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About This Author
Well, hello. I’m still testing this.
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Music Notes
A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff  . I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.
December 25, 2024 at 7:40am December 25, 2024 at 7:40am
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My fifth track for "Invalid Item"  is an amusing one. I first discovered Snoopy's Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen way back in 2017 during my first year of taking music especially seriously. We were staying in South Carolina over the holidays, and one particular radio station played it frequently, and it captured my fancy immediately.
I thought it was the cutest thing all around: the "moment of mercy" storyline, the idea of singing about Snoopy—one of my favorite characters!—and the hook of the bells ringing through the land. When I mentioned it to Mom, she'd never heard of it. She played me The Royal Guardsmen's "original" Snoopy song, which dismayed me because of the exaggerated bloodshed and the merely superficial similarity to the comic strip. I couldn't imagine what Mom thought was so interesting about it. Obviously, I'd much rather hear the Christmas edition.
I'm sitting down on Christmas Eve, playing these songs as I write about them. This is the first time I've listened to Snoopy's Christmas with my "high quality" Bluetooth earbuds I bought for $5 at Dollar Tree this summer. I'm delighted by the binaural sound effects and the clarity of everything, bombs and all  Audio device quality definitely makes a difference. It doesn't cost much to get it surprisingly good these days.
The concept here is a classic trope, and one I may use someday in my writing. And with that, I present you a wartime treat.
Words: 248.
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December 25, 2024 at 5:52am December 25, 2024 at 5:52am
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My fourth track is a Christmas favorite from a rare gem of an album, Midnight Clear by Andrew Dale and David Chafe. I'm choosing the title track to introduce them to you, as it was the first one I found from them.
I believe it was on BBN, Bible Broadcasting Network, where Mom and I heard this version one evening a couple years ago. We don't usually listen to that radio station, because they play a lot of cringy baritones and exaggerated pipe organs from a century ago. This time, though, Mom liked the singer's voice and the simple, muted production, even though she doesn't usually care for pianos. I Shazamed it, tracked down the album, and added the whole thing to my YouTube account to save it because I keep forgetting their names (in my offline playlist, I have them down simply as "Andrew and David"...)
The duo is Canadian; they came together in 2007 solely for this special holiday album and are not affiliated with a band, being more of the classical type of artists. Andrew does the vocals and David plays the piano throughout, and that is all Midnight Clear has in the way of production.
This simplicity allows the depth and sincerity of Andrew's voice to shine through. I'm happy to have this on my playlist at last, because it's a song you don't hear often in public. As a kid the lyrics appealed so much to me, I memorized them straight off of that booklet of sheet music I mentioned in the previous post. Which means it's special for me to hear it now as it's supposed to sound rather than how I always had the words laid out in my head. The third verse is somber, different from what I knew as a kid; you can see all the verses on Wikipedia here.
And now, enjoy a true Christmas classic 
Words: 317.
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December 24, 2024 at 6:27pm December 24, 2024 at 6:27pm
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Track Three for "Invalid Item"
I've always liked Josh Turner's distinctive deep voice, and in fact I featured his Will You Go With Me in my February 2024 "Invalid Item" blog posts.
It was last year, while thinking about Xmas songs and how to build my offline playlist, when I suddenly imagined Josh's voice in my head, singing The First Noel. And I was like "ooh, that sounds perfect!" And went to check if he really did sing it. He did, and it's just the way I expected it would sound. He treats it with the respect it's due (unlike his treatment of Joy to the World… see a screenshot of my personal music journal below.)
I'm kind of fussy about songs, and oftentimes his discography is either too cheesy and secular for me, or else it's old-fashioned gospel music which I don't really have a connection to. (Long Black Train is a favorite, but that's another story…)
I've always been familiar with The First Noel; I remember as a kid I had a little booklet of Christmas carol sheet music from the local newspaper, and I would examine all the songs and see which of them I thought were up to my poetic standards. Since we didn't actually listen to much Christmas music, I quite literally had no clue as to melody and went solely based on the lyrics, which resulted in some peculiarities as I memorized lyrics which turned out to sound entirely different from how I thought. Long story…
These days, The First Noel is a song I look forward to by any artist on public airwaves. This particular version is the one I have in my playlist, alongside the Simply Three instrumental.
Words: 294.
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December 24, 2024 at 7:58am December 24, 2024 at 7:58am
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We Three Kings is one Christmas song I've been familiar with from a child. My mom always liked it and had a couple of renditions she played which I can no longer remember the artists.
I discovered Simply Three in 2018 when I listened to their famous cover of Avicii's Wake Me Up. They're a group of three string musicians: a violinist, a cellist and a bassist. (Not a bass guitar, rather a gigantic cello.) They do classical instrumental covers of pop songs and also compose their own works. Currently one member quit, so now they're Simply Two…
S3 released a Christmas album in 2021 entitled Lux, an adventurous and even edgy exploration and reinterpretation of classic carols. Their rendition of We Three Kings is sweeping and dramatic. When I listen to it I picture the three kings plodding across the desert sands, braving fierce winds and unknown dangers, until they stand at the top of a rise and see Jerusalem spread… no, that doesn't make sense because Jerusalem is on a mountain  At any rate, it sounds like an epic fantasy 
I like how their version goes off on its own, so to speak, striking a unique melodic path rather than treading the same time-honored route which would be assumed from standard sheet music, if that makes any sense. It's not a simple karaoke, but a complete reimagining.
Words: 233.
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December 24, 2024 at 7:38am December 24, 2024 at 7:38am
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My first track chosen for Jeff's "Invalid Item" is Good King Wenceslas , by Loreena McKennit.
This is beyond a doubt my favorite Christmas carol of all time. The uplifting story of a charitable king and his humble page who was granted a miracle so he could help carry out a good deed, combined with the wonderful melody, is really something special. This particular version captures the essence of what makes it so magical, with the lady's harmonious voice and a blending of strings, drums and bells which lend a medieval vibe.
Even the cover art for her album is beautiful, showing a winter forest with animals gathered around.
I have at least two stories behind this song. The first is how I discovered it at all. I noticed it years ago playing in a clothing store I shop at regularly. But whenever I heard it I didn't have my phone at the ready to capture a Shazam (in those days, I used Google Sound Search…) to be honest, I had a phone, but it wasn't online, and that particular clothing store never had WiFi. Long story… not only could I never get a Sound Search on it, but I could never understand any of the words to be able to look it up. Having no chorus, it didn't have a lyrical "hook" to grab onto. But I knew that was an extremely appealing classic melody I wanted to listen to better.
So one day it played and I did something different: I recorded it. My recording was brief and muffled and indistinct, but I was determined to find that song. I went online and looked for a place where I could upload an audio file for identification. No automated software could recognize my sample (one site suggested weird Russian things…)
Finally I found a French site called WatZatSong, where they crowdsource from a global community of music lovers to find and label song samples. From there it didn't take more than a couple days before someone told me it was Loreena McKennit's Good King Wenceslas.
The next story is from 2020, when I suggested this specific track to my boss during the holiday season. I thought I'd like to hear it on his super duper sound system which he enjoyed using while we worked. Imagine my embarrassment when instead of the elegant, classy Loreena McKennit version, he blasted out some beery-voiced Irish bar doggerel recording of Good King Wenceslas! Turns out her version wasn't available on Spotify, and he didn't have the sense to pull it up on YouTube instead. It's the kind of thing that looking back on it is funny, but at the time I was getting close to a nervous breakdown from overwork and, in my tunnel vision, thought it was the worst thing that could've possibly happened. Ugh.
Anyway, enjoy. This is my favorite rendition of it for good reason, trust me. I should perhaps take some time to explore her music… which reminds me, I did listen to one other track she made, but that's quite another story.
Words: 521.
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October 21, 2024 at 6:58am October 21, 2024 at 6:58am
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My eighteenth and final choice is a cover, by Imagine Dragons, of… you'll never guess: Taylor Swift's Blank Space! In 2015 they appeared at the BBC 1 studio to perform her infamous song.
I got such a chuckle out of this when I first saw it on YouTube in 2017. I couldn't believe a male band would even think of singing a female song, and lead singer Dan Reynolds didn't do me any favors by keeping the female pronouns: "you're the king, baby I'm your queen!" 
Blank Space was the first song I ever learned from Taylor Swift, and, being ultra fastidious, I was appalled at her apparent declaration of looseness. I didn't understand she was making a parody out of how others see her. So it bothered me every time I heard it. After watching the Dragons covering it, I felt more comfortable with it and eventually began to appreciate Taylor's expressive voice and sense of humor. And besides, "I can make the bad guys good for a weekend" sounds like a rather intriguing story prompt…
It's been at least seven years since I watched this video. When I was recalling it as I compiled my list of six covers for Jeff's "Invalid Item" challenge, I couldn't remember if Dan sang Taylor's original bridge or not. You know, "boys only want love if it's torture… don't say I didn't warn you!" I couldn't imagine him saying that.
Well, he didn't. Instead, the Dragons mashed up the bass melody of Ben E. King's Stand By Me and used those words as the bridge. Delightfully perfect and unexpected. I'd completely forgotten. If you take it seriously, it gives Blank Space an entirely different meaning. Either that, or it's just a band having fun mixing up other people's songs.
The young Dan keeps his voice on a natural, even keel with this performance, avoiding the exaggerated yelling type of vocal he uses for his own work. In that regard, I've frequently seen him pressing a finger under his nose as he holds the mic, apparently a technique to recreate his studio sound.
And no, his voice is not usually electronically modified unless the result is obviously intended to sound that way (ie, distorted). I know I wondered why he never sings the chorus of Believer live in quite the ferocious way he did on the original. Then he released a video sample showing him bellowing out the original chorus vocals a capella in studio. Yikes. I don't know how he did it, and I don't think he could ever duplicate it.
Overall, this "Invalid Item" project has been a fun challenge for me. I've revisited old favorites, discovered new facts about artists long gone, and added a few tracks to my playlist. It gave me something to take my mind off Hurricane Milton. I hope you enjoyed reading (and listening to) the series as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Words: 503.
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October 20, 2024 at 7:57am October 20, 2024 at 7:57am
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My seventeenth choice is an unmistakable rock classic from the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pride and Joy. Released in 1983, it was his debut single, showcasing the unique "Texas blues" guitar style which made him famous.
Mom often played this song as I was growing up. I knew very little of what he was saying, but I knew every riff by heart. Once years later, I heard a song in a thrift store somewhere, and I literally recognized the voice of his guitar. I think that was before I started taking copious notes about music, so I don't remember what other song of his it turned out to be that I'd never heard before, but it was indeed a Stevie Ray Vaughan song.
It always seemed to me to be more a song about a daughter than a lover, until I learned he was saying "I'm her little lover boy…" Someone on YouTube suggested it refers to his guitar, which I never considered before. That would make sense. I suppose it's more the kind of song where the (decent) lyrics don't matter as much as the sheer talent involved in its composition.
The riffs are complex and boisterous, almost rowdy: fun and energetic. I'm not the kind of person who usually dances to music, even my favorites, being more of a "close my eyes and dream" type. I wouldn't consider this a "dancing" sort of song, preferring to move, when I do, to a more well-defined beat and simpler melody. Sometimes, indeed, I dance to a song in my head rather than anything external… which usually means I invent choreography which is vaguely storytelling. Usually I only do that when I'm extremely bored and climbing the walls.
Words: 289. |
October 19, 2024 at 8:49am October 19, 2024 at 8:49am
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My sixteenth track is a cover, by OneRepublic, of the 2006 Gnarls Barkley song Crazy. They played it several times over the years; the best one is from the Zermatt Unplugged show in 2011. Here you can see Brent Kutzle on the cello and hear some of Ryan Tedder's unique and mind-blowing melisma, along with an acoustic guitar solo by Zach Filkins.
I remember I never paid much attention to the original, until I watched 1R covering it. The one I saw was probably from a TV show, because Ryan was talking about it before he launched into it, and he said how much he wishes he'd written it himself. The lyrics do have that whimsical, mysterious quality of his earliest songwriting; in fact, Ryan loves the phrase "bless your soul" and has used it in his own work for 1R and others.
After knowing how much Ryan likes Crazy, it always makes me smile when I hear the original. I also smile because it's the only song I've ever heard from the artist who goes by that funny name, Gnarls Barkley.
Having to choose six covers for Jeff's "Invalid Item" led me back to this piece, which I really hadn't thought about in years. I'm glad I did, because I loved watching the entire Zermatt Unplugged show years ago, added each track to its respective Genius page, and I didn't even know this was part of the performance. Did you catch the lit candles lined up on the piano? Or Ryan's youthful exuberance and high spirits? What fun.
Words: 263. |
October 18, 2024 at 6:29am October 18, 2024 at 6:29am
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My fifteenth track is Hold Me Now, from defunct band The Thompson Twins. Released in 1983, it's a "big eighties" song in the best sort of way.
I've liked this song from pretty much the first I became aware of it, sometime in 2017. The emotional tone of the lyrics appealed to me, as the narrator deals gently with a confusing relationship. Whenever it crops up it's a bright spot in the creepiness of cheap eighties surface hits which are all one hears in public from the era.
When I decided to add it to my offline playlist last April or thereabouts, I designed a special cover art for it (as I did with dozens of my chosen tracks) using my favorite generative AI app, Wombo Dream. I prompted the AI with the words "vintage retro eighties style filter photo of a teenage boy and girl happy memories" and it gave me an image of twins  It looks exactly like the opening words of the song. At the bottom I'll include the screenshot of my media player.
The more I listen to Hold Me Now with increasingly better sound quality, the more I appreciate it. I love the slowly measured "bells and whistles" production, and the backing vocals which come in at the end to balance the gaps in the chorus.
In order to write knowledgeably about the song, I read the Wikipedia page for The Thompson Twins, which I thought for sure I had looked at several times over the years. I was surprised to find the "real story" of the band: how they derived their name from The Adventures of Tintin, and how they changed it to Babble in the nineties to reflect a shift in musical style to something called "dub-influenced chill out…" don't ask me. I had no idea.
Now that I do know the band's backstory, it makes the song more meaningful. I'm glad I chose to do this project, because I honestly thought The Thompson Twins was something like a brother and sister duo, similar to the image I created for the cover art
Words: 368.
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October 17, 2024 at 7:12am October 17, 2024 at 7:12am
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My fourteenth track is from the late Tom Petty, released in 1989. Running Down a Dream has been a favorite of mine for a while. I remember when Mom would play it when I was a kid and I thought it was saying "right down the drain…" The lines about "working on a mystery" always excited me, like it was a song from a movie or something.
Finding it was from Tom Petty (during my musical "coming of age") seemed perfectly natural, because I'd known it already for so long. It's a good song to put on as you're driving, because the lyrics are about chasing the dream, adventure seeking, and quite literally driving down the highway enjoying life.
The intricacies of the melody are fun to get lost in, and the beat is surprisingly rapid. I found the Wikipedia description of the song's composition to be enlightening, as much as is possible for me, lacking musical training.
It embarrasses me sometimes, that I love to write about music yet I have no real understanding of music theory. I describe songs as best I can, having picked up the vocabulary from reading countless professional critiques and artist interviews, and I take it all with obsessive seriousness.
Sometimes I wonder if I should become a musician. If I did, I'd be starting pretty late in a highly competitive field. My chances of being even a fraction as successful as the artists I admire are slim to none. If I did learn an instrument, it would be merely for my own personal enjoyment or perhaps to create something for a YouTube channel…
Anyway, here's a classic for you
Words: 281. |
© Copyright 2024 Amethyst Snow Angel (UN: greenwillow at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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