After reading yesterday’s post, Amy didn’t see the connection between Blue’s Traveler’s Hook and the classical song I had in mind so I did some googling and found this Youtube gem:

Yesterday, I wrote about rediscovering old music and for some reason, one of them- Blues Traveler’s Hook stayed in my head all day. Around 2 am, I woke up dying of thirst (common here at this altitude) and still had the damn melody in my head. I knew that I knew the melody from somewhere else besides this song but I just couldn’t place it. Slowly dissecting it in my head, I had a hunch and Googled it. I was right!

Take a listen and tell me what classical music this song is based on. You can try Googling, but you won’t find it unless you have the composer in the query as well. And that’s cheating anyway. Don’t let John Popper’s vocals distract you, just listen to the rhythm guitar and you’ll recognize the “hook.”

I was so excited because I suck at playing or recognizing specific notes and can’t believe it took me almost 13 years (the song was released in September 1994) to figure this out. My subconscious mind was hard at work and all those years of being a classical music geek finally paid off.

Last night I watched NBC’s Saturday Night Live in the 90’s special and though I loved seeing the best of Carvey, Spade, Farley, Sandler and of course Farrell, I enjoyed the brief snippets of live performances over the years.  All the popular bands were featured, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Dave Matthews Band and more but I heard two songs that I’d forgotten about how good they were.

First was Macy Gray’s I Try, a song that reminds me of someone back in Columbus whenever I hear it, no matter when, where or whatever mood I’m in.  And damn, those lyrics are good but the delivery was even better.  She introduced me to the song LONG before it ever hit the radio and I was kinda bummed when it finally became so popular.

I play it off but I’m dreamin’ of you
I’ll keep it cool but I’m fiendin’

I try to say good bye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it’s clear:
My world crumbles when you are not near

Second was Blues Traveler’s Hook, a self referential ditty that is so clever that I get goose bumps every time I hear it.  I’m a big lyrics person and these are, ironically, some of the best I’ve ever heard.

It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I’ll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don’t matter who you are
If I’m doing my job then it’s your resolve that breaks

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

 The song is obviously a rant about the shallow lyrics a lot of musicians use and the lemmings that follow them over the cliff and buy their albums year after year.  John Popper was a genius.

Sure the above songs aren’t cool anymore to have blasting out your car radio but they’re timeless and I think it’s even more fun to rediscover something old than something new.  You gain a new respect for the memories you had and can look back with a new perspective with the experiences you’ve had in the years since. 

In other music news, you can check out what I’m listening to at my Last.fm page- every song I listen to is automatically logged (7,559 songs logged since 8/12/2006).

The new Snow Patrol song from the Spiderman 3 Soundtrack. It took me a few listens to really appreciate it and things that are going on right now with me make it really accessible, if that makes any sense.

(press play)

Sleeping Lessons by The Shins off their new album Wincing The Night Away

A very appropriate song for me right now and something I think you’ll enjoy as well. Plus, I needed an excuse to showoff the new embedded Flash mp3 player ;)

Click to continue »