Song of the Day #10 - Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

As the ones of you who have read this blog a bit over the years might have discovered, I am a massive Radiohead fan. Or, that is, the last record, hm, that is just a bit blend. I hope they get back to things like this. Cause this, my darlings, is frankly brilliant. This whole concert where this clip is from is just totally and utterly brilliant, and maybe my favourite live concert of all time. Listen to the guitar riffs, the layers, the build ups, the corners, they way they tone it down just at the right moment, the bass riffs and the drum beats, the vocals and last but not least the energy in this room. These people are having A LOT of fun, and I am so so envious of them. This is almost musical heaven. Close to it at least. Oh, and I hope you get some joy out of it too ;) Have a good weekend!

Song of the Day #9 - Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - The Lady is a Tramp

Time for some crooning. Tony Bennett is one of the few old school crooners left and in 2011 he released an album where he sings duets with more modern day stars, for instance, none other than the fabulous Lady Gaga. And with Gaga in the studio there were really only one jazz standard they could do; "The Lady is a Tramp." I had actually not watched the video until a few days ago, I simply never knew it existed, but oh my, it's brilliant. Gaga can sing, Tony can sing and my they both can play too! Musical play date this one.

Song of the Day #8 - CC Cowboys - Død manns blues (Dead mans blues)

These days we have a program on Norwegian tv where Norwegian artists cover each others songs. It's a group of seven artists who in the end all will have covered each other, covering one artist in every show. Next week one of my 90's heroes will be up, the lead singer and song writer of a band called CC Cowboys, Magnus Grønneberg. I am so looking forward to see what the others will do with his songs. I tried to describe CC Cowboys music and role in Norwegian music for my Dutch boyfriend yesterday, and found it quite difficult. It's something very gritty about the music and raw and real and straight from the heart. Hm.. Maybe it's just very rock'n'roll. This song is fairly old from 1990 so the style here is a lot more gritty then what has been made later. To me this song brings back memories of being a kid and aspiring teenager and hearing this tunes from by brother's bedroom who was in the early twenties. It was something very dangerous, fantastic and scary about them, I was instantly hooked.

As to what the lyrics are about.. Not that sure, but they are quite brilliant anyway. There was a book released in Norway with the same title as the song, so it might be it, other than that it seam to have some quite clear references to what happens to a man coming home from war.

Below the video you find the lyrics quickly (!) translated into English.
(The film in the video are fragments from a performance at Svalbard acoustic DVD. More here.) 




Det satt en stakkars faen                      - A poor bastard sat
På en benk ved der jeg bor                  - On a bench close to where I live
Hans øyne var fulle av tårer                  - His eyes where filled with tears
Han skreik til alle som gikk forbi          - He screamed at everyone
                                                                       who passed him
De ristet på hode å sa:                         - They shook their head and said
Hærregud hvor jeg er lykkelig              - My God, how lucky/happy I am.

Ref:
Eeeelsker jorden,                                - Love the earth
Blir elsket av jorden                            - Being loved by the earth
Jeg elsker deg,                                    - I love you
Jeg elsker deg,                                    - I love you
Ååå du elsker meg.                             - Oh, and you love me

I 1945 våknet han opp fra sin drøm   - In 1945 he woke up from his dream
Som har punka hele gutten           - That had fucked up the whole boy
Bombing, Plyndring,                             - Bombing and pillaging
Horing og Drikking                               - Whores and drinking
Alt som hører nervekrigen til.                - And everything that is
                                                              part of the nerve (gas) war

Etter krigen reiste han til moderland igjen, - After the war he went home
                                                                  to his motherland
Til sin kjære hustru som ventet ham hjem, - To his dear wife
                                                               who waited for him at home
Men ting var ikke så vel                  - But things were not that well of
Hun hadde fått en ny venn              - She had gotten a new friend
Så bar det ut i drømmene igjen.  - Then it was off into the dreams again.

Refrain

Medalijen på sitt bryst                            - With the medal on his chest
Raste han rundt                                      - He was raging around
Med Vin, sprit og øl i sine årer         -  Wine, spirits and beer
                                                                       filled his veins
Å som tiden går det er 40 år i år    - Oh, how time flies,
                                                                 it's 40 years ago this year
Siden en bom så dagens lys.                   - Since a bom was born.

Ref.

Et sørgelig historie,                                - A sad story
Fra en sørgelig pen                                -From a sad pen.
Jeg krever ingen benåding                      - I need no pardon
Jeg ber ingen bønn,                               - I pray no prayer
Ber ingen bønn,                                    - Pray no prayer
Jeg ber ingen Bøøøønn                         - I pray no prayer

Ref.

Song of the Day #7 - Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow

Sunday, and this song somehow seams to fit. Flowing and makes one thing about life a little.The last six months I have walked to work a lot and for me it's a brilliant moment to listen to good music. I love walking and listening and see the world glide by around me. Needless to say I have been listening to a lot of different stuff, and so far there is one song that beats anything else; Maybe Tomorrow by Stereophonics. The flow of the song and those beautiful harmonies that goes through the whole song just cuddles you a little as you wander into the world and has just the perfect pace to take in the morning rush hour and passing people. Try it yourself, you will love it too.

These great experiences made me want to look into the song a bit more. I had actually not seen the video until a few weeks ago. And it's quite lovely. Watching it and also really listening to the lyrics for the first time made me realize that the song is about being lost in the world and slowly finding your way home and yourself or having hope that some day you will. For me that made the song beautiful in a new dimension. "I've been the upper side of down and the inside of out, but we breath, we breath.."

Other blog posts about Stereophonics and Kelly Jones, the lead singer. 

Maybe Tomorrow on Spotify

Song of the Day #6 - Sean Lennon - Dead Meat

I have written about Sean Lennon before in my blog, but I couldn't help posting this song as a Song of the Day when I found this lovely live acoustic version. John Lennon has always been my favourite Beatle. Sean Lennon is his father's son, yes, that's true, but by golly, he deserves to be recognized in his own right too. What a great musician and songwriter! Light, delightful arrangements and melodies and what a voice!

You can read more about my thoughts on Sean here.



Here is the original version of Dead Meat