What Are You Listening To Right Now? #25

That's my favorite Janice song, by far.

I had never heard Billy Stewart's rendition until a year ago when some obscure radio station down in South Hill, Virginia happened to play it. I don't think I've heard it on the radio since.

 

never had heard of him. sounds like someone who'd fit in well with a Fairport Cropredy festival

My favorite Canadian musician is probably Neil Young though

 

Stan Rogers is a public Canadian hero ...

 

BLUEBERRY HILL: The Best Version Ever!

 

The singer's sound, reminds me a little of STP's first singer, Scott Weiland (though not as good). Weiland, I felt, really connected to the song, and conveyed its essence in a gritty, personal way, that viscerally saturated the listener (or at least me)-- or perhaps he imbued the song with with something that invited the listener it, to inhabit it?).


Vasoline (recommend using headphones, to appreciate, esp. the percussion in this good groove tune)





Creep





Interstate Love Song





Big Empty





Sorry I didn't have time to go through You Tube for good live versions-- maybe for a follow up post. BTW, though the post is about Weiland, I don't mean to minimize the other pieces of the song, or the other band members; there's nice instrumental texture, and these songs are written with a good flow. That said, I am talking specifically, about their best songs (IMO). Their overall oeuvre, can be a bit too draggingly downbeat-- I don't know if this was at all attributable to the double-edged sword of the heroine, on which Weiland was hooked.

Also, I only left out "Plush," for lack of space (I've found there to be a 5 song limit, per post, including the one that I quote). I'll put that one, in any supplementary post, along with a commentary, on their choice of titles.
Though maybe, in the interim, others might care to opine on being artistic, rather than pragmatic, with titles-- making it more difficult for listeners to guess the name of any song of STP's they had heard, for the first time. Though this didn't seem to dampen their popularity.

 

Joe Walsh on guitar but Kenny Passarelli on bass and vocals

a gem that never gets the respect it deserves

 

I used to like this song as a kid and yesterday I heard it on a classic rock station for the first in decades lol

 

Or you could pump this through the stereo and turn it up to 11



Damn shame Scott lost his battle with heroin...

 

Speaking of great singers who lost their battles with heroin - Layne Staley of Alice in Chains



(cont. below)

 

(cont. from above)

Dirt has some great songs on it, but I think their best album is Jar of Flies.

And now a song about lost innocence



I'm going to stick with this theme for a moment with two more songs by two great bands.

I was kind of surprised to find that this song wasn't written by the late Neil Peart who I consider one of the greatest lyricists in rock history:



And finally this by Pink Floyd (sans Roger Waters). I believe the lyrics were written by Polly Anne Samson.

One of the interesting things about this wonderfully bittersweet song is the incredibly talented David Gilmour's steel guitar at the end...

 

...and part 1 of one more classic by Pink Floyd featuring a much younger David Gilmour on guitar and the late Rick Wright on keyboards:



From what I've heard, after Rick Wright passed away David Gilmour said he would never play this song on stage again...

 

Happy birthday Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)

 

I decided to find out what all the fuss was about.

 

If you enjoy it, that's great. But I don't feel this cover connects in any substantial way with the original meaning behind the lyrics; which is, like I said, fine.

 

The lyrics are the same and song is same, just re-mixed

 

I know the lyrics are the same-- I was talking about the way they were delivered, not sounding well-matched to the lyrics' meanings. Once more, I'd not said that one could not bring a new interpretation, to old lyrics, only that I, personally, didn't hear any connection between whatever emotion is being expressed, and the words being sung.

Perhaps, if you wanted to understand my perspective/further discuss this version of the song, a good place to start would be for you to tell me what you think the song is about, and what is the emotional read you get, from the vocalist's singing.

 

Its about wanting something, like a relationship, and not achieving it. Like a dream which was never meant to be. That's why in the end he says "that was just a dream". I don't see how a different delivery changes the meaning.

 

The brilliant harmonies of Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, Dave Freiberg and Grace Slick

 

I have a much more specific interpretation, for the song. That is not to say, that you need understand the song as the writer had intended it; there is validity to anyone giving a song, their own, personal interpretation. But, once one has such an idea about a song, it is harder to think of it, in a different way. Nothing like impossible-- I appreciate alternate takes on songs, when they're well done. But, for me, this singer's rendition, did not evoke the idea of "wanting something, like a relationship, and not achieving it; like a dream that was never meant to be."

There is, btw, truth to your interpretation-- only you are thinking of it in a very generalized way, when I think the lyrical evidence is very strong, that there is a level to the song-- the level which inspired it, in fact-- which you are not hearing. But you know what-- you might not want to know about the interpretation I am going to share with you, because that might change how you hear the song (maybe like trying to watch the Cosby show, after Bill's conviction). I once pointed out to my sister that the song she apparently liked, for its wholesomeness, "Carolina in the Morning," is not about a state, on the eastern seaboard, but about morning sex, with someone named Carolina, and she just would not accept it, though I was repeating this from credible sources, that this was the hidden "wink, wink," meaning of the lyrics, to get it by the strict censors, of that day. "Nothing Could Be Finer Than To Be IN Carolina... sweeter than my sweetie, when I 'meat' her..."

So, you have been warned, in case you don't want to chance it. But the key to understanding the REM song, is replacing the word " religion," with "erection." Note all the references to size: " Life is bigger...the lengths that I will go to: the distance, in your eyes..." You see, he is playing with a double entendre, between someone's eyes, revealing that they are " distant" in their thoughts and feelings, versus the distance, referring back to the "lengths" that he will go to, or not go to, and which she is noticing.

So yes, he wants a relationship with the person, but the reason he can't get it, is because of his own deviant desires, which he is afraid to share, trying instead to seem normal, while he only drops hints to the lover, hoping he or she will understand:

"Every whisper, every waking hour/ I'm choosing my confessions/ Trying to keep an eye on you"-- for a reaction to his dropped hints; cf. the similar line: Tryin' to keep up (with) you.


"Consider this, the hint of the century/ consider this, the slip, that brought me to my knees./ Well,

What if all these fantasies come
flailing around/ NOW I've said, too much."


His dream, is that she will know the true freak that he is, inside, and accept that, will just go with it. But he cannot bring himself to speak directly about it, and the hope that she will just pick up on it and understand, is just a dream.

IMO, anyway.

So yes, it is a song of suffering anguish, but I really don't hear that, or any distinct feeling, in the version you posted. But that difference is the way it has to be, if we are all to have unique tastes.