Paint it Black

Alright! Well next Monday in my elective, we will be listening to Stones! This is an amazing song, full of intricate symbolism and beautifully woven instrumental parts. Paint it black was released on The Rolling Stones' fourth album, in 1966, Aftermath, under the title of "Paint it, Black". The song originally had no comma, but Decca, the record label, added one, I prefer it without one. This song peaked at number one in both the UK, and the US on the Billboards top 100, and was the first top track to feature sitar, which in my opinion, really makes the song. Mick Jagger quoted saying that Paint it Black was about a funeral, but there are many people who think it's about internal struggles between the good and bad sides, some believe it's about going through puberty, and some declare it's about the war in Vietnam. When I first heard the song, however, I was pretty young, so I envisioned Jagger going around with a paintbrush making everything back, I had a fairly innocent childhood. Hope you enjoy the song!

Since I Don't Have You

Well, I was listening to Guns N' Roses, and this song came on, it's on of my favourites. However, this is the original, written by The Skyliners and released in their 1958 album under the name of their band. Jimmy Beaumont is now seventy-one years old, as of Saturday, and still plays with the band, even though he is the last remaining original member. This song is considered to be one of the greatest "heartbreak ballads" and is a wonderful example of before Beatles rock and roll, as they changed everything. The Guns N' Roses version  was released on their fifth album, The Spaghetti Incident? in 1994 and is the last album to feature Slash or Duff McKagan, two original members, as well as drummer Matt Sorum and guitarist Gilby Clark, and has the most recent music video of theirs to date. The subject of the song is simple, it's about a man who's gal has left him, and she was his everything. 

Rock of Ages

Alright! Well I teach a basketball and rock & roll class, and on Monday, we're listening to Def Leppard, and this is my favourite Def Leppard song, so I'm going to blog about it. First, off, the intro is not what people think, it's not a German phrase or anything. The producer, Mutt Lange, was a huge perfectionist, so they did dozens of takes of every song, and he grew tired of the classic rock count in(1,2,3,4), so he began to just spout gibberish, this was a take of said gibberish, which is NOT s phrase in German, it's just some German-esk pronunciation. This song was released as on Def Leppard's third album, Pyromania in 1983, which sold over ten million copies, certifying it as diamond. The name of the song came of a book of Christian hymns, which Joe Elliot observed, and proceeded to write a song about it. In my opinion, this song is about the long lasting rock and roll spirit, and how rock and roll will never die!

Waterloo Sunset

Waterloo Sunset, take a listen, it's so simple, velvety, and easy on the ears. As a young child, I always thought it was "Waterless Sunset", later on I realized that it was of course, Waterloo Sunset, named after Waterloo, England. Waterloo Sunset was released as a single in 1967, and has been very popular all around Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In composition, the song is pretty standard for a rock band from the sixties, guitar, bass, drums, vocals, maybe some keyboard/piano, but this song has a complex arrangement, which clearly means nothing to them because they completed the recording of this song in less than ten hours. They create a scene, and describe it with their music so perfectly that it seems as if you're actually there, a sunset in Waterloo. To the contrary of many, this song is not about Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, actors from Far From The Madding Crowd(1976), it's about observing Ray Davie's(vocalist/guitarist) sister and her boyfriend going off into another place, feeling lonely, and enjoying the simple things, a Waterloo Sunset...

The Prettiest Star

The first time I had the pleasure of listening to this song, it entranced me. I was listening to Aladdin Sane with my father, a Bowie fan, and this song came on. The intro was so exquisite, and was adequate for the production of erect hair upon the rear of my neck. The Prettiest Star was released as a single in 1970, but it only sold 800 copies, so it was re-recorded and released on Aladdin Sane in 1973. When it was first recorded, Bowie hired Marc Bolan to do the guitar work for the single, but in the re-recording, Mick Ronson duplicated the guitar almost perfectly, this is the re-recording that was released on Aladdin Sane. Now I have had two thoughts on the meaning of this song, he wrote and played this song to Angela Barnett over the phone, and then proposed to her, but to me, this sounds like past tense, I think he's talking about someone in his past, but hey, that's one opinion. Tell me your thoughts, I'd love to hear them.