8 posts tagged “song”
The Hoole Intelligence report shuddered at the news of soul superhero Isaac Hayes' passing this Sunday. By way of dedication, here's a little something the man put together for the soundtrack of the blaxploitation movie "Three Tough Guys."
As good as that song is, the original is better (and surely better than the forgotten movie it was made for). "Hung Up On My Baby" is a funk rock scorcher with the emotional sweep of orchestral music, yadayadayada... I'll let the song speak for itself.
Rest in peace, Ike.
In the spirit of the latest Manchurian Candidate to emerge from the bosom of the White House, the Hoole Intelligence Report will attempt here for the first time to say something nice about our president.
Gee Dub, you are cool so I'd like to dedicate a cool song to you!
Explaining that to be a gangster is about "living for the lord" and "feeding the poor and helping out with their bills," Bushwick Bill sets us straight about an often overlooked aspect of the gangster lifestyle and, I'd venture a guess, of the thrill of living in what Scott McClellan has called in recent days the "White House bubble."
You'll also hear the reason gangsters never run away from their problems (read the Middle East) -- Hint: it's because they're not strong runners!
Now, I can't be totally sure who raps on the last verse of the song, but the Geto Boys are from Texas and it does start out with the introduction "And now a word from the president."
I know that some who read this post (Karl, Dana, Scooter, I'm just messing around, really) and think "That's not the Hoole Intelligence Report" we knew, or "Why didn't he declare his fondness for Gee Dub years ago?" Sticks and stones, friends. Ultimately, this blog has to be about intelligence from whatever perspective -- right, left, or center.So voters of the world keep supporting me
And I promise to take you very far.
Other leaders better not upset me
Or I'll send a million troops to die at war.
So all you 'publicans that helped me win
I'd sincerely like to thank you,
Cause now I got the world swinging from my nuts
Damn it feels good to be a gangster!
He hit me and I knew he loved me.
If he didn't care for me,
I could have never made him mad,
But he hit me and I was glad.
Who can say what strange flight of fancy led the great husband and wife songwriting team, Gerry Goffin and Carole King down this particular rabbit trail? Hearing the song for the first time, like discovering a sonnet by Shakespeare devoted to lighting farts, the dissonance between form and content is mind-bogglingly absurd. According to the CD's liner notes, the song was "withdrawn by Spector before it reached the top 100 because he felt the lyrics were too sensitive for pop radio." It took some thirty-five years and a courageous young woman named Britney Spears to overcome this prejudice with her debut single "Hit Me Baby One More Time."
This is that era, you dig, when song writers got earthy, sweaty, goofy -- suburban. Life can get you down. Relationships can be painful. But so long as the hot tub stays hot and the boxed chablis don't stop, we can all make it through this veil of tears.
Bring me home B.J., my feet are getting too big for this bed...
A 1970 live performance at the Doubletree Inn in my very own home town of Seattle. The bass intro to this absolutely effing sublime jazz cover of "Hey Jude" glides in over the din of dinner conversation and light applause, which in this recording sounds exactly like sizzling bacon. That bassline is the warmest, most inviting noise I've ever heard from my speakers. That bassline is the place I want to live.
There are so many things to love about this song -- the fact that a very different song of the same name by Kraftwerk is also one of my favorites, it's prescient take on the relationship between romance, sex, and computer technology... But sometimes it's the context you hear it in that really transports you into the world of the song. "Computer Love" became one of my favorites the first time I saw the movie "Menace II Society." The Caine character just got his 5.0 back from the chop shop and takes it out for an inaugural spin. The scene starts with that nasty synth bass intro and has him gliding through the sunlit streets of the ghetto. And as the song continues it becomes clear why he had to steal that car at gunpoint -- ah, the sun, the freshly laundered clothes, the endless possibilities of a new day, the grandeur of life!
They paved paradise/put up a parking lot.
What a strange, affecting song. Yes, it do always seem to go that I don't know what I've got 'til it's gone. But this is no cause for celebration, Joni! Her chipper distance from the awful truth of the chorus makes sense for the first two verses -- I can understand sounding glib about the environment if you feel you're on the right side of the issue. But in the third verse it gets personal -- her man is leaving her and she didn't realize what she had 'til it's gone. While this awful fact is supposed to be dawning on her, Joni can be heard goofing off, giggling! Maybe it's the jarring distance between her playful, celebratory tone and the heavy shit she's speaking on that makes the song work -- or maybe it's just the anomotopeia in the hook.
