Lennon, who is tops in Rock and Roll in my book. I think the main reason that Mamas and Papas never made it as big as the Beatles was that their lyrics were too druggy, talking about the use of hard drugs like smack. Of course parents don't want their kids listening to that sort of thing, so I imagine many radio stations refused to play a lot of Mamas and Papas. It was sad to read that so many of the Mamas and Papas died of drug overdoses.

The biggest defect of the Sixties was the experimentation with addictive drugs, bad ones like heroin, cocaine, speed and pills. If people had just stayed with weed, they would have been better off. I think the government made a strategic blunder by making weed illegal. A person that tries marijuana may be tempted to make assumptions about other illegal drugs, that they are OK and do not pose any substantial risks. If marijuana had been legal, because of its harmlessness (relative to most other drugs), then the logic of the government's position would be nigh unassailable. It is the illogical nature of the government's position that many people find to be offensive.

by igor 04:20 8 replies by igor 09:32 6 comments

Dinah Washington's "Bill"

Dinah Washington's "Bill" is superb; her timing impeccable, her diction precise, her inflections perfect.

by igor 04:20 8 replies by igor 09:32 6 comments

I Pity Young Men

I pity young men, who listen to crap rap and avoid the oldies, for they will not know Dinah Washington.

If you my reader are such a young man, then I challenge you to listen to the following:

1. Destination Moon
2. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
3. Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me
4. No Hard Feelings
5. It's a Mean Old Man's World
6. I Used to Love You
7. Let Me Be the First to Know
8. Nobody Knows the Way I Feel
9. Don't Say Nothin' At All
10. You've Been a Good Old Wagon
11. Bill
12. No One Man
13. Me and My Gin
14. You're Nobody Til You Love Somebody

Dinah Washington was the best jazz female vocalist of the 20th century.

by igor 04:20 8 replies by igor 09:32 6 comments