Choke the medicine down

Just when you think you know all the hard-ish rock bands from the mid ’90s, you get smacked in the face with one you’ve never heard of. I heard this song on the local high school radio station, Googled the lyrics and found it’s from a band named Orbit who played at Lollapalooza in 1997.

Wikipedia helpfully offers these tidbits about the band.

Orbit is a Boston, Massachusetts-based power trio. Formed in 1994, the band went on hiatus in late 2001. Their initial releases were on drummer Buckley’s own Lunch Records label before the band moved to major label A&M Records. They completed recording their second major label album, “Guide To Better Living”, but it was never released by A&M. The band then moved back to Lunch Records for the rest of their releases.

Perhaps the high point of the band’s career was the hit, “Medicine”, and their presence on the 1997 Lollapalooza tour. They also had the song, “XLR8R”, included on the soundtrack of the Playstation 2 game, FreQuency.

Orbit played two reunion shows on December 28th and 29th, 2007, at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA. They performed with also defunct Boston indie rock group The Sheila Divine.

So here’s their hit that I heard, “Medicine,” and unfortunately I haven’t heard their other song so I have no idea what it sounds like. But this one’s worthy of iPod rotation.

So this is Christmas

The economy sucks, our current president is not going down without a (shoe) fight, and if you haven’t been laid off yet, it may be coming. But “Merry Christmas!” the calendar says.

If you’re not in a Christmassy mood, I can understand and relate. And so can The Waitresses, who begin one of my favorite Christmas songs with “Bah humbug!” But the tale ends with “a very happy ending,” and I hope your holiday season does too.

(And let’s face it–after the holiday season is over, we won’t have to endure those stupid Sears “wishtory” commercials with LL Cool J or Ty Pennington or some family I’ve never heard of and that idiotic song, “Got a package full of wishes” and then they tell you the real meaning of the commercial at the end when they try to sell you some cheap diamond chip necklace. And who came up with the word “wishstory” anyway???!)

See also: “I Know What Boys Want”

 

“Bah, humbug!” No, that’s too strong
‘Cause it is my favorite holiday
But all this year’s been a busy blur
Don’t think I have the energy

To add to my already mad rush
Just ’cause it’s ’tis the season.
The perfect gift for me would be
Completions and connections left from

Last year, ski shop,
Encounter, most interesting.
Had his number but never the time
Most of ’81 passed along those lines.

So deck those halls, trim those trees
Raise up cups of Christmas cheer,
I just need to catch my breath,
Christmas by myself this year.

Calendar picture, frozen landscape,
Chilled this room for twenty-four days,
Evergreens, sparkling snow
Get this winter over with!

Flashback to springtime, saw him again,
Would’ve been good to go for lunch,
Couldn’t agree when we were both free,
We tried, we said we’d keep in touch.

Didn’t, of course, ’til summertime,
Out to the beach to his boat could I join him?
No, this time it was me,
Sunburn in the third degree.

Now the calendar’s just one page
And, of course, I am excited
Tonight’s the night, but I’ve set my mind
Not to do too much about it.

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I’ll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I’ll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I’ll miss this one this year.
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
But I think I’ll miss this one this year.

Hardly dashing through the snow
Cause I bundled up too tight
Last minute have-to-do’s
A few cards a few calls
‘Cause it’s r-s-v-p
No thanks, no party lights
It’s Christmas Eve, gonna relax
Turned down all of my invites.

Last fall I had a night to myself,
Same guy called, halloween party,
Waited all night for him to show,
This time his car wouldn’t go,

Forget it, it’s cold, it’s getting late,
Trudge on home to celebrate
In a quiet way, unwind
Doing Christmas right this time.

A&P has provided me
With the world’s smallest turkey
Already in the oven, nice and hot
Oh damn! Guess what I forgot?

So on with the boots, back out in the snow
To the only all-night grocery,
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
In the line is that guy I’ve been chasing all year!

“I’m spending this one alone,” he said.
“Need a break; this year’s been crazy.”
I said, “Me too, but why are you?
You mean you forgot cranberries too?”

Then suddenly we laughed and laughed
Caught on to what was happening
That Christmas magic’s brought this tale
To a very happy ending! ”

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Couldn’t miss this one this year!
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!
Couldn’t miss this one this year!

Let me love you needlessly

I love finding songs that are so obscure that the lyrics aren’t even available on the interwebs. But this song is so spare and so beautiful that everybody should listen to it.

The singer, Linda Draper, is a New York City folk chanteuse, and her sixth LP is due out next year, her website says. Her voice is like baby powder–soft and smooth and a tiny bit gritty, but silky.

Reviews have also described her as “beautifully ghostly, memorable, intimate, crisp, dreamy.”

You just have to listen to this song to understand. It’s gorgeous.

The power of love deliver you there

Since I posted about Cake’s “Ruby,” below, I was reminded about a similar guy you need to listen to. I first heard about Jim White from my mom some years back, who had heard him on our public radio station and immediately bought his CD. I listened to it and was stunned A) because this was a type of music that I had never even contemplated before, a kind of country melody with almost a spare, hip-hop leaning, and B) that I liked music that my mom liked.

The melodies are laced with folksy Southern wisdom and stories, and a healthy sense of humor, and make you feel like you’re hanging out at a gas station on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere. And that’s a good thing.

From his Wikipedia entry: White was born in Pensacola, Florida to a Pentecostal family, and was influenced in his childhood by gospel music. According to various sources, he has been a comedian, a fashion model, a boxer, a preacher, a professional surfer, and a New York cab driver.

Maybe that explains the mash-up of genres. So if you’re in the mood for something different, download the song below, “10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road.” Or just pick up his whole 2001 CD, “No Such Place.”

They tell me miracles abound now more than ever, but I don’t care.

They say it’s better to be blessed than it is to be clever, but I don’t care.

‘Cause I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road, and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.

For life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you…you….

You don’t get nothing for free, ‘less of course you steal it, at least that’s what the people say.

The sad irony of Love is how so seldom you feel it, yet it’s all you dream about, night and day.

From the splinter in the hand, to the thorn in the heart, to the shotgun to the head, you got no choice but to learn to glean solace from pain or you’ll end up cynical or dead.

Me, I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.

For life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking and a’talking and a’walking, ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you…THERE!!!

Sometimes you throw yourself into the sea of faith, and the sharks of doubt come and they devour you.

Other times you throw yourself into the sea of faith only to find the treasure lost in the shipwreck inside of you!

There ain’t no guarantees, none of that nonsense like on tv, just gotta roll the dice, and take your lumps.

You’re gonna get yourself knocked down, so better learn to stand back up, for those who dwell on disaster let sorrow be their master.

Me, I got 10 miles to go on a 9 mile road and it’s a rocky rough road, but I don’t care.

‘Cause life’s nothing if not a blind rambling prayer, you keep your head held high, a’walking and a’talking ’til the power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there. The power of Love deliver you there.

My buddy Phillip works as a gas station attendant.

Strangers call his name to him a thousand times a day.

They don’t know him, they’re just asking “Phillip” for a “fill-up.”

Funny how fate plays tricks on us…that way—through the power of Love.

———————–

See also: “Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi”

Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere

 

There’s a new radio station in our town that plays old country songs. And while I absolutely hate “new” country, for some reason I don’t mind some of the old stuff. One of the songs they play is “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” by Kenny Rogers. Now, Kenny and I have a special bond because we share an August 21 birthday. And even though he looks downright scary because of all the plastic surgery he’s had, how can you hate on somebody who told you the story of The Gambler?

Anyway, while his slow version of “Ruby” is a classic, I prefer Cake’s version. You might remember their slow-burning song “The Distance” (“Reluctantly crouched…at the starting line…engines thumping…and pumping…in time…”) or their later hit “Short Skirt/Long Jacket.” But their cover of “Ruby” puts them firmly in jangly country-rock territory, stays true to the original with just a slightly faster beat, and a nice touch at the end.

This is a band that has dabbled in all kinds of different genres, from funk to ska, and excels at all of them. “Ruby” was on their album “B Sides and Rarities” and of course needs to go on your ipod. 🙂

This is the story behind the song, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The song is about a disabled, dying veteran of “that old crazy Asian war” (the Korean War), who begs his lover not to cheat on him. Songwriter Mel Tillis based the song on a couple who lived near his family in Florida. In real life, the man was wounded in Germany in World War II and sent to recuperate in England. There he married a nurse who took care of him at the hospital. The two of them moved to Florida shortly afterward, but he had periodic return trips to the hospital as problems with his wounds kept flaring up. His wife saw another man as the veteran lay in the hospital. Tillis changed the war to the more recent Korean War in the song, and departed from the ending that happened in real life: the man killed his wife in a murder-suicide. This is however alluded to in the song, with the singer avowing, “If I could move I’d get my gun and put her in the ground.”

You’ve painted up your lips
And rolled and curled your tinted hair
Ruby are you contemplating
Going out somewhere
The shadow on the wall
Tells me the sun is going down
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

It wasn’t me
That started that old crazy Asian war
But I was proud to go
And do my patriotic chore
And yes, it’s true that
I’m not the man I used to be
Oh, Ruby I still need some company

Its hard to love a man
Whose legs are bent and paralyzed
And the wants and the needs of a woman your age
Ruby I realize,
But it won’t be long I’ve heard them say until I’m not around
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

She’s leaving now cause
I just heard the slamming of the door
The way I know I’ve heard it slam
Some 100 times before
And if I could move I’d get my gun
And put her in the ground
Oh Ruby
Don’t take your love to town

Oh Ruby for God’s sake turn around

—————————

See also: Cake’s “Stickshifts and Safetybelts”

Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Next in our series of songs you need is “Type” by Living Colour. I was really surprised to find out that this is the band’s highest-charting single, because I grew up hearing “Cult of Personality” on the radio all the time and I hadn’t heard this song until about a month ago.

But I quickly learned why this one is so popular. It starts with a ferocious guitar and a list of “types,” as you’ll see below, then goes into a melodic, unforgettable chorus. But the best part is yet to come: the sweet melding at the end that’s like saving the cherry for last after you eat the ice cream sundae.

Living Colour is another one of those bands that should have gotten more credit — their lyrics and music were powerfully charged, but this song, especially, counterbalances the rage with a smoothness and a reminder that “everything that goes around, comes around….”

And I’m happy to report that the band is set to release an album late this year or early next.

Stereotype
Monotype
Blood type
Are you my type?
Minimalism
Abstract expressionism
Postmodernism
Is it?

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where the truth is concealed
This is the time when the lie is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Corporate religion
Televangahypnotism
Suffer till you die
For the sweet-bye-and-bye
Science and technology, the new mythology
Look deep inside
Empty

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where the truth is concealed
This is the time when the lie is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Everything that goes around
Comes around

Hypothetical
Theoretical
Circumstantial evidence
Irrelevance
Don’t think twice
Just roll the dice
Pay the price
Snake eyes

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where the truth is concealed
This is the time when the lie is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

We are the children of concrete and steel
This is the place where your fate has been sealed
This is the time when your life is revealed
Everything is possible, but nothing is real

Everything that goes around
Comes around…

———————————————————

See also: Living Colour’s “Open Letter to a Landlord”