So instead I'm just going to talk about some songs that have been particularly essential to making me what I am today, complete with pictures, because as I'm sure you've spotted by now I am a very visual person, and what would Ziggy Stardust be without the mullet?
Somebody to Love - Jefferson Airplane.
Jefferson Airplane
I don't know if you've ever seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but I heard this song for the first time in that film (and my GOD it's used well) and honestly it blew me away. Grace Slick's voice is so crazy and wild, in this song it's practically the audible equivalent of a sneer. (By the way - a friend of mine recently overheard someof the most annoying girls in our class talking about this song - they were arguing about whether it was by The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. I'm dying inside.)
Candy Says - The Velvet Underground
Candy Darling
Is it odd to be able to relate enormously to a song about a transvestite? No, seriously. But the themes of enforced physical alienation from what you'd like to be, and longing to be free of your body - that's something universal, or at least I think it is. And who can resist a little doo-doo-wop?
Colleen - Joanna Newsom
I've spoken about my love for this woman before, but jesus christ I love this song. It reminds me of all the fairy stories I used to read when I was a child, especially the Irish ones for some reason (maybe because I used to have an irish friend called Colleen? Who knows?) Suffice to say that the lines 'I hate the sight of that empty air, like stepping for a missing stair and falling forth forever blindly' are marvelously beautiful, as is 'he-who-easily-can-curl-himself-against-the-sky'.
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust
Aah Ziggy. The red-haired martian motherfucker of kickarse songs. That guitar riff is iconic. Here's a little story; a few months ago now me and a friend were late for a party, and we got there when all the booze had been drunk and everyone was pissed but us. Harsh, yes, but we managed - we started playing this over and over again on the speakers in the garden and doing a dance, since everyone else was too drunk to laugh. It was fun - but that's not the story. I guess we listened to that song a little too much, because afterwards, at about eleven, we went for a walk and ended up in a park on our own (not clever, but we were lucky). And then... oh jesus I can't describe it. It was a feeling that can only be partially recreated by reading Alan Ginsberg's 'Howl' about five times in a row with music on full blast the whole time and some weed to help you along. But we hadn't smoked anything, and I'd left all my books at home. It was kind of a spiritual experience - and yes, I know that sounds corny as hell, but it was. It was like seeing God, only instead of God there was some weird mash-up of David Bowie, Dean Moriarty and Buddha. All done by the power of music alone, and whatever other factors contributed to it, but we really aren't sure what the hell they were.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
No comments:
Post a Comment