If you’ve seen Kubo and the Two Strings, you’ll understand why.
Though I won’t spoil the movie, I will say that, when this Regina Spektor cover of George Harrison’s classic song started to play, there was not a dry eye to be found in the Alamo Drafthouse.
If you haven’t already, be sure to see Kubo this weekend! Let’s make it the number one film in the country!
One cannot reminisce about the 80’s music scene without including the biggest (and most dangerous) band of that decade. Well, the band and it’s handlers sure thought of them that way. The band I speak of is Guns N’ Roses. this was the band that dared to put the word hard back into hard rock after the glam metal scene began to turn it into a joke.
Nothing against glam metal. Mötley Crüe was and is a favorite rock band of the 80’s for me. Yet, even they succumbed to the hairspray overload that glam metal would turn into. These bands became more about their look (especially in their music videos) than actually playing good music.
Guns N’ Roses still had the teased hair, but their music when they released their Appetite for Destruction album was a breath of fresh air in the hard rock scene and would grab glam metal fans from the vapors of hairnet spray into the dark, dingy bluesy lounges and then the overwhelming open air arenas.
I’ve already featured two of the bands most famous tracks from their first album, “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, so it’s time to give their third biggest hit from this album time to shine.
“Paradise City” is a place we all should aspire to visit.
Paradise City
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home (Oh, won’t you please take me home?)
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home (Oh, won’t you please take me home?)
Just an urchin livin’ under the street
I’m a hard case that’s tough to beat
I’m your charity case so buy me somethin’ to eat
I’ll pay you at another time
Take it to the end of the line
Rags to riches or so they say
You gotta keep pushin’ for the fortune and fame
You know it’s, it’s all a gamble when it’s just a game
You treat it like a capital crime
Everybody’s doin’ their time
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home, yeah, yeah?
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home
Strapped in the chair of the city’s gas chamber
Why I’m here, I can’t quite remember
The surgeon general says it’s hazardous to breathe
I’d have another cigarette but I can’t see
Tell me who ya gonna believe
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah, yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home, yeah?
So far away
So far away
So far away
So far away
Captain America’s been torn apart
Now he’s a court jester with a broken heart
He said “Turn me around and take me back to the start”
I must be losin’ my mind, are you blind?
I’ve seen it all a million times
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah, yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah, yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home, home
Oh, I want to go, I want to know
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
I want to see how good it can be
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
Take me down, take me down
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
I want to see how good it can be
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
I want to see how good it can be
Oh, oh take me home
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
I want to know, I want to know
Oh, won’t you please take me home?
Yeah, baby
Song of the Day: 1980’s Edition
After a week hiatus we’re back to reminiscing about and traveling the 80’s nostalgia track with another “Song of the Day” from my youth during the 1980’s.
This time it’s a power ballad from the British-American hard rock band, Foreigner. Yes, that band whose songs have become a staple of Pop 40’s and soft rock radio stations for a couple decades now were originally a hard rock band. While their popularity was never in doubt with the hard rock crowd of the late 70’s and as the decade rolled into the 80’s, it would take a power ballad to find them worldwide appeal from an audience that one wouldn’t associate with hard rock aficionados.
That song would be “Waiting For A Girl Like You” and this power ballad would be one of the band’s biggest hits and a constant requests on soft rock stations. While hard rock bands were never averse to composing power ballads for albums, they usually weren’t the major hits like their harder edged songs. With Foreigner, once the popularity of this song reached global proportions it would dramatically change the band’s future work.
They would become a band more known for their power ballads than their hard rock roots. Some fans of the early version of Foreigner probably didn’t like the change much, but the millions of new fans who did discover the band due to the never-ending radio airplay of their power ballads probably didn’t know what they were missing.
Now a new generation of music lovers will be discovering this band and this song due to the critically-acclaimed and surprise hit series Stranger Things on Netflix.
Waiting For A Girl Like You
So long
I’ve been looking too hard, I’ve been waiting too long
Sometimes I don’t know what I will find
I only know it’s a matter of time
When you love someone
When you love someone
It feels so right, so warm and true
I need to know if you feel it too
Maybe I’m wrong
Won’t you tell me if I’m coming on too strong?
This heart of mine has been hurt before
This time I wanna be sure
I’ve been waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life
I’ve been waiting for a girl like you (waiting for a love)
And a love that will survive
I’ve been waiting (I’ve been waiting) for someone new
To make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting for a girl like you (waiting for a girl)
To come into my life
You’re so good
When we make love, it’s understood
It’s more than a touch or a word we say
Only in dreams could it be this way
When you love someone
Yeah, really love someone
Now, I know it’s right
From the moment I wake up till deep in the night
There’s nowhere on earth that I’d rather be
Than holding you tenderly
I’ve been waiting for a girl like you
To come into my life
I’ve been waiting for a girl like you (waiting for a love)
For a love that will survive
I’ve been waiting (I’ve been waiting) for someone new
To make me feel alive
Yeah, waiting (waiting) for a girl like you (waiting for a girl)
To come into my life
(Ah)
(Ah)
I’ve been waiting (Ah)
Waiting for you
(Ah) Ooh, I’ve been waiting
(Waiting) I’ve been waiting, yeah
(I’ve been waiting for a girl like you)
(I’ve been waiting) Won’t you come into my life?
My life
So long (Waiting for a girl like you)
Song of the Day: 1980’s Edition
There was one band during the 80’s that everyone seemed to dismiss, yet their album were selling out. It was almost as if no one wanted to admit that they enjoyed listening to this band. The band I’m talking about is Mr. Mister. Yes, even the name sounds like something that we might consider today as being too hipsterish. A name made to sound to be oh so clever.
Yet, Mr. Mister had two hit albums that many bands of this era couldn’t admit to having. The 1980’s was an era of great music, but it was also one where way too many were also quite disposable. People nowadays complain about how music has no soul and that it was all corporate driven. Well, this era has nothing on the Reagan-era of the music industry.
Mr. Mister would pump out two hit albums before breaking up in the late 80’s with most of the band members joining up with different Christian rock and music groups down the years.
One Mr. Mister song that was catchy and remained so would be their hit single “Kyrie”.
To a teenager of the time the song was memorable and easy to sing along to. It’s later on as teens became adults that we’ve come to realize that the song itself was a Christian liturgy prayer and the whole song was just a prayer backed by pop rock melodies. It’s no wonder that the band’s member would find their second wind in the music business as part of Christian rock groups.
Kyrie
Kýrie, eléison
Kýrie, eléison
Kýrie
The wind blows hard against this mountainside
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the road
My heart is old, it holds my memories
My body burns a gem-like flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again
Kýrie, eléison
Down the road that I must travel
Kýrie, eléison
Through the darkness of the night
Kýrie, eléison
Where I’m going, will you follow?
Kýrie, eléison
On a highway in the light
When I was young, I thought of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road
Or only wished what I could be
Kýrie, eléison
Down the road that I must travel
Kýrie, eléison
Through the darkness of the night
Kýrie, eléison
Where I’m going, will you follow?
Kýrie, eléison
On a highway in the light
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Kýrie, eléison
Down the road that I must travel
Kýrie, eléison
Through the darkness of the night
Kýrie, eléison
Where I’m going, will you follow?
Kýrie, eléison
On a highway in the light
Kýrie, eléison
Down the road that I must travel (will you follow?)
Kýrie, eléison
Through the darkness of the night
Kýrie, eléison
Where I’m going, will you follow? (will you follow)
Kýrie, eléison
On a highway in the light
Kýrie, eléison
Down the road that I must travel (yeah)
Kýrie, eléison
Through the darkness of the night
Kýrie, eléison
Where I’m going, will you follow? (will you follow?)
Kýrie, eléison
On a highway in the light
Kýrie, eléison
Down the road that I must travel (will you follow?)
Kýrie, eléison
Through the darkness of the night
Kýrie, eléison
Where I’m going, will you follow? (will you follow)
Song of the Day: 1980’s Edition
To say that the Wilson Sisters (Nancy and Ann) who fronted the band Heart will forever be crushes would be an understatement. These ladies, for a growing teenager whose hormones were on overdrive, were a surprising find during the early years of MTV when they actually showed music videos. The sisters and their band had already made their bones during the 70’s but for most boys and girls of my era it would be the “Big Hair” Era of hard rock during the 1980’s that would introduce Nancy and Ann Wilson to a new generation of fans.
I was already on board the Wilson train (Nancy being my favorite) with their two power ballads from their 1985 self-titled album, “Alone” and “These Dreams”, but these ladies were not just about power ballads. They could rock out with the best of their male counterparts. The fact that both Ann and Nancy were accomplished singers in their own right put them heads and shoulders above most of the hard rock frontmen. Ann Wilson could belt out a tune, hold a note for ages and not lose any power behind those vocals. Nancy would do back-up duties, but no less impressive as a soprano, but it would be her work as lead guitarist that would mesmerize a certain young teenager.
It would be in the track “Never” that the band busts out their hard rock chops. They sure don’t make bands like these anymore. These ladies rocked then and they rock now. Rock on, ladies!
Never
Hey baby I’m talking to you
Stop yourself and listen
Some things you can never never choose
Even if you try, yeah
You’re bangin’ your head again
‘Cause somebody won’t let you in
One chance . . . one love
Your chance to let me know
We can’t go on
Just running away
If we stay any longer
We will surely never get away
Anything you want—we can make it happen
Stand up and turn around
Never let them shoot us down
Never—Never
Never—Never run away
Hey baby you know it’s true
Why you bother lying when you know
That you want it too
Don’t you dare deny me
Walk those legs right over here
Give me what I’m dying for
One chance . . . one love
Hold me down never let me go
We can’t go on
Just running away
If we wait any longer
We will surely never get away
Anything you want—we can make it happen
Stand up and turn around
Never let them shoot us down
Never—Never
Never—Never run away
Never—Never
Never—Never run away
Hey baby I’m talking to you
Stop yourself and listen
Some things you can never choose
Even if you try, yeah
You’re bangin’ your head again
‘Cause somebody won’t let you in
One chance . . . one love
Your chance to let me know
We can’t go on
Just running away
If we stay any longer
We will surely never get away
OO OO Never
OO OO Never
We can’t go on Never
We can’t go on Never
OO OO Never
OO OO Never
We can’t go on Never
We can’t go on Never
Song of the Day: 1980’s Edition
Another song from my youth during the 80’s is the classic rock song from the all-girl rock band The Bangles. It makes an appearance in a later episode of Netflix’s Stranger Things, but it’s better known as the unofficial anthem for the drug-fueled drama Less Than Zero starring a very young (and rumors abound of being very drugged out) Robert Downey, Jr.
Less Than Zero was adapted from a novel written by the 80’s agent provocateur Bret Easton Ellis. It definitely was part of the list of 80’s films that all the teens wanted to see. It being rated-R meant double the temptation. It was a film that both celebrated and condemned the Reagan-era yuppie culture that was fueled by excess amount of drugs, alcohol and sex.
The song “Hazy Shade of Winter” would become part of the film’s soundtrack and The Bangles had been tasked with covering the Simon & Garfunkel song of the same title. Where the former was more attuned to the duo’s folk sensibilities, the cover by The Bangles would put a harder edge to the song which made for a nice complement to the rough edges of the film.
Oh, I still have a major crush on Sussana Hoffs to this very day.
Hazy Shade of Winter
Time, time, time
See what’s become of me…
Time, time, time
See what’s become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a Hazy Shade of Winter
Hear the Salvation Army Band
Down by the riverside
It’s bound to be a better ride
Than what you’ve got planned
Carry a cup in your hand
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a Hazy Shade of Winter
Hang onto your hopes my friend
That’s an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again
Look around
Grass is high
Fields are ripe
It’s the springtime of my life
Seasons change with their scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won’t you stop and remember me
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky
Is a Hazy Shade of Winter
Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground
Song of the Day: 1980’s Edition
I will readily admit that I am a child of the 80’s. I grew up listening to 80’s music whether it was metal (though I didn’t truly listen to them until the 90’s), rap all the way to synthpop and new wave which became quite popular during the decade with groups such as Depeche Mode, INXS, Duran Duran and The Cure. One band which I listened to quite a bit during the mid-80’s was the British new wave band Tears For Fears. It’s from this band that the latest “Song of the Day” comes from: “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”.
The song is actually an 80’s classic that has stood the test of time and musical taste. While many scoff and ridicule most of the pop songs which blew up during the 80’s this particular song from Tears For Fears was never one of them. While the song does have a foundation in the synthpop sound of the time the song itself doesn’t really sound like most of the 80’s pop music. The lyrics are socially aware without being too preachy. In fact, if one was to listen to the song now it’s original message of limitless optimism in the future for everyone actually sounds a bit selfish in today’s social climate.
The song has been covered quite a bit by many singers and bands of different stripes from such groups as The Dresden Dolls, Clare & The Reasons and Dru Hill right up to the pop punk band Care Bares on Fire whose cover was used during the end credits for Season 5, Episode 9 of True Blood.
Let this song kick-off my 80’s music revival and all of it due to the awesome inclusion of some classic 80’s pop tracks in the equally awesome and great new Netflix series, Stranger Things.
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on Mother Nature
Everybody wants to rule the world
It’s my own design
It’s my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
There’s a room where the light won’t find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I’ll be right behind you
So glad we’ve almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world
I can’t stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you’ll never never never never need it
One headline why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world
All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
In what’s become an annual tradition in the Sandoc household since it first aired, Band of Brothers will be marathoned (and of late it’s companion series The Pacific)
The series was produced by both Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks who years before made the equally powerful film Saving Private Ryan. That film introduced the younger generation of today about the true details of heroism and horror that was World War II. What was becoming a dry and academic exercise in schools was suddenly given life in the vivid and heartbreaking imagery as seen through the eyes of Spielberg and the personal accounts of the men of the “Greatest Generation” who went to war and survived to tell their tales.
Band of Brothers would take the accounts of Easy Company of the 501st Parachute Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from their time at boot camp at Camp Toccoa, Georgia through training in England and then the war zones of France, the Netherlands, Belgium and, finally, Germany itself. This series wasn’t about made up soldiers and heroes, but the real ones who survived over a year of constant battle that saw some acquit themselves bravely while others failing to measure up.
The series was a production that had everyone at the top of their game. One such person was Michael Kamen who would compose the series’ orchestral score. It would be one of the last compositions he would create before his death in 2003. Nothing helped set the tone for the series more than the opening theme which accompanied the opening credits for each of the ten episodes.
In honor of Memorial Day, it is this opening theme from Band of Brothers which is the “Song of the Day.”
Oh my God, did you know that it’s Loyalty Day!?
Well, actually, that’s only true for some of our readers. I’m very proud to say that we have readers spread across the world. We even have a bureau in Brazil, which is headed up by Alexandre Rothier.
So, it’s not Loyalty Day for everyone. In fact, a lot of the world’s citizens are celebrating May Day today. However, here in the United States, it’s Loyalty Day. Even if you are an American, it’s possible that you’ve never heard of Loyalty Day. It was first celebrated in 1921 and it was intended to provide a non-Communist alternative to International Workers Day. It wasn’t until 1955 that Loyalty Day was officially recognized by Congress.
Loyalty Day is defined as follows in 36 U.S.C. § 115:
In honor of this day, my sister and I woke up this morning and the first thing we did was sing the most pro-American song that we could think of.
Which song was that?
This one!
America — FUCK YEAH! Happy Loyalty Day, American readers!
No list of great guitar riffs would be taken seriously if it didn’t include one of the greatest rock and roll songs (for some, THE greatest) with one of the most recognizable opening guitar riffs. It is this song which makes the next on the latest “Song of the Day” series focusing on great guitar riffs.
Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” was released in 1958 by Chess Records and it quickly rose up the charts. This was the early days of rock and roll. As musicians and bands began to combine the rhythm of blues to the tempo of gospel music, more and more people began to discover what will become rock and roll. It helped that starts such as Elvis Presley would push this so-called “rebellious music” right up the mainstream public whether the moral authority accepted it or not.
One artist who would pave the way for this growing musical trend was Chuck Berry and he would never get a hit as influential and as popular as “Johnny B. Goode”. This song and it’s riff would become his signature song right up to his death and would influence countless others artists right up to this day.
The song itself would become part of another iconic pop culture event when it became a major plot device for Robert Zemeckis’ first Back to the Future. So many different musicians and bands from all corners of the musical landscape that one would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know the song “Johnny B. Goode” in one for or another.
Johnny B. Goode
Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans,
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,
Where lived a country boy named of Johnny B. Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well,
But he could play the guitar like ringing a bell.
[Chorus:]
Go Go
Go Johnny Go
Go Go
Johnny B. Goode
He use to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Or sit beneath the trees by the railroad track.
Oh, the engineers used to see him sitting in the shade,
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made.
The People passing by, they would stop and say
Oh my that little country boy could play
[Chorus]
His mother told him someday you will be a man,
And you would be the leader of a big old band.
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
Saying Johnny B. Goode tonight.
Great Guitar Riffs Series
Through the Shattered Lens 