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ordinary pop songs and why they're great.
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Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Ah of course there should always be things to mark the time and make one cringe at a later date and so to the most recent thing I like - "When I'm Alone" by Lissie. Weirdly takes you in with the simple little guitar riff (what else relies on that? loads of things I'm sure) then you realise it'd be nothing without the equally insistent bassline. While you're thinking all that, the chorus hits you over the head, so catchy and radio-perfect it's bordering on impudent!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i7jNwv_3oc&feature=related
Post script .... I've found the real special thing in this one, the bit you wait for. It's the fact that, following the middle section (well the quiet section anyway), at 2:50, she very brings the chorus back (via the backing vox) kind of half a phrase too soon. You just have to skip at that point. It's joining the ranks of incredibly good "bring the beat back" moments. Rah!!!!
And before that it was a song that actually fits the bill for this blog. "Russian Roulette" by Rihanna. Fits the bill as in I think, rightly or wrongly, most people would have thought it was a bit of latter-day indistinguishable shite. But it transcends brilliance to me. It has every ounce of perfect wrung out of it. Never mind umber-ella-ella, she can actually sing and phrase and ... then there's the little bit of harmonising in the chorus. This, musically, is a gospel song. Take away the instrumentation, forget it's Rihanna - oh it's lovely. It doesn't half feel good to sing it everso everso loudly in the car too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ2nCGawrSY
posted by jessaka at Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Monday, July 05, 2010
Welcome back to the oldest posts - over 7 (count 'em) years ago!! Gawd bless bloody Foreigner eh?
In the absence of the ol' record playing equipment such as I had handy back then, I realised I've lost touch with all those original best friends that were my records so I can't pick one out of the ether to wax lyrical over. They will rise again but until then I find myself thinking in themes. So ......
The knotty issue of "favourite song". This is a concept that you realise at some point is patently ridiculous, but I used to like it when I tried very hard to adopt one, or two or - indeed - three. And these were they:-
When I Was A Young Girl by Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger/The Trinity. The first and probably most credible. 1968 album, Streetnoise, Marmalade label and all that. Borrowed with glee and anticipation from the record library. Zipped through each track in a cavalier fashion until the lyrics to this one stopped me in my tracks. The nearest I ever got (despite a fuck of a lot of trying) to understanding the blues. And this isn't it by a long shot (but I really don't like Nina's original). You simply cannot follow this song, it's way way too powerful. Ditto "Use Me" by Teardrop Explodes.
Tell Me What He Said by Helen Shapiro. This became a favourite by virtue of sheer elusiveness. I hunted high, low, near, far for this having heard it on the divine Jimmy Savile Sunday oldies show which was my total lifeblood and source of fine things. It just bops along a treat, terrific arrangement and - scariest of all - I just KNEW it was a Norrie Paramor job. Whatever happened to names like that eh? This does actually have a bit of "and why it's great" about it but it's a tough one to put into words.
and finally,
Nobody Does It Better by Carly Simon. This is almost nothing to do with the song (save for it's a very pure, perfect and singable melody line) and everything to do with the context. My response to that vexed question - what were you doing when Elvis died would be that I was listening to this in a holiday flat in the New Forest realising that the TV was about to be swamped with godawful films from the - ahem - King and that the scheduled Arena programme on lesser British beat groups of the 60s (which I had been anticipating with glee since the Radio Times had arrived the previous week) was undoubtedly now going to be sacrificed. Joy of joys, it wasn't!! And what's more when this song came on the radio that day, just for once they played it to the very end - oh how I lived for that "sweetness, you're the best" ending. And I shall remain loyal to this one for the rest of my days.
Favourite songs, what nonsense!
posted by jessaka at Monday, July 05, 2010
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Now this is an odd theme but I've had the first of these songs on my mind for ages and just downloaded it. Dagnammit and wouldncha know it, it made me cry!! Like real unstoppable tears and totally unbidden - there it is, what music can do. So... for posterity, the songs that never fail to tip me into the saline abyss:-
My Heart Belongs To Me by Barbra Streisand. Lyrically surely a close relation of "It's Too Late" by Carol King, but the latter doesn't get you "right there" in the same way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VxyTQnDfDk
Castles In The Air by Don McLean. Not even a memorable song but I can vouch for its existence on 7 inches of vinyl as I bought it. Only then did I realise it made me really sad.
Live to Tell by Madonna. Ah the middle section - the lyrics, "If I ran away, I'd never have the strength to go very far..." etc.
Being Boring by Pet Shop Boys. This is the biggie, the one that speaks to the inner dread, it's like the soundtrack to a picture that always kind of scared me of an old lady in, funnily enough, an old Ladybird book. Some place of total loneliness that I knew in my heart when I was really rather too young for such angst. Really truly the saddest lyric tucked inside a pop song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMJijbj_zMY Labels: sad
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