New Discovery: Tracy Chapman's Change

I recently discovered Tracy Chapman's 2005 song Change. I can think of at least two friends of mine who would benefit from these words.

Plus, it's catchy!

Here are the lyrics, with the song following below:

If you knew that you would die today,
Saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that love can break your heart
When you're down so low you cannot fall
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

If you knew that you would be alone,
Knowing right, being wrong,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would find a truth
That brings up pain that can't be soothed
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

Are you so upright you can't be bent?
If it comes to blows are you so sure you won't be crawling?
If not for the good, why risk falling?
Why risk falling?

If everything you think you know,
Makes your life unbearable,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you'd broken every rule and vow,
And hard times come to bring you down,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would die today,
If you saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you saw the face of God and love
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

New Discovery: The Decemberists

A quick one while we're away...

At work, we alternate among many radio stations including the local Progressive college station, WTUL.

On most Friday afternoons, the DJ plays The Decemberists, especially this song...



Here is my other current favorite song of theirs...



I guess I am very particular: Songs by the Decemberists that have an apostrophe in the title.

For those in New Orleans, they're playing at Jazz Fest on the "First Sunday". I am still working out mentally if I can venture out into the world on a Sunday. We'll see...

What a great song. What a great band.

New Discovery: Antony Hegarty

I have had "Antony Hegarty" listed on my New Discovery list for almost two years - so I guess I can't call him a New Discovery.

Flipping through the channels one evening, I came across a tribute concert to Leonard Cohen. I was half paying attention until this astonishing voice came on. This is what I saw. Unfortunately, "embedding disabled by request".

I stopped in my tracks and watched with my mouth agape for the entire time. What an incredible voice.

Antony (and his band The Johnsons) made their US network television debut on Late Night with David Letterman:


They have also appeared on one of my current favorite shows, Sundance Channel's Live from Abbey Road.

Here is Antony Hegarty's Wikipedia page.

New Discovery: Girl Talk

Oddly enough, I found out about Girl Talk because the new CD was reviewed on National Public Radio last week.

Here is one of their songs...



Actually, I guess that would be "his" songs because it's just one guy. To read about Girl Talk, click here.

If you want to buy the new CD, click here.

New Discovery: Arctic Monkeys

Damn you Pandora. I keep discovering New To Me bands and can't get anything else done.

My latest discovery - Arctic Monkeys.

Their best song is a click away below.

New Discovery: The Subways

Every week, I watch Sundance Channel's TV show "Live From Abbey Road" . This week's show featured Gnarls Barkley, Herbie Handcock, and a band that I had never heard of before - The Subways.

No. Not all together, silly!

I really like their sound. They remind me of Dash Rip Rock or Reverend Horton Heat, yet they're from England.

Here's the video for their song Oh Yeah. It was released 3 years ago in the UK. I'm still a bit slow in getting hip to new music.



If you think the singer, Billy Lunn, is cute, check out my other blog devoted to Male Stars Shirtless (or my Yahoo group of the same name).

Criminal (A Quick One Revisited)

Following up to my below Justin Nozuka post, here he is performing the song live. (The video to the original version of his song Criminal doesn't seem to be available on YouTube anymore.)

New (To Me) Song

My new favorite song - from the end credits of The Last Kiss.



The band is called Turin Brakes and the song Pain Killer.

Apparently, the song is five years old. I gotta get more current with my music!

The Golden Light of Victory

I happened upon the TV show "Ninja Warrior" on the channel G4. The show, imported from Japan, is a reality competition of top (mostly Japanese) athletes trying to complete obstacle courses.

It's a fantastic show!

There are four stages of competition. One hundred start the first stage. In two of the four tournaments I have seen so far, NO ONE has made it to the fourth stage. The show just ends with no winner. Imagine a United States show like "Survivor" doing that.

My favorite competitors right now are Shingo Yamamoto and action star Kane Kosugi.

Here is Shingo trying to conquer the final stage.



Here is one of the few YouTube videos of Kane competing that I could find.

Connecting The Dots

Even in this age of mostly shitty music, I am always trying to find good new music to listen to. Here is the story of how I recently discovered one song.

In February 2007, Rolling Stone magazine featured Panic! At The Disco on their cover. (Yes, the “!” is part of their name.) Six months later, that magazine made it to the top of my To Read pile. After reading the article about the band, I downloaded some of their songs from LimeWire. I narrowed down my favorites and played those for Carlos – “Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”, “Disconnect The Dots”, “The Only Different Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage”, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, and “I Constantly Thank God For Esteban”. The length of their song titles is a bit annoying, but the actual songs are quite melodic.

He and I both agreed that “Disconnect The Dots” was our favorite of the bunch, though Carlos did like the time signature changes in that last (“Esteban”) one.

I found their album on Amazon, but didn’t see our favorite song listed.

On further research, I figured out that Panic! At The Disco didn’t actually sing that song. A band called Satanic Panic In The Attic did. The LimeWire member who uploaded the song had misnamed it.

That was the end of the story until I was preparing this blog entry. Looking for the song’s video on YouTube, I found out that the band’s name is NOT Satanic Panic In The Attic. That is the name of the album. The band’s name is Of Montreal.

They are from Athens, Georgia – home to REM and The B-52’s. Satanic Panic In The Attic is their sixth album, released in 2004. Carlos and I sampled most of the songs from the album and they’re all really good. I recommend buying this one. (It’s on my Amazon Wish List if you’re looking for something to buy me for my birthday.)

And that is the story of how Carlos and I got turned on to “Disconnect The Dots” by Of Montreal.



Lagniappe: Panic! At The Disco’s "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off".