I first heard this song in the end credits of the above movie, Leave No Trace. It’s so atmospheric and mellow, but I love the ride it takes me on. The lyrics below are fantastic as well. My reflections and sentiments align with the following comments in the You Tube presentation below about the movie and song respectively:
@billyclifton5710: (Leave No Trace) is a well-made, naturalistic, moving portrayal of a man and his daughter living off the grid in an Oregon park.
@edwinrolandoborrallos4193: (Moon Boat) A very beautiful song rendition to complement a very lovely and emotional movie which really elevates ones mind to another level of consciousness especially due to its soft and mellow music and emotive lyrics.
I wandered this world green and wild And the things in my mind are Like a red sun go down. Oh And I, I know you must go. And I think I know why… But I don’t know why. Still I am thinking we both share a moon and a star. May you be safe, may we both find a place with a heart. Here, where treasures a-bound In the things I have found, a leaf, a song come from above… In the wood, where secrets crawl The Earth so small, a place, a home, a dream my own… There’ll be a tree that joins you and me from a-far. And I am certain we all share a moon and a star
In 2018, Kendra Smith contributed this song Moon Boat to the soundtrack for the film Leave No Trace (her first solo recording since 1996). The film received universal critical acclaim, with praise for the performances of Foster and McKenzie, and it is the most reviewed film to hold an approval rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Today’s featured song Money For Nothing is the second track track from Dire Straits 1985 album Brothers in Arms. The title track of that album featured here way back in April 2020. Money For Nothing was the megahit from that album and seen by some to do more harm than good as it was criticized of reeking of mega bucks and sell out stadium concerts. But and that’s a big but!…..
Knopfler himself concluded “the old rockschool restraints and the undeniably attractive smell of the winning formula seem to block out any such experimental work and what you end up with is something very like the same old story.” That seems the intention of the band all along. The song’s lyrics are written from the point of view of two working-class men watching music videos and commenting on what they see.
[Verse 1] Now look at them yo-yos, that’s the way you do it You play the guitar on the MTV That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it Money for nothing and your chicks for free Now that ain’t working, that’s the way you do it Lemme tell ya, them guys ain’t dumb Maybe get a blister on your little finger Maybe get a blister on your thumb
[Chorus] We got to install microwave ovens Custom kitchen deliveries We got to move these refrigerators We got to move these colour TVs
[Verse 2] See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup? Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair That little faggot got his own jet airplane That little faggot, he’s a millionaire
Sometimes when I hear Dire Straits, I assume they are a US rock band since songs like today’s Money For Nothing possess a commercial American sound, context and production pomposity, but of course that appears what they were targeting all along due to the music that was being promoted.
Money for nothin’ Chicks for free Get your money for nothin’ And your chicks for free
Dire Straits are a British rock band. I still enjoy listening to Money For Nothing from time to time. Not as much I enjoy listening to a lot of their other tracks. The song features a guest appearance by Sting singing background vocals, providing both the signature falsetto introduction and backing chorus of “I want my MTV“. It won’t surprise many that it was Dire Straits’ most commercially successful single, peaking at number 1 for three weeks on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Top Rock Tracks chart.
It’s taken me years to warm to and appreciate the music of David Bowie. I now realize why he is held in such high regard. I saw an interview-documentary on him recently on the Film and Arts channel. It was my second viewing of it and his interpretation of his ‘own’ artistry and delivery style was captivating. He’s a very eloquent speaker and someone who sounds as fascinating in interview format as they do on stage. There are few singer-songwriters who I value listening to interpreting their own music, but David Bowie is definitely one of the exceptions.
Modern Love was released as the opening track on his 1983 record Let’s Dance. It is a rock song that contains elements of new wave music. It was recorded at the Power Station in Manhattan and was one of the first tracks recorded for the album.
[Intro] I know when to go out Know when to stay in Get things done
[Verse 1] I catch the paper boy But things don’t really change I’m standing in the wind But I never wave bye-bye But I try I try
[Verse 2] There’s no sign of life It’s just the power to charm I’m lying in the rain But I never wave bye-bye But I try I try
[Chorus] Never going to fall for (Modern love) Walks beside me (Modern love) Walks on by (Modern love) Gets me to the church on time (Church on time) Terrifies me (Church on time) Makes me party (Church on time) Puts my trust in God and man (God and man) No confessions (God and man) No religion (God and man) Don’t believe in modern love
From Wikipedia: Since its release, “Modern Love” has received critical acclaim from music critics, who praised Bowie’s songwriting, its production, and its power as an opening track. It is generally considered one of the best songs on Let’s Dance, along with “China Girl” and the title track, and has since been called one of Bowie’s greatest songs….Modern Love was named as one of Bowie’s greatest songs by numerous publications. Rolling Stonelisted it as one of Bowie’s 30 essential songs, writing “[the song] reveals Bowie at his catchiest and most nihilistic‘.
Mississippi is the first song to be presented here from Bob Dylan 2001 album – Love and Theft. I would hesitate to guess that if you were to compile a list of music critics top 10 post 2000 Bob Dylan songs, Mississippi would make the list of most of them. Gee wizz that would be a difficult list to create, and a lot of excellent tracks would not make the cut, just because you can’t have a bigger list of say, 50 songs. Like Leonard Cohen, Bob’s produced so much great material in this period and he is still going at it. Shadow Kingdom, his 40th studio album and second soundtrack album was released on June 2, 2023. It is Dylan’s first album of new studio recordings since his 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways.
I think lyrically Mississippi is a kind of throwback to his 1997 masterpiece Not Dark Yet and musically foreshadowing where he would go on his 2006 – Thunder on the Mountain, although Mississippi is more of a country rock song whereas Thunder is a bluesy rock epic. But readers may have better suggestions as to Mississippi correlations in Dylan’s discography. Wikipedia wrote the song features a pop chord progression and has a riff and lyrical theme similar to “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again“. The song was originally recorded during the Time Out of Mind sessions (demo sessions in Fall 1996; official album sessions in January 1997) but was ultimately left off the album. Dylan rerecorded the song for Love and Theft in May 2001.
[Verse 1] Every step of the way we walk the line Your days are numbered, so are mine Time is piling’ up, we struggle and we scrape We’re all boxed in, nowhere to escape
[Verse 2] City’s just a jungle; more games to play Trapped in the heart of it, tryin’ to get away I was raised in the country, I been working’ in the town I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down
[Verse 3] Got nothing’ for you, I had nothin’ before Don’t even have anything for myself anymore Sky full of fire, pain pourin’ down Nothing you can sell me, I’ll see you around
[Verse 4] All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme Only one thing I did wrong Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
From the Wikipedia reference below: Mississippi was the last track recorded for Love and Theft, and according to drummer David Kemper, it was added almost as an afterthought. As Kemper explained in an interview with Uncut magazine: “We thought we were done with Love And Theft, and then a friend of Bob’s passed him a note, and he said, ‘Oh, yeah, I forgot about this: “Mississippi”‘. And then he made a comment, ‘Did you guys ever bring the version we did down at the Lanois sessions?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, we have it right here’. And he said, “Let’s listen to it’. So they put it up on the big speakers, and I said, ‘Damn – release it’! But it was just me and Tony [Garnier], and Larry [Campbell] wasn’t on it, and Charlie [Sexton] wasn’t on it. And so we all just said, ‘Wait a minute. And Daniel is producer on it. Let’s re-record it’. So we did our version of it”.
Dylan indicated in another interview that he felt he could re-record the song precisely because the earlier versions had not leaked and were not circulating among bootleg collectors: “I’ve been criticised for not putting my best songs on certain albums but it is because I consider that the song isn’t ready yet. It’s not been recorded right. With all of my records, there’s an abundance of material left off – stuff that, for a variety of reasons, doesn’t make the final cut…Except on this album, for which we re-cut the song ‘Mississippi’. We had that on the Time Out Of Mind album. It wasn’t recorded very well but thank God, it never got out, so we recorded it again. But something like that would never have happened ten years ago. You’d have probably all heard the lousy version of it and I’d have never re-recorded it. I’m glad for once to have had the opportunity to do so.”
I had almost forgotten of this song until I read about it – not too long ago at Max’s blog – PowerPop. His principal version was by The Rolling Stones, but I slightly prefer the version by Marianne Faithfull. Both are wonderful of course.
This was one of the first songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The Stones manager gave it to a singer he also managed named Marianne Faithfull, who released it in 1964. It was going to be the B-side of her first single, but the record company decided to make it the A-side and it became her first hit. The Stones recorded it a year later. In 1966 Faithfull became Jagger’s girlfriend and that would last 3-4 years.
It is the evening of the day I sit and watch the children play Smiling faces I can see But not for me I sit and watch as tears go by
My riches can’t buy everything I want to hear the children sing All I hear is the sound Of rain falling on the ground I sit and watch as tears go by
Marianne Faithfull version peaked at number nine on both the UK and Irish singles charts.
Wikipedia: By one account, Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: “I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex.” The result was initially named “As Time Goes By”, the title of the song Dooley Wilson sings in the film Casablanca. It was Oldham who replaced “Time” with “Tears”.
According to Jagger biographer Philip Norman, the song was mainly created by Jagger, in co-operation with session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, although Jagger claims he was responsible for the lyrics while Richards wrote the melody.
In her own autobiography, Faithfull (1994), written together with David Dalton, she says “‘As Tears Go By’ was not, contrary to popular folklore, written for me, but it fitted me so perfectly it might as well have been”.
When I mean hair, I mean all hair: facial, head, chest, arms, legs, ears, nose, toes and yeh, those places at the epicentre. Obviously, strands of thousands of metres of hair aren’t lying dormant inside our bodies just being pumped out incrementally. How does this hair magically appear? I am 49 years old, and I have no idea the answer to this question.
The reason I pondered this, apart from being a bit ‘loco’ is I have noticed in the early mornings I sometimes feel my cheeks scratch as if hair is threading its way through. And I imagine they are, little by little; just piercing their way through and I don’t like how it feels. It’s prickly. After a week I find I have to shave because the itchy feeling on my cheeks and neck drives me crazy.
Nasal, eyebrow and ear hair seem to bloom like flowers in the spring. I’m sure everyone wanted to know that, but it is what it is. Where am I going with this? I have no idea, but shortly will answer this question: Where does hair come from? I even considered getting waxed all over, so I didn’t need to keep shaving; here, there and everywhere. The price I found was exorbitant even though over the long term I probably would have saved a bucket-load…on hair and electricity costs.
I’m sorry to put my readers through this. Anyhow, so let’s find out where hair comes from, which I’ve never searched for or looked at my entire life. I always thought hair was bad on me, but so it goes; hair protects your skin and traps particles like dust around your eyes and ears. So why does it make me want to shave after about a week? The reason that I don’t understand where hair comes from is because of this:
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis.
Mighty to Save is the title track off Hillsong’s 2006 album. This is the third song to appear here from Hillsong. The quality and vibrance of this performance are nothing short of spectacular to my senses. The performer of today’s track is Reuben Morgan who I had the good fortune to meet for dinner at Mornington Baptist church and present the lyrics during his show. More songs will appear from both Hillsong and Reuben Morgan as a solo artist from his first album – World Through Your Eyes.
Reuben Timothy Morgan (born 9 August 1975) is an Australian worship pastor at Hillsong Church and one of several worship leaders and songwriters in Hillsong Worship group. Prior to this he was a worship pastor at Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. He has written songs such as “Eagles Wings“, “Hear Our Praises“, “I Give You My Heart“, “My Redeemer Lives” and “Mighty to Save” (today’s song), which won the Worship Song of the Year at the 40th GMA Dove Awards.
[Verse 1] Well, everyone needs compassion A love that’s never failing Let mercy fall on me Well, everyone needs forgiveness The kindness of a Saviour The hope of nations
[Chorus] Saviour, He can move the mountains And my God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save Forever, Author of Salvation He rose and conquered the grave Jesus conquered the grave
Mighty to Save was released in what many suggest was the golden era of Hillsong – the early 2000’s. I wrote about a previous albumthey released For All You’ve Done (2004) which hasn’t got a mediocre track on it. Mighty to Save is the fifteenth album in the live praise and worship series of contemporary worship music by Hillsong Church. It was released in July 2006, at the annual Hillsong Conference. The album peaked at No. 25 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
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