Rob's solo-casting it up this week with one of his personal favorite's, ELOs "Mr. Blue Sky". Listen in horror as he attempts to describe fancy orchestral words! Stare in sympathy as he consults his thesaurus to come up with new words for "awesome"! Flee from the overwhelming gushing of good vibes and joyousness! Feel happy emotions deep inside your soul as you realize that you've already started humming the chorus. Don't hide away for so long, listener: embrace the sun before Mr. Night comes to ruin the party.
With the sun high in the sky and something of a drought on here in Massachusetts, I'm reminded of one of my favorite songs to blare out my car window on these beautiful summer days: ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky"! Honestly, this is one of the songs that I did this show to talk about. Hope you'll enjoy listening to me do just that.
This week we sip lemon gin with writer/comedian/nice person, Hunter Gardner. to celebrate the season with a discussion of "Almost Summer" by Jason Collett. We wonder why summer sounds so sad in this song, opine on the indignities of youthful intoxication, and embarrass each other with bad date stories. Our pants remain securely around our ankles.
Well, despite the fact that it's actually summer, let's just pretend that it isn't 80+ degrees out and all of our lawns are still alive with the bounty of spring rains. How about Hunter Gardner and I discuss Jason Collett's "Almost Summer" to get you in the right frame of mind.
Because they did me the favor of visiting me, I forced a good 40% of my extended family into the ol' podcast studio to discuss our favorite songs about America and the summertime, but mostly the summertime.
Hang ten and put your wayfarers on for a deep conversation on topics like what's the opposite of America, when's the best time to barbeque, is Dave Matthews music a substitute for Ambien, and just how awesome is a bottle of Zima? And in a They're Playing Our Song first: country music! Then a somber tangent about regret, past joys, and growing up as summer vacation hits the halfway point.
Please very much nostal-joy!
If you want to join us in thinking fondly about the songs we discussed, here's the final list:
During our annual family 4th of July get together, I managed to wrangle about 50% of my relatives into my makeshift studio behind the grill to talk about favorite summer songs. From hip-hop to country, we discuss an eclectic mix of tunes that get us in the mood to relax at the beach and enjoy the heat. No links or lyrics this week due to the sheer number of songs we discussed. Just join us on Wednesday to hear our choices. And feel free to share your summer songs in the comments or on Twitter or the (poorly updated) Facebook page.
And thus, our Summer Theme is quietly swallowed by a wave (or as I usually sing it very loudly, "swallowed by a whale" which is a different Decemberists' song).
As we mentioned on the episode, this song provides a strong visual for me. When I hear "Summersong", this is the image that pops into my head:
After waiting for two weeks for the thrilling conclusion of our Summer Song theme, without further ado, Episode 5, a.k.a., Talking About Summersong by The Decemberists.
One of the hoped benefits of doing this show was putting more emphasis on listening to songs I wouldn't otherwise have given that focus. I have yet to feel that time wasn't worth it. Hope you enjoyed our first theme episode and feel the heat from the Summer Songs show.
Did you know that Gotye is Belgian-Australian and not a goat-man/yogurt hybrid like I'd originally surmised. These epilogue posts really are helpful.
If you'd like to learn more about this song, check out a whole bevy of song facts from an eponymous website or just good ol' Wikipedia. You can also learn more about the album as a whole with this capsule review from Rolling Stone or the slightly longer reviews from AllMusic and Pitchfork.
Did you also know this song was featured on the TV show "Glee"? Of course not. No one watched that show after its first season.
And, just for funzies, I've linked some audio bloopers from this week's episode. Please, feel free to laugh along with us for a moment.
The theme: Summer songs. The guest: Carolyn Beaumier with what I think is better audio than last week. The song: "Somebody That I Used To Know"
We actually recorded about two of our favorite summer songs; we had so much audio on the subject that I'll be breaking it into two separate parts so each song gets full attention from the audience.
What a doozy we recorded this week. Carolyn Beaumier returns (with what I hope is better audio to do her melodious voice justice) to discuss our favorite summer songs. We waxed philosophically about our picks for so long that, I've had to cut it down into two whole episodes so as to give each of our songs its due.
Our first song is "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye (feat. Kimbra). I wasn't super familiar with this song but really fell in love with it. Perhaps you will too!
We've also got a link to the kind of weird music video.
And, of course, the lyrics. So, listen, watch, read up, and be back on Wednesday for the first of our two-parter about summer songs!
"Somebody That I Used To Know"
[Gotye:] Now and then I think of when we were together Like when you said you felt so happy you could die Told myself that you were right for me But felt so lonely in your company But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness Like resignation to the end, always the end So when we found that we could not make sense Well you said that we would still be friends But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over
But you didn't have to cut me off Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing And I don't even need your love But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough No you didn't have to stoop so low Have your friends collect your records and then change your number I guess that I don't need that though Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know Now you're just somebody that I used to know
[Kimbra:] Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over But had me believing it was always something that I'd done But I don't wanna live that way Reading into every word you say You said that you could let it go And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
[Gotye:] But you didn't have to cut me off Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing And I don't even need your love But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough No you didn't have to stoop so low Have your friends collect your records and then change your number I guess that I don't need that though Now you're just somebody that I used to know
[x2] Somebody (I used to know) Somebody (Now you're just somebody that I used to know)
(I used to know) (That I used to know) (I used to know) Somebody
