The song itself doesn’t sound very much like horror. It’s got the down home country rock, but listening to the lyrics it’s very much belongs with any song full of doom, gloom and horror. It may be down home country with toe-tapping melody, but make no mistake the latest “Song of the Day” is quite horrific when one listens to it carefully.
I’m talking about Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 hit “Bad Moon Rising”.
One of the singles to come out of their classic Green River album, “Bad Moon Rising” is all about the titular bad moon on the rise. A sign of a bad omen or, if one was to take things to the extreme, of an impeding doom. The lyrics to the song speaks of natural disasters, catastrophic events and just about anything bad that would kill you the moment you step out onto the streets.
It’s a song of existential horror as it points out that no matter what we do there’s no preventing the infinite ways that Death can just come in and take one’s life. It’s quite the nihilistic tune and one that fits in well with Through the Shattered Lens horror-themed month.
Bad Moon Rising
I see a bad moon rising. I see trouble on the way. I see earthquakes and lightning. I see bad times today.
Don’t go around tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life, There’s a bad moon on the rise.
I hear hurricanes a-blowin’. I know the end is comin’ soon. I feel rivers overflowin’. I hear the voice of rage and ruin.
Don’t go around tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life, There’s a bad moon on the rise. Alright!
Hope you got your things together. Hope you are quite prepared to die. Looks like we’re in for nasty weather. One eye is taken for an eye.
Well, don’t go round tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life, There’s a bad moon on the rise.
Don’t come around tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life, There’s a bad moon on the rise.
It’s that time of the year. It’s October here in Through the Shattered Lens and that means one thing: horror-theme month.
October has become a sort of favorite month for us over here at Through the Shattered Lens. While other genres and topics will be posted and and get their time in the sun, this month always brings the site back to the shadows and things that made us fear the dark. Horror has been a common thing which drew Lisa and I to continue the site from it’s fledgling early months to going on almost 6 years.
I’d like to start my contribution to all-things horror by introducing those who haven’t experienced one of the best shows on TV which also has one of the most unique horror theme’s on either big or small screen.
The theme for Showtime’s Penny Dreadful was composed by Abel Korzeniowski. It’s a theme that gives an audience of hint at the show’s Victorian Age gothic setting with just the right amount of dark romance and psychological themes the show has become famous for.
So, here’s the latest “Song of the Day” set for the witching hour.
It was in the Fall of 1990 when I first heard of the latest Song of the Day. It was during Ken Burns’ excellent The Civil War documentary series on PBS where I heard “Ashokan Farewell.” This haunting “Scottish Lament” by Jay Unger and Molly Mason made Burns’ documentary on the U.S. Civil War feel more alive instead of just another academic exercise on learning one of the pivotal events in U.S. history.
The song became an instant classic the moment it started playing during the series. Ken Burns’ loved the song so much that he used it several times (25 times officially) during the 11-hour running times of the series. Each time it played the song evoked strong emotions from all who heard it, but none moreso than when it was the accompanying music for a reading of a Union Major Sullivan Ballou to his wife prior to the start of the First Battle of Bull Run. Even the most critical viewer of Ken Burns’ documentary sees this sequence and the accompanying “Ashokan Farewell” a major reason why this series became an instant classic and continues to be the standard bearer of how a documentary should be done and done well.
Through good times and bad I have always been a huge fan and follower of Metallica. Even as they foolishly went off track following the path Bob Rock set for them throughout most of the 1990’s through the disastrous St. Anger debacle as they tried to return to their earlier sound, I have always followed this band which made up the original Big 4 of thrash metal (Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth).
It was on their 1998 cover album, Garage Inc., that the band released one of their most popular songs. It wasn’t an original, but a cover of the classic Bob Seger hard rock song about the hard road and life of a musician. Seger’s “Turn the Page” is just one of those hard rock tunes that latches onto the listener and forces them to listen and understand. Most such songs tend to be quite pretentious with nothing much to say once the listener really pays attention. The same cannot be said about Seger’s song.
Metallica decided to cover this song for their Garage Inc. album which was all about them covering their own favorite hard rock and metal songs of the past. While Metallica kept the original’s tempo, they added their own heavier and harder edge to song that straddles the line between hard rock and heavy metal. Even James Hetfield’s alcohol and cigarette ravaged vocals lent a sense of the hard road and life the track sings about.
The biggest change from the Seger song to Metallica’s cover has to be the accompanying music video which still remains one of the most controversial in MTV’s music video history (well, when they still played music videos). Seger’s song was released in 1973 when the concept of music video was nonexistent. With Metallica’s cover it was almost a guarantee that it would get a music video and what a video it was and still is.
The video was directed by Jonas Akerlund who had made a name for himself directing some of the most creative and innovative music videos of the day. His take on the song switches from a musician’s hard road and life on the road to that of a single mother trying to make ends meet as an erotic dancer by day and a prostitute by night to provide for her young daughter. The video was banned from receiving any sort of airplay on MTV as it dealt and showed the disturbing side of such a life. The fact that the tamer version of the video (below) still couldn’t make it on the airwaves just showed how much more haunting and controversial the uncensored version turned out to be.
Turn the Page
On a long and lonesome highway, East of Omaha You can listen to the engines Moanin’ out it’s one note song You can think about the woman, Or the girl you knew the night before But your thoughts will soon be wanderin’, The way they always do When you’re ridin’ 16 hours, And there’s nothin’ much to do And you don’t feel much like ridin’, You just wish the trip was through
(Chorus)
Here I am, on the road again, There I am, up on the stage There I go, playin’ star again, There I go, turn the page
So you walk into this restaurant, All strung out from the road And you feel the eyes upon you, As you’re shakin’ off the cold You pretend it doesn’t bother you, But you just want to explode Yeah, most times you can’t hear ’em talk, Other times you can
All the same old cliches, Is it woman, is it man And you always seem outnumbered, You don’t dare make a stand Make your stand
(Chorus) Ah But here I am, on the road again, There I am, up on the stage Here I go, ah playin’ star again, There I go, turn the page Woah
Out there in the spotlight, You’re a million miles away Every ounce of energy, You try and give away As the sweat pours out your body, Like the music that you play
Later in the evenin’, As you lie awake in bed With the echoes of the amplifiers, Ringin’ in your head You smoke the day’s last cigarette, Rememberin’ what she said
What she said
Yeah, and here I am, On the road again, There I am, up on that stage Here I go, playin’ star again, There I go, turn the page And there I go, turn that page
There I go, yeah, Here I go, yeah, yeah There I go, yeah, Here I go, yeah Here I go, There I go And I’m gone
John Wick wasn’t just a surprise hit (relative to it’s modest budget) of 2014, but it was also one of the best films of that year. It was part of a renaissance in action film making that was ushered in by the two-punch combo of The Raid and The Raid 2 that came out of the mind of Gareth Evans.
This Keanu Reeves revenge action thriller didn’t just excel in the visual mayhem and the alternative world the title character lived and killed in, but it also was accompanied by a kick-ass soundtrack created by the underrated film composer Tyler Bates.
“Killing Strangers” is one of the songs from the film’s soundtrack. A song that perfectly captures the character of John Wick that’s sung by Marilyn Manson and composed by Bates himself.
Killing Strangers
This world doesn’t need no opera We’re here for the operation We don’t need a bigger knife (Cause we got guns) We got guns, we got guns We got guns, you better run (you better run, you better run, you better run)
We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers, so we don’t kill the ones that we Love We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers, We’re killing strangers, so we don’t kill the ones that we Love, love, love, love
We pack demolition We can’t pack emotion Dynamite, we just might So blow us a kiss, blow us a kiss Blow us a kiss, and we’ll blow you to pieces
We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers, so we don’t kill the ones that we Love, love, love, love
We got guns, we got guns Motherfuckers better, better run We got guns, we got guns Motherfuckers better run And we got guns, we got guns Motherfuckers better, better, better run We got, we got guns Motherfuckers better run
We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers We’re killing strangers, so we don’t kill the ones that we (better run!)
We’re killing strangers (we got guns!) We’re killing strangers (we got guns!) We’re killing strangers, so we (we got guns!) don’t kill the ones that we Love, love, love, love Love, love, love
“Hotel California” by The Eagles has been one of my favorite songs and this came about due to my own father loving the band and this song being his favorite. It was hard not to love the song when it’s played over and over. For some hearing the song would get them sick of it, but the song most associated with this great American band remains a classic to fans young and old.
This is why the latest Song of the Day sees the return of “Hotel California” but a cover version by a young talent out of Sweden. This particular cover of the song is by Gabriella Quevedo who is all of 18 years-old. She had taken up the acoustic guitar at the age of 12 and self-taught herself how to play “fingerstyle acoustic” after hearing another musical prodigy, Sungha Jung, play the same style.
Many people have covered “Hotel California” and many more will continue to do so. What makes Gabriella Quevedo stand out if the fact that her rendition of the song she literally plays every section of the song with her one guitar. She plays not just the guitar section, but the vocal melodies as well as the bassline. She also happens to insert the back-up melodies into her playing. What she ends up doing with her version of this song is play an entire band’s worth of playing with just one guitar.
Anyone who has listened to “Hotel California” can easily tell what she has accomplished which for a person of such a young age is extraordinary. She has made herself into a sensation with her many covers of rock songs both classic and new. Of all her covers, this one happens to be my favorite.
After necromoonyeti helped rekindle memories of days, weeks and months playing Final Fantasy and listening to it’s soundtrack I thought it was only appropriate that the latest “Song of the Day” comes from that very series.
“To Zanarkand” is the theme to Final Fantasy X. An entry in the venerated rpg franchise that has been underrated since it came out in 2001. While the game never reached the sort of acclaim and fan devotion as earlier entries like Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI (I’m of the few that thought Final Fantasy VII was average, at best) this tenth entry still managed to include a soundtrack that was some of composer Uematsu Nobuo’s best work.
This piano solo version takes the original song and brings it down to it’s emotional core. The other versions are just as powerful, especially the full orchestra version, but the simplicity of the piano solo conveying the themes of loss, sorrow and redemption that the game’s narrative was built on works best for me.
“When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.” — B.B. King
The blues is a music style that has always pulled me in from the very moment I first heard it. I probably didn’t even realize it was the blues, but as I got older it became the one type of music that would always spoke to me.
So, it’s one of profound sadness when I read that B.B. King, one of the giants of the blues, has passed away at the age of 89.
B.B. King stands tall and his influence on electric blues and blues rock musicians over several generations looms large. He now joins the other two Kings, Albert King and Freddie King, who with B.B. King were called the Three Kings of the Blues Guitar.
The thrill is gone. The thrill will live on forever.
The Thrill Is Gone
The thrill is gone The thrill is gone away The thrill is gone baby The thrill is gone away You know you done me wrong baby And you’ll be sorry someday
The thrill is gone It’s gone away from me The thrill is gone baby The thrill is gone away from me Although, I’ll still live on But so lonely I’ll be
The thrill is gone It’s gone away for good The thrill is gone baby It’s gone away for good Someday I know I’ll be open armed baby Just like I know a good man should
You know I’m free, free now baby I’m free from your spell Oh I’m free, free, free now I’m free from your spell And now that it’s all over All I can do is wish you well
The last week or so we’ve seen Lisa Marie review two films which shares a close connection with the latest “Song of the Day.”
First there was her review of Saturday Night Fever by John Badham. Then she follows it up with the so very awful, but mesmerizing sequel by Sylvester Stallone, Staying Alive. The original film had as part of it’s disco-based soundtrack the song “Stayin’ Alive” by the group Bee Gees. The sequel literally borrows the song’s title and just runs with it.
The song itself has become not just a classic, but has also become part of pop culture both good and bad. It’s been portrayed as a great example of the disco-scene of the mid-to-late 70’s, but also become a sort of a joke to some.
No matter where one stands on the merits of this song it’s one hell of a catchy one. No matter how much we all fail every guy will try to hit the high notes achieved by Barry Gibbs. We never succeed, but we never fail not to try over and over as we sing along.
Stayin’ Alive
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk Music loud and women warm, I’ve been kicked around since I was born
And now it’s all right, it’s OK And you may look the other way We can try to understand The New York times effect on man
Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive Feel the city breaking and everybody shaking And were stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive
Well now, I get low and I get high And if I can’t get either, I really try Got the wings of heaven on my shoes I’m a dancing man and I just can’t lose You know it’s all right, it’s ok I’ll live to see another day We can try to understand The New York times effect on man
Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive Feel the city breakin and everybody shakin And were stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive
Life going nowhere, somebody help me Somebody help me, yeah Life going nowhere, somebody help me Somebody help me, yeah. Stayin’ alive
2015 will see the return of Star Wars to the big-screen. Will it erase the underwhelming memories left behind by the prequels which came out at the start of the new millenium? Will it return the franchise to it’s rightful place as a pop culture juggernaut that began many decades ago?
We shall soon find out this coming Christmas when Star Wars: The Force Awakens premieres around the world. Until then here’s the latest “Song of the Day” from John Williams.
Through the Shattered Lens 