This is probably the song that a lot of Beatles fans have been waiting for me to do.
This song was on the Photograph Smile album that was released in 1998. Personally, I like this song and Day after Day better than anything in his career. The song didn’t chart in the US but it did receive some airplay.
The video Julian made was a fun parody of the Beatles…as “The Butlers.” Julian did the song in a Beatle style and turned it into a homage to them
Julian Lennon:
This is probably the song that a lot of Beatles fans have been waiting for me to do. People are always asking when am I going to do something more towards the Beatles style. And so I thought, why not? In a sense it’s a homage, but the sentiment and lyrics are serious. It actually came about from walking around in France and there was a shop with an English newspaper. I thought, ‘Oh get the paper, catch up on the rest of the world,’ and then I thought, ‘I don’t wanna know.’ It turned into a relationship song.
I Don’t Wanna Wanna Know
I don’t wanna know what’s going on And I don’t wanna know what’s right or wrong And I don’t wanna know who’s bed you’re in And I don’t wanna know just where you’ve been.
Oh baby, you were never really good for me
Just maybe, you’re a stranger to reality And baby, don’t you know you haven’t got a clue ‘cos lately, I don’t know what to do.
I don’t wanna know what’s going on And I don’t wanna know what’s right or wrong And I don’t wanna know who’s bed you’re in And I don’t wanna know just where you’ve been.
Oh baby, you said you’re changing for the better now Just maybe, you’re not as strong as you thought somehow And baby, you know you’re heading down a one way track And baby, I won’t bring you back.
Well, you said you were looking for a better way But you just keep coming back To a place you can never seem to get away That will always hold you back…
Oh baby, you said you’d rather be a daddy’s girl, But lately, you’re try’n a fight against the whole wide world Just maybe, you’ve found a love that you can hold on to And baby, I pray for you.
I don’t wanna know what’s going on And I don’t wanna know what’s right or wrong And I don’t wanna know who’s bed you’re in And I don’t wanna know just where you’ve been…
This song has a dirty sounding guitar intro and Sheryl’s voice drives it along.
This is rumored to be about Eric Clapton, who Crow dated for a while. She has said it is not about one person in particular, but a composite of guys she went out with who wasn’t good for her. Clapton appears on her 1999 album Sheryl Crow and Friends.
Crow has said that it is definitely not about Clapton…she has said: “I can’t look at that relationship as a mistake.”
The song peaked at #20 in the Billboard 100 in 1998. It was on her album The Globe Sessions which peaked at #5 in 1998 in the Billboard Album Charts.
From Songfacts
Like Carly Simon, Crow dated many high-profile guys, making the song rife for speculation. Among her paramours: Kid Rock, Lance Armstrong, Jakob Dylan, and Owen Wilson.
In a 2015 interview, we asked Jeff Trott, Crow’s frequent songwriting collaborator and guitarist, to weigh in on the mystery. He said:
“I’ve never ever talked to Sheryl about it – never, ever. One of these days, I’m just going to like throw it out there. Everyone just assumed it was Eric Clapton, but I thought it could be Jakob Dylan from The Wallflowers. The Wallflowers supported Sheryl Crow when I was in her touring band.
But she dated Eric Clapton for a little while, for about six months … But he was really into Sheryl, big time. I thought for sure they were going to get married. I think the real deal is that he really wanted to have a very traditional marriage, meaning that Sheryl would take care of things, in a traditional housewife role. At the time, this was like when she was pretty much peaking and playing everywhere, and she would’ve had to give that up.” (Here’s the complete interview with Jeff Trott.)
The video is pretty straightforward, with Crow miming and vamping to the song in an unadorned room. It was directed by Samuel Bayer, who used the sepia look and film transitions that show up in a lot of his work.
My Favorite Mistake
I woke up and called this morning The tone of your voice was a warning That you don’t care for me anymore
I made up the bed we sleep in I looked at the clock when you creep in It’s six AM and I’m alone
Did you know when you go it’s the perfect ending To the bad day I was just beginning When you go all I know is you’re my favorite mistake
Your friends act sorry for me They watch you pretend to adore me But I’m no fool to this game
Now here comes your secret lover She’ll be unlike any other Until your guilt goes up in flames.
Did you know when you go it’s the perfect ending To the bad day I’d gotten used to spending When you go all I know is you’re my favorite mistake You’re my favorite mistake
Well maybe nothing lasts forever Even when you stay together I don’t need forever after, but it’s your laughter won’t let me go So I’m holding on this way
Did you know could you tell you were the only one That I ever loved? Now everything’s so wrong Did you see me walking by, did it ever make you cry?
Now you’re my favorite mistake Yeah you’re my favorite mistake You’re my favorite mistake
This show had great writing and cast. For my money, it was the sitcom of the 90s. It wasn’t like all the main characters were likable like other sitcoms…far from it…but it worked perfectly.
The Soup Nazi was based on Al Yeganeh, the real-life owner of Soup Kitchen International in Manhattan, New York City. After the episode aired, Jerry Seinfeld and members of the cast and crew went to the restaurant for lunch. Yeganeh yelled at them and stated that the publicity had ruined his reputation. After Seinfeld offered an apology, Yeganeh yelled, “No soup for you!” and ejected them from his restaurant. Any references to “Seinfeld” are forbidden in any Soup Kitchen International.
Yeganeh ran his soup kitchen as a very tight ship. All of his customers would line up and be forced to obey his strict and formal rules of standing, talking, paying, waiting and requesting the soup the desired. Anyone who deviated in the slightest and offended Yeganeh was immediately told to get out and refunded their money.
Yeganeh’s pat line, to any customer who offended him, was “No soup for you!”
Um… you know what? Has anyone ever told you you look exactly like Al Pacino? You know, “Scent Of A Woman.” Who-ah! Who-ah!
NO SOUP FOR YOU!
COME BACK ONE YEAR! NEXT!
Seinfeld: The Soup Nazi
The characters: Jerry Seinfield, Elaine Benes, Cosmo Kramer, George Costanza, Newman, Susan Ross, Sheila, Soup Nazi, Bania, Cedric, Bob, Super, and Furniture Guy.
Everyone goes to this new soup stand because the soup is so great. Unfortunately, the owner is obsessed about his customer’s ordering procedure. Jerry and his new girlfriend annoy everybody by using baby talk. George tries to do the same thing with Susan to show how annoying they are to everybody. Jerry and his girlfriend get rejected from the Soup Nazi’s kitchen when they’re caught kissing in line. Elaine buys an Armoire and asks Kramer to watch it. While watching it, Kramer is robbed by some gay, trash-talking street toughs who want nothing more than the Armoire. She then gets rejected from the soup kitchen when she offends the “Soup Nazi”. Kramer, who befriends the Soup Nazi, gets a new Armoire exactly like the one that was stolen from him. He then gives it to Elaine, who discovers the Soup Nazi’s recipes inside. Jerry pleads with her not to do anything, but Elaine threatens to put the Soup Nazi out of business.
I was an instant fan when I first heard Sheryl Crow. During the nineties, there were many pop-oriented females that I listened to (Sarah Mclaughlin is one)…and ones that I didn’t at all (her last name rhymes with “tears” “beers” “fears”) but Sheryl was different. She was more in the rock and roll genre. I saw her open up for the Rolling Stones at Vanderbilt’s Stadium and she sounded great.
I have always liked her lyrics…she has fun with them and always kept them interesting. I’ll be posting more Sheryl songs this weekend.
This song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100, #9 in the UK, #1 in Canada, and #12 in New Zealand in 1997.
It was on her self titled second studio album.
From Songfacts
This song describes a person who seems depressed or upset no matter what happens. According to Crow, the inspiration for the song was her feelings after the massive success of her first album, as her record label and the media put pressure on her to follow it up.
This won the Grammy award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
On her VH1 Storytellers appearance in 1998, Sheryl Crow said this was initially a country song, but she turned it into a rock song so she could get more exposure.
The Australian lensman Keir McFarlane directed the video, which portrays Crow as an angry museum exhibit (10 years before the movie Night at the Museum). McFarlane also did the video for Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.”
In 2011 Crow teamed up with chef Chuck White to write a cookbook called If It Makes You Healthy.
Crow was a huge fan of Tom Petty and said that this song was in some ways inspired by the way he played.
If It Makes You Happy
I belong, a long way from here I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes And drank ’till I was thirsty again We went searching, through thrift store jungles
Found Geronimo’s rifle, Marilyn’s shampoo And Benny Goodman’s cursive pen Well, okay, I made this up I promise you I’d never give up
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
Get down, real low down You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train Well, who hasn’t been there before?
I come ’round, around the hard way Bring you comics in bed Scrape the mold off the bread And serve you french toast again Okay, I still get stoned I’m not the kind of girl you’d take home
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
We’ve been far, far away from here I put on a poncho and played for mosquitoes And everywhere in between Well, okay, we get along So what if right now, everything’s wrong?
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
If it makes you happy It can’t be that bad If it makes you happy Then why the hell are you so sad?
My favorite final episode of any TV series. I liked the 1980’s Newhart show but I preferred the seventies series “The Bob Newhart Show” where Bob played psychologist Bob Hartley. This was the most creative ending I have ever seen in a sitcom. I remember watching it and was caught completely off guard. Seeing Emily (Suzanne Pleshette) again in that role was great.
The story didn’t matter as much as the end. No one had a clue this was going to happen in the finale. Bob Newhart had planted a story in the press where the ending was going to be Bob talking to God…played by George Burns or George C. Scott…just to throw people off.
Some shows have let me down with their final episode…this one pays off. In 2013 it was ranked number 1 in Entertainment Weekly’s 20 Best TV Series Finales Ever
“You won’t believe the dream I just had.”
You should really wear more sweaters.
What do you mean, beautiful blonde?
Your- your brothers can speak? Why didn’t they say anything up ’till now? I guess they’ve never been this P.O.’ed before.
Newhart: The Last Newhart
The characters: Dick Loudon / Robert Hartley, Joanna Loudon, Michael Harris, Stephanie Vanderkellen, George Utley, Larry, Darryl #1, Darryl #2, Emily Hartley
A Japanese firm buys up all the land in the town where Newhart is set to build a golf course. Everyone sells out and moves away wealthy… except Dick. Dick will not sell and they build the course around his Inn. Years pass and the old town residents return for a reunion at the Inn. They all regret moving and decide they are all moving back and will live at the Inn. Things are getting very bizarre and Dick, furiously yelling at everyone at how nuts they are steps out onto the Inn’s porch where he is knocked out by a stray golf ball.
We cut to a darkened bedroom. Bob Newhart wakes up and turns on a light. Its Bob Hartley’s bedroom from The Bob Newhart Show. Bob reaches over and shakes the person sleeping next to him awake. It’s Emily, Bob’s wife from The Bob Newhart Show. Newhart, now clearly Dr. Bob Hartley, starts to tell Emily about the strange dream he has just had – where he was an Inn Keeper in Vermont. The entire run of Newhart was nothing but Bob Hartley’s dream
This song released in 1994 was on the album Teenage Symphonies to God. It has everything you would want out of a power pop song. They got the name of the album from something Brian Wilson said… “I’m writing a teenage symphony to God,”
The Velvet Crush formed in Rhode Island in 1989, although vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck first met and began performing together in Champaign, Illinois. There Menck founded his own small label, Picture Book, on which he and Chastain recorded solo material as well as singles under various group names like the Springfields, Choo Choo Train, the Paint Set, and Bag-O-Shells.
The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and has continued to record, releasing their most recent album in 2004. Vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck are the band’s core members and they share singing and songwriting duties. Their debut album In the Presence of Greatness was produced by Matthew Sweet,
Hold Me Up
Dead on the phone One is too alone Suffer as the days Linger on and on Miles and miles away Hold me up when I’m gone Hold me up when I’m gone
Time down the road Nothing much to show Suffer as the days Linger on and on Miles and miles away You hold me up when I’m gone Hold me up when I’m gone
Touching down and out of sight And being found to be alright
Life on the phone Wasted space at home Suffer as the days Linger on and on Miles and miles away You hold me up when I’m gone Hold me up when I’m gone You hold me up when I’m gone
This is a fantastic sounding song by a band named Ride.
Ride were formed in 1988 in Oxford by school friends Andy Bell and Mark Gardener, before recruiting drummer Loz Colbert at the Oxfordshire School of Art & Design and local bassist Steve Queralt.
They broke up in 1996 because of differences between Andy Bell and Mark Gardener. Gardener wanted to go forward in a more dance style of music…Bell didn’t but both wanted to go more contemporary style. Bassist Steve Queralt said: The band had two future directions open to them, and they chose the wrong option.
They reunited in 2014 and released their first album in 21 years in 2017.
Twisterella peaked at #12 in 1992 in the Billboard Alternative Charts and #36 in the UK. The song was on the Really Going Back album and it peaked at #5 in the UK in 1992.
The band had 1 top ten song, 6 top 40, and 10 top 75 songs in the UK charts.
Twisterella
Any minute you will feel the chemistry Vibrations in the brain can’t ever be explained Slip away and out of sight, feel the magnet of a night The circus that you see is where you have to be
If I’ve seen it all before why’s this bus taking me back again? If I don’t need anymore why’s this bus taking me back again?
Feel the weight letting go, feel more lightness than you’ve ever known You can’t see when light’s so strong, you can’t see when light is gone
If I’ve seen it all before why’s this bus taking me back again? If I don’t need anymore why’s this bus taking me back again?
First time I heard this I liked it. It’s a sugary pop song and I was surprised at the time that Dave Grohl the drummer for Nirvana wrote and sang it.
The song peaked at #9 on the Alternative Charts and #19 in the UK in 1996.
David Grohl wrote this and many other songs on the album when he was still the drummer for Nirvana. Kurt Cobain knew he wanted to pursue projects outside of Nirvana, and had no problem with it.
The video is a takeoff on Mentos commercials. Mentos are mint candies that come in tubes. They are made in Europe, and the commercials had a campy feel. Unfortunately for The Foo Fighters, Mentos make great projectiles and for years fans would throw the candy at them when they played this.
They stopped playing the song because of the Mentos flying at them and didn’t start playing it again until Weezer, who was touring with them started to play the song.
It won the 1996 MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video.
From Songfacts
This song is about being dumped. Lead Foo Dave Grohl broke it down: “Girl meets boy, boy falls in love, girl tells him to f–k off!”
The Mentos commercials became a big part of pop culture in the US. In each spot, someone gets a moment of inspiration after eating a mint and is then able to overcome some obstacle. In one spot, a woman’s car is boxed in, so she gets some burly construction workers to pick it up and move it for her. In another, a kid acts like a roadie to get backstage at a concert.
The video shows the band in similar situations, solving problems with the aid of their own special candy called Foo-tos.
This song was often covered by Weezer when the Foo Fighters and Weezer toured together in 2005.
The Foo Fighters released an acoustic version with Petra Haden singing with Dave Grohl for their 2006 live CD Skin and Bones.
In the video for the Foo Fighters song “Monkey Wrench,” which Grohl directed, a soothing version of “Big Me” plays as elevator music. Grohl commissioned the electronic act The Moog Cookbook, which had covered “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to his liking, to create this rendition for the video. The full electro version of “Big Me” can be heard on the Moog Cookbook compilation album Bartell.
Big Me
When I talk about it It carries on Reasons only knew When I talk about it Aries or treasons All renew
Big me to talk about it I could stand to prove If we can get around it I know that it’s true
When I talked about it Carried on Reasons only knew
But it’s you I fell into
When I talk about it It carries on Reasons only knew When I talk about it Aries or treasons All renew
Big me to talk about it I could stand to prove If we can get around it I know that it’s true
Well I talked about it Put it on Never was it true But it’s you I fell into
Well I talked about it Put it on Never was it true But it’s you I fell into
This was the lead single off of Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 released in 1990..The song was written by the four members George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty…Roy Orbison had passed away by this time. The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs Charts in 1990.
The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 peaked at #11 in 1990. The Vol 3 album was really their 2nd album and it was good but not great like the first one. Roy being gone left a big hole because you cannot just replace Roy’s voice.
She’s My Baby
She’s got her pudding in the oven And it’s gonna be good She better not leave me And go out to Hollywood She got the best pudding in the neighborhood She’s my baby
She can drive a truck She can drive a train (My baby, m-my my baby) She can even drive an aeroplane She’s so good to look at in the rain She’s my baby
She’s comin’ down the sidewalk She’s stumblin’ through the door She’s coming home from places She’s never been before She sits down on the sofa She pours herself a drink Says, honey, honey, honey, ain’t no time to think
My baby My baby
My baby
She’s got a body for business Got a head for sin She knocks me over like a bowling pin She came home last night and said Honey, honey, honey, it’s hard to get ahead
My baby My baby
She can build a boat She can make it float (My baby, m-my my baby) She can play my guitar Note for note She likes to stick her tongue right down my throat She’s my baby My baby My baby My baby
I always liked Yogi Bear and would watch it when I got a chance…if only for the way he said pic-a-nic baskets.
Yogi first started out as a sidekick in a Hanna-Barbera show called The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958. He was the first Hanna-Barbera character to break out.
In 1961 he was given his own show called The Yogi Bear Show. His show included other segments like Yakky Doodle and Snagglepuss. The show also featured episodes with Yogi Bear breaking away from the unadventurous life of other bears in Yellowstone Park.
The plot was basically Yogi raiding picnic baskets, dodging hibernation, being chased by Ranger Smith, and making money together with his more honest sidekick Boo-Boo Bear. The show also featured episodes of Ranger Smith trying to tame Yogi and Boo-Boo Bear.
Around this time the great baseball player Yogi Berra sued Hanna-Barbera for defamation. But Hanna-Barbera claimed that the similarity of the names was just purely coincidental. Eventually, Yogi Berra withdrew his suit. When Yogi Berra died the AP’s wire service mistakenly announced the death of Yogi Bear instead…that is sad.
Yogi starred in a feature film, Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear, in 1964.
Yogi’s personality was based on Art Carney’s character from The Honeymooners.
The Yogi Bear Show lasted only 2 season but other shows featuring Yogi continued on. Yogi Bear and Friends, Yogi’s Gang, Yogi’s Space Race, Galaxy Goof-Ups, Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, The New Yogi Bear Show, and Yo Yogi! Yogi was on the air from 1958 to the 1990s.
Daws Butler originated the voice of Yogi and did it from 1958 to 1988 when he passed away. He was replaced by Greg Burson who was personally taught by Butler on how to do Yogi’s voice and other characters.
I rarely post covers but this is a good one. No one will ever top Bowie’s version to me but this one has a charm about it I like. Cobain did a good job on this.
David Bowie liked this cover saying, “I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering ‘The Man Who Sold the World’.”
What he didn’t like were the kids that come up after his show and say, ‘It’s cool you’re doing a Nirvana song.’ And I think, ‘F**k you, you little tosser!”
Nirvana performed it on the MTV Unplugged episode a few months before Kurt died.
The song peaked at #5 in the US Alternative Top 50, #22 in Canada, and #1 in Poland in 1995.
From Songfacts
This song is about a man who no longer recognizes himself and feels awful about it. For years, Bowie struggled with his identity and expressed himself through his songs, often creating characters to perform them. On the album cover, Bowie is wearing a dress.
Some of the lyrics are based on a poem by Hugh Mearns called The Psychoed:
As I was going up the stair
I met a man who was not there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish that man would go away
Some lyrical analysis: “We passed upon the stair” is a figurative representation of a crossroads in Bowie’s life, where Ziggy Stardust catches a glimpse of his former self, (being David Bowie) which he thought had died a long time ago. Then he (the old David Bowie) says: “Oh no, not me. I never lost control.” This indicates that Bowie never really lost sight of who he was, but he Sold The World (made them believe) that he had become Ziggy, and he thought it was funny (I laughed and shook his hand). He goes on to state, “For years and years I roamed,” which could refer to touring. “Gaze a gazely stare at all the millions here” are the fans at concerts. >>
The album is one of Bowie’s least known, but over the years many fans have come to appreciate it and a lot of bands have covered songs from it.
Critics weren’t always sure what to make of it either, but John Mendelssohn had a good handle on it when he wrote of the album in Rolling Stone magazine, 1971: “Bowie’s music offers an experience that is as intriguing as it is chilling, but only to the listener sufficiently together to withstand the schizophrenia.”
The British singer Lulu (“To Sir With Love”) recorded this in 1974. Bowie produced her version and played saxophone on the track. It went to #4 in the UK. Lulu spoke to Uncut magazine June 2008 about her recording: “I first met Bowie on tour in the early ’70s when he invited me to his concert. And back at the hotel, he said to me, in very heated language, ‘I want to make an MF of a record with you. You’re a great singer.’ I didn’t think it would happen, but he followed up two days later. He was uber cool at the time and I just wanted to be led by him. I didn’t think ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ was the greatest song for my voice, but it was such a strong song in itself. In the studio, Bowie kept telling me to smoke more cigarettes, to give my voice a certain quality. We were like the odd couple. Were we ever an item? I’d rather not answer that one, thanks! For the video, people thought he came up with the androgynous look, but that was all mine. It was very Berlin cabaret. We did other songs, too, like ‘Watch That Man,’ ‘Can You Hear Me?’ and ‘Dodo.’ ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ saved me from a certain niche in my career. If we’d have carried on, it would have been very interesting.”
Nirvana recorded this for their 1993 MTV Unplugged performance. It was Chad Channing, who was Nirvana’s drummer from 1988-1990, who introduced Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic to Bowie’s music. Chad told us: “We were in Boston and stopped by this record store, and I found this copy of The Man Who Sold The World. It was a cool copy – it had the poster in it and everything. And those guys weren’t familiar with the record. And I inquired about, ‘What David Bowie do you like? Do you like David Bowie?’ And they’re like, ‘Well, the only David Bowie we’re familiar with is ‘Let’s Dance.’ I was surprised. I was like, ‘Really? Wow.’ I was like, ‘You’ve got to hear some early David Bowie, for sure.’
So when I got the opportunity, I made a tape of the record at somebody’s house, and then while we were touring around I just went ahead and popped the tape in and let it roll. After a bit, Kurt turned around and said to me, ‘Who is this?’ kind of like knowingly, just something familiar with the voice and stuff. I said, ‘Well, this is David Bowie. This is The Man Who Sold the World record.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, this is really cool.’ I said, ‘You should check out Hunky Dory and stuff.’ And so eventually, I’m sure he did. But he totally dug it.”
Months after the MTV show, Kurt Cobain was found dead. The acoustic set was released as an album in late 1994.
Bauhaus lead singer Peter Murphy called this “the first true goth record.”
Beck performed this song with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear at the annual Clive Davis Grammy pre-party on February 14, 2016 in tribute to Bowie, who passed away a month earlier. “He’s always been kind of guidepost or gravitational force for me,” Beck said of Bowie.
On March 29, 2016, Michael Stipe performed this song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, accompanied only by a piano. Two days later, Stipe sang “Ashes To Ashes” with Karen Elston at a Bowie tribute concert held at Carnegie Hall.
The video of The Man Who Sold The World has been giving me troubles…if it is not below…here is the link.
The Man Who Sold The World
We passed upon the stair We spoke of was and when Although I wasn’t there He said I was his friend Which came as a surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone A long long time ago
Oh no, not me We never lost control You’re face to face With the man who sold the world
I laughed and shook his hand And made my way back home I searched for form and land For years and years I roamed I gazed a gazeless stare We marked a million hills I must have died alone A long, long time ago
Who knows? Not me I never lost control You’re face to face With the man who sold the world
Who knows? Not me We never lost control You’re face to face With the man who sold the world
This is one of my top U2 songs… it was on the album Achtung Baby released in 1991. the song peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100 in 1992. Johnny Cash covered it on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man,..the video is at the bottom of the post.
The Edge talks about when they came up with it: Suddenly something very powerful happening in the room. Everyone recognized it was a special piece. It was like we’d caught a glimpse of what the song could be. It was a pivotal song in the recording of the album, the first breakthrough in what was an extremely difficult set of sessions.
The band wrote this song in Berlin after being there for months trying to record Achtung Baby. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, so the band was hoping to find inspiration from the struggle and change. Instead, they found themselves at odds with each other and unable to do much productive work.
Most of the song was written in about 30 minutes and it rejuvenated the band creatively. When they left Berlin, they had little to show for it except for this song, but they were able to complete the album back home in Ireland with this song as the centerpiece of the album.
Achtung Baby peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1991.
This was voted best single in the 1992 Rolling Stone reader’s poll. U2 also won for best album, band, and comeback of the year. In 2003, it was voted the best song ever by Q magazine.
From Songfacts
This song can be interpreted in many ways. Bono, who wrote the lyrics, has always been a bit vague, saying it is “about relationships.” Here are some interpretations:
1) The song could relate to the reunification of Germany, where the band recorded it.
2) It could be about the dissolution of The Edge’s marriage to Aislinn O’Sullivan. The couple was having problems in their relationship and split soon after the sessions. Bono was the best man at their wedding.
3) It could be about the band putting their differences aside and coming together to make the album.
4) Bono may have been writing about his good friend, the Irish painter Guggi, who was having girl trouble.
5) The song could represent a conversation between an AIDS victim and his father.
Proceeds from the single were donated to AIDS research, which was stated on the liner notes of the single. Also printed on the notes was this statement: “The image on the cover is a photograph by the American artist David Wojnarowicz, depicting how Indians hunted buffalo by causing them to run off cliffs. Wojnarowicz identifies himself and ourselves with the buffalo, pushed into the unknown by forces we cannot control or even understand. Wojnarowicz is an activist artist and writer whose work has created controversy recently through its uncompromising depiction of the artist’s homosexuality, his infection by the H.I.V. virus and the political crisis surrounding AIDS.”
The Edge came up with the guitar track while working on “Mysterious Ways.” Once he came up with this guitar part, they quickly started writing “One.”
Three different videos were made, each interpreting the song differently. The first, directed by Mark Pellington, shows a buffalo running in a field. The second, which was mostly seen in Europe, featured U2 in drag. The third, shown mostly in the US, is built around Bono reflecting over a cigarette.
Director and photographer Anton Corbijn was at the helm for the video that featured the band in drag. He told The Guardian September 24, 2005: “I had been working with U2 as a photographer for 10 years at this stage and we’d had our ups and downs. I’d done one video for them in 1984 for ‘Pride.’ It was a disaster and no one ever saw it. It took them eight years to give me another chance. I really wanted to put a lot of effort into it to prove myself to them as a director. I even hand-painted the cars that appear in the video myself. I themed the whole thing around the notion of ‘one’ although I don’t think that’s what Bono was actually singing about. That’s why I filmed it in Berlin because the wall had just come down. And I filmed the band performing in a circle like a single unit. I showed Bono’s dad at one end of a seesaw to suggest that on your own you are not always balanced. I liked Bono’s father very much but they had a very complex relationship.
I think it meant a lot for them to appear together. These were all my own ideas but U2 are very much a band who like to meet up and talk about things. There are always a lot of meetings with them! But they cleared all the ideas, including the one about them appearing in drag. Later though, they decided that some of the proceeds from the single would go to Aids charities. They became nervous that the drag element in the video might link Aids to the homosexual community in a negative way. So they dropped the video and got someone else to film something.
It was so painful for me at the time. They replaced it with a video of Bono in a bar surrounded by models, which I particularly didn’t like. But once the song had died in the charts a few months later they got MTV to start running my video instead. That’s why I like working with U2: they have stayed very loyal to me, which is rare in music.”
According to The Guardian, Bono’s father, Robert Hewson, appeared in the song’s video. He later complained to his son that he hadn’t been paid.
In 2005, Bono got involved in the “One” campaign, which tried to convince the US government to give an additional 1% of its budget to help poor regions in Africa. On the Vertigo tour, fans who signed up had their names displayed on video screens when U2 played this.
Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen performed this at the “MTV Rock n Roll Inaugural Ball” for Bill Clinton in 1993 with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills from R.E.M. The impromptu group became known as “Automatic Baby,” a combination of album titles Automatic For The People and Achtung Baby.
The “buffalo” video directed by Mark Pellington was comprised of projections he made for the Zoo TV tour. In a Songfacts interview with Pellington, he explained: “They had made a video for the song already – that Anton Corbijn had done – of them in drag, and they weren’t really crazy about it. So, they released mine, and it was out there for a while. It was a very ‘anti-video’: no band, a slow art piece. And they made a third version of the video with Bono singing in a bar.
It always was interesting to me to have more than one video for a song. I don’t know why bands don’t do that more.”
Pellington later worked on the 2007 film U2 3D.
On the Popmart tour in Mexico City, while the Edge played the intro Bono said, “This one goes out to a mate of ours, a great mate, a great singer, we’re sorry, we’re sorry, for Michael Hutchence.”
On their 2001-2002 tour, a list of victims of the September 11 attacks was projected on a screen while they performed this.
In 2006, after Bank of America merged with MBNA, BoA held a corporate conference where Ethan Chandler, who managed a New York branch, performed a new version of this song celebrating the merger. Sample lyric: “And we’ve got Bank One on the run. What’s in your wallet? It’s not Capital One.” Thankfully, someone leaked the video and it ended up on YouTube, where you can see it in all its glory. Watch for the standing ovation at the end.
Mary J. Blige sang this with Bono in 2006 for a benefit for victims of hurricane Katrina. Blige then recorded it with Bono and U2 for her album Reminisce.
In a March 2007 poll carried out by The Tony Fenton Show on the Irish radio station Today FM, this was voted the Best Irish Single Ever.
Bono explained the meaning of this song to Rolling Stone in 2005: “It’s a father-and-son story. I tried to write about someone I knew who was coming out and was afraid to tell his father. It’s a religious father and son… I have a lot of gay friends, and I’ve seen them screwed up from unloving family situations, which just are completely anti-Christian. If we know anything about God, it’s that God is love. That’s part of the song. And then it’s also about people struggling to be together, and how difficult it is to stay together in this world, whether you’re in a band or a relationship.” >>
The line “One life, with each other, sisters, brothers” was voted the UK’s favorite song lyric in a 2006 poll by music channel VH1.
Anyone thinking of using this at their wedding might want to reconsider. “‘One’ is not about oneness, it’s about difference,” Bono points out in the book U2 by U2. “It is not the old hippie idea of ‘Let’s all live together.’ It is a much more punk rock concept. It’s anti-romantic: ‘We are one, but we’re not the same. We get to carry each other.’ It’s a reminder that we have no choice. I’m still disappointed when people hear the chorus line as ‘we’ve got to’ rather than ‘we get to carry each other.’ Because it is resigned, really. It’s not: ‘Come on everybody, let’s vault over the wall.’ Like it or not, the only way out of here is if I give you a leg up the wall and you pull me after you. There’s something very unromantic about that. The song is a bit twisted, which is why I could never figure out why people want it at their weddings. I have certainly met a hundred people who’ve had it at their weddings. I tell them, ‘Are you mad? It’s about splitting up!'”
The Edge offers his take: “The lyric was the first in a new, more intimate style. It’s two ideas, essentially. On one level it’s a bitter, twisted, vitriolic conversation between two people who’ve been through some nasty, heavy stuff: ‘We hurt each other, then we do it again.’ But on another level there’s the idea that ‘we get to carry each other.’ ‘Get to’ is the key. ‘Got to’ would be too obvious and platitudinous. ‘Get to’ suggests it is our privilege to carry one another. It puts everything in perspective and introduces the idea of grace. Still, I wouldn’t have played it at any wedding of mine.”
This was featured in the trailer for the 2000 Nicolas Cage movie The Family Man. It was not used in the movie itself.
One
Is it getting better Or do you feel the same? Will it make it easier on you now? You got someone to blame
You say one love, one life (One life) It’s one need in the night One love (one love), get to share it Leaves you darling, if you don’t care for it
Did I disappoint you? Or leave a bad taste in your mouth? You act like you never had love And you want me to go without
Well it’s too late, tonight To drag the past out into the light We’re one, but we’re not the same We get to carry each other Carry each other
One, one One, one One, one One, one
Have you come here for forgiveness? Have you come to raise the dead? Have you come here to play Jesus? To the lepers in your head Well, did I ask too much, more than a lot? You gave me nothing, now it’s all I got We’re one, but we’re not the same See we hurt each other, then we do it again You say love is a temple, love is a higher law Love is a temple, love is a higher law You ask me of me to enter, but then you make me crawl And I can’t keep holding on to what you got, ’cause all you got is hurt
One love One blood One life You got to do what you should One life With each other Sisters and my brothers One life But we’re not the same We get to carry each other, carry each other
Next, to other Dylan songs, this one is lighter but maybe that is the reason I like it…Bob seems loose on this song and it’s nice to hear him sound so relaxed.
I still know every word to this song. I had the Wilburys Vol 3 cassette and I wore it out in my car. Was it as good as the first album? No, but I still liked it a bunch. This song is pure Dylan but Dylan sounding vulnerable. Of all the members of this supergroup…Bob seemed to enjoy being part of a band and not being the focus for a change. He sounds like he is having fun.
Roy was gone by this album and he is sorely missed. He was like having the equivalent of a vocal ace up your sleeve that no one could match. This song was on the Traveling Wilburys Vol 3 and the album peaked at #11 in 1990.
If You Belonged To Me
Waltzing around the room tonight In someone else’s clothes You’re always coming out of things Smelling like a rose
You hang your head and your heart is filled With so much misery You’d be happy as you could be If you belonged to me
You say, “Let’s go to the rodeo And see some cowboy fall” Sometimes it seems to me you’ve Got no sympathy at all
You keep on going on and on About how you’re so free You’d be happy as you could be If you belonged to me
It ain’t easy to get to you But there must be some kind of a way If only two could look to you For only one moment of each day
You’re saying that you’re all washed up Got nothing else to give Seems like you never figured out How long you have to live
You could feel like a baby again Sitting on your daddy’s knee Oh, how happy you would be If you belonged to me
The guy you’re with is a ruthless pimp Everybody knows Every cent he takes from you Goes straight up his nose
You look so sad, you’re going so mad Any fool can see You’d be happy as you could be If you belong to me You’d be happy as you could be If you belong to me
This song was not on an official Wilburys album. It was on a benefit album Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal (a charity album released in 1990 to benefit Romanian orphans) released in 1990. It was written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree. Hank Snow did this song in the 50s and it didn’t chart for him. In the UK Lonnie Donegan covered this song also.
George was very familiar with the song. This was a song that the Beatles backed Tony Sheridan with as the Beat Brothers before they became known. The song is a sad song and what caught my attention in the Wilburys version is Jeff Lynne’s high vocal through the second chorus…beautiful song.
All the Wilburys vocals are wonderful in this song.
Nobody’s Child
As I was slowly passing, an orphans home today I stopped for just a little while to watch the children play A lone boy standin’, and when I asked him why He turned with eyes that could not see, and he began to cry
I’m nobody’s child, I’m nobody’s child Just like a flower I’m growin’ wild No mama’s arms to hold me no daddy’s smile Nobody wants me, I’m nobody’s child
In every town and village There are places just like this With rows and rows of children And babies in their cribs
They’ve long since stopped their cryin’ As no-one ever hears And no-one there to notice them or take away their fears
Nobody’s child, they’re nobody’s child Just like a flower they’re growin wild No mama’s arms to hold them, no daddy’s smile Nobody wants them they’re nobody’s child
Nobody’s child, they’re nobody’s child Just like a flower they’re growin wild No mama’s arms to hold them, no daddy’s smile Nobody wants them they’re nobody’s child Nobody wants them they’re nobody’s child
Sick of Myself peaked at #52 on the Billboard 100 in 1995. I first heard of Matthew Sweet with his 1992 song Girlfriend. Sweet specializes in catchy melodic hooks and this song is no exception.
Sick of Myself was on his album 100% Fun that peaked on the Billboard album charts at #65 in 1995.
From Songfacts
In this nihilistic song, Matthew Sweet is so out-of-sorts over a girl, he’s made himself sick. The world may be ugly and a lie, but she’s beautiful and true, and it’s driving him mad.
Sweet has admitted that many of his songs are personal, but they’re not necessarily a plea for help.
This was Matthew Sweet’s biggest hit, earning airplay on rock radio alongside the likes of Soundgarden and Collective Soul. He was 31 and well into his career when the song reached its chart peak in 1995. After making a name for himself in the Athens, Georgia music scene, he got a deal with Columbia Records and release his first album in 1986. His follow-up came in 1989, but neither charted and the label dropped him. Zoo Records issued his breakthrough, Girlfriend, in 1991 after a tumultuous time when he went through a divorce and lost his record collection to flood damage.
Richard Lloyd, founder of the exalted New York City band Television, played guitar on this track. Sweet and Lloyd crossed paths in the ’80s when they played together in a band called the Golden Palominos. Lloyd played on three songs from Sweet’s 1989 album Earth, and contributed to his subsequent albums up to and including 100% Fun.
In a Songfacts interview with Richard Lloyd, he said: “Matthew used to fly me in and he would send me demos like a week before. I’d listen to them through and then I would get there and they would have new songs or different songs. Some songs he would just throw at me, and depending upon the emotion in the song itself, that would lend itself to a certain kind of playing, and ‘Sick Of Myself’ had that kind of angst in it, so I tried to portray that.”
The video was directed by Roman Coppola, son Francis Ford Coppola of Godfather fame.
We don’t know this for sure, but this is likely the second-highest-charting song on the Hot 100 by a solo artist who was born and raised in Nebraska [Sweet is from Lincoln, Nebraska]. The only one we found to top it is “Never Been In Love” by Randy Meisner, which went to #28 in 1982. Nebraskan Buddy Miles charted a few times, but never higher than #62 with “Them Changes” in 1971.
The album title comes from a line in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note: “The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I’m having 100% fun.”
Sick Of Myself
You don’t know how you move me deconstruct me and consume me. I’m all used up, I’m out of luck I am star struck By something in your eyes that is keeping my hope alive.
But I’m sick of myself when I look at you something is beautiful and true. World that’s ugly and a lie it’s hard to even want to try. I’m beginning to think maybe you don’t know.
I’ll take a leave, the room to breathe The choice to leave it I’ll throw away a chance at greatness just to make this dream come into play I don’t know if I’ll find a way
‘Cause I’m sick of myself when I look at you something is beautiful and true. World that’s ugly and a lie it’s hard to even want to try. I’m beginning to think maybe you don’t know.
I’m beginning to think maybe you don’t know.
Something in your eyes that is keeping my hope alive.
But I’m sick of myself when I look at you something is beautiful and true. World that’s ugly and a lie it’s hard to even want to try. I’m beginning to think maybe you don’t know.
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