Concrete Blonde

This is an incredible Los Angeles-based band I was fortunate enough to see in 1989 at the now-defunct Green Parrot club in Neptune, NJ. The lead singer, Johnette Napolitano, is all of 5 foot zero and man does she have a set of pipes. Given that the stage at the Parrot was all of an inch tall and I was standing right up against the stage, I towered over her and was utterly blown away.



Concrete Blonde "God is a Bullet"

There's a green plaid jacket on the back of the chair
It's like a moment frozen forever there

Mom and dad had a lot of big plans for their little man
So proud!
Mama's gone crazy 'cause her baby's shot down
By some teenage car chase war out of bounds
It was the wrong place wrong time wrong end of a gun.
Sad!

Shoot straight from the hip, yeah.
Gone forever in a trigger slip
Well, it could have been
It could have been your brother.
Shoot straight shoot to kill, yeah.
Blame each other, well, blame yourselves, you know
God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone

They're gonna call me sir they'll all stop picking on me
Well I'm a high school grad I'm over 5 foot 3
I'll get a badge and a gun and I'll join the P.D.
They'll see
He didn't have to use the gun they put in his hand
But when the guy came at him, well he panicked and ran
And it's a thirty long years 'fore they're givin' him another chance
And it's sad, sad, it's sad

Shoot straight from the hip, yeah.
Gone forever in a trigger slip
Well, it could have been
It could have been your mother.
Shoot straight shoot to kill, yeah.
Blame each other, well, blame yourselves, you know
God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone

Shoot straight from the hip, yeah.
Gone forever in a trigger slip
Well, it could have been
It could have been your mother.

John Lennon, Doctor King, Harvey Milk
all for goddamn nothing

God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone
God is a bullet have mercy on us everyone

Times Like These

The more I listen to Foo Fighters, the more I think Dave Grohl is just not sufficiently appreciated for his musical talents.



Foo Fighters "Times Like These"

I am a one way motorway
I'm the one that drives away
then follows you back home
I am a street light shining
I'm a wild light blinding bright
burning off alone

it's times like these you learn to live again
it's times like these you give and give again
it's times like these you learn to love again
it's times like these time and time again

I am a new day rising
I'm a brand new sky
to hang the stars upon tonight
I am a little divided
do I stay or run away
and leave it all behind?

it's times like these you learn to live again
it's times like these you give and give again
it's times like these you learn to love again
it's times like these time and time again

'Cause I'm Waiting to Behold Your Many Charms...

Some trippy, happy Beatles-inspired music from Karl Wallinger, a.k.a. World Party.



World Party "Put the Message in the Box"

And if you listen now
You might hear
A new sound coming in
As an old one disappears.
See the world in just one grain of sand.
You better take a closer look
Don't let it slip right through your hand.
Won't you please hear the call.
The World says

Put the message in the box.
Put the box into the car.
Drive the car around the world
Until you get heard.

Now is the moment,
Please understand.
The road is wide open
To the heart of every man.
A few simple words
So a mule could understand.
He don't want tomorrow
If it's just crumbling into sand.
Won't you please hear the call.
She says

Put the message in the box.
Put the box into the car.
Drive the car around the world
Until you get heard.

The World says
Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
'Cause I'm waiting right here with my open arms.
Give a little bit.
Give a little bit of your soul to me
'Cause I'm waiting to behold your many charms.
Is that love in the air?
She says

Put the message in the box.
Put the box into the car.
Drive the car around the world
Until you get heard.

The Whole of the Moon!

The Waterboys became one of my favorites in the late 1980s, and this is the first song of theirs which I ever heard.



The Waterboys "The Whole of the Moon"

I pictured a rainbow
You held it in your hand
I had flashes
You saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years
While you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

You were there in the turnstiles
With the wind at your heels
You stretched for the stars
And you know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon

I was grounded
While you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth
You cut through lies
I saw the rain dirty valley
You saw "Brigadoon"
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon

I spoke about wings
You just flew
I wondered, I guessed and I tried
You just knew
I sighed
And you swooned
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

The torch in your pocket
And the wind on your heels
You climbed on a ladder
And you know how it feels
To get too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

Unicorns and cannonballs
Palaces and Piers
Trumpets, towers, and tenements
Wide oceans full of tears
Flags, rags, ferryboats
Scimitars and scarves
Every precious dream and vision
Underneath the stars
Yes, you climbed on a ladder
With the wind in your sails
You came like a comet
Blazing your trail
Too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon

I Just Heard the News Today...

... yes, I know, it's a Beatles reference, but I literally did just hear the news that keyboardist Richard Wright of Pink Floyd has died.

R.I.P., Richard.



Pink Floyd "Echoes"

Overhead the albatross
hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine.

And no one called us to the land
And no one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can

And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
And no one speaks and no one tries
And no one flies around the sun

Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inciting and inviting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky

Gabriel!

Peter Gabriel, who I have been fortunate enough to have seen in concert in 1987, 1993, and 2003, sings an extraordinary song of Native American loss and resilience:

Peter Gabriel "San Jacinto"

Thick cloud - steam rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - run on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life

Medicine man lead me up though town - Indian ground -
so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water
wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scout and Guides make
pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse - white
men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top -
keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow

I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through
the fear
San Jacinto - I hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight -
I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think I'm losing
it - getting weaker
I hold the line - I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun -
from the sun

We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line

Lightning Crashes

An appropriately mournful yet beautiful song in this week of remembering the irreplaceable lives lost on 9/11 and since.

LIVE "Lightning Crashes"

Lightning crashes a new mother cries
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door

Lightning crashes an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The angel closes her eyes
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now to the baby down the hall

Oh now feel it, comin' back again
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it.

Lightning crashes a new mother cries
This moment she's been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris
Presents the circle
And puts the glory out to hide, hide

Oh now feel it, comin' back again
Like a rollin', thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it.

Elfman Music!

Oingo Boingo, led by Danny Elfman, in its prime around 1985:

Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"

All dressed up with nowhere to go
Walking with a dead man over my shoulder
All dressed up with nowhere to go
Walking with a dead man over my shoulder

Waiting for an invitation to arrive
Going to a party where no one's still alive
Waiting for an invitation to arrive
Going to a party where no one's still alive

I was struck by lightning
Walking down the street
I was hit by something last night in my sleep
It's a dead man's party
Who could ask for more
Everybody's coming, leave your body at the door
Leave your body and soul at the door

Don't run away it's only me
Don't be afraid of what you can't see

I was struck by lightning
Walking down the street
I was hit by something last night in my sleep
It's a dead man's party
Who could ask for more
Everybody's coming, leave your body at the door
Leave your body and soul at the door

Don't run away it's only me
Don't be afraid of what you can't see
It's only me... It's only me...

Saturday Night Music

A somewhat obscure song from one of my fave bands of all time:

Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois produced this I believe, and their influence shows.

U2 Heartland

See the sun rise over her skin
Don't change it
See the sun rise over her skin
Dawn changes everything
Everything
And the delta sun
Burns bright and violet
Mississippi and the cotton wool heat
66 a highway speaks
Of deserts dry
Of cool green valleys
Gold and silver veins
Of the shining cities

In this heartland
In this heartland soil
In this heartland
Heaven knows this is a heartland
Heartland, heartland

See the sun rise over her skin
She feels like water in my hand
Freeway like a river cuts through this land
Into the side of love
Like a burning spear
And the poison rain
Brings a flood of fear
Through the ghost-ranch hills
Death valley waters
In the towers of steel
Belief goes on and on

In this heartland
In this heartland soil
In this heartland
Heaven knows this is a heartland
Heartland
Heaven knows this is a heartland
Heartland, heartland
Heartland
Heaven's day here in the heartland

Some Music

Even though their politics and mine have long since diverged, I love the Aussie band Midnight Oil, so there:

Midnight Oil "One Country"

(Jim Moginie/Peter Garrett)

Who'd like to change the world
Who wants to shoot the curl
Who gets to work for bread
Who wants to get ahead

Who hands out equal rights
Who starts and ends that fight
And not rant and rave
Or end up a slave

Who can make hard won gains
Fall like summer rains
Now every man must be
What his life can be

So don't call me the tune, I will walk away

Who wants to please everyone
Who says it all can be done
Still sit up on that fence
No one I've heard of yet

Don't call me baby
Don't talk in maybes
Don't talk like has-beens
Sing it like it should be

Who laughs at their nagging doubts
Lying on a neon shroud, running around
Just got to touch someone
I want to be

So don't call me the tune, I will walk away

One country one
Country one country

Who wants to sit around
Turn it up, turn it down
Only a man can be
What his life can be

One vision
One people
One landmass
We are defenseless
We have a lifeline

One ocean
One policy
Seabed life
One passion
One movement
One instant
One difference
One lifetime
One understanding

One country
One understanding
Transgression
Redemption
One island
One placemat
One tournament
One element
One moment
One fusion
Yes, and one time