The Fall Quarter is coming to an end -- only one more class after today before breaking until January -- and many students have finals to prepare for. Only 5 students came today, although one was new!
One of the students had told us a few weeks ago that he had bought an acoustic guitar. This week he brought it to class! Naturally we asked him to play his favorite song!
First he played "Tears In Heaven" (video, lyrics, song info) by Eric Clapton (info).
Then he played the John Lennon (info) version of "Stand By Me" (video, lyrics, song info). You can contrast the John Lennon version with the original version (video) by Ben E. King (info).
It was great having the student bring his guitar in and play for us, thank you!!
Someone mentioned that Pearl Jam (info) was playing a concert in Seattle this week. So we talked for a while about Pearl Jam and the Seattle music scene in the 90's. (Here's a review of the concert.)
Then we watched "Stray Heart" (video, lyrics, song info) by Green Day (info). I had never heard this Green Day song. That bass line reminded me of a hit song from a long time ago, but I couldn't place it!
Someone suggested it is similar to "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" (video, lyrics, song info) by Jet (info), but that wasn't it exactly...
During class I could never figure out the song I was looking for with the similar bass line but after class one of the students emailed me with the song: "You Can't Hurry Love" (video, lyrics, song info) by Phil Collins (info). I'm so glad she solved that question for me, it was driving me crazy!
Back to the bass line of "Stray Heart"... it reminded me of an old song by a classic American band from the 1980's: "Stray Cat Strut" (video, lyrics, song info) by the Stray Cats (info).
As I wrote this blog post I found out that the bass line for "Stray Cat Strut" was inspired by a cartoon about a guy who can't get rid of a cat: "The Cat Came Back" (video).
A student recognized *that* bass line in *another* Green Day song: "Hitchin' A Ride" (video, lyrics, song info).
The next song chosen was "Wake Me Up" (video, lyrics, song info) by Avicii (info). The student who chose this song likes every single lyric in the song!!
Speaking of lyrics which mean a lot, the last song chosen for the day was "My Grown Up Christmas List" (video with lyrics, song info) by Kelly Clarkson (info).
With that class was over for the day. Next week will be the last class before we day a break for a few weeks. Theme for the last class: Songs about winter or Christmas. Or any current favorite song.
I didn't assign a theme for today. Only 6 students came.
The first song was "River" (video with lyrics in the notes, song info) by Joni Mitchell (info). The student who chose this song discovered it by reading reviews of how great her album "Blue" (info) was. As we talked about last week, at first he didn't like her voice, but now he does.
Because this week was the Thanksgiving holiday in the US we talked about family gatherings in the students' home countries and whether the students enjoy spending time with the family or whether it is stressful.
Somehow that conversation got me to thinking about how children get money and I asked each student if they got an "allowance" (money the parents give their children each week or month) when they were young. And I asked if they had to work for their allowance, or if it was just given to them. It was interesting to hear their stories.
Back to music: the next song was "Empty" (video, lyrics, song info) by Ray Lamontagne (info). The student who chose this song knows it from the movie Detachment (info). The song was used in the movie in a long scene that makes it like a music video.
I noted that the two songs we had listened to so far were sad songs. I mentioned that I like sad songs. And that I like the Smashing Pumpkins (info) song that has the lyric "I'm in love with my sadness"; "Zero" (video with lyrics, song info).
The theme for the day was now "sad songs" so the next song was "Fade To Black" (video, lyrics, song info) by Metallica (info).
This was followed by "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (video, lyrics, song info) by Pink Floyd (info). This song is depressing and also a political statement of the times. The student who chose it feels that rock bands should often be political and anti-government.
Because we had talked so much about family holidays and the tradition of children getting an "allowance" that was all the music we had time for this class!
The theme for today's class was "songs used in commercials or on tv". 11 students came.
The first song was "Mermaid Song" (video) by Sarah Khider, which the student had first seen in this Chivas Regal commercial.
The next was an Asahi beer commercial, with the song "Aerial Life" by Tomoya Nagase (info). Unfortunately I can't find a clip of the original song. So just enjoy the 15 seconds of it with the guy expressing his enjoyment of the beer by yelling. By the way, none of us could understand why the guy in this commercial is eating an tomato before taking a drink of beer. But since it obviously makes the beer taste so much better (judging by the guy's reaction), I am going to start eating tomatoes with my beer.
Trying to find the song of Tomoya Nagase I ended up watching him on this tv show. I don't really get the humor and it kind of looked like torture for the poor guy.
The next song was "Change The World" (video, lyrics, song info) by Eric Clapton (info). We weren't sure exactly which commercial this song had been used for, but it's been used for more than one.
Speaking of Eric Clapton, one student said he first heard one of Clapton's most famous songs, Layla (video, lyrics, song info) in a commercial for Mitsubishi cars.
The next song was by "I'd Rather Be High" (video, lyrics, song info) David Bowie (info), which was used in a Louis Vuitton commercial, starring Mr. Bowie himself. I mentioned to the class that my goal is to look as good at 60 year old as Bowie did.
Speaking of Bowie, not aging and commercials, he did a commercial using his song "Never Get Old" for Vittel bottled water which clearly played off his youthful looks (he was 56 at the time).
The next song was "Yesterday Once More" (video with lyrics, song info) by The Carpenters (info). Unfortunately I can't remember the connection of the choice of this song to a commercial. I did mention at the end of this song that most Americans consider the Carpenters as a very cheesy group.
My "cheesy" comment inspired a student to ask if I think the song "Take My Breath Away" (video with lyrics, song info) by Berlin (info) is cheesy. Well, in my opinion it is *not* cheesy. Others may dispute that position, however ;-)
As an example of a cheesy song I chose "My Heart Will Go On" (video, lyrics, song info) by Celine Dion (info), which drew gasps of indignation from the class: apparently they love this song!
But hey, I'm not the one who decides which songs are cheesy and not cheesy in the world! :-)
Next I did an experiment: I played a song I thought one student would like -- "Wuthering Heights" (video, lyrics, song info) by Kate Bush (info). No one liked it at all! I guess I can understand that. I told the class that when I first heart Kate Bush I *hated* her voice, but at some point I understood it's quality and now I love Kate!
I didn't play this song in class but I think this is one of the sweetest love songs: Kate wrote it for her son, Bertie (video with lyrics in the notes, song info). You can feel from the lyrics, especially the last stanza, how much she loves that boy!
I had the same initial reaction to Tom Waits (info) as to Kate Bush -- I couldn't stand to hear his voice at the beginning, but now I love it. As an example of a Tom Waits song I played "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six" (video, lyrics, song info).
The next song was "Money" (video with lyrics in the notes, song info) by Pink Floyd (info). Apparently those distinctive first notes of this song are used in many Japanese tv shows.
Somehow we got onto the topic of what is "soul music". It's very hard to define "soul music"! Here's how Wikipedia defines soul music.
One student suggested the song "10,000 Reasons" (video, lyrics, song info) by Matt Redman (info) as a soul song. That's true -- he is singing from his heart and soul!
And with that class was over for the day.
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