I first heard this entrancing song at the end credits of the Coen Brothers film True Grit. The True Grit soundtrack is magnificent and other compositions from the film will feature here. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms was released on DeMent’s 4th album Lifeline; her first album in 8 years. It contains many traditional Protestant gospel songs DeMent describes as finding comfort in playing and singing.
In her liner notes, DeMent recounts how her mother sang these songs in times of stress looking straight at the sky, “as if she were talking to someone.” Her mother’s singing voice was an inspiration and great influence.
[Verse 1] What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine Leaning on the everlasting arms
[Chorus] Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms
[Verse 2] Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way Leaning on the everlasting arms; Oh how bright the path grows from day to day Leaning on the everlasting arms
This is the second song to feature here from Iris DeMent after Easy’s Gettin’ Harder Every Day. I remarked how her sound reminds me in texture and voice of Australia’s country artist Kasey Chambers.
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms is a hymn published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha Hoffman. Showalter said that he received letters from two of his former pupils saying that their wives had died. When writing letters of consolation, Showalter was inspired by the phrase in the Book of Deuteronomy 33:27, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms“.
The Carter Family performed the hymn during their time on Mexican Radio Stations in the late 1930s and early 1940s. One version can be found on YouTube and it’s well worth a listen.
Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.
The World’s Oldest Poem / Text
Gilgamesh is a 2100 BC Babylonian poem written in Akkadian. It is from one of the most ancient civilisations, located in modern Iraq. The poem tells of Gilgamesh, the King in Uruk who sought immortality.
It was translated in 1912. Half a million clay tablets were excavated from Mesopotamia (including the flood story). They are still being interpreted by Assyriologists at the British museum.
Which 4 companies were turned to, to build US military technology, supplies and armament in World War II(in response to Pearl Habor)?
Kaiser-built Liberty ships being outfitted, 1942
General Motors – Armoury (also vehicles and aircraft) – GM ranked first among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.
Chrysler – Tanks – Chrysler built M3 Grant tanks, used by the British to fight the Germans and Italians in North Africa, and later the superior Sherman tank as one of the primary military suppliers for the Allied war effort.
Ford Motors – Aviation – FM is best known for its production of 6,790 B-24 Bombers at the US government financed and owned plant at Willow Run, MI.
Henry Kaiser– Shipbuilding – Kaiser fought Hitler far more directly with what he is most famous for: the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California.
White Dwarf Stars
White Dwarf Stars are what stars like the sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel. The nuclear fusion in the core of the sun (atoms colliding) is the hydrogen nuclei combining together to cause helium. It expels most of its outer material in a series of pulses throwing off much of their mass in the form of a giant shell of gas, creating a planetary nebula. Only the hot core remains. The sun is mid-way through its life cycle. It will last another 5 billion years. Ultimately, our sun swells to a huge size, its radius twice the distance between the Earth to the sun. This stage is called the red giant phase.
In 2013, the shattered remains of a water-rich minor planet were found orbiting the white dwarf star GD 61, about 170 light-years from Earth.
I became familiar with this band from Max’s articles at Powerpop. I really like listening to this song and it should have been a big hit. It’s just a great pop-rock tune. I am in wonderment at the part of the song between 0:45 – 1:15 and they repeat it at 2:04. To me the vocals are strangely similar to Paul McCartney. Max wrote a stellar article on this one, so I’ll turn it over to him:
Glen Hansard is no stranger to this blog. I saw him (The Frames) open for Bob Dylan in Melbourne August the 17th, 2007 (see set list) and on the February 24, 2008 Hansard and Markéta Irglová won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Falling Slowly which you can read about here. Today’s song Lay Me Down is by Irish band The Frames based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums.
Explain the way I’m thinking now I, I will return to you What I have taken long before I, I will return again When it gets dark and day is done
And lay me down In the hollowed ground Down by your side I will stay So lay me down
The name The Frames arose from Hansard’s habit of fixing bicycles of his friends. The large number of bicycle frames lying around his house led neighbours to dub it the “house with the frames”. In a 2001 interview, Hansard said, “I worked in a bicycle shop for a little while, but the name came from … my back garden was so full of frames, my house became known as The Frames house, much to my mother’s distaste, she hated it‘.
Glen Hansard tells the darkly humorous story of Lay Me Down in the video below:
It turns out it’s actually cheaper to buy a grave…if you have a body and you are ready to go, it’s much cheaper. If you don’t have a body, it costs a lot more, because you’ve got to kind of book it….So I asked her to be buried beside me and she freaked out to be honest.
I found the following Audio manipulated video (political satire) while watching the latest Joe Rogan and Russell Brand podcast. Rogan warns how AI editing could convert narratives where the public might be unable to discern what is real from unreal. Rogan used an example of US President Biden at 40:00, but I couldn’t find his video. I did however find this one below.
Joe Rogan said:
I think they are also operating with very crude tools that will soon change with AI. I think AI will completely shift the narrative.. then you are going to be dealing with disinformation on a vast scale. Impossible to decipher.
Video description:
Joe Biden AI VOICE using ElevenLabs to make a funny State of the Union speech address. Joe Biden is called liar by Marjorie Taylor Greene but its changed to make it seem like she wants to go on a date with Joe Biden.
This is the second song to appear here from the underrated Warren Zevon. I doubt I have heard another song like Lawyers, Guns and Money. I hold it in such high regard, and I never grow tired of listening to it. It is a tongue-in-cheek tale of a young American man’s adventures in Cold War-era Latin America. Some of the lines are indelible like Send lawyers, guns, and money, The sh/t has hit the fan. It is the closing track on his 1978 album Excitable Boy. Bob Dylan’s son Jakob Dylan (The Wallflowers) did a version of this song on the Dave Letterman show.
[Intro] (One, two, three, four)
[Verse 1] I went home with the waitress The way I always do How was I to know She was with the Russians too?
[Verse 2] I was gambling in Havana I took a little risk Send lawyers, guns, and money Dad, get me out of this Ha!
I always mistook the line ‘Dad, get me out of this’ for ‘They’ll, get me out of this‘. Excitable Boy includes the single Werewolves of London, which reached No. 21 and remained in the American Top 40 for six weeks. The album brought Zevon to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career. It was considered macabrely humorous by some critics. More music will come from Warren Zevon.
The Traveling Wilburys were perhaps the most accomplished supergroup that ever formed. Their five members were all future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers: Tom Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. I have posted many of their songs here where you can find a lot more information about their formation and accomplishments.
It is written in Songfacts: Last Night was one of the first tracks they came up with, putting it together by throwing out ideas and making sure not to overthink it. This is obvious in the lyrics, where they rhyme like pre-schoolers. Despite its simplicity there is a certain charm and arresting quality to it.
She was there at the bar She heard my guitar She was long and tall She was the queen of them all
Last night Thinking about last night Last night Thinking about last night
She was dark and discreet She was light on her feet We went up to her room And she lowered the boom
Last night Thinking about last night Last night Thinking about last night
Songfacts also states: Session man Jim Keltner played drums on the album and came up with opening clangs, which sound like he’s banging on kitchen items with a drumsticks. That’s because he was. They recorded at the home studio belonging to Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. The studio itself was very small, so they did a lot of recording in his kitchen, where Keltner improvised.…Tom Petty sang the verses on this one, with Roy Orbison taking the chorus. According to Petty, when the Wilburys wrote a song, they would each try singing lead and George Harrison would decide who sounded best.
The video at the bottom of this post specifically from 27:20 reminded me of this snippet video I posted back in November ’21. It was when my daughter Katherine received a mandatory vaccine which she knew full-well as did I; was totally unnecessary for children let alone healthy adults.
I wrote: Case in point: This morning Jesus and his 6 year old sister Katherine Rose (seen above) just got vaccinated so they can enter a cinema, eat in a restaurant, even go to school…. they haven’t even studied presential in a school for 2 years because of the regime.
My daughter knew that. Katherine finished crying ‘Pobrecita yo‘ which means ‘Poor Me‘. There aren’t words to describe how bad these people are.
Here is the video – Out of Creative Control: Bret Speaks with Matt Orfalea on the DarkHorse Podcast. Below that is an amusing but disturbing video made by Matt Orfalea of Children of the COVID.
Today’s feature track Got the Life is a far departure from the music of Christina Perri, but what the heck, here goes. I like it because of the music and not for what is depicted in their official video. It has a mixture of styles between alternative metal, heavy metal, and rap–metal. To me it has a Prodigy vibe which honed me in. At 1:15 in the video below, the music with the man dancing dressed in a white shirt really did it for me. It’s good stuff..
Got the Life is by the American band Korn and released on their third studio album, Follow the Leader. The band decided they would release the song as a promotional single after each member found that there was something special about the song. I’ll give them that..there is something there, but it’s not pretty.
Hate something sometime someway Something kick on the front floor Mine? Something inside I’ll never ever follow So give me something that is for real I’ll never ever follow
Get your boogie on Get your boogie on
Hate something someway, each day, Feeling ripped off again Why? This shit inside Now everyone will follow So give me nothing just feel And now this shit will follow
According to wikipedia below, Got The Life…. had “phenomenal success”, and its music video was requested more than any other video on MTV’s TRL, making it the first officially “retired” music video.Got the Life did not receive much attention in the music press; however, the song was rewarded a gold certification in Australia by ARIA.
For trivia buffs: Got the Life originally contained an audio sample at the very beginning – a piece of dialogue spoken by actor Dom DeLuise in the 1974 film Blazing Saddles. Warner Brothers would not allow its usage, however, so it was removed prior to the song’s release.
Observation Blogger 