“Writers are liars, my dear, surely you know that by now? And yet, things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.” - Neil Gaiman - Dream Country
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!
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.
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: 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.
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.
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.
Artist: Talk Talk Title: It's My Life Lyrics: It's my life. Don't you forget, It's my life. It never ends. Why?: Leave it to a visionary like Mark Hollis to have left us a lesson in physical* distancing 36 years ago. Pay close attention! His hands are firmly planted in his pockets so he's not touching anything. He's also gone to the zoo but he's pretty much all by himself. Even his band mates aren't to be seen anywhere! There are in fact, people around, but he's keeping his distance... like football pitch distances, to the closest people. Physical distancing pioneer! A reassuring wink and smile from him at the end of the video is sign that things will be all right in the end anyway.
It's not easy for people isolate. Years of evolution have made us the social animals that we are. But years of evolution also made our brains as big as they are, and gave us a greater understanding of the world around us. Mind over matter. We can do this.
Now's also a great time to sit back, relax, and appreciate David Attenborough's and the BBC's great documentary skills. Hey perfect, here's Talk Talk's video, filled with awesome animal documentary footage... Especially good if a: You're a Talk Talk fan, and b: You have a short attention span.
But if you have a good attention span, I recommend watching any nature documentary. They're all pretty amazing. And for the record, I'm still not sure why, with all the technology we have, that I can't have the option to have a channel of all nature documentaries with our choice of narration by David Attenbororugh or David Suzuki, and choice of Talk Talk music as the soundtrack. Hook me up!
Link to my original non-COVID-19, rambly blog post about this song here: https://motorcyclepeanut.blogspot.com/2018/08/stuff-im-listening-to-2.html *So apparently they've reworked the term 'social' distancing to 'physical' distancing to clarify that you don't have to turn yourself into a hermit. You just need to keep your distance from each other. Screaming across the street at your neighbours? Perfectly acceptable.
