New site.

Hi everybody. Just a note for anyone who is saddened by my departure from Blogger. The fun continues on WordPress at themusicinmyears.wordpress.com which, I think we can all agree, is a much better address name than this one. Thanks for following my stuff on here. If you followed the new site, it would be gladly appreciated. All the videos have disappeared which is a bit annoying, but they will all be back on in due time. See you there.

Farewell. (My iPod #297: Weezer - Dope Nose)

I've given up. I can't do this anymore. A year and a bit of spouting endless rubbish about the songs I have on my iPod. How could I keep that going? This is the last post I'll be doing. On here anyway. I'm moving to WordPress.

Even before I started this blog I always questioned myself on which blogging platform was the best to start it on. I chose Blogger 'cause it looked simple and easy to control. It is. But it's for those reasons that I feel it's time to move. Blogger looks too simple. I also think that I would get a bit more views if I were to go on WordPress. It looks so fancy and professional.

Blogger's cool, but from either tomorrow or Saturday - it's WordPress from here on out.

Let's not end on a downer.

Here's "Dope Nose" by Weezer, the first single from their fourth album "Maladroit" and believed to be written on the same night as another popular song by the band. The video is quite confusing; I wasn't expecting Japanese motorcyclists either, but the track sounds like it should be played with motorcycles being revved up in the background.

Musically, the track is probably one of Weezer's best post-Pinkerton. It has an edgy 70s hard rock roughness to it, complete with an awesome solo in the middle. However, it is backed up with some rather odd lyrics about cheese smelling good on a burnt piece of lamb and a fag of the year who could beat up your man. You will have a brief  'what did he just say' moment when hearing that for the first time, but the music is so good that it overshadows it. You'll be singing along to those weird lyrics in no time.

It is a celebratory song. I think the term 'dope nose' is a pun on the word 'dope knows', so Rivers is calling out to the haters and telling 'em he knows what he's doing. Who those haters are, I don't know. I should hope they weren't hating when they heard this song for the first time.

That'll do, Blogger. That'll do.

I'll be back soon. Hopefully all the posts you find on this site will be on the new one. I will provide you with a link as soon as I make it.

See you real soon.

My iPod #296: Stevie Wonder - Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing

Time for a bit o' sooooul. Weren't expecting that were you? The D section has been very rock-oriented so far it has to be said, but it is not as if I just added this song yesterday to try and add some 'variety'. Admittedly I have known "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" for less time than the majority of the other tracks on here. I listened to its album some time last year when I was on a 'quest' to listen to the best albums ever. This is a very fine song though, so I had to add it. And it deserves to have a post.

"Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" is the penultimate track on Stevie Wonder's 1973 album "Innversions". It has a Latin vibe to it, started off by the stomping piano and exotic percussion which occur throughout, and comically referenced by Wonder's mock-Spanish dialogue for the first forty seconds. After those forty seconds though, it's serious business. Wonder delivers an outstanding vocal performance becoming more passionate with each chorus and key change, rising octaves until he eventually starts belting the song title from the top of his lungs.

Essentially it's a song about being positive. If you didn't get that from the title. It is a classic.

My iPod #295: Coldplay - Don't Panic

It's always odd to listen to old Coldplay material, but there's also something very warming about it too. I've seen how now the band are going to hide lyrics from their forthcoming album in library books all over the world or something. Sounds a bit pretentious to me. I think fans would be more likely to hear the songs and then type them up. Even then, some might not want to do that. But "Parachutes", their debut album released in the first summer of the 21st century, reminds us all of the time when Coldplay wouldn't even think of such an idea. It reminds us of a time when they didn't try so hard to be this 'biggest band in the world' type thing. That was a good time.

"Don't Panic" is the opening track on "Parachutes". It takes a few seconds to get itself together, beginning with a few strums of a lone electric guitar followed by an acoustic. Then suddenly Chris Martin starts softly singing, telling us that we live in a beautiful world. Yeah, we do, yeah we do.

The track is one about hope and reassurance, but its short length and quick pace also make it seem like one about urgency. Almost like time is running out. It's a strange one to make out sometimes. Honestly though, it's probably my favourite Coldplay song. Martin's light falsetto in the chorus, the gurgly, swirling lead guitar present throughout and the solo near the end... the song's poignant last line before ending and fading out into silence. Everything about it sounds close and personal. Not something I can say about any recent Coldplay stuff.


Eventually released as the album's last single almost a year its release, "Don't Panic" didn't even make it into the top 100. But it marked the start of a small group from London who would become the greatest band to ever exist. Or whatever.

My iPod #294: Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger

I don't even like Oasis that much. I am, however, looking forward to the "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" reissue that should be coming out later this year. "Definitely Maybe" isn't my thing. I've never listened to "Morning Glory" before; I've never been a great a fan of Oasis to actually buy it or even download it without paying, but I know that it contains some of Oasis' best songs and the reissue will probably include the great B-Sides that were recorded during the making of the album. I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

"Don't Look Back in Anger" is a song from "Morning Glory". It was released as the album's fifth single, the band's first to have Noel Gallagher on lead vocals, and got to number one in the charts.

Nothing much else I can say. Well, there's nothing much I can be bothered to say. Whatever I would say has most likely been said before. The song's good. You've all heard it before. It's only like.... one of the biggest anthems out of Britain from the nineties.

Check out this page for more information.

My iPod #293: They Might Be Giants - Don't Let's Start

Wonderful news, I am now back in university after a three week break with the family. Will my style of writing change because of it? Probably not. And why would it?

That seems a strange way to begin this post. To be honest, I am just writing down whatever comes to my head because I didn't plan what to write about "Don't Let's Start", one of They Might Be Giants' most popular songs which can be found on their debut album from 1986. I have never taken the time out to really think about what I would type for all the songs that have preceded this, but for some reason I have no clue where I could 'start' with this track.

It is definitely one of the group's best. And one of Linnell's, seeing as he wrote it. The thing is I couldn't tell you what its subject matter is. Linnell vaguely stated that it is about 'not let's starting' and also admitted that he wrote the music first, and the syllables in the lyrics were able to fit in with the melody. Maybe it's not about anything important. Maybe it's about nothing at all. But that doesn't matter. What matters is how it's all delivered to the listener, right?

Well, it's pretty quick. But a lot happens in just under three minutes. This track contains one of Linnell's most eccentric vocal takes, singing softly one second before passionately yelling the next and then throwing out a random tongue twister. It also contains the band's most dramatic yet most memorable lyrics: "Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful" and "I don't want to live in this world anymore". A bit morbid, true. But the happy, stop-starting music makes them all sound hilarious and nonsensical.

The track got They Might Be Giants 'noticed' for obvious reasons, and they went on to dominate the world with their drum machine, and eventually their actual backing band. Still going strong today, too.

* Here is the interesting demo for "Don't Let's Start". I don't know why, but I get an image of a boombox and kids playing hopscotch in the street in time to the music when I hear it. It sounds real old school.

** Plus, the version in the video at the beginning of the post is the single version. The album version is only slightly different, but they're both the same track. I do prefer the album version though.

My iPod #292: The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down

Let me make it clear that this is the "Naked" version of "Don't Let Me Down" that I'll be talking about. Why is this? Because I much prefer it to the original released back in 1969.

Both recordings were made during a period when the four members barely wanted to be in a room together. The thing is you can really tell this when listening to the original. The performance is slow, lethargic and so loose that it sounds like it could collapse at any moment. Paul's a bit full on with his harmony, and it's not John's greatest vocal either. Maybe that's why Phil Spector dropped it from "Let It Be", although it would have been a better option than "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" for sure. I can't get into it - it lacks that tight-knit delivery and closeness that we all associate The Beatles with.

But the "Naked" version........ Ah. It's beautiful. If only the technology of 2003 existed back in the 70s. "Let It Be.... Naked" was Paul McCartney's vision of what the album should have been had Phil Spector not put on his choirs and various orchestras into some of the tracks. "Maggie Mae" and "Dig It" were taken off and replaced with this wonderful version of "Don't Let Me Down", made up of two performances of the song the band did during the infamous rooftop concert.

The track is given a lift by a subtle change in tempo and a higher key, but what makes it so much better than its 1969 counterpart is how brighter it sounds. You can sense that the atmosphere whilst performing this version was a lot less tense. George's lower harmony vocal in the chorus is a nice little addition, the instrumentation is tighter, the singing is terrific...... Everything sounds better.

Oh, and that bass playing by Paul after the final iteration of the title until the end of the song. Absolutely glorious. I'm very sure John looks at him as if to say "Damn....." in appreciation, but he can't because he's still singing. Oh well.

Watch them perform it, by clicking on thiiiiiiiiiis.