From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V12 #302 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Monday, August 11 2003 Volume 12 : Number 302 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Mountain Goats (No Robyn) [Sweet & Tender Hooligan ] Re: Muses (Thrown and otherwise) [Barbara Soutar ] Re: Throwing (out suggestions for rock songs and their) Muses [Jeffrey wi] Songs about dead dudes (3.1415% RH content) ["Glen Uber" ] Re: songs about dead dudes [Tom Clark ] bringing it all back home [John Barrington Jones ] I should let it lie, but this reminded me ["Rex.Broome" ] Re: Throwing Muses [Mike Swedene ] I'll bet you think this song is about you... [Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey <] Re: I'll bet you think this song is about you... [Tom Clark ] reap [Jeff Dwarf ] Re: more musing (long, but still nowhere near complete) [grutness@surf4ni] gettin' warmer [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:16:57 -0700 From: Sweet & Tender Hooligan Subject: RE: Mountain Goats (No Robyn) Few minutes ago, I wrote: > > there are no horrible missteps in his career for you to > > avoid, but Nine Black Poppies is short without being > > especially good, > > Yeah, I nearly ordered it before noticing that there are only, like, > six songs on it. Um...I guess that would be /nine/ songs. I have vertical dyslexia, apparently. = s&th hooligan@apostate.com "i hope when you think of me years down the line you can't find one good thing to say and i hope that if i find the strength to walk out you'd stay the hell out of my way i am drowning! there is no sign of land you are coming down with me hand in unloveable hand" -"no children," the mountain goats ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:37:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: RE: Mountain Goats (No Robyn) On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Sweet & Tender Hooligan wrote: > > Personally, I would probably recommend the > > three compilations (Protein Source Of The Future, > > Bitter Melon Farm and Ghana) first; > > Hrm. I don't usually purchase compilations, as they become redundant > once I amass the rest of the albums. Are there tracks on these albums > unavailable anywhere else? Yeah, all of them -- they're assemblages of vinyl EPs, v/a comp appearances, his early cassettes, etc. I probably shouldn't have used the word "compilation", but couldn't think of a better one. > I take it, then, that this band is a one-man show, more or less? For a very long time, it was just John Darnielle, with his acoustic guitar and boombox mic; every once in a while there would be female backing vocals, and he credited several women as other members of the band in places, but in reality it was mostly him. Tallahassee is the first record that's had any serious production or arrangements beyond the aforementioned low-fi setup, and while I can't remember who played the instruments on it, I think the band is still officially just John plus whoever helps him out. > I was trying to describe the sound to a friend this morning, and the > best I could come up with is "NMH meets Violent Femmes." I can see that as a good approximation of the sound, with the caveat that all three bands tend to be love-or-hate propositions, so I suspect there are people who'd love the Mountain Goats that can't stand NMH or the Femmes, and so on for all other permutations. a ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:34:38 -0700 From: Barbara Soutar Subject: Re: Muses (Thrown and otherwise) Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I will sift through the material (lots of that!) and use items that fit the topic proposed by my brother. Which was the hidden people who inspired love songs in the rock genre I believe, though I'll have to ask him again what he was aiming for. All I know is that he intends to draw pictures of people like Eric Clapton, Patti Boyd and George Harrison. A notable one that occurred to me is Bob Dylan as love object in the Joan Baez song Diamonds and Rust. A favourite of mine. Although I saw a photo of Bob recently and he sure doesn't look that good anymore, kind of scary. Whereas Joan is still stunning. But I wax superficial... Barbara Soutar Victoria, British Columbia ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 14:47:53 -0500 (CDT) From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: Throwing (out suggestions for rock songs and their) Muses On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Rex.Broome wrote: > What I'd like to see is how many songs can be played in a sequence whereby > each song refers to the artist who wrote the previous one. Best I can do is > start off with a Big Star tune, move on to "Alex Chilton" by the > Replacements, and follow that with "We're the Replacements" by They Might Be > Giants. OR: we could start with either Aerosmith or Zepplin, then "Aero > Zepplin" by Nirvana; next up "About a Boy" by Patti Smith, then "When She > Sang About Angels" by the Go-Betweens. Can't think of a song about the > Go-Betweens but maybe I'll write one. Or you could go from Nirvana to > "Nirvana" by Julianna Hatfield, who must certainly have a few Evan Dando > songs written about her. Would it be cheating to use "They Might Be Giants" by They Might Be Giants? Because then we could go to "XTC vs. Adam Ant" - and aren't all Adam Ant songs about Adam Ant? The Sugarplastic's "Mr. B." mentions "Mr. Moulding" and the band confirms they mean Colin. (Of course, this whole thing is a lot easier if we talk about songs that only *mention* others, as opposed to actually being *about* them, where we started...) Also, the Matthew Sweet record _100% Fun_ is titled after a phrase in Cobain's suicide note. Who had more songs written about him after his death - Lennon, or Cobain? Back to "songs about": Is "Don't Call Me Mark Chapman" by Julian Cope cheating? At any rate, his "Wheelbarrow Man" is about his brother, "Bill Drummond Said" is about the guy from the KLF or whatever, and "Kolley Kibber's Birthday" references an Elizabethan(?) poet named Colley Cibber. And the Black Watch has a song called "Christopher Smart," about the poet. Dead Kennedys: "California Uber Alles" was done twice, first time about Jerry Brown, second time under the apt title "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now" about Reagan. If Ahnold gets elected, I think Jello should come out of retirement to redo it again... - --Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html ::Californians invented the concept of the life-style. ::This alone warrants their doom. __Don DeLillo, WHITE NOISE__ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:59:43 -0700 From: "Glen Uber" Subject: Songs about dead dudes (3.1415% RH content) Jeffrey earnestly scribbled: >Also, the Matthew Sweet record _100% Fun_ is titled after a phrase in >Cobain's suicide note. Who had more songs written about him after his >death - Lennon, or Cobain? I once read that the champions in this category are Hank Williams and Gram Parsons. Weird? I used to think it would be cool to put together a CD of Lennon tributes. Maybe I'll do one of GP tribute tunes, instead. I'm kinda surprised Robyn never wrote or recorded a Lennon tribute considering what a big fan he is. - -- Cheers! - -g- "In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments -- there are Consequences." - --R.G. Ingersoll ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:02:28 -0700 (PDT) From: John Barrington Jones Subject: Re: Songs about dead dudes (3.1415% RH content) On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Glen Uber wrote: > I'm kinda surprised Robyn never wrote or recorded a Lennon tribute > considering what a big fan he is. I thought that's what "Falling Leaves" was. =jbj= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:05:16 -0700 From: "Glen Uber" Subject: Re: Throwing (out suggestions for rock songs and their) Muses Rex.Broome earnestly scribbled: On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Rex.Broome wrote: >we could start with either Aerosmith or Zepplin, then "Aero >Zepplin" by Nirvana; next up "About a Boy" by Patti Smith, then "When She >Sang About Angels" by the Go-Betweens. How about stating with Roy Harper, and then moving onto "Hats off to Harper" by Zep, and then "Aero Zeppelin" and then the Patti Smith and Go- Betweens tunes? - -- Cheers! - -g- "Work is the curse of the drinking class." - --Oscar Wilde ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:06:00 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Throwing (out suggestions for rock songs and their) Muses Jeff wrote: >Also, the Matthew Sweet record _100% Fun_ is titled after a phrase in >Cobain's suicide note. Who had more songs written about him after his >death - Lennon, or Cobain? Gram Parsons had a few, "My Man" by The Eagles, "Crazy Eyes" by Poco Emmylou Harris's album Ballad of Sally Rose was pretty much about Gram and her, thinly disguised albeit. I think there were a few others written after Gram died as well. Michael ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:06:06 -0700 From: "Glen Uber" Subject: Re: Songs about dead dudes (3.1415% RH content) John earnestly scribbled: >On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Glen Uber wrote: > >> I'm kinda surprised Robyn never wrote or recorded a Lennon tribute >> considering what a big fan he is. > >I thought that's what "Falling Leaves" was. Makes sense. I knew it was about someone, but I guess I never really connected the dots. - -- Cheers! - -g- "In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments -- there are Consequences." - --R.G. Ingersoll ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:07:39 -0700 (PDT) From: John Barrington Jones Subject: songs about dead dudes Has anyone ever written a song about Ian Curtis?? =jbj= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:21:33 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: songs about dead dudes on 8/11/03 1:07 PM, John Barrington Jones at jbjones@pdx.edu wrote: > Has anyone ever written a song about Ian Curtis?? I seem to remember New Order's "The Perfect Kiss" being associated with him, but I'd have to check the lyrics. I guess it's almost a requirement to record a song about your dead bandmate. There's a thread for yins. btw, perusing the upcoming listings for Trio Network, I see they'll be showing a 2002 New Order concert later this month. Also, something called "The Pixies: Gouge" Full listing: http://www.triotv.com/schedules/sched.php3?search=tour - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:31:41 -0700 (PDT) From: John Barrington Jones Subject: bringing it all back home Kurt once called "Love Will Tear Us Apart" the greatest song ever written. I just did a little googling - found out that U2's "A Day Without Me" (off Boy) was written in response to Ian's suicide. =jbj= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:51:24 -0700 From: "Rex.Broome" Subject: I should let it lie, but this reminded me >>The opening and closing tracks on Lush's _Split_ were >>written by Miki Berenyi ("Light From a Dead Star") and Emma >>Anderson ("When I Die") about their respective fathers. Oddly there's a song by Marc Eitzel, "Lower Eastside Tourist", which is probably about a member of Lush-- drummer Chris Aclad, who committed suicide. (I'm fairly sure I saw the last show he, and Lush, ever did, and that show was oddly also the last time I saw Ian "Mr. Mojo Risin Again" Astbury.) Here's another song-type daisy chain, a rather incestuous one at that: (1) any Buffalo Springield tune (2) "Buffalo Springfield Again", Neil Young (3) "Highlands", Bob Dylan (4) "Bob Dylan", David Bowie (5) "David Bowie Needs Ideas", Bongwater Young & Dylan are superb lynchpins for this stuff. In fact Dylan mentions Young in one tune and Young has Dylan in at least two... (1) Anything by Woodie Guthrie (2) "Last Thoughts on Woodie Guthrie", Bob Dylan (3) "Bandit", Neil Young (4) "Highlands", Bob Dylan (5) "Days That Used to Be", Neil Young (6) "Ventura," Lucinda Williams (7) "Lucinda Williams", Vic Chesnutt ... then just to be weird, let's fudge it and play "Chestnut Mare". Follow that with "Creeque Alley" by the Mamas and the Papas, which mentions McGuinn, and them on to "Mamas & Papas" by Classics IV. You could go from there to either the Bollock Bros. "Horror Movies" or Barry Adamson's "Something Wicked This Way Comes", neither of which mention Classics IV but both of which are blatantly derived from the Classics IV hit "Spooky". Let's stick with Adamson, who was a Bad Seed, and thus we can follow with "Bad Seeds" by Beat Happening on a technicality. It would be preferable to go straight to Nick Cave, somehow, because then we could proceed to either "Nick Cave" by Vibert & Cole, or, once again let Bongwater finish the thread with "Nick Cave Dolls". Let's just say I've had better days. - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 14:01:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Groove Puppy Subject: Re: Throwing Muses > BTW, I always thought "You're So Vain" could have > been about David Geffen. I always thought it was about me! Wasn't Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel" about Joplin? Dexy's Midnight Runner's "Oh Geno" was about Geno Washington, the blues singer. 'course the Dead Kennedys put the tribute(?) right in their name. As did Camper Van Beethoven, Trash Can Sinatras, Mr T Experience, blah, blah, blah,.... (H) np Chris Cornell "Euphoria Morning" ===== CHUCKHOLE All that great punk rock taste with only half the calories. http://clix.to/chuckhole http://www.mp3.com/chuckhole __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 14:51:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Swedene Subject: Re: Throwing Muses Allison by the Pixies is about Mos Allison (blues guy) Heather (Obscure Cult Song) about Ian's then gf, now wife. Walk For 2 (10000 Maniacs) alledgedly about Natalie's & Mike Stipe's Love child.... but that remains for DNA tests. enough rumors and Innuendos! Mike __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:58:42 -0500 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: I'll bet you think this song is about you... The Butthole Surfers have a couple of songs that fit: "Lou Reed" and "Jimi" (although as far as I can tell, neither is about their eponymous musicians...although with the Buttholes, who can tell?). Obscure Sacramento Robyn Hitchcock-worshipper Anton Barbeau has a song that appears to be about All Music Guide critic Stewart Mason (an acquaintance of mine, actually). On the "songs about critics" thread, man, there's gotta be billions of those. Lester Bangs is probably the champ - although naturally, I can't think of one of the top of my head. And then there's Trumans Water's "Aroma of Gina Arnold"... Actually, the self-titled TMBG track brings up another thread...self-reference in lyrics or titles. Of course, you have things like "Hey Hey We're the Monkees" - or "Dandy Warhols' TV Theme Song" - or "Julian H. Cope"...or The Fall's "Mark'll Sink Us" or the lyrics to "Shoulder Pads" ("M.E.S. in shoulder pads...")... - --Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: PLEASE! You are sending cheese information to me. I don't want it. :: I have no goats or cows or any other milk producing animal! :: --"raus" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:13:41 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: I'll bet you think this song is about you... on 8/11/03 2:58 PM, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey at jenor@uwm.edu wrote: > On the "songs about critics" thread, man, there's gotta be billions of > those. Lester Bangs is probably the champ - although naturally, I can't > think of one of the top of my head. And then there's Trumans Water's "Aroma > of Gina Arnold"... Being a fan of Gina's, I went to AMG to find out about those guys - they sound pretty cool. Any particular recommendations? - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 18:17:07 -0400 (EDT) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: I'll bet you think this song is about you... On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > On the "songs about critics" thread, man, there's gotta be billions of > those. Lester Bangs is probably the champ - although naturally, I can't > think of one of the top of my head. And then there's Trumans Water's > "Aroma of Gina Arnold"... "I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick" by Sonic Youth, unless that's a joke -- I've never heard it, just heard the title dropped in conversation. And, in the same vein, there's "I Killed James Lien" by Masters Of The Obvious. a ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 17:39:12 -0500 From: Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey Subject: Re: I'll bet you think this song is about you... Quoting Aaron Mandel : > On Mon, 11 Aug 2003, Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > > > On the "songs about critics" thread, man, there's gotta be billions of > "I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick" by Sonic Youth, unless > that's a joke -- I've never heard it, just heard the title dropped in > conversation. Nor have I - although "Come and Smash Me Said the Boy with the Magic Penis" *is* an actual Sonic Youth song (it's on the _Nothing Short of Total War_ comp on Blast First). Re Trumans Water - I have three - _Of Thick Tum_, _Spasm Smash..._, and _Godspeed the Punchline_. Haven't listened to 'em for ages - I remember thinking _Spasm..._ was the best in terms of chaotic, noisy, yet coherent in its own way. _Thick Tum_ disappointed somehow, whereas _Punchline_ seemed smoothed out a bit - rather not the point w/that band. ..Jeff J e f f r e y N o r m a n The Architectural Dance Society www.uwm.edu/~jenor/ADS.html :: we make everything you need, and you need everything we make ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 10:44:14 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Californee >> If it has any sense, north California should secede from the south >> now. As >> for the candidates, what a pity Sonny Bono went skiing, or he could >> have >> added to the confusion! > >This has been an issue since my mother was a kid in Long Beach back in >the 30s and 40s! I remember it was an issue when I was growing up in >LA. And my NoCal friends, when I moved there, used to always tell me >that SoCal was the "bad" part of Cal and that they wanted to split the >state. Never happen, much as we might want it to (ok, i think i'm a >northerner but I know I can never get the freeways out of my blood). :) I'd heard about that - it's pretty much the same situation as here in NZ. The South Island has 60% of the country's area, but we only have 20% of the population - less than NZ's largest city, Auckland, in the far north of the North Island. And Auckland in particular, because of its size, is very insular and sees itself as the only thing of any importance in NZ. The rest of the country tends to think the opposite - that Auckland is the least representative part of NZ. There's a popular saying: "New Zealand stops at the Bombay Hills". The Bombay Hills lie just south of Auckland, and the saying holds true no matter which side of them you are on. What's more, much of the country's resources (including most of the electricity generation) comes from the south. Every few years there's a call to "cut the cable" and go it alone as a separate country, but it's never been taken too seriously. James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:45:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: [none] John Barrington Jones wrote: > Has anyone ever written a song about Ian Curtis?? "Elegia" and "The Him" by New Order. Not "The Perfect Kiss." ===== "Rex.Broome" wrote: > >>The opening and closing tracks on Lush's _Split_ were > >>written by Miki Berenyi ("Light From a Dead Star") and > Emma > >>Anderson ("When I Die") about their respective fathers. > > Oddly there's a song by Marc Eitzel, "Lower Eastside > Tourist", which is probably about a member of Lush-- > drummer Chris Acland, who committed suicide. And there are also a few Lush songs Miki wrote about Chris ("Ex" amongst others). She also wrote part of "Ladykillers" about Matt Sharp ("Blondie was with me for a summer..."), then of Weezer. Then Weezer I suspect wrote "El Scorcho" back about Miki; well, at least the start since I could never let that get past the howling "GOD DAMN YOU HALF JAPANEEEEEEZE GIRLS" without changing the station. And "The Childcatcher" is about Bill Wyman, and his propensity for very young girls. ===== > Wasn't Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel" about Joplin? Yep. I was surprised to find out "So Long Marianne" wasn't about Marianne Faithful, though I don't know why. Of course, "Wild Horses" is about MF. And lest we forget (though Eb wishes we would), The Dandy Warhols have "Lou Weed" and "Cool as Kim Deal" and a few others. ===== > Walk For 2 (10000 Maniacs) alledgedly about Natalie's > & Mike Stipe's Love child.... but that remains for DNA > tests. "Eat for Two"; it's about a pregnant woman, though I don't think it's autobiographical (especially since I don't think she'd had children by 1989). Stipe did then write "Me in Honey" as a response, just because he'd never heard of a song written from the male POV about a pregnancy. ===== "Pentagon officials says Americanizing Iraq is difficult because Iraqis have had little to no reliable information for the past 35 years, and have lived on a diet of innuendo, rumor, conspiracy theories, fear, and propaganda. Sounds like the problem is theyre too Americanized." -- Bill Maher "Being accused of hating America by people like Ann Coulter or Laura Ingraham is like being accused of hating children by Michael Jackson or (Cardinal) Bernard Law." -- anonymous . __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:16:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Jeff Dwarf Subject: reap Herb Brooks, coach of the "Miracle on Ice" 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team. http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/articles/20030811/487457.html ===== "Pentagon officials says Americanizing Iraq is difficult because Iraqis have had little to no reliable information for the past 35 years, and have lived on a diet of innuendo, rumor, conspiracy theories, fear, and propaganda. Sounds like the problem is theyre too Americanized." -- Bill Maher "Being accused of hating America by people like Ann Coulter or Laura Ingraham is like being accused of hating children by Michael Jackson or (Cardinal) Bernard Law." -- anonymous . __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 11:16:28 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: more musing (long, but still nowhere near complete) >Lots of actress/actor songs. like "Lee Remick", by the Go-Betweens >Andy Warhol has a Bowie tune named after him (as does Dylan), >not to mention a whole Warhol album by Lou Reed & John Cale. Whereas the Muttonbirds/Front Lawn song "Andy" is about Don McGlashan's dead brother. Mind you, Lloyd Cole's "Andy's babies" is indirectly about Warhol, but directly about the Velvets wannabes that were cluttering up British music during the late 80s. Andy is also, along with Brian Eno, the muse of XTC's "Battery Brides (Andy paints Brian)" >Political figures? Yes indeed, although they're usually being burned in >effigy. "Stand Down Margaret", "Old Mother Reagan"... Ronnie and Maggie are >probably in a dead heat for most pilloried figures in rock music. "Elizabeth my dear" by the Stone Roses is about HMQEII, whereas Marty Willson-Piper makes it clear that "Evil Queen of England" is not (it's about Thatcher). Even Neil Kinnock is name-checked in Aztec Camera's marvellous "Good Morning Britain" - although that's hardly makes him the muse for it. Even Jethro Tull chimed in with "Boris Dancing", about Yeltsin. >> And "Brenda's Iron Sledge" is about Thatcher, no? > >No, we've been round this one before. "Brenda" is standard Private Eye >lingo for Queen Elizabeth II. ...and thus "Brenda's sledge" is "Her Majesty's Government". Ergo the song is about the Thatcher-led conservative government of Britain during the 80s. >There are >even the occasional positive tunes, like the Byrds' "He Was a Friend of >Mine" about Kennedy. and "Abraham Martin and John", for that matter. I've heard suggestions that "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" is about Martin Luther King, and U2's songs "Pride" and "MLK" definitely are. >Fine arts people, too. We were just talking about Billy Bragg's "Cindy of >1000 Lives" for photographer Cindy Sherman. Robyn's got "DeChirico Street". >Richman had "Pablo Picasso". Don MacLean had that Van Gogh thing. >Gabriel's "Mercy Street" is for Anne Sexton. Peter Laughner did "Sylvia >Plath". Jack Frost "Angela Carter". Fassbinder inspired "White Lilies" by Laurie Anderson. The King Crimson album "Beat" is dedicated to the Beat Poets, with tracks like "Neal and Jack and me" being about Casady and Kerouac. Several of Eno's instrumentals are named for artists (from Tal Coat to Matta). And aHouse's "Endless art" is about everyone. >What I'd like to see is how many songs can be played in a sequence whereby >each song refers to the artist who wrote the previous one. Best I can do is >start off with a Big Star tune, move on to "Alex Chilton" by the >Replacements, and follow that with "We're the Replacements" by They Might Be >Giants. OR: we could start with either Aerosmith or Zepplin, then "Aero >Zepplin" by Nirvana; next up "About a Boy" by Patti Smith, then "When She >Sang About Angels" by the Go-Betweens. Can't think of a song about the >Go-Betweens but maybe I'll write one. Or you could go from Nirvana to >"Nirvana" by Julianna Hatfield, who must certainly have a few Evan Dando >songs written about her. Hm... how about: Jonathan Richman "Pablo Picasso" Eno "The true wheel" XTC "Battery Brides" They Might Be Giants "XTC vs Adam Ant"... one of my favourite 'tributes' is that, shortly after David Bowie released the album "Low", Nick Lowe released the EP "Bowi" (complete with the song "I love the sound of breaking glass"). Weren'ty "God only knows" and "Long may you run" both written about a car that one of the Wilson Brothers bought off Neil Young? Oh, and talking of the Wilsons, I'd be remiss not to mention the Chills "Song for Randy Newman, etc", which namechecks Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, Scott Walker, and Nick Drake (whom I believe, along with Julian Cope, Robyn Hitchcock is in the habit of seeing, then writing about the experience). On the subject of Robyn, we have the man who invented himself (rumoured to be Jim Morrison, no?). A quote from Warren Zevon "Sweet home Alabama - play that dead band's song" Various songs are written about mass murderers: The Chills "Strange Case" and Muttonbirds "A thing well made" were both inspired by David Grey (no, not that one), and there's always "Gary Gilmore's Eyes". Causes celebre get equal billing, with Reuben "Hurricane" Carter being one (a NZ equivalent would be "Gotta be guilty" by Blam Blam Blam, about Arthur Allen Thomas). >"Hey Jude" of course is about Julian, "Beautiful Boy" is about Sean and the >new one by Paul Simon is about his daughter. "St Judy's comet" was also written by PS for one of his kids. Joni Mitchell wrote "Strange boy" about.... hmmm... Jackson Browne, was it? Oh I give up. James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 11:17:10 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: gettin' warmer >It hit 100 F in London today. I'm impressed. Keep up the good work Britain, >and you'll be coming to Arizona to cool down ;^) This is by no means >official, but I just checked the digital thermometer on my front porch, and >it just switched from 121.9 F to 122 F (50 C !) [...] >Make that Europe ... we also have the hottest summer since temperatures are >recorded on our hands [...] >We've been clocking in at around 36 [...] y'all are just saying this to annoy me, right? At least we've got the first signs of spring - cherry blossom everywhere. James (shivering in 8C/45F) James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- =-.-=-.-=-.- You talk to me as if from a distance .-=-.-=-.-=-. -=-. And I reply with impressions chosen from another time .-=- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- (Brian Eno - "By this River") -.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V12 #302 ********************************