Not much to say about this other than fantastic…
Tom Waits – Singapore
We sail tonight for Singapore,
We’re all as mad as hatters here
I’ve fallen for a tawny Moor,
Took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
Walked the sewers of Paris
I danced along a colored wind,
Dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to meWe sail tonight for Singapore,
Don’t fall asleep while you’re ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
When you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
While making feet for children shoes
Through the alley, back from hell,
When you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to meWipe him down with gasoline
’til his arms are hard and mean
From now on boys this iron boat’s your home
So heave away, boysWe sail tonight for Singapore,
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door,
The whole town’s made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam,
They all become Italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth,
Get yourself a dollar’s worth
Away boys, away boys, heave awayThe captain is a one-armed dwarf,
He’s throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
The one-eyed man is king, so take this ringWe sail tonight for Singapore,
We’re all as mad as hatters here
I’ve fallen for a tawny Moor,
Took off to the land of Nod
Drank with all the Chinamen,
Walked the sewers of Paris
I drank along a colored wind,
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me
From one of musics best wordsmiths…
Get ready for love! Praise Him!
Get ready tot love! Praise Him!
Get ready for love! Get readylWell, most of all nothing much
ever really happens
And God rides high up in the ordinary sky
Until we find ourselves at out most distracted
And the miracle that was promised
creeps quietly byCalling every boy and girl
Calling all around the world
Calling every boy and girl
Calling all around the worldGet ready for love! Praise Him!
Get ready for love! Praise Him!The mighty wave their hankies from their
high-windowed palace
Sending grief and joy down in supportable doses
And we search high and low without
merty or malice
While the gate to the Kingdom swings
shut and closesCalling every boy and girl
Calling all around the world
Calling every boy and girl
Calling all around the worldPraise Him till you’ve forgotten
what you’re praising Him for
Praise Him till you’ve forgotten
what you’re praising Him for
Then praise Him a little bit moreYeah, praise Him a little bit more
Praise Him till you’ve forgotten
what you’re praising Him for
Praise Him tillyou’ve forgotten what
you’re praising Him for
Praise Him a little bit more
Yeah, praise Him a little bit moreGet ready for love! Praise Him!
Get ready for love! Get ready!I searched the seven seas and I’ve looked
under the carpet
And browsed through the brochures
that govern the skies
Then I was just hanging around, doing
nothing und looked up to see
His face burned in the retina of your eyesCalling every boy and girl
Calling all around the world
Calling every boy and girl
Calling all around the worldGet ready for love! Praise Him!
Get ready for love! Praise Him!
One of their best songs. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a Blip.fm link to “Cast of Thousands” but this is a fantastic track nonetheless. They should be in everyone’s record collection…(The song isn’t that long, and I’m not sure what makes up the other 12 minutes of this track…but that’s the dice you roll with Blip.fm)
The Adverts – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
I’m lying in a hospital,
I’m pinned against the bed.
A stethoscope upon my heart,
A hand against my head.
They’re peeling off the bandages.
I’m wincing in the light.
The nurse is looking anxious,
And she’s quivering in fright…I’m looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.
The doctors are avoiding me.
My vision is confused.
I listen to my earphones,
And I catch the evening news.
A murderer’s been killed,
And he donates his sight to science.
I’m locked into a private ward.
I realise that I must be…Looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.
Looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.
I smash the light in anger.
Push my bed against the door.
I close my lids across my eyes,
And wish to see no more.
The eye receives the messages,
And sends them to the brain.
No guarantee the stimuli must be perceived the same…When looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.
Gary don’t need his eyes to see.
Gary and his eyes have parted company
My stepdad first introduced me to the music that would carry me through to my late teens, Rock. AC/DC, Boston, Chicago, Foreigner, Styx, he had all the late 70s early 80s classics. I would look at the covers of these albums for hours, especially Boston’s “Don’t Look Back”. The spaceship with the city inside, hovering over some untouched green land, had nothing to do with the music, but looked cool. Jeff Wayne’s “War of the Worlds” album, however, was everything one could want in a science fiction album; the cover art and the music told the story of alien invasion. These bands were new and exciting, and quite risque. There was something about AC/DC’s lyrics that I knew was raunchy, but being so young I had no idea what it was. “Let me put my love into you girl”, “Shook me all night long”… These were the sounds that carried me into early adolescence.
I was still listening to everything I could, and became increasingly interested in Classical music, especially Mozart. His music seemed to melancholy at first listen, but the more I listened, the more I heard. His music was so dense, filled with little flourishes and “negative space” at the same time. I was also very into Holst’s “Planet Suite”, with each movement describing a different planet/Roman god. “Mars” was my favourite for the longest time, until I actually listened to “Jupiter”, so light and airy for such a large planet and king of the Gods. Beethoven intrigued me, but his music was everywhere, and I always preferred to hear new things, outside the normal channels.
That feeling quickly went away after we moved to the U.S. Everything was so in your face and over the top that you couldn’t escape “pop” culture. MTV, TV commercials, Billboards, radios blaring on the street, in the stores. It was everywhere. Wham, Boy George, The Police, Frankie Goes to Hollywood… you get the picture. It was so overwhelming that I hesitate to even consider it a culture, and more of a barrage of happy noise, all shiny and pastel. I still listened to AC/DC, but Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel were taking up more of my attention. I then entered a musical dead zone, everything was so overpowering that I didn’t have any opinions, I felt (thinking on it now) as if my opinions were given to me. What to eat, what to wear, what to listen to, what to watch on TV, in the movies, everything just pushed on to a young open mind.
Towards the end of the 80′s a shift happened in music, it became harder, more rock orientated. Ozzy Osbourne became more centered in my ears thanks to Guns ‘n’ Roses, Poison, Cinderella, etc. These were the new bands that were screaming for our attention, but it led me into harder places. Gateway music, as it were. Reading interviews with these bands, they told of their influences. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Rush. It was the beginning of my love of music. I started getting tapes of some of these other bands, reading interviews, watching videos, and found Jimi Hendrix. This was the turning point for me. To hear what he was doing with a guitar, before I was born, and how he practically re-invented the instrument, and then to hear what drivel and utter crap had come since, it was very enlightening. Every where I listened, there was the Hendrix influence, but no one seemed to be pushing the music forward. It was as if rock music had peaked in the late 60′s and just stayed there. So I started reading more, and getting into more of the 60′s and early 70′s music. I then started getting recommendations from record store clerks and friends, that led me all over the place. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was my quest: To find music I have not heard, and try to turn people on to it. Whenever I got something new I would listen to it over and over again, absorbing it, and in the process exposing people to it. Some would take it in, and some would just let it slip on by, but I had shared something new.
It was around this time that I had started learning to play guitar. So my listening took on a new dimension, I was trying to play the songs I was hearing without actually learning to read music. I would just sit and plink plonk the songs until I got it damn near the original. This process was actually training my ears to hear just what I was focussing on in the songs, which in turn opened my ears to hearing more from music than I had originally heard.
This ear training really helped when I got into some of the loudest music around at the time; Heavy Metal, Death Metal and Punk…
A song that I love listening to.
Listen here: at Blip.FM
I’m coming up roses now
Flying high
No-one can touch me
As I wave good-bye
I’m tall as a willow baby
Tall as a willow
I’m sure not sorry for thatYou wouldn’t believe the stuff I know
And have collectedI’m hung up on breathing now
When I want
No-one can hurt me
When I’m in trouble
I’m strong as I’m mellow baby
Strong as I’m mellow
I sure am happy for thatHave you ever seen the things I own
And have neglected
They’re all quite strange
And unconnected
And that’s why they’re strongA mile is long when home is far away
Coming up roses now flying high
A mile is long when home is far away
Home is far awayI’m holding the fiddle now
Playing hard
I’ve learnt my lesson
In self-composure
I shout and I bellow baby
Shout and I bellow
Can you hear me out back?Can you feel the way I’ve grown
And disconnectedA mile is long when home is far away
Coming up roses now flying high
A mile is long when home is far away
Coming up roses now flying high
A mile is long when home is far away
The night is long the day is long
The night is long the day is long
A mile is long when home is far away
The night is long the day is long
The night is long the day is long
A mile is long when home is far away
Coming up roses now flying high
A mile is long when home is far awayHome is far away
A first thought came to the sound
And it filled itself with spectrum
So it can see from the back of its head
It can sense the shifting moods
How little the first thought knows
Its intentions its code of honour
Till it’s formed with cunning humour
Feel the beat fall in
Then a second leg came from the sound
What if I just don’t deliver
The queen bee the enemy the ecstasy
A beast at the core of its nature
A beast at the core of its nature
Recently I’ve been thinking recently about my musical taste, and how it has evolved over the years. So I thought I would attempt to map it out…
My mother listened to Kenny Rogers, Cliff Richards, Barry Manilow, ABBA and The Eagles. My earliest memory of music is Kenny Rogers’ “Gambler.” I loved that song, and the mournful sound of his voice. Even in happy songs he had this lonely quality to his voice. The Eagles, by contrast were so shiny sounding. Very polished and, even though I didn’t think of it this way at the time, commercial. Their songs told stories of a world far from Livingston, Scotland, but for some reason they were very popular among our friends and family. My mothers other favourite artists, I detest, and always have. There was something about the music and lyrics that just made me want to vomit, and still do to this day.
As I got older I started hearing things on the radio that I did like, starting with Blondie, The Police, and even Bucks Fizz. These were bands of my time, new, fresh music. It wasn’t marketed towards my age range, but it hit places in my brain that felt good. It was clean, clinical and tied into almost every aspect of life. TV, Radio and Retail outlets were all playing the same thing, and it was bright and plastic and really appealed to my young brain. I used to go over and hang out with my cousins a lot, and some of the older ones had record collections that we would listen to. My cousin Martin was really into punk, and it alternately scared and excited me. Listening to the Sex Pistols, the Damned, UK Subs at the age of 5 or 6 was probably not the best for my development, but I loved it. His musical tastes changed and he started listening more to the Cure, Siousxie and the Banshees, Thompson Twins, etc… I ate it all up, especially The Cure. There was something about the music and voice that entranced me (and has stuck with me 26 years later).
The first record I bought was a 45 of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “Give it Up”. I don’t remember why I wanted it (was probably the catchy chorus), but I was so excited to have a record that was mine, no one else could claim that bit of vinyl. It was the first step in my life as a collector of music, and it felt good. The sleeve was just yellow with the name of the band and song, no pictures, no other words, so it wasn’t as exciting as my next purchase “Stand and Deliver” by Adam and the Ants. The outfit, the crazy makeup, everything parents didn’t understand, right there on the sleeve. The song, with its crazy “tribal” drum beats and chorus, which I didn’t fully understand, but sung along anyways. It was amazing.
Being so young, I reveled in the music, not subscribing to any movement associated with it. Punk, Rock, Pop, Classical, Country… If it caught my interest, I listened to it. This is a trait that has stayed with me through the years, even though it wasn’t always so apparent…
I was at some military school/college, and we were excited about something.
Hundreds of people milling about. It was a beautiful early evening, and I was going
to cycle home, but couldn’t get through the trhongs of people. I sat on a rocky
promontory with some friends, wondering what was going on.
The moon started to rise over the water, slowly,and then it all of a sudden shot
into the sky as if it was being yanked out of the water. It flew up, winked at us
and then plopped into the water, bobbing about.
Just then strange white signs appeared on the dark blue sky. We had no idea what
they were, but they slowly came into focus and became references to Monty Python
sketches; dead parrot, holy hand grenade, giant foot, shrubbery, gumby men,
huge terrible beastie rabbit, etc.
They all disappered at the same time, just as hundreds and thousands of arrows
flew out of the sky towards us. We weren’t afraid, and when they hit I felt a
little tickle, but they didn’t hurt and disappeared on contact.
I fumbled for my camera, tried to turn it on to the movie setting, but I
couldn’t understand the symbols, as they had also changed. They had become
ancient greek statue shapes, and I thought “Must’ve been that firmware update.”
The screen was also strange, as it had changed into a double screen, with two
different images on each one, I had no idea whre the second one was from… I
finally figured it out (this was all in a matter of seconds) and started recording.
We wanted a better vantage point so we drove around to the other side of the
building to park, but we were told to move as that was VIP parking, and they were
expected very soon. So we backed up and pulled off to the side and got out. At that
moment we heard the sound of engines from down the road. People thought it might be
Terry Gilliam, with all the Monty Python references, but I knew that John Cleese
was on the West coast on tour.
Some cars appeared through the trees, and the excitement rose. People started
murmering as these 1940′s model Mercedes came around the corner. There were quite
a few of them, with one larger one in the middle of the convoy.
I readied my camera… and felt a dog licking my face as I had over slept…