Live To Tell - Madonna

As promised, albeit a month later, here's my post about Madonna's "Live To Tell". This is one actually gets a decent amount of airplay at work, just about everyday. I've always liked this song, as with most early Madonna records. It's dark, dreamy and dated, but in a good way. I remember the video with scenes from Madonna's then-husband, Sean Penn's film, "At Close Range", which I've never seen.

There's also scenes that include weirdo extraordinaire, Christopher Walken (with a mustache!) who I think plays Penn's dad. There's also fellow weirdo, Crispin Glover in the credits, along with Sean's brother Chris who starred (not as Sean's character Spicoli, but a similar character named Tom Drake) in the hard to find "Fast Times Are Ridgemont High" sequel, "The Wild Life". You (and me) can watch the whole movie here, which is based on the true story of 1960s gang leader Bruce Johnston Sr. and his son Bruce Jr. who later testified against his dad in 1978.

I remember having the "Live" music video taped off of TV on a VHS and the ending being cut off (I think Los Lobos' Ritchie Valens cover of "La Bamba" from the movie was on there too). I've noticed at work they play a different version of "Live" than in the original video that has a longer pause in the middle, with an extra weird sound effect. When I hear it, I always picture the gun held in Penn's hand again Walken's face at that point in the song. It's off the 1986 Madonna album, "True Blue", which has many good songs on it including this and its title track. I'm pretty sure I heard it originally though from the "Immaculate Collection"cassette my sister had and eventually wore out. I'm wondering if that "best of" was sort of the bridge between the gap in Madonna's career from her awesome 80s pop to her even more risque and I guess more serious, but meh 1990s transformation with "Vogue" and such. She always has weird religious references in her work, with "Conception" being swapped out for "Collection" in that compilation and her crazy video for "Like A Prayer" (which was co-written by Patrick Leonard, who also scored "At Close Range"). Also, from what I've read, "Live To Tell" is apparently performed with a crown of thorns upon Madonna's head when played live. Interesting...

yikes!

Apparently, "Immaculate" is all remixed, somewhat redone versions of her classic songs, so that would explain the differences between that and the originals. It's almost always a good bet to stick with the original songs. Why mess up a good thing? Hear that, George Lucas? Ugh, why would do back and mess up Star Wars? By the way Steven Spielberg, it's "Raiders Of The Lost Ark", not "Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark". 

Young Turks - Rod Stewart

I LIKE

I luv hearing "Young Turks" by Rod Stewart at work. I had a co-worker at my current job who said it was "her jam". In this stormy cloud of horrible songs raining down on us at work, the once mediocre seems to swell into a surreal greatness. There's many Rod Stewart songs played at work, but unfortunately many many bad ones. This includes the asinine covers he's done over the years. Carole King's "You're So Far Away", Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart Of Mine", etc. There's a contemporary song he's done that's played called "She Makes Me Happy", which unfortunately makes me want to kill myself. It's poorly written, redundant, just boring as hell. What a waste.

I saw the "Pop Up Video" version (unfortunately doesn't seem to be available for viewing online) of "Young Turks" this morning. That's such a great show and it's too bad it's not on anymore, although music videos aren't as widely seen or as important as they used to be. E.G. Daily is in the music video. You may know her best as either the voice of Tommy from Nickelodeon show, "The Rugrats", Pee-Wee Herman's girlfriend Dottie in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" or as the lead singer of the band that plays the dance in "Better Off Dead". She's also one of Julie's friends in the great teen film, "Valley Girl". Russell Mulcahy directed the video and has made tons of music videos and more over the years.

I Won't Hold You Back - Toto

This is a YouTube user's video. I couldn't seem to locate an official music video for this song. 

I CAN TOLERATE IT

I don't mind this song, it of course, gets even better when heard at the work in the midst of far inferior songs. I'm not sure where I originally heard this one, but the first time I re-heard it at work, it was super familiar. At first I thought maybe it was a 1980s Bee Gees song, but I looked it up and figured out it was Toto. My dad had a few Toto records, so I probably heard it from then. There's, I think 7 (6 according to the picture below) guys in Toto. I've always referred to them as a band of "ugly secretaries". Sorry guys, they're a super nerdy lookin' bunch, and added to that equation are the wonderful shades of tan that is early 1980s mainstream fashion. But, I do absolutely love to see bands of pretty much average looking guys succeed in popular music, especially in these appearance obsessed times. 

They're still better looking than glam rock group Mud

"The Blend" usually plays this song either late at night (around 9pm-10pm) or on Sundays. I'm guessing it's too un-hip for their listening base? Who knows. All I know is I'd rather hear Toto than crap like Capital Cities and Passenger's "Let Her Go". Check out the "WhoSampled.com" entry for "I Won't Hold You Back". It has been sampled in 9 songs, very interesting.

Wilson Phillips/Berlin

I HATE

At work, there are many cover versions of superior original songs played throughout the day. Here's "Go Your Own Way" originally by Fleetwood Mac, redone by Wilson Phillips. Like many of the songs I hear throughout the work day, I'm not sure who sings most of the songs I hear. This one came as a surprise because it was a group I had actually heard of. I think back in elementary school either myself or my sister had a Wilson Phillips tape or CD. They play a few of their songs at my present job and I've heard their songs probably all throughout my retail "career" (*shudders*). If you're not familiar with their singing, do yourself a favor and just skip to their parents music, Brian Wilson (father of Wendy and Carnie) of the Beach Boys and Michelle Phillips (mother of Chynna) of the Mamas And Papas.

MTV had a special, or a pilot that never launched called "The 25 Lamest Videos". It starred Denis Leary, Janeane Garafalo, Jon Stewart and Chris Kattan (the only funny thing I think he ever did). I have it taped off of TV, but unfortunately it's not available in it's entirety online. Number 23 on the countdown is Wilson Phillip's "Hold On" which is hilariously torn apart. I recall such lines "Prince Valiant haircut" referring to Chynna Phillips and Carnie Wilson after harshly being called "the fat chick" is said to also have the "best personality". Soo wrong. Speaking of Carnie, have you seen her on "Celebrity Wife Swap"? Her husband was such a jerk. If anybody should "go their own way", it should be her.

Fleetwood Mac's original version of "Go Your Own Way" (released in 1977) is bitingly cruel but ended up being a huge hit song for them. The group consisted of two on again off again couples and a weird drummer. This particular song is about guitarist Lindsay Buckingham and backing vocalist Stevie Nicks' deteriorating relationship. I mean the whole time he's telling her "YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY" or really, "get the fu** outta here!". It's a pretty mean song despite it's upbeat sound. BUT, this is a blog about work songs, so I'm stuck with the neutered Wilson Phillips version which has about as much energy as a coma. It's almost as if they have no clue what they're even singing about. It's devoid of emotion and any sort of understanding of the lyrics. I find this true among many newer artists; it's all vocal acrobatics and absolutely no sense of what they're singing about. It's soulless and meaningless.

Courtesy of http://www.azlyrics.com

"Go Your Own Way"

Loving you

Isn't the right thing to do

How can I ever change things that I feel?

If I could

Baby I'd give you my world

How can I

When you won't take it from me?

You can go your own way

Go your own way

You can call it another lonely day

You can go your own way

Go your own way

Tell me why

Everything turned around

Packing up

Shacking up's all you wanna do

If I could

Baby I'd give you my world

Open up

Everything's waiting for you

You can go your own way

Go your own way

You can call it another lonely day

You can go your own way

Go your own way

I LIKE

"Take My Breath Away" (1986) by Berlin isn't played too often at work, but I get pretty excited when I hear it, saying "yes!" to myself. I like Berlin, although I only have their first record ("Pleasure Victim") with "The Metro", "Sex (I'm A..), etc. This song was written by soundtrack great, Giorgio Moroder and also Tom Whitlock which was used in the film "Top Gun".  It even won an Oscar for Best Song that year. My husband Jeffrey and I while traveling across California stopped at some landmark from that film in San Diego. Apparently this song caused a rift in Berlin because it wasn't written by band songwriter, John Crawford and shortly after they split up. 

"Take My Breath Away"

Watching every motion

In my foolish lover's game

On this endless ocean

Finally lovers know no shame

Turning and returning

To some secret place inside

Watching in slow motion

As you turn around and say

Take my breath away

Take my breath away

Watching I keep waiting

Still anticipating love

Never hesitating

To become the fated ones

Turning and returning

To some secret place to find

Watching in slow motion

As you turn to me and say

My love

Take my breath away

Through the hourglass I saw you

In time you slipped away

When the mirror crashed I called you

And turned to hear you say

If only for today

I am unafraid

Take my breath away

Take my breath away

Watching every motion

In this foolish lover's game

Haunted by the notion

Somewhere there's a love in flames

Turning and returning

To some secret place inside

Watching in slow motion

As you turn my way and say

Take my breath away

Take my breath away

Pink + Nate Ruess/Chris Issak

I work retail. I've worked retail off and on for about 17 years. My first job at Ross was my real introduction to the redundancy of what a retail radio station was. A strange mix of mostly terrible, but some good, sometimes (if you're lucky) even great songs. It was 1998 or 1999 so by then, you would still hear songs from the 1960s and 1970s over the speakers embedded into the ceiling. Nowadays, like many "oldies" radio stations across the country (if you're lucky enough to spot one), having dropped the 1950s completely, and have mostly 1960s, 1970s and jeez, sometimes even 1980s. Similarly, work radio stations are composed of contemporary songs, "bright pop" (according to "SiriusXM The Blend" which is what they play at my current job) and some 1980s and 1990s.

With each entry here, I'm going to feature one song that is horrible and then another which is at least decent. I'm fairly convinced that these stations have subliminal messages ingrained into each note, otherwise why else would they play them so often? I was told, by comparison at Target where there is no overhead music played, that the lack of music actually keeps people shopping longer. Supposedly, when songs are played, a customer becomes aware of their time spent in one store, whereas silence makes that distinction murky. I worked at Target for 7 years and the only music you would hear was on the loop tape played on the electronics department televisions. There were 3 different TV's; the main channel broadcast across all the TV's for sale, then the next two over in the CD and DVD/Blu-Ray sections with different movie trailers and new music videos snippets. I didn't know most of the songs as a whole that were played, so I'd sometimes fill in the rest in my mind. I remember doing this growing up watching music compilation commercials (which I've always loved seeing). Particularly before I first heard about Blondie's "Heart Of Glass" from a disco compilation, I imagined it being totally different, although I can't remember how specifically. More recently, I recall "filling in the blank" with Bruno Mars' "Locked Out Of Heaven", which is a really terrible and weird song. It's most notable for it's near theft of The Police's distinct sound. I'm guessing imitation is the most sincere form of flattery? This is also comparable to "Blend" (or Bland as I call it sometimes) station favorite, Maroon 5's Adam Levine, who very much imitates Sting's oddball singing style in some of their godawful songs. Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh, oh oh uh uh oh.