Thanks to Russell for this recommendation... a great post for a Friday. And a great running song.
"All Night Long" is on the phenomenal album "Can't Slow Down," which my parents used to play all the time on cassette tape in the car. Any album that ends with a song like "Hello" is just tops. (Expect to see the "Hello" video on Justin's List soon, by the way. It's a classic.)
And this video has its charms, too. It's like "West Side Story" meets "Flashdance." But it's one step better: It's got Lionel Richie.
Astrud seems a little dazed here, but the saxophonist (Stan Getz) knows exactly what's happening. The dude playing the xylophone seems to be in on the ruse, too. If James Bond could be a band, these guys would be it.
And what's better: This is an excerpt from a 1964 movie called "Get Yourself A College Girl." God bless the '60s, their bossa nova music, and their ambiguously-named movies...
Blame it on the dog days of summer, but getting out of work and walking into the heat--even at night--can be a real buzzkill.
Having said that, I feel like there's someone else who can convey these emotions better than me: Sandra, live in Japan, with "In The Heat Of The Night":
Mother Nature decided to kick things up a notch and send triple-digit heat to Portland this week. So I figured I'd kick it old school and let Will Smith explain how it all works:
You can't beat this combination: Will Ferrell as Neil Diamond; Andy Samberg as Bruce Springsteen; and J.J. Abrams as J.J. Abrams. And the song is as funny as it is true.
Thanks to everyone for voting in the Michael Jackson poll! The clear winner is the 1980s MJ. "Thriller" was a big part of that era, and not just in America. Clearly, it had an impact in India, too:
This video really has everything you need: mannequins breakdancing, mannequins doing the robot, and the lower torsos of mannequins kicking in mid-air. The only thing it doesn't have is the cast of the movie "Mannequin," unless that's James Spader posing as Herbie Hancock...
Does it creep anyone else out that a four-year-old child is singing this techno song? It apparently didn't creep many people out in 1992, when this song was HUGE for a few months. I remember not being able to escape it on the radio--and I had to listen to it over and over in French class. Zut alors!
It’s probably no surprise that the French government pulled Jordy off the airwaves a few years later.That might explain why, when I ask people whether they ever remember this song, they blankly stare at me with dead eyes.
But this really happened, people:
In case you want to follow along, here are the lyrics in French & English (from hitslyrics.com):
C'est dur dur d'être bébé
Oh la la bébé, c'est dur dur d'être bébé
Oh la la bébé, c'est dur dur d'être bébé
Dur dur d'être bébé
Je m'appelle Jordy
J'ai quatre ans et je suis petit
Dur dur d'être bébé, dur dur d'être bébé
Viens ici, touche pas ça
Reste assis, vaa pas là
Fais comme çi, fais comme ça
Patati et patata
Pourquoi çi pourquoi ça
Pourquoi c'est comme ci
Pourquoi çi pourquoi ça
Pourquoi c'est comme ça.
Oh la la bébé, c'est dur dur d'être bébé
Oh la la bébé, c'est dur dur d'être bébé
Dur dur d'être bébé.
Et Maman, qu'est-ce que tu dis
Fais dodo, laves tes dents
Enlève tes doigts du nez
Fais pas çi, fais pas ça
Patati et patata
Pourquoi çi pourquoi ça
Pourquoi c'est comme ci
Pourquoi çi pourquoi ça
Pourquoi c'est comme ça.
Reste assis, pas d'accord!
Touche pas ça, pas d'accord!
Va pas là, pas d'accord!
T'auras pas de dessert
Et Mamie, et Papi, et Maman
C'est dur dur d'être bébé
Oh la la bébé, c'est dur dur d'être bébé
Oh la la bébé, c'est dur dur d'être bébé
Dur dur d'être bébé.
Translation:
It's Hard To Be A Baby
It's tough to be a baby
Oh, baby, it's tough to be a baby
Oh, baby, it's tough to be a baby
Tough to be a baby
My name's Jordy, I'm four years old, I'm really small
It's tough to be a baby, tough to be a baby
Come here, don't touch that, sit still, don't go there
Do this, do that, blah, blah, blah
Why this, why that, why is that like this?
Why this, why that, why is that like this?
Oh, baby, it's tough to be a baby
Oh, baby, it's tough to be a baby
Tough to be a baby
And mommy says, go to bed, brush your teeth
Don't pick your nose, don't do this, don't do that
I used to listen to this song when occasionally driving back and forth from college. I guess I could relate to it in a way, since I was usually exhausted from a previous week of heavily drinking, pulling all-nighters, or pulling all-nighters of heavy drinking. My experiences didn't quite meet Bob Seger/road tour exhaustion standards, but I felt a connection to him and the Silver Bullet Band (no Coors pun intended there, folks).
And here's hoping you're not too exhausted to enjoy it, too!
"This Is Spinal Tap" is one of the funniest movies of all time, thanks in large part to the movie's three main stars: Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest. They switched gears from their rock & roll roots 20 years later to play folk musicians in "A Mighty Wind"--another great comedy--in a band called The Folksmen. Here they are on Mad TV (a seemingly random venue), with a great performance of "Blood On The Coals":
Today my genius brain came up with what it thought was a great idea: Run for two hours. And I picked 12 miles of beautiful Portland riverfront that has virtually no shade to achieve this task.
It didn't take long for the heat exhaustion to kick in, and that's when I started mumbling angrily and staggering back toward home.
After the run, I rehydrated myself back to sanity and remembered that it's mid-July and it's supposed to be like this. So in honor of the season , here's "Summer In The City":
Thanks, everyone, for voting in the Michael Jackson poll! The clear winner is the 1980s MJ. "Thriller" was a big part of that era, and not just in America. Clearly, it had an impact in India, too:
This video is for all of the people who camped out for hours waiting to see the new Harry Potter movie. And it has Spanish subtitles, for all of the Latinos who were there.
For most of the afternoon and evening on Tuesday, there were rumors swirling around Portland that Dave Chappelle was going to show up at midnight in one of the city's biggest gathering spots. And despite a lot of naysayers--present company included--he actually showed up just before 1 a.m. Despite no hard evidence that this thing was actually going to happen, thousands of people were there and eventually so was Dave.
So Dave, as a thank you gift for coming to Portland, here's some Rick James:
If you told me that the same guy singing this song was eventually shot and killed by a motel manager while he was wearing nothing but a sports jacket, I would probably believe you--because Sam Cooke was such a legend, and there's no way he could go out of this world without some kind of weird twist.
So here's a live and laid-back version of "Ain't That Good News":
I originally set out to post Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen," but I somehow found my way to this video instead. And boy, I'm glad I did.
What in the name of George Lucas is happening here? You know it's a creepy video when Billy Ocean is the least odd-looking one of the bunch. This thing is a mess, but it's equally mesmerizing. It's so bad that it never got ironically good; it just stayed really bad.
It's definitely going to replace Rue McClanahan in my nightmares, that's for sure.
Every time I hear Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" on the radio, I sacrifice nearly anything to get it off the radio: whether it's changing the station at warp speed, turning off the radio at warp speed, or destroying my radio with a fireman's axe. To me, it's one of the top 10 worst songs in classic rock. Make it top 3.
Having said that, the aloe vera to my "I Want You To Want Me" burns is "The Flame." It's essentially the same crap, but just packaged much differently:
Everyone knows and loves the glam-rock David Bowie or the David Bowie who taunts children in "Labyrinth." But who really knows this David Bowie, who--at :52 into the video--strikes a sassy pose as if to ask "Whyever are you interrupting me and my awkward hat?" I'm thinking that right after he watched himself doing this is when he made some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...
For some reason, this video freaks me out a lot more now as an adult than it ever did when I watched it as a kid. Phil Collins, specifically, is a frightening puppet.
But I can certainly agree with Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho" that "Invisible Touch" is Genesis' best album. Besides the title track and this song, you've also got "In Too Deep" and "Throwing It All Away"--all classics. I'm okay with having the same musical interests as a fictitious yuppy serial killer... the album is just that good.
Every lyric in this song is a gem. And you've got to appreciate that the lead singer and guitarist are both wearing matching red shirts. That's teamwork.
You'll have to watch to the very end to catch the couple staring at each other in their cigarette smoke. They appear to be in a deep gaze, so I'll don't think they'll be turning each other loose anytime soon. Not with those passionate eyes.
I'm a big fan of this classic 80s song, so I figured I'd see what the video was all about. And I have to admit: It wasn't what I was expecting. It was a little more Orwellian than I thought it would be. But it's not a bad piece of video, and you get to see a cat or something falling from the ceiling. So, good times there. And the next time you see a grown man turn into a bird, you'll now realize, "Ahh, THAT'S where he got the idea!"
This could very well be one of the saddest songs in classic rock. And this performance doesn't do much to cheer things up; during the guitar interlude, the camera just pulls back to a wide shot of the ceiling fan. Even the guitarist doesn't want to be there! It's just Gilbert, his piano, a ghost guitar and a ceiling fan...
