Max's Song-a-Day Blog

"Hymn to the Fallen (from Saving Private Ryan)" - John Williams

2010-02-08T12:20:22-08:00

It's John Williams' birthday today. He is 78.

He is more than just the greatest film composer ever. I'm gonna go so far as to say that there are very, very few people in this world who are as good at their jobs as he is.

Hear "Hymn to the Fallen" on YouTube.

"Planet E" - KC Flightt

2010-02-05T12:38:05-08:00

Was a bit of a struggle today trying to choose a song to pick. Then, out of nowhere, I remember the time (in the late 80s or so) I happened to catch some video on MTV featuring some groovin' rap song that made use of the Talking Heads tune "Once in a Lifetime." David Byrne was even in the video. Never got the artist's name or the song title.

God bless the Intarwebz. Only took a few seconds to learn that the rapper in question was named KC Flightt and the song was called "Planet E." So, for all two of my readers, here it is.

Watch the video for "Planet E" on YouTube.

Hear it with better audio quality.

"Raging in the Plague Age" - Les Savy Fav/Sven Mullet

2010-02-04T12:17:13-08:00

Before this year's GoM, I had never heard of Les Savy Fav.

Holy cow, this song rocks.

As does the cover version done by Songfight's own Sven Mullet.

Don't believe me? Click these links and be rocked.

Hear "Raging in the Plague Age" on YouTube.

Hear Sven Mullet's cover.

"Headache" - Frank Black/Billy's Little Trip

2010-02-03T12:36:08-08:00

It's Gift of Music time once again in Songfightland. Well, at least it was - I was out of the country when it was first revealed. It's kinda dying down now, but I'd be remiss if I failed to give it a nice fat plug here.

You may remember when I featured a whole week of songs from last year's GoM. This year it will be more of a mini-theme, so today I am putting up this Frank Black song along with a new version done by Billy's Little Trip. I've talked about that guy in the past, so posting his entry shouldn't be a surprise.

For the record, I covered the Dave Brubeck piece "Take Five" for this project, which I've discussed before. You can hear my version here.

Oh, I also started to rework my sorted song logs that Internet Explorer recently fubared. They're at least up-to-date and readable, although a lot of the formatting has been removed, so they'll be rather plain looking for now. But my God, I didn't quite realize just how much IE had butchered them. For some ungodly reason it threw in a bunch of paragraph tags, and that made adding a new entry very difficult. I eventually decided to just take all of the formatting tags out, and I'll put the applicable ones back in at some point.

Moral of the story: Don't use IE. Ever. Especially if you wanna do something bold and daring, like, you know, some random blog no one reads...

Watch the video for "Headache" on YouTube.

Hear BLT's cover.

"Swine Flu in the USA" - Tomster Music

2010-02-02T12:10:06-08:00

My blogging duties are a pure cakewalk today. Why? Duh, there's a new Tomster parody!

Watch the video for "Swine Flu in the USA" on YouTube.

Bloggus Interruptus

2010-02-01T12:32:57-08:00

For the first time, I exceeded my monthly traffic limit, so this thing went AWOL for a few days. But now that it's a new month, I get a whole, new, fresh whopping 1 GB of data for bot crawlers to move. We'll see if this becomes a recurring problem. If it does, maybe there are some files I can move. But I'm gonna sit tight for now.

In the meantime, you can once again commence the enema and bondage searches.

"G-Spot Tornado" - Frank Zappa

2010-02-01T12:32:18-08:00

The Grammys took place last night. I'm not even gonna mention what a joke the Grammys are.

I got to thinking, do I actually own any Grammy winning recordings? Have I EVER owned any Grammy winning recordings? The one that came to mind first was Zappa's Jazz From Hell, which I've talked about before. It won the 1988 Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Which is somewhat odd, seeing as how it's not performed so much as it is programmed. Nonetheless, here is "G-Spot Tornado."

This is an instrumental, so don't look at that title and freak out. No naughty words contained within.

Watch a (the?) video for "G-Spot Tornado" on Spike.

"The Dance of Eternity" - Dream Theater

2010-01-28T12:35:21-08:00

Holy heavy concept album, Batman! I must admit I really didn't know quite what I was getting when I snagged Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. I figured I'd be getting a prototypical DT album loosely centered around some central theme. I wasn't really expecting a full blown rock opera.

So, with this intense narrative in place, what am I doing now? Posting an instrumental. Sorry, but I really dig this. I'm all about the notes.

Hear "The Dance of Eternity" on YouTube before it gets pulled.

Watch a live performance.

"Under a Glass Moon" - Dream Theater

2010-01-27T12:35:06-08:00

For my recent birthday I got Amazon gift codes from my way-bitchen siblings, and last night I used them to purchase a couple more Dream Theater albums. So I may post songs from them in the near future. In the meantime, here is "Under a Glass Moon" from Images and Words.

Yeah, I know I posted a track from that record not too long ago. But holy hell, I've totally fallen in love with this "Moon" ditty. This whole progressive metal thing isn't good all the time, but when it is, it sounds just like this.

Hear "Under a Glass Moon" on Blip.fm.

Watch a live performance on the Tube of You.

"Home" - Lene Lovich

2010-01-26T12:44:25-08:00

OK, I'm back home now after my trip to Holland. After having adjusted to a nine hour time difference, I now have to adjust to another one.

Holland is a nice little country. They love their bicycles and public transportation there. Of course, with what they pay for gas, it's not a shock. They serve fries with mayonnaise (yes!). A lot of their buildings are twice as old as my country. They serve a lot of Belgian beer. Apparently, Belgian beer is really good.

And yes, I looked at a fair amount of barely dressed women in red-lit windows. Hey, when in Rome...

Watch a fanvid for "Home" on YouTube.

Watch a live performance.

"Bill" - Talking Heads

2010-01-22T09:29:49-08:00

Last night I had dinner at a place called Billy Beer.

Seriously.

You see, "beer" is the Dutch word for bear, and there's this bear-themed Dutch restaurant franchise in which every location is named after a different member of some fictional family of bears. The one I went to here in Delft is named after a bear named Billy, and as such, is called Billy Beer.

Obviously, it made me think of this Billy Beer. That's what any American guy in his 40s would have thought of. Duh.

So, in trying to pick an appropriate song, this Talking Heads tune came to mind first. Well, actually, Zappa's "Billy the Mountain" came to mind first, but it's, like, really long and I couldn't find the original album version. This one is much shorter and much more consumable. So, consume away!

By the way, in case you hadn't noticed, our Netherlands-based songblogging compatriot Tuuur is posting songs again. Apparently he had a serious battle with an addiction to World of Warcrack, but is now once again making with the daily tunage.

Just don't jump off the wagon and start playing Everquest.

Watch a fanvid for "Bill" on YouTube.

"Cold" - The Cure

2010-01-17T01:43:27-08:00

In my hotel room in Delft. It's about 10:30 Sunday morning. I'll be here one more week. It is still, dare I say, cold. It was barely freezing, then when it stopped freezing, it became rainy and windy. Whoa, now it looks like the sun is trying to peek through and it's shining right in my face. I have mixed feelings about that.

Hopefully if the weather permits I can hop on a bus and see some things, like maybe take in a movie at this theater. But if it's still miserable out, I'll likely stay in.

Everyone seems to want me to be a tourist. It's just not the time of year to be a tourist.

Hear "Cold" on Grooveshark.

Watch a live performance on YouTube.

"Adultery" - Mentors

2010-01-13T13:31:12-08:00

Greetings from frigid, snowy Delft, the Netherlands. It's about 10:30 in the evening. Hot damn but it's cold here. But everyone speaks English, so it's cool. I really am impressed by the command the Dutch have of English. A colleague and I took a bus into Delft and had dinner at a place called De Waag (the scale). I drank a couple of Grimbergens. They rocked the house.

So why am I posting this Mentors tune? Because it's been going through my head all day. I have no idea why. It just has been. So here ya go.

Hear "Adultery" on YouTube.

"Airport Security" - George Carlin

2010-01-09T14:16:58-08:00

LA is fogged in and my whole flight itinerary got pushed back a day. So, after a bout of flightus interruptus, I get to try and do the whole airport routine again tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a little unexpected bonus from the late George Carlin. He was a huge fan of flying, apparently.

Hear "Airport Security" on YouTube.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" - Ken Bishop's Nice Twelve

2010-01-08T12:17:09-08:00

A few reasons for putting up this one. Number one, I loved the British TV show The Young Ones. MTV used to show it back in the 80s when MTV was still worth something. I have the full DVD set now and still dig it. Each episode of the show would feature a lipsync performance by an established musical guest. One of them was from an outfit called Ken Bishop's Nice Twelve, doing a swingin' version of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." When you watch this segment, you may recognize some people. Yes, that's Stewart Copeland. Yes, that's Jools Holland and Chris Difford from Squeeze.

Speaking of Holland, this brings me to my next reason for posting this: I will be in Holland for the next two weeks on business. I will have a laptop with me as well as free wi-fi in the hotel, so I may still be posting here on occasion while there. No guarantees, but if the free time and boredom factors allow, I'll dispense more tunage.

If not, then you may keep looking for enemas and bondage while I'm gone. I please to aim.

Watch the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" TV show segment on YouTube.

"#41" - Dave Matthews Band

2010-01-07T05:00:00-08:00

Old guy is old.

Signed,
Oldie McOlderson

Watch a fan-made video for "#41" on YouTube.

Watch a live performance.

A post for my artificially intellectual friends

2010-01-06T11:53:10-08:00

Since about 99.9999 percent of my blog traffic comes from crawler bots, here's a post especially for them.

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Keep up the good work, guys!

"Also sprach Zarathustra" - Richard Strauss

2010-01-05T12:57:09-08:00

This post sort of goes back to my "classical music as used in pop culture" theme from a while back. If you ever thought that this was officially the "Theme from 2001", then no cookie for you. But that's not really why I'm posting it.

I don't think I've ever mentioned this here, but back in the mid-80s, I was a huge fan of pro wrestling. I watched every show I could, whether it be the WWF (now WWE) telecasts, the NWA/Jim Crockett/WCW shows on the Turner networks or even the AWA stuff on ESPN. The WWF put on monthly events in my town and I attended them faithfully for nearly a year. Just loved the stuff. I accepted it and embraced it for what it was - a legitimate form of entertainment with scripted plot lines, seemingly endless personal conflicts and stellar athleticism. Part sporting event, part soap opera, part Broadway production. God, I ate it up.

I've always thought those who write off pro wrestling as "fake" miss the point entirely - it's not like anyone ever left Independence Day saying "space aliens didn't really blow up the White House." You never left a performance of Cats saying "those weren't really cats, those were just actors in suits." To me there's little difference. I mean, of course they're not really clubbing each other in the head with closed fists. Of course they're not inflicting much damage with their pile drivers, suplexes and power slams. But they make it look a hell of a lot more convincing than it would look if you or I tried to do it.

Eventually I got away from it all. I sort of got into it again during the whole WCW/NWO angle, but then WCW went belly up, and the WWF had gotten so outrageous and gimmicky that I lost interest in wrestling completely. When you have old guys standing in the ring in their skidmarked undies ready to execute a "stink face", you lose me. In recent months, however, with the aid of Netflix and YouTube, I've been reacquainting myself with some of those mid-80s wrestling shows, the NWA material in particular. That company didn't have quite the production budget or marketing muscle that the WWF had, but I thought the Crockett crew had the superior talent - guys that both delivered better in-ring action and did a better job of selling the traditional face/heel conflicts.

But unlike the WWF and the whole Hulkamania machine, the NWA's most visible personality was also its biggest heel - one "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. With him being such a "bad guy", I couldn't really appreciate him at the time because I had a fair amount of emotion invested against him. But I've been watching a lot of his classic matches and promos these last few weeks, and I've come to comprehend what has made him arguably the greatest pro wrestler that has ever lived. Although he was never the biggest, buffest, strongest, fastest or most athletic guy around, he had an amazing durability. And above all else, he could simply work both a ring and a microphone like nobody's business. His matches were often instant classics, and his on-air rants were simply legendary. Whether he was engaging in smiling self-aggrandizement (Wooo!) or insane, bug-eyed verbal abuse, he was the master of the wrestling promo.

Ric Flair retired (sort of) in 2008 after more than 35 years in the ring. So here is his traditional ring entrance theme - the Richard Strauss standard "Also sprach Zarathustra."

The whole bloody thing on Der Tube von Du: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Watch a prototypical Ric Flair rant from 1987.

"Popcorn" - Omar Khorshid

2010-01-04T12:06:57-08:00

Pat found me yet another version of "Popcorn." I have 22 of them now. That is a goodly amount of popping.

By the way, belly dancers are hawt.

Play/download "Popcorn."

"New Year" - Breeders

2010-01-01T13:02:10-08:00

Yeah, I know, I stated in a previous post that I wasn't real big on the Breeders' Last Splash record. Well, I'm not. But the opener is called "New Year", and it's kinda cool. And it's obviously January 1st, so today I'm going with the topicality.

Yes, that's a word. I looked it up.

Anyway, I don't think I've ever really bought into the whole New Year's Day mystique. We are essentially holding a celebration on a particular calendar day for no other reason than it's a particular calendar day. But hey, I don't have to go to work, so it's all good.

Hear "New Year" on YouTube.

"The Unseen Tears of the Albacore" - Vandals

2009-12-31T12:27:32-08:00

Hey, if no one is even reading this thing anymore, I'm gonna post more Vandals songs. Who's gonna bitch?

For Christmas a co-worker (or as Scott Adams likes to say, cow-orker) gave me a $50 Amazon gift code. Yeah, I know, cow-orkers usually aren't that generous. But I guess he was overcome with the holiday spirit, and I got to reap the rewards. Huzzah! And I didn't get him anything. I suck like that. But I'll be sure to get him something good next year. In any event, I used the gift code to pick up, among other things, the Vandals DVD Live at the House of Blues, so now I have the Vandals on the brain. More than usual, I mean.

You may have heard some people, stand-up comics and what not, make note how we lament the plight of dolphins and whales while saying nothing about the tuna? Well, there was a Vandals song written about that very issue, called "The Unseen Tears of the Albacore." It's featured on the live DVD as well as the 2002 album Internet Dating Superstuds, which I happened to download from Amazon a year ago today. Yeah, I just noticed that when I went to grab the album image.

So I guess having Vandals-related New Year's Eves is slowly becoming a tradition. Maybe next year I'll download another album, or buy another concert DVD. Or perhaps I'll just vandalize something.

Hear "The Unseen Tears of the Albacore" on YouTube.

Watch the Live at the House of Blues segment with the "Freese-Cam."

"Driven to Tears" - Sting

2009-12-30T12:16:56-08:00

Write it off as some sort of "jazz wankfest" all you want. But I'll say it again - Sting's mid-80s "Blue Turtles" band, featuring the likes of Branford Marsalis, Omar Hakim and the late Kenny Kirkland, was simply one of the most amazing bands I've ever heard. They could play, and they could groove. When you can merge both playing skill with this kind of visceral quality, I be a happy camper.

The 1984 Bring on the Night live album/documentary film featured a terrific reinterpretation of the Police standard "Driven to Tears." It is hardly a wankfest.

Hear "Driven to Tears" on YouTube.

Watch the Bring on the Night film segment.

"Efilnikufesin (N.F.L)" - Anthrax

2009-12-29T12:22:27-08:00

OK, guess I need to get back into the proverbial swing of things. Hmm, should I post an actual swing tune?

Nah, I'm gonna bring some speed metal instead. One of my holiday goodies this year was a "deluxe" reissue of the 1987 Anthrax album Among the Living. I was playing it during the commute this morning, and I must say I was rather pleased with how the new version sounded. Usually when something gets "remastered", an alarm goes off and I worry about yet another Loudness War casualty. Was the sound genuinely improved, or did they just squash the hell out of it and make it as loud as possible?

Luckily this new remaster is nice and meaty without having its waveforms transformed into giant bricks.

Hear "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L)" on YouTube.

"A Christmas Carol" - Tom Lehrer

2009-12-20T13:54:19-08:00

Going out of town for Christmas week, so this will most likely be the last post for a while. Until I make my triumphant (ha) return, hey, go stuff yourself silly and get some cool toys. Don't give people lame crap. Contrary to the beliefs of some, gift cards ARE a good thing, provided they are the right kind. They're both thoughtful and convenient. No excuse for dispensing the Chia Pets in this day and age.

If you have to spend time with relatives you don't like, hey, suck it up. They're still your relatives.

Watch a fanvid for "A Christmas Carol" on YouTube.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.

"Santa Got a DWI" - Sherwin Linton

2009-12-19T13:41:46-08:00

Obviously I don't dispense much of anything that resembles country here. But for funny Christmas songs, I'll make an exception.

How exactly would you bust Santa for flying while bombed? Would the Airborne Reindeer Patrol have to pull him over or something? "OK, please put down the reins and the bottle of Jack and step out of the sleigh, sir..."

Watch a fan-made video for "Santa Got a DWI" on YouTube.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.

"Don't Believe in Christmas" - The Sonics

2009-12-18T12:02:18-08:00

Usually when people say they don't believe in Christmas it's because they are/aren't beholden to some kind of religious doctrine. In the case of this 60s tune's protagonist, he simply got stiffed the year before.

Now there's a guy with his priorities straight.

Hear "Don't Believe in Christmas" on YouTube.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.

"Ho Ho F**king Ho" - Kevin Bloody Wilson

2009-12-17T12:18:24-08:00

Australians are funny.

(tee hee hee)

OK, it looks like I don't get enough funny Google search hits to post one every week. I'll just put them up as they happen, when they happen. If they happen. God, no one reads this thing anymore. So, having said that:

AMUSING GOOGLE SEARCH HIT ALERT: "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Memphis" Oooooops...

Watch a fanvid for "Ho Ho F**king Ho" on YouTube. Profanities abound.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.

"Yellin' at the Xmas Tree" - Billy Idol

2009-12-16T12:29:38-08:00

Did you know Billy Idol put a new album out in 2005? Well, OK, maybe you did. I had no idea. In any case, when our favorite little blond English punker from the 80s put out Devil's Playground, he included this festive yuletide ditty about that most heralded of holiday traditions - the obnoxious, alcoholic family patriarch!

Hear "Yellin' at the Xmas Tree" on YouTube.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.

"Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" - Tom Waits

2009-12-15T12:22:07-08:00

Much like yesterday's entry, there's not much else I need to say about this one. It can do its own talking.

Hear "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" on the Hype Machine.

Watch a live performance on YouTube.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.

"F**k Christmas" - Eric Idle

2009-12-14T12:23:37-08:00

Picked up this Monty Python alum's rather profane holiday ditty from William's blog a while back. The title pretty much says it all.

Watch a fanvid for "F**k Christmas" on YouTube. A goodly amount of expletives contained within, obviously.

This is part of a week-long series on anti-Christmas songs.