Introspective Sam Cooke Thing

Why do I keep finding myself walking around alone singing "A Change Is Gonna Come"?

Does pie come with that cake?

I could out sing some ice.

Relating To Music Isn't Necessary

"You don't listen to people's music and hear their story. You don't listen to Ray Charles singing I Can't Stop Loving You and think: 'Oh, Ray Charles can't stop loving this mystery third person, he's telling me all about it.' You relate the lines to your own life. Otherwise music wouldn't be universal, it would be just about specifics." - Spiritualized's Jason Pierce

I'm not so sure about that. The idea that these singers are singing for us, that they are singing our thoughts better than we can do it ourselves, is great. I'm all for it. But i'm not sure it's necessarily what goes on.

A lot of songs cannot be seen as the "you relate the lines to your own life" bit. Can I relate Fela Kuti's "Expensive Shit" to my life? Not lyrically. When a government or authoritarian body shows considerable interest in my fecal matter, I'll let you guys know. Musically I can relate though; Fela's the soundtrack to hustling about campus with people all around and cars in traffic jams. Not that different from Lagos, w/ the same stuff going on. But we're dealing with lyrical messages here. Musically, I concede: it's universal for the most part, except that some music works best in certain situations and some music doesn't make much sense in others.

In many cases they do sing for us. Stevie Wonder comes to mind. But even then, I for one get distracted sometimes by the back stories that I know exist. "This is written for Syreeta. or written with Syreeta. Or this is about his baby (the baby's name... and the sound of the baby in the bathtub... are in the damn song, but that's just one of those Stevie quirks.)

But perhaps I simply look at music differently. I judge the argument. Am I convinced Ray "can't stop loving you"? I need evidence. If you put together a well presented demonstration of it, I'll dig it. I've gotta feel that love, whether I've got the same situation or not. Relating to it isn't that necessary.

Listening to: Love - Forever Changes

4 Genres Based On Freak-Folk and Dance-Punk, 2 of Which Sound Hopeful and 2 of Which Do Not

Hopeful:
Freak-Dance, Freak-Punk

Not Hopeful:
Folk-Punk, Dance-Folk