Time travel

I don't think time travel is possible. I think that the past does not exist once each moment is gone. At each moment there are essentially infine possible futures all containing that moment as their past. As each time interval ticks by, one of those possible futures becomes the present and access to the previous moment and anything before that is gone forever.

Violence

Our aide Min's favorite country song is El Paso, the 1959 Marty Robbins song. The chords are pretty simple. Classic western story, sad and violent.
El Paso - Marty Robbins

Country Roads - John Denver

John Denver was huge in the 70s when I was growing up. This is one of my favorites from among his many hits. Deceptively simple song. The bridge (C part) makes the song. It just sticks in one more chord in addition to the 1 4 5 constructions that make up the rest of the song.
Country Roads - John Denver

Camphor - The Fixx

I've always had an affinity for this deep cut from the Fixx's 1986 album Walkabout. I used to take afternoon naps listening to this album. Camphor is the last track. It seems to exactly correspond to the feeling of waking up gradually from a comfortable rest.

A 1979 pop gem

It was massively overplayed, but I've always loved Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes. Clean, downtempo, rhythm section hook that drives the verse. Big vocal hook that picks that up in the chorus. Fun story and surprise in the lyrics. Really the perfect pop song.

New songs learned

"Everywhere I Go" a Nick Jr. kids song, "Country Roads" by John Denver, and I'm Walking the Floor Over You" by Ernest Tubb, which IIRC was depicted in the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter".

Cowboy songs so far

There are a lot of songs known as cowboy songs. So far, I know the chords to Home on the Range, My Darling Clementine, Red River Valley, and Ghost Riders in the Sky. Memorizing the lyrics, however, is going to take some time. Next on the radar are El Paso, Back in the Saddle, and Jingle Jangle. These songs tend to have simple structures with just a few chords and have melancholy or even morbidly sad lyrics.

1979

Check out a top 100 singles chart from 1979 and among the many crosscurrents of pop going on at the time you'll find this:
Are Friends Electric? by Gary Numan's band Tubeway Army. Numan could, unembellished, play a humanoid species other than our own in a SF movie. His voice and the cold delivery are clearly pointing to a post-human, yet still romantic, future. Under the tightly orchestrated synthesizers is hard, driving, rock. This is hybrid music from a rich time of hybridization and experimentation.

Gig on Friday

I'll be playing a sing along on me uke at Ru-Jun's day care on Friday. I've been learning and practicing kids and Christmas songs at home most evenings the last month with Ru-Jun singins and dancing along. Teally fun and is helping me to de-stress.
Here is a partial list of the kids songs that I've picked up:
Ive been working on the railroad
My Bonny
Twinkle Twinkle
ABCs
BINGO
the Hokie Pokie
Camptown Races
Yankee Doodle
Puff the Magic Dragon
Oh Susanna
Pop goes the Weasle
You are my Sunshine
The Old Gray Mare
When the Saints Go Marching In
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Itsy Bitsy Spider

Camouflage - Stan Ridgeway

There are probably hundreds of rock songs that bear the strong influence of Ghost Riders in the Sky but one of my favorites is the absolutely brilliant Camouflage by Stan Ridgeway.

Cowboy songs

So far I've learned Clementine, Home on the Range, Red River Valley, and Ghost Riders in the Sky, which might just be the coolest song ever.

Baritone ukulele tuning

Since I am not a guitar player, but i do have some experience with four string bass guitar, I decided to tune the uke in fourths like a bass. So the tuning is C F Bb Eb. This is very unconventional. I could not find any mentions online of this tuning with this instrument although I did see that people like to experiment with different tunings on ukes. I like the fourths tuning even though I have to move up and down the neck a lot for 1-4 and 1-5 changes. I picked up the chords for about 15 holday songs and I have about the same number of childrens' and folk songs, with more on the way. At some point I'll post a list. This has been very fun.

Straight Into Darkness - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Straight Into Darkness Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
No one fused keyboards and guitars in the late 70s/early 80s better than Tom Petty. This song and the Long After Dark album have long been my favorites of his.

The Multiverse

This seems like an intuitive idea. I bet that 100s of people originated it in one form or another and never promoted it as an original idea. It also seems pretty damn untestable, so i.e. not science.

Christine McVie

I've always liked Christine McVie's vocals. Low and smoky in an entirely different way than Stevie Nicks. Her solo work is underrated,
Got a Hold On Me - Christine McVie

Gold- John Stewart

Always live to revisit this late 70s hit that was not spoiled by its massive radio overplay. Probably Stewart's strongest rock effort, having long been established in folk. Intersects with the Fleetwood Mac axis with Stevie Nicks on backing vocals. Great use of the major -relative minor dyad. Nice keyboard line and simple instrumentation.
Gold - John Stewart

Baritone ukulele

I bought myself one of these and tuned it in 4ths like a bass (because I have bass but not 6 string guitar experience) and have been teaching myself how to play chords to accompany singing. Mostly holiday and kids sons so far. Very fun. Mine has a very rich, guitar- like sound. (sorry couldn't post a picture from the web using the iphone app)

I'm Back

Well, Old Grimy lives in Texas now. He did a good job on the blog in 2008 but neither of us had time between then and now to keep it up. No more. I'm back to talk about songs. There is other stuff in my life (mostly good, some bad) but that is for elsewhere. Here is an amazing song (Magnet and Steel by Walter Egan; in case the link below doesn't imbed) from the 70s, which until I looked up its info on Wikipedia I didn't know Stevie Nicks sung backup on (yet another plus for the song). It's a downtempo ballad with echos of Motown in the chorus, but the chord progression (simple involving mostly a minor and the 4 and 5 chords of its relative major) is what makes this song. And the driving, but slowish, tempo. And the incredible sweetness of the chorus. Enjoy.

Magnet and Steel - Walter Egan

Ultravox LCD Sounsystem Bowie

A buncha live videos. No theme. Just stream of consciousness connections...

This video is pretty special. So much synth. Ultravox - The Thin Wall



Vocals and synth-laden sounds remind me of... LCD Soundsystem, "Get Innocuous"



Granpa Bowie strikes my mind again with "Golden Years" too, I think. Goddam what fanaticism.

The Killing Moon, Stars, and the Sunder the Milky Way

A cosmic medley of songs.

The Killing Moon, Echo and the Bunny Men (1984). This song has been covered quite nicely by both Nouvelle Vague and Pavement.




Instant Karma!, John Lennon, (1970). Phil Spector produced and isn't it nice to see Yoko crocheting blindly?


Under the Milky Way, The Church (1988). Australians know how to do some cosmic music, huh? make sure to listen for the EBow solo at 2:22... and is that an eye in the egg? ewww.