Together (2025) – Michael Shanks (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on September 5, 2025 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

IMDB Storyline:
Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions already flaring, an encounter with an unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love and their flesh.

I recently wrote a review for Friday’s Finest on Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician’s Scheme, which was my No. 1 film of the year so far – until I saw Together, a film so darn relatable that I absolutely revelled in it. Oddly enough, the pull of the movie felt analogous to the magnetic attraction between the partners themselves. I found myself laughing and scared at the same time, completely invested in the couple, played with honesty and ease by real-life married duo Dave Franco and Alison Brie. And – call me a morbid peeper – but the sex scenes really did it for me.

I actually wanted to see it again, but I couldn’t – its run here in Colombian cinemas was cut surprisingly short, clearly not gelling with audiences. Meanwhile, another horror movie, Weopons (released here as The Hour of the Disappearance), is still going strong on the listings. I saw that one twice, the second time with my son, and it only got better on repeat viewing. That’s another smart, taut, and oddly funny horror film I’d highly recommend.

If there’s a movie that captures, through supernatural metaphor, what’s going wrong in modern society and relationships, it’s Together. It works as a mirror of our times: a surreal but recognisable reflection on gender fluidity, empathy turned inward, and love tipping into obsession. The first issue it dramatizes is blurred gender identity – men becoming more like women and vice versa – which is echoed in the couple’s gradual physical and emotional merging. The second is a kind of “fashionable empathy,” where standing in another’s shoes is pushed to extremes. Instead of genuine compassion or objectivity, the film shows empathy warped into control and self-erasure. The third is toxic dependency, which my friend Bernie nailed in his own review: “this midnight movie examines ‘you need me more than I need you, but I can’t live without you’… Metaphor for codependency becomes a treacherously entertaining ordeal.”

⚠️ Huge spoiler alert ahead: if this movie intrigues you, stop reading here. The less you know, the better, because it’s bonkers. This part is for those who’ve already seen it.

It wasn’t until about 30 seconds after the end credits rolled that it hit me: the neighbour, like our central couple and their newly merged selves, was in fact androgynous too – the product of Plato’s “together-ness” taken to its unnerving extreme. Regarding the film’s focus on toxic relationships, the couple ultimately joins the cult of sad marriages, where partners lose their individuality and fuse into one, choosing fear and comfort over truth. Ingenious.

I’ve avoided giving scores in previous Friday’s Finest instalments, but I’ll do something different: Together gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

References:
1. Together – IMDB
2. Together (2025 Film) – Wikipedia

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Posted in Movies and TV

The Words (2014) – Christina Perri

Posted on September 4, 2025 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

Now to the cream of the crop. Christina Perri released the delectable ballad The Words in 2014 on her album Head or Heart, after first promoting the singles Human and Burning Gold, both of which have already featured here. To give the song an international push, a music video was released starring Colin O’Donoghue – better known to many as Captain Hook in Once Upon a Time. Christina confirmed the song was dedicated to Hook and Emma, a couple in the series. Of course, Perri is no stranger to tying her music to big-screen love stories – her song A Thousand Years, written for the Twilight saga, remains her signature hit.

I mentioned in my earlier article about the Brokeback Mountain theme that The Words bears a striking musical resemblance to it, and that still rings true for me today. Longtime readers will also know Christina Perri is my favourite female artist. I could watch the video for The Words until the cows come home, not just for the song, but because how beautifully the story unfolds – and then the unexpected ending where everything suddenly clicks. Few songs and videos feel as seamlessly entwined as this one, and it’s wonderfully filmed.

A spoiler alert here: if you haven’t seen the video, do yourself a favour, watch it first, and then come back for a breakdown of what on earth is going on (and your own two bob is welcome since it’s all up for interpretation).

Video story breakdown

Perri haunts O’Donoghue’s character like a ghost drifting through his country house. She appears and disappears, as if she might be the memory of a love he’s lost, her presence hanging around him in silence. This gives weight to the line: “’Cause love is a ghost you can’t control.” His tending to orchids is an important detail – we see later how this connects. Orchids, after all, are a striking metaphor for love: rare, delicate, and requiring patience and care to truly bloom.

Towards the end, we see him take the orchids into town and step into a florist. That’s where the real Perri appears as a shop assistant. When their eyes meet – clearly not for the first time – she delivers the killer line: “And I know / The scariest part is letting go.” From O’Donoghue’s reaction, it’s obvious they’ve both been thinking of each other all along. She’s lingered in his thoughts, which explains why her presence felt so near to him. For me, the song captures that hopeful moment of taking a chance on love again.

The following was extracted from the Wikipedia article below:
The Words comes from Head or Heart, the second studio album by American singer-songwriter. The first song that she wrote for the album was “Trust”, according to Perri, which inspired the rest of the album. She wrote it by herself for three months and then along with other songwriters for another three months, and recorded a total of 49 songs that she had to choose from for the album by May 2013. Perri says that these 13 songs that she has chosen for the album “were what I think are pure songs, where I wasn’t trying.

Head or Heart debuted at number four on the US Billboard, selling 40,000 copies in its first week.

[Verse 1]
All of the lights land on you
The rest of the world fades from view
And all of the love I see
Please please say you feel it too
And all of the noise I hear inside
Restless and loud, unspoken and wild
And all that you need to say
To make it all go away
Is that you feel the same way too

[Chorus]
And I know
The scariest part is letting go
‘Cause love is a ghost you can’t control
I promise you the truth can’t hurt us now
So let the words slip out of your mouth

[Verse 2]
And all of the steps that led me to you
And all of the hell I had to walk through
But I wouldn’t trade a day for the chance to say
“My love, I’m in love with you”

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I know that we’re both afraid
We both made the same mistakes
An open heart is an open wound to you
And in the wind of a heavy choice
Love has a quiet voice
Still your mind, now I’m yours to choose

References:
1. Head or Heart – Wikipedia

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Posted in Music

Brown Eyed Girl (1967) – Van Morrison

Posted on September 2, 2025 by observationblogger — 9 Comments
Van Morrison on American Bandstand 1967

When released, the song about a former lover was too explicit for radio airplay. In the third verse, the lyrics, “making love in the green grass,” were edited out, and replaced with a combination of lyrics from the first verse — most often it was heard as, “laughin’ and a-runnin’, hey hey,” instead. Thankfully, most classic rock stations now play the original “Brown Eyed Girl.”

– Who Was Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”? – American Blues Scene

No TV show tugged harder at my teenage heartstrings than the 80s classic The Wonder Years. Back then, I practically wore out the soundtrack, which included today’s featured track – Brown Eyed Girl. Funnily enough, I heard this gem again just this morning on my way back from an appointment and couldn’t help bopping along and singing with a grin. If there’s one song almost guaranteed to spark a smile, it’s Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison’s best-known tune, though ironically, he never earned a cent in royalties from it (more on that below).

Most of the following was abridged from the above American Blues Scene article:
Van Morrison had left Ireland and his band by the spring of 1967, and recorded Brown Eyed Girl for A&R Studios in New York. The 22nd take captured the sound producer Bert Berns was looking for. Bart Berns was a gifted songwriter too, having written for Morrison’s band Them the hit – “Here Comes the Night“. As an independent producer Berns convinced Morrison to go solo and join Berns new label – Bang. Berns had spent time in Havana, exposing himself to intense, burning, Afro-Cuban rhythms, which he brought with him back to New York, and into rock ‘n’ roll and infused in Brown Eyed Girl.

Originally titled, “Brown-Skinned Girl,” the rhythms closely resemble those of Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence’s Brownskin Gal, from 1958. Morrison, however, changed the title to “Brown Eyed Girl” when he finished recording it.

Van Morrison had a stellar lineup of session artists backing it. Eric Gale, Al Gorgoni, and Hugh McCracken lay down what are quite possibly the best rhythm guitar tracks ever. Russ Savakus played bass, Paul Griffin played piano, and Gary Chester played drums. Those heavenly back-up singers were none other than The Sweet Inspirations, made up of Myrna Smith, Estelle Brown, Sylvia Shemwell, and Emily “Cissy” Houston (mother of Whitney Houston and auntie to Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick).

Brown eyed Girl which peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard was not even Morrison’s highest charting song which goes to Domino in 1970. But, it is one of the most played songs in history. Morrison even referred to it as “the money song”, but shockingly because of the contract he had with Bang Records, Morrison never saw a penny of royalty money for writing or recording the song. Furthermore, it became the lead track on the album, Blowin’ Your Mind, which Berns released without Morrison’s knowledge or consent, in September of 1967.

Adding insult to injury, Morrison claims it’s not even among his favorite songs. In a 2009 interview with Time Magazine, he is quoted as saying,

It’s not one of my best. I mean I’ve got about 300 songs that I think are better.

Brown Eyed Girl been inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, listed as one of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll” by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and reached number 110 on Billboard Magazine‘s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

So who is Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl? He has never definitively identified who the “Brown Eyed Girl” is, and he has expressed that he does not know the song’s meaning himself, stating, “A lot of times I have no idea what I mean“. While some speculate the song was about an interracial relationship or a specific woman like his first wife Janet Rigsbee or Julie, the subject of “T.B. Sheets,” Morrison has not confirmed any of these theories.

[Verse 1]
Hey, where did we go?
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow
Playin’ a new game
Laughin’ and a-runnin’, hey, hey
Skippin’ and a jumpin’
In the misty morning fog with
Our, our hearts a thumpin’

[Refrain]
And you, my brown-eyed girl
You, my brown-eyed girl

[Verse 2]
Whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow?
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall
Slipping and sliding
All along the waterfall

[Refrain]
With you, my brown-eyed girl
You, my brown-eyed girl

[Chorus]
Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-tee-da?
Just like that
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-tee-da
La-tee-da

[Verse 3]
So hard to find my way
Now that I’m all on my own
I saw you just the other day
My, how you have grown
Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometimes I’m overcome thinking about
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium

References:
1. Brown Eyed Girl – Wikipedia
2. Who Was Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”? – American Blues Scene

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The Wicked Flee (2010) – Carter Burwell (True Grit)

Posted on August 31, 2025 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

“The wicked flee when none pursueth. But the righteous are as bold as lion.”

– Proverbs 28:1

The True Grit soundtrack is so wonderful, and The Wicked Flee, today’s featured piece, stands as its central musical theme. Rightly so – it is beautiful and charming, yet at the same time sombre and reflective. This is the second piece from the film to appear here, following Iris DeMent’s haunting rendition of the hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. In fact, The Wicked Flee is directly based on that same gospel hymn by Anthony Showalter and Elisha Hoffman, which forms the backbone of about a quarter of the score. True Grit also marks the 15th Coen brothers film scored by their long-time collaborator, Carter Burwell (pictured inset).

The Coens discussed the idea of using 19th-century church music, “something that was severe (sounding). It couldn’t be soothing or uplifting, and at the same time it couldn’t be outwardly depressing. I spent the summer going through hymn books,” Burwell said Other hymns are also referenced in the score, including “What a Friend We Have in Jesus“, “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand“, and “The Glory-Land Way“. Because the hymns are considered pre-composed music, the score was deemed ineligible to be nominated for Best Original Score in the 2010 Academy Awards.

Carter Burwell is an American film composer best known for his long collaboration with the Coen brothers as stated above, scoring movies like Fargo, Miller’s Crossing, and No Country for Old Men. Born in 1954, he has a distinctive style that blends minimalism, folk influences, and emotional depth, often creating music that feels both intimate and haunting. Beyond the Coens, he has worked with directors such as Spike Jonze, Martin McDonagh, and Todd Haynes. Burwell’s music is often praised for its subtlety, shaping the mood of a film without overpowering it.

Nothing is free, except the grace of God.

References:
1. True Grit (2010 soundtrack) – Wikipedia

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The Weight (1968) – The Band (The Last Waltz)

Posted on August 29, 2025 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

The Band’s The Weight, released in 1968, only reached No. 63 on the US charts, yet it has endured as one of their defining songs. It is also considered one of folk-rock’s most iconic tracks, shaping American popular music and earning lasting rock airplay. The song appeared as a single from their debut album Music from Big Pink– their first release under the name “The Band,” following earlier recordings as the Canadian Squires and Levon and the Hawks.

The Weight also found its way into The Last Waltz – the Band’s grand farewell concert that many call the best concert film ever made. Most of the show was staged at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, which was transformed thanks to designer Boris Leven who borrowed lavish sets from the San Francisco Opera’s production of La Traviata, even chandeliers that once appeared in Gone With the Wind. Months later, United Artists gave Robertson and Scorsese the chance to polish things up, so the group reassembled on a soundstage to film a few extra numbers – including The Weight.

The Band’s soulful version, joined by the Staple Singers, stands out even among the countless shining moments of the concert. Beyond the fantastic performance, it’s the way it was filmed that makes it sublime. The camera slowly drifts away from Robbie’s double-neck guitar, glides between the singers as they trade verses, and then lands on that thrilling triple hand-off – Helm, Danko, and Robertson hitting their parts in perfect sync. Scorsese understood how to film rhythm.

From the beginning, the song mentions Nazareth, however, it is not the Nazareth everyone immediately thinks of in Israel. The Weight was written by Robbie Robertson, who found the tune by strumming idly on his guitar, a 1951 Martin D-28, when he noticed that the interior included a stamp noting that it was manufactured in Nazareth, Pennsylvania (C. F. Martin & Company is situated there). He began shaping the lyrics as he played, sketching a hazy picture of the wandering vagabond life. The result carries an almost ironic, relaxed anxiety – the melody feels pleasant, yet the words don’t quite align with that ease.

The inspiration for and influences affecting the composition of The Weight came from the music of the American South, the life experiences of band members, particularly Levon Helm, and movies of filmmakers Ingmar Bergman and Luis Buñuel.

[Verse 1]
I pulled in to Nazareth
Was feeling ’bout half past dead
I just need someplace
Where I can lay my head
“Hey, mister, can you tell me
Where a man might find a bed?”
He just grinned and shook my hand
“No” was all he said

[Chorus]
Take a load off, Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off, Fanny
And (And, and)
You put the load right on me (You put the load right on me)

[Verse 2]
I picked up my bag
I went looking for a place to hide
When I saw Carmen and the Devil
Walking side-by-side
I said, “Hey Carmen
Come on, let’s go downtown”
She said, “I gotta go
But my friend can stick around”

[Verse 3]
Go down, Miss Moses
There’s nothin’ you can say
It’s just ol’ Luke, and
Luke’s waitin’ on the Judgement Day
“Well, Luke, my friend
What about young Anna Lee?”
He said, “Do me a favor, son
Won’t ya stay and keep Anna Lee company?”

[Verse 4]
Crazy Chester followed me
And he caught me in the fog
He said, “I will fix your rack
If you’ll take Jack, my dog”
I said, “Wait a minute, Chester
You know I’m a peaceful man”
He said, “That’s okay, boy
Won’t you feed him when you can?” (Yeah)

[Verse 5]
Catch a cannonball, now
To take me down the line
My bag is sinkin’ low
And I do believe it’s time
To get back to Miss Fanny
You know she’s the only one
Who sent me here with her
Regards for everyone

References:
1. Why the Band’s ‘The Last Waltz’ Is the Greatest Concert Movie of All Time – Rolling Stone
2. The Weight – Wikipedia

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Dancing in the Street (1964) – Martha Reeves & the Vandellas

Posted on August 28, 2025 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

Martha Reeves, lead singer of the Vandellas, was responsible for reshaping the song from its early form. She felt it was too repetitive and recalled Marvin Gaye singing it as though serenading a lover. Reeves, instead, envisioned block parties and Mardi Gras, and asked the producers to let her interpret it her way. The result was captured in just two takes.

If this Motown song is good enough for David Gilmour’s Desert Island Discs list, then it’s certainly good enough for my Music Library Project. Dancing in the Street has to be one of the best “get-up-and-go” starters to kick off the day on the right foot. It’s effervescent, jubilant, and communal—binding music lovers’ hearts together like links in a beautiful golden chain. Despite the song starting with the lyrics ‘Calling out around the world‘ the remainder of the song only names U.S. cities. Of course its spirit extends far beyond, and exalts how music’s rhythm and dance can create one universal, animated force among us.

Most of the following was abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:
Dancing in the Street is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson, and Ivy Jo Hunter for Martha and the Vandellas in 1964, whose version reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart for two weeks, behind Do Wah Diddy Diddy by Manfred Mann. Dancing in the Street is one of Motown’s signature songs and is the group’s premier song. Marvin Gaye was on drums for this banger too.

I was also familiar with the 1985 duet cover by David Bowie and Mick Jagger which charted at No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in the US and their version starts with Tokyo, South America, Australia, France, Germany, UK, Africa. Other versions by the Mamas & the Papas and Van Halen were minor hits as well.

Martha and the Vandellas’ version of Dancing in the Street was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2006, this version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. Lead singer Martha Reeves said she was thrilled about the song’s perseverance, saying “It’s a song that just makes you want to get up and dance“.

[Verse 1]
Calling out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer’s here and the time is right
For dancing in the street
They’re dancing in Chicago (Dancing in the street)
Down in New Orleans (Dancing in the street)
In New York City (Dancing in the street)

[Pre-Chorus]
All we need is music, sweet music
(Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet music)
There’ll be music everywhere (Everywhere)
There’ll be swinging, swaying
And records playing
Dancing in the street, oh

[Chorus]
It doesn’t matter what you wear
Just as long as you are there
So come on, every guy, grab a girl
Everywhere around the world
They’ll be dancing (Dancing in the street)
They’re dancing in the street
(Dancing in the street)

[Verse 2]
This is just an invitation across the nation
A chance for folks to meet
There’ll be laughing, singing, and music swinging
Dancing in the street
Philadelphia, PA (Dancing in the street)
Baltimore and D.C., now (Dancing in the street)
Can’t forget the Motor City (Dancing in the street)

[Outro]
Way down in L.A., every day (Dancing in the street)
They’re dancing in the street (Dancing in the street)
They form a big strong line, get in time (Dancing in the street)
We’re dancing in the street (Dancing in the street)
Across the ocean blue, me and you (Dancing in the street)
We’re dancing in the street, yeah (Dancing in the street)…

References:
1. Dancing in the Street – Wikipedia

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The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart) 2009 – Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett

Posted on August 27, 2025 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

This 2010 Academy Award-winning song is one of my favourite country ballads, and an unusual one at that. Typically, such songs are about love, heartbreak, or rural life. But The Weary Kind feels more like a piece of hard-earned advice – aimed at a cowboy who’s pushed his luck too many times and is about to be swallowed whole by the rough-and-tumble world (a world that doesn’t take any prisoners) if he doesn’t clean up his act. Since this song is the main theme of the movie Crazy Heart, it’s self-evident that it’s directed at the country singer Bad Blake, played by Jeff Bridges. He’s a man who has tried to bluff and out-cheat life too long by leaning on booze, risky living, and denial – and now stands on the precipice of collapse.

For most of my adult life, like the protagonist, I too succumbed to alcoholism, and so I related deeply not just to the film but to this song. Three lines in particular continue to leave their mark on me, perhaps more than almost any others:

And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
And this ain’t no place to lose your mind
This ain’t no place to fall behind

I live in Bogotá, Colombia, and I have two young kids to raise. I can’t afford to lose my footing the way Bad Blake does in the film, because here, if I fall apart, this place could swallow me whole – and my family along with me. There are no two ways about it. These lines are a constant reminder that I have to stay in top shape, mentally and physically, to face the harsh realities of what life here can bring. For a foreigner from the other side of the globe (Australia), Bogotá most definitely ain’t a place to lose your mind.

Learning to live without being enslaved to alcohol and nicotine has been a godsend. Ideally, I want to push my energy outward – to give up greed, give up lust, to let go, and surrender everything to the divine animating force that pervades all things: the Logos.

Crazy Heart is one of my favourite recent movies and earned Jeff Bridges his first Academy award after seven nominations. It was made for just 7 million dollars but grossed 47 million. As aforementioned the principal song from Crazy Heart is The Weary Kind which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The whole soundtrack is great (thanks in large part to T-Bone Burnett), and there’s another song which stood out for me and featured here recently called Fallin’ & Flyin’. 

Your heart’s on the loose
You rolled them sevens with nothing to lose
This ain’t no place for the weary kind

You called all your shots
Shooting eight ball at the corner truck stop
Somehow this don’t feel like home anymore

And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
And this ain’t no place to lose your mind
This ain’t no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

Your body aches
Playing your guitar, sweating out the hate
The days and the nights all feel the same

Whiskey has been a thorn in your side
It doesn’t forget
The highway that calls for your heart inside

And this ain’t no place for the weary kind
This ain’t no place to lose your mind
This ain’t no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

Your lover’s warm kiss
Is too damn far from your fingertips
You are the man that ruined her world

Your heart’s on the loose
You rolled them sevens with nothing to lose
And this ain’t no place for the weary kind

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The Way It Is (1986) – Bruce Hornsby and the Range

Posted on August 26, 2025 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

As a teen hearing this song – The Way It Is, I liked the catchy piano riffs and Hornsby’s cool, intimate vocals, even though it seemed to appeal more to an adult audience with its steady tempo and jazz-inflected sound. I heard it only sparingly over the years, but always enjoyed it. The song, which topped the US charts and reached the top 20 in Australia, the UK, and other countries, added a welcome diversity to Top 40 playlists that were otherwise dominated by uptempo, synth-driven tracks. This is the second song from Hornsby to feature here in fairly quick succession after The Show Goes On – a happy quirk of the alphabetical sequence of song titles.

Most of the following was abridged from the references below:
The Way It Is is about the division between rich and poor and racial segregation. It makes explicit reference to the Economic Opportunity Act, also known as the 1964 Poverty Act, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The song deal with the need to resist complacency and never resign yourself to racial injustice as the status quo.

Hornsby grew up in Virginia, which isn’t where you would expect a song about racial and economic tolerance to originate. He was raised with these values though. Hornsby told NME: “My mother came from the New England area, and she was a little more enlightened about racial subjects than a lot of people in the South. So I had a different attitude to a lot of my friends whose parents were more conservative. He added: “When I was brought up, the vibe I got of Martin Luther King in my town was that he was a real evil man – just the vibe in the air, that he was terrible. And if you grow up in that environment you can’t help but be affected by it a little bit. Luckily, I came from a family that guarded us against that conservatism, but sure, I grew up in the thick of all that bad feeling.”

Hornsby had been working as a staff songwriter for years with no luck getting a record deal. With his attempts to appeal to popular taste falling short, he decided to make a demo of songs in his own style – ECM jazz – a distinctive style of jazz that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily associated with the Munich-based record label ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music)and included this track. He sent the demos to major record producers and signed with RCA because they offered him creative freedom. They were rewarded when this song and the album became huge hits.

Hornsby and his band were not exactly MTV-ready, but the video for this song did well on the network. In the stark performance clip, none of the musicians ever stand up – some folks were surprised when they saw Hornsby in person and realized he was 6′ 4″.

[Verse 1]
Standing in line, marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
‘Cause they can’t buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies’ eyes
Just for fun, he says, “Get a job”

[Chorus]
That’s just the way it is
Some things will never change
That’s just the way it is
Ha, but don’t you believe them

[Verse 2]
They say, “Hey, little boy, you can’t go where the others go
‘Cause you don’t look like they do”
Said, “Hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way?
Did you really think about it before you made the rules?”
He said, Son

[Verse 3]
Well, they passed a law in ’64
To give those who ain’t got a little more
But it only goes so far
‘Cause the law don’t change another’s mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar, ooh, no

References:
1. The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby song) – Wikipedia
2. The Way It Is – Songfacts

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Free as a Bird (Anthology 1 Version) 1995 – The Beatles

Posted on August 25, 2025 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Fellow blogger Nancy at The Elephant’s Trunk posted today’s featured track by the Beatles – Free As A Bird  – a reworked version released in 1995 from a home demo John Lennon recorded in 1977. I was so impressed with it, just as I was with another demo I shared here not too long ago – Strawberry Fields Forever (Demo Sequence Anthology 2 Version). I honestly would buy an entire album of just Beatles demos, even though Free As A Bird is a posthumous reworking. What draws me in are the rough edges and the feeling of hearing something still in motion. They carry a certain intimacy in their looseness and experimentation – like George Harrison’s touching slide guitar solo here for his old friend, or the poignant moment in the outro when the words “Made for John Lennon” are heard.

The following was abridged from the Wikipedia article below:
25 years after the Beatles break-up and 15 years after Lennon’s murder, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr released a studio version of ‘Free as a Bird‘ in 1995 incorporating the Lennon demo. It was released (see image left) as part of the promotion for The Beatles Anthology video documentary and the Anthology 1 compilation album. The B side was Christmas Time (Is Here Again). The song peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 6 on the US Billboard.

Background

Ono says that it was Harrison and former Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall who initially asked her about the concept of adding vocals and instrumentation to Lennon’s demo tapes. Ono stated “People have said it was all agreed when Paul came over to New York to induct John into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but it was all settled before then. I just used that occasion to hand over the tapes personally to Paul.”

Free as a Bird was one of four Lennon songs (along with Grow Old With Me, Real Love and Now and Then) for which McCartney, Harrison and Starr contributed additional instrumentation, vocals and arrangements. Jeff Lynne, who had worked with Harrison on Harrison’s album Cloud Nine and as part of the Traveling Wilburys, co-produced. During an interview for the Anthology project, McCartney revealed that he was surprised to learn that Lennon’s demos of “Grow Old With Me” and “Real Love” had already been released and were well known by Lennon fans.

So, McCartney went to Ono’s home after the induction ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to listen to, and receive, the Lennon demo tapes; he recalls the meeting with Ono:

She was there with Sean … and she played us a couple of tracks. There were two newies on mono cassettes which he did at home … [s]o I checked it out with Sean, because I didn’t want him to have a problem with it. He said, “Well, it’ll be weird hearing a dead guy on lead vocal. But give it a try.” I said to them both, “If it doesn’t work out, you can veto it.” When I told George and Ringo I’d agreed to that they were going, “What? What if we love it?” It didn’t come to that, luckily. I said to Yoko, “Don’t impose too many conditions on us, it’s really difficult to do this, spiritually. We don’t know, we may hate each other after two hours in the studio and just walk out. So don’t put any conditions, it’s tough enough.”

Ono recognised that she was now in a position of bringing the band back together after previously being criticised for splitting them up.

[Chorus]
Free as a bird
It’s the next best thing to be
Free as a bird

[Post-Chorus]
Home, home and dry
Like a homing bird, I’ll fly
As a bird on wings

[Verse 1: Paul McCartney]
Whatever happened to
The life that we once knew?
Can we really live without each other?
Where did we lose the touch
That seemed to mean so much?
It always made me feel so—

[Chorus]

[Post-Chorus]

[Verse 2: George Harrison]
Whatever happened to
The life that we once knew?
Always made me feel so free

[Guitar Solo – George Harrison]

[Chorus]

[Outro]
Free
Made for John Lennon

References:
1. Free as a Bird – Wikipedia

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Goodbye Again (1989) – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Posted on August 24, 2025 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

I had heard of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s name before, but I didn’t recall her music until my friend Christian in New York mentioned today’s featured song – Goodbye Again in his blog. I found it such a haunting and heartfelt piece, distilling the ache of loneliness and the bittersweet pull of memory. It’s like a woman looking back, measuring her twilight years against the shadow of a love that still lingers. I hope to seek out more of her work in the future. So over to Christian:

Mary Chapin Carpenter, who was born in Princeton, N.J., is a country and folk singer-songwriter. If you don’t know Carpenter but are a frequent Sunday Six traveler, her name may still sound familiar since we first visited her during another time travel excursion in February this year. Inspired by her mother Mary Bowie Robertson, who was a folk singer and guitarist, and her guitar-playing seventh-grade science teacher (gotta love that!), Carpenter picked up the ukulele and classical guitar and began writing songs during her childhood. As a 16-year-old, she started performing at folk venues in Washington, D.C., after her family had relocated there. In 1987, Carpenter got a deal with Columbia Records and released her debut album Hometown Girl later that year. Goodbye Again, penned by Carpenter, is from her June 1989 sophomore release State of the Heart. Just last week, her latest album Personal History dropped, which brought Carpenter back on my radar. I’m glad it did!

– The Sunday 6 – Christian’s Music Musings 15/6/2025

[Verse 1]
Every night she sleeps alone
And by her bed she puts the phone
And every morning after that
She takes the phone and puts it back
He’s got a wife back home
And three kids up and grown
But these are things that go unsaid
He might call her from the road just in time
To say ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ again

[Verse 2]
She keeps his picture tucked away
She think she might have it framed one day
And maybe he’ll come see it there
Hanging by her rocking chair
In a corner of her room, on a Sunday afternoon
When all the world is dull and gray
She might close her eyes and sit, rocking gently for a bit
‘Til all the bad thoughts go away

[Verse 3]
Back when children played their games
London Bridge and Jesse James
She captured flags, she bounced the ball
And every time she beat them all
And now she comes home to a cat
In a three room walk up flat
And plays a game of solitaire
Well she made a fist last night
And she broke the hallway light
And the pieces scattered everywhere

[Verse 4]
You see he’s got a wife back home
And three kids up and grown
But these are things that go unsaid
He might call her from the road just in time
To say ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ again

References:
1. Mary Chapin Carpenter – Wikipedia

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