Larry’s Pretty Good Journal

TIL that The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” and UB40’s “Red Red Wine” have something in common: they were both written by Neil Diamond.

(IAB was day-job work as a Brill Building songwriter, while RRW was written for himself. And no, his version of RRW wasn’t remotely reggae—but it was covered by a Jamaican rocksteady singer, and it was that version that UB40 gave a pop-reggae cover, unaware that the credited N. Diamond wasn’t a local.)

---L.

Subject quote from HOT TO GO!, Chappell Roan.

According to billboards around town, there was a yacht rock music festival last weekend. Which, sure, chase that Boomer money, it’s probably lucrative. The head-scratcher is that the headline act was Barenaked Ladies.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but those guys don’t match any reasonable definition of yacht rock that I know of. I only have their first five albums, but I haven’t heard anything since that has changed up their sound.

I’m comfuzzled.

---L.

Subject quote from The Boxer, Simon & Garfunkel.

Chappell Roan has been getting some quality covers lately:

Rick Astley covers Pink Pony Club on solo guitar. NOT A RICKROLL.

Weird Al covers Hot to Go! with someone else’s band. NOT A PARODY.

Amandumb covers Good Luck, Babe! in Japanese* as citypop. NOT MERELY AWESOME.


* The title becomes Ganbatte!, which as sarcasm is as perfect as the original.

---L.

Subject quote from Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads.

Links to a couple videos of possible interest:

Scott Bradlee of Postmodern Jukebox improvises a ragtime accompaniment to My Chemical Romance’s “Helena.” Or as one comment put it, My Chemical Ragtime. (via YT sidebar)

The Reverend Al Green (who is indeed an ordained minister) makes a soul cover of R.E.M.’s Everybody Hurts. (via lost)

How to Win Connect 4. (via)

---L.

Subject quote from We Are Young, fun. feat. Janelle Monáe.

Various musical links:

Pink Pony Inn by Hildegard von Blingin’, a bardcore remake (demake?) of Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club. “Black light and a mirror disco ball” becomes “Firelight and a boar's head on the wall.” (via)

Yes, they’re promos for a music learning app, but I’ve enjoyed several from this series: Musora challenges artists with a song they’d never heard before and have them cover it on the spot. (Sister apps Drumeo and Pianote also do these, focused on their specific instruments.) In this one, folk-pop duo Fionn were given System of a Down’s “Toxicity” (the series producers like genre contrasts). To handle it they went hard on their Celtic roots. (via my YT sidebar)

Speaking of which, YTCH: YouTube as tv CHannels. Click the book icon for a channel guide. (via)

Okay, fine, that last is more music-adjacent than musical. But I've been using it for the music channels.

---L.

Subject quote from Piano Man, Billy Joel.

Following up on the first part of this post, all two parts/three versions of Vienna Teng’s “We’ve Got You” are available. That Bandcamp link includes parts i and ii and their mashup, called part ∞, plus the two video-edit versions (missing the coda, which is especially amazing in mashup), the two videos, and lyrics for all.

The difference between “Spark” and “Comfort” is basically “we’ll be okay, we’ve got you” and “you’ll be okay, we’ve got you.”

---L.

Subject quote from the description of “We’ve Got You”, Vienna Teng.

Two of the kids in Eaglet’s lion dance troupe are Chinese-Mexican in heritage, raised as Chinese-American but still keeping in touch with their fusion culture—which still flourishes in Mexico. As an example, they also do folklórico dancing. This weekend is the older one’s quinceañera, and the troupe has been hired as performers—presumably one of many.

This should be interesting. And, at a guess, loud.

---L.

Subject quote from And We Danced, The Hooters.

A quick link here, a small link there / and soon you have some links to share:

How large bells are cast. (via)

STEPPER: a free 16-step sequencer for the Game Boy Advance, turning your handheld (or emulator) into a portable drum machine. (Note btw that Korg released a full synthesizer app for the Nintendo DS back in 2008.)

I was looking up something else and came across this chili recipe of old. It’s become Eaglet’s favorite thing for me to cook, so linking it again. Fair warning, Eaglet does not approve of using either ground turkey or black beans: “Don’t mess with success, Dad!” (I should probably also note that when I make it, I use about half a bottle of cumin.)

---L.

Subject quote from Elegy, Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Short shameful confession: TIL that “Baba O’Riley” is the real title of “Teenage Wasteland” and not a separate song I’d never bothered to look up.

---L.

Subject quote from Echoes, Pink Floyd.

It’s been a good week for links to share:

Attention sovay and others interested in Sumerian customer complaints: an excellent t-shirt. (via, which is itself an excellent sub)

Kasey Chambers’ spare and shattering country(?) cover of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”. (via YT recs)

Answering the important question “Can I lick it?” for the periodic table of elements. (via)

---L.

Subject quote from The Quiet Singer, Charles Hanson Towne.