Have You Ever Seen The Rain (1971) – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Posted on November 21, 2025 by observationblogger — 31 Comments

“We achieved all our dreams… you guys are only talking about negative stuff … On your own perfect dream … you bring in a huge rain cloud…”

– John Fogerty

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Have You Ever Seen the Rain is quietly heartbreaking – a gentle song carrying a simple mix of tension and longing. I remember hearing it often in my youth and being instantly drawn to it. The song conjured images in my mind of the Vietnam War, Agent Orange, acid rain, and the tough road veterans faced in trying to overcome the trauma that haunted them. Whether the song actually had anything to do with that we shall see below. Despite its oversaturation on radio and in broader Western pop culture, Have You Ever Seen the Rain still stands as a contemporary rock classic – arguably CCR’s most celebrated and recognisable song.

Written by cofounder, lead vocalist and principal songwriter – John Fogerty, the song came out as a single in January 1971, and is also part of Creedence’s Pendulum album, released in late 1970. It’s strange how spare the arrangement is for a CCR track – no huge guitar solo, quietly humming organ and steady vocals – just a clean melancholic melody. On its surface, the lyrics talk about a sunshower – “rain … comin’ down on a sunny day.” But the deeper meaning is more personal according to the UDiscover music article below. To Fogerty, the “rain” isn’t literal; it’s his way of expressing the pain as his band was breaking up. Even as things looked bright (they were wildly successful), something dark was settling in.

As alluded to above, the emotional weight doesn’t not from screaming guitars or theatrical flair, but from its simplicity. Lines like “Someone told me long ago / There’s a calm before the storm” feel universal – like a memory, or a warning. This reminds me of a movie called Take Shelter (2011) about a devoted family man and construction worker who becomes increasingly consumed by vivid nightmares of an apocalyptic storm, leading him to build a storm shelter and question his own sanity. The song, like the movie makes you imagine a moment when everything seems okay … and yet isn’t. Good days don’t mean everything is perfect. The rain can come at any moment – even under a blue sky.

[Verse 1]
Someone told me long ago
There’s a calm before the storm
I know, it’s been comin’ for some time
When it’s over, so they say
It’ll rain a sunny day
I know, shinin’ down like water

[Chorus]
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
Comin’ down on a sunny day

[Verse 2]
Yesterday, and days before
Sun is cold and rain is hard
I know, been that way for all my time
‘Til forever, on it goes
Through the circle, fast and slow
I know, it can’t stop, I wonder

References:
1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain – Wikipedia
2. ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’: Creedence’s Poignant Late-Period Classic – UDiscoverMusic

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It Is What It Is (2023) – Darksoft

Posted on November 20, 2025 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

I heard It Is What It Is the other day on my music player, and its easy, hip groove clicked with me. There’s a breezy looseness to it – a kind of pleasurable, unhurried sway – and the guitar work even pulls me back to that sun-lit Go-Go’s Vacation vibe, or at times a whirly, melodic touch you’d hear on a Smiths record.

I first learnt about this song – from Jeff’s blog at Eclectic Music Lover where he wrote about it:

The album contains nine wonderful tracks, starting with “It Is What It Is“, which was also released as the first single. The song has a fun, bouncy vibe, highlighted by Darksoft’s beautiful jangly guitar notes and breathy vocals singing the cliche lyrics he alluded to above: “Say what you will. When you know you just know. All’s well that ends well. What goes around comes around.” The charming video for the song, showing him barefoot and dressed all in white, doing a simple dance move in front of empty, nondescript office parks around Portland, Maine, was filmed on VHS recording equipment, giving it a vintage lo-fi quality.

Below is a summary of Jeff’s article about the artist and album :
Darksoft is the solo project of a multi-instrumentalist songwriter and producer – first name Bill (originally from Seattle, now based in Portland, Maine) who crafts lush, introspective music by weaving together dreamy pop, shoegaze, and alternative-rock textures. In Beigeification– his 2023 album released on Look Up Records – Darksoft channels a kind of “postmodern dose of beigey moods and pastel phrases” to reflect the disillusionment of our times. Across nine tracks, he leans into thought-terminating clichés (“it is what it is,” “you gotta do what you gotta do,” “win some lose some,” etc.) as lyrical anchors, layering them over simple yet evocative chord progressions, reverb-soaked guitars, soft synths, and his velvety, ethereal vocals. The result is both comforting and wistful – an album that feels like a daydream in beige, quietly profound without demanding too much.

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April Come She Will (1966) – Simon & Garfunkel

Posted on November 18, 2025 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

Today’s Simon & Garfunkel track, April Come She Will, is a lucid and breezy piece, carrying a touch of Celtic colouring similar to their sombre and melancholic Scarborough Fair, which happened to be paired with April as its A-side single. The song appears on The Graduate soundtrack and features in the pool scene, where it was even used as a rhythmic guide during the film’s editing. The film was a staple in our household so it’s most likely where I first heard this track. You can almost feel the seasons shifting in this one, with the feminine spirit of nature evoked through Art Garfunkel’s whisper-soft, reverent delivery.

According to Wikipedia – Paul Simon wrote this in 1964 when he was in England. Its lyrics use the changing nature of the seasons as a metaphor for a girl’s changing moods. The inspiration for the song was a girl that Simon met and the nursery rhyme she used to recite, “Cuckoo“. April Come She Will is a very brief song, barely hitting 1:51, yet that brevity adds to the charm and enhances the impact of both the lyric and the melody. Listen for an echo of this song in For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her from S&G’s subsequent album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme.

[Verse 1]
April, come she will
When streams are ripe and swelled with rain
May, she will stay
Resting in my arms again

[Verse 2]
June, she’ll change her tune
In restless walks, she’ll prowl the night
July, she will fly
And give no warning to her flight

[Verse 3]
August, die she must
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold
September, I’ll remember
A love once new has now grown old

References:
1. April Come She Will – Wikipedia

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This Old Guitar (2005) – Neil Young (Ft. Emmylou Harris)

Posted on November 15, 2025 by observationblogger — 5 Comments

I first heard This Old Guitar in the Prairie Wind concert at the Grand Ole Opry House, featured in Jonathan Demme’s music documentary Heart of Gold (yes, the same Demme behind Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia). It’s this performance I keep returning to – more than the original studio or the Live Farm Aid 2005 rendition. Prairie Wind, via Demme’s lens, was my real introduction to Neil Young’s world, so it will always hold a special place for me. Plenty of songs from it have already featured here for that very reason.

The Prairie Wind concert marked Young’s return to the stage after undergoing surgery for a brain aneurysm in the spring of 2005. Unsurprisingly, both the songs and the documentary find him looking back – on childhood, on the passage of time, and on his own fragility in the wake of his father’s illness and his own health scare. When I first got my hands on the documentary, I couldn’t stop watching it. The songs still echo with the same emotional clarity now as they did then. For someone who hadn’t been deeply familiar with Young’s catalogue, Prairie Wind was a wonderfully gentle – and powerful -introduction.

No prizes for guessing what today’s song is about. This Old Guitar is Neil Young’s love letter to the instrument that’s been with him through so much. The guitar once belonged to Hank Williams, one of Young’s great musical heroes. In Heart of Gold, filmed in Nashville, Young talks about the poetic symmetry of the guitar returning to the very stage where Williams once played it. A friend tracked the instrument down some 30 years ago, and Neil has cherished it ever since.

[Verse 1]
This old guitar ain’t mine to keep
I’m just taking care of it now
It’s been around for years and years
Just waiting in its old case

[Verse 2]
It’s been up and down the country roads
It’s brought a tear and a smile
It’s seen its share of dreams and hopes
It never went out of style

[Verse 3]
The more I play it, the better it sounds
It cries when I leave it alone
Silently it waits for me
Or someone else I suppose

[Chorus]
This old guitar
This old guitar
This old guitar

[Verse 4]
This old guitar has caught some breaks
But it never searched for gold
It can’t be blamed for my mistakes
It only does what it’s told

[Verse 5]
It’s been a messenger in times of trouble
In times of hope and fear
When I get drunk and seein’ double
It jumps behind the wheel and steers

[Verse 6]
This old guitar ain’t mine to keep
It’s mine to play for a while
This old guitar ain’t mine to keep
It’s only mine for a while

References:
1. Prairie Wind – Wikipedia

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Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025) – Scott Cooper (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on November 13, 2025 by observationblogger — 14 Comments

People might have been disappointed if they went in expecting the film to revel in The Boss’s highs. Instead, this biopic – much like how director Scott Cooper portrayed Bad Blake in Crazy Heart – focuses on mostly the lows, the testing times. The lingering pauses and quiet glances carry as much – if not more – weight than the words that are spoken. Amid its nostalgic tone, this isn’t nostalgia in the comforting sense. For Bruce, looking back is tangled with the turbulence of his upbringing – memories that ache as much as they soothe.

To me Deliver Me From Nowhere is a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – to borrow from James Joyce’s title, which I wrote about here back in 2019 in Take a Walk with James Joyce Along the Beach. It’s about the creative process – the songwriting, the spark of inspiration, and the fragility of expression in its purest form. Springsteen had his hands all over this production too, even visiting the shoots, and you can tell he’s long past trying to make himself look good. Instead, he’s intent on telling the truth about that time – raw and unfiltered.

There’s one quiet scene in a café where he’s talking with his manager and good friend, Jon Landau. Oh and get used to seeing Springsteen with his right arm draped across the backrest. Anyhows, he’s being pressured about his next record – the same old talk – when he glances at an elderly man sitting alone in a booth. He keeps looking, as if there’s something profound in that stillness, while the world rushes past. Springsteen sees the beauty in that solitary man – and so does this film.

If there’s a moment that suspends everything else, it’s the scene midway through when Bruce’s father takes him and his sister (the inspiration behind The River) to a Mansion on the Hill – the experience that sparked one of Springsteen’s most hauntingly beautiful tracks, found on his stark and often overlooked album, Nebraska.

Me and my sister, we’d hide out in the tall cornfields
Sit and listen to the mansion on the hill

The echoes of his earlier life – Asbury Park, the county fairs, the Jersey nights – all run through this movie. Maybe not in the songs featured within, but in the small, beautiful moments – like him sneaking himself and his girl onto a carousel late at night, or trudging along the promenade with his collar turned up and hands buried deep in his pockets. That’s the Springsteen I’d always hoped to see – and Scott Cooper captures it strikingly: the world behind the fame, the grit beneath it all. The environment that shaped the music and held him steady on his journey.

Now lets take a short detour here…I’ve read my fair share of reviews of Deliver Me From Nowhere, and what most seem to overlook – or at least not give due credit to – is how powerfully the film unpacks and humanizes the experience of depression. Setting aside the man and his music for a moment, this film stands on its own as a first-person manifestation of what it’s like to live with depression. Speaking from personal experience, it struck me as an accurate and intimate portrayal.

Everything finally comes to a head during Bruce’s road trip to California, where he’s forced to confront himself and admit that the girlfriend he left behind was right all along. I also love how the film handles this moment so subtly – in that road-diner scene where Bruce simply mutters to himself, “She was right.” Faye had told him she wasn’t there just for him to “play house,” calling out his tendency to run whenever things got real. All of this – along with everything else piling up – leads to his nervous breakdown. The movie put me right inside Springsteen’s head, something almost every other music biopic fails to do.

Deliver Me From Nowhere is, quite simply, one of the finest musical biopics I’ve seen. It transported me completely back to that time and place – from the bedroom demos to the studio sessions, from the look of the streets to the sound of the air. It feels more textured, more authentic, than even A Complete Unknown, as much as I admired that film. Still, no one – not Timothée Chalamet, not Jeremy Allen White – can fully capture the raw essence of the original artist’s voice.

That said, both actors deliver wonderful performances, and we as audiences are fortunate to revisit the lives, soundscapes, and landscapes that shaped their journeys – as aforementioned – A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

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Posted in Movies and TV, Music

Never Be The Same Again (2000) – Melanie C (Ft. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes)

Posted on November 12, 2025 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Let me just say from the outset – I’ve seen worse single covers than the one above. Wowee. If I’m hazarding a guess, I’d say Melanie C’s (from the British girl group Spice Girls) short-cropped hair and athletic look on her first solo record Northern Star (inset) had as much to do with me buying the record as anything else.

But hear me out… upon listening to the album, I soon learned there was much more behind that pretty face than I’d imagined. It actually contained some very good music, and I responded to it most agreeably as a newbie casual fan. Which brings us to today’s featured song.

Hip-hop music isn’t ordinarily my cup of tea, but what Mel does with Never Be the Same Again really drew me in. It oozes a sultry and delectable sound – even after more than two decades, it still feels as fresh and current as almost anything I hear today. What I also like is that it doesn’t try to be too showy or over the top; it just is what it is – a meandering yet cozy stroll of music that feels warm and congenial on the ears. The song also features (in the third verse) American singer and rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC fame.

Lyrically and thematically, it reminds me a little of Alanis Morissette’s 1995 song Head Over Feet – an unassuming and restrained telling of unexpected affection between friends that turned into, to quote Alanis, “You’re my best friend / Best friend with benefits.”

Two other songs will appear here from Mel’s debut album, including the wonderfully poignant title track Northern Star.

Never Be the Same Again was the third single released from the record. It entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart, becoming Melanie C’s first solo single to reach number one. It sold 144,936 copies in its first week and was Britain’s 18th-best-selling song of 2000. 

Melanie C was born Melanie Jayne Chisholm on 12 January 1974, which makes her just three days older than yours truly – very cool by my own reckoning, if I may say so. The music video below was filmed in Malibu, California – also pretty cool. Mel is also seen jogging on a treadmill with a changing foreground. She has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder.
She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating:

“I’d hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me ‘Sumo Spice’, I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14.”

[Verse 1]
I call you up whenever things go wrong
You’re always there you are my shoulder to cry on
I can’t believe it took me quite so long
To take the forbidden step
Is this something that I might regret?

[Pre-Chorus]
Come on, come on
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
You are the one
The lonely heart that can’t be tamed
Come on, come on
I’m hoping that you feel the same (Yeah!)
This is something that I can’t forget

[Chorus]
I thought that we would just be friends
Things will never be the same again
It’s just the beginning it’s not the end
Things will never be the same again
It’s not a secret anymore
Now we’ve opened up the door
Starting tonight and from now on
We’ll never, never be the same again
(uh, never be the same again)
Never be the same again
(uh, never be the same again, come on)

[Verse 2]
Now I know that we were close before (before)
I’m glad I realized I need you so much more (yeah)
And I don’t care what everyone will say (uh, ha)
It’s about you and me (you and me)
And we’ll never be the same again (uh)

[Verse 3: Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes]
Uh, check it
Night and day
Black beach sand to red clay
The US to UK
NYC to LA
From sidewalks to highways
See it will never be the same, what I’m saying
My mind frame never changed so you came and rearranged
But sometimes it seems completely forbidden
To discover those feelings that we kept so well hidden
When there’s no competition
And you render my condition
Though improbable it’s not impossible
For a love that could be unstoppable, but wait
I find lines between fate and destiny
Do you believe in the things that were just meant to be?
When you tell me the stories of your quest for me
Picturesque is the picture you paint effortlessly
And as our energies mix and begin to multiply
Everyday situations they start to simplify
So things will never be the same between you and I
We intertwine our life forces
And now we’re unified (yeah)

References:
1. Never Be the Same Again – Wikipedia

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Why Don’t You Get a Job? (1998) – The Offspring

Posted on November 12, 2025 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

At the tail end of the 1990s alternative rock and punk scene, The Offspring exploded with a run of hits, and Why Don’t You Get a Job? was one of the catchiest of them all. It’s a song as much about attitude as melody – playful, and so singable. Singer Dexter Holland delivers each line with a blend of sneer and smirk, so while some lyrics might come off as abrasive – particularly in the opening and closing verses – it never feels too mean-spirited. To me, the whole thing plays out as tongue-in-cheek banter.

Musically, the song always reminded me of The Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-D”, especially when he sings – “Say, no way, say no way-ya, no way.” As it turns out, I wasn’t imagining it because Wikipedia notes: The song drew attention from multiple music writers for its similarities to the song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, the Beatles’ 1968 hit from their self-titled double album (also known as the White Album).

Oh, I still remember Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da being played endlessly (along with Yellow Submarine) during morning exercise back in primary school – and feeling utterly powerless to stop it. It didn’t exactly leave me with the most endearing memories of The Beatles from an early age – quite the opposite if I’m being frank. But I’ll leave that rabbit hole for another day.

Musically Why Don’t You Get a Job? evokes the feel of a laid-back beach tune. The rhythm guitar chops on the off-beat, in classic ska and reggae fashion, giving it a bouncy groove rather than a driving punk pulse. – making their song sound cheeky and tropical – kinda California punk on holiday.

The song appears as the 11th track on The Offspring’s fifth studio album, Americana (1998), and was released as its second single. It shot into the top ten in several countries, reaching number two in the UK, Australia, Iceland, and Sweden, though curiously it only peaked at No. 94 on the US Billboard Hot 100. I would’ve assumed it was a bigger hit in the U.S. than anywhere else, but the opposite was true.

The music video below was shot on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood. I like when the beats are added by a girl with a boombox – such a simple touch, but it makes the groove come alive right from the start.

[Verse 1]
My friend’s got a girlfriend, man, he hates that bitch
He tells me every day
He says, “Man, I really gotta lose my chick
In the worst kinda way.”

[Verse 2]
She sits on her ass, he works his hands to the bone
To give her money every payday
But she wants more dinero just to stay at home
Well, my friend, you gotta say

[Chorus]
“I won’t pay, I won’t pay ya, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?”
Say, “No way,” say, “No way-ya, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?”

[Verse 3]
I guess all his money, well, it isn’t enough
To keep her bill collectors at bay
I guess all his money, well, it isn’t enough
’Cause that girl’s got expensive taste

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
Well, I guess it ain’t easy doing nothing at all, oh yeah
But hey man, free rides just don’t come along every day
(Let me tell you ’bout my other friend now)

[Verse 4]
My friend’s got a boyfriend, man, she hates that dick (And the guy)
She tells me every day (Woo! Every day now)
He wants more dinero just to stay at home (Stay at home!)
Well, my friend, you gotta say (Gotta say!)

References:
1. Why Don’t You Get a Job? – Wikipedia

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Right There Waiting (2003) – Delta Goodrum

Posted on November 11, 2025 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

Right There Waiting is one of those cutesy, guilty-pleasure love ballads I occasionally find myself listening to. I’ve been tossing up whether to feature it here for quite some time, but the last time I heard it, it raised the needle on my general happiness gauge – so I decided to let this baby rip.

The Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem, with her warm, girl-next-door charm, has appeared here twice – once with her beautiful ballad Lost Without You, featuring Darren Hayes of Savage Garden. Delta was the undisputed pop diva of Australian music in the early 2000s – until she was diagnosed with cancer, and her struggle became something of a national concern. Too ill to perform at the 2003 ARIA Awards, Darren Hayes stepped in to sing her song instead, delivering such a stirring and heartfelt rendition that it sent shivers down my spine – especially when Delta appears in the audience at the end, a blubbering mess.

Delta was just 18 in 2003 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphatic system.

“July 8, 2003. twenty years ago today. I remember that day so clearly and all the mixed emotions that came with the news of being diagnosed with cancer while my album (Innocent Eyes) had been sitting at No. 1 for three months prior and the third single hit No. 1 same day”

Today’s featured track Right There Waiting is a B-side from her Not me, Not I single released from her debut album Innocent Eyes.

Despite going through such a traumatic health experience, Delta has come through the other side and released 6 albums since. In 2021 Delta revealed people still constantly contact her to chat about her cancer journey.

“I don’t get emotional as much anymore… But occasionally I might see something and maybe a happy tear of being grateful because I’m here in full flight of health.”

[Verse 1]
Hey, what’s your silence for?
Lost in the herd that hides your eyes
Did you mean to run from me?
From the dreams we’ve waited for

[Pre-Chorus]
Won’t you take me there?
To that place you share with hopes that light your world
Do I? Do I have to prove that I’m here for you?
I hope you understand
That I am

[Chorus]
Since you’ve been away
I’ve missed you so
I can’t wait to hold you
Have you back again
So please stop and turn around
Then you’ll see me, I’ll be there searching
Right therе waiting for you

[Verse 2]
Hey, what’s the anger for?
Wait, plеase don’t turn away from. me
Looking into my life, you know
That it means everything to me

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
No matter what you say (Oh)
We’ll get through each day (Oh)
I’rm here to stay, oh-oh
And if I meet you there (Oh)
Sometime, some place, somewhere (Oh)
And I’ll be there (Oh), anyway

References:
1. Delta Goodrum – Wikipedia
2. Delta Goodrem’s emotional update 20 years after cancer diagnosis: ‘Mixed emotions’ – Yahoo Lifestyle

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3/11/25 – 9/11/25 – Media Bias, Skiing Everest & Asteroid Impact

Posted on November 10, 2025 by observationblogger — 10 Comments
news on the march

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

The Murder of Iryna Zarutska | Media Bias, Ideology & Selective Outrage
Video Essay at Quillette

Quillette, the Australian-based online magazine has become one of my go-to current affairs news sources. I really appreciate the care Quillette writers take to analyze and articulate these cultural phenomena. The founder Claire Lehmann was presented here back in March this year in an interview with Freddie Sayers at UnHerd about the threat to free speech from the right.

Today’s feature examines the disturbing silence surrounding the brutal murder of a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina, United States – and what that silence might reveal about shifting media priorities, ideological bias, and cultural taboos. Was this case overlooked because it didn’t fit the dominant narrative? Are journalists making editorial choices based on ideology rather than truth? And what does this say about how we collectively process injustice?

I Skied Down Mount Everest (world first, no oxygen)
Video presentation at Red Bull

This is one of the most exhilarating and spectacularly filmed sporting adventure videos I’ve ever seen. From the moment I pressed play to the very end, I found myself agasp and bewildered – not only at how Andrzej Bargiel had the stamina to complete this world-first ski mountaineering feat without supplementary oxygen, but also at how it was filmed so exquisitely (by his brother, no less) at such altitude. I’ve seen my fair share of Everest climb videos, but this presentation captured the mountain from an entirely different – and utterly unexpected – perspective. Quite simply this video contains the best shots of Everest I’ve ever seen – and it’s not even close.

Ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel becomes the first person to climb Mount Everest and ski back to Everest Base Camp without supplementary oxygen. After nearly 16 hours climbing in the high altitude “death zone” (above 8,000m where oxygen levels are dangerously low), Bargiel clipped into his skis on the summit of the tallest mountain on earth and started his descent via the South Col Route.

How We Figured Out an Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs
Video presentation at PBS Eons

Nearly all of us are familiar with the most cataclysmic natural event in Earth’s history – the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. But do we really know why this hypothesis for their extinction has become so widely and resoundingly accepted by scientists as fact? What’s the evidence, and how did it all come together in such a relatively short span of time? This video goes a long way toward answering those questions, and I found it to be a fascinating learning experience.

Video description:
66 million years ago a giant space rock crashed into our planet and killed the dinosaurs. In the span of just four decades, we’ve gone from not knowing there was a space rock at all to knowing exactly where that planet-killer came from.

That is all. Thank you for reading.

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Posted in News, politics, Science, Sport and Adventure

The Return of Jackie and Judy (2006) – Tom Waits

Posted on November 9, 2025 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

Talk about an interesting mix today. We have Tom Waits covering The Ramones with The Return of Jackie and Judy. Johnny Ramone personally choose Tom Waits to do it for their We’re A Happy Family tribute album (2003). There is so much raw energy here. Waits keeps the Ramones’ skeletal structure in the original but dirties it up some and turns it into a bar-punk rocker. Also Waits seems to conjure up this tinny, oxidised sound — like something straight out of a wrecking yard – it’s that dirty.

The Return of Jackie and Judy reminds me so much of another Waits song I featured here back in June 2023 – Lowdown, from the same album in fact. Both share a similar gritty, raw energy and that rough-and-ready rhythm Waits does so well. He even sings them with the same coarse, growling vocals and punctuates each with a recurring “Oh yeah!” throughout.

Waits later released Jack and Judy on his 2006 album Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards – a three-disc edition in 2006 (image inset). It and Lowdown appear on the first disc which is more ‘blues and rock-based‘. The album was listed as one of the highest-scoring albums of the year in Metacritic and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

The Ramones had previously covered Waits’ with I Don’t Wanna Grow Up in 1995 as the opening track and lead single from their final studio album, ¡Adios Amigos! The song itself was originally written and recorded by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan for Waits’ 1992 album Bone Machine. The Ramones’ version injects the tune with their trademark punk energy while keeping the bittersweet irony of Waits’ lyrics.

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oohhh
Oh, Jackie is a punk
Judy is a runt
They went down to The Mudd Club
And they both got drunk
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, ooh

Well, Jackie is a bookie
And Judy’s taking loans
They both came up to New York
Just to see The Ramones
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah

And, oh, I don’t know why
She wrote that letter
I don’t know why
We can’t forget her, oh, no

Well, Jackie’s playing hooky
Judy’s playing pool
They both got caught for cutting
Now they’re going to summer school
Oh, yeah

Now Jackie’s playing hooky
And Judy’s getting rammed
They both got kicked outside
They ain’t got no time, na, na, na
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah

And, ooh, I don’t know why
She wrote that letter, oh, yeah
I don’t know why
We can’t forget her, oh, no

Well, Jackie is a punk
And Judy is a runt
They went down to The Mudd Club
And they both got drunk
Oh, yeah, whoa yeah

Now Jackie’s playing hooky
Judy’s playing pool
They both got caught for cutting
Now they’re goin’ to summer school
Oh, yeah, whoa yeah
Oh, oh, yeah, whoa yeah

Whoa yeah, whoa yeah, whoa yeah
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, whoa yeah
Na, na, na, na, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, whoa yeah
Na, na, na, na, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, whoa yeah
Na, na, na, na, oh, yeah, oh, yeah
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, oh, yeah
Ooooh, yeah…

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