Tag Archives: hand

#1167: Fleetwood Mac – Second Hand News

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Of the four Fleetwood Mac songs I have on my phone – I do have 13 on my ‘Liked Songs’ list on Spotify, which I look forward to using more often when I’m done with this – three of them are by everybody’s favourite, Lindsey Buckingham. I joke. I think it’s very clear, somehow, that Stevie Nicks runs miles clear as being something of the face of the band, even though the strength of the Mac was always based on the variety provided by the three main songwriters (Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie). But I don’t know what it is when it comes to Buckingham’s songs. They always seem to scratch an itch when it comes to my own taste. I like many more McVie songs than Nicks’ too, but I’m digressing. It’s a Buckingham song I’m on about today, and it opens up an album I know, you know, everybody knows. The one, the only, Rumours.

We know the story. The record was recorded at a time when no-one in the band was in each other’s good books to say the least, and so the songwriters started writing about each other in their respective numbers. ‘Second Hand News’ opens the LP up with the lyric that encapsulates the entire situation, ‘I know there’s nothing to say/Someone has taken my place’. In this case, Buckingham and Nicks had ended their relationship and were most likely seeing other people. But ‘Second Hand News’ isn’t so much of a put down. Not like ‘Go Your Own Way’, sheesh. Instead, it’s more of a note to Nicks, seemingly waving her off and wishing her well as she goes into another relationship while also cheekily laying down the option that, if things don’t work out with this other guy, he’ll be there to be the rebound.

First time I heard Rumours was sometime in 2012, around then, and I gotta say ‘Second Hand News’ was an immediate hit with me, solidifying itself as one just after Buckingham comes in with those wordless vocals that act as the chorus after the introductory verses. You always need a good opener on an album. Something to get you excited for what’s to come. And I’ve always thought ‘Second Hand News’ does a good job in that department. It possesses a real driving momentum from the moment that acoustic guitar strides into the frame in the opening seconds, and the goodness only continues to build from there. Elements slowly enter the soundscape bit by bit, like those harmonising “ahh-ahh” backing vocals that come in before the second ‘chorus’ or that droning organ that comes during the second half of it, all among the propelling direction of the music led by the chair percussion and propelling acoustic guitar chords. The song reaches its cathartic peak as Buckingham belts out the song’s title in the middle of more harmonies and a rocking guitar solo that eventually closes everything out. And bear in mind, this is just how the album starts. Thumbs up from me.

#1078: They Might Be Giants – Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head

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Man, look at those fresh-faced Johns in that music video. I reckon I was about 12 years old when I saw the clip for TMBG’s ‘Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head’ for the first time and thus heard the song too. Would have been 2007, and YouTube was up and running at this point. Not the big deal it is today. Was a lot more humble and much more innocent back then. At 12, the Giants had been around in my life for probably three and a bit years at that point. And it was hard to find music videos by them online without really having to look for some websites. Now all of them were on this “new” site, and ‘Puppet Head’ was a well-liked song according to the band’s wiki. Became an instant hit in my book and another to add to that list of tunes I already knew that really made TMBG stand out compared to any other band/musician/artist I usually listened to.

I distinctly remember stopping and starting the video numerous times, just to keep replaying the image of the two Johns jumping in time to the track’s opening drum pattern. It’s quite hypnotizing in its own way. Plus, it’s quite the visual to start things off with. Once I realised that this was the duo’s first ever music video, it made sense that the first scene had to lure viewers in somehow. In fact there are many dance moves here (which were a signature in those early TMBG videos) that I kept on rewatching. Just made the two guys all the more endearing. But you want to know about the song, that’s why you’re here. Well, John Linnell originally wrote it – lyrics and music – but was unhappy with how his verses turned out. He gave it to bandmate John Flansburgh who “filled in all the blanks”, resulting in one of the best TMBG outcomes, a collaboration between the two band members in comparison to the usual where one or the other will write the entire song.

From what I can gather from the lyrics, I think it’s simply about a person who doesn’t like their job, wants more out of life. Maybe a little loving to help soothe the pain. And all of this could happen if someone would only put their hand inside the titular puppet head. The talk about zombies and this puppet head puts things into a bit of a surreal area, but I think that’s just a way of making the understanding a little harder to achieve. Well, I think they did that quite successfully. But like a lot of other TMBG songs, it’s a bunch of fun to sing along to. The track was released as the second song on the band’s first album from 1986, but with a different mix from that in the music video. The snare hits are drenched in reverb, someone suggested to make the song a little sharper in its key, and the tone overall is a little brighter. It does fit in alongside the other 18 tracks on that record. When I sing it out of the blue, my pitch usually goes to that of the video’s. But honestly, this is one of those rare occasions where I like two separate released mixes of a song at about the same level.

#618: The Who – In a Hand or a Face

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‘In a Hand or a Face’ closes out The Who by Numbers, The Who’s seventh album released back in 1975. It goes that Pete Townshend, the band’s guitarist and main songwriter, was severely depressed and suicidal during the making of the record. He quit drinking after a long period of severe alcoholism. He was having an existential crisis due to the fear of turning 30 and wondering if he was getting to old for the whole ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ thing. The album as a result has some of Townshend’s most personal, soul-seeking material on there. After nine tracks, including one written by bassist John Entwistle, ‘In a Hand’ sees Townshend at breaking point despite the triumphant confidence with which the music is delivered.

An emphatic crash cymbal and chunky guitar riff begin the song before a thunderous drum roll gets the rhythm going alongside a salutary opening guitar solo. The song is relatively simple. It’s mostly three chords. But there’s an assertive behind every note, chord, and drum fill played that makes the song sound very nonchalant and unfazed. Lyrics-wise, Townshend writes about seeing people in various situations and trying to put himself in their shoes. He asks the listener whether they’ve ever hard the same experiences and self-assesses where he’s at in comparison. His conclusion? He was “going round and round”.

A pulsating rhythm section break marks the song’s key change, and Roger Daltrey, Townshend, and Entwistle repeat its main refrain before the instruments ring out on an unresolved chord. I guess Townshend was in so much of a spiral at the time he didn’t know where he was going. With The Who, with his life…. It wasn’t a great time to be him.

#584: The Beatles – I Want to Hold Your Hand

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Been almost a month since I was last here…. I’m sorry. Can’t say I’ve tried to keep to my earlier statement of doing a blog at least every Sunday. The posts will arrive in due time. Just been suffering from a lack of motivation. Not in a bad way, it’s just work. Weekends have really been reserved for laying down and sleeping.

Recently I decided to listen to all the songs on my phone in alphabetical order during my morning/evening commutes. Only because the shuffle system on iPhones is very poor. In doing so I’ve only properly realised how many songs by The Beatles (that I personally enjoy) begin with the letter ‘I’. There’s a lot of them to come in this ‘I’ series. ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ was the hit that made the four lads huge in the USA, and pretty much everywhere else.

There are some days when I listen to this thing and think it’s just too sappy. The lyrics are too simple and on the nose…. A song like this would never be taken seriously in today’s musical climate. Though the majority it’s just like….. fuck that. This song’s great for all of those reasons. John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing their chests out on this one, singing in unison and in perfect harmony…. The musicality between the four of them is just wild and thrilling but tight and controlled. It rocks without trying too hard. It’s just a good pop song, it can’t be denied.

Again, when it comes to The Beatles and YouTube – it’s very hard to find their official stuff because their record label always takes their music down when you try and upload it. There is an actual video for it; it’s not up just yet. Still, below’s the performance taken from the Ed Sullivan show when John, Paul, George and Ringo appeared on American television for the first time and owned it.

My iPod #533: The Rutles – Hold My Hand

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“Hold My Hand” is a song written by Neil Innes which featured in the mockumentary All You Need Is Cash, a television film that traces the career of the fictitious rock band The Rutles. The music and events depicted within parallel those of The Beatles, and as “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the track that propelled the group to stardom so was “Hold My Hand” for Ron Nasty, Stig McQuickly, Stig O’Hara and Barry Wom. The film is a hilarious watch, recommended for any Beatles fan. Or Monty Python for that matter.

A love song about a man who feels the woman he has feelings for isn’t right for the guy she’s going out with, it is arranged using the styles of a few of The Beatles’ early numbers. One can hear similarities to “Eight Days a Week“, “All My Loving“, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You“, just to name a few. Though Innes brilliantly fuses all the elements together to make a number just as playful, catchy and ironically original. Very nice.