The Seven Song Itch - Leaving Relationships Behind

Fear of the unknown is a powerful thing.  Sometimes I feel more at ease staying in a difficult situation than take the risk of attempting something greater.  If I know what the problems are in a current situation, then the familiar remedies are close at hand.  When those moments of difficulty outweigh leaping into the unknown then that is when real change has to happen.  Sometimes you can’t help the person that you love, because they don’t want the help—they have to want to become better.  Some may think that this is abandonment, and that you have to have loyalty to the ones you love, but you serve them no purpose if you crash and burn with them.  As of this week, I’m starting a new chapter in my life.  I am embarking upon a new path, and am unsure of where it will take me.  I have to believe in the wisdom of those who have traveled this road, because the path is marked with their successes.  There are a lot of relationships that I’m leaving behind, but I hope to find that several people will be joining me in their pursuits of something great.  There is always room to have travel companions in this life.  I’ve compiled a list of songs that deal with leaving relationships behind.  I’m not advocating bailing at the first sight of trouble, but you have to know when to stay and when to leave.  Some of these songs have a bit of regret in their lyrics, but I believe there is wisdom in these songs.  Reminiscing about things that you could have done, or should have noticed, is a learning experience and is meant to provide comfort to those who are going though the same thing.  Don’t live your life with regret.

Playlist for LeavingRelationships Behind

1. Paul Simon – “Train In The Distance”(1983)

This song, taken from his sixth studio album, “Hearts And Bones” provides a glimmer of hope in a difficult relationship.  I don’t think that the couple in this song ever gets back together, but they remain in contact.  It’s so easy for true believers in love to be tripped up in what their hearts and heads are telling them about the relationship.  This record was intended to be a reunion for Simon & Garfunkel, but due to artistic differences it was reworked as a solo record for Paul.  This album, at the time, was considered one of the low points in Paul’s career, but with the passing of time it has become one of his most important records.

2. SheDaisy-“Little Good-Byes”(1999)

This is the first single off of the group’s debut release, “The Whole SHeBANG.”  I love the playful nature of the lyrics as the women in the song leaves behind little reminders to the man that the relationship is over.  Though the record is not a concept album, it does have running theme of how a women define themselves in a relationships.  The vocal harmonies on this record are top-notch and transcend the borders of the country charts by appearing pop music ones as well.

3. Jimmy Wayne – “Stay Gone”(2003)

This is the lead single off of Jimmy’s self-titled debut release.  It was also re-released on his second album “Do You Believe Me Now,”(2008) to give potential fans a second chance to be properly introduced to this multi-faceted artist.  In this song, the narrator is telling an ex-lover, though you could apply this theme to many relationships, to ‘stay gone’ because they have found peace in their absence, and would like to keep it that way.  Sometimes a person can be so toxic to you that no amount of antidote can save you.  You may still love these people, and they may not be bad for others, but you have to learn to take care of yourself.  With Jimmy, he was fortunate to have been taken in by a very caring Christian couple that saved him from being another casualty of the foster care system.  On January 1, 2010, Jimmy set out on a 1,660 mile solo-hike from Nashville, Tennessee to Phoenix, Arizona to raise awareness about homeless youth and more specifically children aging out of the foster system. Called the "Meet Me Halfway" campaign, he walked 25 miles a day, only coming off the walk for scheduled concerts and to go to the California State Capitol to speak in favor of a bill that would increase the age kids age of the foster system from 18 to 21.  Jimmy is now busier than ever, as he continues to be an advocate for homeless youth in the midst of writing a book and recording new music.

Previous Artist Feature: JimmyWayne

CD Reviews: SaraSmile (2010) & DoYou Believe Me Now? (2008)

4. Keith Urban-“You’ll Think of Me”(2004)

This is the fourth single from his album “Golden Road,” which earned Keith his first Grammy, but he was earning many awards back in Australia before this song.  Keith took a chance and moved to Nashville, because he wanted to move beyond hometown accolades and into the mainstream.  The transition was not easy and was plagued with several stumbling blocks, one of which was checking into rehab right before he was about attain his goal of becoming a country superstar.  The fans waited, and with the support of his wife Nicole Kidman, he was able achieve great success with his career.  Ironically, the theme of this song doesn’t have a happy ending, well…at least for one of the individuals.  This is an all too familiar story, but one that has a punch line.  Sure, you can leave this relationship, but in the process I will become a whole lot better, and all you will have of me is just memories.

5. Sheryl Crow – “Good Is Good”(2005)

This is the first single from her album, “Wildflower,” and though it didn’t garner much attention on the pop charts, I think it’s one of her most profound songs.  Sometimes we can be a little gun-shy about a relationship—we all have baggage, but there comes a time when you have to make some sort of movement forward.  “And every time you hear the rolling thunder, you turn around before the lightning strikes, and does it ever make you stop and wonder, if all your good times pass you by,” is one of the most powerfully lyrics in this song.  Yes, there are going to be storms in your life, but that doesn’t mean that you have to fear the rain.

6. Emerson Hart-“If You’re Gonna Leave”(2007)

As lead singer and songwriter of the band Tonic, Emerson Hart penned several pop hits of the nineties, which included, "Open Up Your Eyes," "If You Could Only See," "You Wanted More,” and “Take Me As I Am.”  He decided to take a break from the band and in 2007 he recorded his first solo record, “Cigarettes and Gasoline,” from which this song is taken.  It addresses the back and forth of the breaking up process and how it can be so frustrating to the point where you just want it over.  It is heartfelt and painful and captures the emotional roller coaster of the relationship in each guitar riff.  This is pop music at it’s best. 

CD Review: Cigarettesand Gasoline

7. Melanie C – “Already Gone”(2007)

This is a fan made video, which takes a lot of its footage from Madonna’s “Ray Of Light” video, as well as excerpts from a few BBC Channel shows that interviewed the former Spice Girl.   This song is currently only available as a B-Side import of Melanie’s cover of Bow Wow Wow’s, “I Want Candy,” but I think it is a much more powerful tune.  It reminds me of the 38 Special song that states, “Hold on Loosely, but don’t let go, if you cling to tightly, your gonna lose control.” Sometimes we can be so scared to lose a relationship that in the process of worrying about it, it becomes lost.  All good things must come to an end, but in the meantime, choose to have the best times that you possibly can.  I’m not trying to sound jaded, but maybe the end of the relationship is when both of you pass into the next life.  Time is relative to your situation.

Bonus Videos (used in the making of Melanie C’s fan based video “Already Gone”:

Madonna – “Ray of Light”(2006)

Melanie C appears on the Channel 4 show promoting new single, 'I Want Candy' for the film of the same name.

Melanie C Orange playlist part 1

The Seven Song Itch - Livin In Nihilism

I would have to say that the eighties is one of the most diverse samplings of music in recent history.  Though a majority of the music conveyed a party like lifestyle, there is a darker more edgy aspect to some of the music.  It isn’t all romanticism and worldly views, though it was the time of Amnesty International, Band AID and USA for Africa. At one point The New Wave moment turned dark and Nihilistic. It was like waking up in bed with several unidentifiable bodies after a night of doing lines of coke off of a stripper’s ass.  Remember, this was the decade that AIDS came to the forefront of the nation but the decadent life style still marched on. So what’s Nihilism?  The term nihilism is a general mood of despair at a perceived pointlessness of existence that one may develop upon realizing there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws.  In a larger sense, it argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established moral values are abstractly contrived.  The eighties were full of these songs, masquerading as pop tunes.  I’m not saying that the artists listed here have that objective, but I think that all art, including music, is a reflection of contemporary moral views.

Playlist for Livin In Nihilism

1. Missing Persons – “Words”(1981)

Though Dale Bozzio (vocals) was named Boston’s Playboy Club Bunny of the Year in 1975, it was a chance meeting with Frank Zappa that took her career to another level.  Seeing potential in Dale, Zappa hired her to voice the part of Mary in his rock opera, “Joe's Garage.”  In that role she promoted Zappa’s views towards the Roman Catholic Church, sexuality, and the culture of rock bands.  In 1980, Dale co-founded the new wave band Missing Persons with former Zappa musicians Warren Cuccurullo and Terry Bozzio.  The odd thing about this song is that so many people are distracted by her stage persona (i.e. her fetish fashion and ‘squeak’ vocals) that they never really listen to the words of this song.  Granted, interpretation of an artist’s lyrics is up to the individual, but I feel like no one really listens anymore.  Music is more style over substance and it ceases to convey anything more than just a soundtrack to our lives.

2. Berlin – “Sex (I'm A...)”(1982)

If Terry Nunn (vocals) had passed the audition for the movie “Star Wars,” for the role of Princes Leia, the eighties musical landscape would have been very different.  This song is their first hit, though banned by radio stations for it’s lyrical content, and is the jumping off point for the band’s success.  The idea of sexual role-play is not new, but this song is a great example on how we can arbitrarily define ourselves regardless of what is considered the status quo.  At the time the music industry thought "new and exciting" meant upbeat guitar-oriented skinny-tie power pop bands with male lead singers and did not understand Berlin’s Synth rock sound with their downcast subject matter.  They went on to be one of the pinnacle bands of the era with compositions such as “The Metro,” “No More Words,” and the international hit “Take My Breath Away” from the motion picture “Top Gun.”

3. Frankie Goes To Hollywood – “Relax”(1983)

The group's name derived from a page from The New Yorker magazine, featuring the headline "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" and a picture of Frank Sinatra, although the magazine page Johnson referred to was actually a pop art poster by Guy Peellaert.  Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (vocals, keyboards), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guitar), and Brian Nash (guitar) became cultural icons in this decade of decadence.  You couldn’t turn the corner at the local mall without seeing one of the group’s “Frankie Says Relax” t-shirts.  I’m not sure if the fashionistas at the time really understood the seedy nature of the lyrics that are conveyed in this song.  The Caligula Club aspect of this video (This is the banned version, though other videos of this song exist) I have personally witnessed in dance clubs over the years.  This is the song that really gets the debauchery going out on the dance floor.

4. Pet Shop Boys – “West End Girls”(1984)

This English electronic dance music duo consisting of Neil Tennant (vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar) and Chris Lowe (keyboards), shot strait to the top of the pop charts with this Nihilistic song. The lyrics focus on class, and inner-city pressure, and were inspired by T.S. Eliot's poem “The Waste Land.”  In this ten-year span there were several movies (i.e. “Pretty In Pink”, “The Breakfast Club” and “Valley Girl” to name a few) designed to showcase that contrasting social groups can find common ground.  This song doesn’t do that.  It’s basically a ‘fuck all’ attitude and comes across almost languid in its stance on casual sex in the midst of social norms.  There is no romance lost in the lyrics, “You've got a heart of glass or a heart of stone, Just you wait 'til I get you home, We've got no future, we've got no past, Here today, built to last, In every city, in every nation, From Lake Geneva to the Finland station, (How far have you been?)”  The anonymous nature of East End Boys and West End Girls and their perceive class standing, gives little sympathy to any relationship lasting longer than one night.  The rules are defined by the social pressures and not societal norms.

5. Wang Chung – “To Live and Die in L.A.”(1985)

In the decade where this group proclaimed the manta “Everybody have fun tonight, Everybody Wang Chung tonight,” they composed the title song for this movie that has a darker connotation.  Core members Nick Feldman (Bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, and Vocals) and Jack Hues (Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, and Piano) were originally known as Huang Chung, which translates roughly as "perfect pitch" -- although later, on American Bandstand, they claimed it was the sound a guitar made.  They revised the band name to Wang Chung, which means "Yellow Bell" in Chinese and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale, because too many people were referred to them as Hung Chung.  The lyrics, “I wonder why I live alone here, I wonder why we spend these nights together, Is this the room I'll live my life forever, I wonder why in L.A., to live and die in L.A”, really conveys the hopelessness of a life that is devoid of any purpose or meaning.  It’s a far cry from a party mentality.

6. The Bangles-“Hazy Shade Of Winter”(1987)

This is a remake of the Simon & Garfunkel song (original 1966) for the movie “Less Than Zero” based off Bret Easton Ellis' novel of the same name.  The Bangles version of the song is a departure from the original as it has a harder-edged rock interpretation and removes most of the original bridge section.  The lyrics from the original composition evoke the passage of the seasons and focuses on the gloominess of winter, but this version has implications of drug abuse and aimlessness when fused with the subject matter of the movie.  Most of the characters in the Novel, as well as the movie, are devoid of any self worth as they watch the wonder years of high school fade away.  This is one of my favorite books because of Ellis’s ability to convey emptiness in an arena of excess.  It goes to show you that even those destined for greatness can lose themselves to decadence.

7. New Order – "True Faith"(1987)

This band, formed out of the ashes of Joy Division after the suicide Ian Curtis (lead vocalist), has an enigmatic veil surrounding its members, as they rarely grant interviews or appear in promotional materials.  They are a staple of the underground techno dance circuit as new generations are exposed to their music.  There are many interpretations of this song, but the one that keeps cropping up is about drug addiction.  “That's the price that we all pay, Our valued destiny comes to nothing, I can't tell you where we're going, I guess there's just no way of knowing,” is a lyric that has a Nihilistic tone, but maybe there is a positive aspect in all of this.  The future is unknown, and if we spend all of our time considering what is yet to be, we loose the time in which we live.

Bonus Video:

Romeo Void – “Never Say Never” (1984)

Most people know this as the “Might like you better if we slept together” song.  Interpretations are open for discussion.

The Seven Song Itch - Transitional Musicological Synergy

Didya ever have one of those days when you don’t know what you really want to listen to?  Do you channel surf and find strange combinations of songs that don’t really fit into a particular genre, but you find yourself listening to them anyway?  Well, I had one of those days recently and wondered if I could connect some random songs together, kind of like the seven degrees of separation ala the Kevin Bacon game, and blend it all back.  Well, it didn’t work the way I wanted, but I think the list of songs that I came up with have a certain sense of randomness.  See if you can connect some of your favorite songs in some kind of random order, kinda like Pandora Radio does.

Playlist for TransitionalMusicological Synergy

1. Against Me! & Joan Jett cover The Replacement's – “Androgynous”(Org. 1991, Cover 2012)

The song was covered by Crash Test Dummies and released as the third and final single from their 1991 debut album “The Ghosts That Haunt Me.” Joan Jett also covered the song on her 2006 album “Sinner,” but it’s this version, featuring Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel, of Against Me!) that really speaks to the lyrics.  Laura is currently in transition from Male to Female and is still continuing with her recording career.  This is the first major musical artist that is being public about their transition. 

2. Against Me! (Feat. Sara Quin) – “Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart”(2008)

A few years back, when Laura Jane Grace was still Thomas James Gable, he did this song (Featuring Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara) on the album “New Wave.” The blend of vocal styles really hits the mark about a troubled relationship and that the message of the song, “You don’t have to fight to stay in control of the situation.” It’s not about asserting control, but keeping the relationship from spiraling out of control.

3. Jonathan Coulton w/ Sara Quin and Dorit Chrysler (theremin) – “Still Alive”(2011)

Sara (of Tegan and Sara) appeared on Jonathan Coulton's 2011 album “Artificial Heart,” providing vocals for the album's remake of this song Coulton wrote for Valve's game Portal, “Still Alive.” For me, this is the definitive version as Coulton has had several guest vocalists over the years during his performances.

4. Jonathan Coulton (feat. Suzanne Vega) – “Now I Am An Arsonist”(2011)

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This song, featuring vocals by Suzanne Vega, has a simple beauty that reminds me of the novel “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” by Richard Bach.  It’s about a person’s transition from flying though the air, like an acrobat, toward fiery passion. 

5. Suzanne Vega – “Left Of Center”(1986)

Suzanne collaborated with Joe Jackson (Piano on the track) on the song from the “Pretty in Pink” soundtrack for the movie.  This was my mantra during high school since it addressed the issue of being ostracized from the “in-crowd” because of my appearance.  Several years before this song, she had attained great success with her song, “Luka,” and several years after she hit big again with a remix by the British group DNA of her song, “Tom’s Diner”(1990) from the same album “Solitude Standing.”(1987) She just keeps reinventing herself and has become a cultural icon in music.

6. William Shatner In Concert (with Ben Folds & Joe Jackson) – “Common People”(2004)

This song is about a cultural clash between a female socialite and a common man—it’s one of my favorite Brit Pop songs.  This video is a promotion for a live concert that I really wanted to see.  “Captain Kirk” is performing on stage with Joe Jackson and Ben Folds in support of his album, “Has Been.”  The album is mostly original music composed with Ben (Henry Rollins and Brad Paisley also contribute on two tracks), but it’s this version of the Blur song that really gets out of control.

7. Ben Folds, Nick Hornby, & Pomplamoose – “Things You Think”(2010)

Composed by Ben Folds with Pomplamoose (music duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn) and additional lyrics by Nick Hornby (British Author: “High Fidelity,” “About a Boy,” and “Fever Pitch”), this cornucopia collaboration has many layers.  There is the spoken word by Nick, background vocals by Nataly, and a vocal chorus by Ben.  The video is one of Pomplamoose’s fortes, in that it’s multi-layered and complex.  It’s really a joy watching the video.