C&L's Late Nite Music Club with Simon & Garfunkel
By Nicole Belle Thursday Aug 02, 2007 10:03pm(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)
As we sometimes do, we asked tomorrow's Blue America candidate to tell us about his favorite music. Tomorrow Rancho Cucamonga businessman Russ Warner will be over at Firedoglake at 11am (PT) explaining why he'd be a better bet to represent his L.A.-area congressional district than rubber stamp incumbent David Dreier.
But put politics aside for a moment and let's just get into Russ' head on a music level. I asked him to give us a song that has been a real inspiration in his life. He didn't hesitate for a moment. "I was driving in a car, maybe 1970 or so; someone had given me an 8-track," he recalled with a laugh. "The message was so powerful, I had to pull over so I could hear every word. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel describe who we are at our core of humanity. Everyone has problems and everyone needs a bridge and a helping hand at one time or another. It's something every one of us has in common regardless of political party." You've probably guessed Russ' favorite song by now:
If you'd like to win a beautifully embroidered "Impeach Cheney?" baseball cap tell us if there's a song that has meant something like this in your life and why. Entries to downwithtyranny@aol.com
Login or Register to post comments.
"Like a bridge over troubled water....I will be there".....
Those days are over.
Now its, "I'll stick a knife in your worthless ass, take what little you have and leave bleeding on the floor as I laugh my way to the bank".
i love a bit of S&G, but i find this song is more to my feelings nowadays;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0GfTXuagY0
Had Warner instead cited Give Me Some Truth by Dr Winston O'Boogie I'd have donated to his camapign.
8-Track! I had one in my car, almost 30 years ago. :-)
Nowadays almost all I have is on CD.
SONG PARODY: SIMON AND GARFUNKEL’S ‘THE BOLLIXER’
Really. After what happened in the twin cities? Water under a troubled bridge. Strange pick.
Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MZmPD6-vNVY
he wants to be part of the vast instrument of punishment that is the United States Government and be a...bridge over troubled waters? Sorry, I don't get it.
I nominate Bob Dylan's "Idiot Wind", written 30 years ago and not only hasn't a fucking thing changed, they've gotten immeasurably worse
Salmineo @ 1:
My isn't that a positive attitude?
what are you nuts, howie? every song means something like that in my life. music is what separates us from rocks.
but my fav s&g song is the boxer.
I'm also in a cynical mood.
Youtube didn't have S&G's "Silent Night/7 O' Clock News," so I picked "Patterns."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXYoGHDcRIk
From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies.
Art Garfunkel looks like he has a really big mustache in that picture.
Ah, have to have "Sounds of Silence" up.
The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhdGkZ6Fngw
They're on drugs!
Cool Change
Little River Band
I know it's the wrong time of year, but if you're feeling grim, this one suits pretty well. Thanks for bringing this back--I haven't heard this in years.
Hazy shade of winter
Simon and Garfunkel- America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCbOEZ8c8dM
I was a kid when Folk Music was big.. I think Simon & Garfunkel was the first band that I 'got into' when I was young. So, it was nice to hear Bridge over Troubled Water again.
Here's a clip from another 'folk singer,' playing a song that blew me away the first time I heard it.. The song is poignant, and the lyrics are pure poetry.. the viewpoint of the song, also influenced how I looked at the world back then.. and now.
It's also still my favorite song, by this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReIEDHMu0Zw
LongTooth @ 3:
YouTube doesn't seem to have any good performances of that song. Here's one with stills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBpIfVt46Bk
Good video of Instant Karma though.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MieDFkhlByo&mode=related&search=
Hopefully this isn't a repeat--the first one got eaten. Thanks for bringing these guys back to mind.
Hazy shade of winter
[Hey it is now-I brought back your op and fixed the link in this one-Sitemonitor]
MarcInLosAngeles @ 17:
Good choice. Here's another one. "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bjqYPH7rAo
Bush Bites @ 21:
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bjqYPH7rAo
Wow. I hadn't heard that one before. Amazing.
Here's one more of his 'poetic songs.' It's taken from a documentary, so the song is interrupted in the middle, with some brief interview clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i6NOfD48Gk
GNA!
It was my nephews' 11th birthday this week and I'm taking him to his first Oakland A's game tomorrow. We're jumping the Amtrak train here in Sac in the morning and getting off right at the stadium. It should be fun. He's a little old for this song now but it always reminds me of him. Here's to you Cole...
Baseball Boy!
Mocean Worker
Shake Ya Boogie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6TKKK1YsAY
Nate @ 23:
I'm gonna be there as well. Let's go Oakland. And no one can ever be too old for some Simon and Garfunkel.
Song of Bangladesh, Joan Baez. Love, love, love her! This wasn't the first song of hers that I listened to, but it was the one that made the deepest impression.
"And so the story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By all who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land."
Nate @ 23:
For your nephews'-John Fogerty - Centerfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvyMwXBkvF4
I took a course called something like 'Drug Use in America' at Indiana University/Bloomington back in the 80's, where the lyrics of this song were analyzed by the professor. He suggested that the lyrics were not about what they seem to be about. Get this: BOTW is actually about heroin addiction. Yes, that's right kids, its a DRUG SONG! Sail on silver bird? They mean 'silver bird' the syringe! I'm not kidding. 'Your time has come...' - you need your heroin! There were other code words in there too, 'when you need a friend...', things like that. Naturally, after taking that course, I immediately changed my major from heroin addiction to computer programming and my life has been great ever since!
In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him,
'til he cried out, in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving
but the fighter still remains ...
I've been listening to The Boxer a lot lately, and I think it sums up quite well how we feel as we fight against the bush administration's destruction of this country. There is a feeling of wanting to run from it all, it's so awful, but we stay because we are, at heart, fighters who want to remain standing until the end.
This song changed my life, and continues to inspire generations with its positive message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmdF1r8rjJ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEzphY-48lQ this one works for me...Bob Dylan...Jokeman
Why not something inspirational like, Neil Young's "Down By The River"?
Down by the river
I shot my bay...bah
Down by the river
I shot my bay-bah
Shot her dead, shot her dead.
Plus, it has a real nice jamming, jazzy vibe to it .....
I'm with skippy. If you like a song, the reason you like the song is that it somehow has some meaning to you. Maybe it was something that helped get you through a rough time or many it brings back memories of happy days. Among political songs I've drawn a lot of inspiration from Creedence's "Fortunate Son", Bob Marley's "Small Axe", Canned Heat "Lets Work Together".
Regarding Simon and Garfunkle, I love Scarborough Fair. I can't hear the line "And to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten" without thinking about Iraq.
"A Simple Desultory Philippic (or how I was Robert McNamara'd into submission)"
Much more appropriate Simon and Garfunkle song these times
Fifty Ways To Love Your Liver.
HigherEducation @ 28:
That's classic!
You'd expect that kind of fuzzy drug paranoia in the 60s, but in the 80s?
Guess the prof. was having a narc flashback.
revko @ 34:
Yeah, I was looking for that one myself, but no go.
"I've been Ayn Rand and nearly branded
a communist 'cos I'm left handed
and that's the hand they use,
well, nevermind."
I don't know if it changed my life or anything, but for my money, one of the most beautiful things out there is Cesaria Evora's studio version of "Sodade." The sound is a bit muddy, but this is the only Youtube version I can find: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0djuGyISzNE&mode=related&search=
There are some good live versions up.
If Portuguese isn't one of your strengths, the song is about missing a friend, more or less. The line which sticks with me is" "If you write to me, I'll write to you; if you forget me, I'll forget you, until the day you return" which works because the words "write" and "forget" are very close in Portugese (esquever/esqucer).
For the embodiment of working class grit, Springsteen's Badlands. Next time you get knocked down and think you can't get back up, give this song a listen. (It helps to be surrounded by 15,000 fellow fans standing on their chairs singing/screaming along.)
ysbaddaden @ 35:
Where do you come up with this stuff? ...LOL
For me it was more like Frank Zappa's "Trouble Every Day"...the world in which Simon & Garfunkel sing about ...doesn't exist.. at least not on this planet. JCB
Encore! Trouble Comin' Every Day by Zappa.....probably the best snarly grease drippin protest song ever, probably the best lyric Zappa ever wrote that didn't get lost in his personal humor.
Strange Fruit by Billy Holiday....maybe even a better protest song with a poignant lyric to make you cry when sung by Lady Day
INSTITUTIONALIZED BY SOCIAL DISTORTION....I've relied on this little ditty to keep me off kilter when ever I begin to feel too "normal".
Login or Register to post comments.