As my legions of devoted readers will have noticed by now, I've abandoned my project of writing a tribute to each of my favorite rock bands. I may produce a few more, but I think doing a top 10 is sufficient. It was getting a little limiting, frankly. I'm afraid you'll have to sort out the rest for yourselves.
Be of good cheer, however! I come bearing Jon Brion's "Ruin My Day," a song that will bring light to your spiritual darkness, and the consolation of philosophy to your times of trouble and doubt.
Jon Brion is a musician's musician; the sort who can pick up an instrument he's never seen before and be competent in two minutes, expert in an hour. Literally. I don't know if he's still doing it, but he used to perform weekly at a club in L.A., taking requests from the audience. He'd assemble the whole thing right before your eyes - sit at a drum kit and play a few measures, then pick up a bass and pluck the right notes, then grab a guitar and strum out a few chords. Once this was done, he'd fiddle with the sequencer (or whatever the hell they call those things) he'd been feeding it all into, sit at a piano, press PLAY, and presto! One-man band. Sings like a bloody bird, too.
The only gift he appears to have been denied was lyrical. He can remember others' perfectly, but he's no great hand at crafting his own, and wisely brings in outside help where necessary. In this song, I think he's found wonderful stuff (by Jeff McGregor), but I really wish he hadn't kept rhyming "used to" with "used to" - I'd have been working in "reduced to," "introduced you," etc... But I quibble.
Enjoy.
My Trusted MOGs
Great song. Thanks for posting that. Made me smile.
My Trusted MOGs
You're very welcome, Jilly! So glad you liked it!
My Trusted MOGs
Why not with "mused to" or even "cruised to?" A lovely - Jon Brion is also a brilliant producer and composer, no doubt.
My Trusted MOGs
Or "fused to" or "news crew" or countless other possibilities, Bartleby? It's maddening the way that the greater a work of art is, the more any tiny flaw it contains is magnified...
My Trusted MOGs
I do love that song, too, but I assume that that 'used to' is intentionally repetitive. Dontcha think the real rhyming occurs with day.. say...way etc? Also I am not sure who wrote what, with that song (I mean, lyrics or melody. I always assumed it was a Jon melody, amd that Jeff wrote the bridge, but I am not 100% sure).
Jon is still playing regularly at Largo-- just not weekly-- and you can read all about it on the forum at http://www.fairfax-avenue.com/forum/ Please join us!
Cheers!
My Trusted MOGs
You may well be right about Jeff McGregor's contributions to the song, Chelsea. Now that I ponder it, in fact, I'm not quite sure where I got the idea that Jon Brion lacked a flair for lyrics, especially having just pulled down the CD and noticed that he evidently wrote the (quite exquisite) lyrics to "The Same Mistakes" unaided. I may have done him an injustice.
No doubt "used to" rhyming with itself was intentional, yes - there's a permutation of it in each chorus - but (and again; this is nitpicking) it's still a mistake, however forgivable, and the A's in an ABAB rhyme scheme are less important than, but every bit as "real" as, the B's.
Great website, by the way; I'll soon be flooding it with misinformation and pretentiousness!
My Trusted MOGs
Zarpex...great song, good write up, and very funny back-n-forth with Michael...
how about "morning dew" or "soft-serve poo-poo" or "koo-koo ka-jew" or "psychadelic stool" or "dark blue" or "Mr. Robinson in the library with a shoe" which would fit in the song nicely about "you still ruin my day"
or "mountain dew" or "the airplane flew".....sorry, I'm outta control, I'll go now
My Trusted MOGs
After your amazing description, I can't wait to check this out at home so I can use the audio!!! :)
My Trusted MOGs
Tyler, you're a man with an engaging and cheerful personality, eccentric and intriguing opinions, a charming and self-effacing natural curiosity, and, bless your heart, absolutely no intuitive sense of meter or rhyme. I'm sure I'm not alone in finding that utterly disarming. Thank you for your kind words, and I'm very glad you liked the song!
Helen, I hope and trust you'll like the song - I must say that of all the moggers I've encountered so far (and I have yet to meet any I haven't respected), you seem to me to have the most unpretentious and perceptive musical sensibilities. There are no right or wrong tastes, but there are good and bad, and yours are superb.