Seasonal Sounds

“But to my great surprise, ever since I looked in your eyes, I had one question for you…”

Summer of 1995, this video probably played every hour on MTV.  Once I finished whatever chores or projects I had to do, I would spend the rest of the day watching MTV and waiting for this song to come on.  It’s so smooth, funky and jazzy and perfectly encapsulates that feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you think about someone.  Basically it is a musical interpretation of being twitterpated.  But Amel is so cool when she sings, she doesn’t have the nervous excitement that one would expect.  Its like she knows that rejection is not in her future. 

James Blake performing “CMYK” on KCRW (by kcrw)

I’m unaware at how this song is so funky all of a sudden to me.  All I know is that I’m seriously questioning my life choices since I didn’t even attempt to see him yesterday in concert.

This song is so funky!  And the lead singer is so smooth for a bigger guy.  I love the fact that they pull out rubberbands and start “playing” them.  I needed that smoothness this morning.

holysoul:

The Spinners Rubberband Man (Live, 1976)

Anywhere you go, there you are

Ooh Teddy!  To me, he is the prototypical singer that expresses angry love sangin.  The passion that he feels for his woman is so strong that it comes across as anger.  (see also Bernadette - Four Tops)  That is some powerful stuff.  At any rate, this song is not about love, but more of a testimonial on the fact that you can’t be anyone but who you are.  Even if you are fake to others, deep down inside, you can only be you. 

Message of the song aside, I picked this song to play today because we have had some monsoon-ish weather here in SoCal and its just so hot and humid.  Pendergrass’s voice is reminiscent of humidity for me - it is so thick and heavy.  Plus the funkiness of the song makes you want to dance in a room full of other funky people til everyone is all sweaty.  So I felt that this song was appropriate for today, both weather wise and in meaning. 

“I could tell that you wanted to jump in the pool”

This is my second pick for your summer playlist.  This song is straightforward fun.  A dance rock type song with directions for your bbq guests.  I like it because it makes you want to dance your way into the pool.  Not much more to be said about this song.

“Ah chocolate girl, well you’re looking like something I want”

I heard this song for the first time, I think, in college.  Clearly, the first line captivated me.  I just love how the lead vocalist sounds so grimy and dirty but he’s saying really nice things about all the different types of girls then the sweet melody is hiding the S&M message.  I really like the jauntiness because it works well at a summer bbq where people most likely won’t be listening to the lyrics but if they are, most likely they will find one or two of the girls from the song around the pool.

“Just because/I might die/Don’t ask me to stop/Asking why”

This song was quite profound for me when I first heard it in college.  I spent the next month looking for it online and finally found it from some random fellow college student via Napster. I can definitely say I’ve listened to this song thousands of times.  For some reason, it calms me down because it has an ethereal quality that is perpetuated by both the melody and the philosophical lyrics.  I’m not usually one for philosophical conversations because there are no answers and I like answers.  However, this song has all the elements that can make me sit quietly for a long time and think about the meaning of life. 

I’m currently listening to this song on repeat because the world is starting to implode in the land of contracts and I need to stay relaxed and push through the mountain of documents.