Random Music #4

Random Music #4

by Michael Dare

Elvis Costello, Accidents will Happen, I was there at Hollywood High School when he sang it for the first time, we're only hit and run, Armed Forces hadn't come out yet, the world premiere, used to be a victim now you're not the only one, the best song I'd ever heard, singing solo with Steve Nieve on piano, full of the wordplay he's famous for, with two deliberately confusing and addicting lines, "your mouth is made up but your mind is undone" the first time and "your mind is made up but your mouth is undone" the second. It's understandably difficult to remember which comes first, both working as punchlines to each other, creating mental confusion and my favorite musical mistake of all time, the first verse opening line, "Oh I just don't know where to begin," then the second verse opening line, "There's so many fish in the sea." The first time Elvis sang the song, he opened with "There's just don't know where to begin," a combo of the opening lines of the first and second verses, which is exactly what you'd say if you REALLY didn't know where to begin. His next album, Armed Forces, came with a bonus 45 of that first live performance at Hollywood High. Accidents WILL happen, what a concept, but he never performed it the same way since, and that's certainly not how he did it in the rockified studio version. I don't wanna hear it cause I know what I've done, then the Attractions broke up and Costello appeared on Sessions at West 54th, he and Nieve did a tour together, and they went back to the original version, the Hollywood High version, like a personal gift to me, a perfectly justifiable memory jog, because I was there again, at the Troubadour, which came out as another CD. Listen to either one and when Elvis says "Good evening" and the crowd swells up, that was me, about halfway back, younger and thinner, just like Elvis.

My Morning Jacket does Wordless Chorus which fulfills the title with a chorus supposedly devoid of words, but I definitely heard a who and an ow.

Cream, White Room, with black curtains in the station, no soul pavement, did he really say silver horses fly down moonbeams in your dark eye, wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves, way back when heavy metal put the vocals up front and you could actually hear every single demented word, I remember how absolutely heavy and forbidding and evil it sounded the first time, Clapton on wa-wa when wa-wa was new, now sounds nothing more than light-hearted good old fashioned psychedelic blues, the only movie I can picture is tripping in the park and black light posters.

Cracker, Get Off This, we ain't got no government loans, we're just doing what we wanna, if you want to change the world, shut your mouth, nice sentiment, Dylanesque jangling, killer hook, loud rock, Hey Jude ending, driving off into the sunset at the end of a thriller.

Big fan of the California Guitar Trio who dare to take on Pipeline, the surfing classic, meant for the beach but perfect for internet surfing too, dazzling fingerwork, live performance, makes me want to shove my computer and pick up a guitar.

And I feel like I been here before, how did they know, CS&N, decades ago, that the song they were singing was precisely what I'd be going through right now, sounds great, impeccable harmonies, through my dinky computer speakers, do you know, don't you wonder, what's going on, we have all been here before, a new house, a home, a glimpse of security, alive in Seattle, we have all been here before, the satisfaction of new possibilities and reliving peaceful moments from the past, saw them at the Hollywood Bowl, Joni Mitchell opened, the day after Woodstock, they told us all about it at the Bowl, their second gig ever, the night I burnt my draft card at a barbecue set up for the purpose, what an idiot, probably worth something on eBay, we have all been here before, a table, a lamp, simple stuff, your son bringing friends home for the first time in years, why did it feel so good, watching them hang on the porch, Max and his friends, who the hell are they, Seattleites, a scruffy bunch, probably never heard of Crosby, Stills, or Nash.

You see what happens is you end up actually listening to the music, remember what that's like, when it's not in the background but WHAT YOU'RE DOING, just listening to music, which means you get no work done, and believe me, I've got work to do, so bye bye, but I'm not turning off the music, just changing its position in the focus department, like the Bush Administration, see yuh later, pal.