post thirty-four. lyrics.

I overheard a conversation the other day about how people have stopped bothering to give their lyrics meaning, and how they wish that all lyrics were deep and philisophical like the ones from the seventies. If there's one thing I hate, it's generalisations.
Legendary bands had some beautiful lyrics, that's no lie. Some that stand out are:

• and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
• try to realise it's all within yourself, no one else can make you change.
• but my dreams, they aren't as empty as my conscience seems to be.

And when you think about those, you say "yeah, wow, those lyrics are great compared to current bad lyrics". The lyrics people are thinking of when they say this are lyrics like:

• and i was like "baby baby baby oh".
• hey, i just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe.
• starships were meant to fly, hands up and touch the sky, can't stop cause we're so high, let's do this one more time.

But, there are some lyrics from earlier bands that aren't exactly philisophical.

• Love love me do, you know i love you, i'll always be true, so please love me do.
• babe x 32
• i've got a brand new pair of rollerskates, you've got a brand new key. i think that we should get together and try them out to see.
• the whole of rolling stones' "brown sugar".

And there are some lyrics from today FROM POPULAR that are more impressive than you think. A lot of them.

• you desired my attention, but denied my affections, so tell me now, where was my fault in loving you with my whole heart?
• you'll never love yourself half as much as i love you, you'll never treat yourself right, darling, but i want you to, if i let you know i'm here for you, maybe you'll love yourself like i love you.
• tell me with your mind, body, and spirit, i can make your tears fall down like the showers that are british, whether we're together or apart, we can both remove the masks, and admit we regret it from the start.
• a pebble in the water makes a ripple effect, every action in this world will bear a consequence, if you wade around forever you will surely drown.
• we are the everliving ghosts of what once was.
• you can be addicted to a certain kind of sadness.
• it's empty in the valley of your heart, the sun it rises slowly as you walk, away from all the fears and all the faults you left behind.
• white lips, pale face, breathe in snowflakes.
• don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire. the war outside your door keeps raging on. hold on to this lullabye, even when the music's gone.
• what am i supposed to say when i'm all choked up and you're okay, i'm falling to pieces.
• i never knew that everything was falling through, that everyone i knew was waiting on a queue to turn and run when all i needed was the truth.
• so here's to another banner year, we've crossed that thin line, don't try and hold us here, if for just this once you'd think of us, i hope you're happy with yourself.
• said i'd never leave her, cause her hands fit like my t-shirt, tongue tied over three words, cursed, running over thoughts that make my feet hurt, bodies intertwined with her lips.

That's a lot more than you thought, wasn't it? And guess what, that's just a small percentage.
So open your eyes, stop being so judgmental, and THINK, because  not everything current is bad, and you're not superior to anyone for criticising it because it's "mainstream". Wanna know something? Some of those songs were by One Direction. One was Taylor Swift. Not all bands only have one song. They can have good lyrics too. You just have to stop being so ignorant and LISTEN instead of generalising everything just because it's current.

post thirty-three: led zeppelin.

I'm going to start out by just coming out and saying that Led Zeppelin is the bomb. They're a legendary band with a well-deserved unforgettable reputation, and they had four of the greatest musicians of all time, notably Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
I do have a few criticisms of Led Zeppelin and the album we listened to last week.
Led Zep is one of those artists that you need to have playing in the background sometimes on their more heavy songs. I can take twenty seconds of "babe" being sung over and over, but I can't take four minutes of just devoting all of my attention to "babe" being sung over and over.
People always say that Stairway to Heaven is an overrated and cliche song, which it might be, but it's personally one of my favourites. Just a thought.
While I admire Led Zeppelin for their musical talent, I do not admire them for some of their behaviours that they exhibited. It's well-known that not all rock bands were exactly clean when it came to alcohol, drug use, and general behaviour off stage, which is to be expected. But this group participated in some sexually explicit activities, and I'm not talking about intercourse, I'm talking about several incidents involving subjecting a female to extreme pain, and others than involve a red snapper and an octopus. Hearing about those incidents made me cringe, and lose a little bit more respect for the band.
All in all, they're one of my favourite bands, but sometimes their music is ruined for me when I think of the red-snapper incident. I'm not a prude by any means, and while I think it gave the band character and made them unique, I still don't think it was a very classy thing to do.

post thirty-two: this week's favourites.

Every week, I have some new favourite songs. Sometimes they're old songs that I'm just discovering, sometimes they're new. So every week, as one of my blog entries, I'm going to share some songs that have caught my attention lately and that I feel need to be shared.

This first song, I think I already shared. It's Mumford and Sons' new song, called I Will Wait. It displays the perfect amount of contrast and juxtaposition, as their other songs do, contrasting between soft verses and powerful choruses. It isn't as good as some of their others (my personal favourites being Little Lion Man, White Blank Page, The Cave, and Awake My Soul), but the constantly changing pace and volume keep you on your toes while giving you goosebumps at the same time. Marcus Mumford's voice is raw and worn, but it only adds positive aspects to the already deep, thought-provoking music with lyrics to die for. Give it a listen and observe the unbelievable dynamic.

The next song is old, but definitely one of my favourites. It's not exactly a new favourite, but I've forgotten about it until I recently listened to it again. George Harrison's cover of Bob Dylan's If Not For You is fantastic. You hear the Bob Dylan quality laced throughout the music, and that's a given, but George adds his own twist to it. He has an unmistakable voice, one that sends chills up my spine every time, with few exceptions. (Those being Got My Mind Set On You and Piggies.) This love song is full of emotion, and while he didn't write it, I personally think George's cover is better than Dylan's. He has a better voice, and it sounds like he means it more than Dylan does. So here it is, take a listen, and hopefully it will make a grin spread across your face like it does mine.

Another oldie but goodie that comes off of one of my favourite all-time albums (Rumours by Fleetwood Mac) is Songbird. The simple tune is catchy enough to get stuck in your head, and the accompanying lyrics make it a song that you WANT to get stuck in your head. Rumours is probably one of the most emotional albums in rock history, when you think about the conditions under which it was made. The band wasn't talking to each other. At all. They were on the verge of a breakup; the only time they ever spoke to one another was in the studio. So to be in such a dysfunctional place and still be able to write a love song like this is beyond me, which makes the song that much more emotional.





post thirty-one.

Mumford and Sons has a great new song called I Will Wait. It's gotten very popular lately and I think everyone should give it a listen. It's one of those songs where you have to close your eyes and listen and not focus on anything else. I really like those songs. They're so deep that you can't really focus on anything else. Maybe I'm the only one that understands that but it's true. There are several songs like that that are too important to be distracted while you listen to them.

This is just one example, emotional songs are very important to me.

post thirty.

Woodstock was the biggest music festival of all time. I thought it would be a lot of fun to attend, because everyone just seemed so chill and calm. They were all there for one reason, and that reason was to make music. (And do drugs). People came together to share one passion and it turned out to be one of the biggest events ever, and I think that's really moving and powerful at the same time.
Some people just see it as a bunch of hippies doing drugs but I think it was more than that, and I wish I could have attended Woodstock so I could be a part of the biggest music experience of all time.

Post twenty-eight.

The Beatles are kind of an ongoing theme in this class. They are consistently brought up and relate to several topics we cover. Which brings me to think: the Beatles were clearly a part of several types of rock if they come up in conversation. They have a bit of metal tones in songs like Helter Skelter, and they have some folk sound in songs like Blackbird, there is some jazz sounds in songs like You Like Me Too Much, and even some country sound in songs like iIve Just Seen A Far and Act Naturally.
They belong to nearly every group of music which is something very admirable about them, they can write and play nearly anything and it will sound good. That's the sign of a perfect band.