Dan:
Common - “Be” (The Album)
Once again, it’s all Bonnaroo artists here at C&V for the songs of the week. This week I’m choosing an entire album, Common’s “Be.” Why? Because you have to hear the whole thing. It’s just that good. Produced by Kanye West, “Be” is an album for the ages… And we’ll be interviewing Common about it in just a few weeks.
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Amit:
Dr. John - “Such A Night”
I’ve been wanting to see Dr. John live for a few years now. Even after living in New Orleans a while, I never got the chance. Thankfully, there’s Bonnaroo. Here’s a classic track with a wobbling melody about Dr. John’s need to cheat on his best friend’s girlfriend. Why? Because “if [he] don’t do it, somebody else will.”
Note: Dr. John coined the term Bonnaroo and will bring back his “Night Tripper” persona after 30 years at this year’s festival.
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Red:
Bonnie Raitt - “You”
Bonnie Raitt is one of those artists who’s been around forever and tends to get overlooked. But I think she still has one of the best female voices in the music biz, and this song “YouÂ,” originally released on the 1994 album Longing in Their Hearts, is a sweet little love song with a haunting melody that showcases the simple purity of her voice.
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Nate:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - “Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)”
Let me tell you what I love about the present state of music. We have hit the Jackson Pollack era. The boundaries are being broken. Beats are odd. Lyrics are stranger. And bands are not comprised of rock stars but kids with Casios and the internet. It is daring! CYHSY are those kids. They are the kids. They don’t so much write songs as they make Pollack or de Kooning in music form. Screw abstract art. Try abstract music. And behind it all, the music is danceable and catchy. This is the reason we are given brains. To never be derivative. To create. “Start another fire and watch it slowly die.”
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Dan:
Common - “Be” (The Album)
Once again, it’s all Bonnaroo artists here at C&V for the songs of the week. This week I’m choosing an entire album, Common’s “Be.” Why? Because you have to hear the whole thing. It’s just that good. Produced by Kanye West, “Be” is an album for the ages… And we’ll be interviewing Common about it in just a few weeks.
Listen/Buy/Support C&V at
Amit:
Dr. John - “Such A Night”
I’ve been wanting to see Dr. John live for a few years now. Even after living in New Orleans a while, I never got the chance. Thankfully, there’s Bonnaroo. Here’s a classic track with a wobbling melody about Dr. John’s need to cheat on his best friend’s girlfriend. Why? Because “if [he] don’t do it, somebody else will.”
Note: Dr. John coined the term Bonnaroo and will bring back his “Night Tripper” persona after 30 years at this year’s festival.
Listen/Buy/Support C&V at
Red:
Bonnie Raitt - “You”
Bonnie Raitt is one of those artists who’s been around forever and tends to get overlooked. But I think she still has one of the best female voices in the music biz, and this song “YouÂ,” originally released on the 1994 album Longing in Their Hearts, is a sweet little love song with a haunting melody that showcases the simple purity of her voice.
Listen/Buy/Support C&V at
Nate:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - “Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)”
Let me tell you what I love about the present state of music. We have hit the Jackson Pollack era. The boundaries are being broken. Beats are odd. Lyrics are stranger. And bands are not comprised of rock stars but kids with Casios and the internet. It is daring! CYHSY are those kids. They are the kids. They don’t so much write songs as they make Pollack or de Kooning in music form. Screw abstract art. Try abstract music. And behind it all, the music is danceable and catchy. This is the reason we are given brains. To never be derivative. To create. “Start another fire and watch it slowly die.”
Listen/Buy/Support C&V at
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Dan:
Son Volt - “Drown”
Okay, it’s all Bonnaroo all the time here at C&V’s Songs of the week. I’ll get things started with an oldie but a goodie, “Drown” by Son Volt. Enjoy.
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Amit:
Ben Folds - “The Luckiest”
It’s hard to imagine the man behind the lyrics “Give me back my black t-shirt, you bitch” could have written such an emotional track as this, but Ben Folds has. The song is an aching piano ballad reminiscing of some girl-next-door from long ago. Somehow it’s hopeful, tearful, and joyful at the same time. And, who knows, may be “The Luckiest” was written before Ben discovered the biotch ran off with his favorite tee. We’ll have to ask him at Bonnaroo. Either way, makes this song part of your library, but not part of your “Boot Knockin’” playlist. Just wouldn’t work…
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Dan:
Dntel - “Pillowcase”
In 1997, the Equatorial Pacific Ocean autonomous hydrophone array (U.S. Navy equipment in South America) heard a sound known as the “Bloop.” “There is no known animal that could have produced the sound, however, and if it is an animal it would have to be huge - much larger than even a Blue whale, according to scientists who have studied the phenomenon. Some postulate that the sound may come from a huge and as-yet undiscovered species of octopus, squid or even a new species of gigantic whale that is even bigger than the blue whale.” The sound has not been heard since 1997…. until electronic band Dntel (part of “The Postal Service”) composed “Pillowcase” from the “bloop” recordings. Enjoy.
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Amit:
The White Stripes - “My Doorbell”
I never really cared for or respected the talent behind the brother/sister band, The White Stripes, until I heard “My Doorbell.” The song proves that if two people can create this much music with these kind of lyrics, they’re bound to have some skills. “My Doorbell” gives Jack a break from his flashy red guitar to play the piano while Meg drives a bass drum beat and shakes a tambourine like no white girl can.
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Red:
Nina Simone - “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”
I’ve been listening to Nina Simone for Lovers recently and am really digging her (original) version of “Don’t Let Me Be MisunderstoodÂ,” which was later recorded by The Animals. It has a sweet, dreamy quality to it. Makes me think of Pulp Fiction, even though I don’t think Quentin’s ever used this song in a movie. The whole Nina Simone for Lovers cd is sweet, though, so check it out.
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Max:
Islands - “Rough Gem”
It’s just so…catchy. How can any one song be so freakin’ catchy? But then again, what else could you expect from two of the brilliant minds behind The Unicorns. Greatness.
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Richard:
Paul Simon - “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”
Because of the musical gold in such lyrics as “Slip out the back Jack. Make a new plan Stan. You don’t need to be coy roy. Just get yourself free. Oh yeah Hop on the bus gus. You dont need to discuss much. Just drop off the key lee. And get yourself free.”
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Nate:
Wilco - Theologians
So, bands are like people. They have novel experiences, go to exotic countries, say damaging things while drunk, feel a tad creepy about finding cartoon characters like Ariel from the Little Mermaid attractive, and have moments of clarity. Bands, like people, should grow. They should develop. If you are the same in twenty years as you are now, then you are just not trying. I would even venture to say you are lazy and a vagrant. OK. This song isn’t about change. It’s not about forgivness, and it’s not about acceptance. It’s about movement and being new. It’s also about suicide. Well, it’s closer to starting over. This song has a Sesame Street meets Gershwin beat and is not meant to depress or save. It’s not about death and pain. It’s more about being reborn. Destroying something old so that there can be creation.
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Dan:
Lynyrd Skynyrd - “The Ballad of Curtis Loew”
Giving a lonely man bottlecaps to play a dobro has never sounded so good. “Curtis Loew” is one of the finer, lesser-played Skynyrd ditties. It’s from their second album, aptly titled “Second Helping,” which also contained “Swamp music,” “Workin’ for MCA,” “Call me the breeze,” and a little forgotten opener called “Sweet Home Alabama.” If this were “Albums of the week,” I’d say buy “Second Helping.” But this is “Songs of the week,” so buy my favorite off the album, “The Ballad of Curtis Loew.”
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Amit:
Madeleine Peyroux - “Between the Bars”
Madeleine is the whitest woman to sound like Billie Holiday to date. Hear her add her own sensual and solemn tone to the late Elliott Smith’s “Between the Bars“, but don’t become a cutter.
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Nate:
Randy Newman - “Shame”
Randy Newman wrote this song about New Orleans. I would guess. Someone so enamored with the idea of New Orleans wrote a song about an “angry, powerless man.” This was it. And still is, mind you. Saying a song is great is like saying a book is great or a movie is great. It doesn’t have to make you feel good. Some say “if it feels good, do it.” But in the words of Tim Kinsella of Cap’n Jazz, and careful use of the comma, “If it feels. Good, do it.” This song feels.
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