I actually did hear this song at the grocery store where I work ... once.  About an hour after the store closed. Haven't heard it since, and I spend a LOT of time at work; enough time to hear the Muzak track loop and start playing the same songs over again.

Perhaps it's because the words of the song lead one to believe that Christmas isn't found in any of the boxes on the shelves...and can never be taken away. Not even by the Grinch.

For lots of reasons, this is my favorite Christmas song this year.

Where Are You Christmas? by Faith Hill

( But first some generalized whining about my life... )

So I'm in a rather grumpy, un-Christmas-like mood. Fortunately, Ray Davies of The Kinks was pissed off about Christmas way before I was. Therefore, I give to you the first song you won't hear at the mall this holiday season: Father Christmas by The Kinks*



*Disclamer: You actually might hear this song in certain parts of the mall this year. Specifically, the movie theater part. A pretty good cover of it by OK Go (of dancing on treadmills fame) is in the new movie Unaccompanied Minors. A good try, but the requisite "punkness" just isn't quite there for me. Maybe after a couple more hours on the treadmills, except in hot, wool Santa suits this time ....

War on Drugs
 Steven Page

She likes to sleep with the radio on
So she can dream of her favorite song
The one that no one has ever sung since she was small

She'll never know that she made it up
She had a soul and we ate it up
Thrown away like a paper cup
The music falls

The only flaw in her detailed plan
Is where she wins back the love of her man
Everyone knows that he's never coming back

He took her heart and she took his name
He couldn't stand taking all the blame
He left her only with guilt and shame and then she cracked

Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

In the dream I refuse to have
She falls asleep in a lukewarm bath
We're left to deal with the aftermath again

On behalf of humanity
I will fight for your sanity
How profound such profanity can be

Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

Won't it be odd to be happy like we
Always thought we're supposed to feel
But never seem to be

Near where I live there's a viaduct
Where people jump when they're out of luck
Raining down on the cars and trucks below

They've put a net there to catch their fall
Like it'll stop anyone at all
What they don't know is when nature calls, you go

They say that Jesus and mental health
Are just for those who can help themselves
But what good is that when you live in hell on earth?

From the very fear that makes you want to die
Is just the same as what keeps you alive
It's way more trouble than some suicide is worth

Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves
Of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company

Won't it be odd to be happy like we
Always thought we're supposed to feel
But never seem to be

Hard to admit I fought the war on drugs
My hands were tied and the phone was bugged
Another died and the world just shrugged it off

I don't mind where you come from,
as long as you come to me.
But I don't like illusions I can't see
them clearly.
I don't care though I wouldn't dare
to fix the twist in you.
You've shown me eventually what you'll do.
I don't mind.
I don't care.
As long as you're here.



This video tells the story of "Juan Mann" (not his real name, from what I can tell) who started a campaign in Sydney to give out hugs. He ended up being banned from giving out hugs in a public place and had to start collecting signatures in order to be allowed to start again.

Yes, this appears to be true. I found an article about him in the Sydney Morning Herald and I found a discussion thread started by his fiance on a Star Wars fan site (O_o ?!) that seems to validate the story.

In any event, I've watched this video more times than I can count since I discovered it yesterday and I love it! I want to make a bunch of signs, grab a couple of friends and go down to the Inner Harbor or maybe the Washington Mall! This is how the world should be!

I've started hearing "ads" on one of the local NPR stations for the Eddie From Ohio concert on August 17th at Wolf Trap.

Guess who's got tickets?

Woooo Hoooo!

Now if the random factors just align correctly ....

Lookie what LJ lets you do now! Video embeds from YouTube or Photobucket! Woo Hoo!

And yes, that's really Stevie Wonder gettin' funky for nearly seven minutes on Sesame Street back in the '70s. (I wonder what "Balcony Girl" is doing these days? She looks pretty funky herself!)


video credit: ShuckOwens

I heard this on Traditions tonight. I've heard it before, but I never took the time to look up the words before. Maybe I should make this one my theme song ... nah. Wouldn't work...

I've never killed a man. =grin=

I WAS RIGHT, I WAS WRONG

When first I saw Portland I questioned my eyes
I was awed by the lights and a-mazed at the size,
Then a feeling of dread dropped out of the blue,
As it often does when I see something new;
I was quite overcome with suspicion and fear,
So I stopped at a pub and I asked for a beer,
I must have been mad to go in there alone,
I was up to no good and I should have gone home.

Chorus:
I was right, I was wrong all a-long,
I was right, I was wrong all a-long;
I was wrong all a-long, and I knew I was wrong,
I was right, I was wrong all a-long.

The back room was full of cigar smoking gents,
And against my best judgment it's back there I went;
They offered me whiskey which I never touch,
And I frequently told them "Don't pour me too much."
It was not what I wanted and not what I planned,
But the next thing you know, there were cards in my hand;
And like many a time, though I 've often resolved
To never play cards when there's money involved...

(Chorus)

Well, first I lost silver and then I lost gold,
And then I lost consciousness so I was told;
And when I awoke things had gone quite amiss,
I always had known it would end up like this;
There was blood and a body and bottles galore,
Lying right next to me there on the floor;
I said, "Constable, please, I'm an innocent man!"
As he pulled the revolver from out of me hand...

(Chorus)

The judge banged his gavel and asked, "What's your plea?"
I said, "Someone killed him but surely not me."
There was no way in hell, I was out like a light,
Though I talk in my sleep, I doubt I could fight;
The jurors left the court room at the drop of a hat,
They returned with their verdict in ten minutes flat;
I was sentenced to hang by this jury of peers,
And so I've been dead for a good hundred years...

(Chorus)

Will virtue bear fruit? You can never be sure,
Even if watered and plied with manure;
You've no hope to harvest the things that you plant,
But keep right on trying, and prove that you can't;
It's a minimal effort you need to exert,
Knowing that soon you'll be covered in dirt;
Be certain of failure and lose every fight,
And some day like me you'll be proud you was right...

(Chorus)

Tonight at work, the self-checkout lanes decided to go on strike — at least as far as cash handling goes. Specifically, two out of the self-checkout lanes wouldn't give back any change. They printed out receipts saying to go to the Front End manager to get the change owed.

Guess who was training as Front End manager? = sigh = It wasn't really all that bad. Still, it coulda been better!

In honor of technology that was supposed to be better....

( IGY )

NAPEAGUE, New York (AP) -- A boat captain who sent a message out to sea in a bottle says he received a reply from Britain -- accusing him of littering.

"I kind of felt like no good deed goes unpunished," Harvey Bennett, 55, told the East Hampton Star.

The plastic bottle was one of five that Bennett placed in the ocean off New York's Long Island in August.

Last month, he excitedly opened a letter from England, and was stunned by the reply:

"I recently found your bottle while taking a scenic walk on the beach by Poole Harbour. While you may consider this some profound experiment on the path and speed" of "oceanic currents, I have another name for it, litter.

"You Americans don't seem to be happy unless you are mucking about somewhere," says the letter, signed by Henry Biggelsworth of Bournemouth, in the southern county of Dorset.

That's not the kind of answer one's supposed to get to a message in a bottle!

( This is.... )

I was listening to the radio earlier today (oooooh — big surprise!) and found nothing but crap on my usual NPR/BBC/PRI haunts. So, I actually tuned to an oldies station. Musta been a slow music day, because they actually played Magic Power by Triumph.

I doubt that any of the 2.3 people that actually read my journal have even heard of Triumph, although Magic Power did get some brief radio play back in the day. Personally, I loved it. It had a lot of what I've come to understand makes the type of music that I connect with. I loved the sense of "motion" in the music. I loved that while the words were certainly not the most "meaningful" in the canon of rock, there was meaning there. I've always been drawn to "message" music, whether the message was external (political) or internal (emotional or "spiritual").

I loved the song enough that the Triumph "Allied Forces" tour was the very first rock concert I ever went to see.

Now, you have to understand that even though I liked (and still do) the screaming guitar metal music of bands like Triumph, I most definitely did not fit the stereotypical metal-head profile. My hair wasn't very long — no longer than it is now (though there was a bit more of it!) — I had never smoked anything, legal or not, and I was living in a fundamentalist Christian men's "communal house" just off the campus of the University of Evansville.

Heck, I didn't even own a lighter to flick at the concert!

But I went. My housemates prayed for my soul (seriously ... apparently not hard enough, though!) and tried to convince me not to go. To their credit, they did believe in what Christianity taught enough to accept that it was up to me and God (who I think prefers Metallica) to decide if I should go. In fact, they felt that maybe I was supposed to go! Perhaps there was someone there that I was "supposed" to save — or at least plant the seed.

There wasn't.

What there was was a lot of good music. And a little magic power.
( Magic Power )

Beautiful Fool
Don Henry

Martin Luther who did you think that you were?
Appointed by some higher up
Merely mortal, your plans were unaffordable
No one wants to pay for love

CHORUS
Oh you beautiful fool
Swimmin up stream, kickin' up waves
Dreams weren't meant to come true
That's why they call 'em dreams
Oh you beautiful fool

Walter Cronkite pre-empted Disney one night
And all us kids were so upset
We thought that you were a trouble instigator
Marchin' through our T.V. set
(chorus)

BRIDGE
To fight a fight without a fist all human instinct puzzles this
How dare you threaten our existence
Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, history repeats itself so nice
Consistently we are resistant to love

I saw you on the black and white
With Blacks and Whites applauding you
I saw you on another time
Without a sign of life in you
(chorus)

" What's our oil gold doing under their sand mountain?"
Yeah, I know this song is "old" and "cliché". But I happened to listen to it today and thought about it in terms of "recent events" ... suddenly, it's not so trite anymore.

You don't need the music for this one. You know how it goes ....
( Read more... )

Now this is what I've been looking for!

I find these songs that I really, really want to share with other people, but thanks to the RIAA, there isn't any good way to do that! Because, the lawyers artists have to get paid. Well, if they'd let me share the music with other people then they might actually sell more than one copy!

</rant mode>

Well, I found ONE instance where I can actually do what I want! I can post lyrics here and a link to the actual song! sunnydale47's been talking about this book she's been reading -- Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit -- and I thought if she liked that book, she'd really like this song:

Toe To Toe With The HMO by the Four Bitchin' Babes -- (note: This will launch your default mp3 player. Make sure you have the sound turned on ... if you wanna hear anything, that is.)

For lyrics, please click below and remain patient. Remember, your click is important to us!

( Read more... )

This one's for woofiegrrl and any other squirrel lovers out there. Well...squirrel lovers that can look past the muzzle piercings and blue-dyed tufts of fur and see the "inner rodent". Of course, I'm talking about the new punk band that's taking the UK by storm -- The Nutz! They have their own website complete with the music video of their hit single "Squirrel Power"!

But wait! There's more!

Like any good band site, there's bio's of band members (I think I have a crush on Squizzy -- yeah, I know, she's only 9 years old, but since the oldest known "wild" squirrel only lived to be 12 1/2, I can't wait too long, 'cause Squizzy looks pretty wild to me!), plus some pretty good "bootleg video" of their early days.

Trust me, these rodents are definitely climbing up the charts. They even landed a spot as the backing band on "London Calling"! I don't understand British politics, but it doesn't really matter, 'cause Squizzy gets a good bass solo!

(I think I need to get out more!)

Pete Townshend Shushes iPod
The Who’s guitarist warns excessive headphone use with iPods and other digital music players could lead to hearing loss.

Sixty-year-old guitar legend Pete Townshend, whose band crooned they hoped they died before they got old, is warning younger generations that too much iPod use could damage their hearing.
( Read more... )

First, Google writes into their corporate philosophy "6. You can make money without doing evil." Armed with this philosophy, Google creates a product that is easy to use and works as intended. Result? Google ends up making money faster than they can shovel it.

Now comes Magnatune. They don't bury their philosophy in their corporate info. It's right there on the home page, top left corner:



Sound familiar? If so, it might be time to break out the money shovels.

The Magnatune home page explains that they're a record company (but not an evil one!) that will actually let you hear the entire song before you buy it. Now, being older than dirt, I remember (at least as well as I remember anything, these days) being able to go into a "record store" and ask to hear a record ... and they would let you! I even remember having a music store owner unwrap a record, just to play it for me! Magnatune is taking us back to those simpler times.

But wait, it gets better.

Poke around on the Magnatune site and you'll find a little explanation of what they sell:

• Downloadable albums at a low price: $5 to $18: buyer determines the exact price. (emphasis added)

In a word ... wow.

Oh, and I almost forgot. You can give away up to three copies of the music you download to your friends. Legally. No lawsuits. No RIAA coming down like the Four Lawyers of the Apocalypse on some unsuspecting soccer mom because Billy and Mandy have been downloading death metal instead of doing their homework.

So, let's summarize ... Magnatune lets you listen before you buy, pay what you think is a fair price, and turn your friends on to great music that you find.

Gee ... it kinda makes one feel ... human.

Now the downside; hopefully a temporary one. Magnatune has as of (Jan 03, 2006) a grand total of 428 complete albums.

Not exactly iTunes, is it?

But Magnatune is young. Magnatune is new. Magnatune will send you 20 (or more, if you have a good reason -- like you are a VP at Rolling Stone) recruiting cards to give out to your friends. (Now if I only had 20 friends!)

Magnatune looks like what the Internet was supposed to be. Open. Enabling. And human.

http://eclectech.co.uk/2006happynewyear.php

And finally, a song about PENGUINS!!! It's about time!
http://eclectech.co.uk/penguinsong.php

Sometimes, nothing but a "cowboy song" will do.
(emphasis added)

ONE GOOD YEAR (Cleaves/Brooks)

It’s New Years Day just like the day before
Same old skies of grey, same empty bottles on the floor
Another year's gone by, and I was thinking once again
How can I take this losing hand and somehow win?

Chorus

Just give me One Good Year. To get my feet back on the ground
I’ve been chasing grace. Grace ain’t so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man, chase him and carry him down
I’ve got to get out of here, just give me One Good Year

I’m burning oil, engine’s running rough
I drive from job to job, but it’s never enough
I can’t find the will to just up and get away
Some kind of chain is holding me down and making me stay

Chorus

Just give me One Good Year. To get my feet back on the ground
I’ve been chasing grace. Grace ain’t so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man, chase him and carry him down
I’ve got to get out of here, just give me One Good Year

Bridge

It’s a bitter wind in your face every day
It’s the little sins that wear your soul away
When you start giving in, where do the promises all go
Will your darkest hour write a blank check on your soul?

It’s New Years Day just like the day before
Same old skies of grey, same empty bottles on the floor
Another year's gone by, and I was thinking once again
How can I take this losing hand and somehow win?

Chorus

Just give me One Good Year. To get my feet back on the ground
I’ve been chasing grace. Grace ain’t so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man, chase him and carry him down
I’ve got to get out of here, just give me One Good Year

Happy New Year
No more champagne
and the fireworks are through
here we are, me and you
feeling lost and feeling blue
it’s the end of the party
and the morning seems so grey
so unlike yesterday
now’s the time for us to say

Happy new year
happy new year
may we all
have a vision
now and then
of a world where
every neighbour is a friend
happy new year
happy new year
may we all
have our hopes
our will to try
if we don’t
we might as well
lay down and die
you and I

Sometimes I see
how the brave new world arrives
and I see how it thrives
in the ashes of our lives
oh yes, man is a fool
and he thinks he’ll be okay
dragging on feet of clay
never knowing he’s astray
keeps on going anyway

Happy new year
happy new year
may we all
have a vision
now and then
of a world where
every neighbour is a friend
happy new year
happy new year
may we all
have our hopes
our will to try
if we don’t
we might as well
lay down and die
you and I

Seems to me now
that the dreams we had before
are all dead, nothing more
than confetti on the floor
it’s the end of a decade
in another ten years time
who can say what we’ll find
what lies waiting down the line
in the end of eighty-nine

Happy new year
happy new year
may we all
have a vision
now and then
of a world where
every neighbour is a friend
happy new year
happy new year
may we all
have our hopes
our will to try
if we don’t
we might as well
lay down and die
you and I

© Copyright 1980 for the world by Universal/Union Songs AB, Stockholm, Sweden. All rights reserved