Make It Rain (2004) – Tom Waits

Posted on January 17, 2026 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

Make It Rain is such a raw outpouring of grit and heartache. As you listen to the pounding, it’s easy to picture a chain gang in the middle of nowhere, hammering away in unison on a remote American rail line – all backbone, toil, and the clang of bare metal. The song is rudimentary and stripped back, yet intense and powerful. Waits growls through the pain left behind after his woman has gone with his best friend no less, dwelling in the darkness that surrounds him. Over time, he seems to grow used to that darkness, becoming hardened and bitter, until it spills out in the line, “I’m not Abel, I’m just Cain“.

I’d like to give special mention to the live version below from Late Show with David Letterman which has attracted more views than the original studio recording. Half the fun of Tom Waits’ music is watching him perform (when you can) – his facial expressions and minstrel-like manner make him a pure entertainer. Beyond that, Waits is also a genuine actor. He appeared in the Coen Brothers’ Western anthology film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). In the vignette All Gold Canyon, he plays a sharp and hardy prospector searching for a great fortune in a beautiful valley, a role that’s memorably and richly captured on screen.

Make It Rain is from Wait’s 2004 album – Real Gone, his sixteenth studio album.

According to ANTI-:

Written and produced by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, his wife and long-time collaborator, Real Gone features 15 tracks of funk, Jamaican rock-steady, blues both urban and rural, rhythms and melodies both Latin and African and, for the first time, no piano. The crash and collide of rhythms and genres within a song creates a hybrid unlike any music he has and the sonic mayhem and nonsense rhyme ride to “Top of the Hill” are both punctuated by a live band and turntable playing along to Waits’ home recorded voice percussion.

She took all my money and my best friend
You know the story, here it comes again
I have no pride, I have no shame
You gotta make it rain
Make it rain

Since you’re gone, deep inside it hurts
I’m just another sad guest on this dark Earth
I wanna believe in the mercy of the world again
Make it rain
Make it rain

Night’s too quiet, stretched out alone
I need the whip of thunder and the wind’s dark moan
I’m not Able, I’m just Cain
Open up the heavens
Make it rain

I’m close to heaven, crushed at the gate
They sharpen their knives on my mistakes
What she done, you can’t give it a name
You gotta just make it rain
Make it rain, yeah

Without her love, without your kiss
Hell can’t burn me more than this
I’m burning with all this pain
Put out the fire
Make it rain

I’m born to trouble, born to fate
Inside a promise I can’t escape
It’s the same old world, but nothing looks the same
Make it rain
Make it rain

Gotta make it rain
Make it rain
You’ve got to make it rain
Got to make it rain
You’ve got to
I stand alone here
I’ll stand alone here
Singing, “Make it rain”
Make it rain
Make it rain

References:
1. Real Gone (album) – Wikipedia

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Everything (2004) – Alanis Morissette

Posted on January 16, 2026 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

What a strange coincidence. Just over a week ago, in my News on the March segment, I mentioned an old rhyme: “When you’re good, you’re very, very good, but when you’re bad, you’re horrid.” That same split in character is reflected in today’s featured song, Everything by Alanis Morissette. In each verse, Alanis swings between tearing herself down – openly listing her flaws – and then lifting herself up, where she feels she can do no wrong. The extremes of her personality are on full display.

More broadly, Everything is about recognising that being in a relationship means seeing the whole person – the good, the bad, and everything in between. It suggests that being with the right person also means they see, and even love, your darker side. There is a sense of empathy, acceptance, and steady support: someone who stays beside you through thick and thin. The song is not only inspirational in its words but also in its music. It feels warm and reassuring. It is unconditional love, put to song.

(You see everything, you see every part)
And you’re still here

That’s one thing you can’t fault in Alanis’ writing and general demeanour is her openness and transparency. I think that’s why so many people admire her and connect with her music. I mean we are talking here about the Canadian queen of confessional alt-rock and folk-pop.

Like many people, I first came to Alanis’ music through her 1995 breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill. While it wasn’t her first album, it became one of the best-selling records of all time, selling over 30 million copies worldwide and defining an era. Only more recently have I explored more of her later work, including Everything and I was surprised by how much I liked it. In some ways, I find myself just as fond of this song – if not more so – than much of her earlier material.

In the music video below, Pau Dones is the man who cuts Alanis’ hair at the beginning of the video (0:19). He was a Spanish singer who gave Alanis the idea to make this video clip. His video, of similar aesthetics, that Alanis liked so much, is titled Bonito. At the time the video was shot Morissette had already cut her previously long hair and the scene was shot with her wearing a wig.

Most of the following was abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:

Everything was the first single from Alanis’ sixth studio album So-Called Chaos. The song reached number three on the Canadian Singles Chart and number six in Italy and Spain. Although it reached only number 76 on the US Billboard Hot 100, it reached the top 20 in Australia, Austria, Norway, and Scotland. The song received considerable support and airplay from alternative and adult radio stations, peaking within the top five and spending 26 non-consecutive weeks on Billboard‘s Adult Top 40 chart. Mainstream pop and rock radio stations were less supportive of the track.

A heavily edited version of the song was released to radio stations for airplay on February 23, 2004.The radio version removed over 60 seconds of the track by taking the first two lines from the first section of a verse and placing it together with the last two lines from the second section of the verse, effectively removing a whole verse from the album version. The video version of the track endured further edits, with the replacing of the word “asshole” in the opening line to “nightmare.”

[Verse 1]
I can be an asshole of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it’s going out of style
I can be the moodiest, baby, and you’ve never met anyone
Who’s as negative as I am sometimes

[Verse 2]
I am the wisest woman you’ve ever met
I am the kindest soul with whom you’ve connected
I have the bravest heart that you’ve ever seen
And you’ve never met anyone
Who’s as positive as I am sometimes

[Chorus]
You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I’m ashamed
There’s not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

[Verse 3]
I blame everyone else, not my own partaking
My passive aggressiveness can be devastating
I’m terrified and mistrusting and you’ve never met anyone
Who’s as closed down as I am sometimes

[Bridge]
What I resist, persists
And speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love
No matter how low or high I go

[Verse 4]
I am the funniest woman that you’ve ever known
I am the dullest woman that you’ve ever known
I’m the most gorgeous woman that you’ve ever known
And you’ve never met anyone
Who’s as everything as I am sometimes

[Outro]
(You see everything, you see every part)
And you’re still here
(You see all my light and you love my dark)
Oh, and you’re still here
(You dig everything of which I’m ashamed)
(There’s not anything to which you can’t relate)
And you’re still here

References:
1. Everything (Alanis Morissette song) – Wikipedia

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To Love Somebody (1967) – Bee Gees

Posted on January 15, 2026 by observationblogger — 13 Comments

To Love Somebody is one of my favourite love ballads by the Bee Gees. I’m particularly fond of the live version from Las Vegas, 1997, as I am with the rest of their One Night Only show. That concert DVD is one of the most revisited in our household. It’s especially moving now, given that all of Barry Gibb’s younger brothers – Andy, Maurice, and Robin – are no longer with us. That’s an enormous loss of talent right there.

Whenever I hear To Love Somebody, it strikes me as a very mature love song. You could easily imagine it being written by someone wise about love, someone who’s been around the block a few times – much like the ages the brothers were at the time of the Las Vegas concert. Yet this was only the Bee Gees’ second international hit. Barry and Robin Gibb were just 22 and 19 years old respectively when they wrote it.

The chorus is clever too. The line “you don’t know what it’s like” could sound demeaning, especially when repeated. But then it’s turned on its head with “to love somebody / the way I love you.” It’s a simple but powerful emotional switch, and one of the more romantic moments in popular music – at least to my ears.

Barry was asked in a 2017 interview “of all the songs that you’ve ever written, which song would you choose?” Barry said that “To Love Somebody” was the song that he’d choose as it has “a clear, emotional message“.

I’ve included both the original 1967 studio version and the live performance from One Night Only in Las Vegas (1997) below. My preference, unsurprisingly, is the live version. It strips the song back to its essentials – a smooth, easy ballad – while sounding more modern and more affecting, carried by the confidence and mastery that only decades of singing can bring.

The song was written at the request of the Bee Gee’s manager who wanted a soulful ballad in the style of of Sam & Dave or The Rascals, for Otis Redding. Redding came to see Barry at the Plaza in New York City one night. Robin claimed that “Otis Redding said he loved our material and would Barry write him a song“. The Bee Gees recorded To Love Somebody at IBC Studios, London with Gilbert Green and End of My Song in April 1967 and released it as a single in mid-June. Redding died in a plane crash later that year, before having a chance to record the song.

The single didn’t exactly create shockwaves: it reached No. 17 in the United States and No. 41 in the United Kingdom. Interestingly, in Australia – where the Bee Gees had migrated, grown up, and first found success – To Love Somebody climbed to No. 6. The B-side of the single was Close Another Door.

Robin said of To Love Somebody and its commercial reception, “Everyone told us what a great record they thought it was, Other groups all raved about it but for some reason people in Britain just did not seem to like it.” Barry said, “I think the reason it didn’t do well here was because it’s a soul number, Americans loved it, but it just wasn’t right for this country.”

There’s a light
A certain kind of light
That never shone on me
I want my life to be lived with you
Lived with you
There’s a way everybody say
To do each and every little thing
But what does it bring
If I ain’t got you, ain’t got you? Hey babe

[Chorus]
You don’t know what it’s like, baby
You don’t know what it’s like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you

In my brain
I see your face again
I know my frame of mind
You ain’t got to be so blind
And I’m blind, so so sorrily blind
I’m a man, can’t you see
What I am
I live and I breathe for you
But what good does it do
If I ain’t got you, ain’t got? Hey babe

You don’t know what it’s like, baby
You don’t know what it’s like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you
(Noo noo no-no nooo nooooo)

[Outro]
You don’t know what it’s like, baby
You don’t know what it’s like
To love somebody
To love somebody
The way I love you

References:
1. To Love Somebody (song) – Wikipedia

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Posted in Music

Sofrito (1976) – Mongo Santamaria

Posted on January 14, 2026 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

Sofrito is a Latin jazz fusion piece by Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría. At a time when many Afro-Caribbean artists were drifting toward disco or easy listening, Santamaría held a steady course, balancing the sounds of the era with a deep respect for Latin jazz traditions. The result is a mostly instrumental track driven by rhythm and an irresistible swing – controlled, but with a healthy dose of attitude. Few records groove quite like Sofrito.

The track opens with a dramatic, exploratory piano melody before the percussion locks in and pushes things forward. From there, the alto flute and saxophone step out one by one, each taking their turn in the spotlight. Today, Sofrito stands as a benchmark. If you were asked for a top-shelf example of 1970s Latin jazz fusion – the musical equivalent of a well-aged heritage wine – this track would be in very select company.

The title “Sofrito” (as shown on the album cover) refers to the flavor base used in many Caribbean and Latin cuisines, made by slowly sautéing ingredients like onions, garlic, peppers, and herbs in oil. The word “sofrito” is chanted throughout the song, joined by “na’ má,” a contraction of nada más, meaning “nothing more.” Like the dish itself, Santamaría’s music is a careful mix of ingredients that create a rich, distinctive flavor. Best enjoyed slowly – sofrito, indeed.

Born in 1917 in Havana, Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría Rodríguez and raised in the Jesús María district of Havana, Cuba, Ramón Santamaría. He was immersed in the deep-rooted West African culture that permeated this impoverished area. It was the sound of rumba and son that he heard in the tenements that served as his first percussion lessons.

He played percussion at the Tropicana Club during the golden era of Cuban music. The Cuban percussionist (primarily a conga drummer), and bandleader spent most of his career in the United States. By the time he recorded Sofrito in 1976, Santamaría had the confidence of a successful bandleader who had mastered his craft, allowing him to stretch the limits of Latin jazz. 

Santamaría passed away in 2003 at age 85 leaving behind a fantastic recording legacy.

References:
1. Sofrito, the jazz classic by master conguero Mongo Santamaría, set for first vinyl reissue on May 13th – Concord
2. Sofrito – Fania
3. Mongo Santamaría – Wikipedia

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Posted in Music

Silver Springs (1977) – Fleetwood Mac

Posted on January 13, 2026 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

A friend forwarded me this song the other night and I was taken aback by its sensitivity and touching melody. I really like Stevie Nicks’ impassioned singing here, with her quivering, lingering voice. The song comes in waves of that unmistakable and powerful Fleetwood Mac sound, especially in the chorus, “Time cast a spell on you,” and it’s pretty cool as a listener to just let it wash over you. The piano playing is gorgeous, coming in ripples over the rest of the music. A wonderfully layered song.

Silver Springs is yet another song about the breakup between Nicks and Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, both pictured above in their stirring live version, which I’ve also linked below. The song was originally used as the B-side to Go Your Own Way, the subject of my previous Mac post. That song, also centred on their breakup, caused plenty of tension within the group, particularly for Nicks. Go Your Own Way was written by Buckingham, while today’s featured track was written by Nicks, along with one of the band’s most popular hits, Dreams.

Stevie Nicks said about the song:

“I wrote “Silver Springs” about Lindsey. And we were in Maryland somewhere driving under a freeway sign that said Silver Springs [sic]. And I loved the name… Silver Springs sounded like a pretty fabulous place to me. And ‘You could be my silver springs’ – that’s just a whole symbolic thing of what you could have been to me..”

It’s remarkable that a romantic breakup within a band could produce such a run of great songwriting from different sides, with the public given a front-row seat to the group’s fractures, vulnerability, and emotional exposure. It’s like a soap opera, but set to music. It must have been difficult over the years to keep revisiting these emotional outpourings, especially since they remain among Fleetwood Mac’s most beloved songs.

Conflicts over Silver Springs later led Nicks to leave Fleetwood Mac in 1991. She clashed with the band -particularly Mick Fleetwood – over her insistence on including the song on her solo compilation TimeSpace. The dispute centred on artistic control and royalties and ultimately contributed to her departure.

The song was originally intended for the band’s 1977 album Rumours, but was left off and used as a B-side, as mentioned earlier. A live version of Silver Springs was released as a single from the band’s 1997 reunion album The Dance. This version was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1998. The live video below was recorded at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, in May 1997.

You could be my silver spring
Blue-green colors flashin’
I would be your only dream
Your shinin’ autumn ocean crashin’

And don’t say that she’s pretty
And did you say that she loved you?
Baby, I don’t wanna know

So, I begin not to love you
Turn around, see me running
I say, “I loved you years ago”
Tell myself you never loved me, no

And don’t say that she’s pretty
And did you say that she loved you?
Baby, I don’t wanna know, oh, no
And can you tell me, was it worth it?
Baby, I don’t wanna know

Time cast a spell on you
But you won’t forget me
I know I could have loved you
But you would not let me

Time cast a spell on you
But you won’t forget me
Well, I know I could have loved you
But you would not let me
I’ll follow you down
‘Til the sound of my voice will haunt you
Oh, give me just a chance
You’ll never get away from the sound
Of the woman that loved you
Was I just a fool?
I’ll follow you down
‘Til the sound of my voice will haunt you
Give me just a chance
You’ll never get away from the sound
Of the woman that loved you

Time cast a spell on you
But you won’t forget me
I know I could have loved you
But you would not let me
I’ll follow you down
‘Til the sound

References:
1. Silver Springs (song) – Wikipedia

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Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (1967) – Frankie Valli

Posted on January 12, 2026 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

When I recently revisited The Deer Hunter, an early scene caught my attention in which the young men sing today’s featured song, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. It struck me that this track should have been part of my music project from the outset – so here I am, making amends. From the moment the horns announce its arrival, the song is irresistible, carried by Frankie Valli’s high-pitched, tender vocal. You can’t help but be swept along. Then it suddenly changes gear as the horns return and Valli launches into “I love you, baby, and if it’s quite all right,” transforming the song into something bolder and a little more risqué. You can almost picture a can-can kick line: dancers locked arm-in-arm, legs flying in perfect unison.

Released in 1967, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You perfectly captures the spirit of its era – almost like a musical time capsule. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but it’s the kind of song I find myself appreciating more with age. And yes, as the saying goes, they really don’t make them like this anymore. Since then, it has been covered hundreds of times and has become a fixture in film and television soundtracks, cementing its status as a pop classic.

The following was abridged from the WIkipedia article below:
The song was written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio, and first recorded and released as a single by Gaudio’s Four Seasons bandmate Frankie Valli. The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the Billboard for a week, making it Valli’s biggest solo hit until he hit No. 1 in 1975 with My Eyes Adored You.

Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You bears melodic elements to passages from the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia section of the 1956 ballet Spartacus (Suite No. 2) by Aram Khachaturian.

Bob Gaudio called “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” – “the one that almost got away” until radio intervened. Initially lukewarm, CKLW program director Paul Drew changed his mind after hearing Frankie Valli perform it live at Detroit’s Roostertail in 1967. Once added to CKLW’s rotation, the switchboards lit up – and the song’s path to classic status was sealed.

Valli recalled in 2014 that Can’t Take My Eyes Off You was the first step in the fulfilment of his goal to sing music that did not require him to use falsetto: “I didn’t want to sing like that my whole life. Once we established the sound, the plan was that eventually I would do solo [records] and some things I really wanted to do…”.

[Verse 1]
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off of you
You’d be like Heaven to touch
I wanna hold you so much
At long last love has arrived
And I thank God I’m alive
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off you

[Verse 2]
Pardon the way that I stare
There’s nothing else to compare
The sight of you leaves me weak
There are no words left to speak
But if you feel like I feel
Please let me know that it’s real
You’re just too good to be true
Can’t take my eyes off you

[Interlude]

[Chorus]
I love you, baby, and if it’s quite alright
I need you, baby, to warm the lonely night
I love you, baby, trust in me when I say
Oh, pretty baby, don’t bring me down, I pray
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay
And let me love you, baby, let me love you

References:
1. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – Wikipedia

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To Fall In Love With You (1986) – Bob Dylan

Posted on January 11, 2026 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

To Fall in Love With You is an unreleased and unfinished romantic jewel from Bob Dylan. The lyrics are incomplete and he’s in mid-songwriting process. Still, the headspace the song puts me in is one of serenity and deep longing. It conjures everything that feels pure and absorbing about love – the kind you want to sink into and stay there. In that sense, it reminds me of another under-the-radar Dylan moment: his rarely heard live version of The Grateful Dead’s Black Muddy River – which is another one of his songs I could play on repeat and get lost in.

When I first heard this recording, I assumed it was taken from a live concert. Instead, it’s a studio recording – yet it has an expansive, almost floating sound, as if it’s stretching out into space. You can picture Dylan sitting on the front porch of a cabin in the middle of nowhere, singing this out deep into the night. The performance is raw and rudimentary, as if he’s shaping the song as he goes.

The track was recorded during the Hearts of Fire sessions at Townhouse Studio in London on August 27–28, 1986. Dylan is backed by Eric Clapton on guitar, Ron Wood and Kip Winger on bass, Beau Hill on keyboards, and Henry Spinetti on drums. It was recorded as a rough track for the Hearts of Fire film (image inset) but didn’t make the final cut, and the song was never revisited or completed.
In fact, very few people seem to have seen Hearts of Fire – myself included – largely because it’s regarded as a real stinker; perhaps only Cop Dog, reviewed here by Mr Plinkett, offers any real competition.

What really carries To Fall in Love With You is Dylan’s voice. His phrasing, his emphasis on certain words, and the way he stretches or leans into lines give the song its emotional weight. You don’t need a perfect voice or operatic range to deliver something powerful. If the lyric intent is there – and the emotion is real – you can make something pretty unforgettable. Dylan proves that here, unfinished and all.

A tear goes down my day is real
But your drying eye upon the shame
Each needs a road for me from you
What paradise? what can I do?
That die for my and the day is dark
I can’t believe for your touch
What I could find oh time is right
If I fell in love to fall in love
To fall in love with you

The day is dark, our time is right
Day in the night deep in the night
I can’t yet be back I heard my- surprise
I see it in your lips I knew it in your eyes
Well I feel your love and I feel no shame
I can’t unleash your horde I call your name
What you’re to me what can I do?
To fall in love to fall in love
To fall in love with you

It just rolls upon the sand
Ever this for now I’m made a man
Can make you see what I can find
I know it in my days ah in my daily mind
Oh will ages roll will ages fly?
I hear your name where angels lie
What do I know? for to come it’s true
To fall in love To fall in love
To fall in love with you

How can the doors trust on a nail?
How can I be surprised of most every day?
In the distant road I can’t be the same
I feel no love I feel no shame
I can’t watch the bay out on my own
We’ve a destined man I can attest it all
I didn’t I could find where I could go
To fall in love to fall in love
To fall in love with you

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Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) 1998 – the Offspring

Posted on January 10, 2026 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

In my previous post, I wrote about the gentle, tender Tiny Flame by The Softies – a song defined by its restraint and lack of cheap thrills. Today we flip that idea completely on its head with Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) by The Offspring, a track built on fanfare and exaggerated, catchy hooks.

“Give it to me baby / Uh huh, uh huh!”

From the opening chant, subtlety is firmly off the table.

The song – and especially the video – is knowingly obnoxious like the protagonist in the song and it’s stuffed with exaggerated stereotypes and broad humour. But it’s hard not to give in to the sheer catchiness and get caught up in the whole hoo-ra. The song ridicules a “wannabe gangsta” who is immersed in hip-hop culture, not because he truly loves or understands it but because it is trendy, makes him feel tough.

I like how Pretty Fly mixes it up with rap, punk and post-grunge, delivered with such intent. The boldness is part of its appeal. It’s just a cool piece of late-90s pop-punk theatre. I also like the Latin-influenced vibe and the sexiness of the imagery and ladies’ background voices. Dexter Holland (Singer-songwriter) in an interview featured in Louder said the chord progression and rhythm drew on ideas from Latin-rock classics (like Santana’s Oye Cómo Va) as a creative starting point.

Pretty Fly is the fourth track from the Offspring’s 5th studio album – Americana. I’m surprised the song did so modestly in the US reaching just No. 53 on the Billboard. It was successful internationally, reaching number one in 10 countries, including Australia (my home country), where it stayed at number one for six weeks and was certified quadruple platinum. That’s how I would have become so well acquainted with it.

Beginning with a sample of the pseudo-German nonsense phrase “Gunter glieben glauchen globen” from Def Leppard’s 1983 song “Rock of Ages“, chanted as a replacement for the traditional “1, 2, 3, 4” to start the recording.

Gunter glieben glauten globen
Give it to me, baby!
Uh huh, uh huh!
Give it to me, baby!
Uh huh, uh huh!
Give it to me, baby!
Uh huh, uh huh!
And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly for a white guy
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis

You know, it’s kinda hard just to get along today
Our subject isn’t cool, but he fakes it anyway
He may not have a clue and he may not have style
But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial

So don’t debate a player straight
You know he really doesn’t get it anyway
Gotta play the field and keep it real
For you, no way, for you, no way
So if you don’t rate, just overcompensate
At least that you’ll know you can always go on Ricki Lake
The world needs wannabes, ah
Hey, hey, do that brand new thing!

Give it to me, baby!
Uh huh, uh huh!
Give it to me, baby!
Uh huh, uh huh!
Give it to me, baby!
Uh huh, uh huh!
And all the girlies say I’m pretty fly for a white guy

He needs some cool tunes, not just any will suffice
But they didn’t have Ice Cube, so he bought Vanilla Ice
Now cruisin’ in his Pinto, he sees homies as he pass
But if he looks twice, they’re gonna kick his lily ass

Now he’s gettin’ a tattoo, yeah, he’s gettin’ ink done
He asked for a thirteen, but they drew a thirty-one
Friends say he’s tryin’ too hard and he’s not quite hip
But in his own mind, he’s the, he’s the dopest trip

References:
1. Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) – Wikipedia

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Tiny Flame (2024) – The Softies

Posted on January 8, 2026 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

This track, Tiny Flame, induces such sweet, heart-warming sentiments, and it does so without fanfare or cheap thrills. I just love the modest, tranquil sound of this gentle song – you’ve really only got a strummed electric guitar and those lovely female harmonies. Such is the song’s warmth and tenderness that it’s hard not to be swept up in it; it makes your heart melt – at least it does mine. I could happily have it on repeat for a good while.

It reminds me of the charm and suavity of music from the bygone era of the ’50s and early ’60s – songs like Angel Baby by Rosie and the Originals and My Happiness by Connie Francis. Obviously, nothing can encroach on those classics, but fast-forward 60 years and imagine a minimalist reinterpretation of that genre and era, and you might get something like Tiny Flame.

Not only that, but I can easily imagine a song like this – and the disposition it evokes – fitting snugly into a Wes Anderson soundtrack, something along the lines of The Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore.

I first heard Tiny Flame at Christian’s Music Musings. So I’ll turn it over to him – he won’t mind:

The Softies are an indie duo of singer and guitarist Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia, who are known for their minimal approach to pop music. They first came together in 1994 in what was intended to be a side project for both artists. During their initial run until 2000, they released three studio albums and a series of singles and EPs. After 24 years, The Softies are back with a new album titled The Bed I Made. Here’s Tiny Flame. I love the gorgeous harmony singing, which is accentuated by the bare bones electric guitar accompaniment.

It started with a tiny flame
And ended in tears
I hadn’t felt that way in years

It left a mark upon my heart
I’ll have to explain
Every time I try to love again

Baby, when you think of me
Don’t forget
We could have been something

Maybe there’s a different life
Waiting for me
Where you’re just a hazy memory

It started with a tiny flame
But ended okay
You know I’ll always love you in some way

Baby, when you think of me
Don’t forget
We could have been somеthing

Set a fire
Let it burn
And start again

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Cadillac Ranch (1980) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on January 7, 2026 by observationblogger — 16 Comments

You know Bruce has gone full beast mode when he describes a Cadillac as “tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur.” Turning a machine into an extinct reptile might sound odd, but it’s perfect imagery. He makes the car feel alive. It’s no longer just a Cadillac – it’s a living, breathing beast brought back to life. Bruce clearly had a thing for Cadillacs. He later wrote Pink Cadillac which Natalie Cole turned into a hit, but that’s a trip for another time.

Cadillac Ranch might well be the closest I’ve ever come to being a car guy. Automatically, Cadillacs became my favourite car make and remain so to this day – all because of this song. I reckon it was also one of the first straight-up Bruce rockers I can remember hearing. It certainly got my engines roaring as an early teen. It’s just plain fun. And how about the Big Man’s saxophone solo?! Whenever I hear it now, I can’t help but be transported back to those good old days of the excitement and exuberance of falling headfirst into all his music.

The following was extracted from the Wikipedia article below:
Cadillac Ranch was first released on Springsteen’s 1980 album The River. In 1981 it was released as a single in Europe, backed by Be True in France (see image above) and by Wreck on the Highway in the UK.

The song’s title comes from Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. Cadillac Ranch is a sculpture showing ten Cadillac automobiles with their hoods buried in the ground. Springsteen used Cadillac Ranch as a metaphor for his theme; that these once elite cars are now expendable.

Well there she sits buddy just a-gleaming in the sun
There to greet a working man when his day is done
I’m gonna pack my pa and I’m gonna pack my aunt
I’m gonna take them down to the Cadillac Ranch
Eldorado fins, whitewalls and skirts
Rides just like a little bit of heaven here on earth
Well buddy when I die throw my body in the back
And drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac

(Chorus)
Cadillac, Cadillac
Long and dark shiny and black
Open up your engines let `em roar
Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur

James Dean in that Mercury `49
Junior Johnson runnin’ through the woods of Caroline
Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans Am
All gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch

(Chorus)

Hey little girlie in the blue jeans so tight
Drivin’ alone through the Wisconsin night
You’re my last love you’re my last chance
Don’t let `em take me to the Cadillac Ranch

References:
1. Cadillac Ranch (Bruce Springsteen song) – Wikipedia

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