The sun was shining through the window this morning, so I lay on the floor and let the sunlight bake me for a few moments. Then I announced to anyone who happened to be around that I was taking the day off. What this means, of course, is that I got to watch the kids while Wendy did her thing*. No matter. Since I was in a good mood, I wanted to hear music. "I'm going to turn on some music, Little Dove. What would you like to hear?" Here's what she said:"Play some Autumn music."
I didn't want to display a lack of self-confidence by asking what constitutes Autumn music, so I put on a Cake album. I got wheels, of polished steel... Wendy told me in no uncertain terms that my selection wasn't Autumn music. Hmm. All I could think of was Vivaldi, and Vivaldi is rainy day music. Do The Killers remind me of yellow leaves, coonskin caps, and cider presses? How about Jimi Hendrix? So I put it to you, Dear Reader: What is Autumn music?
* Note: In this case, Wendy's "thing" happened to be vacuuming and dusting the house, but I don't like murky facts to get in the way of pure emotions.
When one receives a command from a woman such as "put on some autumn music" one must remember that they have trained for years in the black arts of emotion and feeling.
ReplyDeleteWhile you and I were playing football by ourselves, they were talking endlessly to their friends about everything in the world and especially how they feel and their place in the world and the place of everything in the world.
Thus, and I swear this is true, women have labeled and catagorized and cross-referenced everything known under the sun as it relates to them and how they feel about it.
This is why a woman can look at a hundred paintings at an art show or museum and say "this one makes me feel. . ." and then they can tell you a story about something else that made them feel the same way.
Coincidentally, this is also why, for instance, my wife can distinguish and name 10,723 individual shades of color.
Further, this is also why a certain piece of jewelry may be exactly their style, but a seamingly identical piece of jewelery is hideous.
Hold on, I'm going to Google "autumn music". . . (I'll bet I get some Octoberfest Um-Pah music). . .
http://www.compactdiscoveries.com/CompactDiscoveriesScripts/64Autumn.html
I offer the above as irrefutable prrof of what I'm talking about. The name of the site that has a bunch of "autumn music" is called
Compact Disc Ovaries.
compact disc OVARIES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Very funny, botched. So, what I meant by "fall music" is something melancholy and somewhat nostalgic sounding, probably in the folk/rock genre. Some good examples: Neil Young's "Helpless," Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue" (in fact, all of that album), Joni Mitchell's "I Wish I Had a River" (yes, I realize she claims it's Christmas, but I still assert it's more of a fall song), that haunting song, "Van Diemen's Land" The Edge sings on Rattle and Hum. You get the idea. Cake definitely doesn't qualify. Neither do The Carpenters, which Bob tried putting on today and I think we winced our way through two and a half songs before he had to turn it off.
ReplyDeleteI would have immediately responded with Counting Crows: August and Everything After. While August is still right in the middle of Summer, it's autumnal music.
ReplyDeleteI would have had Neil Young's Unplugged as my second choice.
Fallback plan: Wallflowers: Bringing Down the Horse
Though to tell the truth, for some reason I seem to personally be experiencing a Devo renaissance. Brought on no doubt by their first new song in 17 years, "Watch Us Work It." you can hear it in the following dell commercial:
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=822250&fr=
Ah, autumn music. Well, the Septemberists, for sure...Yo-Yo Ma playing the cello suites inspired by Bach, the soundtrack to "Tous les matins du monde", Janis Joplin singing "Me and Bobby McGee" ...anything by Bonnie Raitt...or some nice, quiet Miles Davis.
ReplyDeleteHey, Fatty...Devo just played at the Puyallup state fair. They might be headed your way soon...
botched...your comments are SOOO unbelievably sexist. And just exactly the kind of thing a guy would say. (pa-dum-pum)
ReplyDeleteBut seriously (because any discussion of seasonal music is very serious), I think of autumn music as stuff like this:
-both of the Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong albums, and not just because one of them has a beautiful version of the song Autumn in New York
-Neil Young, as some here have pointed out, seems good, but especially the album Harvest Moon (duh)
-Anything by Sufjan Stevens
-Anything involving a cello (not just Yo Yo Ma, and not just the Bach)
-Barber's Adagio for Strings
-Anything by The Ramones
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ReplyDeleteHave you heard Carla Bruni? She's French, I had to order it imported, but everytime I listen to her album I think of a chilly, golden fall day. The album is (here I go trying to spell French, a language I never took, o dear forgive me) Quel Qu'un Ma Di - it's one cigarette cured voice + very simple acoustic guitar. Enchanting.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course there's always bluegrass! A little bit of Rhonda Vincent takes me a long autumn way!
- Gillian
PS My previous comment, deleted, just wasn't quite finished when posted. No big secrets.
Now we're talking. Thanks for all the great suggestions, friends, especially the new stuff. See, Bob. Maybe it wasn't such a crazy request.
ReplyDeleteStay strong Bob. Refuse to aknowledge that there is any such thing as "autumn music."
ReplyDeleteImaginary autumn music now playing at:
ReplyDeletehttp://martinioclock.com:8666
Robert, your playlist doesn't include any Cake.
ReplyDelete