(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding by Elvis Costello

In the middle of a recession, high oil prices an angry voice came from screaming from Britain. Elvis Costello a strange amalgamation of 1950s imagery with Buddy Holly glasses emerged from the New Wave movement but with an aggressive punk sound. However he had decidedly not punk message which is immediately evident in one of his earliest hits “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding.”

The original version of this song was written and recorded by Costello’s friend, Nick Lowe.



Lowe’s version is a country-styled mellow contemplation of the world. This version is a man contemplating why the world isn’t a better place. Nick Lowe invites us to make us take a step back and consider that maybe there’s something that we should reconsider in this world. When Nick Lowe says it almost makes him want to cry it’s from sadness and feeling tired. It’s from simply not understanding the darkness in the world and trying to make sense of it all.

Elvis Costello feels a little bit more like I do right now. He transforms a calm invitation to ponder how we feel about optimism into a frustrated, aggressive, confrontational attack on our cynicism and pessimism.



With the tempo turned up, with darker instruments and raw vocals, Costello tears through this song like a man possessed. No more is this question an invitation but a statement of anger and frustration. Why with all these horrible and frustrating things in the world are peace, love and understanding not taken as serious solutions to the world’s problems?

I guess that I’m just in a strange mood right now. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m dealing with Chicago winter or that I’m simply tired, but this world can be pretty frustrating. I mean really, there is so many people do bad things to people out there. You don’t have to even unfold a newspaper to find evidence of people being jerks in the world.

It frustrating that some people have a knee-jerk reaction against “peace, love and understanding” being able to solve any of the world’s problems. Look I agree, you need a lot more than love to make it through the day and yes, world peace will never happen and understanding is not going to solve the energy crisis.

However peace, love and understanding are real solutions to every day interactions we have with the people in our lives and in helping us with our small problems in our every day life you can change the world and eventually tackle these bigger issues. Now if you think this is some crazy hippy, idealistic, utopia idea, then I pity you.

If you don’t believe that we can make the our lives and the world a better place through peace, love and understanding than I do have not have any idea how you get through the day. A life without believing in the potential for the goodness in others is a life without belief in the goodness within us. And ff we don’t believe in ourselves than there really isn’t much point to living.

Tell me, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding. I don’t see anybody laughing, all I see is the single most powerful force in the universe: hope.

Radio Ga Ga by Queen

In 1985, during the legendary Live Aid fundraiser concert, at Wembley stadium Queen reminded the world why they were one of the greatest bands in rock music. Now if all you know if Queen in “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the hilarious sing along scene from Wayne’s World you are in for a surprise.



Freddy Mercury standing in front of a sea of people all clapping in unison and singing along to the chorus of “Radio Ga Ga” is one of the most amazing moments captured in Live Aid. Then there is the amazing improvised vocalization game at the end of the song that reminds us that unlike many other lead singers of rock band, Mercury can really sing. I get chills seeing it on a youtube.com, I can’t imagine what it must have felt like live.

Roger Taylor, Queen's drummer wrote “Radio Ga Ga” contemplating the transition from radio to music videos and the decline of diversity in radio programming. To a whole generation of musicians, the radio was the only gateway to the musical world and this song is a tribute to the power and memory of that experience.

“Radio Ga Ga” is about being nostalgic but it’s also a commentary on what it means to experience music. How different is music when you do not have visual superimposed on songs? What is it like to sit in front of a radio and just listen? Y'know, I’ve never done that. More often than not I’m listening to music when I’m around the house or in the car. It’s hardly every simply just listening to a song, but when I do it is different.

Is there a time when we will get sick of the constant vision as Queen wonders? Well, we kind of have. Music videos are no longer as central as they used to be. Once upon a time artist premiered music videos during prime time on network television. That’s just not case anymore.

When Freddie Mercury sings at the end of each chorus “someone still love you,” he’s speaking to people who feel left behind, who feel outdated, people who feel like they don’t matter. We all have these moments in life when we feel this way in life and hearing this reassuring voice brings us hope. We don’t need to know in our lives that everyone loves us, just one person and that makes all of the difference.

Just because something is old or outdated doesn’t mean that looses its meaning. Most of the games I play on my Wii areVitual Console titles, which are games from previous systems like Megan Man II. Some people still have traditional tube televisions and VCRs and don’t mind that the picture isn’t as sharp and the sound isn’t as clear. Just because a song is over twenty years old doesn’t mean that it’s not important, that it’s not relevant. People still love that stuff.

Even though you've passed on Freddie and you're music is from a generation ago, someone still loves you. I still love you.

We Are The World

“We Are The World” has always held a special place in my heart. As a young music geek, the original 1985 version of this song was a sampling of who was relevant and important at that time. Some of those artists who participated in the original like Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan continue to produce important music however many participants like James Ingram, LaToya Jackson and Peter Cetera are not known now to most people.



This song written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson and produced by one of the greatest producers of all time Quincy Jones never claimed to feature all of the greatest artists of the time. There are many people that you can point to at the time who were absent like Neil Diamond, Madonna, Johnny Cash, who were relevant back then and whose influence is still felt right now. And of course there were no British guys, I know it was “USA for Africa” but c’mon where was Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney?

“We Are The World” featured incredible “dream team” duets like Billy Joel and Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick and Willie Nelson and Springsteen trading ad libs in the end with Stevie Wonder still gives me chills.

This song was a huge success, was a top selling single and a cultural phenomenon. And now twenty-five years later “We Are The World” is back. Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones had considered remaking “We Are The World many times but the tragedy in Haiti provided the greatest reason to make this remake happen.

Ritchie and Jones decided first off that they would get a whole new crop of artist, people who participated in the original were not going to be in the cover except for Ritchie himself and Michael Jackson. As news of this remake broke there was a lot of skepticism in the news. Arap verse was going to be added, artist which many see as not “legit” like the Jonas Brothers were spotting walking into the recording studio and for some reason Lil-Wayne and T-Pain being asked to sing.

And this is what they came up with:


Love it or hate it, this cover of “We Are The World” is very much a spiritual child from the original. There are some legends like Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand and LL Cool J as well as teen idols lot like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. Before you go crazy about how theses people shouldn’t be there keep in mind in the original recording, Cyndi Lauper, Springsteen and Huey Louis were more teen idols than anything else.

There are some beautiful moments Josh Groban's classical touch. Tony Benntt is a gentle elder statesman and Mary J. Blige proves that she really is one of the greatest soul singers of her time. Michael and Janet. . . there’s really not words. Wyclef singing for his own people is inspired and Usher singing the bridge with Michael his hero is a fitting tribute. Jamie Foxx doing his best Ray Charles was a fun and I’ll even give Celine Dion props, Fergie on the other hand well. . . whatever.

As much as you may not like Lil’ Wayne, T-Pain and this whole auto-tune thing, it is an important and relevant way that people express themselves through music and featuring it in this song is putting this sound in a times capsule so that people understood that it's part of music. “I’m On A Boat” is good stuff people.

The rap section led by living hip-hop legend, LL Cool J with Will.i.am, Snood Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Kanye West and many others. They wisely to chose to make this section most chant like and focused on the clarity of the rhymes and lyrics as opposed to rapid fire delivery. It’s a declaration of values and solidarity that proves that the art of rap isn’t tied down to the themes of drugs and gangster life.

Quincy Jones opened up the song creating a more dynamic background. The ending in brilliant having the instrumentals drop out and letting Wyclef’s voice echo out. This song rejuvenates the original but there is a rejuvenated dynamic which reflects how much pop music has changed in the past twenty-five years. What remains the same is also what continues to make the pop music relevant: great melodies, powerful messages and beautiful voices.

I don’t what it is about Michael Jackson. His death still feels unresolved for me. Seeing him featured prominently in this new version makes me happy but also a little sad. I don’t think he’s a martyr. I’ve acknowledged the darkness in this life but there were great things that he provided this culture and “We Are The World” is one of them.



The demo of “We Are The World” revels the soul of this song which really is Michael’s view of the world. His intentions musically truly were something amazing. It’s an amazing thing how the 1985 version captured this spirit and I’m glad to see it carried on 25 years later.

Space Oddity by David Bowie

“Why I grow up, I want to an astronaut.”

That was my line to the ever present “what do you want to be when you grow up?” questions during the first ten years of my life. I don’t know if it was Star Wars, Star Trek or just something else but space fascinated me when I was a kid. I have clear memories of playing my mom’s car pretending it was a space ship with my brother and loving the fantasy.

There was one problem. I almost always got air sick when I got on planes. I’ve since outgrown this but it was definitely an issue growing up and eventually I realized that this would be a problem as traveling to space is far more stressful on the body then a commercial airplane flight. So the dream diminished.

The in 1995, I saw Apollo 13 and for a moment I was drawn back into the fantasy of space travel, the heroics, the ingenuity and that dangerous frontier that continued the American tradition of exploration.



During the MTV Movie Awards that year, Apollo 13 was nominated for best picture and when they announced the nominees the music they played behind the image of Tom Hanks looking out into space was “Space Oddity.”

“Though I’ve crossed one hundred thousand miles, I’m feeling very scared and I think my spaceship knows which way to go.”

That was all of “Space Oddity” I heard. I searched through the internet and eventually figured out that it was David Bowie, went out and got a greatest hits collection and was simply memorized by what I heard.

Y’know that whole Madonna reinvention thing, yeah David Bowie did it first. Portraying different characters in his albums and shows, Bowie was as much a modern performance artist as a pop musician. Well, maybe pop musician isn’t quite the right fit, because this man experimented with music sounding not all that different then modern music artist of his time but something about “Space Oddity” connects in a meaningful accessible way.

In “Space Oddity,” Bowie tells the story through the exchanges heard on the communications between ground control and major Tom. The song combines the sounds of a acoustic guitar with ghost-like synthesizers that describe the sounds of the space shipping launching as well as the solitude and mystery of space.

The story starts with the lift-off and develops into a tragedy. For some reason Major Tom panics asks ground control to tell his wife that he loves her. Ground control sees that Major Tom’s “circuits are dead” and lose communication with Major Tom.

Like the situation in Apollo 13, “Space Oddity” captures the panic, the mystery and tragedy that is sometimes involved in space travel. Bowie’s voice can be both detached when he is ground control setting up the launch and also filled with passion and desperation when he is speaking as Major Tom.

“Space Oddity” uniquely tells a story in a way that few pop songs attempt. As weird as it may have sounded at the time with its synthesized transitions and unique subject matter, it captures the wonder and mystery of space travel, which inspired generations.

Kids now don’t seem too interested in space travel. I once took a group of high school students to Kennedy Space Center and while I was fascinated by the tours, other people there who were in my parents generations were almost brought to tears. However, my students didn’t really care.

The world is different now, our country has different priorities. But every once in a while it’s nice to think of the idea of space travel. No so much the reality of it but that feeling I had when I was a kid, the wonder and the adventure. And nothing brings that back like the amazing journey David Bowie takes us on with Major Tom’s unforgettable adventure.

Shed a Little Light by James Taylor

“Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King. . . ”



Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. is honoring his beliefs, his methods and his dream. It is saying that we continue to believe that all men are created equal, that violence an inferior way of promoting change and that a world where our children are not judged by the color of their skin but rather the content of their character is worth believing in.

With this day we say that we admire best among us not because of economic success or physical prowess but rather because of service to society. And in honoring Martin Luther King Jr. is believing as James Taylor sings, “we are bound together in our desire to see the world become a place that our children can grow free and strong.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is affirmation; it’s a statement of values, a declaration of what it means to be American. This day reminds me that deep in our hearts, we want something better and we are all working together for a common dream.

This day is also a reminder of the nature of change. No great steps in freedom have come about organically. Everything from gaining the right to vote for women and minorities to desegregating schools have come about through the work of tenacious and dedicated citizens who refused to accept the status quo. If there is something in this country that you think is unfair and unjust then you need to do something about it, because if you don’t the worst thing of all will happen:

Nothing

Martin Luther King Jr. Day’s most important message is that we still have a lot of work to do. As James Taylor sings, “We are bound together by the task that stands before us.” There is still discrimination in America. My personal belief is that the battle over same-sex marriage is a Civil Rights issues and if you disagree, I respect your opinion. Beyond this one issue, there are gross inequalities in people’s access to education, jobs and housing throughout America. While I respect individual’s rights to bigoted, the shocking amount of ignorance and stereotyping in our America is a reminder that the Civil Rights act is meaningless if we do not enforce in our every day actions.

“Shed A Little Light” by James Taylor is how I like to think about Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While it reminds us of who we are, the beliefs that bind us and the tasks ahead it is also a celebration of how far we’ve come in such a short period of time in our great country. Yes, “there is a feeling like the clenching of a fist” but there is also the light that washes over “the darkness and the mist, and though the body sleeps the heart will never rest.”

When I turn my thoughts today to Martin Luther King, I feel proud that we value this great man, that we believe in his dream and that we are bound together in hope and love.

Baba O’Riley by The Who

I never gave much thought to The Who until I saw them perform "Baba O'Riley" at Concert For New York City, a fund-raising/tribute concert for the heroes of 9/11.



I knew of songs The Who had done like “My Generation” and had seen parts of Tommy back when VH1 was less concerned with “Celebreality” and more concerned with popular music history.

As I watched The Who opened their set with “Who Are You,” and then they played “Baba O’Riley” and I was blown way. While much of The Who’s music is layered with complex sounds and adventurous musical arrangements, “Baba O’Riley” is simple, powerful and one of the greatest anthems in Rock music.

On the cutting edge of music technology Pete Townsend, the guitarist and main songwriter for The Who discovered a way to create a random flurry of notes within a given note range. Instead of using a synthesizer to mimic strings as a lead instruments, “Baba O’Riley” is one of the first examples of using the synthesizer as a rhythmic instrument.

With the foundation of the song set, Townsend created a simple yet powerful guitar riffs in Rock. The riff is three chords, right square on beats 1, 3 & 4. This riff is like a call to the masses. It’s a brass fanfare for the coming of a King. An invitation to the epic journey of “Baba O’Riley.”

Most bands when they find a good hook, or a catchy bridge, they repeat it multiple times in the song. That’s not the case with “Baba O’Riley.”

Here’s the form:
Verse 1
Bridge
Verse 2
Chorus
Instrumental ending

Where most bands try to get their hook as close to the front of the song as possible, The Who save it to last part of the song. As a listener you don’t know exactly what’s happening and part of you wishes you could get a little bit more of the hook, but The Who decides to leave you wanting more. It’s a magical feeling to not know what is coming in a song but be taken to a place that you least expect.

There is a feeling in “Baba O’Riley” that something this song is not just another rock song. There’s a purpose, a conviction that travels through the form of the song. This song is a declaration and a protest. “Baba O’Riley” is everything that we fight for and everything we believe.

“Baba O’Riley” isn’t the first song to come to mind when we think about 9/11, but when you watch the performance and the way the firefighters and policemen react, rock out and sing along with The Who, it makes perfect sense. The world can be a wasteland, but there’s always something to believe in and there’s always hope. And sometimes all it takes is three simple chords to express the spirit of a nation.

Candle In The Wind by Elton John

In 1997, the world watched Elton John say goodbye to one of his best friends, Diana, Princess of Wales.



When it was announced that John would perform at her funeral, some questioned how appropriate it would be for a pop singer to perform in Westminster Abbey. But Princess Diana wasn’t exactly the most conventional member of the royal family. Elton had spent his life breaking down bearings and proving people wrong. But this time it wasn’t about that, it was about paying tribute and helping the world deal with the loss of Princess Diana.

Elton John released a studio version of this tribute and it became the best-selling single, selling more than eleven million copies in the United State alone and sold millions more around the world.

“Candle In The Wind” originally appeared on Elton’s 1973 album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The originally lyrics of the song feature here were a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.



Are there culturally implications that the same song with modified lyrics were used to talk about a movie star as well as British royalty? Yes, but it’s not really relevant. I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea of the just changing the lyrics for Princess Diana but I imagine that maybe that was all Elton could muster in his grief. Also by utilizing “Candle In The Wind” a song that people already knew as a loving tribute, Elton was able to draw us in emotionally to the moment and with the lyrics and performance took us to an entirely different place.

I’ve watched a couple Marilyn Monroe film but they haven’t had a significant effect on my life and when I heard the news about Princess Diana, honestly I didn’t really care that much. The only reason I watched the funeral was to see Elton play and when I did, it all started to make sense. Not so much fairytale wedding, the divorce and all of the controversy but what Princess Diana meant to him and the world.

Most of all in that moment I understand why my wife’s parents named my wife after this people's princess.

My Father's Gun by Elton John

When I was in elementary school life was simple. There were good guys and there were bad guys. It until late in middle school that shades of grey entered my mind as the true depth of human conflicts began to reveal itself to me.

My understanding of history reflected this naivety and with the American Civil War it was pretty cut and dry. The South used African Americans as slaves. Slavery was evil, so therefore the South, the grey coats were the bad guys. The North, who believed slavery was bad were freedom fighters and they were the good guys. As in every human conflict that I had studied, the good guys won, slavery was abolished and racial harmony ensued immediately after the war.

My firm grasp on the American Civil War soon started to fall apart when I was told the there were other reasons in additional to slavery that were issues, however this idea that the South were the bad guys persisted.

I’m from the Northwest born and was raised in Mercer Island which is a suburb just east of Seattle, Washington. Growing up, something I was very conscious of was not only a social stereotype of southern people (Jeff Foxworthy was just breaking into the pop culture when I was in middle school) but also the culture. It seemed that nobody listened to country music around and no one ate southern food.

When I went to Chicago for college I entered a city that owes much of its cultural roots to the south. I ate southern food for the first time and loved it. Began listening to country music and fell in love with the spirit and soul of the music. And it was in college when I finally watched Gone With The Wind one of my mom’s favorite films of all time and the grandeur and majesty of southern culture came to life.

During my time in college I was just discovering Elton John’s music beyond his greatest hits albums. So when I saw this extended trailer for I was floored.



I had no idea what the song was about when I bought Elton John’s 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection, I just knew I had to get a copy of this song after the chorus had been haunting me for a week.

To my surprise, as I began listening this song, I realized it was a song about a son who lost his dad in the Civil War fighting for the south, swearing revenge on the North. Rather than portraying the south as the enemy, the song takes the side of the south and offers a heartfelt and powerful expression of what this war meant to the south.

The first verse talks about laying his father to rest and burying him. The mournful melody is filled with grief. Elton injects a little bit more energy and motion in his voice in the second verse when the song vows to “wear the colors of the greys." He swears to keep his father’s gun, memory and spirit with him until he dies.

The chorus begins with a question “I’d Like to know where the riverboat sails tonight.” The next line is a response to someone who explains to him where it goes, “To New Orleans well that’s just fine alright.” He continues to tell us “‘cause there’s fighting there and the company needs men, so slip us a rope and sail on round the bend.” He’s not even sure where exactly he’s going or how to get there, but he knows that he has to do something.

The last verse doesn’t sound like the words of an evil slave owner but rather of a freedom fighter.

As soon as this is over we'll go home
To plant the seeds of justice in our bones
To watch the children growing and see the women sewing
There'll be laughter when the bells of freedom ring.

Justice, freedom, slavery?!? If you were raised being taught that the sky was red and then all the sudden someone comes and tells you that it’s actually blue, whose fault is it that you had it wrong? This son was raised believing that what is just is to have the right to own slaves and that freedom is not having the tyranny of the federal government telling you what to do. Freedom and justice are what we define them to be and if someone has a different sense of these things, that doesn’t necessarily make them evil Do I think slavery is wrong? Yes, of course, but do I also understand and on some level sympathize with our protagonist? Very much so.

For the last half of the song, Elton John sings the chorus six times. In some ways it is excessively repetitive but it also gives the opportunity for Elton to express to us the inner conflict within the son, unsure about his actions, in pain from missing his dad and committing to joining a fight that may lead to his own death.

It took two British guys Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin with an epic and beautiful song to show me that there weren’t good guys or bad guys fighting in the American Civil War, there were simply Americans, fighting for what they believed in and honoring their families.

. . . so slip us a rope and sail on down the bend . . .

Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Diagnosed with cancer, in pain and facing his own mortality, Bob Marley wrote “Redemption Song” in 1979. Marley had already changed the way the world viewed Reggae music, Jamaica and the Rastafari movement.

With insightful lyrics and a sound that popular culture had never heard before, Bob Marley penetrated deep into the American consciousness, which is evident in his greatest hits album, Legend selling over ten million copies in the United States.

Unlike earlier songs, which featured his band The Wailers, Marley recorded “Redemption Song,” recorded for his seventh album Uprising with a simple acoustic guitar accompaniment. It’s simple presentations echoes back to American folk singers and early works by Bob Dylan filled with social commentary and powerful imagery. There’s something about redemption song that is unique, not only in the protest music but in Bob Marley. Earlier Marley had called out to the world to “Get Up Stand Up” but in “Redemption Song” there was a softer tone, a more personal statement.

Inspired by a speech by Marcus Garvey, urging people to emancipate themselves from mental slavery, Marley composed a song of freedom, a song of hope. He begins in the first verse singing about pirates taking him into physical slavery but “the hand of the almighty” keeping him strong as hi moves forward in his generation. He invites us to sing in his song of freedom because he states “all I ever have, redemption songs.

In the second verse, Marley urges us to free ourselves from a different kind of slavery to free our minds from “mental slavery.” He redirects our fear of atomic energy as they can’t stop who we are and asks us “how long shall they kill our prophet, while we stand aside and look.”

Marley is asking is how we can stand by and watch the things that mean most to us be killed. Instead of focusing on outward fears of nuclear energy, Marley is telling us to look for our spiritual larders, protect what is most important. At the end of the verse Marley states that other people say that we simply have a role to “fulfill the book.” All we are doing is playing falling into place with what others have planned. In this way we truly are slaves and its up to us to free ourselves for this new kind of slavery.

Marley sings that all he ever has is “redemption songs” but “Redemption Song” isn’t one of them. The redemption that Marley asks us to seek is not found in the words and melody of this song, they are found within ourselves. When we finally get there, we can join Marley but until then what we have is this call to freedom.

As the final song on his last album, “Redemption Song” is a powerful statement of the nature of change. Marley can’t make the world change, he can only invite us to think about our lives and do something different. Many people have answered to call to help him sing with him and maybe that’s all we need to do to change the world not through a grandiose speech but through a simple song of freedom.

Wake Up by Arcade Fire

I love movie trailers.

I regularly check movie trailer websites, multiple times a day. I wouldn’t say that I’m addicted to them, but I just really get a kick out of them. At their best a movie trailer is piece of art all by itself. In the same way I remember hearing pieces of music for the first time, I remember watching certain movie trailers. I vividly remember watching the trailer for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and just being awestruck. The moment when Qui-Gon introduces Anakin to Obi-Wan and OMG, seriously that moment when Darth Maul opened up both sides of his lightsaber: awesome.



Honestly some movies aren’t very good but have trailers that rock. The trailer for Seven Years In Tibet is amazing. I’ve never watched this film, don’t really care to, but man what a trailer.



Some trailers capture everything that’s in the film. If you don’t have the time or patience to watch The Lord of the Rings, watch the super-trailer. Everything’s there in under seven minutes.



One thing that almost every good trailer that I’ve seen shares is great music. I’ve discovered many songs from film trailers. The first time I heard “Heart Of The Matter,” (which I’ve done a post about), was in the Sex And The City trailer.



I recently saw the new Harry Potter film, and it was preceded by a trailer for the film Where The Wild Things Are, based on the book. I was never a big fan of the book growing up but the combination of the music and the images was stunning.

"Where The Wild Things Are" Trailer

“Wake Up” by Arcade Fire is a beautiful mess of sonic energy. The chorus of the “ah” at the start of the song has a symphonic and epic energy. The sounds that are used, the rock band with strings is not a unique combination of the instruments but the arrangement of these ingredients has a fresh and unique sound. The primal drums and dirty vocals have a rawness that is both unusual and instantly relatable.

The title of the song “Wake Up” refers to a line in the first section in which the song calls for children to wake up and “hold your mistakes up, before they turn summer into dust.” The song also calls us to think about what it means to grow up and what we have to do make it through our lives: “We’re just a million little God’s ‘causing’ rain storm tuning every good thing to rust, I guess we’ll just have to adjust.”

“Wake Up” ends with a feeling of relief. “With my lighting bolts a glowing, I can see where I am going” expresses a sense of clarity. Lyrics don’t always have a literal meaning or even a symbolic meaning that can be explicated but they can still express a feeling and a meaning. There’s not a lot of words in “Wake Up” but the the context of the melodies adds power to each word that is sung.

Movie trailers don't guarantee anything about the film they advertise but at their best they condense the emotional core of the film down to a couple minutes. Is the expressive journey of Where The Wild Things Are going to be the same as "Wake Up"? I don't know, I hope it is and even if its not I'm sure that it's going to be an interesting journey.

If the film disappoints, I can live with that and I'll always be thankful to this film for introducing me to the world of Arcade Fire.

Prelude/Angry Young Man by Billy Joel

Wrigley field suddenly went dark.

Elton John had just closed his part of the concert with an exhilarating performance of “Crocodile Rock” and the enormous stage providing the only light in the field went black. The sun had set on this warm Chicago evening and a sold-out stadium eagerly awaited Billy Joel to start his set.

As soon as I leaned back in my chair to reflect on Elton’s set, a flurry of notes filled the auditorium. On the first cymbal hit, white lights flooded the stadium. Billy Joel’s hands appeared on the huge screens on both sides of the stage like a blur as Joel attacked the keys with manic fury.

The band entered as the flurry of notes moved into angry syncopated hits followed by a more reflective and peaceful arpeggios (0:30). The rest of the band joined in to create a peaceful groove. Then the flurry of notes suddenly returned with an unrelenting intensity and instead of building into the peaceful arpeggios, the next section was a Joel pounding octaves on the piano setting up a rhythmic tension against the bass line (1:35). With the end of the “Prelude,” it was time for Joel to tells us about the “Angry Young Man.”

Billy Joel’s 1976 album Turnstiles marked his return to New York after living in Los Angeles. This album featured songs like “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and “New York State of Mind” that reflected this move.



Even though these songs and others like “I’ve Loved These Days” had a heartfelt feeling of nostalgia, Joel’s sarcastic, disillusioned and bitter attitude shown through in “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights God Out on Broadway” an story of a post-apocalyptic New York and in “Prelude/Angry Young Man.”



Billy Joel never released “Prelude/Angry Young Man” as a single but it has become a fan favorite during Joel’s live performance. After seeing him perform it live last night, I understand why.

Joel performed “Angry Young Man” not so much singing them but ranting. The words move pass so quickly in the verses in the and it’s not until the bridge do you get a real sense of what he’s talking about.

I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight.
I once believed in causes too,
I had my pointless point of view,
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right.

When Joel got to the words “pointless point of view” and I could here the crowd sing along with this specific line more than other part of the bridge with a feeling of glory. Intellectually this seemed odd, but emotional it felt amazing.

I get frustrated with some thing sometimes and I often have rants. For example, I hate it when news stations don’t report facts? Like seriously, they haven’t done a paternity or DNA test to show that Michael Jackson’s kids aren’t related to him biologically, then stop reporting that people are speculating this. That’s not news and for the love of God stop analyzing hypothetical situations like the implications if they aren’t his kids. You might as well analyze the every other “what if” scenario, like “I heard from someone that Michael Jackson once bought woman’s underwear, what if Michael Jackson is actually a girl?”

As much as things like this aggravate me, it’s a great feeling when you give someone a rant and they know what you mean. Sharing emotion, any kind of emotion is a human connection that enriches our humanity. In his own way, Billy Joel brought together the frustration that we all share and made us feel for a moment of time that it was not so bad.

Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond

[talking to my brother after the 2009 Grammy’s]

Me: Geez, when did Neil Diamond’s performance at the Grammy?!? When start taking singing tips from William Shatner? This isn’t so much singing but a dramatic reading.

Neil Diamond Butchers "Sweet Caroline" At The 2009 Grammy Awards @ Yahoo! Video

Ed: Good God, that’s horrid. OKAY I took that back. This is an awesome performance. The backup singers totally over-singing the song as Neil's stage presence are AWESOME.

Now waybe I was being a little harsh in my initial analysis of his performance. I guess I was expecting his performance to be more like his earlier performances of this song, more retrospective and less of a party sing along song (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).



It was a childhood photo of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy, that inspired Neil Diamond to compose “Sweet Caroline.” He revealed at her Caroline’s 50th birthday party “It [the photo] was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there."


“Sweet Caroline” is about being in a moment and revealing in how good it feels. The first verse reflects how the relationships started with a sense of disbelief at how great things have become, “Who’d believe you’d come along?” The bridge focusing on that magical moment when you first touch hands with someone you love. Making this connections feels so great that Diamond explains for all to hear how great this moment feels, better then we can imagine (“good times never seem so good"), and is so amazing that it’s hard to imagine that it could feel this good again ("I’ve been inclined to believe it never would”).

What’s unique about “Sweet Caroline” is that the two parts that people like to sing the most aren’t part of the main melody: the three descending brass hits after “sweet Caroline" in the chorus," BA, BA, BAAAA!" and the repetition of “so good” after “good times never seemed so good.”

Musically the first brass note after the words “sweet Caroline” is the peak of the phrase that builds up from the pre-chorus (“hands, touching hands. . .”). The pre-chorus creates tension by slowly ascending with the sustained notes. This energy travels through the words “sweet Caroline” to the brass that finishes the phrase completing the contour. If you imagine the chorus without the “BA, BA, BAAAA!” it would like sound incomplete so it’s only naturally that we would want to sing the whole phrase.

Now there is plenty of instrumental transition that one could sing along with after "good times never seemed so good,” but the reasons we scream out “so good, so good, so good” is because it gets to the core of what this songs means.

At the Grammy’s Neil Diamond was performing in front of a huge live audience and he’s up their on stage strolling along like he’s taking a walk in the park. He makes you believe that the performing the song on stage is one of those good times that he is singing about. "Sweet Caroline” is one of the most beloved sing along songs in American popular culture because the experience of listening to “Sweet Caroline” is itself one of those good times never seemed so good, so good, so good, SO GOOD!

Now about those sequence shirts Neil. . . yeah. . . not so good.

Only In America by Brooks & Dunn

Only In America by Brooks & Dunn

I love being a teacher. Every day I work with students through their struggles and sometimes get to witness their triumphs. Contrary to their belief, I’m trying to make their lives better and more fulfilling in the long run by teaching them not only academic skills but life lessons. It’s a lot to do in the seven and a half hours the students are with us but we do the best we can.

Even though I love my job, I don’t love everything about my job. Often 7:15am is a little bit too early to start work, recess duty isn’t exactly a thrill and as entertaining as the students are, and sometimes the logic of a elementary students can simply be baffling.

example:
Me: Why do you take the crust off of you peanut-butter and jelly sandwich?
5th grader: because it taste like poo.
Me: Well, how you do you know what---
5th grader: [interrupting] and I would know because I’ve tasted poo.
Me: wait, what?!?
5th grader: don’t worry, it was my brother’s poo [reassuringly]

The kid was totally serious. SIGH

These things can be annoying but what really gets to me on an emotional level is when kids through not fault of their own are put difficult situations that me as a teacher can do nothing about. It can be something as small parent promising a student that he will come to a school play and not show up all the way the unthinkable tragedy of child abuse.

Last week, I got a dump truck full of this stuff and while it was all small things and all my kids are ok, it all added up. Last Thursday, my day started hearing about one student’s problems and as I went to gym with the kids I was not in a great mood. I felt I was already emotionally drained by P.E. and it was only 9:30 in the morning.

Thursday was the first day of the dance unit. I watched as the kids learned some basic line dances and worked on them during the period. I sat their unengaged and not really all that into what the students were doing.

As the day went on, things kept piling on, it was just one thing after another and by the time I hit my lunch break at noon, I felt like I didn’t have much left for the rest of the day. During my lunch period, I often visit the fourth grade class I worked with in the beginning of the year (I have since moved to a mixed grade level class). I decided to go say hi to them during my break and I found them at P.E. learning line dances.

I don’t know if it was the students, or the enthusiastic P.E. teachers but I decided to join in and learn to line dance.

Here’s the thing, I have an irrational dislike of line-dancing. Whenever the electric slide gets pumping I will almost always take that as a cue to get a drink of have a seat during a party. Without evidence I often make the line-dancing jokes about it being a way of dancing for people who have no hope of dancing otherwise.

So it took some doing to get out there and line dance.

Here I am, in a elementary school gym surround by fourth graders learning the “American Stomp.” Of course, I’m over-thinking the steps and how they fit within beats as opposed to just feeling it. So after I got my brain to shut up, I got in the groove of it and I became aware of the group of fourth grade girls around me earnestly trying to figure out how to do this dance.

It was possible one of the cutest things I’ve ever since seeing these girls, eyebrows furrowed, not really only on the beat but trying as hard they could. I got the girls attention and started talking about the moves “right stomp, left stomp, right stomp, left stomp, right 2-3-4, left 2-3 turn.”

As we worked through the dance, their furrowed brows relaxed and the I could see from the look on their faces that their brains were relaxing and slowly smiles developed on their faces and at least for a small part of the song we were all dancing in unison.

In four and a half minutes, I went from being disengaged, emotionally drained and feeling like a wreck to feeling energized, overjoyed and truly happy. And all it took was a little line dancing.

The song that we danced to was Brooks & Dunn’s “Only In America.” The song was released in 2004 and speaks about all the great possibilities of America. There are lines about “dreaming in red, white and blue” which really don’t make a whole lot of sense but nonetheless captures a sense of patriotism.

The song itself seems to be designed for line dancing, the accent of the beats are clear and phrase lengths consistently match 16-beat dance pattern. Without dancing to this song I would have thought this song predictable and not very creative but that would be missing the essential connection between the song and the dance.

Dancing brings us closer to music and line dancing does it in a way that makes the experiences a shared one. On a dance floor when everyone is doing something different there isn’t a sense of unity and togetherness. However in line-dancing there is feeling of community sharing the moment with a room full or in my case a gym full of people.

I don’t know how many people can say that they spent part of their day at work line-dancing but I think we’d all be a lot happier if we did.

If you have line-danced you probably know the great feeling line dancing can bring and if you haven’t line-danced before, try it. Let yourself go, even if it seems a little dorky. You’ll be surprised how a sharing a simple dance and a great song can turn your day around.

It's a beautiful feeling.

Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season) by The Byrds

"Turn! Turn! Turn!” the Byrds live performance
"Turn! Turn! Turn!” Roger McGuin & Bruce Springsteen live performance

I was named after a trash can.

Well that’s the joke but it’s half-true. People often ask me how my parent’s chose my first name, "Kingsley." The short answer is that my dad saw the name on a office product and named me after a company which now specializes in depositories www.kingsley.com (and well yes, they do make trash cans but mostly they specialize in drops boxes).

The real answer is about the immigrant experience. When people immigrate from Asia, most of the time they chose American first names, use the middle name for their Chinese name (mine is Chin-Jer) and use their original last name. Choosing the American name for immigrants often comes from taking a name that sounds like their Chinese name. For example my dads full Chinese name is “Tang Bing-Yue” (in Chinese the order of names are: last, first then middle). My dad when he came to America took "Bing," (i.e. Bing Crosby) and my dad’s American name is Bing Yue Tang.

Now when my parent were trying to figure out an American names for my me and my borther they didn’t want to use a Christian derived name, since they were not Christian. Most American names have Christian origins except for the British Royal names like "Edward" my brother’s first name and "Kingsley" which is derived the from the Scottish clan name "Kinsella."

My parents played along with the Christian traditions which had made their way into the American culture like Christmas and Easter which we celebrated non-religiously. It seemed to me growing up that Christianity was something for other people that I didn't need to know about.

Growing up listening to the local oldies station with my dad "Turn! Turn! Turn!" was a song that I knew well and even in middle school I fancied myself an expert on popular music. So when one of my friends spoke about his excitement about this song because the lyrics were from the Bible, well, it brought together two worlds: the popular music world that I loved and the Christian world, which I had been ignoring.

Since then I have made an effort to get to know Christianity, not because I wanted to convert or go to church every Sunday, I just didn't want to be left out. I wanted to know about the religion inspired some of the most important and transcendent art in history.

In studying Christianity in American culture, I have seen interpretations of the religion that I strongly disagree with. From Bob Jones universities policy banning interracial marriage on its campus which was in effect until it was taken off the books in 2000, to current arguments citing verses from the Bible to argue homosexuality as being a sinful lifestyle choice. Many people have insidiously distorted Christianity to serve their own agendas. This is not only annoying but infuriating because at its core, at its best Christianity is a hopeful religion and one of the truest expressions of all that is humanity and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” represents all of this in a beautiful and powerful way.

When Pete Seeger, one of the most influential American folk singers, used the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1 from the King James version of the Bible he was responding to his publisher who disliked his protest songs. Seeger responded that what protest songs “were the only songs he knew how to write" as he explains in this interview.



The two musicians at the end of this clip are Roger McGuinn and David Crosby who as members of the band the Bryds recorded “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and transformed it from an obscure folk song to an iconic song of the 1960s.

McGuinn describes how they added a “Beatle beat” and an counter-melody to use as an introduction but the Byrds did so much than that to the song. What is immediately striking about this song is the Roger McGuinn’s guitar. This song is one of the most famous uses of the 12-string Rickebacker guitar. This guitar features 6 pairs of strings, each pair tuned to the same note that corresponds to a stings on regular 6-string guitar. The bottom four pairs have the strings tuned in octaves on the same note while the top two pairs are tuned in the same octave. This creates a bright resonant sound, that sparkles like the light shining through oak trees leaves on a sunny day.



The guitar playing of McGuinn’s 12-string Rickebacker seems to turn and roll into itself enforcing the meaning of the lyrics. Watching McGuinn playing this song solo with his guitar up the creative and understated way that McGuinn moves through the chords and creates the sound of multiple guitars in becomes clear.

On top of this rolling guitar line are the vocals which alternate between unison singing on “to everything” to the gentle harmony behind the words “turn, turn, turn.” David Crosby, who later went on to further fame with Crosby, Stills and Nash provides the gentle high harmony which brings a comforting sense to the melody.

While the chorus has a sense of calmness and acceptance the verses express a feeling of urgency. With the turning of the earth and the cycle of life, thereis inevitable that all the things in the verses, both good and bad are happening and the purpose behind all of this is beyond are understanding.

Seeger added the last two lines of the final verse because he needed them to balance out the verse but in adding “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late” he breaks the pattern. Every other line describes the good and the bad, a yin/yang relationship. The song mentions peace in the third verse but is preceded by war. However ending the last verse with peace alone is a statement that peace is coming and that we can’t give up.

“Turn! Turn! Turn!” may not be the greatest religious song ever written but it helped me understand what Christianity means to people. It showed me that Christianity is about embracing the human experience. It is knowing that everything, even the bad things, have a purpose and that in the end of all there is always hope because in life it is never to late embrace love over hate and embrace peace over war.

That’s not a bad bunch of ideas to be at the center of a culture, or a life.

November Rain by Guns N’ Roses

"November Rain" music video

"November Rain" live performance

What makes a song epic? Is it the length, the instrumentation or is it simply the way the feelings that are expressed? The definition of what is epic is not a technical or an objective idea but rather a term that is thrown around to describe a song that stands out capturing something extraordinary.

Throughout the history of rock music, there have been many songs that people consider “epic.” People often thing of epic songs as being long and containing multiple sections like Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin. I’m not sure what song I would consider the most epic song but I do know the one song that introduced me to this potential in rock music and that was “November Rain.”

In 1992, when Guns N’ Roses released “November Rain” it blew my mind. At that time I was ten years old and wasn’t interested in rock music. The other songs by Guns N’ Roses seemed too “hard,” too much like “noise” (my opinion has since changed) and I ignored most of their music. However, “November Rain” was different. Maybe it was the piano, or the slow build but the song felt different. Some may have viewed the first section of this song as not rocking as hard as their other music but for me it was exactly that reason which was why it appealed to me.

Coming out of a time when rock stars seemed more concerned with how big they could tease out their hair, Guns N’ Roses rejuvenated the rock scene. Axl Rose’s raspy rock voices, the lead guitar player, Slash’s aggressive sound and mind-blowing technique along with the rest of band created some of the most interesting and refreshing music in rock. “November Rain” was featured on Guns N’ Roses’ third album Use Your Illusion I.

“November Rain” is an insightful and honest contemplation of the hope, doubt and reality of love. The song begins like the sun rising. Synthesized strings grow with the first chord of the electric guitar glistening in the light. Against the back drop of a synthesized flute, Axl’s voice enter which could not be more real.

When rock singers sing they often put a slight edge in their voice as they reach high notes. Axl has that edge in his voice throughout his entire range. There is a maturity in this voice like a man who has lived a life of pain and although the voice is ragged, it has a sort of elegance as it flows through the melody line.

In the first section main section of the song (the first 6 minutes and 45 seconds). Axl slowly builds with a deliberate and contemplative pace.

When I look into your eyes, I can see a love restrained,
But darling when I hold you, don't you know I feel the same.

'Cause nothing lasts forever and we both know hearts can change,
And it's hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain.

The song opens with a request to love in the present. Axl expresses empathy throughout the song as he does in the second line. The theme of destiny are introduced with this idea of change. The words “November rain” appear for the first time symbolizing the inevitability of change and candle is the love that must fight against this. In this next section, Axl reflects on the relationship and elaborates on this idea of destiny.

We've been through this such a long, long time just trying to kill the pain.
But lovers always come and lovers always go
and no one's really sure who's letting go today, walking away.

If we could take the time to lay it on the line,
I could rest my head just knowing that you were mine all mine.
So if you want to love me then darling don't refrain,
Or I'll just end up walking in the cold November rain.

Axl asserts that if we embrace the future, the reality of the fact that things are uncertain and hard then people could love each other. If she doesn’t love him now, he’ll end up walking the November rain which changes from the broad idea of destiny to personal loneliness.

Then the song takes different turn, the song washes out into a mixture of harmonic colors as Axl asks if “you need some time alone.” He comforts his love saying that everyone needs some time alone. These lines have a sense of sadness as we often take it personally when someone we care about says they need to be alone because at these time we often don’t want to be alone. By washing out the sound, the song provides more contrast and drama as it builds into the next section. Guitars explode in broad strokes of musical color as Axl sings reassuring his love in a more assertive and aggressive way.

I know it's hard to keep an open heart, when even friends seem out to harm you.
But if you could heal a broken hear, wouldn't time be out to charm you?

After “harm you” a mourning guitar lick reflects the struggle in the lyrics which foreshadows the end of the song. The song builds to the first guitar solo of the song, which expresses the time alone that Axl previously sings about. Like the music that came before the solo doesn’t feel rushed or hurried. There is not of showing off in the solo and like great Jazz solos, Slash doesn’t try to fill every beat with something but instead sustains notes artfully developing simple melodic ideas.

Axl follows this going back to the “need some time” section flipping it from “you” to “I” which Slash immediately follows by another shorter guitar solo. The guitar is another voice in this song expressing the longing and solitude of the song. Both guitar solos act as subtext creating space for us to reflect on the song and contemplate the feelings within the song. The end of this section pulls together these feelings coming to a conclusion in a powerful statement of destiny.

And when your fears subside and shadows still remain
I know that you can love me when there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness we still can find a way
Nothing lasts forever even cold November rain

Axl assures us that we can move past fear in our lives but reminds us that it always leave shadow in our lives, the memory of that fear. He assures that through that darkness, they is a way to love. This section ends with the most powerful line of the song stating that nothing last forever. November rain first symbolizes the destiny of change and then reflects personal loneliness. Axl discounts these things in this section saying that these things don’t last forever. However, in this reassurance saying that “nothing” last forever he is also embracing the idea that their love will not last forever.

After the triumphant ending of the first section, a hurried and frantic piano enters followed by raw guitars and a demonic guitar melody. A distorted and angry voices growls “don't you think that you need somebody, everybody needs somebody
you're not the only one.” Instead of a comforting reassurance of these feeling an angry voice that violently tries to convince that loneliness is universal. Axl expresses a level of optimism in the first section and then shows us the other side, the pessimism, the darkness and the doubt. Does this symbolize the relationship that Axl sings about in the first section ending or is this what Axl believes about the destiny that we all have to face?

This song moves through time with a deliberate pace and feels like it’s long without feeling drawn out. The different sections of the songs seamlessly move into each other and the guitar solos come in the perfect place to give us a change in the sound and time to reflect. Even though the song feels epic, it doesn’t tell a grand story but instead is personal and reflective. In this way the epic nature in “November Rain” becomes a personal journey speaking to fears and question that we have in our own lives.

Nothing lasts forever but that is what gives things meanings and makes us cherish the times that we have. This realization may seem to limit us but when we accept it, it frees us from fear and doubt and in that, through our lives, through love that we find ourselves.

Piece Of My Heart by Erma Franklin/Janis Joplin/Melissa Etheridge

Erma Franklin, the older sister of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin who never made it big.

Janis Joplin, whose one of the most influential singers in popular music who died tragically from a drug overdoes.

Melissa Etheridge, a powerful singer-songwriter who inspired the world through her music, her voice and her courage as a breast cancer survivor.

These three artists are linked together by one song, “Piece Of My Heart.” Written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, this first recording of this song was by Erma Franklin the older sister of Aretha Franklin, one of the most influential singer in American pop music and ranked number one as the greatest singer of all time. While Aretha had great critical and commercial success, Erma and her other sister Carolyn struggled in the music business. Erma had a darker and less vibrant voice than Aretha. She faced other misfortunes in her singing career and in the mid-1970s left the business. Erma passed away in 2002 from throat cancer, never fulfilling her dream of making it in the music business while her younger sisters legendary status as the Queen of Soul continues to grow.



Erma’s biggest success was with “Piece Of My Heart” in 1967 which peaked at number sixty-two on the billboard hot 100 list. “Piece Of My Heart” expresses a unique struggle in which the narrator feels that she is giving all that she can to the relationship but wants to stick it out, even though it is causing her pain. Erma sings soulfully pulling back on “didn’t I give you nearly everything that a woman possibly could?” and later effortlessly moving across the range of her voice in the second verse “and you never hear me when I cry at night.” The background is classic Atlantic Soul with a laid-back gospel feeling in the background instruments and vocalists. Erma’s expresses the pain and struggle in the song but there is a sense of restraint not fully acknowledging the innate conflict within the song. In contrast, Janis Joplin mercilessly expresses inner turmoil like few other singers have ever done before.



In 1968, Janis Joplin with her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company covered “Piece Of My Heart.” Janis Joplin proved to the world that “a woman can be tough” performing and partying just as hard as her male contemporaries. Her attitude and style stood out against conventions of not only how people thought a woman should look but also how a woman should act. Even in our day and age, her scraggly appearance and raw voice stand out as a unique challenge to the way that people view the woman in popular culture.

After listening to Erma’s recording of “Piece Of My Heart” almost everything about Janis Joplin’s seems different. Instead of a clean blues band introduction, a dirty, raunchy and aggressive guitar with the rest of the band builds to Janis entrance. Though the bands sound completely different they both share a sense of bluesy expression leaning hard on notes that color the chords and pulling the tempo back creating different but expressive grooves.

Janis takes the blues convention and blows it apart. Her voice is raspy, untrained and has a tone that is both undesirable somewhat painful to listen to, However there is something so open and desperate in her expression that it not only intrigues but also engages the listener.

Janis starts the verse gently is after screaming out “come on.” Her tone cleans up on the word “feel” and then later on the next high note on “yeah” she howls leading up to the chorus. She sings the course with a chorus with a combination of anger, frustration and exacerbation. When she sings “you know you got it, if it makes you feel good, there’s almost a sense of servitude.

In the second verse, she adds layers to the lyrics repeating the word “never.” When children can’t find ways to express themselves sometimes they just repeat a word “I really, really, really, REALLY want this toy” this same kind of desperation and fixations is expressed when Janis repeats “never.” This is followed by Janis sobbing through the word “crying” before pulling herself together: “each time I tell myself that I, well I can't stand the pain, but when you hold me in your arms, I'll sing it once again.”

When Janis sings the out the loud high note after “you know you got it” in the second to last iteration of the verse, she shows us the most raw of emotion. There is nothing holding her back. It’s concentrated emotion with all the impurities left in the mixture. The amazing thing is how good hearing Janis’ pain feels to us as listeners. Unfortunately Janis’ demons were all too real and she died at the age of 27, from a heroin overdoes.

Melissa Etheridge is one of those artists that even though you may not love her music, you still hope for her success. Working her way up thought he music business she rejected the images that people suggested that she adopt working as an uncompromising singer and songwriter. Her breakout hit was “Come To My Window” and has released a total of ten albums, three of which have gone multi-platinum. One of the greatest female rock singers she is thought of as being the female Bruce Springsteen matching him in her musicianship and uncompromising devotion to her fans.

In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer and in the following month, she underwent chemotherapy. Etheridge did not perform the next year and was rarely seen in the public eye. Then in February of 2005, she performed with Joss Stone in a tribute to Janis Joplin. Joss started the performance singing another Janis Joplin song “Cry Baby” and then Melissa Etheridge came out on stage, head bald from the side effects of chemotherapy and showed the world that she was back.

When she first approached the microphone and sang “c’mon” with her energetic and powerful voice it was clear that this was a special moment in popular music. After the huge opening of the song, the whole band quieted down and Melissa drew the crowd in. With her eyes closed Melissa quietly sang “didn’t I make you feel” and then opened her eyes and flashed a joyous smile and her face with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Her voice, a unique blend of soul and rock, sensuously snaked around the notes of the melody. The camera panned back for a long view with Janis looking on from above the band approvingly when Melissa sang, “well, I’m going to show you.” When the camera came back to her face as Melissa sang “a woman can be tough.”

With this performance, this song became not only a tribute of Janis’ legacy but also a glorious celebration of the spirit in woman all over the world who have courageously faced breast cancer. If Melissa Etheridge’s scream at the end of the performance and her whole performance doesn’t prove that a woman can be tough, I don’t know what does.

The legacy of “Piece Of My Heart” lies in Erma Franklin’s dreams, Janis Joplin’s tragic life and Melissa Etheridge’s triumphant performance. With each artist, layers of expression are added to “Piece Of My Heart reminding us of the power of music to express the spirit and soul of its artists. Through the artists we understand not only what this songs means to the artist but what it means to ourselves pulling us closer to a piece of our hearts.

Take Me Home, Country Road by John Denver

We come to love music in different ways. Sometimes it’s from learning a song and performing it and other times it’s from hearing a song. One time I came to love a song from singing along to a German Polka band.

Several of my close friends after college relocated to the Cincinnati area for their careers and my wife and I often visit them. On my first trip to Cincinnati, my friends took me out a bar/restaurant called the Hofbrauhaus.

We got a table in the main room, got some nice fresh pretzels and lots of good beer. The evening was off to a great start and as we were catching up a band started their set, which consisted mainly of a drummer and an accordion player. They played everything from tradition polka music to German drinking songs to Sousa marches and pop songs like “Sweet Caroline.” The atmosphere was fantastic and everyone in the room was singing along and dancing to this incredible band on stage.

Every time the band played a song that people knew everyone would stand up on the wooden seats sing along and rock out. My favorite song they played that night was “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

I didn’t know the lyrics, but catching enough of the words to just sing through the song with the room full of people was one of my favorite musical experiences. Maybe it was the people in the room or the beer in my stomach but man, that song felt so good to sing at that time and ever since then “Take Me Home, Country Roads” has been on my favorite songs.

Like most people in my generation, I rode off John Denver as kind of being wimpy, white-bread, country-pop music. Looking at pictures of John Denver it seemed clear that not was he an artifact of the my parents generation but an artists that only the lamest people in my parents’ generation enjoyed.

There is some truth to that presumption. John Denver’s music is non-threatening and appeals to a specific crowd but he captures a sense of reverence and nostalgia that may come off as a little corny. The thing is that is exactly how our memories are sometimes.

John Denver released “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in 1971 and it became one of John Denver’s signature songs. This song is a well-loved anthem for the state of West Virginia and is played by the West Virginia University Marching Band at the beginning of every home game.



The melody of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” is simple and doesn’t move around across a wide range of note. However, the rise and fall of the melody is carefully crafted and creates a sense of direction. In the first verse, the melody in the verse rises to “Blue Ridge Mountains” and then rests on a lower note on the word “Shenandoah.” The word “river” has a slight rise on its last syllable that propels the melody into the next phrase.

The second phrase of the verse is similar to the first phrase but instead of having a slight rise in the end of the phrase, the chorus picks immediately begins. There is space between the first phrase and the second phrase of the verse, but there is no space between the second phrase and the chorus. Making the end of a phrase happen at the same point as the beginning of the chorus, this phrase elision, sweeps up the energy of the previous phrase like wave gently pushing the listener forwards into the chorus.

The melody in the chorus rises up to the middle of that phrase and descends as we would expect, however the way that the melody rises is both dramatic and unexpected. “Country Roads” rises up, meanders on “take me home” and then descends to the low note on the word “place.” Instead of having a steady build to the top of the phrase on the word “belong,” there is a jump up to “-long” of “belong” that brings a sense of yearning and a genuine feeling of purpose.

This is a song about missing home, about wishing you could be in the place that you feel most comfortable and the long notes in the chorus and the reminiscing verses bring a sense of warmness truly capturing the feeling of being home. Yes, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” sounds like the music equivalent of a sepia tone photograph but it’s feels real and I can’t really imagine this song sounding any better then when with John Denver singing this song with the pop country background behind him.

This song mentions a lady’s voice, a mountain mama, and a miner’s lady. There are hints of a girl that flow through this song like reflection of light in a stream. They song doesn’t tell a cohesive story but instead presents different images that like a mosaic which instead of presented an image creates a feeling.

Nostalgia is a tricky feeling. When you have great memories of a place and you revisit the location, often they aren’t as amazing as you remember. I went back to Hofbrauhaus and it was fun but it wasn’t as magical as the first time that I visited but I still had a great time. In some ways the feeling of wanting to go back, that nostalgia was better than actually going back.

If we hold on to memories for the purpose of trying to replicate them we will continuously be disappointed but if we keep them in our minds as places we can go to find comfort and happiness we will never be alone and always be at home.

Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) by Jay-Z & It's a Hard Knock Life (from Annie)

"It’s a Hard Knock Life" from Annie:

1982 film version
1999 film version

My first memory of the term ghetto was when I was learning about the holocaust in elementary school as the area that the Nazi’s forced the Jews to live in. When I got to high school “ghetto rap” music emerged and the idea of a “ghetto” began to change in my head.

There was a time when hip-hop culture and rap music was on the fringes of society but now the influence of “ghetto culture” is clearly seen every aspect of our lives. While there are artists who have genuine experiences growing up in the ghetto there are many who do not and romanticize this idea of “gangsta life” to sell more records. This has led to feeling being ghetto is overexposed and a little tiring.

Now it seems that “ghetto” has become a word to describe something that is humorously lower class. There some who feel that it is detrimental to use the word “ghetto” to mock others. This may be true and in asking myself “what is truly ghetto?” my mind goes back to the ghetto anthem I heard in high school “Hard Knock Life” by Jay-Z.

One thing attracted me to “Hard Knock Life,” the fact that Jay-Z utilized a sample from the musical Annie based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. You know Annie with the curly red hair and the red dress with the dog and sings that “Tomorrow” song and how it’s only a day a way. Unlike most of the planet, my favorite song from Annie isn’t “Tomorrow.” I was also more intrigued by “It’s a Hard Knock Life” and when I heard Jay-Z’s version it blew my mind.

Rap artist have been sampling music since the art form came to life. Most of these samples come from soul and R & B music. The melding of show tunes into rap music is something that hadn’t been seen before in the mainstream culture and proved to me the unlimited possibilities of sampling

When I first came to know the “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from Annie and Jay-Z’s version of the song my fascination was mostly because I liked the melody. However, each time I come back to “It’s a Hard Knock Life” it becomes more stark and depressing and Jay-Z’s version gains a deeper level of meaning.

The original cast recording of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” which Jay-Z sampled is much slower than the film versions of the song. In the original cast recording, the tempo is at 120 beats per second, which is the standard American march tempo. Bands perform most traditional American marches like “Stars & Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa at this tempo. There is an instant feeling of marching, an almost protest like rally call that the orphans sing as the clean up the orphanage. The brash brass and timpani make it seem like a call to arms, an angry declaration of worker grievances, which mirrors the setting of the musical during the great depression.

Even though the girls are angry and complaining the fact they are doing just that is shockingly sad. Children who grow up in the lower class or without parents often do not realize what they are missing. They often think that their lives are normal and in some ways this is less painful the knowing what they are missing the children. In “It’s a Hard Knock Life” one girls complains about never seeing Santa Claus and another girl responds saying “What’s that?” She doesn’t even know that it’s a person and for that girl, her ignorance of Santa Claus means there is one thing less that she isn’t depressed about missing. With its stilted rhythm and jagged melody “It’s a Hard Knock Life” is a declaration of a different kind of ghetto life, one that these orphans dream of leaving and in “Hard Knock Life” Jay-Z has left the ghetto but has found that it hasn’t left him.

Jay-Z, in “Hard Knock Life,” describes his journey from living in the ghetto to becoming a successful rap star. He explains that is from the “school of the hard knocks” a place of fierce loyalty. This makes him feel responsible to help the people that he has left behind in the ghetto. In the second verse, he explains that he “flows” or raps for girls so that they do not have to strip to pay college tuition. Later in the third he explains how ghetto life is still inside of him, something that he can’t escape, “Hustling's still inside of me.” There is a sense of burden that Jay-Z carries with him. As much as Annie looks forward to tomorrow, Jay-Z is haunted by yesterday.

When asked about Annie, Jay-Z commented “I watched the movie and was mesmerized ... They're too strong to let life bring them down. That's the ghetto right there . . . these kids sing about the hard knock life, things everyone in the ghetto feels coming up ... That's the ghetto anthem.”

As much as we would like to think that we moved away from our hometown and our experiences growing up, we can never truly separate ourselves from all of that because, they are who we are.

When you are haunted a childhood that you know you didn’t deserve, a place that you feel you must give back to, a lifestyle that you don’t feel like you can ever move past, only then will you have a true understanding of what is ghetto.