Birthday Song: I'll Get By

I heard this song recently, and put it in my "I'll get back to this" list, and then discovered that today is singer Avi Kaplan's birthday, so… featured. He's really come into his own since leaving Pentatonix.

I have a weakness for bass and baritone voices, so this is just icing on my cake, too. I'll be listening to the rest of his solo work, for a while, today.

Earworm of the Day: "Ombra mai fu" by G.- F. Händel.

It's not merely an earworm, it's a timely reminder. On this date in 1738, Serse, the opera from which this aria is taken, was first performed in London, at the King's Theatre, Haymarket. It was not well received at the time. Some critics and historians say it was because the audience was disinclined to appreciate comic elements in a serious opera. I can't argue one way or the other on that, but the love story is darned convoluted... even moreso than it had been in Xerxes' real life (yes, that Xerxes, sort of). But then, that was how a LOT of operas in the 18th century were.

But never mind all that. I'm going to be watching the entire opera, to make sure the earworm works its way out of my head. Also, because I can spend all day listening to just about anything by George Frideric Handel, because he was that awesome a composer.


Even the cats in our house like to listen to Handel. If they can't have Mozart.

Earworm of the Day: Dire Wolf

I've never been a DeadHead, so I have no idea why this song has stayed with me for, lo, these many long years. Perhaps it was the handsome local singer who spent a few hours flirting with "Bubbles". Perhaps it was my darker nature. Or, perhaps it's just a catchy little ditty.

But my not being a DeadHead also means if you want to listen to them, you're on your own. I was in the mood to hear someone else's cover.

At any rate, I hope I wake up tomorrow having not been murdered in my sleep, as a result, by an oversized canid. I hope you do the same.

Earworm of the Day: Rise

There is nothing quite like having Johnny Rotten dancing through one's dreams…

I'm not sure this is the kind of thing to hunt down & play during a migraine, though. It's sure to cause more Problems…

Earworm of the Day: HAW HAW

I hear the Mule Skinner Blues, but Levi's style (as in the embedded video), at 3 a.m., and it's guaranteed to lead me down some strange pathways. Not only do I wander into Bluegrass turf, such as from Bill Monroe and Dolly Parton, but even more, the brain starts tripping out on memories of all those  psychedelic ads Levi's ran, back in the day, especially those featuring the voice of Ken Nordine (please click on this last one, especially!)...

Earworm of the Day: Riu riu chiu

The season is upon me, in truth and in full. I usually hear the Monkees' version of this, in my head, but sometimes it's the full chorus, as in the title link.  Large parts of my day are spent in the kitchen, preparing my favorite Christmas gifts (cookies and candy), and there is no Grinch stopping me from tuning to the Christmas music stations and actually singing along.

In fact, there has been nothing stopping me from making a nice, long list of Christmas music at YouTube, just because.

Earworm of the Day: Por Una Cabeza

It usually takes two to tango, but only one to get an earworm.

This is probably the single most overplayed tune for tango in show biz today (on those dance shows, in the background on TV series, and in quite a few film), which is why it can worm its way into a person's subconscious. Sometimes the show is worth seeing, sometimes not so much (although Colin Firth almost rescued this one).

In the contest for a person's sanity, though, the song always wins anyway, at minimum by a head.

Earworm of the Day: Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat

Beware you'll scuttle the ship…

I can't imagine why a scene inside a Salvation Army center would come to mind, this week…   ;)

All politics aside, though, be careful if you have a boat. You never know when you're in over your head. At that point, just any old song could come bubbling up from between your ears, and then where will you be?

You can thank me later.

Earworm of the Day: Now We're Getting Somewhere

I don't know why this weekend would make me think of this band…

It's getting back to quiet, though.

Sadly.

Family has come and gone, and we're back to the regular occupants of this house.

We had a week of chaos, and I'm not sure how I'll cope, once again, with the quiet. It'll probably involve sitting and listening to a cat nag at me.

Enjoy the noise while you can.

Earworm of the Day: Rip It Up

A little Rockabilly to keep you from resting quietly tonight...

Of all the versions of the song I've heard through the years, hers is actually my favorite, possibly because it's a girl thing (although, cute as these two are, they don't hold a candle to Wanda Jackson) Still, every time I listen to Jackson, my throat hurts for hours afterward. Like Rod Stewart and Bonnie Tyler after her, she belts her songs out in such a dry, wild fashion, I imagine she must have had nothing left of her vocal cords but burrs, after a few decades.

Earworm of the Day: My Name Is Jack

At least this week, it wasn't my usual Manfred Mann earworm. Not that singing about living in the back of the Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls is anything to be proud of... especially looking back over the stink it raised in some circles:

In June 1968, the following single, John Simon's "My Name is Jack", was recalled when the US company Mercury Records complained about the phrase "Super Spade" in the lyrics, which referred to a Haight-Ashbury drug dealer. The release was delayed by a week until the offending name was re-recorded as "Superman";^[9] however, the UK hit single version retained the original lyric.

Oh, as an afterthought, I thought I'd mention that one of the Bond girls was related to the lead singer in the above video, as was the whiny princess opposite Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer (she was also in the TV series, The Wonder Years, but that's not important, really).



Update June 2021: Another link, a live performance, since YT seems to have yanked my original link

Earworm of the Day: Last Stop: This Town

It's getting dark a little too early…

Jeepers, we're stuck in such a happy mode, here, ain't we?

As I may have already mentioned, there's been some traveling going on, already, and Thanksgiving hasn't even rolled around, yet. There will, no doubt, be more highway time, and possibly even some rail time.

When I was a kid, our first jaunt of this season would be the very instant school let out on Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day. Pop would pick us up in the family van, and we'd hightail it upstate, to the farm where Mom grew up. It would also be just about the moment we got out onto the highway that the snow/sleet/snizzle would begin, so we'd be singing "Over the River and Through the Woods" (although, having only three members of our family of six who could carry a tune, it was nowhere as big a production number as this) until I'm pretty sure Pop was about one matchstick tip away from becoming an incendiary device. 

Or, maybe he was just trying to figure out how to abandon us kids at the next Bus Stop so he could have a peaceful drive with just Mom and the dog.

Either way, my family members have a lot of experience at being on the road, especially near holidays of all sorts. I am, therefore, now working on avoiding it as much as possible. But not working very well at it, it seems.

Catch you on the rebound, good buddy. Keep the bugs off yer glasses and the bears off yer… tails.

Earworm of the Day: Wheels

Spending a little time on the road, this month. The folks have been to North Carolina and back for family business, while I do much shorter runs (day trips) with a friend, partly in preparation for the Holiday Season™.

Oddly, I haven't been playing "Highway to Hell" in my head. As much as I dislike being in a car, any more, I'd have expected that to be on infinite loop. It must be the company I keep.

Alternate vid of same tune here.

Christine

Now she's in purple
Now she's a turtle…

There's nothing quite like a visual trigger, now, is there? I saw an image of a pair of purple shoes, a couple of days ago, and, one would think, naturally, that it would lead to the usual culprits when it comes to purple earworms. Or, something even sadder.

But Siouxsie Sioux seems to stick with me, into the new century. The Banshees captivated me from the first time I heard them. It doesn't hurt that their members ultimately were members of so many different influential bands of the era... but that's not why they're on my internal playlist. I hear them because they had their own catchy stuff.

And, of course, because, not only do I see purple, but the repetition gets reinforced when some wiseacre has to share a meme on social media…

Earworm of the Day: George of the Jungle

The original.

Which is far superior to either the movie or the more recent attempt at re-making Jay Ward's brilliant cartoons.

Also, it was prompted by something I heard on the 'Fifties radio station I'd surfed through while working. Which led me to track it down online, which led me back to one of my faves, which took me down the rabbit hole into my parents' generation of music, including some undeservedly long forgotten, which, as you can tell, leads to more, and…  suddenly it's tomorrow.

But that's a whole 'nother song.

Earworm of the Day: I've Got Spurs

One short line from the song kept recycling itself, bubbling up to the surface, only to fade into the deep again for an hour or more, every time I heard anything with a similar cadence. This has been going on for a few weeks, now, until I finally remembered to which song the line belonged (much to my embarrassment).

Also slightly embarrassing: I watched this video, and then followed it up with almost a dozen other Osmond Brothers vids before I settled down to write this post. I still have a goofy grin on my face. For someone who used to take pride in listening to the Buzzcocks, PIL (read a few of the comments. It's worth it, for the amusement factor), the Dead Milkmen, and other such generally noxious sounds, those boys were startlingly enjoyable to watch and listen to.

I must be getting old.

Get off my lawn.

Earworm of the Day: Washington Square

In Dixieland-style, the Village Stompers actually made it onto my playlist early on, probably while I was still in diapers, having heard it on the radio in our apartment building in Chicago (but don't quote me on it, because, as a child of my times, pretty much everything that happened before my 30th birthday is a blur, and everything that has happened since is a lie. Even the verity of that statement may also be questioned). From any angle, though, it's been with me since my earliest stages of musical awareness, along with a bunch of now-dead writers and performers.

It was one of those tunes I knew for years, before I was able to track it down and learn its name.

There are still a lot of those mystery tunes rattling around in here, leading from one to the next by virtue of, sometimes, a single chord or some other arcane note in common. And then, quite suddenly, it'll get stuck on a single melody for a day, a week a month, or even a year…

If that triggers a tune in you, you're welcome.

Earworm of the Day: Get Down On It

Some days, getting started is…difficult. There is no such option as rolling out of bed and hitting the floor running. Still, that doesn't mean the music can't nag me. Or, for that matter, nag you.

But that's Kool.

Have a happy Monday.

Earworm of the Day: Does Your Chewing Gum Lose it's Flavour?

Imagine this getting stuck… in one's head.

I managed to surf through more of the late Lonnie Donegan's songs, pushing the gum out of my ear... if it didn't work for you, have a drink on me. If it does work, rockin' Hallelujah!

Earworm of the Day: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Prepping well for the Big Holiday Season™ means getting all your ducks in a row with plenty of time to spare. I've been cleaning out cupboards, reorganizing equipment, clearing countertops, and trying to make room in the freezer and refrigerator for the abundance of foodstuffs which will be coming.

I have a bad feeling about that last part. I found packages of chicken broth I think might date from the last century, in the deep freeze unit.

Maybe I'll make some chicken soup for the cats to reject.

Meanwhile, please enjoy cruising through the whole Postmodern Jukebox channel, if you haven't done so already. It might help you shake the residue of U2 out of your head the way it did mine.