Stuff I'm Listening To - Rain Tree Crow

Artist: Rain Tree Crow

Title: Blackwater

Favourite Lyrics: 

Blackwater take me with you
To the place that I have spoken
Come lead me through the darkness
To the light that I long to see again

Why?: Sometimes you're just going through your mass of accumulated music you find a song that all at once is nostalgic and fits into your current mood. For those not in the know, you might be more familiar with these guys by the name of their old band, Japan.

The first time I heard this song I was 16. Hearing it now just makes me long to be 16, with a driver's licence, a borrowed '87 Mustang and driving all around the city, listening to this and a strange mix of other music on hanging with my best friend, far too late at night, because that car stereo with it's one blown rear speaker, with window's open, was the best sound system in my world.

Stuff I'm LIstening To - Happy Birthday Roger Taylor

Artist: Duran Duran

Title: the Wild Boys

Favourite Lyrics: 
You got sirens for a welcome
There's bloodstain for your pain
And your telephone been ringing
While you're dancing in the rain
Wild boys wonder where is glory
Where is all you angels


Why?: If asked what my favourite single from Duran Duran is, this is quite possibly at the top of the list. It was that moment when Duran Duran went slightly edgier and darker and ... more science fictiony... for lack of a better word. But it was Roger who instantly made this song the instantly recognizable hit that it became. Thanks for this and happy birthday Roger Taylor!

Stuff I'm Listening to - Special Birthday Edition - Andy Bell

Artist: Erasure

Title: Fingers and Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)

Favourite Lyrics: 

And life is a wonderful thing
When you're humming the words to a love song
Do what you want to do
Be who you want to be

 
Why?:
It's Andy's birthday today. That's why! I adore this song and those lyrics could quite easily fit into my own personal guide on how you need to live life. Andy has such an amazing voice and I've been quite in love with Erasure for many, many years.

A quick trivia bit: I think the video is beautiful and the subject matter very touching. I found out that the video is about a bunch of friends taking the ashes of their recently departed friend out for their last hurrah via motorbike. 

Happy birthday, Andy Bell. 

Stuff I'm Listening To - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Artist: the Tokens 

Title: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Lyrics: 
A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh

Why?:
I baked today. It seems to be the in-thing lately with SARS-CoV-2 (I recently learned that this is the name of the virus and coronavirus and COVID-19 is the disease caused by said virus) running rampant. 

Baking and posting your successes (and if you're brave or oblivious, your failures) on-line is what you need to do in order to let people know 'Hey! I baked stuff and didn't burn the house down!' I like to bake and I think I'm ok at it... Except for the one time I made singularity banana bread muffins*, everything else has eaten and complimented immediately. 

I discovered that when I bake, there are specific songs that I need to start off on to get me inspired. Today I decided to start off my baking exploits with the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight. 

Then I remembered that Tim Friese-Greene had something to do with the song and in the time between plunking the tin in the oven to the time it was going to be done, maybe (given I'm like this raging Talk Talk fan) I should look up what it was that he'd done. It obviously wasn't the version that kicked off my baking. But here are three more versions of this song (that's been covered a billion times it seems). I'll let you guess which one inspired me to bake my banana bread today.

*Singularity Banana Bread Muffins: when you toss caution and the recipe instructions to the wind, and triple on the number of bananas and have a little less flour than you were supposed to add. And forget baking soda. You get these dense pucks of banana goodness with it's own gravity and event horizon. 

Also special thanks to threadpennyvinyl on Instagram for bringing the documentary ’ReMastered: The Lion’s Share’ about the origin of this song originally called ‘Mbabe’ composed by Solomon Linda and the where all the royalties went. It was super informative for me. I strongly suggest if you are interested to give it a watch. It is currently available on Netflix. 



Artist: After Hours



Artist: the Scallwags



Artist: Tight Fit
 

Stuff I'm Listening To - The Specials

Artist: The Specials

Title: Ghost Town

Lyrics:
This place (town) is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry

Why?: 
Today the City of Toronto finally made their decision and will be fining people who aren't following the rules of physical distancing. Three weeks into this and they are sort of putting their foot down. I say 'sort of' because I feel like we don't have enough people to properly enforce the rules.

On March 15th I posted about this song in an Instgram post, as my iPhone has this weird sense of the world and a wonderful sense of humour. It likes to make the soundtrack to my life relevant for the moment when I put it on shuffle. I had gone out for a ride and this was the song that kicked off my ride as chosen by my iPhone's ever sardonic Artificial Intelligence. Things were very quiet in Toronto because of the COVID-19 pandemic was becoming a very real and frightening reality. Normally the city would be busy and bustling. It would be two days later when the state of emergency would be declared in the province of Ontario and a week later when the province finally shut down all non-essential businesses. 

Today the city should have been like ghost town, but it wassn't. There are still crowds to be found. I am not against people going outside. You can't expect us to be cooped up. But if you see that some place is packed, move along. With the exception of grocery stores, I can't understand why the parking lot at Humber Park was full this past weekend. I can't understand why people aren't able to understand what physical distancing is. I've decided, if I need to go out to pick up supplies, I will probably have a hockey stick strapped to me and poke people who come too close. Thing is. I'm short so my hockey stick is most definitely shorter than two meters. Which also means if I take a swing and I connect, you were most certainly in my personal space. 

Hockey sticks aside, stay safe everyone, stay home if you can, avoid crowds if you can't and remember social distancing.

Stuff I'm Listening To - Bad Manners

Artist: Bad Manners

Title: Can Can 

Why?: Remember that scene in the movie 'Titanic' when the ship is sinking and the band is playing music? In a crisis situation, you need people to be calm. Calm means people need some sense of normalcy. Having the band play music was an effort to make things seem normal.

Right now, the ship is sinking. Which is why we're all desperately clinging to the things that make life normal. Which is why, in Toronto anyway, you're seeing people crowding into parks when they shouldn't be. It's spring here. Many people are either working from home or laid off with very little to do. Staying trapped inside your home, especially when you know something terrible is going on, is incredibly nerve-racking. 

I don't want to be the tragic doom-sayer. I would much rather stay cheerful because there's enough negativity in the world all around. But the world is sinking fast. Or, at least, Toronto is. We're Canadian, and we have a reputation for being nice. Unlike some other governments, we've had all levels of government politely and firmly suggest what the course of action should be, and for the most part, people have done their best to do so. But when you hear people moving gates so they can go to a closed park, or recreational areas teeming with people, who are clearly not physically distancing themselves, it becomes sadly obvious that we needed actual legislation placed sooner. These people are that kid who wouldn't stop talking and made the rest of the class loose out on recess time because he was an idiot. And we are going to pay for these recess-time cutting morons.

At this point, me being me, decided that if this ship is indeed sinking, and they gotta play Orpheus in the Underworld, then let it be this awesome ska version of it because it will bring a smile to your face because it's fun and ridiculous. Bonus! Bad Manner's appearance on Top of the Pops featuring Buster Bloodvessel in appropriate costume, whose skills as a dancer match my own.

Stuff I'm Listening To - Splogenessabounds

Artist: Splogenessabounds

Title: Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please

Lyrics:

Oi! Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please.
Ay! Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please.
Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please.
I've been here half hour
And I'm getting very thirsty!

 

Why?: Ahh... I bet you're all dreaming about when this will all be over and you can go back to your local crowded pub and continue to be ignored by the bartender who's too busy trying to get the girl down the bar's phone number or the barmaid who's been busy flirting with the drunk old guy at the other end of the bar for extra tips. 

Yes, yes. I know not all bartenders/barmaids are like this. But I've been to my fair share of pubs, clubs and bars. I know good service which is why when my favourite pub did close I pretty much never found another local hang out exactly for the reasons above. 

For the record, I wasn't much of a drinker back in the day. I was usually the designated driver. I didn't like soda/pop/whatever moniker Cola/Ginger Ale has in your part of the world. Our favourite watering hole, Cassidy's, had the best bartenders. One of them suggested hot chocolate. Then the next time, the barmaid added whipped cream. Then the bartender, who had heard about the whipped cream, added peppermint sprinkles. The next bartender decided to up the ante by adding shaved chocolate. I heard rumours that there were plans drawn up by the fourth bartender on how to make sparklers stand upright in the mug to serve it to me with a giant bendy straw to keep me safe. Unfortunately it never made it to the pyrotechnics part.

Have hope. We'll soon be packed in all the great bars/pubs/watering holes soon enough. 

Cheers.