Tag Archives: music

song of the week 11: abcdefu

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“ABCDEFU” by Gayle

  • Genre: Pop Rock/Pop Punk
  • Single Release Date: August 2021
  • EP: “A Study of the Human Experience Volume One”

This has been released for quite some time now but for some reason I’m only hearing it recently. It must have just hit the Irish charts though as it’s on a lot. When you read or listen to the lyrics it won’t be a surprise that there is an alternative radio version!

I simply love the anger in this song and it starts from the very first word. So many breakup songs are moany, winging, sad pieces of drivel but this just says it as it is…

Fuck you and your mom and your sister and your job…

She’s going for the full on Rock and Roll chick too. She intentionally broke her middle finger in March 2021 and the hospital x-ray image is used as the cover art for the EP.

Lyrics

Fuck you and your mom and your sister and your job
And your broke-ass car and that shit you call art
Fuck you and your friends that I’ll never see again
Everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off

I swear I meant to mean the best when it ended
Even tried to bite my tongue when you start shit
Now you’re textin’ all my friends asking questions
They never even liked you in the first place
Dated a girl that I hate for the attention
She only made it two days, what a connection
It’s like you’d do anything for my affection
You’re goin’ all about it in the worst ways

I was into you, but I’m over it now
And I was tryin’ to be nice
But nothing’s getting through, so let me spell it out

A-B-C-D-E, F-U
And your mom and your sister and your job
And your broke-ass car and that shit you call art
Fuck you and your friends that I’ll never see again
Everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah
A-B-C-D-E, F-U

You said you just needed space and so I gave it
When I had nothin’ to say you couldn’t take it
Told everyone I’m a bitch, so I became it
Always had to put yourself above me

I was into you, but I’m over it now
And I was tryin’ to be nice
But nothing’s getting through, so let me spell it out

A-B-C-D-E, F-U
And your mom and your sister and your job
And your craigslist couch and the way your voice sounds
Fuck you and your friends that I’ll never see again
Everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off

Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah
A-B-C-D-E, F-U
Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah
A-B-C-D-E, F-U

And your mom and your sister and your job
And your broke-ass car and that shit you call art
Fuck you and your friends that I’ll never see again
Everybody but your dog, you can all fuck off

Header image from 8Tracks.com

what a difference a day makes…

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Just in case that’s not enough to implant an earworm have a listen to this….

The lyrics are also very appropriate for what I want to write about:

What a difference a day makes
24 little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain


My yesterday was blue, dear
Today I’m a part of you, dear
My lonely nights are through, dear
Since you said you were mine


What a difference a day makes
There’s a rainbow before me
Skies above can’t be stormy
Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss
It’s heaven when you find romance on your menu
What a difference a day made
And the difference is you

Out for a walk in one of the local forests this evening I was ruminating on how fickle mental health really is and how little it takes to swing it up or down.

I had a busy schedule yesterday that started at 9:30am with a trip to the nurse to have bloods taken followed by the dentist at 10:30am. I was in reasonably good form getting up and heading out, the weather was sunny, dry and verging on warm. However, I descended into a pretty crappy funk. I could almost physically feel a gloom settling over me. I was sitting in the dentist’s waiting room and it was as if the nurse had punctured my well of good humour and it started draining out just under an hour later. For many simply being in the vicinity of a dentist would be enough to kill any good mood but this was a very short, routine appointment to have a mouthguard fitted and wasn’t to blame. In fact there really was nothing to blame, it just happened like someone throwing a dust sheet over my mind and saying that’s it for feeling happy for a while….

I got through the dental appointment and the rest of the day’s schedule but everything was that extra bit more difficult. I’m sure anyone that dealt with me yesterday probably thought I was a real miserable arse but I was working hard to be my best. Despite the perfect weather though I couldn’t summon enough motivation to go for a walk or a cycle. This is a real shame as there will be plenty of times when the motivation is there and the opportunity isn’t or the weather isn’t as perfect.

I went to bed feeling slightly better and was back in work today. I had a busy and productive day and didn’t really have time to dwell on much but I was making sure I was distracted enough too. Getting home this evening I delighted the dog by heading straight out to the forest for a 5K walk finishing just as darkness fell. Just like yesterday descending gloom I could feel it lifting through the day to finish feeling much better and much clearer in my head.

It’s not the first time I’ve felt “The Black Dog” sniffing around like this but it’s definitely the first time I’ve felt it come on like that. I’m thankful it was short-lived and I’m grateful I don’t have to fight through very many days like that. Many, many people have to face that fight day after endless day…

song of the week 10: chasing cars

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“Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol

  • Genre: Alternative Rock
  • Single Release Date: June 2006
  • Album: “Eyes Open”

A friend of mine once described Snow Patrol as “elevator music” but there is something special about this song. Every time I hear it it makes me think of taking a relaxing “timeout” from the stresses and busyness of modern life. I get an image of a couple just stepping back for 10-15min and taking a quiet moment to themselves. It always makes me feel better, every single time I hear it.

Lyrics

We’ll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don’t need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don’t quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life

Let’s waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see

I don’t know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 09: dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’

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“Dyin’ Ain’t Much of a Livin’” by Jon Bon Jovi

  • Genre: Rock
  • Single Release Date: Album only (1990)
  • Album: “Blaze of Glory”

Blaze of Glory was Jon Bon Jovi’s debut album and was written for and inspired by the movie Young Guns II. Only two songs from the album actually featured on the official soundtrack of the film.

This track wasn’t one of the featured songs but to me totally encapsulates the ethos of the gunslinger and the raw grit of the lifestyle that has been romanticised in many other films. This to me is the standout track of the album.

Lyrics

A whisky bottle comforts me
And tells me not to cry
While a full moon says a prayer for me
I try to close my eyes

But the night’s there to remind me
Of the guns and the early graves
The ghosts appear as I fall asleep
To sing an outlaw’s serenade

Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’
When you’re livin’ on the run
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ for the young
Is it too late to ask for forgiveness
For the things that I have done
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ for the young

Oh, the desert’s been a friend to me
It covers me by night
And a snakebite’s not my enemy
But it taught me how to fight

All this fame don’t bring you freedom
Though it wears a thin disguise
And an outlaw is just a man to me
And a man has to die

Oh, dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’
When you’re livin’ on the run
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ for the young
Is it too late to ask for forgiveness
For the things that I have done
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ for the young
Na

And I hope someone will pray for me
When it’s my turn to die… pray for me
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’
When you’re livin’ on the run
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ for the young
Is it too late to ask for forgiveness
For the things that I have done
Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’ for the young
Na

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 08: if you could read my mind

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“If You Could Read My Mind” by Johnny Cash

American V was recorded by Cash shortly before his death in 2003 and posthumously released in 2006. Similar to the four other albums in the series, it features many cover versions of old songs. American V was the first Cash album to reach No1 in 37 years.

American V features the very last song written by Johnny Cash (“Like the 309“) but it is this song that is the stand out track on the album for me. Cash’s voice is raw and full of age, you can hear and feel his many years and his impending death. It is simultaneously heart-breaking and uplifting.

“If You Could Read My Mind” was first recorded by Gordon Lightfoot and had its first release in 1970.

Lyrics

If you could read my mind love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
‘Bout a ghost from a wishing well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains around my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I’m a ghost that you can’t see

If I could read your mind love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind the drugstore sells
When you reach the part
Where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
Heroes often fail
And you won’t read that book again
Because the ending’s just too hard to take

I walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script
Enter number two
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me
But for now love, let’s be real

I never thought I could act this way
And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it
I don’t know where we went wrong
But the feeling’s gone and I just can’t get it back

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old-time movie
‘Bout a ghost from a wishing well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
The stories always end
And if you read between the lines
You’ll know that I’m just trying to understand
The feeling that you left

I never thought I could feel this way
And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it
I don’t know where we went wrong
But the feeling’s gone
And I just can’t get it back

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 07: somewhere over the rainbow

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“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” by
Israel Kamakawiwoʻole

  • Genre: Hawaii/Reggae/World
  • Single Release Date: January 2004
  • Album: “Facing Future”

This is a cover version of the original song that was written in 1939 for The Wizard of Oz and performed by Judy Garland. Mixed with the reggae rhythm of the ukulele and the amazing voice of Israel that contrasts with his size I find this version completely captivating.

It was initially recorded on the album in 1989 and featured on a number of soundtracks before being released as a single long after Israel’s premature death in 1997 aged 38.

Lyrics

Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dream of
Once in a lullaby, oh

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true-ooh-ooh
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney tops that’s where
You’ll find me, oh

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dream that you dare to
Oh why, oh why can’t I? I

Someday I’ll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top that’s where you’ll find me
Oh, somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dream that you dare to
Why, oh why can’t I? I

Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ah-ah-eh-ah
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 06: paradise city

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“Paradise City” by Guns ‘n’ Roses

It’s almost impossible for me to write about “Welcome to the Jungle” and not think about this track. It’s the 3rd single for Guns ‘n’ Roses and came hot on the heels of “Sweet Child o’ Mine“. I absolutely love the guitar and drum solos, especially the section between the first and second verses. The sheer power and energy as the track switches into the second verse is vividly seen in the live section of the video below.

Without a doubt this is one of my favourite songs of all time. Whenever I hear it after a long break it’s great to turn it up to full volume and blast it out. I was lucky to be among the 80,000 to watch Guns ‘n’ Roses live in Slane 1992 and this track was the encore. That followed by Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” as we walked up the hill away from the river and stage is one of my favourite memories…

Lyrics

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home (oh, won’t you please take me home)
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home (oh, won’t you please take me home)

Just a urchin livin’ under the street
I’m a hard case that’s tough to beat
I’m your charity case so buy me something to eat
I’ll pay you at another time
Take it to the end of the line

Rags to riches or so they say
Ya gotta keep pushin’ for the fortune and fame
You know it’s all a gamble when it’s just a game
Ya treat it like a capital crime
Everybody’s doin’ the time

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home

Strapped in the chair of the city’s gas chamber
Why I’m here I can’t quite remember
The surgeon general says it’s hazardous to breathe
I’d have another cigarette but I can’t see
Tell me who you’re gonna believe

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home, yeah yeah

So far away
So far away
So far away
So far away

Captain America’s been torn apart
Now he’s a court jester with a broken heart
He said “turn me around and take me back to the start”
I must be losing my mind “are you blind?”
I’ve seen it all a million times

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home

I wanna go, I wanna go
Oh, won’t you please take me home
I wanna see how good it can be
Oh, won’t you please take me home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home
Take me down, lead me ’round
Oh, won’t you please take me home

I wanna see, what a woman can be
I want to take you home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home
I wanna go, I wanna know
Oh, won’t you please take me home, yeah baby

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 05: welcome to the jungle

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“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ‘n’ Roses

This was the first song written by the band as a collective, their second released single and featured on their debut album. It was named the greatest hard rock song of all time in 2009 by VHI and has received many high accolades since its release. To me it is Guns ‘n’ Roses at their purest.

As a hard rock song of the 80s though it hasn’t aged well. The original album cover art featured a robot attempting to rape a woman and the lyrics are highly suggestive of the same.

The video contains footage of violent riots mixed in with a live performance of the song. Some of this footage is taken from riots and disturbances in Northern Ireland including some from Bloody Sunday in Derry, 1972.

Lyrics

Oh my god

Jump

Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games
We got everything you want honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey, we got your disease

In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, I, I wanna watch you bleed

Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay
And you’re a very sexy girl who’s very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights but you won’t get there for free
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
Ooh, ah, I want to hear you scream

Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you got hunger for what you see you’ll take it eventually
You can have anything you want but you better not take it from me

In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, I’m gonna watch you bleed

And when you’re high, you never ever wanna come down
So down, so down, so down, yeah

You know where you are?
You’re in the jungle, baby, you’re gonna die
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my my, serpentine
Jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
Down In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to you
It’s gonna bring you down, huh

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 04: children

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“Children” by Robert Miles

  • Genre: Dream Trance/Techno
  • Single Release Date: January 1995
  • Album: “Dreamland“

From Wikipedia:

Miles gave two inspirations for the writing of “Children”. One was as a response to photographs of child Yugoslav war victims that his father had brought home from a humanitarian mission in the former Yugoslavia; and the other, inspired by his career as a DJ, was to create a track to end DJ sets, intended to calm rave attendants prior to their driving home as a means to reduce car accident deaths.

“Children” is one of the pioneering tracks of Dream house, a genre of electronic dance music characterized by dream-like piano melodies, and a steady four-on-the-floor bass drum. The creation of dream house was a response to social pressures in Italy during the early 1990s: the growth of rave culture among young adults, and the ensuing popularity of nightclub attendance, had created a weekly trend of deaths due to car accidents as clubbers drove across the country overnight, falling asleep at the wheel from strenuous dancing as well as alcohol and drug use. In mid-1996, deaths due to this phenomenon, called strage del sabato sera (Saturday night slaughter) in Italy, were being estimated at around 2000 since the start of the decade. The move by DJs such as Miles to play slower, calming music to conclude a night’s set, as a means to counteract the fast-paced, repetitive tracks that preceded, was met with approval by authorities and parents of car crash victims.

Long before I even thought about why artists compose or write songs I used the album this track comes from to help me sleep at night. I found the rhythm and melodies calming and soothing. Strangely I also found it useful in the gym (many years ago!) to keep me focused and motivated either on cardio or weights, I guess the Techno side of it is still there despite the calming rhythms.

Robert Miles sadly died of pancreatic cancer in Ibiza, Spain, on 9 May 2017 at the age of 47.

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 03: the sound of silence

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“The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed

  • Genre: Orchestral Pop
  • Single Release Date: December 2015
  • Album: “Immortalized“

This is a cover of the original song written by Simon and Garfunkel in the mid 60s. Disturbed have retained the original lyrics and style of the song but have tweaked it slightly. With the powerful voice and barely controlled anger this version has a new and stronger power that truly captures the original ethos of the song:

“the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly intentionally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other.“

Simon & Garfunkel, Denver, June 1966

I first discovered this cover version having seen the video shared by a friend on Facebook. The power of the voice combined with the imagery in the video simply blew me away. This is one of those songs that when it comes up on Spotify I turn the volume way up and can’t help but sing along.

Lyrics

Hello, darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence

“Fools,” said I, “You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”

But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming

And the sign said
“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound
Of silence”

Header image from 8Tracks.com