OFMUSICALNOTE

Alice Cooper gets beached

2014-01-01T16:33:00.000-05:00

jlj;lj;

My brother's in puppy love

2014-01-01T16:32:00.001-05:00

j;lj;l

Singing fish

2014-01-01T16:32:00.000-05:00

lj;jl;

Mark Rust

2014-01-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Billy Jack - One Tin Soldier

2014-01-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

Songs that sound dirty, but aren't

2014-01-01T12:25:00.000-05:00

Mufferaw Joe
Don't give me no goose for Christmas, Granny

Hearse Song

2014-01-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

Whenever you see a hearse go by,
Don't laugh, you might be the next to die.

They wrap you up in a big white sheet
They lower you down about 60 fee

Your body's okay for about a week
But then your bones begin to creak

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
They play pinnochle upon your snout

One little worm that's not too shy
Crawls in your ear and out your eye

Your body turns a slimy green
The sand pours in like whipping cream

Gosh, I forgot my spoon !!

Eso Pesto

2014-01-01T12:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, I do know that the song title is "Eso Beso" (That Kiss). This song came to mind, 'cause I'm planning on making my own pesto sauce (cheese-free, thank you very much) and I needed something to sing as I cook.

Best of Drew Carey

2014-01-01T11:46:00.001-05:00

Good things come in three's ?? A numbers racket !!

2014-01-01T11:46:00.000-05:00

The Rain, The Park & The Other Things - The Cowsills
Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie - Jay & The Techniques
Mr. Moon, Mr. Cupid and I - Gene Pitney
Rainbows, Pots of Gold and Moonbeams - Studebaker Hawk
Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows - Lesley Gore
Me, Myself, I - Joan Armatrading
Shake, Rattle, and Roll - Bill Haley & The Comets
Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me - Buck Owens & Roy Clark
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - Doris Day
Me and you and a Dog Named Boo
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
You, Me and Mexico
Stop, Look and Listen
Do a little dance, make a little love, Get Down Tonight
Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady
My Blue Heaven - Fats Domino (Just Molly and me, And the baby make three)
Fun, Fun, Fun - The Beach Boys
ABC - The Jacksons
Willin' (weed, whites, and wine) - Little Feat
Shake shake shake, shake your booty
Signed, sealed, delivered

Dino, Desi, and Billy
Peter, Paul and Mary

Of course, two isn't so bad:
Lennon-McCartney
Push, push in the bush
but
Two Divided By Love - The Grass Roots

and we all know that ONE is the loneliest number

The Shivering Teeth

2014-01-01T08:47:00.000-05:00

My sister used to pay my bus fare, to go to her place for the weekend and babysit my nephew.

Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame

2014-01-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

Funniest, Dumbest, Silliest Song Titles (Mostly Country & Western)

2014-01-01T08:10:00.000-05:00

Here is a great list of humorous, funny, stupid, dumb and hilarious song titles. All of these were real songs. Many of the titles were created to be funny, witty, clever or at least original and attention getting. A few are more accidental in their humorous nature… All are worth at least a chuckle, and a few are worth a good laugh… You don’t know whether to applaud or groan at some of these, but you have to admit many are quite funny and even damn near brilliant! So, without further ado, here are more of the funniest song titles ever.

Why do most of these all have the underlying tone of "gloom, despair and agony on me" ? Why do women continue to believe that their men love them more than beer, or their truck, or their dog ?

I'm thinking I could probably get some kind of government grant for researching this. I just have to come up with some kind of creative reason. Let's see: preservation of redneck heritage ? Yeah, that oughta work.

I'm not sure whether it's just an urban myth, but I've heard that "if you play a Country record backwards, you dog comes back to life, you get your job back, your wife comes home, and your truck starts running just fine".

I Hate You But You're Interesting (The Beautiful South)
Damn, The TV's Gone" (AC and the Kentucky Fox Band)
She would wear a girdle but she ain't got the guts!
Get outta the stable Mable yer' too old to horse around!
I Don't Look Good Naked Anymore
She wouldn't let me kiss her on the river, so I paddled her back
I love you so fucking much I can't shit
Work Your Fingers To The Bone, What Do Ya Get? Boney Fingers.
hold my beer, while i kiss your girlfriend
If My Nose Was Running Money, I'd Blow It All On You" By Aaron Wilburn
I'm 200 Pounds of TNT, But You Laughed At My 2-Inch Fuse.
I picked a lemon from the garden of love
Im sorry I made you cry, but at least your face is clean
You broke my heart so I busted your jaw" album title by Spooky Tooth
I Don't Want Your Heart, I Want Your Liver"
I LOOKED HER OVER FROM HEAD TO TOE & SHE HAD ONE OF EACH
There's a Tear in my Beer" by Hank Williams Jr.
If My Baby Cooks As Good As She Looks - Harry Reeser & The Roving Romeos, 1926
If you see me getting smaller, it's 'cause I'm leaving you
I'm keeping your poop in a jar" by hayseed dixie
I Could Still Hear the Music in the Restroom
Redneck Aliens Stole My Baby

http://www.jg.org/folk/misc/funny.html
I'm losing my mind, one Oz. at a time

http://www.petelevin.com/countrytitles_abcdef.htm#A

These aren't real either, but they're also in the spirit of the page.
Enjoy

The Top 13 Rejected C&W Song Titles

The Trailer Sure Seems Lonely
Now That You and Our Nine Kids Are Gone
You Can Take the Boy Outta the Country,
but You Can't Take the Bullets Outta That Liberal City-Boy Who Just Cut Me Off in His Saab
Smells Like Team Roping
I Dropped the Bookcase On My Darlin' and Pleaded Shelf Defense
(Her Bar Tab Is a) Leading Economic Indicator
I Thought I Had Tourette's, But I Just Like Talkin' Dirty To You
You're My Kleenex of Love, and I'm Afraid I'm Gonna Blow It
Bacon and Eczema For Two
Achy, Breaky, Hanky, Panky,
Am I Drunk or Are You Skanky?
The Ballad of Pretty Mouth Dan
My Urine is A-Burnin', and
You'd Better Believe I'm Pissed
Tearstains on My Pillow Are the
Only Wet Spots in My Bed
I Can't Stop Thinkin' About Cowboys
(And I'm a Cowboy, Too)

Nothing says Christmas like Valdy !!

2014-01-01T08:02:00.000-05:00

I simply have to ask, "Why is Valdy touring with Santa this year ?"

What's that gibberish you're listening to ?

2014-01-01T07:58:00.000-05:00

Ting tang walla, walla, bing bang
Who put the bomp
Supercalifragilisticespialidocious
Doo whah diddy
Flea Fly

I Love the World, also known as I Love the Whole World, is an advertising campaign launched by Discovery Channel in 2008 in promotion of their new tagline: "The World is Just... Awesome".[1] The song used in the ad is a re-writing of a traditional camping song known as "I Love the Mountains" or "I Love the Flowers", featuring a chorus of "boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da".[2]

Expo '86

2014-01-01T07:57:00.000-05:00

I visited a friend in Vancouver, at the height of Expo '86. Talk about a great host ! He knows I'm an old time rock and roll fan, so he got us tickets to "The Legends of Rock 'N Roll" at the Expo Theatre (promoted by Canadian disc jockey Red Robinson).

There's mention of the Ventures' perfomance in the book, "Walk-Don't Run - The Story of the Ventures" by Del Halterman (link to book). Here's a snapshot of that piece:

Audio tools

2014-01-01T07:18:00.000-05:00

SPOTIFY - http://www.spotify.com/us/ This popular new streaming music service has one of the most extensive song libraries online. But sifting through its 15 million tracks to find what you want to hear is exhausting. Recently, though, Spotify entered a partnership with Facebook that lets Spotify users who connect to Facebook list each song they’re listening to on their News Feed, serving up a real-time flow of songs to explore. The rival streaming services Rdio (http://www.rdio.com/), Pandora (http://www.pandora.com/) and Mog (http://mog.com/) also offer this feature.

In addition, Spotify lets you see what playlists your friends have created and subscribe to them. That’s how I discovered that the band XX was the perfect soundtrack for Sunday mornings, and that Beyoncé is a surprisingly good running companion. Pro tip: You can also send albums and songs to your Facebook friends who are using Spotify by right-clicking on the track you want to recommend and typing in their name.

THE HYPE MACHINE (http://hypem.com/) Music blogs like Gorilla vs. Bear (http://www.gorillavsbear.net/), Fader (http://www.thefader.com/), Nah Right (http://nahright.com/) and Stereogum (http://stereogum.com/) post dozens of new songs, mixtapes and albums every day, making them reliable sources for fresh sounds. But those sites number in the hundreds, making it hard to stay on top of them all. The Hype Machine is a Web site and iPhone app that aggregates any song posted to a number of music blogs and streams them in a single place.

The Hype Machine is ideal for listeners who like radio remixes, covers and mash-ups and other B-side materials that rarely see the light of day. Imagine your favorite underground radio station playing only the newest jams, on an endless loop. You can also explore by genre, or use “latest” and “popular” tabs to sort through the songs. There’s also a “spy” tab to see what other Hype Machine users are listening to in real time.

TUMBLR (https://www.tumblr.com/) In addition to funny memes and Lady Gaga, this popular microblogging site is also a great reservoir of music feeds that post new music streams, clever covers and quirky remixes. The blogs tend to be carefully curated and not nearly as high volume as a music site as Fader, making it easy to keep from getting overwhelmed by the influx of new tunes in your Tumblr feed. A few Tumblr favorites: CopyCats (http://copycats.tumblr.com/) and Disco Naïveté (http://disconaivete.com/).

SOUNDCLOUD (http://soundcloud.com/) The trouble with services like Spotify, Rdio and their ilk is that they primarily focus on music by artists who have been signed to labels. But there are still a lot of performers making music on the fly and uploading it. That’s where SoundCloud comes in. You can find rare mixtapes, like one that combines the indie crooner James Blake with the rapper Drake, and up-and-comers who haven’t yet been picked up by a big label, like ASAP Rocky, the Weeknd and Dominique Young Unique. You can follow artists you like, find friends and keep an eye on which songs they like as well.

EXFM (http://ex.fm/) Now that you’ve got all these new places to check for new music, how best to keep track of them? Exfm is a free browser extension that keeps track of every song you listen to and save as you bounce around the Web, and assembles them into a handy mixtape for later listening. The service also lets you browse through the top songs saved by all the users on its service, making for a neat crowd-sourced top 40 playlist.

TURNTABLE This social music service lets people take turns playing D.J. for a roomful of friends and other listeners. At Turntable, rooms are sorted by theme, from the self-explanatory (“Indie While You Work”) to the quirky (“Food Fight”), and they are all a good way to hear new music as well as old favorites. You can buy the tunes you like through Amazon or iTunes and save them to sites including Last.FM, Rdio and Spotify.

VHX.TV ( http://vhx.tv/)Remember when TV channels like MTV, VH1 and BET used to show music videos? VHX.TV aims to recreate those long-gone days with a service that makes the browser into a large screen for viewing videos. People using VHX can share their finds, and see what friends are watching. The videos tend to be more eclectic and visually interesting than your typical fare — think ‘60s-inspired noir Hollywood and colorful anime videos — and it’s never boring.

CULL.TV (http://cull.tv/) This service is similar to VHX.TV, and is trying to create an immersive viewing experience for music videos. But Cull.TV also offers several music video channels for viewers to flip through, like One-Time, which shows new experimental hip-hop, and New Chilean Rock, which features metal from South America. People are also free to create their own channels and share them with friends.

SOUNDTRACKING (http://soundtracking.com/) Ever wonder what your neighbors are listening to? This service, which is currently available only as an iPhone app, lets you see which songs are trending in a particular city or neighborhood — like the latest pop indie band to hit it big in Brooklyn or what’s bubbling up in Rio de Janeiro.

SONGZA (http://songza.com/) This iPhone application lets people create and share playlists organized around a specific task or activity. You can browse songs handpicked specifically for falling asleep, reading in a coffee shop or throwing a barbecue. Additionally, Songza users can browse by moods, like Rowdy and Spacey, or by decades, to find the perfect songs to suit their disposition.

She can't find her keys .... but she's got a ton of other crap !!

2012-01-05T13:13:00.000-05:00

Our friend has a Ford F-150, loaded to the hilt with all of the latest bells & whistles. If he uses one key, the seats/lights/mirrors/radio all adjust to his (tall) height & other preferences. With the other key, everything adjusts to his (shorter) wife's settings. However, his wife has a similarly decked-out Honda SI, so she's never gonna use the truck. He wants to reprogram the 2nd key for his son-in-law. The challenge is that, despite the gazillion dollars he paid for the truck, he has to pay more, to get the code required to change the programming. He's so p.o.'ed, he's just not gonna "friggin' well" fork it over. I just think that is too darn funny.

This makes me think of the song by Paul Petersen, "She Can't Find Her Keys",

Now, tell me... Doesn't that just summon up visions of some Valley Girl type, with a Gucci purse and very light-coloured hair?

I think the song needs to be re-written, ya think ?.....
"She pulls out a USB key, iPod, garage remote, cellphone, GPS....." ....code for her F-150 !!

We've come a long way, haven't we, since that song was written ? I suppose no one has re-issued it, because you can now also buy key finders !!

High Hopes on pissing off an RX7

2012-01-01T14:45:00.001-05:00

Our RX7 was so old that it came only with an on-board cassette player -- state-of-the art for its day, I guess.

Back in early '98, we started talking about how great it would be to have a CD player: we'd be able to burn our own music selections for our road trips.

Well, I guess that is precisely the way to piss off your good old reliable RX7 ! It seems that, no sooner had we started discussions about a CD player, than our radio/cassette combo decided to go on strike. What finer time did they decide this, but on the 100-mile trek back home from Mom's !!

So, whatcha gonna do ? Natch, we start singing and, guess you could say that we hatched a song that will certainly keep us in some unique list of lists !!

The lyrics, to which I have to give credit to my melodic counterpart (the driver, not me), go something like this (all apologies to Frank Sinatra):

Just what makes that little old ant
Think he can snort a bag of cocaine
Anyone knows an ant can't
Snort a bag of cocaine
But he's got hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii hopes
He's got hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii hopes

I dunno. Somehow, I just think that Ole Blue Eyes did a much better job of it !!

Valdy & Santa Claus

2011-12-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

I was kinda surprised to see so many posts in the news about Valdy and Santa. That seems a little odd !

As I checked into it a little further, I guess it's not all that odd after all. Seems that Valdy is touring with Santa on the CP Holiday Train. A-hah !!

The goal of the Holiday Train is to collect food and money for local food banks and to raise awareness in the fight against hunger. At each event, the Holiday Train provides a box car stage, a line up of great musical talents and a corporate contribution to the local food bank. The community, in turn, is encouraged to donate food and funds, all of which stays in the community.

Valdy's backup band used to be "The Hometown Band" (Shari Ulrich remains my fave singer in this group), so it is completely fitting that he should affiliate himself to a hometown/community cause.

Here are a couple of clips of Valdy on this tour.

Geez -- for me, this is shades of George Carlin's "Hippy Dippy Weather Man", but I'm sure the younger folk enjoyed it.

Well, it's not the "Hap, Hap, Happiest time since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny F*&#'ing Kaye", but the crowd seems to be enjoying it.

It's good to know that Valdy is still out there, 'cause goodness knows he's a great talent...a wordsmith even. But, while not meaning any "Bah Humbug" schtick, my fave Valdy tune will always be, "Simple Life". It's just so....so hometown...so Valdy.

And, all importantly, he sings about hockey, so what's not to love ? Maybe he can work with Santa to bring us the promise of a Stanley Cup for the Leafs in our stockings this year ???

It was 20 years ago today...

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

It's so hard to believe that it has already been 20 years since Freddie Mercury passed away !! Sometimes, when I listen to his singing or watching one of his performances, I can only think of him being so alive & vibrant, and running around on stage. Oh, that it were so !!

How do you begin to describe Freddie: dynamic lead singer; charismatic frontman; flamboyant stage personality? All I can come up with is "great eye candy with a tremendous set of lungs" !!

A writer for The Spectator described him as "a performer out to tease, shock and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself". Yeah, that works too.

For years, on Grey Cup Sunday, one of my brothers would call me, asking me to play Queen's "We Are The Champions" over the phone to my other brother.

Talk about coincidence !! The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup championship on November 24, 1991. Freddie Mercury passed away November 24, 1991.

The show must go on....the show will never end ! The King (Elvis) is dead; long live the Queen (Queen Freddie).

She taught me to yodel

2011-11-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

My brother would visit me often. We'd play 500 Rummy & listen to the tunes.

He really liked Slim Whitman -- especially his yodelling songs. I told my brother that I had just the ticket to teach him to yodel....this is it !!

Well, it didn't work....but, like everything, he gave it his best shot !! Maybe yodelling was just not for him. Maybe he shoulda just stuck with "Disco Duck" !!

I miss those days !!

Happy Birthday, Gordon Lightfoot

2011-11-17T07:57:00.000-05:00

(Too bad your daughter can't be there to celebrate with you; she's busy Occupying Toronto !!)

Seems like Gordon Lightfoot's been around forever -- actually, 73 years. Over the past 50 of those, he's had a ton of hits in the folk, folk-rock, and pop-rock categories.

His "Carefree Highway" came to my mind immediately, as we drove from Phoenix to Flagstaff.

But, to be sure, the one song that strikes closest to home for me is "Christian Island" (I was almost stranded there once, when the ferry broke down. I was quietly freaking, because of all of the childhood stories I'd heard about being captured and scalped !! But, I digress.)

When it comes to Canadian musicians, I guess we really have to give Gordon Lightfoot his dues. As I've said, he's been around forever and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn't heard of him.

Happy Birthday, Gordon !!

The Nuts on My Family Tree

2011-11-16T11:12:00.000-05:00

Researching one's family tree can be a most challenging and daunting effort. However, it can also be a greatly rewarding -- sometimes even comical -- task. I've stumbled across some pretty peculiar things:

A child dies & the name is given to next born child (Yuck ! A constant source of misery for parents and child alike);
Upon the death of their sister, girls have married their brother-in-law (well, at least they waited);
It seems quite common for sisters to marry brothers (I guess it beats having to remember a ton of surnames);
Some people give their children up to 5 names ! (What's with that ? Afraid of offending one of the relatives by omitting their name ? Geez....thank goodness we're not of Greek descent. Imagine being named Themistokles Epaphroditos Agathangelos Olumpiodoros Chrysanthopoulos -- you'd likely be 53 years of age before you could say your name, let alone try to write it... in one sitting !!);
One sad thing I've noticed is that some people have a bunch of daughters. They finally have a son, who either dies in infancy or enters the priesthood (Guess the family tree soon becomes dead wood.)

Well, no matter what I uncover as I progress, I take a bit of comfort in knowing that other people have some pretty "special" family history too. Consider what skeletons might have prompted artist Napoleon XIV (real name Jerry Samuels) to write "The Nuts on My Family Tree".

I flip every time I take a look
At the pictures inside my family book
And my mind wanders back where I'd like to be
With the nuts on my family tree

Chorus:
I take off my hat and burst with pride
When I recall all the things they tried
Their classic bits made such history
The nuts on my family tree

The first stood his ground at Waterloo
And it was such a foolish thing to do
He was soaking his feet, but he wasn´t done
So I ask you, how could he run?

The next nut was sure a lot of fun
He was there in the boat with Washington
When a leak in the boat made the water spout
He drilled a hole to let the water out

[Chorus]

The next got the word from Paul Revere
But he stayed just to have that one last beer
So the word he was just too drunk to say
That the British were on the way

The one who, with Custer, took a stand
I am now going to give a great, big hand
But the hand that he gets should be in the mouth
´Cause he forgot to tell old George go South

[Chorus]

4, 5, 9, 2, 7, 3, 4 !

Dance like nobody's watching !!

2011-11-12T11:05:00.008-05:00

My niece & her two girls are all soooo into dance. Not only do they dance, but they are extremely talented....WOW ! Move over Tina Turner !!

I think of this song, "Music Box Dancer", when I see them perform, or view photos of their performances. For the longest time, I didn't even know this song had lyrics. I remember when I first heard the words: I was on a Gray Coach bus, sharing a headset with my brother, and listening to the radio on his brand spanking new & state-of-the-art Sony Walkman !!

I do have to disagree with the girls though, when they say, "Dance like nobody's watching", 'cause they certainly deserve an audience, and any audience would always be wishing for an encore !!