In the Mood (1983) – Robert Plant

Posted on October 20, 2022 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

In the Mood is a song I added to the project after hearing it on Max’s blog – Powerpop. The song sounded uncannily familiar to me, and after racking my brain I believe I located the source (or have I?). It’s called Safety Dance by Men Without Hats to feature later here in the Music Library Project. I don’t know if it’s because I originally heard In the Mood many moons ago or if the song reminded me so much of Safety Dance. That mystery will most likely remain unsolved.

I’m in the mood for a melody
I’m in the mood for a melody
I’m in the mood

I can make you dance
I can make you sing
I can make you dance
I can make you sing
If you want me too

In the Mood was from Robert Plant’s second solo studio album, The Principle of Moments (1983). The drummer on the recording was Genesis’ Phil Collins. It reached Number 4 on the charts. The song’s lyrics are not going to garner a Nobel Prize in Literature any time soon, but it’s a sweet listen. The funny thing is In the Mood and Safety Dance came out the same year. Just a coincidence?

References:
1. In the Mood (Robert Plant Song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: in the mood, men without hats, robert plant, safety dance
Posted in Music

In the Ghetto (1969) – Elvis Presley

Posted on October 19, 2022 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

In the Ghetto was written by country music songwriter and singer Mac Davis. I’ve never been a big fan of the music by Elvis, but I appreciate his greatness and influence on music and there are some songs which hit home for me. This is one such song. Oh, and it appears based on audience feedback, Baz Luhrmann did a good job recently with his Elvis biopic – Elvis.
Regarding today’s song: the following listener’s quote of the song struck me:

Thankfully I had a very strong single mother who wouldn’t let me out of her sight hardly. At the time I resented it, but she did the right thing and kept me out of an unwise path. I pray for everyone in poverty.

As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto (In the ghetto)
And his mama cries
‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
It’s another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto (In the ghetto)

The Ghetto was originally titled The Vicious Cycle. It was part of Elvis’ comeback album and was his first top 10 hit in 4 years and he included it in his setlist during his return to live performances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Now isn’t it strange – In the Ghetto was a staple played to the richest able to see Elvis in Las Vegas. Interestingly “In the Ghetto” was covered by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and was their debut single.

References:
1. In the Ghetto – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Elvis Presley, in the ghetto, nick cave
Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 27) – Perception vs Perspective

Posted on October 19, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Perception vs Perspective

I didn’t get much sleep Monday just passed because I listened to the entire Lex Fridmen’s podcast with ex CIA spy Andrew Bustamente. Fridmen asked Bustamente the question: What is the greatest spy-trick to generally improve anyone’s life? His answer (or words to the effect) were the following:

‘We all look at the world through our own perception. Perception is reality. It is unique only to you. That’s why people argue all the time. There is no advantage in trying to convince other people of your own perception. The way you win any argument or convince other people is when you replace perception with perspective. The way you get ahead in your career, your marriage, outsell or outrace is when you move off perception and into perspective.

Perspective is the art of looking outside of yourself; like an entity viewing the world from a third person or even more powerful – you sit in the other person’s shoes, sit in the seat of the person opposite you. And you think to yourself; what is their life like, what do they feel right now, and are they comfortable or are they afraid? What is the stressor they woke up with this morning? What is the stressor they will go to sleep with tonight? When you shift places with and get out of your own perception and into someone else’s perspective, now you are thinking like them, and it gives you an informational advantage. But what everyone is doing is thinking with their own perception and not from a different perspective. So, developing this practice of perspective gives you a superior advantage that the other does not have. If you do that to your boss; it’s going to change your career, to your spouse it will change your marriage, to your kids – your family legacy.

It’s not about empathy which is sympathising with another’s feelings, it’s about seeing another’s world view and logic – both left and right brain hemispheres. It is understanding what actions they are going to take because basically you’re telling them the story that’s in their own head. People want community; someone that understands and validates them. That I am with you in this time and moment – feelings aside. That is powerful and intimate.‘

Tagged with: Andrew Bustamente, cia, Lex Fridmen, perception, Perspective
Posted in Reading, Reflections

In Reverse (2014) – The War on Drugs

Posted on October 18, 2022 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

In Reverse is the third song to appear here from one of the most popular ‘Americana’ bands – The War on Drugs to sweep the music-world in the last decade. It’s an atmospheric and dreamy-vibe song which meanders for a good while and the listener uncertain where it will go. A bit like how the writer unveils himself, but this song eventually coalesces into something special…. If you look hard enough, you may find it. And this 2014 album ‘Lost in the Dream‘ took over 2 years for the band to get right. You can see the journey of this dream represented in In Reverse, the last song from the album.

You’ve been out in the street
Talkin’ ’bout the war with me
In the background is the night
Don’t wanna hesitate
Well, they tell me where you’re hidin’
But through the haze, there’s no one there
Wonderin’ if you care
Callin’ out your name in the darkness

When I’m done with my time here
And my keepsake is strollin’
Through the railways
But I never mind goin’
And I realize now
That the road is bare
And I hear it all
Through the grand parade

The 2014 album ‘Lost in the Dream‘ is one of the most acclaimed by critics and public in that year. The Pitchfork‘s Stuart Berman remarked that the album is “loaded with songs whose greatness is revealed slowly, where the simplest, most understated chord change can blow a track wide open and elevate it from simply pretty to absolutely devastating.’

According to Genius.com about In Reverse:

This is the most obvious Bob Dylan influenced song on the album. On how this track came together, frontman Adam Granduciel (lead singer and guitarist) explained in an interview:

“In Reverse” is one song that’s surprises me I wrote it. It’s one of those things that came about from mixing and arranging. At the last minute I started changing the song around. Now it’s a unified piece I can’t believe I fucking put this together….’

References:
1. Lost in the Dream – Wikipedia

Tagged with: in reverse, Lost in the dream, the war on drugs
Posted in Music

10/10 – 16/10/22 – Fact Checkers, Paulo Freire & Tulsi Gabbard

Posted on October 17, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

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

Who Fact Checks the Fact Checkers?
Video presentation at Dr. John Campbell

I consider Dr. John Campbell one of the most important YouTube channels around today regarding facts surrounding the vaccines and the Pandemic. I admire his honesty, clarity and integrity.

‘..thousands of people have been writing in, asking who do we trust – how do we know what the evidence is? And that is what we are going to be talking about in the video. And I have been very concerned about this. It’s never been as eroded as this in my long career as far as I can remember.‘ (View video presentation here)

How Paulo Freire Made Marxism Stupid
Audio podcast with James Lindsay at New Discourses

In last Wednesday’s ‘Ankidroid Collection’ post I discussed the concept of Dialectics and its association with the history of Leftism. James Lindsay’s audio presentations on the subject of Marxism are engaging and educational. Today’s presentation on the impact of Paulo Freire, who was the leading advocate of critical pedagogy, is no exception.

Paulo Freire is a Brazilian Marxist who is responsible for “Marxifying” education thereby ruining it. In effect, what he did was created a Marxist Theory of being educated and what this did, in turn, was create a Marxist Theory of knowledge and knowing. Who gets to be considered a knower? On what grounds? To whose benefit? Who decides? All of these questions are to be answered on (Critical) Marxist grounds. (Listen to audio podcast here)

# – Tulsi Gabbard
Video interview at The Joe Rogan Experience – Spotify

Tulsi Gabbard is a Former United States Representative, Iraq War veteran, political commentator, and host of the podcast “This is Tulsi Gabbard.” http://www.tulsigabbard.com (Video interview at here)

Tagged with: Dr John Campbell, fact checks, Joe Rogan, tulsi Gabbard, Vaccines
Posted in News, politics, Science

In My Secret Life (2001) – Leonard Cohen

Posted on October 16, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

When I began exploring Leonard’s music, this is one of the first songs outside out of his classic cannon that I was drawn to. In My Secret Life is a solid song from Leonard. Not in his top tier songs by any stretch but it’s firm and treads a beaten path. I think it’s a good introductory song to Leonard for anyone unaccustomed with his music, because it’s no frills – Leonard. This is the third song to appear here from the album Ten New Songs, released in 2001.

I saw you this morning
You were moving so fast
Can’t seem to loosen my grip
Well on the past
And I miss you so much
There’s no one in sight
And we’re still making love
In my secret life
In my secret life

The song was performed by Leonard and Sharon Robinson. Sharon’s voice appears a lot on Leonard’s later records. She was a frequent writing collaborator and has written songs for the likes of Don Henley and Roberta Flack.

The dystopian video scenes of this song in the official video below are alluring as well. It was filmed in Montreal at Habitat 67 famous for its futuristic take on architecture and was built by Jewish architect Moshe Safdie.

The lead response to the song (video below) I found enlightening:
Shanti: Leonard made me realise instead of running away from my misery it is ok to just sit with all of it and make peace with it.

References:
1. In My Secret Life – Wikipedia

Tagged with: in my secret life, leonard cohen, Sharon Robinson, ten new songs
Posted in Music

In My Room (1963) – the Beach Boys

Posted on October 15, 2022 by observationblogger — 26 Comments

This song was recorded in the summer of 1963 and has some of the most beautiful harmonies in Rock History. Simply stellar singing, songwriting, arrangement and depth. It has a breezy feel this song but alas it’s Brian Wilson writing about being in his room. I don’t believe I was familiar with this song in my youth but chanced upon it more recently. It was released on their album Surfer Girl and as the B-side of the “Be True to Your School” single and peaked at number 23 in the U.S.

There’s a world where I can go
And tell my secrets to
In my room
In my room

In this world I lock out
All my worries and my fears
In my room
In my room

Do my dreaming and my scheming
Lie awake and pray
Do my crying and my sighing
Laugh at yesterday

According to cowriter Gary Usher, Brian was always saying that his room was his whole world. “I had a room, and I thought of it as my kingdom. And I wrote that song.” I can attest I know that room too Brian.
Brian Wilson wrote in 1990 about In My Room:
There is a story behind this song. When Dennis, Carl and I lived in Hawthorne as kids, we all slept in the same room… I proceeded to teach them both how to sing the harmony parts to ‘Ivory Tower’. It took them a little while, but they finally learned it. We then sang this song night after night. It brought peace to us. When we recorded “In My Room”, there was just Dennis, Carl and me on the first verse … and we sounded just like we did in our bedroom all those nights. This story has more meaning than ever since Dennis’ death.

The album Surfer Girl reached number 7 in the US during a chart stay of 56 weeks. This was the first album by the group for which Brian Wilson was given sole production credit.

References:
1. In My Room – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Beach boys, in my room, surfer girl
Posted in Music

I’m Yours (2012) – Jason Mraz

Posted on October 14, 2022 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

I watched more Jason Mraz’s Sesame Street with Elmo version of this song titled ‘Outdoors‘ (bottom of this post) than the original. I wish I had a dollar for every-time my kids and I watched that video. I heard the original version before the ‘Elmo adaption’ and I found it melodious and infectious. I have heard little of Mraz’s discography so perhaps someone who reads this post can point me to another song of his they enjoy. I’m Yours was the third song from his third studio album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. He performed this song a few years before its release, and it became a crowd favourite.

Well you done done me in; you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
Now I’m trying to get back

Before the cool done run out
I’ll be giving it my bestest
Nothing’s going to stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it’s again my turn to win some or learn some

But I won’t hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait, I’m yours

I’m Yours spent 76 weeks on the Billboard charts, breaking the record for the longest time spent on the chart and nominated best Male Pop vocal at the Grammys. It is also the tenth best-selling digital song of all time in the US, selling over 6 million downloads, and 12.2 million worldwide. Since being added to YouTube I’m Yours has been viewed over 690 million times. The official video below was filmed in Hawaii (Oahu and Kauai). Jason Mraz’s musical style has a rhythmic feeling using nylon string guitars and has been heavily influenced by Brazilian music.

References:
1. I’m Yours (Jason Mraz song) – Wikipedia
2. Jason Mraz – Wikipedia

Tagged with: I'm Yours, Jason Mraz, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things
Posted in Music

In Case You Didn’t Know (2016) – Brett Young

Posted on October 13, 2022 by observationblogger — 1 Comment

I’m not a ‘big’ fan of Country Pop music, but I liked this song from the moment I first heard it. In Case You Didn’t Know is a song recorded by American country pop singer Brett Young. It was released to radio on January 9, 2017, as the second single from his debut self-titled album. The song has been certified 3× Platinum.

In case you didn’t know
Baby, I’m crazy bout you
And I would be lying if I said
That I could live this life without you
Even though I don’t tell you all the time
You had my heart a long long time ago
In case you didn’t know

Brett Young co-wrote this romantic song with Nashville songwriters Trent Tomlinson and Tyler Reeve. They penned it during a writer’s retreat at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He stated:
“Trent started telling us a story about something his mom always did growing up,” Young said in a behind-the-scenes video. “He said every time he’d leave the house, she’d stop him on his way out the door and say, ‘Hey Trent, in case you didn’t know, I love you.’ And me and Tyler both looked at each other and we were like, ‘Well, we gotta write that song.‘”

The simple performance video below was filmed at the historic Tivoli Theatre in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Young added:
“It ended up being a love story that we wrote, and we wanted everybody to be able to make it their love story,” he said. “So, we just kept it really simple and said what we would like to say to the person that we love, or we would like to hear back from the person that we love.”

References:
1. In Case You Didn’t Know – Songfacts

Tagged with: brett young, in case you didn't know
Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 26) – Luck, Envy & Dialectics

Posted on October 12, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Luck

In a recent interview Douglas Murray told the above quote by the former American Baseball player Branch Rickey. He used the quote in response to the Victimisation mentality which often lays the blame of one’s misfortune or good fortune down to ‘luck‘. For example, Australia, is commonly known as, ‘The Lucky Country’ because it has comparatively little crime and a high standard of living. But how much is that down to luck as compared to being a residue of design?

Envy

Irish writer Oscar Wilde once told a fictional tale about how the devil was crossing the Libyan desert. He came upon a spot where a small number of demons were tormenting a holy hermit. The sainted man easily shook off their evil suggestions. The devil watched as his lieutenants failed to sway the hermit, then he stepped forward to give them a lesson.

“What you do is too crude,” he said. “Permit me for one moment.”

He then whispered to the holy man, “Your brother has just been made Bishop of Alexandria.” Suddenly, a look of malignant envy clouded the once-serene face of the hermit. Then the devil turned to the imps and said, “That is the sort of thing which I should recommend.”

Dialectics

I wrote a review of the above movie Half Nelson recently where I discussed Gosling as a middle-school history teacher using a form of ‘dialectics’ in concept and dialogue in implementation. I have heard the term Dialectics used a lot more in recent presentations by James Lindsay about Critical Methods and Radical Thinking. So, what is Dialectics?

It is the art of investigating or discussing the truth of options or the inquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their solutions. It is the modus operando of Leftism for the past 200 years since Hegel and later Marx. It is a Socrates technique of exposing false beliefs and eliciting truth – Arguments that juxtapose or contain contradictory ideas. In summary, it’s discussing the ‘thesis’ (meta-narrative) then exposing the ‘antithesis’ (postmodernism) and resolving it through ‘synthesis’.

Tagged with: Branch Rickey, dialectics, Douglas Murray, envy, half nelson, james lindsay, Luck, oscar wilde
Posted in politics, Reading, Reflections

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