Tag Archives: my ipod

#1169: The Who – See My Way

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Early 2010s I was discovering The Who. What started out as a small interest in watching their music videos on YouTube turned into me downloading a few of their albums and becoming a huge fan overall. Way I remember it, I started with The Who Sell Out onto Quadrophenia, Who’s Next, The Who by Numbers and then Who Are You. Must have been weary about Tommy for some reason, ’cause I didn’t listen to that till much later. But after finishing Who Are You and knowing that it was Keith Moon’s last album on drums and things were never the same after, it made sense to go back in their discography. This is all where the song ‘See My Way’ comes in.

‘See My Way’ is a song on the band’s second album, A Quick One, and is one of the rare, rare, rare occasions where lead singer Roger Daltrey is credited as a songwriter in the band’s list of albums. In fact, it might be the only one. At least with no help from anyone else. And you can sort of tell that it’s not the kind that Pete Townshend would write, or even John Entwistle. You’ll come across simple rhymes like way/day (“way” is rhymed with itself three times in the first verse alone), you/do/true, bad/mad. It goes on that way. Nothing too much to get you thinking like Townshend would usually aim to do with his pen game. Some may find it rather forgettable. But that’s not me. I’ve always got a kick from it.

The track’s message is a bit like The Beatle’s ‘We Can Work It Out’. Just without the “Life is very short for fussing and fighting bit.” Like Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey wants this other person to concede defeat, possibly in an argument or something, it’s not very specific, and as they’re too stubborn to do so, he’s not afraid to cut ties with them and to come back around until they finally admit that they were wrong in the first place. Bit of a selfish tone to it, but it’s set to this galloping rhythm, achieved by replacing some of Keith Moon’s drums with cardboard boxes and a returning melodic phrase (first by vocals, then by horns) that make it all very catchy, indeed. Sounds like Daltrey and Entwistle are singing together on this one too, and I think you hear the latter’s more in the ‘Tried so hard’ sections. So that’s nice too.

#1168: Pink Floyd – See Emily Play

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Sometime in the autumn of 2010, I decided to listen to Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album for the first time. I’d always seen/heard good things about it up to that point, and after being familiar with The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall by then, it only made sense to check it out. It came to the album’s final track, and while simultaneously reading the Wiki article about it, there was a mention of how keyboardist Rick Wright performs a short musical nod to the band’s earlier song ‘See Emily Play’, as a tribute to Syd Barrett, right at the end as it fades to silence. So then it only made additional sense that I went to find that song and figure which part the article was talking about.

And that’s how I came to know the subject of today’s post. It was a roundabout way of making my point, but I got there in the end. And the melodic phrase Wright borrowed for the tribute was right there in the melody of ‘Emily”s first line. Released in the sweet summer of ’67, ‘See Emily Play’ was only the band’s second ever single. It became something of a hit for the group and they appeared on Top of the Pops to promote it, both of which Barrett was vehemently against. But I enjoy it, at least. Definitely a highlight from the Syd Barrett-era of Pink Floyd. I do think after the initial hearing I may have thought it was a little strange. It could only ever have been released in the ’60s, especially 1967. But the more listens I gave it, the more used to the whole thing I became, as one would usually do.

This track by Barrett sees him write about another thing that he seems to find rather odd and yet strangely fascinating. He did it with a scarecrow, a gnome, a bike. I’m sure there are others. ‘See Emily Play’ is supposedly written about a real person though, a girl Barrett saw while sleeping in the woods under the influence of a ‘psychedelic drug’. It’s not really clear in the lyric whether Barrett actually knows this lady or not, so as far as I know, he was just so captivated by her presence – the drugs may have reinforced this feeling – that he went ahead and wrote a song about this stranger. The minor-key verses hint at the sadness she may be feeling at times. Something to ponder until those jubilant choruses come in which end with a joyful calling of the song’s title, which also closes out the song overall. It’s always a fun listen when this one comes on.

#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.

#1166: Noisettes – Scratch Your Name

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This post may just mark the biggest amount of time between two posts by the same artist/band. The last time I wrote about Noisettes was in 2013, the year this blog started, when I was initially using Blogspot/Blogger. At that point, a year had already passed since the band had released their last album. It’s now been 12, and it doesn’t look like they’ll be returning anytime soon. But the initial trio-turned duo made a mark in the UK at least. In the aforementioned post for the last Noisettes song I wrote about, ‘Bridge to Canada’ (it’s a good one), I dedicate a whole paragraph to ‘Scratch Your Name’ – today’s song. A lot of points I make in that old paragraph still stand though. But if you could refrain from reading it there so I can sort of reuse it here, that’d be great.

‘Scratch Your Name’ was indeed the very first song I heard by the band, and yes, it was through seeing its music video (above) on MTV2 one day. Unlike the smart-aleck 18-year-old I was back then, I don’t think the video is rubbish at all and I was probably just exaggerating to try and get a laugh or something. They did re-release the song as a single some time after though and got a fancier video in the process (below). But I do remember thinking it was very cool to see a Black lady lead singer in a band on the channel for once. Shingai Shoniwa had some soul in that voice, and she rocked too. The video showing up was probably the first time a Black woman-fronted indie rock band appeared on my screen in my experience of watching MTV2, and I’d been frequently visiting that place for at least two years by that time. Was 2006, started watching MTV2 in 2004, so that would make sense.

Like I also said in that old post, and agree with too, the track is a ‘proper rocker’. It starts off with one riff, plays another under the verses before exploding into the power chords for the choruses. Rinse and repeat, it’s a thumbs-up performance. I really like the harmonies between Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith as they sing the hook, ‘Scratch your name into the fabric of this world before you go/The skin will tear under the pressure, make it deep so it always shows.’ That’s an encouraging message if ever there was one. Make a name for yourself, make an impact in this world, with your life, in other people’s. It’s something to take on board. The track can be found as the second song on the band’s debut album, What’s the Time Mr. Wolf?, from 2007. I once had a physical copy of that album, but gave it away. There’ll be another song from it that I’ll be revisiting on here.

#1165: Coldplay – The Scientist

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I was sort of around when this song first came around. Aware of the things going on around me and all that goodness. Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ was a single from the band’s A Rush of Blood to the Head album, just over 20 years ago in 2002. That would mean I was seven at the time. I have a very, very vivid memory when it comes to this track. I remember being in the playground of my primary school and singing the song out loud. Not to anyone in particular, just for my own entertainment’s sake. Must have seen the video somewhere at some point and the melody got stuck in that young head of mine. It was time to go back inside for lessons, and as I was in the line going inside, singing “Noobody saaid it was eeaaasyyyyyy”, this other kid holding the door letting everyone through overheard me and spontaneously started singing along. Looked me dead in the eyes and everything. We became good friends throughout those primary school years. Haven’t seen him since I left, though. Just the way things go.

So, yeah, I’ve liked ‘The Scientist’ for the longest time. Even before I realised that the song had the title and wasn’t called ‘Going Back to the Start’ or any other lyrics that appears in the track. The song’s one that everyone knows exists somehow. Even if you haven’t really listened to it in full, you would have heard it somewhere or at least think you did. I’m sure, like a lot of other casual music listeners at the time, the music video for the track is what really brought round the song’s attention. The plot of the thing is backwards. Chris Martin had to learn how to sing the lyric backwards in order to get the desired effect, which apparently took a month to do. As we see, above, Martin starts off on a randomly placed mattress and wanders through the streets and other miscellaneous places, all on his lonesome. Then he gets into a car, with a lady lying next to it, and the viewers witnesses why he’s been by himself up to that point. Martin and the lady were involved in a car accident, and the latter flew through the windshield because she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. For a song all about ‘going back to the start’, the video does very well to fulfill Martin’s wish.

All this time, I’ve never thought about what the song means. But without even having to look the lyrics up, it’s easy to understand that it’s possibly about a relationship ending, the regret that can come along with that situation and wanting to go back to the time when it all started and everything was coming up roses. Musically, ‘The Scientist’ is generally a really easy one to get into. Even if you’re not really paying attention to it, I think Chris Martin’s melody throughout does enough to have you singing along to it without realising. It’s very easy to remember, almost got a lullaby-like quality to it. Martin sings it really well. But I’d like to give a nod to those subtle string bends by Jonny Buckland in the guitar during the song’s outro too. There’s a slight intensity to that whole part which sweetly dissolves in the song’s last chord. It’s one of Coldplay’s most popular songs, and for very good reasons. It’s the last from A Rush of Blood to the Head you’ll see on hear, though. The singles are favourite songs on it.