Archive for 2005

Work For Peace
Gil Scott-Heron
Spirits, 1994

In my ongoing passive protest to the war and all things bush, I bring you “Work For Peace” which is from the Iraq war prequal. But not much has changed, not even the names…and G. S. H. is here to give us the sobering reminder that war is a lot of people’s job and they are not making minimum wage and us having a strong feeling about how things should go is not enough.

“They got folks out there workin’ for war…You gotta work for peace, peace ain’t comin’ this way.”

::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: :::

Back when Eisenhower was the President
Golf courses was where most of his time was spent
So I never really listened to what the President said
Because in general I believed that the General was politically dead
But he always seemed to know when the muscles were about to be flexed
Because I remember him saying something, mumbling something about a Military Industrial Complex

Americans no longer fight to keep their shores safe
Just to keep the jobs going in the arms making workplace
But then they pretend to be gripped by some sort of political reflex
But all they’re doing is paying dues to the Military Industrial Complex

The Military and the Monetary
The Military and the Monetary
The Military and the Monetary

The Military and the Monetary
Get together whenever they think its necessary
They turn our brothers and sisters into mercenaries
They are turning the planet…into a cemetery

The Military and the Monetary
Use the media as an intermediary
They are determined to keep the citizens secondary
They make so many decisions that are arbitrary

We’re marching behind a commander in chief
Who is standing under a spotlight shaking like a leaf
But the ship of state had landed on an economic reef
So we knew he was going to bring us messages of grief

The Military and the Monetary
Were shielded by January and went storming into February
Brought us pot bellied generals as luminaries
Two weeks ago I hadn’t heard of the son of a bitch
Now all of a sudden - he’s legendary

They took the honour from the honourary
They took the dignity from the dignitaries
They took the secrets from the secretary
But they left the bitch…in obituary

The Military and the Monetary
From thousands of miles away in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary
Had us all scrambling for our dictionaries
Cause we couldn’t understand the fuckin’ vocabulary

Yeah, there was some smart bombs
But there was some dumb ones as well
Scared the hell out of CNN in that Baghdad hotel

The Military and the Monetary
They get together whenever they think its necessary
War in the desert sometimes sure is scary
But they beamed out the war to all their subsidiaries
Tried to make So-Damn Insane a worthy adversary
Keeping the citizens secondary
Scaring old folks into coronaries

The Military and the Monetary
From thousands of miles in a Saudi Arabian sanctuary
Kept us all wondering if all of this was really truely necessary

We’ve got to work for peace
Peace ain’t coming this way

If we only work for peace-
If everyone believed in peace the way they say they do
We’d have peace
The only thing wrong with peace…
Is that you can’t make no money from it

The Military and the Monetary
They get together whenever they think its necessary
They’ve turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries
They are turning the planet, into a cemetery

Got to work for peace
Peace ain’t coming this way

We should not allow ourselves to be mislead by talk of entering a time of peace
Peace is not the absence of war
It is the absence of the rumors of war
And the threats of war
And the preparation for war

Peace is not the absence of war
It is the time when we will all bring ourselves closer to each other
Closer to building a structure that is unique within ourselves
Because we have finally come to peace within ourselves

The Military and the Monetary
The Military and the Monetary
The Military and the Monetary

Get together whenever they think its necessary
They have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries
They are turning parts of the planet, into a cemetery

The Military and the Monetary
The Military and the Monetary

We hounded the Ayatollah religiously
Bombed Libya and killed Quadafi’s son hideously
We turned our back on our allies the Panamanians
And saw Ollie North selling guns to the Iranians
Watched Gorbachev slaughtering Lithuanians
We better warn the Amish
They may bomb the Pennsylvanians

The Military and the Monetary
Get together whenever they think its necessary
They have turned our brothers and sisters into mercenaries
They are turning the planet, into a cemetery

(adlibs)

I don’t want to sound like no late night commercial but its a matter of fact that there are thousands of children all over the world in Asia and Africa and in South America who need our help.
When they start talking about 55 cents a day and 70 cents a day, I know a lot of folks feel as though thats not really any kind of contribution to make but we had to give up a dollar and a half just to get in the subway nowadays.
So this is a song about tomorrow and about how tomorrow can be better if we all, ‘Each one reach one, Each one try to teach one.’
Nobody can do everything but everybody can do something.
Everyone must play a part, everyone got to go to work…work for peace.
Spirit say work, work for peace.

If you believe the things you say, go to work
If you believe in peace, time to go to work
Cant be wavin’ your head no more, go to work…
Everything you ever really wanted…gotta go to work.

>> songs are available for two weeks [10.5 MB]

how not to request a song (installment #2):

her: can you play the “my hump” song?
me: i don’t have it
(5 minutes later:)
her: do you have the “gold digger” song?!
me: no
her: (earnest and confused) how come you don’t have songs? (and it sounded like the emphasis was on ’songs’ not on ‘don’t have’)
me: (blood starting to boil) how come i don’t have songs?(!)
(but before i brought the full sarcastic wrath, i realized that there was a more basic misunderstanding going on and i stumbled through the following…)
me: um…there are…different kinds of djs…i play music from other time periods…and…stuff that people don’t hear that much…uh, on purpose …a lot of other djs play stuff you know.
her: oh ok! (and she walked away immediately with a smile)
me: (braced for more and a little confused at how well it went)

Logo big enough? Now presenting…my first downloadable mix! I love this mix. I made it while ago but it still sounds great to me…maybe I haven’t gotten any better since then!

It’s 64MB - a high speed connection is recommended.

Please do hit me with some feedback in the comment section below.

PC = right-click on the logo / “save target as”
Mac = control-click on the logo / “download linked file”

I was originally planning on putting this out as a CD but I made another mix I like even better, so this became Vol. 1 and Juxtapose Vol. 2 (after the requisite technical ranglings, procrastination and self-doubt) will be available on CD soon!

i think i could do a “how not to request a song” every week…let’s find out.

w.g.w.c.c…: yo! yo! yo! can you play that other nice and smooth song?!
me: which other nice and smooth song?
w.g.w.c.c…: you know!…not the one you played but that other joint!!
me: which one did i play? (needless to say…i hadn’t played one).
w.g.w.c.c…: (incredulous) i can’t remember the name
me: i didn’t play a nice and smooth song
w.g.w.c.c…: (slightly cutting me off) YesYouDid
me: (backing up about 2 1/2″ with a “word, money?” look on my face) yeeeah….let me see what i can do for you… (needless to say…i didn’t play one).

w.g.w.c.c… = “white guy who clearly couldn’t pull off starting a conversation with ‘yo! yo! yo!’ with any kind of credibility”

Think Twice
Donald Byrd
Stepping Into Tomorrow, 1975

This song has been getting a lot of run recently between Erykah Badu covering it with Roy Hargrove on Worldwide Underground (I guess that wasn’t that recently), the disjointed “Think Twice (Mizell 2005 Remix)” on this year’s Mizell compilation, as well as the well-intentioned if slightly disorganized night-ending tribute cover of it at “Gilles Peterson presents ‘The BBC Sessions Live!’” at the Canal Room last month with Larry Mizell (the original producer) in attendance. The original reigns supreme over all of those versions so I thought I would put it back out there for anyone who hasn’t heard it.

I don’t pay much attention to lyrics but am I the only person who doesn’t understand what this song is about?

“Maybe we ought to think twice / before we start something nice / no need to sacrifice the spice in our lives…oh oh // Your love’s like fire and ice / that’s why we ought to think twice / before we start something nice, oh oh.”

Sacrificin’ the spice don’t sound nice. I can understand hesitance about some hot-n-cold love but in my mind, that kind of situation, with all the requisite second guessing and interpretation usually makes things more, rather than less, spicy. Not to mention that to tolerate the cold, the hot has to pretty hot.

Someone put me on if I’m missing something but the lyrics are definitely secondary in judging the greatness of this song. My favorite thing about it is that there are dueling melody lines going during a large portion of the song. Sax behind female vocals, trumpet in between male vocals, sax and trumpet, female vocals behind sax, male vocals behind trumpet, trumpet alongside female vocals (yes, in that order, i’m that much of a geek).

Don’t miss the big Tribe sample at 4:57.

>> songs are available for two weeks [8.5 MB]

Long Arithmatic
QPSM Unit
The Seriousness of Matter, 2001

I read something that made me smile on page 143 of the Fall 2005 Wax Poetics. While discussing some of his favorite records in an interview with Monk One, Quantic said, “I really like records you can hear the room in; it has an atmosphere.” I’ve had similar sentiments before but something about the way he said it really captured the essence of it for me. I’m sure someone could explain it away with some talk about microphone distances and stuff like that but for me, for now, “hearing the room” sums it up.

This is one of those records. I first heard this record from a distance in Gimme Gimme Records on 5th Street. I remember being immediately being drawn into the song…and to the back of the store for the requisite, “who is this?…who?? ok, where did you get it?” The tempo fluctuates wildly, and it’s as much ‘controlled chaos’ as it is ‘ensemble.’ Maybe I’m listening in the wrong places but I don’t hear many songs that have this kind of raw energy anymore.

This record also wins my “most uncategorizable record” award along with Godspeed You Black Emperor “Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada E.P.” They should just be on permanent display on my wall because I haven’t properly filed them yet…and it’s been like 2-3 years each.

>> songs are available for two weeks [7.4 MB]

I Can’t Write Left-Handed
Bill Withers
Live At Carnegie Hall, 1973

I mentioned this album before and election week seems like as appropriate a time as any to revisit it with this song. I wonder what would have happened this week if we could have voted on the person who most needs to be voted on…

B.W. does such a good job breaking this song down that I’ll let him do it:

(overdubbed in the studio:)
We recorded this song on October the 6th, since then the war has been declared over. If you’re like me you’ll remember it like anybody remembers any war - one big drag.

(live dialogue from the concert:)
Lotta people write songs about wars, government…very social things. But I think about young guys who are like I was when I was young. I had no more idea about any government or political things or anything. And I think about those kinda young guys now who, all of the sudden somebody comes up, and they’re very law abiding, so if somebody says go, they don’t ask any questions, they just go. And I can remember not too long ago seeing a young guy…with his right arm gone. Just got back, and I asked him how he was doing, he said he was doing alright now but he had thought he was going to die. He said, getting shot at didn’t bother him, it was getting shot that shook him up. And I tried to put myself in his position…maybe he cried, maybe he said…

(1st Verse:)
I can’t write left-handed.
Would you please write a letter - write a letter to my mother?
Tell her to tell - tell her to tell the family lawyer.
Try to get a deferment for my younger brother.
Tell the Rev. Harris to pray for me. Lord, lord, lord.
I ain’t gonna live - I don’t believe I’m gonna live to get much older.
Strange little man over here in Vietnam I ain’t never seen, bless his heart, I ain’t never done nothing to, he done shot me in my shoulder.

(2nd Verse:)
Boot camp we had classes.
You know we talked about fighting - fighting everyday.
And looking through rosy colored glasses, I must admit it seemed exciting, in a way.
Oh, but something that they overlooked to tell me, bullets look better, I must say - brother - rather than when they’re coming at you but going out the other way.
And please call up the Rev. Harris. Tell him to ask the Lord to do some good things for me.
Tell him I ain’t gonna live - I ain’t gonna live to get much older.
Whoa, Lord. Strange little man over here in Vietnam I ain’t never seen - bless his heart - I ain’t never done nothing to, he done shot me in my shoulder.

>> songs are available for two weeks [9.3 MB]

Feels Just Like It Should (Sa-Ra Remix)
Jamiroquai
12″ Single, 2005

The first line of the manifesto on the The Sa-Ra Creative Partners website says that they “formed to fill a void…in modern music.” That statement fits perfectly with the bloated self-importance that they seem to bring to each piece of music that I’ve heard from them so far. Up until this one. I have to give it up to them - they did their thing on this remix. They stuck with the trademark fuzzy synths and the dramatic shift partway through but instead of coming up with a clunky, disjointed “we’re crazy original son, what?!?” type of result, the components actually work together to make the sum bigger than the parts this time.

If you’re a DJ and you’re going to play this song out, make sure to download the instrumental too, so that you can elongate the groove a bit, the I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-So-Butter section is only about 2 1/2 minutes.

>> songs are available for two weeks [4.9 MB]
>> songs are available for two weeks [4.9 MB]

It’s A Shame
The Spinners
7″ Single, 1970

It all comes back to the Wonderlove. Stevie crops up so many (good) places. Click on the 45 label for a larger view and check the songwriting credit. As previously touched on (while discussing this other hot song that he co-wrote from that period), 1968-71 was a transitional period for Stevie as he went from being a teenage star to becoming a 20-something one-man show - establishing full creative control with Motown, took over his publishing rights and his production, and playing most of the instruments on most of his songs.

Although this song isn’t that much like his material that would come out a short time later, I like to imagine him sitting around, writing these instantly memorable melodies, instrumental lines and horn harmonies, gaining confidence and psyching himself up to take the giant leap forward that was soon to come.

The behind-the-scenes element to this song, that also fun to imagine is that he and Syreeta Wright, his fellow Motown artist and co-writer on this song, got married about 6 months after it was recorded. Was (Lee) Garrett feeling left out of the love-fest…or pre-marital squabbles?

I just found a whole page dedicated to Stevie Wonder songs for other artists but it looks like a long read, so I’ll publish this post first and read second.

>> songs are available for two weeks [4.2 MB]

I Got The
Labi Siffre
Remember My Song, 1975

The Loop Professor is sadly leaving us for 6 months (to work and chill on a ski resort in Switerland, no less). Luckily for me, and by extension - you, or at least anyone looking to my site for a good tune now and again, he left me 7 boxes of records for me to remember him by…ok, so I have to give them back when he gets back but obviously copious amounts of vinyl will be recorded between now and then!

Installment #1: This is track provides the backdrop for “Streets is Watching” by Jay-Z and “My Name Is” by Eminem. As this bio points out, Labi is openly gay, which makes it more than a little funny that his music fueled Eminem’s breakthrough. I know Em hugged Elton and all but still…

Every time I play this song (I have the mad bootleg copy - turns out there’s actually 4 more bars at the beginning and 16 at the end), people think it’s two separate songs. It does switch up pretty dramatically. Look out for the effect on his voice when he finally comes back in on the second half. It’s kind of chilling.

>> songs are available for two weeks [9 MB]