It’s been Budget week this week, so the Music Monday theme is of course: Money!
‘Music Monday’ is where I pick a theme based on current events either in the news or in my life, or failing that by clicking on ‘Random article’ in Wikipedia. I then pick a few songs based around that theme, with varying degrees of relevance, & post them here.
So to start: maybe… a song about Money? OK then:
Team9: The Money Song
Next up, you could say that this great 2010 R&B track sums up the Western economy of recent years in 1 phrase; maybe that’s partly why it was such a big worldwide hit:
Aloe Blacc: I Need a Dollar
Also: I’m pretty sure I used to work with the guy playing bass in this clip! At the time he was playing bass in a Brighton band called Alaska. He was a cool guy (pun intended). But he really was.
Meanwhile back in the ’80s Donna Summer was highlighting the hard life of single Mums working in low-paying long-hours jobs, where life is just 1 big struggle, sadly still relevant today:
Donna Summer: She Works Hard for the Money
And her solution? Join a Flashmob? OK, right. Moving on…
I have to shoehorn this next clip in here, not just because it’s on theme but really because it’s just utterly brilliant, an excerpt from the TV series “Extras”, featuring ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Kate Bush
That never fails to move me: so sad & so hauntingly beautiful; not to mention really well acted.
So, solutions? Well here’s a possible solution to personal overspending, from USA rockers Les Savy Fav:
Les Savy Fav: Scotchguard the Credit Card
And finally, a slightly more radical economic measure from the ever-lively Steven Tyler & co.:
Aerosmith: Eat the Rich
You never know: that one may already be pencilled into Ed Balls’ proposed first Budget…
Two of the main news stories this week have been Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to the USA to meet President Barack Obama, & the continuing controversy in both countries over the legalisation of same-sex marriages.
Here in the UK & it seems across the pond as well the gay marriage debate has greatly polarised opinion; largely liberal & humanist vs traditionalist & religious. Almost like “when two tribes go to war”:
One side says “it’s only fair”, the other says:
‘Meanwhile back on the basketball court’ there are a number of people – mostly, I believe, from amongst the right-wing ‘Tea Party’ movement – who are convinced that their President wasn’t actually even:
while in “America is Not the World” Morrissey sang of his adopted home: “where the President is never black, female or gay, and until that day, you’ve got nothing to say to me”. I wonder if he’s listening now?
I guess ultimately not only the PM & the President but also allies, friends & couples everywhere & of every kind often conclude that:
But I couldn’t finish a music post about the USA & relationships with anything but this; beautifully evocative, both musically & lyrically, it’s a 4-minute masterpiece:
“Kathy, I’m lost” I said, ‘though I knew she was sleeping “I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why…” Counting the cars on the New Jersey turnpike They’ve all gone to look for America
One of the things you lovely people out there in the blogosphere & the twitterverse may have noticed is that something I sometimes eloquently articulate upon bang on about with insightful profundity monotonous regularity is music, my love of it, how I listen to it a lot, how my iPod Touch is now up to (just a sec…) 8,735 tracks so far, & how I should have been a singer in a rock’n'roll band. I even have a twitter account specifically for tweeting what I’m playing on my iPod, via YouTube. At least I don’t drunkenly tweet random lyrics late at night anymore as much as I used to…
So it makes sense for me to feature music in my blog. With the sad demise of Musodad’s blog I feel moved to blatantly take advantage try to pick up where he left off & do a post where I put up a few songs that have recently taken my fancy for one reason or another & write some words about them.
And… some may also have heard me mention that it’s Jallie’s 2nd Birthday today (yay!). So that gives me an obvious theme then for my first, & possibly last:
Warning: may contain traces of soppiness. I’ll try to add a little sarcasm & some bad jokes where appropriate.
Altered Images: Happy Birthday
An obvious place to start: it was either this or the Bjork-lead Sugarcubes’ “Birthday”. Altered Images’ lead singer was the scrumptious Clare Grogan: not only Gregory’s Girl, the object of Dave Lister‘s unrequited love (& the true Kochanski), but also the scourge of Craggy Island & Father Ted when she turned up there to tell him & the boys a thing or 2. So I’ll take her over Bjork any day! Also: Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” is a bit rubbish. And I don’t care if it’s about Martin Luther King.
U2: Two Hearts (Beat As One)
Say what you like about U2 & Bono, & most of us do, this is just a great rock song; from the pre-Joshua Tree “War” album. You know what I think of now when I hear this? Jake & Ellie inside their Mummy, entwined together, separate yet one, apart but together now & always, like two hearts that beat as one.
There ya go: soppiness, with rock’n'roll!
Steve Miller Band: The Joker
This was Jake’s early theme song. Yes, we give our children theme songs: doesn’t everyone? From a very early age he’s exhibited a terrific sense of humour, getting & making jokes long before we’d have thought a young child would. OK, some of the lyrics aren’t appropriate: if I find he’s a smoker or a midnight toker I may have to have words. And I don’t know what the “pompitous of love” is but I’m pretty sure I disapprove. But it’s a good song.
Elton John: Tiny Dancer
I adore this song: Elton John at his very best. It’s almost worth watching the film “Almost Famous”, about the ’70s music scene, just for the Tiny Dancer sequence. Shows the ’70s wasn’t just prog, punk & disco!
My Tiny Dancer, of course, is Ellie. This was my early theme song for her. She’s loved to dance virtually since she could stand, & has been much better at it than her Dad for at least that time. She’s always sung beautifully too.
I also used to jig her about to this, substituting in “Ellie!” & lifting her high up in the air at the appropriate moment. She loved it! Then she’d usually throw up all over me. Happy Days.
Bob Dylan: Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
Jake’s current theme song: “Come on the juice, come on the cake: you’ll not see nothin’ like the mighty Jake”. He has a great sense of humour; it’s sometimes a mystery where he gets it from…
Donovan: Mellow Yellow
Ellie’s current theme song: “They call her ‘Ellie-belly’ “…
I’m starting to think that the quality of the songs we choose for our children may be on the wane…
Beyoncé: Halo
From the ridiculous to…
Beyoncé: a bona-fide Superstar, supremely talented, ravishingly beautiful, jaw-droppingly sexy: you name it, she’s got it. And this song is just epic, beautiful & moving. Her music was playing in the operating theatre during their birth, & I’m pretty sure ‘Halo’ was playing as they were delivered into the world. I even gave it its own little post.
I can’t now listen to this already beautiful song without being profoundly moved. It’s Their Song. It always takes me back to those mad, magical moments when they came into the world & into our lives. They were so wanted for so long, & it took so many tears & trials before they finally became a part of us. When they did ‘it was like we’d been awakened’: “Baby, I can see your halo: you know you’re my saving grace”.
Happy Birthday, Jake & Ellie. We love you.
I warned you that there might be soppiness! I can’t think of any sarcasm or bad jokes at this point, sorry. Maybe next week…
