Funny, no? Accurate, too. Tinnitus does, indeed, kick my ass. Often.
Nothing more to add. Except that I wouldn't wish tinnitus on my worst enemy.
(Palet Cleanser. Oh, and the music is at a proper volume.)
Okay, so now the good news, especially for you constant readers. 'Member a few posts back when I couldn't figure out what song my bugging' earworm was from? The one where a young woman keeps singing/saying "if ya wanna"? Well, guess who finally figured it out? Ah, go ahead, I'll give you three tries.
Gotta it in one! You smarty pants, you.
Yes!, I figured out where that confounded "if ya wanna" comes from. My original post was right in that it is a female pop star. While I've heard of her, I thought she was a child actress, which turns out to be true. She was. But apparently, she was also a pop star. Exactly where and when I heard her song is anyone's guess. But, after finally finding it, I'll admit, I kinda like it, in a teenybopper-female-singing-pop-song kinda way, of course. In any event, it is catchy, and it's no wonder that it became the infernal earworm that drove me crazy for days.
Now it's your turn. Try it. But only "if ya wanna."
Monday, July 15, 2013
Today's earworm is actually not mine but my wife's. (I have one, of course, but it's one that I get a lot and have little to say about. Okay, if you must know, it's Afternoon Delight. Happy now? "Sky rockets in flight?"… You're welcome.)
Last night we saw the great Sir Paul McCartney in concert. There aren't enough superlatives to describe the show, and I'm not over-exaggerating when I say yowza. For two and a half hours, the 71-year old McCartney rocked his, his band's and our socks off. (And many in the audience were wearing sandals!)
Pulling from his vast catalog, both with the Fabs and Wings, as well as his enormous solo outings, McCartney played nearly forty songs. (Thirty-six, to be precise. Unless you count the Abbey Road medley as three songs, in which case the grand total was thirty-eight.) While he played a number of his "hits," he also pulled out a few deep tracks; songs that you'd never expect him to play. Those tunes, of course, are the most fun for we diehard fans. (But really, what track on any Beatle album could be considered a deep cut anyway?)
So, here's a play-by-play of what McCartney and his band played. Keep in mind that there are a few surprises, and if you have tickets for an upcoming show, and want to keep the McCartney magic intact (which I very much suggest), then click away from this post! I know it'll be hard, leaving this compelling and riveting (and other synonyms) blog. In fact, it may be too hard. Forget it. Forget my suggestion to leave the post. Just after reading, remember to forget to remember. That way, after you've seen Macca, you can return and re-read the post as if you've never seen it before. A twofer as it were.
Read on MacDuff….
The pre-game show is quite odd in that it is a DJ playing Beatle/McCartney tunes, mostly done by others, but some by the boys' themselves, mashed together with an annoying thumping bass beat that overwhelms everything. And believe me, as bass is one sound I can still hear with both ears, it was maddening.
Ah, but then the lights dimmed, and the audience cheered--or more accurately roared, as Sir Paul and his band made it to the stage. And very soon the sounds of a very familiar guitar line faded in….
(Credit MJ KIM/MPL Communications)
1. "Eight Days a Week" -- One of two songs that Paul did which was originally sung by John. Sounded great, but everyone (and I do mean everyone, including yours truly) were busy fumbling with our smart phones, trying to take a picture just to prove we were there, in the same room as a Beatle, that the song was over before being totally noticed.
2. "Junior's Farm" -- Pretty interesting choice for the second song. Yes, it was a single and all, and while I really like it, it was hardly a smash hit. It was last night, though.
3. "All My Loving" -- Beatle Paul singing a Beatle Paul song only as Beatle Paul could.
4. "Listen to What the Man Said" -- If you want to know how Paul's singing was, he sang the falsetto "the wonder of it all, baby" bit as if, well, as if her were Paul-freaking-McCartney.
5. "Let Me Roll It" -- Me thinks Big Mac likes to play this song. He's done it, I think, on every tour since Wings Over America way back in 1976. He and his awesome band certainly tear into the solos. His band is truly amazing. McCartney knows that the fans want to hear every note played the same as on the album, and these guys oblige as probably the greatest Beatle cover band ever. But you can sometimes tell that they are itching to break free, just a little, and on a few tunes, Mac and the guys let loose. Let Me Roll It is one of those tunes, which has an added coda of the Jimi Hendrix classic, Foxy Lady. Jam on. (I bet soundcheck is awesome. To be a fly on the wall…)
6. "Paperback Writer" -- Great song, with a double-take attached as Paul adds a guitar solo.
7. "My Valentine" -- From Paul's standard's album, Kisses on the Bottom. Written for his wife (who was present at the show), it clearly doesn't fit with the rest of the set, but I rather like the song. The chord changes are unusual, and the melody, naturally, is catchy. (It is, after all, a McCartney tune.)
8. "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" -- "This one is for the Wings fans." Indeed! As a Wings fan I couldn't have been happier with this selection. (But Paul, please, next time--and there will be a next time--play something from Ram.)
9. "The Long and Winding Road" --Admittedly not a particular favorite of mine, mainly because I don't like the production done on the album. Paul, also on record as not liking the strings added to his song, adds them (via keyboard) here, too. Keeping with the "sounds just like the album" philosophy, I suppose.
10. "Maybe I'm Amazed" --Dedicated to Linda. An obvious single from the McCartney album, but wasn't released as one. (A live version from Wings Over America was released as a single, and was a big hit as I recall.) What can I say. Love the song. Particular the guitar line.
11. "I've Just seen a Face" --One of those Beatle songs that I can listen to again and again. (Who am I kidding, all of the Beatle songs I can listen to again and again. Yes, including Revolution #9. "Take this brother, may it serve you well.") Unfortunately I was distracted by two "youngsters" sitting in front of us who were more interested in drinking than listening to a song from side two of the Help! LP. Help! indeed!
12. "We Can Work It Out" -- "Life is very short and there's no time…" to pay attention to two knuckle-heads spilling beer.
13. "Another Day" --This song is better than it's reputation. (Made, I suppose, from Lennon's How Do You Sleep.) I've always liked it anyway.
14. "And I Love Her" --The opening acoustic guitar run made my wife beam. 'Nuff said.
15. "Blackbird" --After playing it , Paul asks if any guitar players out there have tried to play it. The joke is, we all have. "You're mostly not playing it right." Cheeky Paul.
16. "Here Today" --Difficult song, still, for me to listen to.
17. "Your Mother Should Know" -- You kind of forget how much fun some of these songs are.
18. "Lady Madonna" -- This is another song that Paul plays often. And why the heck not?
19. "All Together Now" -- Okay, so I love this song. Sue me. "That was one of my more intellectually challenging songs." Says Paul.
20. "Lovely Rita" --Paul on a twelve string. Who woulda thought this song would rock so much?
21. "Mrs. Vandebilt" --With the "ho hey ho" chorus it's a surefire crowd pleasure.
22. "Eleanor Rigby" -- It's amazing how keyboards can sound like a string quartet. (Courtesy of Paul "Wix" Wickens, who plays any number of instruments. Go ahead, pick a number. He plays at least that many.)
23. "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" -- The other "John" song that Paul sang. How great is it to pull out these songs that were never meant to be played live, and play them live?
24. "Something" -- The uke comes out and you know it's Something. Loved the way the band crashed in for the solo and Paul swaps the uke for a guitar to finish the song.
25. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" -- Another crowd pleaser. How could it not be?
26. "Band on the Run" -- I honestly didn't expect him to play this. Glad I was wrong.
27. "Back in the U.S.S.R." -- Great song, great story from McCartney. A "Free Pussy Riot" slide projected as the band rocks. Priceless.
28. "Let It Be" -- I guess because the Fabs have two different guitar solos on their releases (single and album), guitar player Rusty Anderson wails on his own solo.
29. "Live and Let Die" -- Great, but bittersweet. You know the show is nearing the end. (In this case, literally.)
More pyrotechnics than usual. The older gentlemen sitting next to my wife actually looked up from playing mine sweeper on his phone.
30. "Hey Jude" -- See? Told ya. You know the audience singing the "na na na has" means the show proper is done.
----Encore 1---
31. "Day Tripper" --Ah, the sweet sound of that awesome riff. Hard to beat.
32. "Hi Hi Hi" -- Okay, didn't expect this one and boy did Paul and the guys rock it for all it's worth.
33. "I Saw Her Standing There" -- Paul does the count in!
----Encore 2----
34. "Yesterday" -- Of course. Wix provides the strings.
35. "Helter Skelter" -- Now that's programing! Yesterday to Helter Skelter! Man did it rock!
36. "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" -- Paul, Rusty and the other guitar (and bass) player, Brian Ray, trade wild solos during The End. They look like they are having a blast. I hope so. I was.
(I haven't mentioned drummer/percussionist Abe Laboriel, Jr. who was so much fun to watch. No question he was having a great time. Great drummer…and singer too!)
Phew!
So, my wife's earworm? Well it's not surprising, and not so bad as earworms go. (Hey, it could be Afternoon Delight). But even so, I still got the stink eye this morning. Ah well, "there's only one way to go out!"
I've tried many a time, but I just can't seem to get into the Dead. I've got several of their albums, including so-called "essentials" as American Beauty and Workingman's Dead, and, while they are certainly not bad, they leave me with a profound feeling of "meh." I've also tried several different variations on their "greatest hits" collections, and still can't see what the big deal is.
It fascinates me, particularly being such a fan of music in general, and rock and roll in particular, that I just don't understand the utter commitment many, if not most of the Dead's fans had made to the group. Following the band on their tours, swapping and collecting literally hundreds, if not thousands of legal bootlegs, knowing what songs were played when and where, and then also knowing which versions were the best; it's just mind boggling.
I do understand fanaticism, I have that with The Beatles and PJ Harvey, among others.
(There is really no reason to post a photo of PJ. But there's also no reason not to.)
But I just don't get the Dead. And that's why it's particularly odd that the Dead make my Earworm playlist with some regularity. Over night, briefly waking to accommodate my cat Nick's insistence on getting under the covers, the Dead were front and center and the tune, or rather the phrase, was there, still, when I got up this morning. Why this song? Why this phrase? Why am I washing the cereal bowl while singing and doing the Hustle?
