My media player hates me.
Here's another blast from the past. I used to listen to this one over and over. It was cathartic. It helped me feel like someone out there could relate. It's interesting how the human mind filters and applies various contexts on the fly. For example,
No one heard
No one came
No angel of mercy
Appears to know her name
This piece of the song I took quite literally. No one seemed to hear my prayers. No one came. There was no angel of mercy coming to "rescue" me from my attractions. On the other hand:
And she sees her future falling
Til it finds the ocean floor
Oh life, she cries
There must be more
I knew this was probably talking about suicide, but while I often wished my life was over acting on that wish was never really in the picture for me. Still, something about the imagery of a future lost in darkness and oblivion spoke to me. It was just a metaphor.
On the dock her soul is sinking
But her spirit longs to soar
Oh life, she cries
There must be more
Another part I related to personally and more literally.
Sometimes, it's nice to be able to listen to a song and know that you don't feel that way anymore.
Musical Moments
I haven't heard this song in a while, but it came up on my playlist today. Mulan was released in 1998. My wife and I had agreed we would separate just before Thanksgiving 1998. We waited for the holidays to pass, and I moved out January 5, 1999. Needless to say 1998 was a rough year. I remember being floored by this song the first time I saw the movie. Even now hearing it again brings back all those feelings of inadequacy and seeing no way for things to ever change.
It may even have been this song that started my long slide to leaving the church and coming out. It articulated how I was feeling so perfectly. It almost felt like someone was trying to tell me something. If that song started it, this one cinched it.
(Try and get past the awful music video. I'm making a serious point here.) Footloose was originally released in 1984. Being completely clueless, I hadn't figured out I was gay at the time, even though I totally related to that song and felt that yearning for a prince charming come to rescue me. I did say I was completely clueless.
Fast forward to 1999. For the 15 year anniversary of Footloose's release, the soundtrack was remastered and released. Having always had an emotional connection to that soundtrack, I bought the CD. I got it home, popped it into my computer and gave it a listen. Bonnie Tyler's song came on and I suddenly felt like I had been put into a time machine and transported back to 1984. It was like I was 17 again. Nothing about how I felt about that song had changed. I knew then that if nothing in the intervening 15 years had done anything to alter the way that song made me feel, nothing ever would.
Color me embarrassed
So a few weeks ago I posted a nice little graphic that I thought had a nice empowering message with just a bit of f-u to it.
Imagine my chagrin when this song came on the radio this morning in the car and I realized this is where that line comes from, especially since I really like P!nk and that's hardly the first time I've heard the song...
I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Well, duh, Sean." I know. I'm a little slow sometimes.
Since this song just came up on my playlist, let's just make it a musical f-bomb day.
I've never seen the official music video before. I like this one better (even though the whole song isn't there.)
What the hell.
Not usually a big fan of meme's, and I won't be tagging anyone, but this one seemed interesting.
- turn on your mp3 player
- go to Shuffle songs mode
- Write down the first 25 songs that come up…song title and artist– NO editing/cheating, please.
Not that I ever listen to my music this way. I'm a big believer in play lists.
- Lovestoned [The "MJ" mash up] - New York Rappers
- Shoot The Moon - Norah Jones
- Dancing Boy - Harry Chapin
- Juanita - Shania Twain
- Super Trooper - ABBA
- Two Beds And A Coffee Machine - Savage Garden
- Happy Boys And Girls - Aqua
- Light A Rainbow - Tukan
- Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley
- You Take My Breath Away - Rex Smith
- Beggars At The Feast - Les Miserables
- Love One Another - Cher
- Sand In My Shoes - Dido
- I Got You Babe - Cher/Sonny Bono
- The Prison - Melissa Etheridge
- Everybody Wants The Same Thing - Scissor Sisters
- Epona - Enya
- Thrown Down - Fleetwood Mac
- A View To A Kill - Duran Duran
- Do You Remember - Phil Collins
- Nevarre Returns To Aquila - Alan Parsons Project
- Anything Goes - Patti Lupone
- Blame It On The Weather Man - B*Witched
- Shame - Matchbox 20
- I Love U - Nikki Jane
Willie Nelson joins PFLAG…sorta.
Today from the BBC:
Country music star Willie Nelson has released a tune about gay cowboy romance for Valentine's Day.
Nelson said the release, Cowboys Are Secretly, Frequently (Fond of Each Other), was timed to coincide with Oscar hopeful Brokeback Mountain.
The song, originally written in 1981, was played for the first time on Howard Stern's radio show on Tuesday.
"The song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out," said Nelson.
'Special meaning'
"I'm just opening the door," added the performer, who recorded the track at his home in Texas last year.
The song is being exclusively released for download via the Apple iTunes music store.
Speaking to the Dallas Morning News, Nelson's manager David Anderson, who revealed that he was gay two years ago, said he wanted the song to reflect well on the singer.
"This song obviously has special meaning to me in more ways than one," said Mr Anderson.
"I want people to know more than anything - gay, straight, whatever - just how cool Willie is and ... his way of thinking, his tolerance, everything about him," he added.
The Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe are to film a video to accompany the song, which will also be available via the iTunes online store.
Nelson also features on the soundtrack of Brokeback Mountain, singing He Was A Friend of Mine, which hit number 54 in the US charts earlier this year.1
Yes, I've already downloaded it. I didn't really have any idea what to expect, but it's actually a very sweet song that manages to acknowledge both realities at the same time. Here are the lyrics for you.
Well there's many a strange impulse out on the plains of west Texas
There's many a young boy who feels things he can't comprehend.
And a small town don't like it when somebody falls between sexes.
No a small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men.
And I believe to my soul that inside every man is the feminine,
And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear.
Well, a cowboy may brag about things that he's done with his women,
But the ones that brag loudest are the ones that are most likely queer.
Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other.
Say what did you think all them saddles and boots was about?
And there's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels for his brother.
And inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out.
And there's always somebody who says what the others just whisper.
And mostly that someone's the first one to get shot down dead.
So when you talk to a cowbody don't treat him like he was a sister.
You can't fuck with the lady that's sleeping in each cowboy's head.
Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other.
Say what did you think all them saddles and boots was about?
And there's many a cowboy who don't understand the way that he feels for his brother.
And inside every lady there's a cowboy who wants to come out.
And inside every cowboy there's a lady that'd love to slip out.
Attention All Audiophiles
If you haven't heard of Pandora, check it out. Presented by the Music Genome Project, Pandora is a streaming radio that tailors itself to your music tastes.
Basically you give it the name of a song or a band and it creates a music station with music that is representative of your choice. You can give songs a thumbs up or a thumbs down to refine the music that is played for you. It goes by individual songs, so even if you give the thumbs down to one song by a particular artist other songs by the same artist could still come up in the play list. You can define up to 100 different stations.
In order to see how good a job it does, I put in Nickleback. Rhapsody classifies Nickleback as post-grunge. I'll take their word for it. I am extremely picky about music in this genre. It has problems with being musically interesting: boring melody lines, elementary chord progression, lame lyrics, etc. There's also the problem that a lot of it just sounds like some damn fool screaming. It also seems this particular genre attracts singers with a quality to their singing that I can only describe as whiny, in other words extremely irritating.
After only giving a handful of thumbs-up and thumbs-downs it's doing a remarkable job of presenting music I like and filtering that which I would call crap. Since I doubt "whiny" is one of the criteria Pandora uses, it still occasionally plays a song that I'm not crazy about, but it's stopped playing music that would have me reaching for the station buttons in the car.
They have partnered with iTunes if you want to buy a digital track and with Amazon if you're more interested in the CD. It's a free service if you don't mind advertising. Advertising is minimal right now. I actually haven't heard a single ad so far, but they promise to ramp that up as they get rolling. Even at $36/year if you want to listen without advertising it's a pretty good deal.