“I’ll stay at your house all night. We’ll listen to Michael Stipe. Sing words we can’t understand.” -The Central Standards
Ok, so last night I did not stay at my house all night listening to Michael Stipe. But as some of my friends who’ve known me for a long time could attest to, I might have done so on occasion in the past wearing out my copy of R.E.M Green - my personal fave.
Instead I ventured out to hear my friends from The Central Standards play an incredible set at Otherlands. If you haven’t heard about them you should definitely give'm a spin. Or you can download a sampling on itunes.
I sometimes have a hard time describing their music styling to folks (perhaps because I like’m so much). Or maybe it stems from the fact that I’m trying to pinpoint what’s behind their assorted mix of songs. And let’s face it - I’m probably too busy singing along enough to focus on answering a question like that anyway.
What I can tell you is that anyone who samples The Central Standards becomes hooked!
Does that make me some kind of musical junkie? If so, then I guess it will wear the badge of honor proudly…
But now I’ve digressed and it’s to focus back to the music. Here are my thoughts on some of songs that made the set last night:
- Rosemary - a solid song with great lyrics that always draws me in. In fact the title of this entry and the quote at the top of this blog is a reference to this Jeff Capps’ song.
- Pretty Persuasion - an R.E.M cover and a song that randomly shuffled through my ipod yesterday. Coincidence? I think not…
- Great Big Cosmic - a new catchy song that is becoming a fast favorite of mine. I think I heard first at the crawfish festival. Unfortunately I was unable to fully appreciate it because I was freezing. Bonus Comment: a friend of mine started to misinterpret the lyrics, which only endears the song to me more (because it will forever cement the funny moment of the time and place).
- Teenage Heart – two words: Panther 3000!
- Perpetual Afternoon – strangely I’m always drawn to the story inside the song every time I hear it.
- Secrets to Sing – is a simple reminder of a fun folks who are road tripping.
- Changed - Ted Horrell’s lyrics speak so much to life. It resonates the feelings about a great dichotomy of who we are, who we will be or how people perceive us…
2 comments:
I'm a bit partial to TCS, as well as REM. The Stipe lyrics referred to in "Rosemary" are from "Murmur." It was my roommate's and I ended up trading her a couple Cypress Hill CDs so I could keep it. I think I made out better than she did in the transaction. But maybe she's still enjoying "Hole in the Head," "Stoned is the Way of the Walk" and the other delightful tunes.
I don't know that I ever heard anything about that trade! Hmmm. Rachel--thanks for this great post. It's always nice to hear what the tunes mean to people and to have friends/fans who take music so seriously. Rock on!
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