Monday , December 28, 2009
Heavy Rotation: Syd Barrett, George Harrison, The Beatles, Rye Coalition
Syd Barrett, "Octopus"
This week was like the week I first discovered that I was more like John Lennon than anybody else who ever existed, only a little bit worse. This week was the week when I realized that, in one particular arena of my life, I've only ever lied. To you, to me, to anybody, to everybody. My third-favourite band of all-time was never the Fiery Furnaces, and it was never the Beastie Boys, either. It was Syd Barrett all along, and this is just the part of the movie when I found that out. Remember how three weeks ago I told you all to go eat polar bear cookies, and then you did? Well, Syd Barrett is the polar bear cookies of this week. His two albums are called Barrett and The Madcap Laughs. Hop to it, Gang! "Octopus" is my third-favourite song on The Madcap Laughs*, but it is the first-most important, because it has taught me the two most important life-lessons I've learned all year. #1 is "Hey, ho, never be still," which I won't, and #2 is "MEANT EVEN LESS TO ME THAN I THOUGHT," which isn't a traditional lesson, and sounds kind of negative at first, but really it's not, at all. It reminds me of how silly all my silly little problems are, compared to the greatness of all the great things. I write it on the inside of my left palm every morning, and then it washes off, and then I write it again. (Laura Jane)
*#1 is "Late Night" and #2 is "She Took A Long Cold Look", cuz those are the ones he wrote about ME.
Syd Barrett, "Love Song"
Today somebody asked me if I'd had a hard week, and I said "I've had a hard life," and I meant it. In the scheme of things, I've actually had a really easy life- I'm a spoiled twenty-four year old white girl. From Canada! But things that come really easily to other people are really, really hard for me. I attach myself to people like Ray Davies of the Kinks and John Lennon of the Beatles because they said things like "I'm not like everybody else" and "No one I think is in my tree" and it is through those songs by those men that I have come to terms with myself, and the world, and my being a writer inside of it. I have never been so motivated to take on the world as I am as I write this sentence. Until I write the next one. And this week I found Syd Barrett, and I found Syd Barrett at the exact perfect time for me to have found him, because that is how life works. I don't want to write books that sound like Syd Barrett songs, I want to write books that beat the Beatles. And some days I will get so caught up in the bombast and pandemonium of, you know, that, that I forget how some things are better than, you know, them. "Love Song" by Syd Barrett is two things the Beatles never were: simple, and perfect.
When I listen to this song, it doesn't matter ANYTHING. None of it. This song, to me, is like the sky. Whenever I hear it: everything pales. (Laura)
George Harrison, "When We Was Fab"
This song came out when I was nine; my dad bought me the cassingle at Strawberries and I thought it was really druggy and creepy. Turns out it's actually pretty corny! But in a sweet way, and I dig how the melody references "When I'm Sixty-Four." I also dig how Ringo does a bang-up job of being George's assistant in the video - what a good helper! And he looks damn sharp in those shades. But, yes, anyway: I'm feeling really connected to George right now, for reasons to be revealed at a later date. At the moment my big Life Plan is to start pronouncing his name like I'm Astro on The Jetsons, which will be very cute of me indeed. (Liz)
The Beatles, "Everyone Had a Hard Year"
If I were going to fill out some Internet survey thing asking me to quote a song lyric that perfectly sums up my 2009, I'd probably go with the first two lines of "Everyone Had a Hard Year." And then I'd turn off my laptop and go find someone with Beatles Rock Band to sing "I've Got a Feeling" with me and make him/her take the Paul part, which I'd probably be goddamn god-awful at. I'd totally nail the John part, though, I'm sure of it. Why don't I know more people with Beatles Rock Band? (Liz)
Rye Coalition, "Romancing the Italian Horn"
My singular contribution to Heavy Rotation this week is a monster of a 8-minute chaotic emotional hardcore epic that is probably my third favorite song of all time, after "Dirt" by the Stooges and "Janet vs. Johnny" by the Fall. It starts off with some proper sonic bludgeoning complete with screamo dude yelling semi-nonsensical lyrics about cherries and babies, segues into an oddly sinister, dissonant middle section that apes both Slint and Rodan with aplomb, and then moves into a strangely beautiful, cinematic quickening that makes emotional desperation sound like the logical ending to any love affair worth having. "Romancing the Italian Horn" is full of smoke and fever indeed; it's aptly named and completely the type of song that I wish a dude would write for me. I see movies in my head whenever I listen to this: Super-8 ones, with grainy images, motorcycle crashes, collapsing buildings, the hardcore equivalent of a valentine made out of shrapnel and tears. (Kat)
Tags: 2009, Barker loves the Beatles, Better Than The Beatles, cassingles, George Harrison, John Lennon, Laura Jane Faulds, perfection, polar bear cookies, Ray Davies, Rye Coalition, simplicity, Syd Barrett, The Beates, The Jetsons
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we are a motley crew. or maybe we're mötley crüe.
By Liz
on December 2, 2009 3:17 PM
Really? I feel like this is our most cohesive installment of Heavy Rotation like evs. But I agree, that we're Motley Crue.
By Laura
on December 2, 2009 3:29 PM
kat is nikki six. i guess you're tommy. i really don't want to be vince or mick so maybe i'll just be bret michaels.
(not that motley crue is the same as poison or anything.)
By Liz
on December 2, 2009 3:39 PM
it just occurred to me how george never made it to 64, which kind of seems way sadder than if paul had never made it to 64, in a way.
By Liz
on December 2, 2009 4:07 PM
That's a retarded Beatles opinion, Liz. Obviously it would have been way sadder if Paul McCartney had never made it to 64. In every way.
By Laura
on December 2, 2009 4:33 PM
My boyfriend and I have Beatles Rock Band. You can totally come play with us, if you're ever in DC...
By Kristen on December 2, 2009 5:44 PM
of course it would've been SAD but, like, ironic-sad, which is inherently less sad in some ways than straight-up sad.
kristen: thank you!
By Liz
on December 2, 2009 6:21 PM
wow i haven't thought about rye coalition in forever...i remember seeing them at like, irving plaza or something, and then at a gym in princeton. are they still together? guess i'm giving up the next half hour to wikipedia...
By ben on December 2, 2009 7:51 PM
ben, I stopped thinking about Rye at some point because they got kind of dude-rock boring, but their earlier stuff was awesome. i'm not sure if they're still together...the last thing they released was in 2006?
xo kat
By Kat
on December 3, 2009 1:20 AM
Liz, I know that when I release my first album "The Smell of Violence" No Good For Me will have it on heavy rotation. :)
By Cathy on December 3, 2009 10:26 AM