Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday, and gives us the chance to share lots of favourite, and some not so familiar, songs.
The theme for this week is Record/Juke Box/DJ/Radio. Not all of them, you understand, but pick any one, or combine any number!
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
It’s amazing how many song lyrics don’t actually make much sense. I dare say some are drug, or alcohol induced, or influenced. Often the writer, and certainly the critics, will wax lyrical about how there is a deep, or hidden , meaning to the words. Lots of baloney will be spoken about transcendental higher planes, or searching for a new, yet unattainable awakening!
Do we really care whether Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is about LSD?
I think not, so long as the music is enjoyable, and the words are lyrical, we are content to sit back and enjoy it.
The music I’m offering to you today certainly has lyrics that, for the most part, make no sense. What’s more, the writers admit that they make no sense. Read about the song, and what R.E.M said about “Radio Free Europe.” in the Songfacts information below.
Radio Free Europe is a radio network run by the United States government that broadcasts to Europe and the Middle East. The mission of the broadcasts is to promote democracy and freedom, but R.E.M. makes the point that this can easily cross the line into propaganda.
This song was R.E.M.’s first single, released in 1981 before they signed to a major label. A better-produced version was included on Murmur, the band’s first full-length album, in 1983.
There was a good reason for Michael Stipe’s infamously indecipherable lyrics on this song: he hadn’t finished them by the time they recorded it. In a 1988 NME interview, Stipe described the lyrical content as “complete babbling.”
R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe said in a 1983 interview with Alternative America: “We were all so scared of what the other one would say, that everyone nodded their head in agreement to anything to come up. The earlier songs were incredibly fundamental, real simple, songs that you could write in five minutes. Most of them didn’t have any words. I just got up and howled and hollered a lot.
That’s true. I’ve got to write words for ‘Radio Free Europe,’ because we’re going to re-record that for the album. It still doesn’t have a second or third verse. I think there are actually lyrics to every song on the EP.”
“This song was pivotal to the continuation of our career,” drummer Bill Berry explained in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011. “Most fans may not realize that for two years before Murmur was released, we barely made financial ends meet by playing tiny clubs around the southeast. Our gasoline budget prevented us from venturing further. Put simply, our existence was impoverished. College radio and major city club scenes embraced this song and expanded our audience to the extent that we moved from small clubs to medium-sized venues and the additional revenue made it possible to logically pursue this wild musical endeavor. I dare not contemplate what our fate would have been had this song not appeared when it did.”
Stipe noted being apparently unaware of his own genius: “The guys always said I do something harmonically here that made them all go ‘whoa,’ because it was so advanced … or something, in the ‘straight off the boat’ part. I wonder if I tricked them by accident? I still have no idea what it is they’re talking about.”
The video for this song, directed by Arthur Pierson, was shot in the famed Paradise Gardens, a folk art sculpture garden crafted by artist Howard Finster in Pennville, Georgia. Finster, a Baptist minister, also painted the album art for R.E.M.’s second album, Reckoning.
Beside yourself if radio’s gonna stay. Reason: it could polish up the gray. Put that put that put that up your wall That this isn’t country at all
Raving station beside yourself
Keep me out of country in the word Deal the porch is leading us absurd. Push that push that push that to the hull That this isn’t nothing at all.
Straight off the boat where to go? Calling on in transit calling on in transit Radio Free Europe, radio
Beside defying media too fast Instead of pushing palaces to fall Put that, put that, put that before all That this isn’t fortunate at all
Raving station, beside yourself Calling on in transit, calling on in transit Radio Free Europe, radio
Decide yourself, calling all of the medias too fast
Keep me out of country in the word Disappoint is into us absurd
Straight off the boat, where to go? Calling on in transit, calling on in transit Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe
Calling on in transit, calling on in transit Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Europe
Writer/s: BILL BERRY, PETER BUCK, MICHAEL MILLS, MICHAEL STIPE
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Here are a couple of other recordings of the song:
From Showtime’s Rock of the 80’s – Recorded live at the Palace – Los Angeles, CA – 1984
It’s time again, for Kat Myrman’s wonderful challenge, to write a story, inspired by her picture prompt, in 280 characters or fewer.
Here is this week’s prompt and my contribution.
Check out all the fabulously creative entries here and, if you’ve never had a go, why not try a story of your own? You may surprise yourself!
Photo by Tony Dinh at Unsplash.com
It was a huge turnout for the inaugural “Invisible Hot Air Balloon Convention.” The baskets had to be in the form of bird cages, but otherwise there were no restrictions.Balloons could be any shape and size, and colour. Everyone was ecstatic. Me, I just couldn’t see the attraction!
For anyone wondering what all this fuss is about BREXIT, John, over at Living in the future present, has done an excellent job of describing the utter chaos we are now living in, in the UK.
A banner above a crowd of two million at the People’s Vote demonstration in Westminster on Saturday 23 March 2019 This post is written mainly for friends abroad who ask what is happening to the UK, but the idea of “the will of the people” affects us all. Theresa May, Prime Minister (for the moment) […]
Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday, and gives us the chance to share lots of favourite, and some not so familiar, songs.
The theme for this week is Minutes/Hours/Days/ Weeks/Months. I think Jim left out the Seconds on purpose, just to make things more difficult!
I don’t know about everyone who participates in this great weekly music fest but, for me, it means I lose at least an hour when trying to choose what song I’m offering. I get rather carried away (some may say that I ought to be!) and spend ages listening to my own music, discovering other songs via linked videos, and looking up all sorts of facts about songs, groups, deaths, and so on. It is very addictive, but I have only myself to blame and, anyway, I thoroughly enjoy it!
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
This week I’m sharing a song, from the Ray Davies album, See My Friends. Anyone who knows Ray Davies will know that he formed The Kinks, in 1964, with his brother Dave. The group remained active for 32 years, then reformed in 2018 to produce a studio album. See My Friends was a single for the Kinks, released in 1965, and was probably the first pop song influenced by traditional music from the Indian Subcontinent.
The See My Friends album is a terrific mix of collaborations between Ray Davies and various artists ranging from Metallica to Paloma Faith. It was released in 2010. A list of tracks appears at the bottom of this post. Some of them, I’m sure, will be of interest. They really are a great mix of talents.
For your delight today I’ve chosen “Days/This Time Tomorrow” featuring Ray Davies (of course) and Mumford & Sons. I do hope you enjoy it.
Well, thank you for the days Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me I’m thinking of the days I won’t forget a single day, believe me I bless the light I bless the light that shines on you, believe me And though you’re gone You’re with me every single day, believe me Days I’ll remember all my life Days when you can’t see wrong from right You took my life but then I knew that Very soon you’d leave me, but it’s all right Now I’m not frightened of this world, believe me This time tomorrow, where will we be? On a spaceship somewhere sailing across an empty sea This time tomorrow, what will we know? Will we still be here watching an in-flight movie show? Leave the sun behind me and I’ll watch the clouds As they sadly pass me by, seven miles below me I can see the world and it ain’t so big at all This time tomorrow, what will we see? Field full of houses, endless rows of crowded streets I’ll leave the sun behind me and I’ll watch the clouds As they sadly pass me by, I’m in perpetual motion And the world below doesn’t matter much to me Thank you for the days (I’ll remember all my life) Those endless days (When you can’t see wrong from right) Thank you for the days (I’ll remember all my life) Those endless days (When you can’t see wrong from right) Thank you for the days (This time tomorrow) Those endless days (Where will you be?) Thank you for the days (On a spaceship somewhere) Those endless days (Sailing across an empty sea) This time tomorrow, where will we be? On a spaceship somewhere sailing across an empty sea
My long-term neighbours (LTN) decided, some time ago, to pack whatever they needed and go travelling in their caravan. They are currently somewhere in Scotland.
They were good neighbours and the sort of folk who like gadgets, like to make things, build things, improve things, maintain things. Always busy, on the go. Whatever they do, they do to their utmost, they do it effectively and, with planning, and the right tools, which they have in abundance, they always end up with a very professional job.
A couple of years ago they put up a quadruple nest box on the back of their house, designed for sparrows. No-one took up residence!
Meanwhile, they let out their house to a young couple who had decided to try out living together to see how it worked out. Apparently, it’s a thing! Who knew?
They seem very pleasant, both are musical types, she a teacher of wind instruments, he, I have no idea, but he is away a lot, putting on shows of some sort.
They are both 20 something but seem childlike in their behaviour. Perhaps I’m just an old fuddy duddy.
He is very slim, quite small, and wears the normal uniform of jeans, tee shirts , and trainers. She is small and a little dumpy, and tends to wear low cut neck lines that could raise my blood pressure were I to dwell on them, especially as she has very well developed muscles.
Last Spring we were having a bumper time for birds. I have feeders all around the back garden and we cater for everyone who wants to visit. We were particularly blessed with many pairs of Goldfinches. They like Niger seed!
Next door erupted out of their patio doors, playing some sort of “chase me” game, giggling. They greeted me over the fence and we exchanged a few pleasantries. I offered to fill up their empty Niger seed feeder (all the feeders left by LTN were long since emptied) and guaranteed that within an hour their garden would have several Goldfinches visiting. The birds did not let me down.
This Spring I noticed a pair of birds very busily building in one of the apartments in the aforementioned nest boxes. If you watch too closely, and too often, they would abandon this site and move elsewhere, so I had not drawn anyone’s attention to their building.
A couple of days ago I met young lady neighbour and mentioned that they had a nesting pair in their box.
“Sparrows?” She asked.
“Great tits” I replied, my gaze sinking Southwards!
Is it true? See below.
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It is true apart from the last 3 sentences, and it is actually a pair of Great Tits that have taken up residence!
Photo by Marc Schäfer at Unsplash.com
Photo by Tony Dinh at Unsplash.com
Thank you to Jim Adams, who hosts Song Lyric Sunday, and gives us the chance to share lots of favourite, and some not so familiar, songs.
Photo by Matthew Henry at Unsplash.com