Category Archives: Song of the Day

Song of the Day: Under Pressure (performed by David Bowie and Queen)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, last night, me and Jeff were at the AMC Valley View to see The Adjustment Bureau (which I’ll be reviewing here either later tonight or tomorrow).  We ended up arriving for the movie a little bit late because, while in route to the theater, we got stuck behind the dumbfug toadsucker who was driving one of those goddamn box-like Smart Cars and, of course, he was so smart that apparently, he couldn’t bring himself to risk going over 30 mph. on a three-lane street.  So, we were stuck behind him like forever and then Jeff and I ended up getting into an argument about whether the driver was a woman (as Jeff claimed) or just some old hippie with long hair (as I claimed).  The driver also had decorated his car with a lot of political bumper stickers — “Obama in ’08,” “Impeach Bush,” “White For Governor,” “Jesus Was A Community Organizer,” “Jesus Was Not A Republican,” “Socialist And Proud,” “Trees Make the Air We Breathe,” and those are just a few of them.

(Personally, I would never put any bumper stickers on my car because, quite frankly, they’re a little bit too permanent for my taste.  I guess I’m too commitment-phobic to turn my car into a propaganda machine.  However, I was once tempted to at least order an “I’m Another Person Not Reading Your Crazy, Left-Wing Blog” bumper sticker and to place it on a life-sized poster of me extending my middle finger which I would have then sent to an ex-boyfriend.)

Anyway, we were stuck behind this guy for-freaking-ever and by the time we finally got around him, since both me and Jeff understand that  it’s actually more dangerous to go under the speed limit than to go over it, neither one of us had any sympathy for any of the political causes that the driver was trying to sell us on.  In fact, that driver came close to turning us into Sarah and Todd Palin.  (Don’t worry, we’re over it now.)  The lesson here, I think, is that if you’re going to turn your car into a moving advertisement for your political beliefs, make sure you can actually know how to drive.

Anyway, by the time we got in the theater, we were still kinda all like “RAWR!” about getting stuck behind that Smart Car but then we saw a trailer that soothed our nerves and calmed us down.  That trailer was for the upcoming Russell Brand film, Arthur. 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  The trailer looks awful and, having seen it, I now understand why so many people apparently can not stand Russell Brand.  (I liked him in Get Him To The Greek.)  Seriously, if not for one redeeming feature, the trailer for Arthur would hace to be the worst trailer since the trailer for Sanctum.

Playing in the background throughout the entire trailer was an old song from David Bowie and Queen, Under Pressure.  As long as we simply ignored Russell Brand and Geraldine James and just listened to the music, the Arthur trailer was not only bearable but actually enjoyable.  If nothing else, this song soothes our souls and brought both Jeff and me back onto the path of relative sanity.

Anyway, with all that in mind, how could I not devote a post to David Bowie and Queen’s Under Pressure?

A Quickie With Lisa Marie: These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ (performed by Nancy Sinatra)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ is one of my favorite songs, one of those that is perfect for making either an entrance or an exit.  There’s probably not a day that passes without this song playing somewhere in the back of my head.

Written by Lee Hazelwood, this song has been recorded by everyone from Jessica Simpson to Megadeth but I prefer the version that made it famous, Nancy Sinatra’s.

Plus, the video for Nancy’s version cracks me up because, if you look real closely, one the dancers has got a run in her hose. *

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*Actually, as I sit here typing this on my lunch break, so do I.

Song of the Day: Battle Without Honor or Humanity (by Tomoyasu Hotei)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

To me, one of the most iconic sequences in 21st century cinema comes towards the end of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Volume One.  I’m talking about the scene in which Tokyo crime boss O-ren (played by Lucy Liu) walks through the House of Blue Leaves, flanked on either side by her bubble gum-chewing bodyguards.  While there’s a lot that makes  this scene memorable (the slow-mo staging, Liu’s regal yet fierce persona), what I always remember first when I think about this scene is the song playing on the soundtrack.

Of course, I’m talking about Tomoyasu Hotei’s Battle Without Honor or Humanity.  Though the song was not originally written for Kill Bill, it seem to almost perfectly epitomize volume one of Tarantino’s masterpiece.  Yes, it’s over-the-top and shamelessly excessive.  Yet, much like the best of the grindhouse films that inspired Tarantino, it’s performed with such an undeniable artistry that it’s impossible not to get drawn into it.

Whenever I’m out grocery shopping or walking to my office at the start of my workday, I always imagine that this is the song playing in the background.  It definitely brings a little stride to my step.

(The song has other uses as well.  A month ago, I wanted to perform a little impromptu dance for a friend of mine.  This is the song that I ended up dancing to because I knew that, with this song backing you up, it’s impossible not to look good doing whatever you might happen to be doing.)

Song of the Day: Beauty and The Beast (by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken)

Posted on by Arleigh

Beauty and the Beast Ballroom

The last couple days I have been watching a particular classic Disney animated film not to mention listening to its accompanying soundtrack almost non-stop since yesterday. The song I’ve picked for my latest “song of the day” is the track, “Beauty and The Beast”, and not the Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson version which ends the film.

Beauty and The Beast ranks as one of my favorite films ever. Not just a favorite animated film but a favorite of the medium of filmmaking in general. I saw it the weekend it was first released in the theaters in 1991. I was just out of high school, just turned 18 and eyes full of hope and promise. This film made a huge impact on me and it’s musical score even more so. The score and the songs were composed by musical virtuosos Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.

The score is what I would call classic orchestral. It fit the film and the story it was to accompany. The ballad which marks the turning point in the growing relationship between Belle and the Beast was one of my favorites in the film and truly captures the essence of the story. While I must say that I also loved the pop version of the song by Celine Dion (before she went all Vegas crazy in laters years) and R&B singer, Peabo Bryson, it would be the song as sung by Angela Lansbury (in the role of Mrs. Potts) which I consider the better version.

It is difficult not to listen to this version and not picture in one’s mind the sweeping motion of the scene as we see the ballroom in all it’s detailed grandeur. It was this song which marked the high point in my life when unbridled hope and optimism still ruled my life. I would say that even as an 18-year old I was still innocent when it came to certain things in life. “Beauty and The Beast” symbolized that part of my life and whenever I listen to it again almost 20 years now I reminisce about that innocent time in my life.

We all have a particular song, film or story which brings back fond memories of better days in our lives and this song from one of the best films ever made does it for me.

Beauty and The Beast

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
And ever just as sure
As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

Song of the Day: Suicide Mission from Mass Effect 2 (by Jack Wall)

Posted on by Arleigh

The news about Clint Mansell being brought in to compose the score for the upcoming Mass Effect 3 rpg from BioWare has me listening through the score from the previous two games in the series. To continue the jonesing I’m getting from this news I’ve chosen track 25 from the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack to be the latest “Song of the Day”.

“Suicide Mission” comes into Mass Effect 2 around the beginning of the third and final act of the game when the player has gathered and assembled his team of rogues, assassins, berserkers and all sorts of undesirables to make that final jump through the Omega 4 Mass Relay. This track brings together the main theme from the very first game with the brass heavy and hopeful sound of track 5, “Normandy Reborn”, in the second game.

I sometimes just reload the save prior to the jump through the Omega 4 just so I can listen to this particular track of the soundtrack and see the visuals accompanying it. If I don’t feel like replaying that part of the game I’d just reload right before the end credits begins and just enjoy listening to it.

“Suicide Mission” just brings an epic sound to the game and anyone who has played it knows how it brings to rise goosebumps upon hearing it. For those who haven’t played the  games this piece of music just brings to mind some of the best in epic, orchestral scores.

 

Song of the Day: For Whom the Bell Tolls (by Metallica)

Posted on by Arleigh

It took awhile but Metallica has finally made another appearance in the “song of the day” feature. This time around they return with one of their best songs. A song which has become iconic of early-Metallica amongst their most die-hard fans. The song is “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

This track comes in third on the band’s second album and was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. It is also the song which contains one of the best opening riffs in metal history. A riff not born from lead guitarist Kirk Hammett’s axe, but from it’s bassist Cliff Burton. This opening riff shows Cliff Burton at his best and the fact that people continue to mistake the riff as guitar instead of bass just shows how talented the man was.

This song is all about Burton’s work on the bass with Hetfield supplying the vocals and Hammett’s lead guitar work almost behaving like an accompaniment. It is no wonder that whenever talk comes around as to who is the best metal bassist (or just rock bassist) ever no discussion could ever be considered credible if Cliff Burton’s name was not included.

While Burton died just two years after the single’s release while th eband was on tour in Sweden his contribution as both writer and composer to this song will forever cement his legacy amongst metal and music fans for countless generations.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Make his fight on the hills in the early day
Constant chill deep inside
Shouting gun, on they run through the endless grey
On they fight, for they are right, yes, but who’s to say?

For a hill, men would kill, why? They do not know
Stiffened wounds test their pride
Men of five, still alive through the raging glow
Gone insane from the pain that they surely know

For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls

Take a look to the sky just before you die
It is the last time you will
Blackened roar massive roar fills the crumbling sky
Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry

Stranger now, are his eyes, to this mystery
He hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be
Now they see, what will be, blinded eyes to see

For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls

Song of the Day: Naki Kyoku (by Boris)

Posted on by Arleigh

TSL writer necromoonyeti randomly recommended “Naki Kyoku” by Boris to me out of the blue one day and just said, “you’re gonna love this.” No buildup, no explanation—just that confidence. And honestly, it didn’t take long to see why. The track doesn’t hit you all at once; it kind of eases in, like it knows it’s going to win you over eventually.

What really hooked me is how the song balances this heavy, almost suffocating atmosphere with something strangely delicate underneath. The guitars feel thick and immersive, but they’re not trying to overwhelm you—they just kind of surround you. There’s this hazy, dreamlike quality to it, like you’re drifting through something emotional you can’t quite put into words, but you definitely feel it.

If you’re expecting Boris to go full-on loud or abrasive, this track flips that expectation. It’s way more restrained, but somehow just as intense. Instead of chaos, it leans into mood and slow-building weight. It feels introspective, almost like the song is asking you to sit with it rather than react to it, and that makes it stick in a different way than their heavier stuff.

Honestly, it’s one of those songs you don’t fully get on a casual listen—you kind of have to give it space. Throw it on late at night with headphones and just let it play out. It’s subtle, but once it clicks, it really lingers. That recommendation ended up being dead-on.

Song of the Day: Together We Will Live Forever (by Clint Mansell)

Posted on by Arleigh

Together We Will Live Forever

Clint Mansell is part of the new group of film composers (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Javier Navarrette) who have composed some of the best film scores of the past decade. Their background in music usually doesn’t follow the usual classical training like their older contemporaries like John Williams, James Horner and Hans Zimmer. Most started as members of rock bands and through the years branched out to other musical genres until finally breaking into the film composing side of the art.

Mansell has been linked with film director Darren Aronofsky. He’s scored every Aronofsky film going back to the filmmaker’s very first feature-lenght film, Pi. He finally entered the consciousness of film score fans everywhere when he composed and arranged the eclectic and haunting score for Aronofsky’s second film, Requiem for a Dream. That particular film score has become a cult classic that it’s main theme, Lux Aeterna, has become one of the go-to pieces of music for film trailers.

Aronofsky’s third film, The Fountain, once again has Mansell composing and arranging the musical score. What he came up with for the film has become the favorite of many music lovers everywhere. The score for the film was a progressive and impressionistic marvel as Mansell collaborates with the Kronos Quartet and the post-rock Scottish band Mogwai. Mos of the score uses the progressive influences of Bowie and Mogwai with the classical sound of Kronos, but it was the final song in the film which I found to be my favorite of all of them: Together We Shall Live Forever.

Originally composed to be an electronic piece with vocals, but at the last minute Mansell decided that wasn’t the appropriate way to end the film. Instead he took the same music he had already composed and played it as a haunting piano solo. The song perfectly defines the central theme of the film: love and death. It is really difficult not to listen to this song and not reflec back on one’s own loves gained and lost. While it is not what one might call “Valentine’s Day” music it is one for people whose experiences with love and death have had a profound impact on them.