Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Listening...(March 4 Edition)

Company of Fools...Great Big Sea
Lost Myself...Jason Falkner
She Don't Use Jelly...Flaming Lips
Ladies of the Canyon...Annie Lennox
A Living Prayer...Alison Krauss + Union Station
Funplex...B-52's
I'm On A Boat (Featuring T-Pain)...The Lonely Island
Half A World Away...R.E.M.
Bad Day...Barenaked Ladies
Casino Queen...Wilco
Dani California...Red Hot Chili Peppers

I used to hate the Flaming Lips song, "She Don't Use Jelly." I thought it was one of those songs that Bob Mould critiques in "Megamanic:" 'It's the shit because they told me so." The song made an appearance on one of my favorite shows, "Friday Night Lights" last week, where the misfit Landry tries to keep his band going, and finds some misinterpreted chemistry in a Jill Sobule/Jane Wiedlin combo, questioning young girl. She turns Landry away from lovers angst over a girl named Tyra, toward some fun rock and roll. It was a good storyline, a truthful tale about an awkward teenage boy with some confidence in his abilities, yet struggling with finding his place and making sense of relationships. The story line lent a little charm to that Flaming Lips song, enough to get it in my head and not be annoyed to screaming.

I'm almost ashamed to say I like the "I'm On A Boat" hip-hop semi-parody (call it Lutheran guilt for finding art in gratuitous vulgarity). I laugh every time, and it's got an infectious beat. T-Pain has made some great cameos on SNL recently, including the video for this song. I like how he doesn't take himself too seriously. The beat keeps me awake and moving with its energy and humor. Great for my 400-mile commute and my running.

Good Great Big Sea songs continue to reveal themselves to me. "Company of Fools" has a jig-party kind of rhythm and the poetic sensibilty of Garth Brooks' "Friends In Low Places," but, believe me, this is a far superior song with a dash of theological reflection and class awareness:

I'm wading through the quicksand
In the gardens of the gentry
Blooming vacuity
Leaves mind and pockets empty
In the Social Order
I accept the bottom rung
Until the wine is pouring
And the Lord commands a song
Meet me at the staff door
When the posers all go home
We'll gather with the other Fools
And put on a proper show

If you have any music suggestions, I'm open to your ideas.

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