“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
― Bob Marley
Music can set me on fire and sometimes it makes me feel quiet and still.
But it always makes me feel something.
Prompt: Linda G Hill: One Liner Wednesday
I just found this great interruption by Postmodern Jukebox of a song by Toto called ” Africa ” that I am excited to share.
To be honest I was over the original version of ‘ Africa ‘ about a week after it was released in 1981 because I heard it playing over the sound system NON STOP at a Mall I was working at.
( Remember Malls anyone? )
and I’ve pretty much hated it ever since.
Just as an FYI the original video for this was a ‘hit’ on MTV and music critics la la loved everything about this song.
Me not so much.
Actually I hated the video too.
So what tickled my fancy and got me into the song after a lifetime of ” no, ugh turn it off ” which is a reaction I have to most songs by the Beatles too -was not only the arrangement ( which has a sense of movement and adventure), but the staging for the song- which I’ll let you see without comment.
So go ahead- give it a whirl, this is a good one:
More videos by PostmodernJukebox HERE– Check it out, these are GREAT covers.
Postmodern Jukebox Website HERE
Africa
David Paich and Jeff Porcaro
I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
She’s coming in, 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say
“Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you”
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what’s right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve become
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
(I bless the rain)
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
(Gonna take the time)
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
For Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Music Challenge prompt, we were given the Bill Withers song, “Just the Two of Us.” and the suggestion to let this song and castles and rainbows and flowers be our inspiration.
It would be easy to find a love song about two people ‘chasing rainbows in the sky’ because I know them a bunch of them and I’m crazy about them.
But sometimes inspiration takes on a life of it’s own.
I was inspired to go waaaayyy outside the box and I chose ” Little Red Riding Hood ” and in particular a I chose Amanda Seyfried version because at the heart of it, this is a song about someone who is passionately in love with a person that they can never show their heart to and in this version you can hear it clear as a dark path on a moonlit night.
Of course, as the Wolf and the object of the Wolf’s desire are strolling through the dark and dangerous woods they never actually touch but the intimacy, the passion, the longing is there in every single word.
I find that heartbreakingly romantic.
I also wanted to include the original version by Sam The Sham so you can hear the different spin on passion- in the original version you can hear this a tease, it’s flirting, it’s two people having a little fun out there in the woods.
It isn’t any less passionate though.
So I hope you enjoy my post today and I hope you enjoy the song I’ve selected.
amm
Sometimes I struggle just a little bit with Jim Adam’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt.
Not because I can’t come up with a favorite song, but that I have so many to chose from!
The prompts this Sunday are Big, Large, Little, Small, Tall and Tiny and this time I got it in one:
I chose tiny- As in Tiny Bubbles by Don Ho.
When I was a little kid my family were bonkers for Don Ho and all of us kids loved to sing this song.
So please enjoy, this is a fun one.
amm
Tiny BubblesDon Hồ
Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
In the wine (in the wine)
Make me happy (make me happy)
Make me feel fine (make me feel fine)
Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
Make me warm all over
With a feeling that I’m gonna
Love you till the end of time
So here’s to the golden moon
And here’s to the silver sea
And mostly here’s a toast
To you and me
So here’s to the ginger lei
I give to you today
And here’s a kiss
That will not fade away
Today I was inspired by Jim’s prompt ” Spice it up ” to choose a song that is a little more earthy, a little bit darker then songs about sweet, warm and inviting spices.
Hellhound by Robert Johnson is a song about a man who is being chased by demons- one way to ward them off ( for a little while ) was to sprinkle hot foot powder at his door.
Hot foot powder consisted of chili powder, pepper, salt and chili flakes and this mixture was suppose to keep evil from crossing into your home.
It certainly sounds like it could do the trick and you can actually buy hot foot powder on line.
But like most folklore, a lot of these stories, have roots in reality. Like this song, though not in the way you might assume.
Recently I saw a documentary about Robert Johnson on Netflix and one of the stories they told about this song was to keep this in mind: Robert Johnson’s stepfather was lynched and that this song, when looked at through that lens tells a truly hellacious tale.
This song is a song about the fear of being chase into an endless night by a lynch mob and bloodhounds.
One side note I heard in the documentary was that sometimes peppers and chili powder were used in the hope of throwing the bloodhounds off of your scent.
So I would recommend listening to this song and letting the references about Hellhounds and a tortured soul chasing each through a cemetery, maybe a forest play across your mind. It’s going to be very Halloween-ish and safe.
But if you dare, imagine for just a few minutes you are Robert Johnson recording this song in Texas in 1937- and what images he had in mind as he sang it.
[Verse 1]
I got to keep movin’, I got to keep movin‘
Blues fallin’ down like hail, blues fallin’ down like hail
Umm mmm mmm mmm
Blues fallin’ down like hail, blues fallin’ down like hail
And the days keeps on worryin’ me
There’s a hellhound on my trail, hellhound on my trail
Hellhound on my trail
[Verse 2]
If today was Christmas Eve, if today was Christmas Eve
And tomorrow was Christmas Day
If today was Christmas Eve and tomorrow was Christmas Day
Aw, wouldn’t we have a time, baby?
All I would need my little sweet rider
Just to pass the time away, huh huh, to pass the time away
[Verse 3]
You sprinkled hot foot powder, mmm mmm, around my door
All around my door
You sprinkled hot foot powder all around your daddy’s door, hmm hmm hmm
It keep me with ramblin’ mind, rider every old place I go
Every old place I go
[Verse 4]
I can tell the wind is risin’ the leaves tremblin’ on the tree
Tremblin’ on the tree
I can tell the wind is risin’, leaves tremblin’ on the tree
Hmm hmm hmm mmm
All I need’s my little sweet woman and to keep my company, hey hey hey hey
My company
FURTHER READING:
They Lynching Blues: Robert Johnson’s Hellhound On My Trail As a Lynching Ballad
Jim Adams hosts a fun prompt called Song Lyric Sunday and today’s song title must contain a number.
I chose Big Ten Inch by Aerosmith for a few reasons( get your mind out of the toilet if you don’t know this song- it’s about a record ( wink wink )
First of all, the first time I played it for my Grandma and the rest of my family they fell over laughing. They liked the play on words and they liked the boogie woogie vibe.
Plus we were a family who held Little Richard and Liberace in high regard and collected their albums and never missed them when they were on tv- so maybe they just figured I was a chip off the old block ( or taste bud ).
At any rate, this song brings back a great memory and when I went on to learn the guitar and played it, I learned something important:
No matter how jaded musicians think they are when you are a girl who can play the guitar and you tell them you want them to learn to play Aerosmith’s ” Big Ten Inch ” they will always look at you like their cat just walked up to them and said, ” hey, can I have the password to your wi-fi?”
amm
Wriiten by: Fred Weismantel
Got me the strangest woman
Believe it, this chick’s no sinch
When I wanna get her goin’
Then I whip out my Big Ten Inch
Record of the band that plays the blues
Well the band that plays the blues
She just loved my Big Ten Inch
Record of her favorite blues
Last night I tried to tease her
I gave my love a little pinch
But she said now stop that jivin
now whip out your big ten-inch
Record of the band that plays the blues
Well the band that plays the blues
She just loved my Big Ten Inch
Record of her favorite blues
I’ll cover her with kisses
and when we’re in a lover’s clinch
she gets all excited
when she puts on my big ten-inch
Record of the band that plays the blues
Well the band that plays the blues
She just loved my Big Ten Inch
Record of her favorite blues
My gal don’t go smokin’
and liquor just makes her flinch
Seems she don’t go for nothin’
‘cept for my big ten-inch
Record of the band that plays the blues
Band that plays the blues
She just loved my Big Ten Inch
Record of her favorite blues
1952- BULL MOOSE JACKSON:
Photo by Kaitlyn Jade on Pexels.com
It is so quiet outside.
It’s not just that people aren’t going to work, or hanging out at whatever stores they can get into where like Walmart- where it will interest you to know the Coronavirus does not exists so there so you can meander and wander around all you want. I don’t know that for a fact. I hate Walmart and don’t shop there, but I know people who do.
No, it’s cemetery quiet outside in the real world.
That’s why I have chosen this song for Jim Adams Song Lyric Sunday where the theme is togetherness.
I decided upon Slade’s ” Cum on Feel The Noize ” because even my friends and family who are under Stay At Home Orders in a house full of people they still feel separate from the world and each other.
So, if you gotta start feeling something together… feel the noise. It’s fun. Remember fun?
I do.
Baby baby baby!
Yow!
So you think I got an evil mind, well I’ll tell you honey
And I don’t know why
And I don’t know why
So you think my singing’s out of time, well it makes me money
And I don’t know why
And I don’t know why
Anymore
Oh no
So come on, feel the noise
Girls, grab your boys
We get wild, wild, wild
We get wild, wild, wild
So come on, feel the noise
Girls, grab your boys
We get wild, wild, wild
At your door
So you say I got a funny face, I ain’t got no worries
And I don’t know why
And I don’t know why
Say I’m a scruff bag well it’s no disgrace, I ain’t in no hurry
And I don’t know why
I just don’t know why
Anymore
Oh no
So come on, feel the noise
Girls, grab your boys
We get wild, wild, wild
We get wild, wild, wild
So come on, feel the noise
Girls, grab your boys
We get wild, wild, wild
At your door
Yow!
So you think we have a lazy time, well you should know better
And I don’t know why
I just don’t know why
And you say I got a dirty mind, well I’m a mean go-getter
And I don’t know why
And I don’t know why
Anymore
Oh no
So come on, feel the noise
Girls, grab your boys
We get wild, wild, wild
We get wild, wild, wild
So come on, feel the noise
Girls, grab your boys
We get wild, wild, wild
At your door
So come on, feel the noise (come on, come on)
Girls, grab your boys (grab your boys)
We get wild, wild, wild (we get wild)
We get wild, wild, wild (yeah)
So come on, feel the noise (feel it, feel it)
Girls, grab your boys (grab ’em, grab ’em)
We get wild, wild, wild (we get wild)
We get wild, wild, wild (we get wild)
Come on, feel the noise (can you feel it, can you feel it?)
Girls, grab your boys (feel the noise)
We get wild, wild, wild (come on, get wild)
We get wild, wild, wild (get wild)
So come on, feel the noise (come on, come on, come on)
Girls, grab your boys (feel the noise)
We get wild, wild, wild
We get wild, wild, wild
Prompt: Song Lyric Sunday- Relationships
RDP Tuesday: BAN
Remember what it was like before the Ban?
It really was a different world.
June 1, 2010
Abba Flash Mob-Swedish Medical Center, Seattle Washington USA
May, 2019
Seattle, Washington USA
Not really a Flash Mob video, but parts of it sort of are most important of all I love it;
Seattle, Washington USA
2012
We’re NASA and We Know It (Mars Curiosity) Satire
I would like to dedicate this song to all of my friends who are under Stay At Home Orders and are actually staying at home.
It’s NOT for you thoughtless jerks who are sneaking off to WalMart or some other big box store just because you’re bored.
You suck….so no Slade for you!
“Mama Weer All Crazee Now”
I don’t want to drink my whiskey like you do
I don’t need to spend my money but still do
[Chorus]
Don’t stop now a c’mon
another drop now c’mon
I wanna lot now so c’mon
That’s right, that’s right
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
I said Mama but we’re all crazy now
A you told me fool fire water won’t hurt me
A you tease me and all my ladies desert me
[Chorus]
I don’t want to drink my whiskey but still do
I had enough to fill up “H” Hill’s left shoe
[Chorus]
Mama mama mama mama oh yeah…
I like to sing this song to myself when something is going well for me- maybe I made the train on time when I thought that for sure I was going to miss it, maybe I found money in backpack when I was in there looking for a pen or my keys.
It’s my ‘what the heck do you know?’ song.
I think we all have one of those, don’t we?
amm
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
I got a girl, say she long and tall
She sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got’em for sale, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
She got two for a nickel, got four for a dime
Would sell you more, but they ain’t none of mine
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got’em for sale, yes, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
I got a letter from a girl in the room
Now she got something good she got to bring home soon, now
It’s hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got’em for sale, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got em for sale (they’re too hot boy)
The billy got back in a bumble bee nest
Ever since that he can’t take his rest, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes you got’em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Man don’t mess around em hot tamales now ’cause they too black bad,
If you mess around ’em hot tamales
I’m gonna upset your backbone, put your kidneys to sleep
I’ll due to break away your liver and dare your heart to beat ’bout my
Hot tamales ’cause they red hot, yes they got em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got em for sale, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
You know grandma loves them and grandpa too
Well I wonder what in the world we children gonna do now
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale, I mean
Yes she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Me and my babe bought a V-8 Ford
Well we wind that thing all on the runnin’ board, yes
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale, I mean
Yes she got’em for sale, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale (they’re too hot boy!)
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes, now she got em for sale
You know the monkey, now the baboon playin’ in the grass
Well the monkey stuck his finger in that old ‘Good Gulf Gas’, now
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale, I mean
Yes she got’em for sale, yeah
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale
I got a girl, say she long and tall
Sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall, yes
Hot tamales and they’re red hot, yes she got’em for sale, I mean
Yes she got’em for sale, yeah