Those Awkward High School Years

A look at the greats before they were great. Try to guess who they are (answers below):

















From top: Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Steve Holt (!)

Five Best...Marlon Brando Songs

#5. "Close but No Cigar" by Weird Al Yankovic

And I loved her even more
Than Marlon Brando loved souffle
She was gorgeous, she was charming
Yeah, she was perfect in every way

#4. "Marlon Brando's Laundromat" by Pony Up!

Tonight, all my clothes are dirty
Tonight.
Tonight, Marlon help me wash my clothes
Tonight.
Tonight, I'm staying home and I'll sleep tight.

#3. "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City" by Bruce Springsteen

I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova
I could walk like Brando right into the sun, then dance just like a Casanova

#2. "Pocahontas" by Neil Young

And maybe Marlon Brando
Will be there by the fire
We'll sit and talk of Hollywood
And the good things there for hire
And the Astrodome and the first tepee
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me

#1. "China Girl" by David Bowie

I feel tragic like I'm Marlon Brando
When I look at my China Girl
I could pretend that nothing really meant too much
When I look at my China Girl

Five Best...Songs from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle

#5. “Incident on 57th Street”

Oh good night, it's alright Jane
Now let them black boys in to light the soul flame
We may find it out on the street tonight baby
Or we may walk until the daylight maybe

#4. “E Street Shuffle”

Sparks fly on E Street when the boy prophets walk it handsome and hot
All the little girls' souls grow weak when the man-child gives them a double shot
Them schoolboy pops pull out all the stops on a Friday night
The teenage tramps in skintight pants do the E Street dance and everything's all right

#3. “Kitty’s Back”

Now Cat knows his Kitty's been untrue
And that she left him for a city dude
But she's so soft, she's so blue
When he looks into her eyes
He just sits back and sighs
Ooh, what can I do, ooh, what can I do?

#2. “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”

My tires were slashed and I almost crashed but the Lord had mercy
My machine she's a dud out stuck in the mud somewhere in the swamps of Jersey
Hold on tight stay up all night `cause Rosie I'm comin' on strong
By the time we meet the morning light I will hold you in my arms

#1. “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)”

Oh Sandy the aurora is risin' behind us
The pier lights our carnival life on the water
Runnin' down the beach at night with my boss's daughter
Well he ain't my boss no more Sandy

Five Best..."16" Songs

#5. "Too Drunk To Fuck" by Dead Kennedy's

Went to a party
I danced all night
I drank 16 beers
And I started up a fight

#4. "Jockey Full of Bourbon" by Tom Waits

Sixteen men on a deadman's chest
And I've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon, I can't stand up

#3. "The E Street Shuffle" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Now those E Street brats in twilight dual flashlight phantoms in full star
Stream down fire trails of silver nights with blonde girls pledged sweet sixteen

#2. "Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six" by Tom Waits

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

#1. "Sixteen Tons" by Johnny Cash

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Five Best...Songs from Born to Run

#5. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"

#4. "Backstreets"

#3. "Born to Run"

#2. "Jungleland"

#1. "Thunder Road"

Oh Beautiful for Berry and Bruce

After doing a search for "Patriotic Songs" on Wikipedia, I was ultimately not surprised to see that nearly every song talks about the America I don't recgonize. These include "You're a Grand Old Flag," "God Bless the USA," "Ballad of the Green Berets" and "America the Beautiful." Which American vision do you most associate with?:

Oh beautiful, for pilgrims' feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

...or...

Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner café
Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day
Yeah, and a juke-box jumping with records like in the U.S.A.

The bottom lyrics are that of Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA," the only truly American song on Wikipedia's "Patriotic" list. Sorry, Woody Guthrie...Berry's song is so good because, unlike talking about a "freedom beat" and, well, "God," he's singing about things that are quite attainable and make up an American's regular day. I mean, what shows America more than sizzling hamburgers and drive-in movie theaters?

Here's another lyrical difference:

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

...or...

...Roll down the window
And let the wind blow
Back your hair
Well, the nights busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heavens waiting on down the tracks

One of the most American of images is the car and Springsteen's "Thunder Road" completely understands this. There's nothing quite like gunning down some country back road with your girl in the passenger seat, wind blowing and Hank Williams on the radio. As for the "land of pilgrim's pride," not so much.

As today is specifically Independence Day, here's my favorite 4th of July lyric:

We carried you in our arms
On Independence Day,
And now you'd throw us all aside
And put us on our way.
Oh what dear daughter 'neath the sun
Would treat a father so,
To wait upon him hand and foot
And always tell him, "No"?

Music and Work

As I work on completing my final papers for two classes tonight, my only companionship (intentionally so, because these things need to get done) at the UCC is my always faithful iPod. So far, I've listened to:

Siren by Roxy Music
The Heart of Saturday Night by Tom Waits
Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack

Considering how much work still needs to be finished, this list will be updated many a-time tonight.

Update:

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Part of The Definitive Anthology of the Small Faces
Let Love In by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds