September, 2009

music / the hotness — No Comments
18
Sep 09

He says, “Murder,” he says

Betty Hutton

Betty Hutton

Have I ever told you about how much I love Dinah Shore? She’s pretty much my favorite vocalist in the entire world, but that’s a subject for a different post. I was listening to a “Best of” compilation of hers the other day and noticed a track that I hadn’t paid much attention to before, called, “‘Murder,’ He Says.”


Dinah Shore – “‘Murder,’ He Says”

It’s from early-on in WWII, and written by Frank Loesser, best known for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and Guys and Dolls on Broadway, and a number of Tin Pan Alley hits. Shore’s version was pleasant enough to catch my ear, especially with the opening line:

Finally found a fella
Almost completely divine
But his vocabulary
Is killing this romance of mine

His… vocabulary? Is that anything like a girl’s “Personality”?

Dinah Shore — “Personality” (20s sample)

I did a youtube search out of curiosity, and unearthed what is perhaps one of the greatest clips ever committed to film: a version of “‘Murder,’ He Says” recorded by a 22-year-old Betty Hutton, for benefit of the troops: Continue reading →

metainternet — No Comments
16
Sep 09

That sounds like a nice lifestyle.

A week from today is the ten year anniversary of my favorite blog on the whole internet, Mimi Smartypants. Like myself, she started out on diaryland, the wacky invention of much-beloved Andrew. Unlike me, she kept blogging there regularly up until very recently (July of this year), when she switched to a self-hosted wordpress blog (like this one! see how similar we are?).

Her blog reminds me of the tagline of Cat and Girl, which is “About a cat, a girl, and experimental metanarrative.” Mimi Smartypants writes about her Chicagoan editor self, her hilarious daughter Nora, her husband “LT,” the internet, and generally a sort of experimental metanarrative. It’s the literary equivalent of someone taking quotidian reality, shaking it inside out, tamping it down on their head like a hat, and dancing around in it. Well, not quite, but that might be as close as I can get.

I love her for so many reasons. Briefly, a few:

  • She doesn’t allow comments, and never has. Each entry feels like a special letter written just to you. Ten years’ worth of letters. It’s like David Foster Wallce meets Heloise and Abelard, except no one’s dead yet, or castrated, or a nun.
  • She writes entirely on her own terms (which she should! It’s her blog!). There’s no updating schedule and rarely any images. Just lots and lots of glorious text. And lists. And occasionally bizarre literary devices. Things in which I revel!
  • I don’t like kids. I don’t even really like most straight people, to tell you the truth. But the way she writes about her daughter Nora makes a) her daughter seem the coolest, funniest, smartest kid in the world. I would give Nora one or both of my kidneys, and b) you can tell how much she loves Nora, and what a crazy great parent she is. Even I am moved! I can’t underscore how much of a recommendation this is.

I am going to take this occasion to highlight some of my favorite Smartypants moments, in list format: Continue reading →

music — No Comments
14
Sep 09

I ain’t saying you ain’t pretty

You know those songs that you’re always happy to hear? If you hear it on the radio, you’ll always turn it up, and if you hear it in the grocery store, you’ll always sing along? One of those songs for me is “Different Drum,” made most famous by the Stoney Poneys, featuring Linda Ronstadt:

Linda Ronstadt, 1967

Linda Ronstadt, 1967



Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys -- “Different Drum” (1967)

It’s a great pop song, and based on a love trope that I wish popped up more often: the “kiss-off-because-I-want-to-date-around.” It’s originally by Michael Nesmith, who went on to join The Monkees, and when Ronstadt covered it, she didn’t change much in the way of lyrics. Hence we have her telling her jilted paramour, “I ain’t sayin’ you ain’t pretty,” and that she’s not ready for “any person, place, or thing to try and pull the reins in on [her].” This meshed well with the feminist politics a brewin’ at the time, and still resonates with a lot of contemporary feminist and queer sensibilities.

As often seems to happen with Ronstadt, her version has become the definitive, and all covers since then are measured against it. Part of what makes hers so compelling is her bright, clear, and direct delivery-- she’s got a voice you could hang a hat on, and she uses it to great effect on this song. One of the few covers that I’ve found that measure up is Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet’s 2006 rendering. Hoffs, best known for her work in The Bangles, is capable of a similar direct delivery (if she lacks Ronstadt’s fullness, she makes up for it with a smoky undertone), and Sweet’s harmonies add a nice plaintive quality (to pretty much everything he touches, actually).

Sometimes a cover doesn’t need to be life-changing if it can hit the nail on the head, and I think this one comes pretty close.

film / music — 2 Comments
11
Sep 09

Let the old dreams die

Let the Right One In
Remember back in February, when I told you about Let the Right One In? I think I’ve watched it a dozen times since then, and I still love it every bit as much. I watched it again a few nights ago, in fact, and was struck by how right the tone felt with the sense of coming autumn that’s in the air.

In particular, there’s a scene where young Oskar drops the needle on a 60s sounding 45, trying to look cool in front of Eli, and it really conveys so much of the raw feeling of adolescence– the gawky need to appear cool without being sure what that really is; the way the feeling of rock music resonates with your rushing hormones though the content of the lyrics is still distant and indecipherable; and for me at least, the way that the bite of chilled air and dark winter nights hook into the melancholy and maladjustment of puberty. Continue reading →

music / the hotness / what are these young homosexuals doing — 4 Comments
9
Sep 09

A funny face, and a crooked smile

Lissy Trullie
Do you know the song “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division? Sure you do. Starts like this, right?

Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Single Mix, Intro (10s)

Definitely one of the great classic song intros of the new wave movement. From the instant you hear that clarion guitar chord, you know what song you’re listening to. For whatever reason, the hardwiring in my brain is more familiar with the b-side mix of that single:

Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” B-Side Mix, Intro (6s)

Hear how it’s slightly different? The intro rhythm of the regular mix is just played on a guitar (or two), while on the b-side the bass guitar comes right in at the start. There’s also a slight pause between that little starting beat and the driving rhythm on single mix, while they’re more elided on the b-side, and more importantly, on the b-side that intro beat is actually a little trill composed of three strums. A tiny difference, but vital here. Have you heard of Lissy Trullie? This is the intro to her recent single, “Boy Boy”: Continue reading →

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