Tag Archives: be

#1043: Nick Drake – Place to Be

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Well, well, it’s Nick Drake again. Though this won’t be the last time I write about him on this website, it’ll be the last time you’ll see a track of his in this particular section. Who knew that basically a quarter of the songs on Pink Moon began with the letter ‘P’? Never would have thought about it without this, would you? Not like it’s very useful information anyway. Representing the last of the Ps from Pink Moon today is the album’s second track, ‘Place to Be’. With the preceding title track providing a more surreal, symbolic take on Drake’s outlook on life, ‘Place to Be’ is where he lays the facts down straight.

I believe this track is the last one on the album on which he uses a plectrum to play his acoustic guitar, with the rest all consisting of his intricate fingerpicking. And as a result, just like the ‘Pink Moon’ track, ‘Place to Be’ has a very driving momentum to it with Drake playing the guitar with an air of confidence and striding force. The strings ring out with a rich tone to them, and the music overall lures you in with its warmth. But on top, Drake tells the listener how he is as the man who sings to you compared to the days of yesteryear, and he’s not doing too well. The lyrics are plain to understand. When he was younger, he was ignorant to the cold, hard truth. But now he has himself hardened as a person and can see things for what they are. He used to be vibrant and bright, but now has become darker in his moods. He asks to be given a place to be, and by that I assume he means a place to just exist without any troubles. Maybe somewhere to belong. It’s left up in the air, but it taps into a feeling I’m sure is felt universally.

The third and final verse contains the most telling and hard-hitting revelation out of those listed in the previous two. Referencing his ‘Day Is Done’ track, which bear in mind was only released three years prior, he tells the listener that compared to then he was now the weakest he’s ever felt. So weak in a need for something or someone that isn’t fully disclosed. They’re just referred to as ‘you’. Maybe you is the ‘place to be’ itself. Maybe it’s a loved one. I’ve seen interpretations that suggest that ‘you’ is death. Any way you look at it though, it’s a sad affair. But instead of making it too melodramatic, he transferred his energy into an beautiful earnest acoustic performance. It does make you wonder how things changed so much for the worse for him in that relatively short amount of time.

#732: The Rutles – Let’s Be Natural

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Another great Beatles parody courtesy of musician, comedian, actor and all round nice man Neil Innes as part of the Rutles All You Need Is Cash film project from 1978. Innes sadly and quite suddenly passed away last December, but his work under the guise of Ron Nasty lives on. I got to know the music of the Rutles more or less around the same time I was on my Beatles tip of 2009/10. Unlike other parody acts that can make a proper half-assed effort in portraying their sources, Neil Innes and The Rutles were always very respectful in their mimicry while also maintaining humour and making great music in general.

‘Let’s Be Natural’ closes out the soundtrack album that accompanied the Rutles film and was released on both the original LP in 1978, and the 1990 CD reissue which included seven more songs not found on the vinyl release. It’s a clear nod to the Beatles song ‘Dear Prudence’, even taking that track’s bassline for its own during the choruses. There’s a bit from ‘If I Fell’ in there too. Innes sings with John Lennon’s trademark nasal tone among some relaxing arpeggiated chords and ‘aaah’ backing harmonies. Man, it’s a very soothing track. But I guess you could ask why you would want to listen to this if you could listen to The Beatles at any time. Probably because if you got to a place where you got tired of listening to them, this would be the closest you would get to their type of music without it actually being by them. Plus all four Beatles approved their music. Paul McCartney less so, apparently. The point still stands.

So I hope you enjoy it. The song’s message is all in the title. R.I.P. Neil Innes.

#731: N-Dubz – Let Me Be

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OK, let me explain. From about 2008 to 2011, N-Dubz were everywhere in the UK. The trio of Dappy, Tulisa, and Fazer could do no wrong in the eyes of the British youth. Their debut album Uncle B included hits of theirs that had been known since about 2006 but just about missed out on a top ten position in the charts. But then they got their first number one hit as a feature on Tinchy Stryder’s track, coincidentally titled, ‘Number 1‘, a tune that just takes me back to Year 9 every time. I had a friend in high school who downloaded every song by N-Dubz to his tiny Sony Ericsson phone. He pretty much had every lyric of theirs nailed to a T, but he would rap them in a mocking and strange way which I found hysterical at that age of 13. While I didn’t really care for them – I was more the Linkin Park, Eminem type person at that time – you could never really avoid the hype that came when N-Dubz released a new single or collaboration.

The 00s were coming to a close. And N-Dubz blessed the public with a new album, almost a year to the day that they released their first one. Against All Odds was its name, and it was preceded by the first single ‘I Need You’. Not gonna lie, I thought that was song was banging from the day its video showed up on YouTube. The lyrics didn’t have much depth, but the production was great. It actually had me looking forward to their album release. It came. I listened through it. I got great entertainment out of tracks like ‘Playing with Fire’ and ‘Duku Man (Skit)’. The rest I didn’t care that much for. Except ‘Let Me Be’, which I actually think is their best song and no one can tell me otherwise.

The track got no attention in the UK, but somehow got a music video made for it. I’ve come to the assumption that it was a release in Greece because of Greek rapper Nivo’s appearance where he raps only in Greek. I still have no idea what he’s rapping about to this day.* Oh, and because both Dappy and Tulisa are of Greek ancestry too. On the track, Dappy raps about a girl who’s getting a bit too clingy and even if he does like the sex they have, he’s not sticking around. This then leads into the melodic chorus where Dappy then sings about being watched and followed by everyone now that he’s famous, and comes to a conclusion that this girl probably really likes him because he’s on the TV a lot of the time. Fazer and Tulisa get their verses in nearing the end of the track, the latter gets her iconic ‘ha-ha’ ad-libs in too. What actually impressed me the most about this track all those years ago was how the whole vibe of the track shifted beginning with Fazer’s verse. It just sounds a lot sadder somehow, can’t tell whether it’s a change in key or chord progression but it’s a moment in their discography that I don’t think they ever matched. Not saying it’s some huge musical jump, loads of artists do that type of thing, but from N-Dubz it was quite unexpected.

I can’t believe I’ve typed this much out about N-Dubz. This is the only post on them in this whole blog series that I’ll do so I might as well get it all of my chest. If you want to know what happened to the group, they split in 2011 following the release of their third album. Lowkey, a lot of people want a reunion.

#729: The Chemical Brothers – Let Forever Be

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‘Let Forever Be’ was released as the second single from The Chemical Brothers’ 1999 album Surrender. After taking inspiration from the Beatles’ track ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and collaborating with Oasis guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher on their previous track ‘Setting Sun’, a song that got to number one in the UK in ’96, the ‘brothers’ decided to do the same thing again here. It didn’t gained the same amount of commercial success but I believe it’s still one of the duo’s best singles.

While ‘Setting Sun’ relies on its pummeling drums to drive the track’s momentum ‘Let Forever Be’ relies on its bassline which mirrors Paul McCartney’s original bass from the aforementioned Beatles song, starting on the lower strings before reaching for those higher notes and carrying out some licks. Noel Gallagher continues his ‘faux-philosophical/actual nonsense’ lyricism style which, in that period of the 90s, was in its prime and worked tremendously well. His voice sounds great on here and, mixed with the psychedelic backdrop from Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons (The Chemical Brothers), it makes from some very easygoing listening.

Its music video (above), directed by Michel Gondry, gained a lot of media attention. I don’t think it’s too bad myself. I did see it a lot back in the day on the television screen though you can’t go wrong by listening to the song on its own.

#651: Ween – It’s Gonna Be (Alright)

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Though Ween have mostly considered to be this joke band who don’t take their music seriously because of the humour they incorporate into their material (which they’re not and they do), there has always been a song on each of their albums (except La Cucaracha probably) that can unexpectedly surprise you with its sincerity. There are a couple I can think of when it comes to The Mollusk; ‘It’s Gonna Be (Alright)’ is one of them.

This track has always been one of my favourites from the album since I heard it back in 2013. Following ‘The Blarney Stone’, an explicit number in the form of a sea shanty, ‘Alright’ slows things right down to darken the mood with its wavey guitar arpeggios and echoing percussion. It’s another devastating track in Ween’s discography concerning the end of a relationship. For anyone who doesn’t know, Gene Ween – lead singer and co-songwriter in the band – has a big heart; when it gets broken he can get really sad. He wrote songs like ‘Birthday Boy’, ‘Baby Bitch’, and ‘I Don’t Want It’ detailing some of the misery he’s been through. However, ‘Alright’ is one of those tracks where although the relationship is no more, there’s still hope that things can still be good between the two of them.

Things get weird again as they follow this with ‘The Golden Eel’ on the album, pretty much about what it says in the title, so it’s almost like the band just drops this serious track to just say ‘everything’s not as well as it seems here but forget about it here’s the silly stuff again’. But that’s all what adds to the charm… of Ween.