Category Archives: Music

My iPod #456: The Beatles – Good Day Sunshine

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Opening up the second side of The Beatles’ 1966 album Revolver is “Good Day Sunshine”, a bouncy Paul McCartney number about the happiness one seems to feel with everything (including the weather) whilst being in love. After the somewhat lyrical subject matter in “She Said, She Said”, the track comes to alleviate the mood and start the second half with positive vibes.

Set to a swinging rhythm established by the vibrant piano work and grounded drums, “Good Day Sunshine” is the song to go to on those days where you feel nothing could go wrong and everything’s going your way. The vocal work ain’t too bad. McCartney takes sole lead vocal during the verses, but it’s in the choruses where he is joined by George and John on the harmonies to produce to a simple, repetitive, but memorably catchy melody – one that also gets a sudden key change treatment right at the end of the song.

Only just over two minutes, “Good Day Sunshine” is of the happiest tracks you’ll hear today. I once made it the alarm song on my phone if that’s of any use to you. Made for a good way to start the day.

My iPod #455: Razorlight – Golden Touch

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I quite liked Razorlight back in the day. We can all agree that Up All Night, the album today’s track can be found on is their best work to date. Their self-titled follow up weren’t that bad either. Never listened to Slipway Fires because “Wire to Wire” made me wince every time. That was in 2008. And as the years have gone on the group’s faded into obscurity. A shame. But wouldn’t really excited by a sudden announcement of a new album any time soon. Just my opinion.

But enough on that. We’re going back to 2004. “Golden Touch” was released just a week before the band’s full debut album hit the shelves in stores nationwide. It became quite popular too. The song was the band’s first top-ten hit at the fourth time of trying, becoming one of their signature tunes and one of the British indie anthems of the year in the process.

Johnny Borrell talks/wails in tune about a girl, who unbeknownst to her, is the subject of many conversations behind her back. Borrell thinks this lady is special, she has the ‘golden touch’, and the song is a basic message to her to take no notice of the haters. Never really liked the way the lead vocals are delivered on here, though they’re made up for by the track’s loose feel established by the arpeggiated guitar licks and its overall groovy rhythm. There are some background ‘ha-ha-haaaaaaaa’ vocals at near two minutes in that are just perfect too.

My iPod #454: Fall Out Boy – Golden

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“Golden” is the sixth track from Fall Out Boy’s 2007 album Infinity on High. The awkward de-tuning guitars during the fade out of “Hum Hallelujah” seem into the piano which plays the role as lead instrument in this track.

At two minutes and thirty-two seconds it is the shortest song on the album, though it is one of the more emotional ones on there being about the difficulties of living the glamorous lifestyle, being rich, having the fame, but still feeling worthless on the inside due to the inability to have a normal life outside of it all. It’s very sad. And Patrick Stump puts his heart and soul into his performance, aided by some soaring vocal harmonies during the last chorus.

The song songs very abruptly and unexpectedly giving way to a metronome that steadily ticks and ticks until it suddenly increases in pace. Then “Thnks fr th Mmrs” starts. That’s for another day.

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That’s me caught up then. Daily work will resume as of tomorrow.

My iPod #453: Pavement – Gold Soundz

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“Gold Soundz” may just be Pavement’s poppiest moment ever to be recorded and released. Found in the middle of the great Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, it is positioned after the wild rocking of “Unfair” and precedes the jazzy and experimental “5-4=Unity” but finds the perfect middle ground to provide one of the band’s most lighter, softer and easy listening tracks in their wide catalogue of astounding music. I am a Pavement fan, so I might have a bit of a bias opinion on this stuff.

In terms of the mix, the track is very treble heavy. The bass guitar and drum pedal are present are audible but are pushed back putting the focus on the guitars and various cymbals with Stephen Malkmus’ voice right in the middle of it all. Malkmus sings continuously, his lyrics roll right off the tongue from the first verse and straight into the chorus without any sign of effort, though they may not mean anything in particular they still manage to make a lot of sense in a way coming off quite confusing but beautiful in the process.

Took me a while to get into “Gold Soundz” though. Not really sure why. But I can’t help but feel happy when I hear it from time to time.

My iPod #452: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion

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I also remember the first time I heard “Gold Lion”, and the second time, the third, the fourth and so on….. The music video for it was repeated upon every hour one day in 2006, because Yeah Yeah Yeahs were back and it was the group’s brand new single from the forthcoming album Show Your Bones. At the time, the band hadn’t released an album since their cool 2003 debut Fever to Tell. Of course I didn’t know that. As a result, “Gold Lion” is the track that properly introduced me to Yeah Yeah Yeahs. (Though I have a feeling I might have heard “Maps” somewhere before.)

And so “Gold Lion” starts the album off with a lone “We Will Rock You” drum pattern that lasts for seconds before Karen O’s vocals and acoustic guitar of Nick Zinner enter the mix. The song carries on and builds as electric guitars and keyboards are introduced, the drums become more free-flowing with busier execution leading into the track’s wordless refrain and the following instrumental breaks. All in all, it sets the tone for the rest of the album and was a good way to mark a return of a killer group.

The track’s okay. Never thought about its meaning. But I like it. Reminds me of being in Year 6 again.