#i've been mishearing lyrics all my life

[hjbender]

I think this may break my current record for "Longest I've Gone Without Knowing the Name/Artist of a Song".

Sometime in the late 90s, I was listening to my local rock station (99X, 99.7 FM) and recording songs onto tape. A song came on with a rocking base line and synthesizer, later joined by drums and lead guitars. No lyrics (that I could understand). And of course the DJ never tells you the name of the song afterward, but he's happy to talk over the first 30 seconds of it.

As is the case with most instrumental music, it's difficult to describe a song unless you can hum it. And I could not hum this one. It was too weird.

So I spent the next twenty-fiveish years in a state of maddening non-consensual ignorance. The era of tapes ended, and though I still have mine stashed away, the tapes themselves are wearing out and already sounding pretty bad. I don't listen to them but maybe once every ten years, so I had forgotten all about the song.

Until earlier this year, when I was watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos (1980). The song playing in the background of this scene from Episode 09 "The Lives of the Stars" is the one I'm talking about:

When I heard it, I launched out of my chair faster than you could say "billions and billions". Finally! I had a piece of the song! ...but it still wasn't doing me any good. Was there a site I could run it through to identify the song? Would some kind stranger on Reddit possibly solve my dilemma? Disheartened, I put it on the back burner.

A few months passed. Then, a few days ago, as I was looking up something related to Cosmos, I came across a website—a wonderful, wonderful website—that had the complete soundtrack of Cosmos listed out in excruciating detail, every little clip and soundbite.

I bookmarked it because I'd forgotten which episode my mystery song was on and needed to go back and search. Sigh.

Well, I finally got around to it tonight. By sheer luck I found the episode almost immediately, and at long last, I finally have a name and artist.

[le-souriant]

#MusicMonday Review - December 2023

#MusicMonday is the hashtag I've been using for quite a while to share music recommendations from up-and-coming artists. Always fresh, and always different, trying to look for trends before they become one. You can check November's review for more music.

This is it. The end of 2023. Twelve months of new music, and new horizons from all over the world. Give it one last listen, with a word from the artists themselves. 🎧

The Height – One to Another

And he sits on his own some days but everyone know the games he plays

Our last trip of the year begins in the City of Salford, England, with a teenage Indie trio expressing what being an outsider, and not fitting in, may sound like:

"I was just listening to a lot of The Charlatans, Supergrass and then I ended up writing this one!"

The New Cut – From the Overpass

Who d'you wanna be tonight? Maybe they'd like the guy with the mask The view looks good tonight I can see my house From the overpass

Better re-run T-Shirt and I can see some so me first I'm a bird I'm all set in two words I'm indebted

We move south to Bristol, still in England, for a Lo Fi Post Punk track about the struggles of making ends meet. You take yours and I'll take mine:

"I think thematically the track represents the complexities of modern life in their simplest forms and how overwhelming that can be.

We were moving to Totterdown at the time and I had a lot of experiences relating to what it’s like being a student in the city. I was living as cheaply as possible and dealing with a lot of physical and mental illness that put me out of work. Orange juice seemed expensive at the time and the idea of spending money at a cafe seemed untouchable in that moment.

The pre chorus for me represents an idolized view of life - usually brought about by social media, usually Americanized in my experience as well.

The overpass is in someways a metaphor for taking the time to step back and see these complexities from a distance. The man made structure of an overpass creates this idea of having to step away from modern humanity whilst using the inescapable foundations of modern life at the same time."

Fede Scaglioni – Luna y estrellas

Sus ojos verdes como el mar Y se reía sin parar Y yo loco por ella

Cada momento sigue ahí Y en cada luna vuelve a mi Y aún la veo brillar

El mismo cielo sigue ahí Llega la brisa de ese Abril Que compartí con ella

From Montevideo, Uruguay, we get a Latin Pop love song where the moon, the stars, and time leave marks on your skin so you'll never forget:

"The inspiration came along one night I was let new ideas flow and out of the sudden I came across with the returning to stages of Tan Bionica. That notice sparked my inspiration and I found myself merging with the spirit to write a romantic and nostalgic song.

Chano and Tan Bionica’s music has been always around and in some way that energy influenced me to come up with this pop/rock song. Many people told me that it has Beatles and Oasis influences, and to be honest, who is not touched by those great bands that live inside us?"

Virgin Mary Disco – For Free

They tell you to talk, but nobody listens They want your thoughts, but not your condition You work so hard it’s only your nature Breaking your back, they gonna make sure

Sell all your time, and sleep through the weekend He’s making his dime while your body weakens When you work for him business is pleasure Family’s first, and labor is leisure

We fly now to Melbourne, Australia for a little bit of Garage Rock about progress in the modern world. Keep your head down, ain't nothing for free:

"The song is about the experience of employment in the modern workplace and capitalism. The lyrics for For Free came from my own mishearing of the song Making Flippy Floppy by Talking Heads. When Byrne sings ‘Business and pleasure, lie right to your face’, I always heard ‘Business IS pleasure’, a contradiction I could identify with, and the lyrics grew from there.

Many companies today present themselves as supportive, community environments (some may even be genuine in their pursuit), but at the end of the day they continue to thrive on a system based on the extraction of cheap resources and cheap labour, leaving us to pay the true cost of their greed."

Oh Romance – Kiss & Tell

Think you’ve got problems well look at mine You’re always runnin’ circles at the back of my mind Do what it takes to get close to you Do what it takes, I’ll give in to you

Never thought we’d make it anyway I was never one for makin’ mistakes Never thought we’d make it anyway I was never one to

Kiss and Tell

Our last stop of the year will be Glasgow, Scotland for an Alt Rock track about not telling details of private matters, don't you agree?

"The hook was created at a practice session, and it just stuck! The actual meaning of the song is always up for interpretation. Music is an art, and just like any piece of art, I like to hear what people take away from it, what they think the song is about or what it means to them.

Kiss & Tell could be about lost love, it could be about a past relationship gone sour. It is whatever the listener wants it to be, I think!"

#MusicMonday 2023

That's a wrap! We say goodbye to 2023 with this year's compilation. 101 titles from original artists covering all types of genres, representing the multiple trends independent artists are proud to establish. Have a listen:

Preview 2024 and much more on the complete Playlist:

[jeanmoreaux]

hi its music anon, hope this isn't annoying you

several other top favorites (it's hard to pick honestly!) for me are growing sideways, new perspective, homesick, orange juice, paul revere can you tell i am a professional life-procrastinator and people-avoider

stick season by noah kahan is quite literally my state of mind all the time like how is there a whole album that perfectly encompasses how i feel my mental health would sound like

also...one of my favorite lyrics is 'I'm still angry at my parents for what their parents did to them' cause I've been thinking about generational trauma for a while now and I found the coincidence of listening to an artist singing about exactly what I was thinking like 👁️

you are not annoying at all!!! i love to hear your thoughts on the album! great picks btw!! nooooo i get it i feel you this album captures my specific brand of mental health as well. very very weird but also very ver validating djdjjdjdj. that lyric absolutely gutted me the first time heard it because YEAH SAME. had to go back and make sure i didn’t mishear 🙈 generational trauma is definitely something that is on my mind a lot too. another one that took me out was come over’s “someday I'm gonna be somebody people want.” to give you one that i love that isn’t quite as….depressing? “remember tellin' me that you thought you were cursed? / i'm in love with every song you've ever heard”. makes me a liddle insane but in a different way. all in all an absolutely mental album. so so fucking good. a real treat.