Tagged by Rae: Seven songs I am listening to right now and a lyric or two that sounds good

New Mistake, by Jellyfish — I have no idea what this song is about, but I like it. Got hooked on this band after seeing the music video for it (which is just as confusing) on Rage, years ago. As a marketing tool, sometimes music videos work.

So Father Mason, clutching his crucifix
Baptised the baby in whisky and liquorice
What a lovely way
Drowning sins and tooth decay

The Circle, Ocean Colour Scene — about a circle of friends. I got hooked on this band after one of their songs was used on a TV show. That works as a marketing tool too.

Saturday afternoon
The sunshine falls like wine
Through your window

Good Day Ray, Powderfinger — after all these years, the whole Internationalist album is still a favourite. Now the kids have got hooked on this particular song, as have I. It’s been played something like 25 times on the iPod that Jeremy’s had only four weeks.

You, you’ve fallen down the stairs again
You might have to take it easy

Love Letter, Professor Ratbaggy — the most accessible of PR songs (it’s Paul Kelly in disguise) and probably the only one to get a guernsey at a PK gig. I snuck it onto a CD of music for my sister’s wedding, years ago. (I also tried to get on The Proclaimers’ Let’s Get Married, but with all the classical music they’d ask for, it wouldn’t fit.)

You’re every rich man’s prayer
You’re every poor boy’s dream
I wanna make a deep connection
Between you and me

Second Class Citizen, Area 7 — your standard call of justice for youth. Maybe I’m a bit old for it, but it’s something I try to recall when seeing the yoof out and about. And when I see yet another profile of Barry Humphries in the paper.

Well I don’t know what they think we do with our time
Try to tell them that being young’s not a crime
We try to tell them but they just don’t care,
This f—ed-up system’s so unfair

Song 2, Blur — it’s pure enjoyable unadulterated noise.

Woo hoo!

Boy with the Arab strap, Belle and Sebastian — theme from Teachers, but highly enjoyable in its own right.

Everyone suffers in silence a burden
The man who drives minicabs down in Old Compton
The Asian man
With his love hate affair
With his racist clientele

I’m not going to specifically tag anybody, but if you want to have a go, leave a comment or trackback.

At the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, they’ve built a copy of Flinders Street Station from ice:

(via Rod)

The Grauniad have done a London tube map of 20th century music.

Full version here

Happy Gravy Day everyone. May you and yours all be together for Christmas.

On any other day
I might care what you say
But every Saturday is Father’s Day
And you might call it sad
And you might call me mad
But I’ve got one — who calls me Dad.

– Weddings, Parties, Anything: “Father’s Day”

I seem to recall Mick Thomas saying he was surprised at how this song resonated with people, given its bitter-sweet nature. Maybe he underestimated the power of the (sweet) words, how they tap at the emotions of parents.

Maybe I’m a little emotional today, but shortly after being given my presents (Geelong keyrings and glasses, and a mug) I played this song loudly and the (happy) tears flowed.

To all you dads out there, Happy Fathers Day.

I started writing a list of my five favourite songs of the moment about a fortnight ago, but only got as far as three tracks. Then the “five songs” meme arrived, and Kathy tagged me, so here we go, I’m jumping on the bandwagon.

List five songs that you are currently digging - it doesn’t matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions and the five songs (with artist) in your blog. Then tag five people to see what they’re listening to.

(Links for artists are to their official sites; song links are to the lyrics for that song.)

Billy Bragg: Waiting for the great leap forwards — So join the struggle while you may / The revolution is just a t-shirt away. Very clever dense lyrics, with so much in them, especially identifying with anybody involved in activism. But also the music is beautifully put together, the way it builds to a crescendo at the end.

Ben Harper: Homeless child — There is no night / and there is no day / it is all / one shade of gray. Dunno what instruments they’re using, but very cool sounds. One of the live music shows on the ABC recently used this as their theme song; can’t remember which one though.

Ocean Colour Scene: Mechanical Wonder — Oh machines make our lives today / and I like them the best / But the mechanical thunder is just a noise in my head. I love this song, not only for the music, but also because the lyrics reflect a strong view of mine: that cars are fun and (mostly) convenient to drive, but they’re causing untold damage to our environment. Curiously, the record company made a video clip based on just the song title, which turned it into a kid building a robot version of himself to win at soccer. And actually, I could pick a dozen songs from OCS’s best-of album.

Bob Marley: Exodus — Open your eyes and look within / Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?. Great stuff. One of my favourite reggae tracks, the music just grooves on and on at the end. When I eventually get a sound system with a nice big sub-woofer, this’ll be first in the queue.

Gorillaz: 19-2000 — There’s a monkey in the jungle … caught up in the conflict between his brain and his tail. The whole imagery of the monkey just amuses me no end.

Hmm, why is it that three of my five start with B?

Who’s next for this? I’ll tag Tony, Andrew, Doug, Brian (maybe it’ll prompt him to update his blog) and Andy. Hmm, all blokes, but I’m having trouble finding people not already tagged.

Anybody else want to nominate some fave tracks of the moment? Leave a trackback or comment.

When I was about 8, I got into the Beatles in a big way, after staying at a house in Dromana that had a copy of Abbey Road on LP, and listening to it every day for a week. Of course they’d been broken up for 8 years then, but I started collecting all the albums on cassette, a little later spurred on by the events of December 8th, 1980.

By the mid-80s I had a turntable, and in 1987 I upgraded to the record of Sgt Pepper (bought 20 years to the day since the first release, I do believe) and the White Album (collectors’ edition in white vinyl).

When I got my first CD player in 1989, the first CD I got to play on it was Abbey Road. Subsequently I’ve collected the other official releases on CD (though I didn’t get all the Anthology series — there’s only so many alternate takes of She Loves You that one can take). Though they don’t often get an airing on the CD player, when they come up on random play on the iPod, I generally greet them like old friends.

Though two of the Beatles have left this Earth, their music lives on.

On the train yesterday morning, two earnest young men of about 19 or 20 were discussing music. One was enthusiastically telling the other about the recent Let It Be “Naked” release, how in particular the version of “I’ve Got A Feeling” crapped all over Phil Spector’s original mix.

I was born a little after the Beatles split up. These guys would have been born about 15 years later.

What’s the bet that in 1000 years, as people are queuing for the teleport, they’re still debating the merits of Phil Spector’s production on Let It Be?

It would seem that some great music is timeless.

I was having a chat to my friend Stewart. He and his mate Joe have just launched a web site to go with their band, Joey Stew. They’ve got some downloadable samples of their songs on the site, so check it out, it’s funny stuff.

But one lesson I’ve learnt over the years is to not buy humour CDs. When I was a teenager, my Monty Python and Hitch Hikers records got played a lot, but as I’ve got older, they no longer appeal. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still funny, but I’m just not as interested in playing them. Maybe it’s because they have to be actively listened to, rather than just able to be played in the background, and I often don’t have the time available. The last few funny CDs I’ve got have been listened to once, then filed away.

• Also today, over on Geekrant: Why I both love and hate my iPod

A couple of weeks ago we were having dinner on a Saturday night in Bourke Street.

Something was wrong, and we remarked as such: it was about 7pm and Gaslight Music wasn’t open.

For years, Gaslight has been a haven in the eastern end of the city, particularly when waiting to meet someone on a cold winter’s night. It was always open late. But on this night it wasn’t.

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it turns out Gaslight is no more.

I suggest as a mark of respect, we all reach for our music collections, find that rare, out-of-print or otherwise hard-to-find CD/LP that you found that time in Gaslight, and give it a spin.