Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you’ve had quite enough
Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour
It’s orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it’s reckoned
The sun that is the source of all our power
The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In the outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars
It’s a hundred thousand light-years side to side
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick
But out by us it’s just three thousand light-years wide
We’re thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point
We go ’round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, the speed of light, you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that’s the fastest speed there is
So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth
Your Other Favorite German Artist
Somewhat at the fringe of my listening adventures, but I find these idiots irresistible.
ABC
Which reminds me, I’m overdue for a Glengarry Glen Ross re-screening.
Young Jimi
I’m guessing Buddy & Stacey would not enjoy our trying to look past them.
Stone vs. Stone
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit A: Bob Dylan’s, Keith Richards’ & Ron Wood’s gloriously ragged “Ballad of Hollis Brown” from Live Aid (couldn’t find this song without the cringey sing-a-long at the end). Exhibit B: Same festival: Mr. Showbiz, Sir Mick, preening and prancing, desperate for your approval of him as a solo act. My point? I think it’s interesting that if you take Keith out of the Stones, you still have the coolest guy on the planet. Take out Mick, and he just looks ridiculous. Keith saunters out and owns a stage; Mick has to shake his ass and do calisthenics for it, but even then he needs Keith around looking cooler. Interesting dynamic.
You’re Welcome
I think these guys just played Gonerfest. CRANK IT UP.
Wish I Could Do This
Also, now I want a 1962 Vespa.
Focus On Big Star
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of its release, host Rich Tupica compiled a two-part show on Big Star’s “No. 1 Record.” Released in 1972, by Ardent and Stax Records, it’s influenced everyone from R.E.M. and Teenage Fanclub to Beck and Wilco.
The first part, comprising only alternate takes from the LP, also includes 1972 radio interview clips with founders Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel – recorded days after the album was released. Part two of this show digs back into the roots of the Memphis band, playing only Big Star pre-cursors. Part two also features 1975 interview clips from Chris Bell, who left the band just after the LP was released.
Check it out here!
Also, can’t remember if I told you bastards or not, but I grew up on the same street as Chris Bell. Missed him by about ten years, though. They moved in ’65.
Speaking Of The War…
If the Russian army has seemed inept to you, that’s because it is.
If you’re interested, here is the best site for war information. It’s geared towards military, and its contributors are mostly data-driven soldiers or wonks. As a result, there wasn’t the usual media and government surprise about the Russians’ difficulties. As far back as November, they were pointing out the Russians’ logistical shortcomings, and this week they reported a Marine Corps University war game that, prior to the invasion, predicted very closely how it would go.
As an old Cold War brat of the 7th Army in Germany, I remember that there was no respect for the Red Army back then. They had scary bombs and large troop numbers, but our army considered them 3rd rate in all other regards. In 2022, the only thing that’s changed is that they’re much smaller. Putin’s “build-up” has been in weapons, not in building a viable army, which hasn’t attempted anything like this since their 70’s-80’s Afghanistan disaster. I don’t think this cold war will be long, because Russia won’t have the money or manpower to sustain one, or even occupy Ukraine (assuming they win). That’s not to say this won’t get very dangerous.
Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.
-Omar Bradley
Never interfere with your enemy while he’s making a mistake.
-Napoleon
Magical Mystery Chord
Harmonics doesn’t get more fun than this chord. I think someone’s posted an analysis here before, but I’d forgotten the details. Randy Bachman got to listen to the individual tracks at Abbey Road; here he is breaking it down. Truly a band firing on all cylinders during this time, the height of their early period.