What are you listening to ...right now?

[Leigha]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ChXcD6Z4uvQ

[C C]

Three selections that I was only semi-aware of, or rarely exposed to, prior to stumbling upon what they had in common from 2017 to 2019. Presented in reverse order.

Below is the song that gave drummer Clem Burke plenty of job security after Blondie disbanded a few years later. All thanks to the studio overseer unexpectedly allowing Burke's restraining leash to be removed for the track.

Via the fashion styles and frolics of the background figures, you can also conceive a flamboyant entrance to the alter-world of the '80s yawning wide in this prognostic video.

(1979) Dreaming - Blondie

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/TU3-lS_Gryk


Below is the modified version of TYG, done for the HBO series' 2nd season theme. Accordingly, there seems to be no static promotional frame or animated sequence available that is minus some degree of seediness. Kind of agree that the song was improved, and the original misunderstanding perhaps alleviated as well, by adding the female vocals (Natalie Bergman):

"Elvis and his producer Sebastian Krys got hold of the original multitrack master tapes so that we could take the song apart and reconstruct it as a male/female duet. [...] Sebastian had worked with Natalie before and suggested her as someone who could hold her own against Elvis' original vocal, and when we combined their voices the idea worked."

(1978) This Year's Girl - Elvis Costello

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/SdAC3vcI80M


Below is Mayfield's full, almost eight minute version -- not the vastly shorter clip used for the show's first season theme.

(1970) "[Don't Worry] If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" - Curtis Mayfield

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/nnmd6vK-5_k

[C C]

Doesn't get more iconic in terms of a vintage backdrop and Austin ranch setting than this. Footage taken from the 1975 documentary "Heartworn Highways".

Original studio recording (1972): https://youtu.be/HeeodgJkVzA

Also, in front of an audience fifteen years later (1990): https://www.scivillage.com/thread-11461-...l#pid48679

(1975 here) Townes Van Zandt: "Poncho & Lefty"

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zprRZ2wFQD4

He mentions "Muskogee" in the lyrics of "Waiting Around to Die" below, circa a year before Merle Haggard.

Original studio recording (1968): https://youtu.be/NqX6FE0xIJg

NOTE: There's another song ending at the beginning of the video. So wait for it...

(1975 here) Townes Van Zandt: "Waiting Around to Die"

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/v-Rq-4spRz4

[Magical Realist]

I've had this song stuck in my head since 1980...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g

[C C]

I've had this song stuck in my head since 1980...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g

First rap spoken song to reach #1 on the billboard charts.

It's unreal how old Chris Stein looks and how slow-moving he is nowadays. Like he should be in a wheelchair or have some apparatus helping to prop him up should he actually stand to play guitar.

He must have snorted way more coke than Deborah Harry back when they were together, especially since she is circa five years older than him. (Well, he did suffer that autoimmune disease in his early 30s, though.)

[Magical Realist]

I vaguely remember listening to this song for the first time in the Del Mar college parking lot in Corpus Christi TX about to go to class. First rap song I ever heard. Oh for those golden days.

[Leigha]

My latest discovery.

(from their site) The name ''Ghostly Kisses'' was inspired from reading William Faulkner’s poem Une ballade des dames perdues and seemed like the perfect reflection of her (Margaux Suave's) ethereal voice.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Qlokg0M2Cm0

[C C]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
One of her songs was either the theme for the 3rd season, or in an episode of The Rain. But even that is probably not enough to coax me to watch yet another redundant "virus-caused apocalypse" show. (Really the very last TV show concept anyone wants to see for entertainment these days.)

[Leigha]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^
One of her songs was either the theme for the 3rd season, or in an episode of The Rain. But even that is probably not enough to coax me to watch yet another redundant "virus-caused apocalypse" show. (Really the very last TV show concept anyone wants to see for entertainment these days.)

Agreed. I watched a few minutes of ''The Rain'' and it wasn't gripping whatsoever. Boring, even. Since we're living through our very own sci-fi / horror movie for the past two years with the current pandemic, I'm not all that interested in poorly acted, contrived ones. ''Contagion'' is a good film though, with Kate Winslet. Very believable.

[confused2]

I post the odd bit of 'classical' stuff mostly because I love it but I do try to pick out stuff and recordings of it that are at least (IMHO) the equal or better than anything you'll find on vinyl today -  which involves picking out the best versions on Youtube - most of the music predates recording technology so even then you had to be picky about who was performing on the day.  Spem in alium was written in 1561 so no computers then and is written for 40 different parts - if any one of those 40 parts was written badly or sung badly it's going to sound like shit. The version here is sung by King's School Canterbury Choir - Canterbury is the  city I would have chosen to live in if I didn't live near the city of  Exeter so for me they have a sort of home team quality - I'm forgiving of faults. The format of lockdown choir is odd but (IMHO) the result is as good or better than any other on Youtube.

Tallis Cannon - Spem in alium (1547) - I hope at least one person likes it:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZQ_XuNPiNmM