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My iPod #136: They Might Be Giants – Broke in Two

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Afternoon everyone.

I thought that preparing for university would be more of a strenuous task, but it appears that already I have most of the stuff I need. I have bought a few things here and there, just now I’ve chosen two pairs of new shoes and new socks, but it hasn’t been as tiresome as I thought it would be. Life is good.

That was an unrelated introduction. I just wanted to tell you how things are going.

… I’ve never had an account on last.fm but without one four years ago, somehow, I was able to listen to “The Spine” by They Might Be Giants in full without any adverts. I’m very sure that I can’t do that now, so it was surprising that I was able to pull it off. “Broke in Two” is the third from last track about a relationship which comes to an end. You have that situation in so many other songs; the list is endless, I know. The narrator also wants to make things better, but is very forgetful and a bit dim too. “I’m gonna run you down” does not sound like “I’m an orangutan” does it? The narrator takes this into account and admits that even though he would try to fix everything, the breakup would still happen just because of his behaviour. It’s quite tragic. But it’s so upbeat.

The instrumentation in the music is really good too. The opening riff was a bit of an ear-piercer, that really high note sounds like it’s played wrong. But it’s fine. It works. I don’t know whether it’s a keyboard or a guitar or both played simultaneously during the break, but how it ascends from low notes and finishes at the top is mesmerising. The song also glitches and disintegrates into silence at the end, which is intentional. It is one of my favourite songs on “The Spine”, I hope you listen and like it too.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #112: Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun

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Violent Femmes are a band from Wisconsin that formed back in 1980. They’ve split up twice but have got back together this year.

I’m not a fan of them; this is the only song by the band that I have. Not because I’ve listened to their songs and thought that they were crap, but because I haven’t listened to anything else they’ve put out. Well, apart from “Gone Daddy Gone” (not a Gnarls Barkley song), and “Add It Up” (which I can barely remember). But even those are on the same album as “Blister”.

“Blister in the Sun” came on when I was on the LAUNCHcast internet radio in the mid-noughties. It immediately caught my attention when the catchy riff started, and it’s hard to forget it seeing as the riff melody is the same as the lead vocal too. The song was first released on the band’s debut album in 1983, but sounds like it could have been released in the sixties. I don’t know what it is, when I think of the eighties I think of long hair, Footloose, keyboards and drum machines. “Blister in the Sun” sounds like the complete opposite with it’s minimal instrumentation. It makes for good listening when you’re walking in a park, on a nice summer’s day.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #98: They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse in Your Soul

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Here it is, They Might Be Giant’s biggest song. Commercially anyway. This, “Istanbul” and “Boss of Me” were their only songs to chart in the UK. Shows how much we know about music. I’m only joking, we know quite a bit about music. It’s a shame we just never appreciated this band as much.

I’ve just woken up from a nap so please excuse any spelling mistakes, or anything that clearly doesn’t make any sense.

They Might Be Giants released “Birdhouse in Your Soul” as the first single from their major label debut, “Flood”. The song, from the perspective a ‘blue canary’ night-light who ‘watches over you’ in your sleep. Not in any strange kind of way, but to guard you from the demons and monsters of the night. Like a guardian angel, it’s always near.

Now I don’t know what affect the song had on people when it was initially released in 1990. I still had another five years to go until I was born, but judging from the stats I see on Wikipedia and TMBW it helped the band gain a bigger following of fans after reaching top ten positions in the UK and in the US Modern Rock chart in the US.

When I was younger and started listening to They Might Be Giants, I knew that I’d heard the song from somewhere. Perhaps in an advert, or it played in the background of a TV show or something. But I didn’t know it was the band who sung it. I watched the video on Yahoo’s LAUNCHcast website, and it made me like the song even more. The weird zombie children, the random bike riding around the band, the choreography, it’s nice to see the band in one of their music videos too.

If you want to listen to the demo from Dial-a-Song, here it is.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie

My iPod #97: Pezz (Billy Talent) – Bird in the Basement

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“Bird in the Basement” is the title of this song by Billy Talent when they were in their Pezz phase, but the phrase doesn’t appear at all. It’s not sung by anyone, no one in the studio says it or anything. It’s the same for the rest of the songs on the album. Maybe it’s a phrase that only the members of the band are able to get. They probably won’t play any of “Watoosh!” any time soon though, so we’ll never know.

I mentioned how I came to own “Watoosh!” in my post for “Absorbed”, the last track of the album. However, I knew about the album since I was about ten years old. A Billy Talent fan uploaded the songs on their fan site but they were in terrible quality, and were eitther in wma or wav files. I just didn’t listen to this song until my sister bought the album for me in 2009. I think the link for it was broken.

As for the meaning of the song, it’s quite hard to say. I’m thinking it’s about a relationship where the couple feel that ‘everything is fake’ around them even though to other people, they are the problem. They are oblivious to the whole situation though, and look forward to sticking with one another when everything turns to crap.

This is my one hundredth post. Hooray! To anyone who reads this, thank you. You are the reason why I feel like I haven’t been wasting my time since February, when I started this thing.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #61: The Beatles – Back in the U.S.S.R.

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You don’t know how lucky you are.

Today’s song is another one by those four guys from Liverpool. I don’t have access to my computer at the moment so I hastily type this up using my iPod Touch.

“Back in the U.S.S.R” is the opening track to the band’s double album “The Beatles” – also known as “The White Album” due to the album’s front cover. I prefer to call it “The Beatles” though because… that’s the name of the album.

1968 is known as the year when the members of the band started to get a bit annoyed with one another. You probably wouldn’t think that listening to this classic though. Upon first listen you might think, “Yeah, I can dig this! Paul sounds like he’s having a good time, they are all whooping and stuff in the middle. Ah, those guys.”

IT’S ALL LIES. Tension was building amongst the group, and for a number of different reasons. George felt under appreciated, as did Ringo and John had brought along a force that would totally break the harmony between the four for the rest of their years together.

For anyone who didn’t know, Ringo doesn’t play on this track. It is actually Paul on the drums. I’m sorry to break it to you if he’s your favourite or whatever.

In regards to “The Beatles”, it was a matter of ‘back to basics’ for the band. Their last full release was “Sgt. Pepper” which is known for its wide variety instrumentation and the colourful front cover and whatnot, and so after travelling to India for ‘spiritual enlightenment’ the band were ready to keep things simple.

“Back in the U.S.S.R.” is a great opener, I can’t imagine it anywhere else on an album. It’s got that sense of urgency and pace and gets you hyped up for what is to come.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.