tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post4503873182098233193..comments2024-03-27T23:24:02.731-04:00Comments on PowerPop: Weekend Listomania (Special Soupy Sales 1926-2009 Edition)NYMaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10863355110457910935noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-32012740329972975732010-07-14T15:48:42.132-04:002010-07-14T15:48:42.132-04:00Tom Sawyer by Rush.Tom Sawyer by Rush.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-32353522650789311862009-10-26T19:18:04.363-04:002009-10-26T19:18:04.363-04:00The Rolling Stones, "Sway"
The recordin...The Rolling Stones, "Sway"<br /><br />The recording sets a pre-R.E.M. record for incomprehensible lyrics.<br /><br />And transcriptions of the lyrics that I've seen look either inaccurate or also incomprehensible.<br /><br />One of the greatest songs of all-time, it goes w/o saying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-72933704569804276832009-10-26T10:52:59.739-04:002009-10-26T10:52:59.739-04:00If you're not familiar with the bizarre one-al...If you're not familiar with the bizarre one-album output of Neutral Milk Hotel ("In An Aeroplane Over the Sea") it's at least as bemusing as anything else I've ever heard. No damn idea WHAT they're talking about for more than a line at a time. See, for example, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBedkMiQhec" rel="nofollow">here</a>. And <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gUSS8dNWaI&feature=related" rel="nofollow">here</a>. And <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjpbjCH5L0" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br />It was given to me by a student who insisted it would change my life. Sure. It confused the living hell out of me. And yet I listen to it a lot. Go figure.NYMaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10863355110457910935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-229144504900083702009-10-26T10:41:16.732-04:002009-10-26T10:41:16.732-04:00Re: Whiskey in the Jar: it's true, "Musha...Re: Whiskey in the Jar: it's true, "Musha rig um du rum da" is just probably just an ancient way of saying "la la la" or 'a-wop bop a loom mop alop bam boom," "Whack fol the daddy O" seems to describe what the singer did with his saber, i.e., he wacked Col. Pepper (the daddy-o), and down he fell.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04378528518778247285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-35500786176378334122009-10-25T21:33:08.136-04:002009-10-25T21:33:08.136-04:00Re yea heavy & a bottle of bread, et al., I wo...Re <i>yea heavy & a bottle of bread</i>, et al., I would just note that the point for some of the lyrics on the Basement Tapes is to be funny & playful and that the point for some of the others was to serve as placeholders in the event Bob ever got the itch to actually record the song at a later date. These home tapes captured lots of ad libbing among friends, but were not the first or last time Bob composed entire first-draft stanzas on the fly, at the microphone.<br /><br />I definitely get the vibe of EC’s great line, <i>till I speak double dutch to a REAL double duchess</i> but for some reason have found myself wanting to come up with a literal translation over the years, to no avail. Maybe something like, "till I can play her game" or ... i dunno.Who Am Us Anyway?https://www.blogger.com/profile/08260586634760800759noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-62792024832027781832009-10-25T19:38:03.280-04:002009-10-25T19:38:03.280-04:00Greil Marcus already had a field day with it, but ...Greil Marcus already had a field day with it, but "The Coo Coo Bird' gets some kind of prize for oddity. We all want to know who Willy is.<br /><br />The chorus of "Whiskey in the Jar" is just as odd as "Tutti Frutti", and hundreds of years older. The fact that all these clean-cut Brothers Four types sang it exactly the same way as each other always tickled me.<br /><br />--nosmokAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-90960601346935251042009-10-25T17:21:34.810-04:002009-10-25T17:21:34.810-04:00You can keep all your vague lyrics by Bob Dylan (h...You can keep all your vague lyrics by Bob Dylan (he <i>is</i> there, otherwise he wouldn't be singing that song), REM (religions are easy to lose –- people lose them every day), Paul Simon (calling him Betty sounds perfectly reasonable to me) <i>et al</i>.<br /><br />Nope, for me -- and I know that this is cheating because it came before The Beatles -- sitting at the top of the rock and roll lyrics tree for indecipherability is the greatest single line ever sung in the history of rock music:<br /><br />"A wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom."<br /><br />Top <i>that</i>, aspiring songwriters.Peterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13694593832483511316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-60955465226819752942009-10-25T15:55:39.036-04:002009-10-25T15:55:39.036-04:00I don't have an entry for this week. I choose ...I don't have an entry for this week. I choose to listen to singer-songwriters specifically for their musicality and lyrics. Besides I'm still very sad about the loss of the late, great, Soupy Sales. Feels like a distant relative has died. So I'm just going to leave this little tribute to him. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxSkzgxsIkg" rel="nofollow">Pookie and Soupy do Motown</a>.Libby Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01915834698802726985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-17814089176863917702009-10-25T11:58:16.544-04:002009-10-25T11:58:16.544-04:00I too have sent many years being awed by Scott Mil...I too have sent many years being awed by Scott Miller's erudition and willful obscurity ("Here Comes Everybody" the lead track from Real Nighttime, for example, takes its title from Finnegan's Wake.) It's only in recent years that I've come to acknowledge that I miss the meaning behind most of his lyrics, even the ones that aren't referencing literature. No doubt lines like, "Efficious/B follows A-cious/something we can throw in their faces" sound amazing and fit right in with the taut structures of his songs, but I'll be damned if I have a clue as to what they mean. Except the obvious lesbian love song "We Love You Carol and Allison."Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04378528518778247285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-83128693801215769752009-10-25T03:07:32.201-04:002009-10-25T03:07:32.201-04:00The verses of "Pulling Mussels From A Shell&q...The verses of "Pulling Mussels From A Shell" are pretty clear - it's just the chorus that to me throws everything off.<br /><br /><br />I was a teenage Yes fan, and I tend to throw most of their stuff into the same bin as early R.E.M., where the lyrics were basically sounds to carry the music forward.<br /><br />I give Scott Miller's lyrics for for Game Theory/The Loud Family special credit because he's just so much smarter than me. I mean, a guy who comes up with a song called "He Do The Police In Different Voices" which is not only a quote from Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" but was also the working title for Eliot's "The Waste Land"?MBowenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17992038501958547302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-28777517064407650962009-10-25T02:45:27.370-04:002009-10-25T02:45:27.370-04:00Well, as long as someone mentioned the Loud Family...Well, as long as someone mentioned the Loud Family, I will have to throw in "We Love You Carol & Allison" by Game Theory. <br /><br />(A "friend" of mine sold my Lolita Nation CD for $4 while I was, um... indisposed for a few months. Bastard. Not as bad as a Les Paul, but he still doesn't understand what he did wrong.)Maruspialnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-55712691746647784782009-10-24T15:54:43.768-04:002009-10-24T15:54:43.768-04:00I am also amused nobody really's nominated any...I am also amused nobody really's nominated any prog rock, especially Yes.<br /><br />My late colleague Noel Coppage famously reviewed one of their albums (might have been "Topographic Oceans," don't recall) by saying that it "demonstrated the pernicious effect that lying down and becoming one with the universe had on syntax."steve simelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13247393763004076992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-90346368552485719572009-10-24T15:21:20.554-04:002009-10-24T15:21:20.554-04:00Heh-heh! 15-year-old son, I meant. Not song. Freu...Heh-heh! 15-year-old son, I meant. Not song. Freudian?<br />PKWalking Oliver Productions, Ltdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18338802740758456928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-29544992970131099322009-10-24T15:19:53.456-04:002009-10-24T15:19:53.456-04:00Well, just about anything by the Loud Family, exce...Well, just about anything by the Loud Family, except for "Slit My Wrists" of course. That's pretty clear. :-)<br /><br />I love them to death but I don't have a clue what the hell Scott Miller is on about most of the time. It always sounds like it means something profound.<br /><br />My 15-year-old song seconds the motion.<br /><br />PKWalking Oliver Productions, Ltdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18338802740758456928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-28473255507484421552009-10-24T15:17:46.625-04:002009-10-24T15:17:46.625-04:00Wow, and I was sure it was another (somewhat obliq...Wow, and I was sure it was another (somewhat oblique and anatomically dubious) lesbian love song: "Pulling muscles from Michelle..."Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04378528518778247285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-71994001537457578932009-10-24T11:55:34.929-04:002009-10-24T11:55:34.929-04:00"Pulling Mussels From a Song" vague?
Wo..."Pulling Mussels From a Song" vague?<br /><br />Wow, that one shocks me. That song has always struck me as poetically sharp and observant as they come."<br /><br />Yep. A great song!from: http://www.squeezefan.com/articles/songtalk.htm<br /><br />"Difford: That song was influenced really by The Small Faces. I used to adore the way they would write about English situations. Very British picture postcard situations really. I wanted to write about the experience that a lot of working class English people do of going to the seaside and what a day out for them would be. And then taking it a step further by talking of old people, young people, and family people at the seaside. So you'd have a cross-section in each verse, virtually, of how I saw seaside villages. So you have the old people looking round the shops, and then in the chorus you have the young people who are trying to have sex with strangers behind the chalet on the beach."MJConroyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17372576965208949072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-58416175322859994862009-10-24T10:58:30.409-04:002009-10-24T10:58:30.409-04:00Steve:
RE: "All this and More": Mad Ox=...Steve:<br /><br />RE: "All this and More": Mad Ox=Roast Beef. Get it?<br /><br />ROTP(lumber)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-46498336695944480742009-10-24T10:55:01.036-04:002009-10-24T10:55:01.036-04:00I agree with MBowen about "Mussels". If ...I agree with MBowen about "Mussels". If the song meant anything it might be one of my all time favorite songs. But because the lyrics don't mean anything (as far as I can tell) it's just a great catchy pop song with no meaning.<br /><br />ROTP(lumber)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-27751728198262474632009-10-24T09:20:45.603-04:002009-10-24T09:20:45.603-04:00Yeah, what he said--and speaking of "roundabo...Yeah, what he said--and speaking of "roundabout," I have always marveled at the geographical impossibility of mountains that "come out of the sky, and they stand there."Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04378528518778247285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-58748852391016451322009-10-24T08:07:03.460-04:002009-10-24T08:07:03.460-04:00"But behind the chalet
My holiday's compl..."But behind the chalet<br />My holiday's complete<br />And I feel like William Tell<br />Maid Marian in her tip-toed feet<br />Pulling mussels from the shell"<br /><br />Like I said, maybe the guy's getting the proverbial knee-trembler, but it seems like a pretty roundabout way to describe it.MBowenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17992038501958547302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-18179350944328081382009-10-24T02:37:13.279-04:002009-10-24T02:37:13.279-04:00"Pulling Mussels From a Song" vague?
Wo..."Pulling Mussels From a Song" vague?<br /><br />Wow, that one shocks me. That song has always struck me as poetically sharp and observant as they come.<br /><br />Or am I thinking of "Another Nail in My Heart"? I haven't heard that album in a while<br />:-)steve simelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13247393763004076992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-19276412292092888892009-10-23T23:03:49.784-04:002009-10-23T23:03:49.784-04:00"Uncle Albert".
My father used to say i..."Uncle Albert".<br /><br />My father used to say it was about Albert Speer, believe it or not...dave™©https://www.blogger.com/profile/15303249276504183167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-86827554322677373042009-10-23T22:53:40.647-04:002009-10-23T22:53:40.647-04:00"Jet" by Paul McCartney & Wings
-M..."Jet" by Paul McCartney & Wings<br /><br /><br />-McPartAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-29179136664928850732009-10-23T20:22:50.071-04:002009-10-23T20:22:50.071-04:00RE: 25 or 6 to 4: Robert Lamm has stated that it i...RE: 25 or 6 to 4: Robert Lamm has stated that it is simply a song about trying to write a song. The title refers to the time of day (25 or 26 minutes before 4 a.m.) that he was trying to write the song. See <a href="http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1197" rel="nofollow">here</a> for details.<br /><br />There are probably about 100 Dylan or Springsteen songs I could come up with, so many that I have trouble naming just one. I notice no entries from the prog-rock world, which is known as much for inscrutable lyrics as anything. My vote is "Close To The Edge" by Yes. (I get up, I get down? Huh?)TJWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00312890704167853988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8921382.post-90126488734600657792009-10-23T20:08:02.635-04:002009-10-23T20:08:02.635-04:00Yeah, "25 or 6 to 4" is the answer to a ...Yeah, "25 or 6 to 4" is the answer to a "what time is it" question when you're bombed out of your mind at 3:34 or 3:35 a.m.<br /><br />I don't have problems with songs where the words are vague and chosen for sound, like the first two or three R.E.M. albums, or where it's just a series of clever observations and images without much linking it together ("Subterranean Homesick Blues", anyone), but it's hard to enjoy records where the words sound like they're supposed to mean something but just don't make sense.<br /><br />Like "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I guess it's just a disaffected youth rant, but albino/mulatto/mosquito/libido? Ummm...<br /><br />Or "Don't Dream It's Over". Why do his possessions cause him suspicions? What does that have to do with the hole in his roof? What is it that we shouldn't dream is over, and who are they who we shouldn't let win? Actually, I've found that pretty much every song by either of the Finns is annoyingly vague.<br /><br />"Pulling Mussels From The Shell". OK, I'm a yank, but I know an awful lot of British slang, and I've no clue as to what this means. The lyrics seem to describe a working-class seaside resort, but does the chorus mean that he's actually gotten lucky?MBowenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17992038501958547302noreply@blogger.com