Those who know me probably wish they didn't know that I heart me some spoopy tuneage. So here's my YouTube playlist for Halloween 2024, with slightly over two hours of music to groove to while you're carving your pumpkin(s) and whatnot. I've written a blurb about each piece as well, but fortune favors the bold or some such motivational bullshit, so I'd recommend playing the tracks first.*
*Uh, watch out for that last video, tho, 'cause it's got some freaky film footage that might not be suitable for all audiences. Just sayin'...
The first Cannons tune I recall hearing is Bad Dream, from their album Fever Dream. If the hypnotic beat weren't enough to capture my attention, the lyrics were:
I been living in a bad, bad dream Sleepwalking through a sad scene
...Hall & Oates song. Remember it? That groovy ode to relationship ultimatums, that bassy-funky-makes-me-want-to-rumpy-pumpy-let's-meet-on-the-bed-and-jumpy-1981-soul-poppy-goodness more commonly known as I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)? Of course you remember it. I mean, you really should remember it, 'cause it's da fuckin' bomb, but if you don't (or if you just want to bop to it, 'cause, as noted previously, it's da fuckin' bomb), here 'tis:
This is one of those early 80s tunes (along with Blondie's Rapture, which I've blogged about before) which turned me on to my first feelings of sexuality. That damned bass line, people!!! That sexily crooned challenge of, "Where does it stop, where do you dare me to draw the line?" That gauntlet thrown oh-so-foxily to the floor: "I can't go for that, no. No can do."
Ahem.
Right, so I kinda like this song (you may have noticed). And, as I'm not too much of a purist, I tend to enjoy cover versions of my fave tunes (er...if I think they're well-done). In 2010, this nifty duo called The Bird and the Bee covered it; I have to say, y'all, I heart this chick's voice working so smokily over the lyrics. Check it:
Where I tend to be more of a hard-ass is when it comes to song sampling, when one group snips a riff from some other popular tune to lay under different vocals or over different chord progressions. I mean, yeah, I can see where it can be creatively done, but sometimes I think it's just a bit lazy. That said, when I first heard Simply Red's sampling of I Can't Go for That for his song Sunrise, I was all, "Hells, YEAH!" Which is to say, I totally went for that. (Though not for the song's video, which is a bit of soft porn that totally doesn't fit the spirit of the goddamned song.) (Not that there's anything wrong with soft porn; I mean, you wanna see some porn, I'll send you some links that'll blow your mi—uh...but I digress...) But anyway, yeah: the plaintive longing he expresses through his lyrics...gah, it gets me right here ::thumps fist over heart:: Here's a live version of Sunrise which, I think, better captures the charm and heart of the tune.
How about y'all: what are some tunes that first rocked your casbah? What are some covers you've loved? What are some you've hated? What's a tune that if you ever heard it covered, would make you completely lose your cool? (For me, that was when Celine Dion covered a song first made famous by Cyndi Lauper: I Drove All Night. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
So, like; last post, I did a Goth/Emo morph and laid my heart bare (a bit), revealing that I regularly feel besieged by hostile, even evil, forces, seeking my ruination. Which was loads of fun. Today I'll peel back another layer, with a closer look at the heartache I've hinted at but not fully explained. But, you know, there's music coming with that, which should take the edge off...
Winners
And the three winners of the random* drawing for free e-book copies of my debut fantasy romance novel, That Fatal Kiss, are:
T. Drecker Gill Fraser Lee Jackie
Congratulations! Please e-mail me to let me know the preferred format for your free e-copy. (If you're not in possession of an e-reader, I can provide a PDF instead; just let me know.)
Tuneage
As I worked on That Fatal Kiss, I noticed that the styles of music to which I seat-boogied depended upon whose point of view concerned me at the moment. When I wrote from Persephone's point of view, I felt like a laughter-loving gal who tears
up a dance floor whenever the opportunity presents itself. So for the goddess, it was all about the New Wave and Post-Punk. But when I wrote from Hades' point of view, I found myself feeling dark and broody, like I
imagine the Lord of the Underworld felt until he'd secured Persephone
for his bride. Invariably, this meant I tuned into Goth-type Rock. In both cases, there were tunes which came to mind that fit certain bits of the story. And in Persephone's playlist, particularly, there were some songs I listened to repeatedly as I wrote, so now I always think of the book (and the actor I envisioned in the role of Hades in the as-yet-not-optioned-for-film movie) when I think of those tunes. Anyway, I hied myself over to Grooveshark and made up a playlist for each Immortal, which I share with you here:
If you checked out my post for Sofia Grey's
July Fever last week, THANK YOU! July's not quite over and other
authors are also offering giveaways, PLUS there
are weekly prize
bundles, too. So if you like-a the freebies, visit Sofia's site and be sure to comment for a chance to win some sex-ay stuff!
For my post, I presented ten vids of tunes that get my motor running but, actually, there are way more than ten. So I futzed around on YouTube (you know, rather than tie up the loose ends on the book I'm releasing in September, or work on my next book, or some other necessary thing) and created a badass soundtrack for sexing. (OK, badass IMO; diff'rent strokes for different folks, and all...)
(Heh heh...strokes.)
Thus, I present the following playlist* of some 49-ish songs for your listening pleasure. I know; I shoulda gone for 69 songs, right? What can I offer in my own defense apart from reaffirming my inherent laziness? Besides which, I wanted to leave a bit of room for y'all to tell me about the songs that get you in the mood. If they float (the little man in) my boat, I'll add them to the playlist. But I'll have to cap the playlist at 69, 'cause I'm that immature. Anyway, I'm not telling you to watch them all, just click "Play All" and go about your business. Though, if your business suddenly revolves around gettin' busy, well...you can thank me later.
(Please Note: Some videos in this playlist are absolutely not safe for work!) (Or, in some cases, just about anywhere...)
In the spirit of Mother's Day, today's Tuneage is my little homage to the
Bad Ass Mothers of Rock 'n' Roll
who I want, desperately, to be when I grow up.
(Whenever that happens.)
(Please note that, in my enthusiasm for these righteous babes,
I may, just occasionally, use expletives for emphasis.)
(But only occasionally.)
(PS: Tune in tomorrow for a special bonus post, in which I direct thee to an interview
with the Queen and King of the Greek Underworld, aka, the main characters of
my upcoming romance novel, That Fatal Kiss)
Y'all, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and check out this groovalicious blogfest hosted by the creative and prolific L.G. Keltner at Writing Off the Edge. January 9 will be her one year blogiversary and to celebrate she invites fellow bloggers to post about stuff like (and I quote):
events that inspired you to start blogging
that first awkward blog entry where you tried to introduce yourself to the blogging world
what inspired you to embark on your career path
where you were born and what the times were like
the origins of a favorite book, movie, artistic movement, or pretty much anything else
You've got seven days to whip something up and can either swipe the above badge or the one I've got on my sidebar, over to the right, there. So click here to sign up for it, already! (At the very least, you should go check out her nifty new banner, gosh.)
The Challenge
Like, I totally signed up for Goodreads' 2013 Reading Challenge. What attracted me about it was that I could set my own goal of how many books I want to read this year, regardless of genre (some of these book challenges get very specific, which is fine, only I need the freedom to fly my freak flag in whatever bloody direction I like, at any given moment). (So to speak.) According to Goodreads, I read about twenty-ish books last year so I thought I'd see if I could swing 50 this year (about a book a week, giving myself a couple weeks' leeway, 'cause I'm kind to myself like that). Click here if you'd like to learn more about how to participate in this Challenge yourself. Or not, whatevs.
The Tune
I'm shocked, chagrined, and otherwise appalled that the first time I heard this righteous, "unofficial cover" of Berlin's Sex (I'm a...) was only just last week, especially when the Bollock Brothers recorded that shizz back in 1988. It's an "unofficial cover" 'cause they changed the title of the tune to God Created Woman, which was pretty crafty of them...wonder if they'd be able to get away with that nowadays. Anyway, I've always thought the original Berlin version to be smokin' hot, but there's something about this cover that really turns me on. It probably won't do a damned thing for most of you, but what the hell—it's my blog and I'll link the hell out of it, if I wants to.
For this episode of Tuneage, I'm keeping with the maternal-angst-Emo-Goth-Mom (Lite!) theme of the past two posts. (In a message to a friend on Facebook, I noted my downgrade from "Mom" to "Mom Lite"—less filling, tastes great!) (I don't know what I'm saying, people. I'm just trying to fulfill my contractual Thursday posting obligation.) (There's not an actual contract, but I suspect you already knew that...)
OK, back to the tuneage.
Folks, I don't know a lot about experimental rock/funk metal band Faith No More. I remember that the singer of one of their biggest hits, We Care A Lot, was in the band for only a couple of years before Mike Patton scored the lead role. (Mike Patton = le woof!) I remember when their fish-outta-water video (literally) for Epic caused a big ruckus with animal rights' groups circa 1990. I remember the fall of 1996, in which their album Angel Dust was in heavy rotation on my Walkman (pictured above). What makes that time period especially memorable is that I was taking my one and only French class at a local community college and, to get there, I took a bus that was obliged to pass through (and pick up passengers at) a psychiatric hospital's compound. Yeah, that was a good time, especially around Halloween.
Anyway, I'd made a mix tape with some tunes off this album and off their earlier The Real Thing album, songs which resounded with me in a particular soul-reaching way, and also helped me sort of detach from my woes and laugh at them, a bit. One of the tunes, A Small Victory, I already shared with y'all in this post. Below are the others which seem, to me, apropos, given recent events in my so-called life (am I good at this Emo thing or what?):
And to wrap up this excess of emotion, I want to thank everyone who's chimed in with supportive comments over my past couple of posts—you guys care a lot and I'm truly grateful. Thank you.
You know how, apropos of nothing, a tune comes to mind? The other day, Gwen Stefani's What You Waiting For popped into my head. I'd gotten a kick out of it when it was released in 2004 and still enjoy it today, though I'd not thought about it in a while. I remember, when it came out, amusing myself with imagining a robotic, electric keyboard type voice reciting the lyrics, "Look at your watch now, you're still a super hot female..." (Because I'm utterly ridiculous, obviously.)
The video's a bit long; the song doesn't actually start till around the 1:45 mark.
After locating the video, which I'd not seen before, I discovered there were (at least) two covers of the tune by artists whose work I've admired. The first surprised a snort out of me: Franz Ferdinand. I mean, I imagined it would be fun, but they didn't seem likely candidates, to me, for a cover of this particular song. Then I heard it and was hooked - I like it as much as, and possibly more than, the original (but then, I do adore these fellas' energy and sound, anyway).
Keep an ear out for a little musical twist toward the end.
The cover version by Marina & the Diamonds, however, did not prove as successful, in my opinion. I dig the singer, Marina, and her groovy vocal stylings, especially in their song Mowgli's Road, which I heart, heart, heart. But their take on Stefani's tune didn't really thrill me. Maybe it's 'cause they lowered the key, or stripped it down, instrumentally...I dunno. It just didn't seem, to me, to work as well as the Franz Ferdinand cover.
