Don't be so hard on yourself - should be A-Songs!

C-songs

Well actually you hear them…

Cory. Clog. C. The sound of the ‘Sea’. Coalescent Music Club. ‘Cause Cheap’. Cowboy. Double Cherry. Creamy! Compiled. CD. Cool. Cod. Courageous.

Congratulations

On your first Contribution to da Club.

The cover seems like a nice place to be. As the gentleman on the cover is hopeful to pick up one or both of the women approaching, so too, is Cory hopeful for a warm reception to C-songs.

The theme is ‘C’. See – these are songs that Cory loves, an excellent introduction to Cory’s world of music.

We are treated to a hike up Cory’s musical mountain and a final leap into his great love. Thank you.


1. ‘Cause Cheap is How I Feel

I really like the gentle pace of the Cowboy Junkies and love her singing voice. I really like the ‘truly down’ state of the bum. As if being a bum wasn’t reason enough to be down – no, if it’s this cold – truly down. I like her phrasing here.

Hey, it’s not bad being a bum in warm or tropical climates. Why bum it in Minneapolis – head to Mexico. Reverse immigration. We get hard workers and they get bums. What a way to take over a country, eh? Flood the Middle East with our bums and slackers. Jihad would change to Jee Wiz as we simply confound them into a new world order. I would likely be drafted into the slacker division, though. Now I do make a distinction between a bum and a mentally ill homeless person. We are too kind to the elderly, the poor, and the mentally ill. Stop it already. Stop being so kind. But enough of this Mighty Tom Polly Ticking.

Searching all Wendys for a last minute gift – small and plastic – ‘cause cheap is how I feel is a wonderful premise for a song, and so was I the recipient of such a gift – thank you Cory.

She, the name of the singer escapes me, has such a relaxing, heavy quality to her voice and it works so well with the rest of the Junkies. Thanks to the likes of Mixdorf and Iowa Mark Anderson I have been exposed to a sprinkling of Cowboy Junkie songs. I especially enjoy their cover of VU’s ‘Sweet Jane’.

I like ‘Cause Cheap is How I Feel’ for the most part – though it has a depressing quality to it that I cannot overcome.

Interesting Note: the harmonica of which Cory speaks only appears in the beginning of the song, it then switches to an accordion at 56 seconds. The harmonica is then heard, I think, very sparingly – just a note here and there along with the accordion (or some kind of pump action organ – and no, not the sort of pump action you are thinking).

Question: Are the Cowboy junkies from Canada?









2. Carnival

There was a time, ‘These Are Days,’ when I was in love with Natalie Merchant – a namesake of one of my nipples – left I think. As I swept the floors of the Oak/Elm dining center, her voice captivated me as well as the memory of her in a white dress, from the video. Kept me sweeping strong. She will save me from this one day. I know she will.

Is she attractive? Interesting question. It seems there have been times when she struck me as quite attractive, but there have been other times when she has struck me as quite Unattractive – so it’s a wash. But she is cute.

No matter, this Lady of the Maniacs entered her solo career with some interest. Why did the 10,000 maniacs appeal to the R.E.M. and U2 crowds of our college days? Amazing really. They haven’t endured as well. But I do like the Maniacs and her – if to a point. I like them a whole lot less now than I once did. We have ‘Our Time in Eden’, ‘Tigerlily’, and ‘Ophelia’ – of which ‘Our Time in Eden’ is my favorite of the bunch and I know hardly anything from ‘Ophelia’. I also have ‘In My Tribe’ on tape, as a copy. ‘In my Tribe’ was likely the one that got them into the college crowds. ‘Our Time in Eden’ made it quickly onto the iPod – due mostly to its position in the alphabet. With C-songs, I felt obliged to not only place ‘Tigerlily’ on the ole iPod, but also go on with other N-ladies- ‘Ophelia’, two albums by Norah Jones, and Natasha Bedingfield.

Trista played Tigerlily a Great Deal when we were living in Little Canada. So much as to cause me to convulse slightly whenever the distinct beginning of ‘San Andreas Fault’ launched the album.

I remember liking ‘Carnival’ much more years ago. I’d love to see Cory dance to this song as he suggests in his notes.
I have, I am afraid, what is called ‘Merchant Fatigue.’ I did take a listen through the album – it doesn’t cause me to convulse and I can appreciate some of the song writing and some of the lyrics and the songs are OK. I haven’t heard Ophelia in years and have no idea what I’ll think of that one when I revisit it.

Carnival is OK – I like it about the same as I like ‘Cause Cheap is How I feel’ and maybe a little less because for now ‘Cheap’ is newer to me. ‘Carnival’ is the one song – maybe ‘Wonder’ that you will hear on the radio – so as a solo artist she cannot be fully blamed for the tired feel of Carnival. The female harmony and ‘adventurous’ guitar – once so loved and intriguing makes me roll my eyes. The beat, the bass, and her singing are generally pretty good. I do like her voice – similar to the Junkie girl.

So far, Cory has developed a unique album feel in his first two songs, but that will be blown apart, but with amazing results.

Question: Is Natalie American Indian or part American Indian? I know Tigerlily could go along with Ophelia as historic, powerful female figures, but Tigerlily was her first and the music is published by ‘Indian Love Bride.’









3. Cherry Cherry

Whoa! And then God created Neil Diamond! And a special treat too – this song does not appear on the two Diamond CDs that I have (His 12 Greatest and The Tap Root Manuscript) and was warmly welcomed on the ole iPod. This guy came out of nowhere and landed everywhere! From New York to Hollywood to Kentucky. A truly classic songwriter. Vying with Billy Joel as to who is the American McCartney with regards to catchy melody making. I do not have an answer for that, but Diamond was right there in the sixties composing and recording classic hits for himself and others, most notably the excellent ‘Look Out,’ ‘I’m A Believer,’ and ‘A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You,’ made popular by sixties pop sensation, The Monkees.

His voice, his songwriting, his recordings, and his talent for song arrangement have cemented him as one of the greatest singer songwriters in Rock’n’Roll history.

Cory and I have many Diamond memories. Yes, the multiple orgasms with Holly Holy whilst traveling against a backdrop of North woods scenery. The concert we attended with Trista and our boyish anticipation of each upcoming number.

Such feel good music. Rousing. A church I could fully conceive in would be pastored by Mr. Neil Diamond.

Cherry Cherry has a classic arrangement. The big musical bump bumps. Diamond acoustic guitar chords flying past your ears. The background singing arrangements. Man – a really great song!

‘America’ was my first official favorite song as a pre-Beatles youngster hanging around with Andy and the baby-sat Benji and Zach. Diamond moments have spanned across time. From ‘America’ to being intoxicated by ‘Song Sung Blue’ from a record on Easton, to the realization with Iowa Mark Anderson that Neil wrote songs for the Monkees, to my Father-in-law who is a huge Diamond fan. From him I met the family dog ‘Shilo’ – a great name for a dog if you listen to the words, and was exposed to the intensity of Diamond’s Hot August Night Tour, and of sweet moments between he and Trista with ‘I am the Lion.’ Of Course ‘Holly Holy’ with Cory and ‘Soolaimon’ moments alone – even comic mocking moments at Augsburg Fortress with ‘You Don’t Send Me Flowers’ and ‘Send in the Clowns.’ Who could forget the use of ‘He aint heavy, he’s my Brother’ as used in Zoolander?

It is sufficed to say I LOVE this song and it is the ‘Treat of the Album.’












4. Cover Me

Thriller, Pipes of Peace, and Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D were the first three cassette tapes that I owned. Born in the USA was very, very early as well. ‘Glory Days,’ you know.

I like Born in the USA – it was a much heavier album of the tapes in my early collection. I like Bruce more and more the more I hear him. He has written many excellent, powerful songs – I even like ‘Human Touch,’ a song I initially disliked.

At first, hearing ‘Cover Me’ on this collection was a pretty wild experience. Previously I had only known the song from lonely listens to a Born in the USA cassette tape in my basement room on Easton. It was never released and was locked away in a rotting tape. Looking at the song list I wasn’t surprised to see Bruce listed as one of the artists, but only through this club could a theme of ‘C’ pull ‘Cover Me’ out of the rotting tape and into a brand new context. Part of the pleasure of this club. New Contexts. My first listens were of interest and surprise. Subsequent listens calmed ‘Cover Me’ down to an OK, lighter-toned, somewhat fluffy 80s Bruce Springsteen song.

So many great artists have at least one song dealing with a tangible action that a manifestation of love can perform – in this case the action is to ‘Cover Me.’ Another example might be ‘Wake Up My Love’ by George Harrison.








5. Crash Into Me

Moment 1:

A flat-face fellow at a Christmas gathering when referring to this song: “Oh, Dave Matthews sings that hot song about that woman.”

Moment 2:

Back when Cory and I were sleeping together my cock radio went off one morning. ‘Crash into Me’ was playing. As I stirred to get up Cory grabbed tighter.

“You don’t need to leave,” he whispered gently.

“Yes I do,” I muttered. “I have to get ready for work.”

Cory just placed a finger over my lips and said, “Sshh – just listen to the music.” He then went down and orally pleased me.

I went to work beaming that morning.

The guys all asked, “Why are you so fucking happy this morning, Cory give you a hummer or something?”

“In fact he did,” I said with a grin.

“We gotta meet this Cory feller,” insisted the lead trimmer.

“You will and soon,” I prophesied as we climbed into trucks to start the day.


Note: Cory did in fact work for that company shortly after I quit, thus, the prophecy.

‘Crash Into Me’ is a really good song, and somehow it is well loved even though it is a dirty, dirty song. The Spin Doctors would have been scorned by parents and governments, but Dave was embraced as a favorite uncle. I’ve always wondered this. Truly amazing considering how filthy, filthy this song is. People do not want to admit or talk about this aspect of the song. Am I the first?


Note: The second consecutive appearance of a Dave Matthews Band song in the CMC club.









6. Come Together

Hey I just noticed something. All the songs so far have begun with the letter ‘C.’!

A Beatles song finally makes its first appearance in the club. A great, great song. The big mesmerizing bass, classic drumming, and tough vocal. I love how the song nearly falls apart and then crashes back into the singing at around 2:30. I love the guitars and subtle harmony around that time. The excellent guitar swells at 3:00 lead up to the guitar solo, which like the rest of the song, as a part, is quite sparse, but works so well with all the other parts as to make this a perfect Rock’n’Roll song. The yeahs! are great at the end of the song as well.

‘Come Together’ is awarded the B.S. of this collection.

As a perfect kick-off to Abbey Road this song, too, could have easily fit into Volume One by Mixdorf.

I love the words and I like Cory’s assessment that this might be the theme song to the club.

It’s 1969. Its presentation of ideals is very Lennon-like. Nonsensical, but painfully simple and even obvious. I think Michael Stipe dug this song and was largely influenced by the lyric. See ‘Stand’ among others.

‘Come Together’ borrowed from Chuck Berry’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’ (Here comes old flat-top) which Lennon recorded as part of a court settlement. Lennon’s version appeared on 1975’s Rock and Roll.

The genesis of the song included a request by Tim Leary for a campaign song and a writing session by John shortly after he was involved in an accident.

He says “Shoot Me” - “me” being on the bass note, but listen – it seems to be quite clear. That or the bass, hand clap, and drum all sort of sound like the word “me.” Shoot as in drugs, death, or just take my picture? A possible rallying song or just back to it being a perfect Rock’n’Roll song.

Infer away – I think it is a song about peace and love in Lennon’s Wonderland.

A great song with the four or five elements of the Beatles Clicking on all Cylinders. (a couple of Cs for you there Cory)

Happy to see the Beatles crashing our club party!








7. City

Our second Natalie on this collection should get back to what she does best… “laying naked on the floor.” Ha! I couldn’t resist.

I think that line may have been the basis of her career. A hottie to be sure, a catchy song, that line – boom you suddenly have an album, but you need more than just one song for an album. This is a problem posed by our Natalie and thousands of other artists.

I am not crazy about this song. I wasn’t crazy about ‘Torn,’ despite the line.

The musical representation of stepping out of chaotic city life into either a jazzy nightclub or the country at the end of the song is kind of neat. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to illustrate the different sides of the City or not.

Note: Our own Dan wrote a song called ‘The City.’

An OK song. If she were to listen to me, and she probably wouldn’t, I’d suggest she dig deeper into what she was trying to say in the song and ask me to produce it for her. I think the basic idea could be developed into a much more engaging song.




8. Cecilia

Wow! The third Simon & Garfunkel song to appear; and the first that is not from The Sounds of Silence. And why not. Simon and Garfunkel are simply AMAZING!

Before I was fully able to appreciate the likes of ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’ and ‘So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright’ I prayed privately to my God for having included ‘Cecilia’ on the album Bridge Over Troubled Water. It is such fun.

“She may be classified as a whore” or, just an extreme hottie that dogs simply cannot resist. I’d probably just walk in, cross my arms, lean against the doorframe, and smile with understanding, “Well look at that, god I love afternoons!” And if the anus looks clean – just slide on in and join the fun.

This was S&G in supremely confident song-writing mode that had a huge and growing audience who absolutely adored them. This would also be the last S&G album and as such, you will find some deeply moving songs, but also some fun-loving moments. Along with “Cecilia:’ ‘Keep the Customer Satisfied,’ Baby Driver,’ and ‘Why Don’t you Write Me.’

I love the music. The percussion, the sing alonginess, and of course, the magical harmonies of Paul and Art. How poignant – just a good ole face washing – and bam! Reminds us of a friend who was a frequent face-washer. I love the instrumentation and how absurdly joyous the song becomes at the end. “I fall on the floor and I laughing” – perhaps with Natalie Imbruglia…

















9. Call Me

My Dad asked me to put together a CD of 10 of his favorite songs that he could listen to as he traveled. On his list was ‘Call Me,’ by Blondie. Kind of wild. I really like ‘Call Me’ – maybe not as much as Cory or my Dad, but I do really like it. In fact, along with ‘Cherry Cherry,’ these are the two songs that have caused sprinkles while listening to C-songs.

‘Call Me’ is the theme from American Gigolo. Has anybody seen this movie? I have not.

Debbie Harry has a wonderful voice. I love the sound of it and along with a bag of excellent songs – Blondie is quite possibly the greatest 70s punky 80s music crossover band of all time. They started when they needed to and they stopped when they needed to – not counting the recent, so called, come back. They weren’t pure punk, but they weren’t what became typical 80s music, they were not all about that – at least as I would argue. The melodies and her amazing voice make up one of my favorite ‘Best of’ collections of all time. I am quite satisfied with not having listened to the actual Blondie albums from which those songs have been derived. Blondie holds a special place for Trista and I and was the one duplicate CD that we had amongst us after being married. The other was given away.

I love her voice on ‘Call Me’ (as I love her voice on all the Blondie songs – otherwise I wouldn’t like Blondie nearly as much) and the break at 1:38. In many Blondie songs there are vocal moments that drive me crazy. A small example of this can be found at around 3:23.

I LOVE the way this song puts Cory in the mood to watch Dr. Who. Good boy!









10. City of Blinding Lights

First, I’d like to discuss the album just a bit and U2 in general. I have not fully digested How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. I think I may like All That You Can’t Leave Behind better, as an album. I really like many of the songs on HTDAAB. The album, and this is an early statement, strikes me as a sister album to ATYCLB. Interesting to note that each album has six words in their title – the longest titles for U2 albums ever. For the first time in their career they have a ‘sister’ album. This is not a bad thing – just interesting. Even though their albums could almost be divided into groups of threes, (a Mixdorf theory) and it is possible that this is the second of another trio – only time will tell, I wonder if this isn’t the end of U2 as a changing, evolving band. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and it’s bound to happen. For the first time – this album struck me as very U2ish – not a bad thing if you love U2 as I do – just an observation. They have gone past the Beatles. The Beatles stopped at a point when they were still evolving – had they gone on I am sure they would have written many fine songs, but they may have been just good Beatleish songs from good Beatleish albums. No more Rubber Soul – Revolver – Sgt. Pepper moments. Could the Unforgettable Fire – Joshua Tree – Achtung Baby Days be over – U2 now doing their U2 thing – fine and even great at times, but no longer growing. Could ATYCLB have capped the growth or changing of U2 as we have known them? It seems that when I listen to HTDAAB I am listening to an extension of ATYCLB. There is Beautiful Day, there is Elevation, there is Stuck In A Moment, and there is When I Look At the World – possibly again. Anyway, this could be part of a larger discussion, in the meantime I would love to hear from the rest of you on your thoughts about this album, especially Mixdorf – our U2 expert. I plan on really giving this album a few good listens to see if there is any holding power to some of the statements made above.

And who knows…their next offering could blow these theories apart and inspire the same sort of excitement that we had in Achtung Baby. We will just have to wait and hear.

But to the City of Blinding Lights we go.

My favorite song on HTDAAB might be ‘One Step Closer,’ but I definitely love ‘City of Blinding Lights’ as well. It stuck out immediately as one of my favorites from this album. An excellent song – it embodies what I mean when I describe it as being U2ish. Great bass. Great singing. Great drums. Great guitars. I like the harmonies as well. Love the intensity in the “Oh you look so beautiful tonight” lines. I love the bridge… “Time…” reminds me so much of Achtung Baby.

My favorite line: “But time won’t take the boy out of the man.”

I also like, “ The more you know the less you feel”
And, “Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel…luckily”

Is Bono talking about taking off in a plane in parts of this song?

Note: The Edge AND Bono both played piano on this song. Kind of like Wendy and Lisa, I bet.

I think it is awesome that this is your favorite song to date and I can appreciate how this sort of tied your whole idea for this collection together. It is a powerful song with great intensity.



SIWHI

‘Come Talk to Me’ from Peter Gabriel’s ‘Us.’