Aqualung is 50 years old

I am watching the live stream of 50th Anniversary of Jethro Tull's Aqualung. I remember buying the 25th anniversary edition CD of this album in Bangalore. So many years have passed since then. This is a great album to listen to. One song better than the other. Of course, the album contains the two of the songs of Jethro Tull I listened to first, Aqualung and Locomotive breath. 

The live stream has Ian Anderson talking about each song in the album and he speaks so well. The 25th anniversary edition has an interview at the end, which I love to listen to. Ian speaks so well and obviously his voice is heavenly. Good to keep track of this recording forever.

 

Invincible

Some days are worse than others...

I did not expect the day to be a good day but I did not expect it to be a bad day either. I did not remember that in the temple of hypocrisy the priests decide the fate of the day. They walk into your day and throw a burst of hypocrisy into it. On some days, one is agile enough to duck it but that day was not such a day. The burst took me off my feet and I found myself on the floor seething with anger. My growing up years had put in the idea that a person cannot express his/her anger in a temple, certainly not in the words that were sprouting at all places in his head. So I let the anger stay within my head. I am not sure if many know but during his younger days, anger was diagnosed of ADHD (please don't ask me expand it; search Google). Anger's parents being irresponsible threw the diagnosis reports and prescription into a closet and forgot about it. So anger grew without control. The anger within my head traveled from here to there and from there to elsewhere. The temperature rose within my head and the temper of every part of my brain grew to uncontrollable proportions. At around 11:30 AM, I felt my Cerebrum kick my Cerebellum's belly. My Cerebellum rolled at the floor of my head in pain screaming words that I cannot mention here. I was sitting through a meeting where people talked about things that, at most times, I did not care to know and understand. My attention was worse than usual due to all the fuss Cerebellum was creating. I think by this time my Cerebrum felt a pang of guilt and tried to calm Cerebellum. But Cerebellum's emotions were distraught and though the screaming and shouting stopped, calm could not return. Cerebrum took control of the situation and tried its best to put a smile on my face but it ended up looking like a grimace. I lived through the day in a passable mental state except for the few moments when my eyes could not help but record the presence of a self-righteous priest who was responsible for this mess.

I did not like the hot brew served at the beginning and end of the day at the temple. One of its ingredients was used in excess and only a whiff of its crucial ingredient was used. Thus it did not taste or smell anything like the name it was given. For lack of choice I was forced to have it every morning and evening. Conversations with a group of people, some of whom actually had the ability to be interesting, helped in ingesting the liquid. That evening, as I was leaving, I was asked if everything was okay. This question should always be answered in the negative but we usually use the concept of relativeness (not relativity) and answer in the affirmative. That day was not one such day. I answered "No". Further questions were asked and I started my response with the lines.

Some days you feel like a bit of a baby

Lookin' for Jesus and His mother

Some days are better than others

If anyone thinks I am the creator of these lines then they should understand that they are extremely gullible. As good as I am with words (please hear a modest cough at this point), such finesse is beyond my imagination. These words are from the song "Some days are better than others" by U2. On most bad days, these lines run through my head and brings some calm. 

Joshua Tree by U2 was a rage when it was released. Those days I would have given anything to listen to the song "With or without you". I had to wait for a few years before I could lay my hand on that album. Soon I bought a set of U2 album. Post Joshua Tree, U2 changed directions and started experimenting with electronica. I did not listen to their first experimental and acclaimed album Achtung Baby for a long time. I bought the two follow up album Zooropa and Pop. I love the songs in both the album. They have a lot of style and it is still a pleasure to listen to the songs from these two albums. But the fans hated it. Most people who love rock don't let electronic music enter their lives. So U2 dropped electronica and went back to plain rock. I have not listened an album of theirs since. The song "some days are better" is from Zooropa and is probably one of the best songs to listen when you feel down. Actually, its good to listen to the song even when one is not feeling down.

The HU

With Rammstein, I thought I had found the perfect language for metal. But I stand corrected, Mongolian is perfecter than perfect. Facebook has been throwing some good music at me. As much as I am worried about AI and the Matrix like scenario, Facebook's recommendation engine has been working overtime to satisfy my musical needs. This is especially helpful as I continue to reside in a barren musical island with no company. I have to only open my mouth about music and even Panagal park like place would end up like Sahara. So I only have recommendation engines for friends. 

I saw a post with the puke-worthy line "This will make your day" or "This just made my day". Actually I read the title in large font on the video which said "Mongolian Metal" first. I used to love Mongolian food (actually I probably love it still but I stay in a place where people can barely spell Mongolia) and so decided to give the song a try. Fifteen minutes later I was listening the song for the third time and I was swinging my head from one side of the room to the other. I am not sure if this has ever happened to me earlier. This is one of the best songs I have heard. I heard another song by the The HU and I have ended up saying HOW!

Everything but the music

One evening she called and said "you will be presenting songs to the children this week". He loved presenting songs to the children. He believed the music they listened to was pathetic and only exposing them to songs from previous century could salvage their musical tastes. He had presented music to children twice. During those times, he had tried to make it as intellectual as possible. He presented music by Amazonian tribes and Native Americans. Another time, he presented Violin recital by Shankar and a recital by a quartet of Ravel's composition. He also presented music by Dead can Dance. All soft and all in the higher realms of western and world music. 

This time, he toyed with the idea of presenting soundtrack from different movies. He had music from American Beauty, The Insider and one of the numbers by Ennio Morricone in his mind. But he decided not to play it safe this time. He decided to present the pop and rock music from the previous century. By that, he did not mean to play Michael Jackson or Pink Floyd. He planned to be a bit obscure. The first song to be played was obvious to him, Queensryche's "Out of Mind". The song was in his list of greatest songs ever made right from the moment he listened to it. It was like Rainbow's "Temple of the Kings"; the song struck a chord in his heart. He loved everything about the song; the riff that plays through the song, the heartfelt singing by Geoff Tate, the touching lyrics, the song's layout and the sad images the song evoked. Not many on the planet knew about this group. Almost no one he knew had heard of this song. He thought "the world has so many music lovers and yet when it comes to music, they don't go farther than their doorsteps".

Many years ago, he had bought a cassette seeing the name of the group and the album. It had turned out to be one of the best albums he had listened. It continues to be one of the best album he had ever heard. The album was "Automatic for the people" by REM. Since then he had heard a number of REM songs; not a single one bad. A song from the album "Night Swimming" was one of his favourite songs. It brought in a sense of peace and calm. He played the song at the gathering and many who had lived as adults in the 1990s came to him and thanked him for bringing back memory of those days. There are not many on the planet who are capable of not liking Michael Stipe singing "Night swimming deserves a quiet night".

Seattle has produced a number of great groups. Queensryche is one of them. They pioneered the progressive metal movement with albums like "Operation Mindcrime". In the early 90's, a set of groups from Seattle took the rock music world by storm. They brought in Grunge that almost killed many other sub-genre of rock and metal music. The groups were a part of the alternative rock movement pioneered by groups like REM in the early 80s. Pearl Jam was one of the groups that rose from Seattle in the early nineties. He could never forget watching the video of "Jeremy" for the first time. Eddie Vedder's singing and his powerful presence ensured that he was a Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder fan forever. He liked them more than "Nirvana". From his point of view, Kurt Cobain could never match Eddie Vedder's singing. He loved almost all Pearl Jam songs from their initial five albums. Of the songs, he could only play "Nothing man" to the children. It was a soft and beautiful song. He was sure everyone would like the song.

As in the last two sessions, everyone loved his songs. Most people had not heard the songs or groups and were surprised that such good songs existed on the planet. A ten year old walked up to him and said "I liked your session but I did not like any of the songs you played. Why do you play such old songs?"

Sunday thoughts

I did not realize that he had not heard the song before. The car stereo displayed the name of the song as the music leading to the song started playing. He looked at the name and announced he liked the song already and when the verse came on, he claimed this to be the best song on the planet. He stretched out his hands and started singing "Tell me why I don't like Mondays" every time the verse came on. This was the anthem that he was waiting for.

Who loves a Monday morning? Not many I am sure. In a way, I believe this is an anthem for almost every school, college and office goer. I think it is ironic that I write these lines on a Monday morning. Fortunately, I am not looking at this Monday morning as another Monday morning. So a few lines jump out of my head on to this page.

I did not care for the lyrics of the song beyond the verse mentioned above. I heard somethings being sung about Telex machines and Silicon chips. So I checked the lyrics for the song and came across the page that also gave the history associated with the song. The site, genius.com says that the song is inspired by the following incident.

On the Monday morning of January 29, 1979, 16 year-old Brenda Spencer opened fire on the elementary school across the street from her family home. Using a .22 caliber rifle, she killed two adults and injured eight students as well as a police officer. Before giving herself up to the police, she spoke to a reporter on the phone regarding her motive. She said "I just started shooting, that’s it. I just did it for the fun of it. I just don’t like Mondays. I just did it because it’s a way to cheer the day up. Nobody likes Mondays."

Now, the verse "I don't like Monday mornings" has lost its innocuous frustration.

*******************

After all these years, the art getting an effective haircut eludes me still. The situation has become worse with the advent of the trimming of the beard. I take off my spectacles, close my eyes and get myself ready for the hair cut. The person with the scissor or "machine" asks certain questions about how I desire to look at the end of the session and regardless of what I answer I never get what I want. So these days, I response alternates between 'yes' and 'no'. From time to time, I add in the word 'short'. None of it matters, for the guy with the scissor has decided what to do with my hair and beard the minute he has seen my face. All his questions are asked to give me the false satisfaction of being in control. The rules of democracy exist in the barber shop (or saloon) too.

Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na kneel....

Guns'n'roses, I believe, is one of the most unfortunate groups on the planet. They have a semi-violent name. Many of their songs are dirty. Axl loves to drop the four letter word and its many combinations in their songs. He even found a way to garnish Dylan's song writing skills with a four letter word in "Knocking on heaven's door". Yet they are known to most people for "November Rain" and "Sweet child of mine". To add insult to injury, the second song was covered by Sheryl Crow, quite well too. I have heard so many people say they love GnR for the above mentioned songs "Wow! GnR! What a wonderful group! Have you heard "November Rain"? Slash's guitaring is the best man". 

I stayed a good distance from GnR through the 90s. Towards the end of the decade, century and millennium I finally bought a GnR CD. It was, hold on to your chair, their singles release of "November rain" with three songs, namely, "November rain", "Sweet child of mine" and "Patience". Yeah, I know. That's me, the perfect hypocrite. My first GnR CD consisted of their three softest songs.

Their first album "Appetite for Destruction" was a mind blower. The opening of the "Welcome to the Jungle" is probably the best opening for any album (except maybe "Machine Head" by Deep Purple). Except for the song "Sweet Child of mine" most songs are raw and at most times brutal. "Paradise City" is an anthemic, fun and yet not exactly a clean number. I had heard the songs in the album many times before I listened to it with focus from the start to end. That is when I realized the greatness of GnR. 

But "Appetite for Destruction" was not the first album that turned my attention to GnR. Somewhere among my music collection lay the double the album "Use your illusions". The first time I listened to it, I realized that Axl Rose is probably the best rock singer on this planet. I have the felt the same for a few other singers (Ian Gillian, Mike Patton and Serj Tankian) but the edginess that Axl brings to his voice is something that no one has. A song from the album forced me to write this piece. It has him shouting or screaming "waaaaaaaarrrrrr". That is probably the most effective way to sing the word war. Funnily, Axl's ability to sing in two voices reminded me of M.R.Radha. The actor put it to great use in his movies and it made him seem like a rock star of the Tamil movies. Axl, without doubt, is a rockstar. I realize that he is a prick but he is a prick with a beautiful voice.

That's bring me to my crib with people. Most people I have noticed talk about Slash and his guitars. Slash is a dude and a fantastic guitarist too.  But for me GnR is about Axl. His voice and style of singing is unlike anything I have heard and I hear a lot of rock and metal. John Fogerty during the Creedence Clearwater Revival days had a gentlemanly version of the menace. His singing in "Fortunate Son" could probably be considered an influence for Axl's singing. Axl's got attitude too and it comes out plenty in the videos too. I consider him to be the perfect front man for a rock or metal group. When one talks about GnR, one talks about him and goes no further.

Isn't "Civil War" an amazing song? It has a message and it starts and end beautifully. I love the way Wah-Wah guitars (I think) sound when Axl says the line "What's so civil about war?" I am not a lyrics person and so never bothered to listen to the lyrics of this song. But the way the song sounded I knew it had to be important. Even today, I don't care too much about the lyrics as good as they are. Black Sabbath had sang so effectively against war in 1970. How can anyone better that with lyrics? So its all about the structuring of the song and Axl's attitude. 

I wish more people on this planet listened to songs like this. Instead they are stuck in their sliver of music taste. They don't venture out of their Semmangudis, Joshis, Burmans, Illaiyarajas, Rahmans and Bachs. They don't even listen to fusion groups like Shakthi. It's a shame, for every genre has good music, musicians and lyricists. These are people who have the imagination and creativity to come up with something original. I don't like Hip Hop but how can one not like Eminem's songs or Childish Gambino's "This is America". If one loves music, one has to listen and appreciate everything good and not be stuck in Sa-Re-Ga-Mas or Do-Re-Mes. Of course, its their lives and they have every right to like what they want and think of everything else as noise. In that case, the question in my mind is "Why do you strut around considering yourself an expert in music?"

The unbridled passion displayed by the people involved in rock and metal music is tough to resist. While I am sure every musician is passionate about his or her form of music. This comes to the fore in the case of rock and metal. Many of the great songs are written and composed by young people. Their ability to think up something deep and complex amazes me. The different instruments and the voice coming together perfectly is something beyond my comprehension. And then these fellows get on to the stage. Their antics on the stage makes them seem not human. They throw themselves into the song. I will never stop listening to loud music. It is sad many believe that this form of music constitute noise. If you cannot enjoy any type of music, how can you claim yourself to be lover of music. Many of you are not even willing to listen to the song. People with limited view of the world cannot claim to be all knowing.

Mayhem

I love Facebook; more than ever. It throws information at me and some of them are amazing. By information, I don't mean the useful kind of information; these fall into the "I would never use this in my life" region.

Today, I learnt about a band called Mayhem and its brief and gruesome existence. Mayhem is a black metal band and have a hardcore sound. Their music can barely be called music and mostly feature unearthly and guttural shrieks. The guitars are loaded with so much distortion that the resulting sound can hardly be called music. I listened to one of their demo tapes on YouTube and though I found it interesting, I don't think I will ever listen to a Mayhem piece. As the name and genre suggest, their music is quite morbid. 

I came across an article on a recently released book on the group. Its called Mayhem: The Death Archives. The death in the title does not relates to death metal but the deaths that took place during the existence of the group. The first was the suicide of the lead singer who had appropriately nicknamed himself Dead. Dead was a maniac and took his performance to the extreme. On stage, he would often cut himself with hunting knives and broken glass. A member of the group said the following about Dead.

"He [Dead] didn't see himself as human; he saw himself as a creature from another world. He said he had many visions that his blood has frozen in his veins, that he was dead. That is the reason he took that name. He knew he would die."

In 1991, Dead committed suicide by slashing his wrist and shooting himself on his head. His suicide note was a simple. He wrote "Excuse all the blood, cheers." and it included an apology for firing the weapon indoors. The lead guitarist of the group, Euronymous, found him and behaved as he was expected to. Another member of the group recounted the actions of Euronymous on discovering Dead's body thus.

Euronymous called me up the next day ... and says, "Dead has done something really cool! He killed himself". I thought, have you lost it? What do you mean cool? He says, "Relax, I have photos of everything". I was in shock and grief. He was just thinking how to exploit it..."

Euronymous used one of these photographs as the cover of a bootleg live album. In 1993, Euronymous was murdered by the bass player of the group. The details of how and why this happened is quite gruesome. The band continued its existence in form or other since then. 

I am not sure if I will ever listen to the songs of the group but I am so tempted to read the book. 

The trees (Sad)

I started noticing trees a few years ago. I have no idea how it started and why but it did. I love they way they snake up and go this way and that. The differences between the trees brought out their character in one manner or other. Thus it seemed to me that the trees could feel anger or sadness depending on the situation. Rush used this concept as a metaphor in their song "The trees".

In the song, the group talk about an unrest and misunderstanding between trees. It is one of their popular songs. The following is a rewrite of the lyrics from the point of view of trees missing the inhabitants who have moved out of the place.

The Tree (Sad)

There is unrest in the place

There is sadness with the trees

For the banyan wants activity

And the neem feels lonely

The trouble with the banyan

As it was always with children

They heard their shouts from dawn till dusk

As they run around gleefully

But the neem can't help its feelings

As they could not hear the talks

And they wonder why it stopped

Can't the children come back?

There is sadness in the place

And the children all have left

As the trees scream 'depressing!'

And they sadly, sway in the wind

So the trees formed a union

And demanded some company

'The place is just too quiet

We are used to company'

Now there's no more loneliness

For they passed a noble law

And replaced trees with buildings

By cutting,

Leveling,

And concrete

Dolores O'Riordan

While the whole world was on the field playing some game or the other, I was stuck in front of the television. I hated sports; I still do. So I spent the one and a half hours from 5 pm in front of the television. Those were the infant days of MTV in India. Rahul Khanna played the day's popular songs in a programme called MTV's Most Wanted (I think). The audience for this show in the TV room at Gymkhana consisted of I and only I At times, a curious head would pop in, watch the TV for a few moments, give me a curious look and walk off shaking his head. But I did not care; every evening I watched Soundgarden sing "Black Hole Sun", Snow sing "Informer", Ini Kamoze sing "Here comes the hot stepper" (I still can't get the annoying Naaa na na na naaa na na na naaaa... off my head) and other songs. Though I enjoyed watching the songs, most groups did not influence me much, not even Soundgarden. The only group that influenced me then was The Cranberries. Their song "The Zombie" was a regular feature and I loved everything about the song. The heavy metal guitars, the dark tone of the song and the video and the gold painted Dolores O'Riordan. Within a few months, I had two of their albums in my collection and the songs played regularly in my room. 

As time passed, my musical preferences changed and the air time The Cranberries received reduced. But every time I heard their songs, it was not just for nostalgia. I love their songs, especially Dolores' voice and singing style. 

Among all the deaths in recent times, the death of Dolores feels like a personal loss. I know nothing about her other than her songs but her death seems to tell me that my own end is near.

Alone you breathe by Savatage

Another song that came up on my playlist this morning is "Alone you breathe" by Savatage (I am come back to the beginning of my playlist and am travelling through the A song). I discovered Savatage through the album "Wake of Magellan", which in my opinion has some of the greatest songs ever. At the end of the album, I found a bonus song named "Alone you breathe" sung not by the singer of the group but by the keyboardist Criss Olivia. The lyrics and the tune of the songs caught my attention, especially these haunting lines

You're thrown it all away

And now we'll never see

The ending of the play

The grand design

The final line

And what was meant to be

The group Savatage was formed in the 80's by two brothers - one took the singing and song writing responsibility of the group and other took care of the guitars. A few years after forming the group, the guitarist died in a car crash. The singer brother was heartbroken and wrote this song in his brother's memory. It is a part of the album "Handful of Rain". It's not sung by the singer brother though. Savatage had a new singer for a few albums.

The words and music are so powerful that almost every time it brings tears into my eyes. A very beautiful song.

Alexander the great: The song and not the person

I was listening to "Alexander the great" this morning and was reminded about my introduction to this song.

We lovingly called him Myrugaru for two reasons. First, he was a hairy monster (when 100 boys are cramped into a small space called hostel, such details come to the fore quickly). Second, he was a myru. The guys rise to notoriety took place right in his first year. He stood in front of the bank on the first of a month and collected loan worth three or four thousand from seniors with scholarship. That evening he had a brand new Phillips stereo in his room. Coincidentally it cost him three or four thousand rupees. 

He introduced me to Alexander the great and Iron Maiden. I was blown away by the song the first time I heard it. The song structure, singing, lyrics and guitars were all spectacular. In the next few months, I collected all the available Iron Maiden material (but I could not lay my hands on the particular song itself till many years later). At that time, I asked him a naive question "Has this group played a concert in India?" He was offended and responded with derision in his voice "India! Are you nuts? They will spit on India". I was in awe of Iron Maiden and went on the collection spree, I mentioned earlier.

A few years later, Iron Maiden was one of the first mega-metal group to tour India.

Listening Station - a new blog on music

Let me branch of here and add a Listening Station

Anvil's made out of metal

My Facebook was filled with entries from the night.  Many from one of the community pages I like - 80's The Golden Ages Of Metal.  Usually it was filled with YouTube links to songs by groups like Poison and Warrant.  These were not my favorite groups and I usually browsed on.  For the past few days, the administrators of the group were throwing in songs by some of the lesser known groups of the 80s.  That morning, I ran into an entry on a song by "one of the lesser and most under-rated metal groups of the early 80s".  The group was called Anvil and the song "Metal on metal".  The thumbnail of the song showed the face of the lead singer singing into the microphone.  His expression had an interesting combination of mean and mischief.  It reminded me of Eddie Vedder's expression in the video of "Ten" - A bit of mischief with an overwhelming dose of meanness.  

I clicked on the link and the song came up.  Crunching guitar, pounding drums and a mean voice - the perfect combination of heavy metal cliché.  The song was loud and heavy with a lot of chunka-chunka guitaring.  The singer sounded like a cross between Scorpian's Klaus Maine and AC/DC's Brian Scott.  It sounded like a classic thrash metal song from the mid-80's.  But this song was from the early 80's before the big four of thrash came by but this group was hardly heard of.  So I opened the Wikipedia and searched the group.  Anvil is a group from Canada formed in the late 70's and sure enough they influenced the big thrash groups of the 80's - Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica.

Anvil with "Metal on metal"

The site also mentioned that there exists a  documentary film, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, about their career.  I have been a sucker for movies on music bands for some time now - Woodstock, Doors, The last waltz, Rush.  Fascinating movies that described the route a set of people took to reach the pinnacle of rock's Mt.Everest.  So I got this movie and watched it.  It turned out to be more than fascinating.  The movie starts off with the statements "In the summer of 1984", "Some of the biggest rock bands in the world toured Japan together", "Scorpians", "Whitesnake", "Bon Jovi", "All these bands went on to sell millions of records", "Except one", "Anvil" and then band comes on stage to sing "Metal on metal" .  The movie goes on to tell the struggles that the lead singer and drummer goes through to keep the group kicking.  Rockers in their 50's trying to make that one record that will take the world by storm while driving trucks for Children's Choice Catering.  

A very emotional movie on the sufferings that the group had to undergo touring Europe, making an album and trying to sell it Music executive.  There are a lot of arguments and tears in the movie.  All seemed genuine and did not seemed staged.  A brilliant movie that brings out the passion these two people have towards their group and music.  A passion that started almost four decades back and continues till date.  I am so glad I came across Anvil and will be their fan through my life.

Falling to pieces

For a long time, I thought I am the king of indecision. But then I came to the decision that it was not indecision but that in many cases I did not care to decide.  I came across the song "Falling to pieces" by Faith no more during my indecisive phase.  A line in that song had a profound effect on me (as in I said "Wow" every time I heard it and nothing more).  But as time went by, I realized the entire song was very well written.  Mike Patton is a talented lyricist and singer.  The song goes like this.


Back and forth, I sway with the wind
Resolution slips away again
Right through my fingers, back into my heart
Where it's out of reach and it's in the dark
Sometimes I think I'm blind
Or I may be just paralyzed
Because the plot thickens every day
And the pieces of my puzzle keep crumblin' away
But I know, there's a picture beneath
Indecision clouds my vision
No one listens....
Because I'm somewhere in between
My love and my agony
You see, I'm somewhere in between
My life is falling to pieces
Somebody put me together
Layin' face down on the ground
My fingers in my ears to block the sound
My eyes shut tight to avoid the sign
Anticipating the end, losing the will to fight
Droplets of "yes" and "no"
In an ocean of "maybe"
From the bottom, it looks like a steep incline
From the top, another downhill slope of mine
But I know, the equilibrium's there
Indecision clouds my vision
No one listens
Because I'm somewhere in between
My love and my agony
You see, I'm somewhere in between
My life is falling to pieces
Somebody put me together

The profound in the song is: Droplets of "yes" and "no" in an ocean of "maybe".  What better way to bring out the meaning of indecision.
 

Jon Lord

As the waves recede
Many leaves on my tree
Wither and fall away
Everything is more brown than green
Every thought is wet with memories

I listen to a lot of music and they span across many genre.  In general, I love loud music - that lies on the heavier side of rock.  Many a times I imagined being asked a question to pick my favorite song or music or group.  My imagined answer was usually a lengthy mess.  It seemed to depend on a lot of factors.  Am I happy or sad?  Was I on top of the world or was the world on top of me?  Was I angry or in peace?  Was I trying to complete a document that is overdue by more than a week?  Was I driving back to some place? Was it night or day?  What music did I listen to a little while earlier?  Depending on many such factors it varied from Kyuss to Fates Warning to Underworld to Dream Theater to Doors to Deep Purple to Metallica to Beatles to God knows what (as in a plain God-knows-what and should not be confused with the group by the same name (if it exists that is)).  But a few months back, I suddenly got an answer to that imagined and real question.  I loved Deep Purple's music the most.  I remember a time when I did not like one of their best songs.  But that did not stay with me for long.  Since that change I always loved to listen to their songs.

I love all the different Marks of Deep Purple, with an especial affection for Mark III.  I can listen to their music any day for any number of times.  Some songs like Child in time spook me out to hell every time I listen.  Their albums In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, Made in Japan, Perpendicular and Bananas contain some of the best songs ever.

And Deep Purple to me is Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord.  This morning I got to hear that Jon Lord was not with us anymore.  His organ sections of Deep Purple songs have always been tremendous.  His music will ensure that we will never miss him but keep listening to him all the time.  For a long time I was very disappointed that not too many people are listening to him or Deep Purple these days.  That is very sad as they made some really incredible music which time has not been able to erase.

Music and words

This morning, on my may to office, I was listening to songs by King's X.  It was their best of collection and the last number is a live version of their song "Over my head".  Sung by Doug Pinnick the song, like most songs by Doug, seems to come straight from his heart.  His voice and delivery always has a lot of feel to it.  The number I was listening to was a live rendition and so it had much more of the feel than the studio versions.  At around the central point of the song, Doug starts recounting from his experience in a rhythmic manner.  What he says touches my heart every time I listen to it.  It probably is one of the most affecting statement on parenthood that I have heard and here it is.

"And this is a song about my grandma; she raised me from a child. She was a very religious lady, she went to church every night, she read her bible all the time, yeah.
 
And, late at night, she'd be in her room, singing and dancing, and shouting, and carrying on like she used to do. Oh my grandma, I remember, yeah. 

And I'd be in my room, feeling so alone, wondering my mother left and my dead never came around. 

And my grandma, she never said, "I love you". She called herself a Christian and she never said, "I love you". She said, "Nobody wants ya, nobody needs ya, nobody loves ya". Oh, and I grew up so confused. Oh, yeah.
 
Now, I don't say this for you to feel sorry for me, but I want to say this, if you listen to me for a second: if you plan on having kids, if you have children or you plan on having kids, make sure that your kids know that you love them more than anything in the whole wide world. More than anything in the whole wide world. No matter who they are. No matter what they look like, what they do, what kind of rock 'n' roll they listen to, or if they wear tattoos. 

 Oh Lord, yeah. 'Cause if you don't...if you don't show your children love, when they grow up, they will grow up fucked up. And I know what I'm taking about, I had to work it out. Some of you know what I'm talking about."

I listen to a lot of music and most of it is hard and heavy.  So a lot of lyrics are not something to talk about or sing about.  Usually its about death, violence and such pleasant gruesomes.  So I don't really memorize them and many a times not even listen to what is being said.  To tell the truth, I was never a lyrics and poetry kind of person.  I really preferred music with the vocal chords being one of the instruments.  But from time to time a few lines come by and catch your attention.  Interesting set of words that mean much or nothing, are good or not but they are always good to hear.  To take the example of an evil one, there was Metallica singing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs (which sounds better when sung by the original group).  It goes like this.

"I was born in the cemetery
Under the sign of the moon
Raised from my grave by the dead
And I was made a mercenary
In the legions of Hell
Now I'm king of pain, I'm insane, yeah

You know my only pleasure is to hear you cry
I'd love to hear you cry
And I'd love to see you die
And I'll be the first to watch your funeral
And I'll be the last to leave
I'd love to hear you cry"

Not very tasteful but is very interesting to listen to.  There are a few more  interesting covers in that Metallica album.  One asked "Am I Evil? Yes I am".  Then there was another one called "So fucking what", which is easily the filthiest set of words I have ever heard (in a song that is).  I roll with laughter every time I hear it - silly, filthy and funny.

My earliest memory of lyrics is from that song by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. 

"Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in-between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me to another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah"

It seems quite cheesy but I still like the sound of it.  Pink Floyd also has the knack to put in good words into their songs.  The following two stand out in my head from the time I first heard them.


"The memories of a man in his old age 
Are the deeds of a man in his prime. 
You shuffle in the gloom of the sickroom 
And talk to yourself as you die.

Life is a short, warm moment 
And death is a long cold rest."

and

"the time has gone, 
the song is over, 
thought I had something more to say"

Despair, hopelessness and all other kinds of darkness reside in those lines.  The second set of lines come to my mind during many of my most despairing moments.  But then Annie Lenox has warned that

"Dying is easy its living that scares me to death"

But when someone is stuck between living and dying there is One song most appropriate - One by Metallica.  When I watched the video of that song the music, words and video all came together beautifully.  The song structured with its furious end brings out the frustration of helpless person who does not want to live but has no means of dying.  He has to wait...

"I Can't Remember Anything
Can't Tell If this Is True or Dream
Deep down Inside I Feel to Scream
this Terrible Silence Stops Me
Now That the War Is Through with Me
I'm Waking up I Can Not See
That There's Not Much Left of Me
Nothing Is Real but Pain Now

Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God,wake Me

Back in the Womb its Much Too Real
in Pumps Life That I must Feel
but Can't Look Forward to Reveal
Look to the Time When I'll Live
Fed Through the Tube That Sticks in Me
Just like a Wartime Novelty
Tied to Machines That Make Me Be
Cut this Life off from Me

Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God,wake Me

Now the World Is Gone I'm Just One
Oh God,help Me Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God Help Me

Darkness

Imprisoning Me
All That I See
Absolute Horror
I Cannot Live
I Cannot Die
Trapped in Myself
Body My Holding Cell

Landmine

Has Taken My Sight
Taken My Speech
Taken My Hearing
Taken My Arms
Taken My Legs
Taken My Soul
Left Me with Life in Hell"

While One was about a live mind in a numb body, Queensryche wrote about a numb mind in a live body (I hope that is not politically incorrect). "Out of Mind" is a very touching song which should have been heard by many more people.  It should have been an anthem for a number of specially abled institutions.  It is also one of the most melodic songs ever.  The sadness always reaches into me.

"Little girl sits in the corner, locked in a stare.
Arms waving madly at something that sadly isn't there.
Dressed in the day's best by a nurse who's nowhere to be
found.

What does she see?
Maybe she's looking at me...

Old man is strapped to the seat of his chair, wearing a
gown.
Shouting and cursing at someone who clearly isn't around.
Father Time has twisted his mind.
The staff says, "He's not well!"

To whom does he speak?
Maybe he's speaking to me...

So we keep these people inside these walls, from society.
Their forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leave.
You've left them there with me.

So we keep these people behind these walls, from society.
Their forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leave.
Through the doors come people like me, good-bye to them.
They see a picture few of us see. They can't leave.
You've left them there with me"

But then not everything is this serious and depressing.  There is Faith no more that described indecisiveness as "Droplets of yes and no in an ocean of maybe" in "Falling to pieces".  Pet Shop Boys sang about their love for Chihuahua.


"I want a dog,
A chihuahua
When I get back to my small flat
I want to hear somebody bark
Oh, you can get lonely

Don't want a cat,
Scratching its claws all over my
Habitat
Giving no love and getting fat
Oh, (oh oh) you can get lonely
And a cat's no help with that"

All these words and people have inspired me to scratch a few lines on my own.  Though I am not personally embarrassed by these, I really don't have the guts to show it to any one else.  Hope someday one day I am able say something nearly as interesting as the ones above.  Hope, hope, hope, ...

Deep Purple

I don’t quite remember when I first heard a Deep Purple song.  I must have heard “Smoke on the water” when I was young but I don’t remember.  Well, that does not surprise me.  There was a time when I detested Abba (so much that I actually rubbed out a cassette containing “Voulez vous” to record some pathetic Tamil songs from the Radio).  My first memory of a Deep Purple song is from a Phillips advertisement in the late 80’s.  It shows an old lady listening to “Highway Star” real loud on a Phillips music system. Her husband desperately crawls by to turn it down.  When he succeeds the lady asks in annoyance “But why did you turn it off, it was so nice” (in a beautiful British accent, if I remember right). He turns it on and is blown off.  That should definitely have been my first Deep Purple experience.  Fortunately for me I liked that one.

My next memory of Deep Purple is from my first year of hostel.  The E-block was a building inspired by the Cellular jail.  Privacy was not a factor in consideration when it was built.  So everything you talked in your room travelled across to all your neighbours and of course you heard everything that is happening around too.  To make things interesting and annoying there were guys who played their music real loud.  These were folks who had amplifiers and pot speakers.  They played their favourite song of the month/weeks continuously for one to two hours every day in the evening.  A member of this elite group had a fascination for a song which involved a lot of screaming and lot noises.  I hated this song.  Much later I realized that it was “Child in Time” by Deep Purple.  Since then, of course, my appreciation for this song has improved a million times.  I have no idea why (could it be thanks to Annu Malik’s using it as an “inspiration” in that Aamir Khan movie).

Since those days, I have got deeper and deeper into Purple’s music.  I love a lot of their songs, especially from Machine head and earlier albums.  These are probably the best rock songs ever.  The above said “Child in Time” is one terrific song.  At some point of time, I was able to get through the screaming and shouting to understand its beauty.  This is definitely one song that wet my eyes.  At the other end of the spectrum are “Highway star” and “Speed king”.  The latter is a very cool song with a wicked Ian Gillan laugh at the end and the beginning is also bloody cool.  It starts off with a lot of noise from Ritchie Blackmore before settling into a quiet Jon Lord organ.  Then all of a sudden Ian jumps in shouting the lyrics – total chaos.  As to other pieces, there is the early number “Hush” sung by Rod Evans.  For a long time, I did not realize that this was not Gillan (stupid me). 

Another great album is, of course, their live album “Made in Japan”.  It had some super long songs with lots of guitar playing and screaming.  The song “Strange kind of woman” had this deadly interplay between Ian and Ritchie.  And then there are those real long “Space Trucking” and “Lazy”.

I love many of Marks of the Deep Purple with Mark II being the favourite. It was during this time that they made the three rocking albums (In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head).  Mark I is a close second though.  A lot of good instrumentals and some of them had such cool names like “Wring that neck”.  Once Gillan left and David Coverdale came in, the songs got quite boring except probably for “Stormbringer”.  After that I lost track of the Marks till Steve Morse came in.  Since then things have started looking much better.

And so my Purple journey continues.  My biggest regret s that I have not seen any concert of theirs live and don’t think I ever will.  But I will always love their songs and will continue to buy and download their albums.  For me, thing don’t get much better than listening to “Speed king”, a song made nearly 40 years back.