Y'know, I dream of the things I'll do, with a subway token and a dollar tucked inside my shoe...
More thoughts on the musical year that's ending, interspersed with lyrics from popular song to make them more palatable.
Wasn't it great to see perpetually despondent clown Bob Smith get out of bed for the first time in 16 years and think about making a new record? Of course, Songs Of A Lost World is wonderful, and given more time to wallow in it, I've no doubt it would have edged its way into my Top 24. Because of his "advanced" years - come on, he's 65, a spring bloody chicken! - Sideshow Bob does find it harder to get going, which is why many of the songs start with a 3 minute intro before he mumbles some lyrics about the end of the world and the price of make-up in Superdrug these days. If there's a smile on his face, it's only there trying to fool the public. But it's all good. Just don't wait so long before the next one, eh?
Someone else doing the resurrection shuffle this year is one J.R. Cash. Often erroneously referred to as John R. Cash, though his actual name is just J.R. Apparently his mum wanted to call him John and his dad wanted to call him Ray... so they settled on the initials. Johnny is just a stage name.
But anyway, he's back, making light of this dull, dull day. And fortunately it's not some nightmarish AI version (although, give it a couple of years... I bet Colonel Tom Parker's Estate is seriously investigating the Elvis-shaped possibilities), just some songs J.R. left lying around in the early 90s when Rick Rubin came along and gave him a better offer. They've been dusted off and given a respectful reworking by his son, and it makes for a nice enough collection. Though clearly not in the same ballpark as the American Recordings stuff, it's good to hear his voice again... for a few moments, I'm able to kid myself that not everyone I know goes away in the end...
Now's as good a time as any to mention the new Nick Cave album, Wild God, which I fully expected to be part of my year end countdown... but it isn't. Yet. I guess it's a life of surprises - it's no help growing older or wiser. After my initial excitement died down, I couldn't get into it... so I put it back on the shelf to revisit later. I feel this is my failure, and I can only apologise for that. After all that we've been through, Nick, I will make it up to you - I promise to!
We close today with the Avett Brothers, another band I can't keep up with, since the last time I paid them any attention was back in 2009, and they've released another four albums since then... five if you count this year's eponymous offering, which I do, because it's very good indeed. Too good to be forgotten! Now what more can I say...?
Damn it - I missed that conference. If I'd known about it before, I'd have been there like a shot.
Cryptozoology is the study of animals that are legendary, extinct, or unknown, and whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated. Not that anyone in their right mind would dispute Bigfoot or Nessie... but there are some crazy folk out there.
That's Huey Morgan's favourite Queen song. He used to do a Radio 2 show in the middle of the night between Friday and Saturday that I always used to listen to (one of the last Radio 2 shows I bothered with) and he'd play that every other week.
And next, we have a best straight out of the old testament, And next, we have a best straight out of the Old Testament, whose "bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron”...
Nick Cave has a new album out, which I finally bought thanks to Swiss Adam's reminders. And it's pretty good, and a bit more upbeat than his last few (understandly) harrowing offerings.
However, it's one of those earlier songs which keeps popping into my mind lately, specifically whenever I'm doing the hoovering.
I've noticed that the sound of our hoover (which is one of those fancy Dyson ones with a laser on the front, since Louise thought it was amazing to light up every particle of dust on the floor) always makes me feel slightly uneasy. It's like it triggers something in my subconscious, reminding me of a bad dream of some disturbing, repressed memory.
Then the other day, I worked out why that was...
The drone of the hoover alternates between two high-pitched whines that sound (in my brain, at least) exactly like the ambient whirl of Jesus Alone, the opening track of Skeleton Tree, the album Nick released immediately after the death of his son, Arthur. It's a powerful record, and one which mesmerized me at the time, but it's anything but a comfortable listen, and not an album I ever find myself revisiting for the purposes of relaxation or feel-good nostalgia. Now though, every time I vacuum, the feelings it engendered return, and maybe that's a good thing. Maybe music should make us confront all our emotions, not just the ones we find uplifting.
Or maybe I just need to get Sam to take over the hoovering...
Last week, we talked about hating people, and I came to the conclusion that I didn't really hate people, but actually it's "all just an act to paper over insecurity, a tragic lack of self-confidence and a Grand Canyon of loneliness in perpetual conflict with an innate desire to be on my own".
Just as I thought I'd talked myself out of misanthropy, C replied...
You're in good company Rol, I think nearly all the best people I know are people-haters, which doesn't really make a lot of sense and yet somehow it does!
And then I remembered the postcard at the top of this page, which Louise bought me some time ago; it's pinned on the wall next to my desk. You may find it interesting to note that Louise ordered two copies. There's also one pinned up on the wall next to her desk. Make of that what you will...
I can't understand What makes a man Hate another man Help me understand
Not that MC. Here's MC Flux, psychologist, neuroscientist and science communicator from the University of Colorado, as quoted in the Grauniad. He says annoyance is “moderately negative, and moderate arousal... it’s basically a flag, saying: ‘Something is wrong, and I should probably do something about it.’”
Now, I'm tiptoeing around this subject because I don't want to get onto anger until I've read sweary Dr. Faith's next book on my reading list, Unfuck Your Anger. And clearly anger is the next step on from annoyance. However, it should come as no surprise that our old friend the amygdala is the main culprit responsible for such emotions. Healthline says,
Anger starts with the amygdala stimulating the hypothalamus, much like in the fear response. In addition, parts of the prefrontal cortex may also play a role in anger.
Frustration, such as facing roadblocks while trying to achieve a goal, can also trigger the anger response.
Now we know what's going on in our brain... but we've still not answered the big question: why are people so annoying? Or should that be: why do I find people so annoying? Are they the same question... or two very different questions?
That Guardian article I mentioned earlier highlights four key answers to the first question: "uncouth habits, inconsiderate acts, intrusive behaviors and norm violations". I think a lot of these come down to what I'd label a lack of empathy, emotional awareness... or just plain arrogance. And once we get onto the subject of arrogance, I need another post. Or ten.
Meanwhile, therapist Julia Kristina has an uncomfortable answer to the second question...
Those unfavourable qualities, habits, or tendencies of someone else we react negatively to are really just our own shortcomings that we have turned our back on and refuse to own up to.
They always clap on the wrong beat They're wearin' loafers on their feet Greedy awful people!
Ouch. I think I'm going to have to come back to that one as well. But just in case anyone here thinks of me as an annoying person, I consulted Indeed for some tips on how to eliminate my own annoying behaviour...
Be an active listener
This is actually really easy if you don't have much to say for yourself.
Louise does sometimes get embarrassed when we're out in public (not often, to be honest) as she claims I speak louder than I need to. I don't think I do, but then I am partially deaf...
Many annoying people don’t even realize they’re being annoying in the first place. Annoying people might violate various social norms, be incompatible with others, try too hard to make others laugh, or even take a phone call while in a quiet library.
Did you know that you could even be the “irritating person” because you’re too positive?
Oh, yes. I knew this.
This type of positivity is known as toxic positivity—and it’s a real thing.
You don't need to tell me twice. There's a post in that as well.
This is the kind of question that fills me with joy, because if Sam cares what a song is about, he's clearly engaging with it. In the case of Moon Shadow though... I really don't have an answer. I have an idea... but it's not one that Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam or Steven Demetre Georgiou appears to agree with. Neither is it an interpretation I see echoed by online "experts". Does this mean I'm wrong?
Any number of poets, writers and lyricists will tell you that when they let their words out into the wild, it's not up to them to enforce an interpretation on the audience. Some writers actively refuse to discuss the "message" behind their stories, preferring to allow the individual reader or listener to infer their own meanings. Sylvia Plath wrote...
"Once a poem is made available to the public, the right of interpretation belongs to the reader..."
Nick Cave agrees, saying that when he writes songs, he wants his listeners to come to their own conclusions. He refuses to "take away their power by attaching my own meaning to them".
This is the power of art - we add our own connotations, beliefs, prejudices, life experiences and emotions when we consume it. As I often tell my students: in English, there are no right answers. You just need to be able to explain your own interpretation so that it makes sense to someone else. They might not agree with you, they just need to be able to see how you've arrived at your conclusions.
Moon Shadow, then, is not - for me, at least - "softly tailored folderol from Cat Stevens [which] shows his whimsical side". Nor does it persuade me to "See life as it is, right now, and [not] compare it to others' lives, or other times in your life." Neither am I convinced of any religious message behind the lyrics, despite Stevens' later conversion from Christianity to Islam. Although interestingly, when that conversion took place, Yusuf Islam stopped singing any of his old Cat Stevens songs... except this one, which he later claimed was his favourite.
In 2009, Cat Stevens tried to explain Moon Shadow to Chris Isaak...
"I was on a holiday in Spain. I was a kid from the West End – bright lights, et cetera. I never got to see the moon on its own in the dark, there were always streetlamps. So there I was on the edge of the water on a beautiful night with the moon glowing, and suddenly I looked down and saw my shadow. I thought that was so cool, I'd never seen it before."
Which all sounds very positive, doesn't it? Over on the tube of you, people agree. Some call it "the ultimate optimist song". "There's something about the imagery of total freedom and dancing under the moon," says an old 'hippie kid', "which appeals to my wild self." Another youtuber, who says the song got them through a very dark period, explains, "this song is like, 'No matter how dark it gets, it can always be worse... but there's always light".
If you want to consider alternative interpretations to songs, youtube is definitely the place to look. In the past week, quite a few American commenters have suggested Moon Shadow as "the official song of the 2024 solar eclipse". While someone else can be found reminiscing over the time it was used in an episode of Airwolf with Jan Michael Vincent. This was my favourite though...
"Now I know why Moonlight Shadow sounded better in my childhood. It was actually Moon Shadow!"
And let's not forget this quirky little reimagining: an animated fairy tale devised by Cat Stevens and narrated by Spike Milligan in which a boy and his cat attempt to rescue the moon when it falls out of the sky...
Faced with this overwhelming barrage of evidence that Moon Shadow is a sweet, life-affirming tune... am I the only one who finds it creepy? And by that, I mean creepy in a good way. Creepy in an excellent way!
Yes, I'm bein' followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Leapin' and hoppin' on a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Have you ever seen the movie It Follows? To me, the Moon Shadow is like the monster from that film. Some kind of weird supernatural entity that's following Cat around, menacing him, threatening to rob him of his hands, his eyes, his legs and his mouth...
And if I ever lose my hands
Lose my plow, lose my land
Oh, if I ever lose my hands
Oh if, I won't have to work no more
And if I ever lose my eyes
If my colors all run dry
Yes, if I ever lose my eyes
Oh if, I won't have to cry no more
The interweb suggests all this graphic body horror is linked to the time Cat Stevens almost died from tuberculosis back in 1969. His recuperation led him to reconsider his spiritual side, and may well have spurred the fears voiced in this song.
And if I ever lose my legs
I won't moan, and I won't beg
Oh, if I ever lose my legs
Oh if, I won't have to walk no more
(Meanwhile, back on youtube, there's always some Debbie Downer ready to spoil the party...
"All I can think of is the videos I have watched from Palestinians. The boy with no arms, a missing leg (and a missing foot and ankle on the other side). Listening to this, the day after the opening of the trial in The Hague. That tragic genocide has ruined this song for me.")
And if I ever lose my mouth
All my teeth, north and south
Yes, if I ever lose my mouth
Oh if, I won't have to talk
It's great that Cat can remain so upbeat - defiant, even - while being pursued by this vicious phantom... but maybe that's because his motive isn't escape. Let's not forget, this Cat is armed and dangerous...
Oh yes. And here comes the Edgar Allen Poe twist... the Cat wants to get caught!
Did it take long to find me?
I asked the faithful light
Oh, did it take long to find me?
And are you gonna stay the night?
Hooohahahahahahahaaa. Imagine those lines delivered in Vincent Price tones and maybe you'll get where I'm coming from. It's worth noting that Cat amps up his own delivery here, adopting a much more in-your-face singing style than the alluringly amiable tone he uses for the rest of the song. For me, that's the bit that confirms all my theories. Suddenly the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the prey.
"This song is really weird, dad? What's it about?"
It's about monsters, son. Monsters that want to eat - your hands, your eyes, your legs, your mouth. And it's about how to catch them... and make them pay.
When Shane MacGowan stayed at Bono's house, he did what only Shane MacGowan could do...
“Bono put in a glass roof and wall,” MacGowan explained in an interview with The Times. “I used to wave my willy at the train as it passed and hope that they thought it was Bono’s.”
Sad to say I must be on my way So buy me beer and whiskey 'cause I'm going far away I'd like to think of me returning when I can To the greatest little boozer and to Sally MacLennane
It was Ben who alerted me to the new of Shane's death, and he was pretty certain the mainstream media coverage would hinge around that Christmas song he did with Kirsty. A fine tune (if over-played), but there's so much more to Shane's legacy. There were more great duets to start with. Such as this...
To celebrate Saturday Snapshots turning 300, we had a big party at Top Ten Towers last night. I cracked open the Ocean Spray, necked a couple of Paracetamol, and stayed up till at least 10.31. Feeling a bit worse for wear today, but it was worth it.
Find me another blog that has the Manic Street Preachers followed by Wayne Newton.
What do you mean you don't want to?
A song based on a note Elvis wrote then threw away in 1976, during his last stay at the Las Vegas Hilton. Newton, who was friends with Elvis in his later years, bought the note in 1991 for $13,200 at a Sotheby's auction.
