A highly informal musical autobiography. From TK Major.noreply@blogger.com (TK Major)Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:48:44 -0700Blogger http://www.blogger.com401125http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/en-usno(C)2008, TK Majorsong,blog,TK,Major,one,blue,nine,Long,Beach,LBC,cynical,dark,melancholyA quasi-autobiographical "song blog." TK Major, from the mutant roots pop outfit one blue nine, posts newly recorded acoustic songs and instrumentals on an ongoing basis.a musical biography from TK Major of the mutant roots pop pioneers, one blue nineTK Majorpodcast2005@bluetrip.comTK Majorhttp://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2010/03/dude-wheres-my-blog.htmlTue, 30 Mar 2010 13:53:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-5525434844943830237Didn't there used to be this folkie dude who had a bunch of songs about cheating, losing, getting drunk, and cheating and these little story things along with the songs that sometimes had something to do with them and sometimes didn't? I'm sure there was. Anyhow, this seems like as good a time as any to make some transitions. For one thing, circumstances beyond my control mean I gotta. Google0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2010/02/fan-mode-nneka.htmlWed, 3 Feb 2010 20:59:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-5088381159774648656Sorry... I'm in love. Nneka's official website (English language version)0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2010/01/slant-six-valiant.htmlMon, 18 Jan 2010 13:36:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-4259452408259855872 My first car was a VW Karmann Ghia, which was basically a VW engine and running gear with a surprisingly exotic, one-piece body from the Ghia bodyworks (famous for work on exotic European sports cars) atop it. Slant Six Valiant download [ 4.8 mb] 256 kbps mp3 play [broadband] AYoS radio [broadband] more stream & DL options It was a fun car -- but it was no fun to try to keep running. VWs, of1podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/11/flat-five-jump-instrumental.htmlSun, 29 Nov 2009 15:41:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-8204300589804894522 new instrumental Wet eucalyptus leaves buried the wipers on the old Falcon station wagon. He scooped up three handfuls, throwing them into the gutter by the curbside of the rusty wagon. A light drizzle was falling and he knew in his heart of hearts that the car wouldn't start.  It'd been three days. At least he'd prepared as best he could, even though when he parked the old beast he was2podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/11/dont-caged-bird-even-sing-no-more.htmlTue, 17 Nov 2009 12:43:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-46457836315747113020podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/10/devil-you-say.htmlSat, 31 Oct 2009 13:21:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-542237900888058168 If you gamble in the Devil's House, you will pay... This version originally appeared back in September of 2007 and is brought back as a special All Hallows' E'en goody... The Devil Just Doubled Down download [ 2.7 mb] 192 kbps play [broadband] AYoS radio [broadband] more stream & DL options lyrics The Devil Just Doubled Down Now I'm not a betting man but I'll play these chips in my0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/06/im-starting-to-really-hate-dreaming.htmlSat, 20 Jun 2009 09:34:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-7379127905830940382New song alert!He woke up with sweaty sheets wrapped around him like swaddling, like the shroud on a mummy. He felt like he hadn't been asleep at all. His stomach felt knotted and empty but the last thing on his mind was food.Every dream was different. Every dream was the same. A thousand different stories -- but always with the same ending.I'm Starting to Really Hate DreamingYouTubedownload [ 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/05/wow-now-this-is-world-music-playing-for.htmlTue, 5 May 2009 12:56:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-7582784331388357614OK... I'm a greedy guy and I don't normally share this space with anyone but my ghosts and demons... but this is so extraordinary... so moving...As you'll quickly figure out, it was recorded in streets and fields around the world, from the Champs Elysees to what looks like a farm field in India, each musician adding a part. Wow.0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/04/bristol-get-your-sorry-wt-backside-back.htmlSun, 19 Apr 2009 12:00:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-1124641315067161281Ignorance is bliss, pretty much, when it comes to pop culture.Even before my TV died I was pretty isolated from the incessant inanity and mindless chatter of the popular media.But I am a political beast, and when the worlds of politics and pop culture admix or worse, procreate, it can be hard for even me to escape being caught up.Bristol, Don't Go [ACOUSTIC]YouTube Videodownload [ 2.37 mb] vbr 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/04/filling-space-marking-time.htmlSat, 11 Apr 2009 11:29:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-6758023525281677144New song alert!The bigger the dream the smaller the dawnI barely woke up today...Bristol Don't Go [pop out player][lyrics in the post above] Hey, kids... I have a new song by my (one man) band, one blue nine -- "Bristol, Don't Go" -- and it's available for free download (for a limited time) and streaming at these fine locations: Last.fm ReverbNation iLike SoundclickSorry... no acoustic 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/02/thirteen-and-half-bar-blues.htmlSun, 22 Feb 2009 14:16:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-5311819085561674143I wasn't going to post this but...0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/01/looking-for-trouble-im-already-in.htmlMon, 26 Jan 2009 13:48:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-1819063297939309959The rusty little Bug was leaking rain in from the windows and they had to keep their feet forward to keep them out of the murky water that would slosh back and forth from back seat to the front, washing across the shifter linkage hump like the North Sea over a broken dike.But they were stopped now, with the heater off and the windows streaked through fog, and she was crying long silvery tears 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/01/hell-never-know-why-he-ever-let-go-of.htmlSat, 24 Jan 2009 09:04:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-8642122854961863778higher resolution video on YouTubeThelma Lou [video]higher resolution video on YouTubeprevious audio versions/blog postsNovember 27, 2005 versionFebruary 27, 2006, versionNovember 25, 2006 versionlyricsThelma Lou [video]The day that you came back to townhe thought he'd be seein' you aroundhe thought he could pick it upwhere he put it downbut he thought he'd treat you right this timejust like he 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2009/01/just-another-bodhisatva-on-lam.htmlFri, 16 Jan 2009 12:26:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-2629020765313414802Dharma.It's the damnedest thing.Not to mix metaphysical and cultural paradigms here.We are born into a life we have no business pretending to understand, and, if we spend too much time pondering that, we either drive ourselves crazy or become paralyzed, frozen in the amber of our own, absurd ontological dialectic...Angel's VacationvideoYouTube [high] YouTube [normal]more video options: Internet 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/12/if-yesterday-was-tomorrow.htmlSat, 27 Dec 2008 10:45:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-2229272066999515012New song alert!Served up with a heaping helping of formalist irony, this work is probably a victim of -- uh, excuse me -- inspired by -- the zeitgeist, in the form of an overheard movie review.If Yesterday Was TomorrowAUDIOdownload [ 2.7 mb] 192kpbs mp3play [broadband]AYoS radio [broadband]more stream & DL optionsVIDEOthis vid on YouTubethis vid at Internet ArchiveThis song (below and in the vid0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/11/love-will-fool-you-love-can-kill-you.htmlSun, 23 Nov 2008 19:56:00 -0800tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-3709907738332117478 Love is both a many splendoured thing and a royal PITA, not necessarily in that order, as everyone who's been paying attention knows by now.That's the nominal excuse for this song -- but the real deal is just that I wanted to write a song with two then-trendy girls' names in the title -- which was originally "Amber Said Hello When Ashley Said Goodbye." But that wouldn't fit in the song database0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/10/on-monday-mornigng.htmlSat, 11 Oct 2008 12:38:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-6741747553019862542 play the embedded version above or go to YouTube to see the HI FI / HI REZ VIDEOYou know the old saw about the mechanic driving the smoke-belching, beat up, barely running car... As a database guy in real life, you'd think I'd be more on top of my own IT...But until recently I'd been using a highly informal matrix of data queries, guesswork, and eyeballing to figure out which of my ~150 songs 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/10/s-ometimes-you-just-see-how-its-all.htmlSun, 5 Oct 2008 12:50:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-1457570905317890719Sometimes you just see how it's all going to go down. You look and look and no matter how you look, you see the same end coming.But not everyone sees it. And when it comes, it hits them hard.Maybe it's the sad wisdom born of years of life, death and change, as they say in the comics, but at a certain zoom level, the pain and the pleasure and the sorrow and the joy start developing some kind of 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/09/thousand-lies-bridge-to-nowhere.htmlSun, 21 Sep 2008 14:16:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-6235893117468862924NEW SONG ALERT!The best liars don't really need a reason.They're glib. They're creative. They enjoy lying.They're not sociopaths... clinically speaking. They have feelings, stirrings of empathy; they indulge in sentimentalism and symbolic emotionalism... in fact, it's the language they speak... all too fluently, at times.A Thousand Lies (Bridge to Nowhere)listen or download [soundclick]AYoS radio2podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/09/dog-years-and-lunar-days.htmlTue, 16 Sep 2008 09:46:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-8975787255728756613NEW SONG ALERT!A song a day... that was the concept.Yep.A song a day for a year, newly recorded, with a little write-up.They started out being terrestrial, regular old 24 hour days.But at this point, we're pretty much talking about lunar days... listen:Rainy Day on Temple Ave [soundclick]AYoS radio [broadband] A Year of Songs Radio does not include Soundclick songsHowever, there are more than a 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/08/he-wrote-some-good-little-songs.htmlSat, 16 Aug 2008 08:28:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-137605372371063736Gotchya.No... not dead yet.Although regular readers may be forgiven for expecting that the next writing filling this space after some weeks of my absence might well be a tearful eulogy from a grieving friend or loved one who'd somehow managed to crack my passwords.But... nah.I'm still breathing and walking around.In fact, while I was otherwise occupied I did something I hadn't done in nearly 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/07/above-sidebar-trainwreck-life-download.htmlSun, 27 Jul 2008 12:35:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-7330718533398393135Stuff happens.No matter how meticulously you plan, how many contingencies you try to cover, how much you practice and drill, unforeseen events upend the best laid plans -- or the gods of unforseen consequences lay a hand on an outcome and before you know it, everything is upside down, inside out, and your goose is on its way to well-done -- but you won't be sharing the bounty.Trainwreck 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/07/mystery-trip.htmlSat, 5 Jul 2008 23:06:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-875913851341074536 When I posted an earlier version of this song only a few posts back, I'd meant to add the back up vocal that is added here. Otherwise, the song's about the same but I think the additional vocal kind of brings it alive. Bold & Rational Men download [ 1.9 mb] vbr mp3 play [broadband] AYoS radio [broadband] more stream & DL options previous versions Thursday, January 05, 2006 Friday, August 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/07/america-redux.htmlFri, 4 Jul 2008 12:59:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-3050063834564675279Special Holiday Encore0riginally posted October 15, 2007Preachin' democracy...It's still preachin'. With all that entails. Maybe it's because I've been spending so much time listening to country, mountain, and rural gospel lately. They ain't afraid of no preachin'....Anyway, when the phrase "This used to be America"* came to my lips the other day (in one of those listening-to-the-news-too-much 0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)http://www.ayearofsongs.org/ayearofsongs/2008/06/above-sidebar-scrapin-bottom-of.htmlSat, 28 Jun 2008 21:48:00 -0700tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16884333.post-6558245059276083186Scrapin' the Bottom of Yesterday's Bucket AgainWell I'm scraping the bottomof yesterday's bucket againI wore out my memoriesand then I just played them to shredsI'll spend my tomorrowsmy head bent in sorrowmy heart torn with pain and regretAnd all the sameit's my same old refrain:I swear I won'tbegin againScrapin' the Bottom of Yesterday's Bucket Againdownload [ 2.3 mb] vbr mp3play [broadband]0podcast2005@bluetrip.com (TK Major)