Supergrass’ first official single as a band. Sounding like it was recorded in a few minutes in cramped and compact room, “Caught by the Fuzz” is an autobiographical account of lead singer Gaz Coombe’s first time of being arrested by the police when he was only 15.
The song is very quick. Quite punk-esque, with a semi-talking verse and a belter of a chorus which all end with the word ‘tonight’. Well, it’s not really a chorus. But if you listen to it, you will understand what I mean.
The film “Hot Fuzz” has this track playing during the credits, so if you wanted to know what that song was called…. here it is.
It is the second song on the band’s first album “I Should Coco“, a bit of Cockney rhyming slang for those of you who aren’t familiar.
“The Cap’m” is the second most popular They Might Be Giants song from “The Else” according to TMBW, coming in at #40 on the overall song rating chart. Why is this? Well, I can’t speak for all of the fans who rated it. What I can tell you is why I like it though. That is probably what you expect, as that is what I have done for every song on my iPod since February.
What is probably the most interesting aspect of the song is the incongruous relationship between the lyrics and everything about the music. The music itself sounds very uplifting, from the chord progressions to the vocals. But the lyrics are from the point of view of a pretentious and egoistic narrator. Almost like “And Your Bird Can Sing” by The Beatles…. That’s another song I like. Maybe, more bands should go with that formula, because the two songs I know of that use it have done no wrong.
Well, here I am. The end of another letter. It’s the end of ‘B’. I’ve been doing this since the day I finished my A-Levels, and now I’m in university. That’s crazy. It’s weird to think about. It seems very fitting for it to end on this note.
When will ‘C’ start? God only knows. I wouldn’t say this is the end of “My iPod”, but I can’t see a point in the near future when I’ll start writing about my favourite songs in alphabetical order. It’s a shame. It will be back… soon. Hopefully.
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The video for this song is now censored when it plays on “MTV Rocks” in the UK. It takes out all the best scenes too. Why?! I don’t get it.
“By the Way” was the Chili Peppers’ first single and title track of the band’s eighth album in 2002. The song proved to be very popular in the USA and the UK reaching number one in the many charts they have in the former, and number two in the latter.
The music video features Dave Sheridan (Officer Doofy) who kidnaps Anthony Kiedis with his taxi, a lot of other shit happens, Anthony escapes and Sheridan picks up Chad Smith at the end. It’s action-packed to say the least. If you haven’t seen it, it’s probably one of the best videos that accompanies the tone and mood of the song.
The song initially trolls you with its quiet, Scar Tissue-esque introduction before launching into a pumping combat/style instrumental break driven by Flea’s bass and Anthony’s rapping before launching into the uprising chorus. It’s brilliant stuff to listen to.
I guess that’s it. I’ll see you when I see you. I hope you’ll be waiting for……… me.
“Burn the Witch” was released as the third single from Queens of the Stone Age’s fourth album “Lullabies to Paralyze”. That album was their most recent when I started listening to the band’s music in 2005, and I can remember the video for the song being shown multiple times on the television.
“Lullabies” is a much darker album, believe it or not, compared to “Songs for the Deaf”. The guitars are much harsher and there is an overall sense of gloom and obscurity that is built in each song. “Burn the Witch” is no different. The song begins with these harsh whispers before jumping into its ominous stomping beat which carries on throughout the song along with the contrast of Josh Homme’s falsetto vocals with Mark Lanegan and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top’s gravelly, lower tones. The bass line which mimics the vocal melody of the verses repeats throughout too, and all of these combined make up a tune which will disturb you to your soul.
The music video builds this feeling of doom with very freaky imagery. It does look quite cheap and you don’t know whether to laugh because everything looks fake, but who wouldn’t feel a little discomfort if you witnessed a witch with an army of skeletons coming towards you? You wouldn’t just feel a little bit frightened. You’d run away, duh.
By that time I’d been listening to Billy Talent for about a year or so, but it was only their material from their first album. When were they going to release something new? Well, it was when they uploaded their demo for “Red Flag” on their myspace page that I found out that something was coming pretty soon. It was an exciting time.
“Billy Talent II” came out and for me was just as good as their first. The band had a lot less anger in their sound but you could sense that it was still there. The album cover summed up that statement.
“Burn the Evidence” describes the scene of a man who drives a luxury Sedan, crashes and plummets through the windshield. It’s unclear whether this is intentional. I thought it was. Users on songmeanings.com say otherwise. It seems to me that the narrator was also built up for great expectations, those didn’t go as planned and so he kills himself. It’s not a sad song though. The instrumentation is delivered with determination and the lyrics depict a person thinking forward instead of feeling pity on himself. Whatever it is, it’s a very good closer for an album.
Did you know it’s in the same key as “Living in the Shadows”? I’m very sure they are the same structurally too. I sing the bridge from “Shadows” to the instrumental break in “Burn the Evidence” all the time. They are very similar.
The Music in My Ears 
