Misheard Lyrics

There's this thing on YouTube now, where you take songs with incomprehensible lyrics and just make a video with what you understand the guy's saying. The first time I saw this was with the hilarious version of Jaspion's theme song in portuguese, "O Cara Tossiu". It's fucking hilarious, but if you do a search on YouTube right now for "misheard lyrics" hundreds of videos will turn up. I've seen a few of them, and they're mostly shit... but there's at least one that everybody should see: Yellow Ledbetter, by Pearl Jam. It's especially great because, as much of a mumbler as Eddie Vedder usually is, in this song he breaks records. I mean, I really think there are no official lyrics to this song, every time he sings it he does it differently, and he mumbles A LOT!!!!! So, here's some random guy's take on Yellow Ledbetter!!!

Icky Thump [Album]

A couple of weeks ago I opened the daily e-mail I receive (and usually ignore) from the NY Times and decided to look through it and see if maybe something interested had happened. I was surprised to learn that The White Stripes were releasing a new album, and that it'd gotten pretty good reviews. So, I rushed to eMusic and there it was: Icky Thump. It was the high of my newfound White Stripes fever and I just got the damn thing. The thing is, my expectations for this thing were quite the opposite of when I got Elephant: I already thought Elephant was an instant classic and couldn't expect anything less than that from the new Stripes... and I'll admit I was disappointed. I mean, the album is pretty good, but I was expecting classic. I was expecting an opening like Seven Nations Army, brilliant, surprising twists like "In the Cold, Cold, Night", or "You've Got Her in Your Pocket", loud music all over the place, an occasional Zeppelin revival, and an endearing closer "Well It's True That We Love One Another". And that was just not fair.

Realizing the unfairness of my judgment I decided to give it another chance and postponed writing it off... so now, some 10 days later and after listening to it for the 6th or 7th time, I think I finally got it: it's damn good!! It starts off weird, I'd say... Icky Thump is a pretty unusual track but it grows on you... somewhat following the structure of Elephant, they go on to shift a little bit to ballads, White-Stripes-style ballads, that is... then, they go over to some spanish-guitar-flamenco inspired tune that is just great!! The album goes on like this, sometimes surprising, sometimes loud and heavy, sometimes Guns 'n Roses-y ("Rag and Bone"??), The White Stripes are never less than fantastically fun. And they are occasionally simply amazing. I guess the bottom line is this is a great album, daring, but that doesn't have enough really genius-like moments to go face to face with Elephant. That's OK, most (great) bands go their entire careers without having anything nearly as good as Elephant. And most who do get there, get satisfied and stall. At least we can rest assured that's not happening to the White Stripes.

Thumbing My Way [Song]

This is another one for my Big Book of Great Lyrics: Thumbing My Way, by Pearl Jam. Well, let me start by saying that Pearl Jam is my favorite "present-day" band. Period. They've been my favorite band for quite some time now, almost a decade. And this is definitely amongst their best stuff. I didn't actually hear Thumbing My Way for the first time in Riot Act, I listened to it on Live At Benaroya Hall, a great, mostly acoustic, live album they released a few years ago. And I just loved it!! First of all, about the title: it took me a while to figure it out, and I didn't get it by myself (thanks, Riss!), that what he means by "Thumbing" is hitchhiking: you know, like you stick your thumb out to try and get a ride. Now that I know that, it seems pretty obvious from the lyrics, but it eluded me for quite some time...

I have not been home since you left long ago
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven

Counting steps,.. walking backwards on the road
I'm counting my way back to heaven

I can't be free with what's locked inside of me...
If there was a key, you took it in your hands.
There's no wrong or right,... but I'm sure there's good and bad
The questions linger overhead

No matter how cold the winter, there's a springtime ahead
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven
I wish that I could hold you... wish that I had
Thinking 'bout heaven

I let go of a rope,... thinking that's what held me back
And in time I've realized,... it's now wrapped around my neck
I can't see what's next,... from this lonely overpass
Hang my head and count my steps, as another car goes past

All the rusted signs we ignore throughout our lives
Choosing the shiny ones instead
I turned my back,... now there's no turning back

No matter how cold the winter,.. there's a springtime ahead
I smile, but who am I kidding?
I'm just walking the miles,.. every once in a while I'll get a ride
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven

Thumbing my way back to heaven
I'm thumbing my way back to heaven...

For me, it's about the end of something really important and the doubts it brings along. The first couple of verses tell us that the singer broke up with someone, and since then he is lost, adrift... a verse that always gets me is

I can't be free with what's locked inside of me...
If there was a key, you took it in your hands.

Then the singer starts to try and convince himself that everything is going to be ok, that he'll be alright without her, that he'll find his heaven again, but apparently the best he can come up with are these common sense, cliché quotes like "No matter how cold the winter,.. there's a springtime ahead", and gives us a little insight into what actually happened

I let go of a rope,... thinking that's what held me back
And in time I've realized,... it's now wrapped around my neck
I can't see what's next,... from this lonely overpass
Hang my head and count my steps, as another car goes past

That's another part of the song that I really love, describing this very real, sort of complicated scenario for a break-up... and later on finally adds, perfectly describing the hopelessness of the whole situation...

I smile, but who am I kidding?

He realizes there's no shortcut back to the place he wish he could be, the place that now he believes he was at... and, even worse, it's his fault he is not in this "heaven" anymore... eventually, all he can do is give in and try and live with the fact that it's gonna take a while to get over all this and all he can hope for is some help along the way...

The White Stripes [Music]

This is sort of yesterday's news (well, actually 2003 news) but The White Stripes rock! Of course I'd heard of them before, and of course I'd heard one or two of their songs... but I'd never paid attention and I missed out on the opportunity of enjoying Elephant... this is definitely one of the best albums I've heard for quite a while... and it kinda got me by surprise: I got it from eMusic (mp3 at a fair price and no DRM, just fantastic) and put it on my iPod to go to the gym. I was blown away, and I've heard the entire album quite a few times since then... it starts strong and heavy with "Seven Nation Army" (probably their best-known song?), goes louder, then delivers a Burt Bacharach cover ("I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" , then the sweet Meg White-sung ballad "In The Cold, Cold Night", then Led Zeppelin comes back from the dead in "Ball and Biscuit"... when it all ended with "Well It's True That We Love One Another" it just left me wondering where the hell I was four years ago and how could I miss all this... just fuckin' amazing!!!

The Landlord [Skit]

After watching Stranger than Fiction I've become sort of a fan of Will Ferrel's... and then I saw this on YouTube... it's just funny as hell!!!

An Odd Weekend

The truth is I watch far too many movies to have the patience and time to write about all of them. I really wish I did write about them, but I don't. Especially because most movies I watch aren't that noteworthy: not too bad, not (in the timeless words of Joey Tribbiani) the best-thing-since-sliced-bread, just some quality 2-hour entertainment. As the addict I know I am, I need it. But I do like to write about the movies that are noteworthy: and how often do you watch in the same weekend the best and the worst movie of the year (so far)??

Let's start with the worst movie of the year. I know it's only June, and whenever you say "It couldn't get any worse", it does, but I seriously doubt I'll watch anything worse than Premonition in the movies this year. There are only two good things about this movies: Sandra Bullock's tits. That's it. And, I'm sorry to say that, they're far from being enough to entertain anyone for 96 minutes... the movie is dumb, dull, annoying, and it makes absolutely no sense at all. I actually checked my votes on IMDb, and, as I suspected, the last movie that had annoyed me as much as this one was Catwoman (yes, I did watch it), and that's saying A LOT!!! Please, even if you are desperate and there's nothing else on that you haven't watched, go see something you've already seen. It's better than wasting your money on this. It would have certainly ruined my mood, were it not for the beers I drank afterwards... :-)

Now, the good news: Stranger Than Fiction. It's actually old news, but I hadn't watched it yet: I was traveling when it opened in Brasil and it only arrived in video stores this week. This movie is what people should aim at when they start writing scripts. It's certainly the kind of movie I wish I could write. It's brilliant, poetic, funny, moving, beautiful. Everybody is on the top of their games: the script is amazing (why the fuck wasn't it nominated for the Oscar??!!?!?!), each and every actor is perfectly cast and just amazingly comfortable in their characters, it's well directed, it's got a pretty cool soundtrack... just a combination of wonderful qualities. I don't usually tell the stories of the movies I write about, but I'm gonna make an exception with this one: it's about a guy who suddenly starts to hear in his head a narration of his own life. And, surely, he starts obsessing about it when he learns some troubling news about his future. If that's is not enough to enthrall you, well I'm sorry... maybe you should go watch Premonition: who knows, you might like it!

Anna Begins [Song]

So, I guess everybody has a big book of great lyrics. Maybe its unwritten, but it's there, at least for everyone who really likes music. So I'm gonna start writing about mine, one song at a time. I've always been more touched by lyrics than melody. I really agree with people that say that a tune catches your attention because of how it sounds but you will listen to it over and over again only if the lyrics gets to you. And I'm gonna try and pick a few of my favorite lyrics to write about here. Let's start with Anna Begins, by Counting Crows.
First, a little context: this song is in the August and Everything After album, the one with Mr. Jones, certainly Counting Crow's most famous song. This album came out in 1993, and it's one of my favorite '90s album. And Anna Begins is my favorite tune on that album. I put a link to last.fm, sadly they don't have the whole song on-line but to hear to a piece of it, just press the play button.

Here are the lyrics:

My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
I am not worried
I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me, "For one time only,
make an exception." I am not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies
Send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried I am not overly concerned
with the status of my emotions
"Oh," she says, "you're changing."
But we're always changing It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
And I guess I'm going to have to live with that
But I'm sure there's something in a shade of grey,
Something in between,
And I can always change my name
If that's what you mean

My friend assures me, "It's all or nothing."
But I am not really worried I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try to tell yourself
To make yourself forget I am not worried
"If it's love," she said, "then we're going to have to think about the consequences."
She can't stop shaking
I can't stop touching her and...
This time when kindness falls like rain
It washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"These seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering for days," she says
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing

But I'm not going to break and I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not going to bend, and I'm not going to break and I'm not going to worry about it anymore
It seems like I should say, "As long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should
Snap her up in a butterfly net Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...

The time when kindness falls like rain
It washes me away and Anna begin s to change my mind
And every time she sneezes I believe it's love and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

She's talking in her sleep
It's keeping me awake and Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

The song basically has three "acts" in which the narrator becomes increasingly aware that what is happening between himself and "Anna" is indeed love. He seems at first unworried. Later he notices that she is starting to think that it's love and

"If it's love," she said, "then we're going to have to think about the consequences."

They knew from the start that their relationship had no future. Finally he becomes painfully aware of what it all means, that he does love her

It seems like I should say, "As long as this is love..."

and that there is no solution.

Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away
She disappears and
Oh lord, I'm not ready for this sort of thing

It's so sad, and intense and real... and it's apparently based on Adam's own experience while backpacking somewhere (through Europe, I assume... do people even backpack somewhere else??)... he actually fell in love with someone, but they lived too far for any kind of relationship to be feasible between students with no money at all... and later when he become famous and made this song about her, she was already married with a whole other life... well, time doesn't stop even when maybe it should.

When Nietzsche Wept [Book]

OK, this long overdue post on Nietzsche is gonna start with a confession of sorts: I admit I was really prejudiced against this book. I don't really know why, probably the title and the whole thing just seemed a little bit corny... I thought it was just some cheap way of capitalizing on Nietzsche's name. I certainly wouldn't have bought it. But my mom gave it to me, so I thought "hey, what the hell, I'll give it a try!". And a try I gave. Only after having already loved it did I find out it's written by a professor from Standford who certainly knows what he's talking about. And since I've always really enjoyed reading Nietzsche, but hadn't done so in a while, it was really good to shake the dust off of a few of his books.

First off, a piece of advice. If you can get your hands on Nietzsche's autobiography (of sorts), called Ecce Homo, I really think you should read the first couple of chapters beforehand. They are called:

1. Why am I so wise
2. Why am I so intelligent
3. Why do I write such good books

(Well, that's a free translation, I don't know how the actual English version goes.)
I guess from that you can take a little perspective on who Nietzsche was and what he thought of himself (certainly no self-esteem problems there). After that, it's gonna be a little easier to appreciate and understand Irvin D. Yalom's portrayal of Nietzsche in his book. It's really something amazing. After a slightly rocky start, while the whole plot is being set up, the last two thirds or so of the book are just inspired. It's all about the dialogs, and Mr. Yalom is certainly very good at that. And, as long as I could tell being no expert, it's really accurate regarding Nietzsche's general philosophy. It's probably the best and easiest way to be introduced to it.

Nietzsche, in my opinion, is someone to be admired. Not necessarily believed in, or followed: but most certainly admired. His relentless search for "truth", each one's truth that is, is nothing less of inspiring. And he wrote powerful words. I couldn't help but get a weird feeling of getting analyzed along with Nietzsche and Dr. Breuer (the two main characters in the book). And couldn't help but feeling many questions answered and many thoughts challenged or confirmed in a brilliant way. I can't think of anything better to be read, absorbed, reread, and then discussed over a few beers with great friends.

The Zimmers - My Generation

Campaign that started as a documentary about the way England treats its old citizens, and ended up turning them into rock stars!! :-)