Burning Gold (2014) – Christina Perri

Posted on June 2, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Now to the cream of the crop. What I always admire about seeing Christina Perri in her videos are the little imperfections which for me makes her seem more ‘Human‘. Speaking of which, if you haven’t heard her song Human then you are just letting all of the best in life pass you by. That song is commensurate with Nathy Peluso’s Sana Sana and Puro Veneno and demonstrates how just one person; alone can deliver exceptional song-artistry in a sole performance. No back-up sexy dancers to cajole anyone.

Onto the imperfections…When I first watched this Burning Gold video I was hung up on the lazy chorus, the cringy Cleopatra opening and her crappy Supremes wobble which doesn’t compare to the fluency of the dancers either side of her. But it’s Perri and when she sings ‘I’ve had enough, I’m standing up‘, all of my aforementioned concerns fall by the wayside. Like how she sung in Time of our Lives – the Mendihuaca Beach song – ‘I’d do it again and again and again‘.

Looking for an exit in this world of fear
I can see the path that leads the way
Mama never left, and daddy needs me here
I wish the wind would carry a change

Looking through the window to a world of dreams
I can see my future slip away
Honey, you won’t get there if you don’t believe
I wish the wind would carry a change

I’ve had enough
I’m standing up
I need, I need a change
I’ve had enough of chasing luck
I need, I need a change

I adore watching the Perri scenes in the bar. Note her intonations and inflections of voice, which so few can do like her. Also, her looks and expressions are priceless. Burning Gold was recorded for her second studio album, Head or Heart (2014). The song was used on seventh episode of second season of the American TV series, The Fosters. Burning Gold debuted at number 39 on the Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart. As with her previous mentioned single, Human, the song’s instrumentation consists primarily of piano, but it also incorporates a ukulele and drums.

Even how I imagined it, Perri seemed burnt out in this and this is reflected in Song Facts:

(She) didn’t want to be dealing with another potential single. “I hit this gnarly point where I stopped having good experiences,” she told Billboard magazine. “As a writer, I know you have to write sh—y songs to write good songs too...But the night before my last day, it was 4 AM and I was in a place where I just didn’t like music anymore, and I didn’t want to go,” Perri continued. “My manager said, ‘Can you, for me, go up in your pajamas and at least show up?’ So I go and I sit down and I said, ‘If I hear the word ‘single’ one more time, I’m going to throw up.” After taking the tired songstress for pizza, Kid Harpoon convinced her to return to his studio, and the song was birthed in just twenty minutes. Perri said: “We stayed up all night that night finishing it“.

Reference:
1. Burning Gold (song) – Wikipedia

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Love Itself (2001) – Leonard Cohen

Posted on June 1, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Love Itself is the fourth song to appear here from Leonard Cohen’s tenth studio album Ten New Songs. It staggers me the sheer quantity of excellent music Leonard realised post 2000s. Of the 21 songs already posted here by Cohen, 9 of them were released since 2000. That’s extraordinary when you consider he was 66 years old in 2000. I have so much adoration for today’s featured song. It’s a slow, meditative piece, but feels as enduring and meaningful as any of his most alluring music. Sharon Robinson who features on the cover, produced and cowrote the album. It was produced in Cohen’s and Robinson’s home studios in Los Angeles. It was also Leonard’s first album in nearly 10 years.

The light came through the window
Straight from the sun above
And so inside my little room
There plunged the rays of love

In streams of light I clearly saw
The dust you seldom see
Out of which the nameless makes
A name for one like me

I’ll try to say a little more
Love went on and on
Until it reached an open door
Then love itself, love itself was gone

The following is paraphrased from some of the more insightful interpretations from Song Meanings:
A stream of light, meaningless in itself, seems to be in the context of a life charged by a relationship of love. Sometimes you can’t recognise it with the sun in your eyes. That relationship is now over, and his capacity “to see and feel” in a way that had been previously empowered by his relationship of love is now lost and extinguished. It’s about how we are created by the hand or the will of the Nameless from dust, and then have a trip through formless circumstances. And finally return to the same room where there is no difference between the nameless and the name or between being ever created or never being exists.

Before I present the following thoughts from Sharon Robinson below, I want to highlight just how incredible her voice is. She remarks how Alexandra Leaving is one of her favourites from Leonard Cohen. Watch her sing this song from 1:05 in this live version.

For his 80th birthday, in this BBC interview Sharon Robinson recollected her time with Leonard:

When we did Ten New Songs from 2001 we tried doing some different things and started singing in a lower register and I think that style of singing has evolved and just improved and gotten really amazing…Mostly Leonard had been studying Zen before that and writing all during that time and presented me with these amazing lyrics he had been working on. These very thoughtful and deep lyrics and I would mostly take the lyrics home and work on the music….I love Alexandra Leaving – that lyric is just a gift, I love Everybody Knows. There’s a song on Ten New Songs that isn’t as well known. It’s just magical. It’s a song called Love Itself..I feel very fortunate to have participated in those songs.

References:
1. Ten New Songs – Wikipedia
2. Song Meanings – Love Itself

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Candle in the Wind (1973) – Elton John

Posted on May 31, 2023 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

This song was about Norma Jeane and later adapted for Princess Diana. Thanks for reading.

I will need to space this out. What more needs to be said about this song that just about everyone has heard, knows and feels akin to? Spacing lets go…we have an article to get through…

I bought the above single (Goodbye England’s Rose) when it came out just after Princess Diana’s death. I remember the exact moment where I was when I heard the news. That’s when I had enough money to do it, now I just search a tech giant page and pay for Internet services. I preferred paying the Elton John consortium directly. Anyhows, onto Elton (the individual). I remember where I was when I first heard….No I already said that. I tried to make a joke there and this paragraph is too short, so I need to fill it out. I think now it’s about the same length as the next one.

I remember listening to this song, the original, Candle in the Wind from just about when I was in my crib. My mother came in and said here is your dummy and slapped my face a few times and then placed the turnstile towards my cot and said, ‘listen to this‘. I’m joking of course but Candle in the Wind was one of the first songs I ever remember hearing. It’s all about spacing for dummys which I’m going to try to teach myself writing this article. This paragraph I felt was at a good length, the previous not so much, so I changed that and then I had to change this one.

[Verse 1]
Goodbye, Norma Jeane
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled
They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And they made you change your name

[Chorus]
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in
And I would’ve liked to know you
But I was just a kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did

This is what spacing out looks like. It’s a bit post modernism apart from opposing the meta-narrative. You write more words, and it seems you have written more and filled an article. You just space it out and mention ‘Elton’ and ‘Diana’ a few times and before you know it, you have achieved an article with this many paragraphs to satisfy one. Can you imagine how Diana felt in the car in the tunnel in France or how Elton sung at her funeral in England? Sh$t that just lasted one line..That’s poor spacing.

I’ll go with this. There were two times I remember Elton singing the last lines of both ‘Your Song‘ and ‘Candle in the Wind‘ where he raises his register. How do I know about ‘register’ that’s because Sharon Robinson will mention it tomorrow about Leonard’s delivery post 2000 and ‘lowering his register’. ‘Sh/t sure’ she knows more about this than me. I’m still trying to find the ‘Your Song‘ example, but alas in the Diana dedication 1997 Elton does exactly that – ‘raises the register’. Listen to his ending from ……(that is spacing) 3:40 Spacing…do you know how long it took me to find that? Line space here…

It took me, umm, lets see….well I’d searched it before and didn’t find it. This time I searched it and found it in one minute only due to the cover and the single I bought with my hard-earned money. Now I have found it, oh yes, now I’ve got it. Now I pass it onto to ‘folks at home‘.

References:
1. Candle in the Wind – Wikipedia

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Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word (1968) – Joan Baez

Posted on May 31, 2023 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

I first heard Joan Baez perform Bob Dylan’s song Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word in the 1967 documentary of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England – Don’t Look Back. From 3:00 minutes in the second video you can hear Joan sing a short version of this song after her excellent performance of another Dylan song – Percy’s Song. I always preferred how Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word sounded in her raw delivery on the tour over the released version. Whoever went for the sitar-guitar on the released version should have been strongly advised against it. Joan Baez performed the song numerous times throughout her career.

Dylan, it seemed was giving out songs like candy. So many artists were achieving fame and making a fortune off his lyrics and tunes. Baez is shown in the scene where she tells Dylan, “If you finish it, I’ll sing it on a record“. Baez first included the song on Any Day Now, her 1968 album of Dylan covers; and she has since recorded it three additional times. Dylan never released a version of his song, and never performed it live.

For back story about Joan Baez’s relationship with Bob Dylan, I point you to my article about Diamonds and Rust. That song is regarded by a number of critics and fans as one of her best compositions and it is my favourite song from her.

[Verse 1]
Seems like only yesterday I left my mind behind
Down in the gypsy café with a friend of a friend of mine
Who sat with a baby heavy on her knee
Yet spoke of life most free from slavery
With eyes that showed no trace of misery
A phrase in connection first with she occurred
That love is just a four-letter word

[Verse 2]
Outside a rattling store-front window, cats meowed to the break of day
Me, I kept my mouth shut, to you, I had no words to say
My experience was limited and underfed
You were talking while I hid
To the one who was the father of your kid
You probably didn’t think I did, but I heard
You say that love is just a four-letter word

Baez was born on Staten Island, New York, on January 9, 1941. Her father was Mexican and her mother Scottish. The Baez family converted to Quakerism during Joan’s early childhood, and she has continued to identify with the tradition, particularly in her commitment to pacifism and social issues. While growing up, Baez was subjected to racial slurs and discrimination because of her Mexican heritage. Consequently, she became involved with a variety of social causes early in her career. She declined to play in any white student venues that were segregated, which meant that when she toured the Southern states, she would play only at black colleges.

Based on my limited observations, the music of Joan is more popular here in South America than Bob Dylan. Baez emerged at the forefront of the American roots revival, where she introduced her audiences to the then-unknown Bob Dylan. Baez’s distinctive vocal style and political activism had a significant impact on American popular music. She was one of the first musicians to use her popularity as a vehicle for social protest, singing and marching for human rights and peace.

Dylan didn’t share her political aims and Joan even mentioned in this interview: ‘I was just trying to shove him into a mould…I wanted him to be a political spokesperson. That was my hang-up. And it wasn’t until years later that I realised he didn’t need to be on the team. He wrote the songs‘.

References:
1. Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word – Wikipedia
2. Joan Baez – Wikipedia

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Love Dream (Liebesträume No. 3) – Franz Liszt

Posted on May 30, 2023 by observationblogger — 7 Comments
Image result for Franz Liszt

Liebestraum No. 3 in A-flat major (Liebestraum – German for Dreams of Love) is the second piece to feature here from the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. Liebestraum is a set of three solo piano works published in 1850 by Liszt based on poems by Ludwig Uhland and Ferdinand Freiligrath. In Western classical music tradition this is called ‘lieder‘ which is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. Freiligrath’s poem for today’s piece is the third nocturne about unconditional mature love (“Love as long as you can!“, “O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst“). Below is the translated English version:

O love, as long as love you can,
O love, as long as love you may,
The time will come, the time will come
When you will stand at the grave and mourn!

Be sure that your heart burns,
And holds and keeps love
As long as another heart beats warmly
With its love for you

And if someone bears his soul to you
Love him back as best you can
Give his every hour joy,
Let him pass none in sorrow!

And guard your words with care,
Lest harm flow from your lips!
Dear God, I meant no harm,
But the loved one recoils and mourns.

O love, love as long as you can!
O love, love as long as you may!
The time will come, the time will come,
When you will stand at the grave and mourn.

You will kneel alongside the grave
And your eyes will be sorrowful and moist,
– Never will you see the beloved again –
Only the churchyard’s tall, wet grass.

You will say: Look at me from below,
I who mourn here alongside your grave!
Forgive my slights!
Dear God, I meant no harm!

Yet the beloved does not see or hear you,
He lies beyond your comfort;
The lips you kissed so often speak
Not again: I forgave you long ago!

Indeed, he did forgive you,
But tears he would freely shed,
Over you and on your unthinking word –
Quiet now! – he rests, he has passed.

O love, love as long as you can!
O love, love as long as you may!
The time will come, the time will come,
When you will stand at the grave and mourn.

Liebestraum No. 3 in A-flat major is the last of the three that Liszt wrote and the most popular. It can be considered as split into three sections, each divided by a fast cadenza requiring dexterous finger work and a very high degree of technical ability. The same melody is used throughout the piece, each time varied, especially near the middle of the work, where the climax is reached.

The three Liebesträume were inspired on two poems by Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862) and one by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876), that describe, respectively, three types of love: love as religious ecstasy, love as erotic desire and love as total surrender.

https://sheetmusiclibrary.website/2022/11/08/liebestraum-easy-piano-3/

Reference:
1. Liebesträume – Wkipedia

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22/5 – 28/5/23 – The Grievance Studies Affair Special Edition

Posted on May 29, 2023 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

‘Our goal is to publish as many papers as we can that are unbelievably sophisticated parodies, and we are going to publish these in Tier 1 Journals‘ – Peter Boghossian

‘We are trying to go right to the source and say the whole enterprise is bogus… we’re hoping if we can get to the source and show that the scholarship everything is coming out of, is itself a fraud nobody has to listen to these people anymore‘ – James Lindsay

Joe Rogan – Exposing Social Justice with Peter Boghossian & James Lindsay
Video excerpt at JRE clips

In this video James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian break down what comprised the Grievance Studies hoax.

Pam Baker in the comments of this clip wrote: ‘As a person who relies on scientific, peer-reviewed, published studies to guide my actual practice as a healthcare professional I have to tell you that this is not only astonishing but makes me question every single thing about the world that we currently inhabit’. (View entire video interview extract here)

The Reformers (2023) – Part One
Video documentary at Michael Nayna

The Reformers explores the execution of the Grievance Studies hoax and aftermath for those involved. The hoax, orchestrated by a group of scholars (Peter Boghossian, James Lindsay, Helen Pluckrose) who submitted deliberately absurd and ideologically biased articles to prominent academic journals, made worldwide headlines and sparked intense debate about the influence of ideology and the erosion of critical thinking in academia. Nayna was embedded with the scholars from the hoax’s infancy. (View documentary here).

The Reformers (deleted scene) – Peter Boghossian’s Thought Experiment
Video excerpt at Wisdom for Life

This scene was shot around the time Helen Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian, and James Lindsay had started writing their hoax papers.

The conversation here in Peter Boghossian’s class is about the subject of Phrenology – The process that involves observing and/or feeling the skull to determine an individual’s psychological attributes.

From 2:00 minutes in the video:

Student: ‘Well, I guess the scientific method is pretty universal right? Regardless of what science you study, I mean if you use the scientific method ..’

Peter Boghossian – ‘Said from the dude with the small skull. I mean that’s the kind of argument that people who have warped skulls make’. (Watch video excerpt here)

The Evolution of Postmodern Thought | Helen Pluckrose
Video presentation at New Discourses

Helen Pluckrose develops the definition of “Social Justice” as it is used in the academic literature in this tradition, explains its connections to identity politics and the political correctness movement, and then shows the relevance of the original postmodernists to this Theory in some detail. She does this to elegantly describe the progression of these ideas from Theory to activism to the streets by describing how these ideas originated, evolved, and were built upon by successive generations of Theorists leading up to those who have become famous names even outside of the scholarly world today: for examples, Peggy McIntosh, Barbara Applebaum, and Robin DiAngelo. (Watch video presentation here)

news on the march the end
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Love Buzz (1969) – Shocking Blue

Posted on May 28, 2023 by observationblogger — 19 Comments


I was telling Bernie at his blog article on the (2015) Steve Jobs movie that California Dreamin’ as seen in Dragon ‘The Bruce Lee Story’ is the ants’ pants, because it demonstrates how delicate and fraught the whole notion ‘a dream state’ and opportunity is. What has that got to do with todays’ song or even Bernie’s article? Your guess is better than mine.

Any-hows, today’s song comes from a Dutch group and leads us nicely into the following clip that mentions the Dutch, Netherlands and Holland.

Today’s song has a similar sound and vibe to the psychedelic rock style of the Mamas and Papas. Love Buzz was covered by Nirvana, released as their debut single in 1988. I just read that someone paid 600,000 dollars for a smashed Kurt Cobain guitar. Are you f$%king kidding me?! You would have to pay me that to repair it and keep it in my living space along with my sole plant that I am compelled to spray and water once a week.

Would you believe me when I tell you
You are the king of my dreams?
Please don’t deceive me when I hurt you
It just ain’t the way it seems

Can’t you hear my love buzz?
Can’t you hear my love buzz?
Can’t you hear my love buzz?

I need you like a desert needs rain
I would rather like to die
Darling, oh when I don’t see you
So spread your wings and fly

Max mentioned at his blog PowerPop about the group Shocking Blue – The band was founded in 1967 and after recruiting vocalist Mariska Veres they soon became huge. With their single “Venus” they became the first Dutch band ever to reach the first spot on the American Billboard Hot 100.

The group were formed in Hague who are Dutch from the Netherlands and Holland. They were part of the Nederbeat movement in the Netherlands. I had little interest to look up Nederbeat, but for the story I thought I should go and look it up.
It says, ‘it is a genre of rock music that began with the Dutch rock boom in the mid-1960s influenced by British beat groups and rock bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.’ Gee whiz, I would never have guessed that!

Reference:
1. Love Buzz – Shocking Blue

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Love and Mercy (1988) – Brian Wilson

Posted on May 27, 2023 by observationblogger — 21 Comments

The biographical Brian Wilson – Beach Boys movie by the same name brought me to this song. The original 80’s drenched synth recording of Love and Mercy left me cold, but his later renditions such as the one below I like a lot. It has been his closing number at his solo live concerts. The song was released as a single on July 1, 1988, but failed to chart. Brian Wilson is no stranger to this blog as his music has featured here prominently in the form of the Beach Boys.

I was sittin’ in a crummy movie
With my hands on my chin
All the violence that occurs
Seems like we never win

Love and mercy, that’s what you need tonight
So love and mercy to you and your friends tonight

I was lying in my room
And the news came on TV
A lotta people out there hurtin’
And it really scares me

Love and mercy, that’s what you need tonight
Love and mercy to you and your friends tonight

I respect and understand how this song is a recession in complexity for him. Sometimes in life you just need to go back to basics. Wilson noted the song as “probably the most spiritual song I’ve ever written“.

Brian Wilson is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century. His best-known work is distinguished for its high production values, complex harmonies and orchestrations, layered vocals, and introspective or ingenuous themes. Wilson is also known for his formerly high-ranged singing and for his lifelong struggles with mental illness.

“I would think love is a gentle thing and mercy would be more desperate, ultimately more desperately needed, thing in life. Mercy–a little break here and there for somebody who’s having trouble….I was going for a spiritual, semi-Beach Boy kind of background sound, but more of a Brian Wilson lead vocal thing”.

References:
1. Love and Mercy – Wikipedia

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Lost Without You (2003) – Delta Goodrum (Darren Hayes Cover)

Posted on May 26, 2023 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

The Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrum made her mark with Lost Without You, but the version I want to focus on today is from Darren Hayes. Delta was the Pop Diva of Australian music in the early 2000’s…then she was diagnosed with cancer and her plight came somewhat of a national concern. Too sick to perform at the 2003 ARIA awards, fellow Australian artist Darren Hayes from Savage Garden flew out from Los Angeles to deliver his version.
What will forever be etched in my memory (apart from Hayes killing it from 3:15) is Delta’s reaction to her own song.

[Verse 1]
I know I can be a little stubborn sometimes
You might say a little righteous and too proud
I just want to find a way to compromise
‘Cause I believe that we can work things out

[Pre-Chorus]
I thought I had all the answers
Never giving in
But baby, since you’ve gone
I admit that I was wrong

[Chorus]
All I know is I’m lost without you
I’m not gonna lie
How am I gonna be strong without you?
I need you by my side
If we ever say we’d never be together
And we ended with goodbye
Don’t know what I’d do
I’m lost without you
I keep trying to find my way
But all I know is I’m lost without you
I keep trying to face the day
Lost without you

Lost Without You was released on her debut album Innocent Eyes as the album’s second single in 2003. The song became Goodrem’s second number-one single in Australia and also peaked within the top 10 in New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. You can find her official video release below Darren Hayes version. Lost Without You was released to Australian radio in early February 2003 and was the most added song to radio for that week.

On 16 August 2020, Goodrem released a six-minute video detailing the back story behind her song Paralyzed. In the video, she revealed that after having her salivary gland removed, she faced serious complications that led to the paralysis of a nerve in her tongue, which left her having to re-learn to speak.
In 2022, Goodrem was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for “significant service to the not-for-profit sector, and to the performing arts“. She was also honoured with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.

References:
1. Lost Without You (Delta Goodrum Song) – Wikipedia

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Lost in the Dream (2014) – The War on Drugs

Posted on May 25, 2023 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Lost in the Dream is the 5th song to appear here from the American band The War on Drugs. This song was the first which hooked me and is the title track from their third studio album released in 2014. The album recording took over 2 years to get right, and you can hear just how methodical they must have been.

In my article I Don’t Live Here Anymore, I posted a video of their ‘Tiny Desk‘ Concert and its very apparent how each band member are masters of their craft and play their instruments with delicate care to achieve the highest quality sound. I consider The War on Drugs the most impressive Americana folk – rock band I have heard in the last decade.

[Verse 1]
Lost in the dream
Or just the silence of a moment?
It’s always hard to tell
Down in the way
They cut it open and they sold it
It’s always hard to tell

[Verse 2]
I saw a soldier man
And he locked his eyes like they were rings
Ooh, but it’s hard, I can’t resist
You may risk it all
You’d risk it all for the memory
But it’s livin’ under your skin
Love’s the key to the things that we see
And don’t mind chasin’
Leave the light on in the yard for me, oh

There aren’t many songs which open with a more breathtaking guitar instrumental than this. Those two years were well – invested even to achieve these first 30 seconds of sound! You know you are listening to the best when you can’t fathom how they accomplished it.

When I was listening to their monumental ‘Pain‘ track I couldn’t help but think that the ‘Americana music’ torch had been passed on from Springsteen to The War on Drugs. They seem to represent the voices and concerns of a Springsteen middle ‘hometown‘ audience. Springsteen was cited as influencers for this album as well as Tom Petty and Bob Dylan.

The recording session of Lost in a Dream (album) was characterised by numerous rewrites. The album’s lyrical themes were influenced by the loneliness and depression (lead singer – songwriter) Adam Granduciel faced after he finished touring. The album cover (image above) features an image of Adam Granduciel standing in front of a window in his home.

Based on 139 year-end top ten lists compiled by Metacritic, Lost in the Dream was the most critically acclaimed album of 2014, appearing on 54 lists and being named first on 13 of them. Paste named Lost in the Dream as their album of the year, writing “from all the muck and malaise that midlife produces, something beautiful and permanent has been revealed—an enduring contribution to the canon.”

Reference:
1. Lost in the Dream – Wikipedia

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