the sloppy copy

Oh sing it, Waylon!

“Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way?”   / Waylon Jennings (1975)

Also if you don’t have the urge to get up and do some country line dancing when you hear this, well, I just don’t know what to say to you.

Trippy vid, but consider the subject matter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch84fmOa414

“Brian Wilson” / Barenaked Ladies (1992)

Also, I think my brother has Steven Page’s glasses…

Really? She’s doing two Ben Folds songs in a week? 

Shut up, it’s my damn blog.

This one isn’t of the obviously-obvious variety: I picked it because of one single line. Listen closely at about the 2:47 mark:

“Battle of Who Could Care Less” / Ben Folds Five (1997)

Did you pick it out? “You see, I found your old ID, and you’re all dressed up like The Cure.” 
(see right)

This whole song is full of lines I love: “You think Rockford Files is cool, but there are some things you would change if it were up to you.” Folds is a sublime songwriter.

This might just be my favorite Song About Another Singer. Well no shit, you’re saying. He’s fucking singing about Elliott Smith and you manage to include one of his songs in every single fucking theme week you think up. Enough already, we get it!

Um, excuse me. This is a good goddamn song, one songwriter to another. It’s poignant, and I hate using that word. (Note: the song fades out too early at the end of this video for some reason, but it’s the best vid I could find on youtube that wasn’t some emo 12-year-old playing it on his Casio keyboard).

“Late” / Ben Folds (2005)
The lyrics:

Under some dirty words on a dirty wall
Eating takeout by myself
I played the shows
Got back in the van and put the Walkman on
And you were playing

In some other dive a thousand miles away
I played a thousand times before
And like pathetic stars, the truck stops and the rock club walls
I always knew
You saw them too
But you never will again

It’s too late
Don’t you know
It’s been too late
For a long time

Elliott, man, you played a fine guitar
And some dirty basketball
The songs you wrote
Got me through a lot
Just wanna tell you that

But it’s too late
It’s too late
No, don’t you know
it’s been too late
for a long time

Oh no
Things were looking up
Least that’s what I heard
Oh no
Someone came and washed away your hard-earned
Peace of mind

When desperate static beats the silence up
A quiet truth to calm you down
The songs you wrote
Got me through a lot
Just wanna tell you that

But it’s too late
It’s too late
No, don’t you know
It’s been too late
For a long time
It’s too late
It’s too late
No, don’t you know
It’s been too late
For a long time

Thanks to one Mr. Gavin Edwards and others like him, I now know that I’m not alone in thinking that Dobie Gray was singing Give me the Beach Boys and free my soul…  For quite awhile, I just thought the singer who was part of “The In Crowd” was also just a real big fan of surf rock (I mean, who isn’t?).

Turns out Mr. Gray is just a fan of comma-ed punctuation in his lyrics: Give me the beat, boys, and free my soul… I’m sure anyone can see why six-year-old Julie was confused.*

This disordered auditory processing has birthed some pretty silly musical parodies (OOOoh, I smell another Theme Week!), but it’s also led me to make a list of songs about other singers. While “Drift Away” wouldn’t technically be on the list, I’m still including a link below because, gosh darn it, it’s a good song (See, Dobie? I like commas, too!).

This week I bring to you: Singers Singing About Other Singers! Stay tuned, and as always, feel free to leave suggestions!

“Drift Away” / Dobie Gray (1973)



*See also: Sixteen-year-old Julie

And around the corner we have the kitchen, with updated tile and OH MY GOD THE ALIENS ARE BACK!

Apologies, reader(s). Time got away from me the past week-or-so.
Here are some things I’ve been meaning to post here,* in no real order:

1. The conclusion of this past sotd theme week, except I really got stuck. I usually try to think through the theme so that I have at least five days’ worth of songs. I did not do this this time. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m just going to let that one sort of die on its own.

2. The last baseball game I attended, on the Tuesday before Easter.

3. A brand spankin’ new sotd theme week that I’ve had in my brain’s slow cooker, stewing away for weeks now. Shoulda busted that one out earlier, my apologies.

4. Selected high and low lights from a recent trip to Minnesota (Okay, so I’ve only been “meaning” to write that one since I got home approximately two hours ago).

5. Buying furniture.

That’s all I have for now, folks.

Julie out.



*Meaning, I’m really going to try and actually, you know, post them in the not-so-distant future.