(Today's post written while watching the Grammy Awards. Proud of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (info) winning Best New Artist and doing a great performance.)
6 students came today to talk music. The theme for the day was "unrequited love" or songs about longing for someone. Or, as always, whichever songs the students have been listening to a lot lately.
The first song we listened to was "Louie Louie" (video, lyrics, song info) because one of the guys in the class is named Lui. I mentioned that in the 1980's some people tried to make "Louie Louie" the official song of Washington State, but it didn't make it. Instead, our officials song is "Washington, My Home" (video, lyrics + song info) :-( I have never sung this song, but I've sung Louie Louie a million times!
The next song was "Disco 2000" (video, lyrics, song info) by Pulp (info). The lyrics fit the theme of the day very cleverly!
Next we listened to a song from a new student: "El Amaken" (video) by Mohammed Abdu (info). The student said he is the most favorite singer among all Arabs.
The next song was back to our theme: "You Give Love A Bad Name" (video, lyrics, song info) by Bon Jovi (info).
The next song was "Ta Tienne" (video, lyrics, song info) by Carla Bruni (info). The student who chose this song said it is her favorite song while travelling.
The concept of travelling made me think of a video I have shown many times in class: "I Will Possess Your Heart" (video, lyrics, song info) by Death Cab For Cutie (info). I relate to the concept of this video of someone travelling alone throughout the world and I love the way the video and the music work together.
The next song chosen was "Moi Lolita" (video, lyrics, song info) by Alizee (info).
This reminded me of another song, "I'll Kill Her" (video with lyrics) by Soko (info). It's a funny song. The French accent that makes the singer sound like a weak little girl makes the song even more cute as she talks about killing her rival.
On the theme of wanting to curse or kill a rival to a lover, a student played a song by Miyuki Nakajima (info). I don't know the song's title, but here's the video: video, song info. Wow, she's *really* angry at someone!!
Next we listened to "Photograph" (video, lyrics, song info) by Def Leppard (info). This song was back to our theme of the day -- how someone wants to know Marilyn Monroe (info) but all he has is a photograph of her. Coincidentally the album "Photograph" was on, "Pyromania" (info) was released on this day 31 years ago!
Speaking of songs about Marilyn Monroe, I asked the class if they knew the song "Candle In The Wind", which most young people know at the song that Elton John (info) sang at Princess Diana's (info) funeral (video, lyrics, song info). But Elton John's original version of this song, from 1973, was written for Marilyn Monroe (video, lyrics, song info).
The next song chosen was "Heartbeat" (video, lyrics) by Tahiti 80 (info), which was the only song by a French band the student knows.
The next song chosen was "Love Email" (video, lyrics) by Nico (info). I can't read my notes very well, but I think the student heard this song through friends.
The last song we listened to was "How Soon Is Now" (video, lyrics, song info) by The Smiths (info). A few of the people in our class love Johnny Marr (info), the guitar player for The Smiths and this is a song which highlights his guitar playing. I personally also like the lyric when he sings "When you say it's gonna happen "now"well, when exactly do you mean?".
I wonder if the class has ever heard the version of this song by the Russian duo t.A.T.u (info) that had 15 minutes of fame in about 2003. Their version of "How Soon Is Now" (video). (I feel kind of bad posting this link since it's such a terrible version of the song...)
With that, class was over for the week. I hope to see everyone next week.The next theme will be "Which song have you heard the most times in the past week?"
Today was the first day of back after a long break over the holidays and between Fall and Winter Quarters! 10 students showed up, mostly people returning but a couple of new people, too.
We started the class by catching up with what everyone did over the break between quarters.
When I said, "We should talk about music, too!" one student asked if I thought he should buy a ticket to see the upcoming Pixies (info) concert. Before I gave my opinion I decided to play a Pixies song and ask the class to give their advice on whether he should buy a ticket to the concert. So we listened to "Where Is My Mind" (video, lyrics, song info). In the end the class didn't seem to like the song very much and no one advised him to buy a ticket to the show. I agree it's not worth the money as the best, most interesting years of the Pixies were about 25 years ago, when Nirvana were still a garage band and trying to be like the Pixies...
Speaking of the Pixies just before writing this blog this evening a cover of the Pixies song "Cactus" (video, lyrics, song info) by David Bowie (info) came on my phone on shuffle, so I have to put a link here. I like this Bowie version a lot! I guess I should link to the original version for comparison.
The same student who was considering going to the Pixies said that concert is one day before Paul Simon (info) with Sting (info). He loves Paul Simon and is very much looking forward to the concert!
Another student mentioned she is going to the Justin Timberlake (info) concert in Seattle on Friday (17 January). I read a review of the Justin Timberlake concert and it sounds like it was excellent. I'll ask the student for her review next class!
Another student said she is going to see a concert by the band Imagine Dragons (info). I don't know that band so we listened to "Radioactive" (video, lyrics, song info).
The same student is very excited to go to the Franz Ferdinand (info) concert. To get a taste for FF we listened to "Right Action" (video, lyrics, song info), though the first song she ever heard by FF was "Take Me Out" (video, lyrics, song info), which she heard while shopping (as usual, hahahaha!).
It's a great experience to see concerts away from one's home city/country/culture, I'm glad so many students are going to see concerts!!
The next song was "Young Wild & Free" (video, lyrics, song info) by Wiz Khalifa (info). Yes, our Wiz Khalifa fan was back! :-)
The next song was "The Messenger" (video, lyrics, song info) by Johnny Marr (info). The student who chose this song loves British rock and feels that this recent Johnny Marr album is a masterpiece.
One of the students travelled to New Orleans (info) over the break so he chose "What A Wonderful World" (video, lyrics, song info) by Louis Armstrong (info), for whom the New Orleans airport is named (SZ note: cool!! Seattle's airport can't even decide which city it's in, Seattle or Tacoma, let alone have an inspired name) and who introduced jazz music to the world. I've always loved the lyrics to this song!
For a more modern, "rock" version of this song, I've always liked the Terence Trent D'Arby (info) version (video). And since I have your attention, I'll put up another Terence Trent D'Arby song that I like: Elevators & Hearts (video, song info). The guitar part on this song always remind me of his version of his version of "What A Wonderful World".
The last song of the day was "Fighter" (video, lyrics, song info) by Christina Aguilera (info).
With that our time was done for the first meeting of Winter Quarter. I look forward to next class!
Theme for the next class will be songs of unrequited love -- either about a person who loves someone but they don't notice or still being in love with someone you broke up with -- or break up songs. Of, if that's too depressing, students can play any songs they are listening to a lot this week!
This was the last class of the Fall Quarter: the class will take a break until Winter Quarter, starting again on Wednesday, 15 January.
Because it was the end of the quarter and a few students had already left Seattle, some regular attendees didn't show up. But we still had a group of seven.
We talked first about the students' plans for traveling over the break/holidays. Quite a few students were going back to their home countries for a visit.
The first song we listened to was "Black & Yellow" (video, lyrics, song info) by Wiz Khalifa (info). Yes, the student who loves Wiz Khalifa was in class today!
However, I don't remember now as I am writing this blog post why he chose "Black & Yellow", sorry. In fact, I was very lazy over the holidays and am writing these notes more than three weeks after the class so I can't remember a lot of the explanations for the songs anymore; I'll just write out which songs we listened to...
Next was "Under The Winter Sky" (video with lyrics poorly translated into English) by Mintjam (website).
Then "One Love" (video with lyrics, song info) by Bob Marley (info).
Then "Same Love" (video, lyrics, song info) by Macklemore (info).
Then "Born This Way" (video, lyrics, song info) by Lady Gaga (info).
Then I suggested a song for all the people who like Smashing Pumpkins (info): "Lazy Eye" (video, lyrics, song info) by Silversun Pickups (info).
The last song of the day -- and the Quarter -- was "Within Attraction" (video) by Yanni (info) (we watched the violin duel from 3:50).
And with that the class and the Quarter was over. I look forward to seeing everyone -- and some new students! -- in January!
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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