Category: 2000s

Jayhawks – I’m Gonna Make You Love Me —Powerpop Friday

I first found out about this group in 2000 with this song. When I heard it I knew I had to find out more about this band. The Jayhawks formed in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in 1985 and played alternative country-rock. They have released 10 studio albums and are worth checking out.

The song peaked at #5 in the Billboard Triple A Chart in 2000. It was off the album Smile and The Jayhawks took a more pop approach to this album than their earlier alt-country albums. Gary Louris… guitar player, singer, and songwriter when this album was released: “I grew up listening to pop music and that was my love,”  “I loved the Beatles and I loved Big Star.”

The evolution of the song was interesting… Gary Louris: “I wrote that song when my ex-girlfriend walked out the door… I had a different chorus that was a little more subtle, a little more of an artist’s song that you wouldn’t even know is a chorus maybe but it was cool.”

The record label and producer Bob Ezrin wanted a better chorus to make it more accessible. “And that became the thorn in my side, y’know, because I had written a song I liked and it seemed like that’s what it was. This was the beginning of a long process where I wrote with a lot of different people… And I saw a lot of people I respected write many different ways on the same song.”

A suggestion from songwriter Taylor Rhodes helped Louris find the hook he needed. “So that was definitely a lot of hard work on that song. Now I love it, but for awhile I just wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to ever hear that song again.”

They recently backed Ray Davies on his albums Americana and Our Country – Americana Act II. Their 2016 album Paging Mr. Proust was produced by Peter Buck of REM.

I’m Gonna Make You Love Me

The world never ends
It’s only the beginning
And we can’t pretend
To discover it’s meaning

We talked for hours at a time
Then I came to my senses
You’re more than a friend
You’re my perfect lover

I’ll never be all you want me to
But that’s all right

I’m gonna make you love me
I’m gonna dry your tears
And we’re gonna stay together
For a million years

It’s the least I can do
Just to make you my baby
No words could describe
Oh, pinch me I’m dreaming

Your hair’s long and black
As it lays ‘cross my pillow
When I stare in your eyes
I get lost in your glory

I’ll never be all you want me to
But that’s all right

I’m gonna make you love me
I’m gonna dry your tears
And we’re gonna stay together
For a million years

When you were a little girl
Your great big world came tumbling down
So sad

Yeah, the river it bends
But it flows to the ocean
And baby here I am
I’m your sea of devotion

I’ll never be all you want me to
But that’s all right

I’m gonna make you love me
I’m gonna dry your tears
And we’re gonna stay together
For a million years

James Morrison – Nothing Ever Hurt Like You

When I first heard this I thought this song had a Stevie Wonder feel to it…none of my friends shared the same opinion… Nonetheless, it’s a good song. It’s a straight-ahead pop song without much production.

The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard Triple-A Charts in 2009. The song was written by James Morrison, and Barry and Mark Taylor.

The song was on his second studio album  Songs for You, Truths for Me, which peaked at #49 in the Billboard 100 in 2008.

is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Rugby, Warwickshire. James attributes his gravelly voice to a near-fatal childhood bout of whooping cough.

Nothing Ever Hurt Like You

1, 2, 3, 4
Oh, oh, oh,
Yeah yeah yeah
HeyIf loving you is easy,
Playing by the rules,
But you said love taste so much better when its cruel
To you everything was just a game,
Yeah you played me good,
But I want you, I want you, I want you,
So much more than I should,
Yes I do.I’ve got my hands up so take your aim,
Yeah I’m ready,
There’s nothing that we can’t go through,
Oh it hit me like a steal freight train,
When you left me,
And nothing ever hurt like you,
Nothing ever hurt like you.I was naive and wide eyed,
But you made me see,
That you don’t get to taste the honey,
Without the sting of a bee,
No you don’t.Yes you stung me good,
Oh yeah you dug in deep,
But ill take, ill take it, ill take it
Till I’m down on my knees.

I’ve got my hands up so take your aim,
Yeah I’m ready,
There’s nothing that we can’t go through,
Walk a thousand miles on broken glass,
It wont stop me,
From making my way back to you,
Its not real till you feel the pain,
And nothing ever hurt like you,
Nothing ever hurt like you.Oh everything was just a game,
Yeah you played me good,
But I want you, I want you, I want you,
I want you, I want you.I’ve got my hands up so take your aim,
Yeah I’m ready,
There’s nothing that we can’t go through,
Walk a thousand miles on broken glass,
It wont stop me,
From making my way back to you,
Its not real till you feel the pain,
And nothing ever hurt like you,
Nothing ever hurt like you.

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties…Tom O’Neill

Hanspostcard had mentioned he was reading this book and from what he said I had to give it a try. I got the audible version. The author Tom O’Neill has an interesting quote that sums up the book… “My goal isn’t to say what did happen—it’s to prove that the official story didn’t,”

When I first started to listen I thought it was going to be a big conspiracy book but I was pleasantly surprised…Tom O’Neill took pains not to go there. He is pretty open that he does not find the “answer” to the murders. He also made it clear he wasn’t trying to clear the guilty parties of the Tate/Labianca cases. They are no doubt guilty but it was more about the circumstances around the question of why and the Helter Skelter theory brought by Vincent Bugliosi. Vincent was the prosecutor in the case and later wrote the book Helter Skelter…the best-selling true crime book ever.

Manson’s parole officer Roger Smith was really baffling. Manson was on parole through the late sixties and did everything he could to break his parole…Smith kept giving him a pass, protecting his family, and even fostering one of Manson’s kids. Manson must have had a hell of a rabbit’s foot or someone or some organization was looking out for him. If any of us would get caught with an underage girl, stolen cars, and narcotics… a trip to jail would be in our immediate future…even in the 1960s…much less being on parole at the time.

O’Neill has the documents to back up his claims. Bugliosi did suppress evidence and most around the case are still afraid to talk. Some of the evidence yes could have got by him but not to this extent. Tom interviewed a countless number of people… including tense interviews with Bugliosi.

Tom spent 20 years on this book. The story of him writing the book is just as interesting as the story. He became depressed and obsessed with the murders. In 1999 he was writing an article for Premier Magazine and kept extending the deadlines for the 30th anniversary of the murders. Then in 2009, it was going to be a book published by Penguin for the 40th…that didn’t work out because he kept finding new leads and information. Finally this year the book was released for the 50th anniversary of the murders.

What I found interesting also was the other subjects that were brought up…COINTELPRO, Operation CHAOS, and MKULTRA…goverment secret programs that could come into play. There is much more in the book than I’ve touched on…I would recommend getting it…it makes you think and question.

Below is a great review of the book.

https://www.straight.com/arts/1283716/extended-interview-50-years-after-manson-murders-tom-oneills-disturbing-new-book-chaos

 

The Beths – Happy Unhappy —Powerpop Friday

On my quest to find more powerpop music…this band was recommended to me and I’ve been listening to them for a week or so. The Beths are a band out of New Zealand and they formed in 2015. The songs are full of good guitar hooks and with Elizabeth Stokes clever writing and voice… make them fun to listen to. They have some 90s indie sound with a little of the 60s thrown in.

Happy Unhappy is off of their debut album…Future Me Hates Me released in 2018. The members are Elizabeth Stokes(vocals, guitar)  Jonathan Pearce(guitar), Benjamin Sinclair (bass) and Ivan Luketina-Johnston (drums).

A good write up on their debut album in Rolling Stone. 

From Allmusic by Marcy Donelson

Their main songwriter, Elizabeth Stokes, also fronts the Beths, a New Zealand group that combines energized guitar riffs, melodic hooks, and harmonized backing vocals in their impulsive indie rock. Having already won fans as a live act, the band released its first album, Future Me Hates Me, in 2018.

 

Happy Unhappy

I was higher than a biplane
Then you hit me like a hurricane
I bailed out, hit the ground
Washed up in a storm drainStumbled up the driveway
With a handshake and a slow wave
Now I’m crashed out on the couch
Wondering if you feel the same‘Cause you’re in my brain taking up space
I need for remembering pins and to take out the bins
And that one particular film that that actor was in
I see your face superimposed over everything
It ain’t right
(It ain’t right, it ain’t right)‘Cause I was fine on my own
Tolling steady like a dial tone
Couldn’t you leave me I was happy unhappy
But now I’m overthrown
Wish my heart were really made of stone
And I could forget you
Like I really want to

I was living with your spare change
In the pocket of your cutaways
And I get so spent waiting on your lunch break
Broke every window pane
So I can feel the cold rain
When I lie in bed catching death trying to wash it all away‘Cause you’re in my brain taking up space
I need for delivering lies and suppressing the sighs
And for navigating the escape when I get lost in your eyes
It’s taking up all of my time just to keep it in line
It ain’t right
(It ain’t right, it ain’t right)‘Cause I was fine on my own
Tolling steady like a dial tone
Couldn’t you leave me, I was happy unhappy
But now I’m overthrown
Wish my heart were really made of stone
And I could forget you
Like I really want toI was fine on my own
Tolling steady like a dial tone
Couldn’t you leave me, I was happy unhappy
But now I’m overthrown
Wish my heart were really made of stone
And I could forget you
Like I really want toI could forget you
I could forget you
I could forget you

Jake Bugg – Lightning Bolt

The song peaked at #26 in the US Adult Alternative Songs Billboard, #15 in the UK in 2013.  The song was on his self-titled debut album. Jake is an artist that could have debuted in the 60s and 70s and fit in perfectly. I saw him in 2017 and the audience was a mixture of young and old.

Jake was 19 when this song was released. he said: “Before age 12, I had no interest in music,”  “Then, me uncle came around with a guitar and showed me basic chords. I started listening to Jimi Hendrix and it just blew me away.

“It was also disheartening. I mean, when you listen to Jimi Hendrix for the first time, you think, ‘How am I going to be able to play like that?’

He started to write songs at 14. Along with Hendrix, he counts the Beatles among his earliest musical influence “They’re a starting point for anyone, I should think. Then, I traced things back to Buddy Holly and Elvis, just discovering all those great records.”

From Songfacts

This gritty stroll through the streets of Bugg’s hometown of Clifton, Nottingham, was released as the third single from his debut album. He penned the tune with long-time Snow Patrol collaborator, Iain Archer. Bugg recalled to The Daily Telegraph: “When I was writing with Iain, we had a fag, a cup of tea, a bit of a play. The way I see it, it’s jamming.”

The song’s Michael Holyk directed video was shot in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The song featured in an American a commercial for Gatorade sports drinks that aired during the 2013 NBA championships.

Lightning Bolt

Morning, it’s another pure grey morning
Don’t know what the day is holding
When I get uptight
And I walk right into the path of a lightning bolt

Sirens of an ambulance comes howling
Right through the center of town and
No one blinks an eye
And I look up to the sky for the path of a lighting bolt

Met her as the angels parted for her
But she only brought me torture
But that’s what happens
When it’s you who’s standing in the path of a lightning bolt

Everyone I see just wants to walk with gritted teeth
But I just stand by and I wait my time
They say you gotta tow the line they want the water not the wine
But when I see the signs I jump on that lightning bolt

And chances, people tell you not to take chances
When they tell you there aren’t any answers
And I was starting to agree
But I awoke suddenly in the path of a lightning bolt

Fortune, people talking all about fortune
Do you make it or does it just call you
In the blinking of an eye
Just another passerby in the path of a lightning bolt

Everyone I see just wants to walk with gritted teeth
But I just stand by and I wait my time
They say you gotta tow the line they want the water not the wine
But when I see the signs I jump on that lightning bolt

It was silent, I was lying back gazing skyward
When the moment got shattered
I remembered what she said
And then she fled in the path of a lightning bolt

The Manic Street Preachers – The Love of Richard Nixon ——— Songs that reference Richard Nixon

The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination, The love of Richard Nixon, yeah they all betrayed you

This band took a more sympathetic view than some of the other songs that mention the former President. The Welsh band formed in Blackwood in 1986. The song was written by band members James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, and Sean Moore. One member of the band  Richey Edwards who suffered from depression disappeared in 1995 never to be seen again.

This song was released in 2004 the song peaked at #2 in the UK. Altogether they had 41 UK top 75 songs, 34 Top 40 songs, 15 Top 10 and 2 number 1’s. Bass player Nicky Wire: “If Radiohead are Kennedy, then Manic Street Preachers are Nixon; the ugly duckling who had to try ten times harder than anyone else. Paranoid megalomaniacs.”

From Songfacts

The Manic’s primary lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards gained early notoriety by cutting the words “4REAL” into his arm with a razor blade. Since that episode and his later disappearance, now presumed dead, the band have been somewhat overshadowed by the events of Richey Edwards’ troubled life. This provocatively titled single, is a sympathetic appraisal of someone else whose achievements were eclipsed by one event. “The main thrust of the song,” bassist Nicky Wire explained to Repeat Fanzine, “is the idea of being tarnished with a certain part of your life forever. With us, people might think of Richey’s disappearance or 4 REAL.

With Nixon, people will always associate him with Watergate and being a crook, not the fact that he was the first president to go to China to build up relations. Or the way he de-escalated the arms race with the Soviet Union – quite admirable things.”

Wire added concerning his sympathy for the devil: “There’s always been a ridiculousness to Manic Street Preachers. Not humour, not funny-ha ha, but a question of ‘Do they really mean it?’ But there’s probably more empathy [with Nixon] than I should admit. Nixon wasn’t a good president, but he wasn’t George W Bush. He was a brilliant man, and not all Republican presidents have been. I do think he’s a fascinating character, particularly in today’s climate. He probably ended the Vietnam War. Whatever you think his reasons were – and conspiracy theories abound – he signed off at the end of it.”

The timing of the single’s release, two weeks before George W. Bush’s victory at the 2004 US presidential elections, was most likely significant. Many suspected it was a statement by the Manics concerning the reputation of the USA’s leadership at the time.

The song finishes with a sample of Nixon himself stating “I have never been a quitter.” Wire explained to NME October 8, 2011: “We thought that applied to us as a band. I just find him really interesting and kind of like myself.”

“The Love Of” peaked at #2 on the UK singles chart helped by a marketing ploy that was deliberately designed to encourage multiple purchases. The single came complete with a special offer whereby fans could purchase all three formats (2 track CD, 3 track CD and DVD) for just £5. You don’t have to be a maths professor to work out what the effect of this was.

The Love of Richard Nixon

The world on your shoulders
The love of your mother
The fear of the future
The best years behind you
The world is getting older
The times they fall behind you
The need it still grows stronger
The best years never found you

The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination
The love of Richard Nixon, yeah they all betrayed you
The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination
Yeah they all betrayed you
Yeah and your country too

Love build around the sandy beaches
Love rains down like Vietnam’s leeches
Richard the third in the White House
Cowering behind divided curtains

The world is getting older
The times they fall behind you
The need it still grows stronger
The best years never found you

Ah, the love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination
The love of Richard Nixon, yeah they all betrayed you
The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination
Yeah they all betrayed you
Yeah and your country too

The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination
The love of Richard Nixon, yeah they all betrayed you
People forget China and your war on cancer
Yeah they all betrayed you
Yeah and your country too

In all the decisions I have made in my public life,
I have always tried to do what was best for the nation.
I have never been a quitter

Beady Eye – Beatles and Stones ——— Songs that reference The Beatles

Well, this reference is pretty obvious…

I’m gonna stand the test of time Like Beatles and Stones

Beady Eye was a band formed by  Liam Gallagher of Oasis with former members of Oasis. This song was written by Liam Gallagher and it was on the Different Gear, Still Speeding album released in 2011.

They recycled the Who’s My Generation riff to good effect. They defiantly have that mid-sixties mod thing going on.

Beady Eye released two albums. Different Gear, Still Speeding (#3 UK) in 2011 and BE (#2 UK) in 2013. In 2014 Beady Eye broke up because of the failure to gain popularity in the US according to Liam Gallagher.

Beatles and Stones

Well it beats me mama, I just want to rock and roll
Well it beats me mama, I just want to rock and roll
I’m gonna stand the test of time
Like Beatles and Stones

Well it freaks them mama
I’m not doin’ what I’m told
Well it freaks them mama
You know I can’t be bought and sold
I’m gonna stand the test of time
Like Beatles and Stones

I’m on my way home, just get back to what’s mine
And when I get home, well I’ll be alright

Well it beats me mama, I just want to rock and roll
I’m gonna stand the test of time
Like Beatles and Stones

I’m on my way home, just get back to what’s mine
And when I get home, well I’ll be alright

What’s that you say?
Get out the way!

Well it beats me mama, I just want to rock and roll
Well it beats me mama, I just want to rock and roll
I’m gonna stand the test of time
Like Beatles and Stones

Well it freaks them mama

I’m not doin’ what I’m told
Well it freaks them mama
You know I can’t be bought and sold
I’m gonna stand the test of time
Like Beatles and Stones

I’m on my way home, just get back to what’s mine
And when I get home, well I’ll be alright
Well it beats me mama, I just want to rock and roll
I’m gonna stand the test of time
Like Beatles and Stones

I’m on my way home, just get back to what’s mine
And when I get home, well I’ll be alright

What’s that you say?
Get out the way!