Category: Music

In a School, a School, a Place Where We Send Our Precious Children

So sad, so sad the news
Come our way this morning;
Like a bad bad dream,
A dream that you’d never even talk about;
In a school, a school
A place where we send our precious children;
The only place of innocence the world might ever let them know.

kidsprayer

As another heart-breaking story breaks today about a person with a gun shooting kids in a school right after there was another person shooting people in a mall, we see the usual pattern of questions being asked. How many? Who? Why? While we will eventually get some answers on the first two questions, we never find an answer for the last question.

On days like this, I find some comfort in Dan Bern‘s beautiful song, “Kid’s Prayer.” In the song — written after the Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, Oregon in June 1998 — Bern asks the questions about what leads to such random violence but ultimately concludes that the only thing we can do comes down to taking care of our kids the best we can.

There are things you know,
Your kids will never know;
There’s places they live,
Where you will never go;
So dance with your kids,
Paint with your kids,
Walk with your kids . . .

The above Dan Bern performance is from Housing Works on March 26, 2004, available for free download at archive.org. And you may watch the video directed by Peter Franchella below.

Be safe and hug your loved ones today.

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    2012 in Pop

    This mash-up “Pop Danthology 2012” puts together the pop hits of 2012. The music and video was put together by Daniel Kim. Yes, “Gangnam Style” makes an appearance. Check it out.

    It is interesting how well all of the songs work together seamlessly to sound like one song. Kim explains how he put together the music and video on his blog.

    What was your favorite song from 2012? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Paul McCartney & Members of Nirvana: “Cut Me Some Slack”

    The big story leading up the the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief last night was the news that Paul McCartney was going to play with the surviving members of Nirvana — Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.  Although it might have first seemed like an odd pairing, remember that McCartney and the Beatles recorded songs like “Helter Skelter.”  Anyway, if you missed the performance, here the group plays a new song, “Cut Me Some Slack.”

    In addition to appearing on the concert’s soundtrack, “Cut Me Some Slack” will appear in Grohl’s upcoming film, Sound City Movie.

    What do you think of the performance?  Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Remembering John Lennon: Watching the Wheels

    Not long after Lennon’s death, the single “Watching the Wheels” was released.

    On December 8, 1980 at around 10:50 p.m., John Lennon was shot outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota. After being rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead on his arrival.  In a world where everything is a commodity, the album Lennon had signed earlier in the day for his killer went up for sale in 2012.

    In the last few months of his life, Lennon was making a comeback with his Double Fantasy album and had songs in constant rotation on the radio and MTV. My favorite single from the album was released as a single not long after his death: “Watching the Wheels.”

    Unfortunately, the song also makes me think of his death, but his death also gives deeper meaning to this song.  Lennon wrote “Watching the Wheels” about his years of retirement from music before returning to it.

    Through my years of watching shadows on the wall since then, I have missed the music he would have continued making, but I appreciate the joy in the music he did give us.

    Every year, there are various events remembering Lennon. For example, The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool remembers the anniversary by holding their annual John Lennon peace vigil.

    What is your favorite John Lennon song or performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Watch One of R.E.M.’s First Shows

    REM 688 Club 1981

    Wuxtry Records    , where R.E.M.‘s Michael Stipe met record store clerk Peter Buck in Athens, Georgia, is posting videos of early R.E.M. shows. The video below is from an R.E.M. show at The 688 Club opening for Joe “King” Carrasco in February 1981, which is eighteen months before the band released its first collection of songs on vinyl and two years before Murmur was released.

    The video begins in the middle of R.E.M. covering Buddy Holly’s “Rave On” and ends with what later would be the band’s debut single, “Radio Free Europe.” Check it out. [2015 Update: The video from the 688 Club is no longer available, so below is the audio of “Radio Free Europe” from another 1981 show at Fridays’s in Greensboro, North Carolina on March 31, 1981.]

    For more information on this 40-minute set and other videos, check out the Slicing Up Eyeballs website.

    What do you think of the early R.E.M. performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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