Saturday, August 06, 2005
Danny Says
What? I didn't say I'd be posting every morning, noon and night. So get offa my back already!
Last night's viewing of the great Ramones documentary, End of the Century (buy it/rent it), inspired today's post. Sure everyone knows "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)" but on 1980's End of the Century album (buy it), there's a song buried in there about being on tour in the winter, away from loved ones; a real good, melancholy track.
Danny Says
I love that line about being in LA: "It ain't Christmas if there ain't no snow."
Last night's viewing of the great Ramones documentary, End of the Century (buy it/rent it), inspired today's post. Sure everyone knows "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)" but on 1980's End of the Century album (buy it), there's a song buried in there about being on tour in the winter, away from loved ones; a real good, melancholy track.
Danny Says
I love that line about being in LA: "It ain't Christmas if there ain't no snow."
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Joy to U.C. (Berkeley, That Is)
Here's an interesting archival item. In December of 1964, the U.C. Berkeley Free Speech Movement released a 7" EP of traditional Christmas carols with the lyrics changed to relate to their situation. From what little I could discover on the web, it may or may not have been credited to "Joe LaPenta, Barry Jablon, Dustin Miller, Ken Sanderson and friends." According to this site (scroll to the Dec. 9th entry at the bottom), they sold 4500 copies in two days (no word as to the total number of records pressed). It had a picture sleeve and came with a lyric sheet; if anyone can hook me up with scans, that would be amazing.
Fortunately the library at U.C. Berkeley has streaming audio of the complete record. I've taken that, split the tracks up and converted them to mp3s--all for your listening pleasure.
Joy to U.C. [10MB zip file]
The track listing :
Oski Dolls [Jingle Bells] / We Three Deans [We Three Kings] / U.C. Administration [O, Little Town of Bethlehem] / Hail to IBM [Ode to Joy] / It Belongs to the University [The Twelve Days of Christmas] / Silent Night / Call Out the Deans [Carol of the Bells] / Masters of Sproul Hall [*] / God Rest Ye Free Speech Movementniks [God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen] / O Come All Ye Mindless [O Come All Ye Faithful] / Joy to U.C. [Joy to the World]
* - can't quite place this one, though it is not, as one site claims, a parody of "Masters of War." If you know it, please leave a comment. Thanks!
edit: The King of Jingaling has pegged it! It's "Masters in This Hall." Well done, King; I can't say I'm surprised, though ; )
Fortunately the library at U.C. Berkeley has streaming audio of the complete record. I've taken that, split the tracks up and converted them to mp3s--all for your listening pleasure.
Joy to U.C. [10MB zip file]
The track listing :
Oski Dolls [Jingle Bells] / We Three Deans [We Three Kings] / U.C. Administration [O, Little Town of Bethlehem] / Hail to IBM [Ode to Joy] / It Belongs to the University [The Twelve Days of Christmas] / Silent Night / Call Out the Deans [Carol of the Bells] / Masters of Sproul Hall [*] / God Rest Ye Free Speech Movementniks [God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen] / O Come All Ye Mindless [O Come All Ye Faithful] / Joy to U.C. [Joy to the World]
* - can't quite place this one, though it is not, as one site claims, a parody of "Masters of War." If you know it, please leave a comment. Thanks!
edit: The King of Jingaling has pegged it! It's "Masters in This Hall." Well done, King; I can't say I'm surprised, though ; )
Sleighride to Heck
Today's noon post features another New Englander. James Kochalka may be better known for the comics that he produces (buy some) than the music he releases under the name James Kochalka Superstar; both are lots of fun. His newest album, Our Most Beloved (buy it), is a collection of tracks that have been previously released. There are old favorites like "Magic Finger" ("It's my dink, it's my dink / It's a magic finger / Pointing at all the pretty girls"), "Monkey vs. Robot" and "Put Down the Gun" ("Put down the gun Kurt Cobain / Don't blow out your brain"). I'm not sure where the song I'm posting is from originally, this is the first place I've seen it. I guess it was originally done in 1992 with his old band, Jazzin' Hell but it sounds like it probably was re-recorded.
Sleighride to Heck
Some of the best abuse of Auto-Tune since the "Trendy American remix" of the White Stripes' "Pretty Good Looking."
Sleighride to Heck
Some of the best abuse of Auto-Tune since the "Trendy American remix" of the White Stripes' "Pretty Good Looking."
I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas
In order to make up for slacking 'round these parts, I'll be posting morning, noon and night in an effort to assuage my feelings of guilt. Here's a nice new track that may have slipped by some of you. It's from Aimee Mann's most recent album, The Forgotten Arm (buy it). It's a <sarcasm>happy little number</sarcasm> about a junkie who's talking (as most junkies are wont to do) about getting off the stuff.
I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas
It's probably unneccessary for me to point this out but in case you're not familiar with Ms. Mann, she used to be in the '80s band 'Til Tuesday. Useless trivia: long ago she used to work for the company that I currently work for--FACT.
I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas
It's probably unneccessary for me to point this out but in case you're not familiar with Ms. Mann, she used to be in the '80s band 'Til Tuesday. Useless trivia: long ago she used to work for the company that I currently work for--FACT.
