30 April 2014 (Wednesday)

After a Spring with record-setting rain this week Seattle broke 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26C) for the first time since last September -- about 7 months ago! I didn't know how many students would stay indoors on such a nice day, but 7 students came. In honor of the weather today's theme was "Songs To Listen To While Laying On The Beach".

The first song chosen was "In Christ Alone" (video, lyrics) by Keith & Kristyn Getty (info) . The student had heard this song at an Easter church service and liked the song a lot. This inspired talking for a while about Easter and its traditions.

One of the students said something about her recent trip to Los Angeles and that made me think of one of the quintessential American bands: The Beach Boys (info). The first song I think of when I think of The Beach Boys is "Surfin' USA" (video, lyrics, song info).

Speaking of American artists one of the Chinese students in class said that Elvis Presley's name in Chinese is "Hillbilly Cat" (猫王). That's pretty funny to my American ears!

I mentioned that it was the Beach Boys's album "Pet Sounds" (info) that inspired/challenged Paul McCartney to make the Beatles' landmark album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" (info).

The next song chosen along our theme was a mellow song: "Summer 13" by Simot (audio). The student who chose it said he wanted to choose something different from the typical. People usually think of summer songs as upbeat and happy but he chose this song to show the "coming down" side of when a person needs to rest from so much activity in the summer.

The next song was "Little Talk" (video, lyrics, song info) by Of Monsters & Men (info). The student who chose it says she feels like this song is uplifting.

Over the course of our talking I asked if people want to hear a song that will stick in their head for the rest of they day. Of course they were curious to know what song that could be... "Pop Muzik" (video, song info) by M (info). 

(Watching that video made me think of David Bowie's "DJ" video.) I like this video because it has that element of danger that I like in rock music; Bowie looks like he could fall over any second.)

The next song chosen was from one of the new students today: "Muchacho de Campo" (video, lyrics) by Voz De Mando. The student heard the song while at the Tulip Festival (info) on a radio station that only played Mexican music. 

The topic of a radio station that plays Mexican music in the middle of Washington State led me to tell the class that the US allows Mexican people into the country illegally because they will do the farm work that US citizens don't want to do -- and at a very cheap wage to keep our food prices low. 

The next student asked if we wanted to hear a "sad beach song" or a "happy beach song". I was so curious I had to hear both choices:

Sad beach song = "Redondo Beach" (video, lyrics, song info) by Patti Smith (info).

Happy beach song = "Club Tropicana" (video, lyrics, song info) by Wham (info). 

I was surprised that he chose a Wham song, but he said they were an important band for his musical education because they were the first Western band to play in China and that made it so his father always played Wham cassettes in the car. But his father didn't know how cheesy the lyrics were. Lucky guy!

The last song of the day was "Addict D'Eau Delice" (video) from a Dior advertisement. The student who picked it said she simply likes this song.

With that time was up for the day. I hope to see everyone again next week. Next week's theme: Since it is May, songs about flowers or videos featuring flowers (you can be creative in of songs on this subject!).