"Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton, to come home. "
Alex Chilton is dead, and despite not being a big Big Star fan, I am really moved.
Growing up I had heard the Box Tops song The Letter many times, but my real introduction to Alex Chilton was a Replacements song titled Alex Chilton. From then on knowing Alex Chilton was the equivalent of knowing the secret handshake. If you knew him and his bands, you knew your stuff. You were a member of important but obscure music geekdom.
Thanks Alex. Glad you made it home.
18 March 2010
17 March 2010
Sheena Easton????
This is really not cool. I woke up this morning with Sheena Easton's "Morning Train" stuck in my mind. I kind of figured it would disappear fairly rapidly, but nope. It is heading toward noon and I still have it going.
It made me think that there might be a kind of cool and easy research project looking at what makes a song stick in one's mind. There would be two aspects to the research, one is characteristics of the song, and the other is the characteristics of the person. One is environment and the other is internal. It turns out that is just a variation on my usual types of research.
Music could be analyzed using the Music Genome Project...better known by its commercial product Pandora. A shared Pandora channel could be created, where people could enter the songs that get stuck in one's head. Then genome project could then analyze the common characteristics of the songs.
The personality aspects would be more difficult. The suspected characteristics would have to be measured, and then the people would have to indicate how often they have music stuck in their mind. The problem is that how often has the potential to be very subjective, or influenced by memory which could covary with the personality measures. This can be worked out, but would require care.
Now the key question: Is it worth the effort?
It made me think that there might be a kind of cool and easy research project looking at what makes a song stick in one's mind. There would be two aspects to the research, one is characteristics of the song, and the other is the characteristics of the person. One is environment and the other is internal. It turns out that is just a variation on my usual types of research.
Music could be analyzed using the Music Genome Project...better known by its commercial product Pandora. A shared Pandora channel could be created, where people could enter the songs that get stuck in one's head. Then genome project could then analyze the common characteristics of the songs.
The personality aspects would be more difficult. The suspected characteristics would have to be measured, and then the people would have to indicate how often they have music stuck in their mind. The problem is that how often has the potential to be very subjective, or influenced by memory which could covary with the personality measures. This can be worked out, but would require care.
Now the key question: Is it worth the effort?
15 March 2010
New Favorite Song
Yesterday I ran into this song that made me laugh a couple of times. Its a perfect song for someone in my place. Feeling like leftovers...still something to offer, but a day or two old.
The artist is Jarvis Cocker, formerly of the band Pulp.
Great lines from the song:
Well, he says that he loves you like a sister
Well I guess, I guess that's relative
He says that he wants to make love to you
Well instead of "to", shouldn't that be "with"?
Well this is my CV and I've got no one else to blame
So I will state, state my case, I will state it again
Come and help yourself to leftovers
Got a little surplus love and affection
And getting cuddly, so won't you cuddle me?
I could be your teddy bear... oh yeah
I know I ain't no eligible bachelor
This is no mouthwatering proposition
Make no mistake, you're in big trouble, little lady
If we start a-hugging and a-kissing
The singer is so pathetic, and still somehow maintains a sense of humour about himself.
The artist is Jarvis Cocker, formerly of the band Pulp.
Great lines from the song:
Well, he says that he loves you like a sister
Well I guess, I guess that's relative
He says that he wants to make love to you
Well instead of "to", shouldn't that be "with"?
Well this is my CV and I've got no one else to blame
So I will state, state my case, I will state it again
Come and help yourself to leftovers
Got a little surplus love and affection
And getting cuddly, so won't you cuddle me?
I could be your teddy bear... oh yeah
I know I ain't no eligible bachelor
This is no mouthwatering proposition
Make no mistake, you're in big trouble, little lady
If we start a-hugging and a-kissing
The singer is so pathetic, and still somehow maintains a sense of humour about himself.
A new blog
What the world needs now
is a new blog.
That's the only thing
that there's just too little of...
Oh great! I guess I can only blame myself for getting that song stuck in my mind. I once heard that phenomenon referred to as an "Ear Worm." I like that metaphor. The song worms its way in through your ear, and then sits there. Well not really sits there, but goes around and around.
----------------
Now playing: Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
via FoxyTunes
is a new blog.
That's the only thing
that there's just too little of...
Oh great! I guess I can only blame myself for getting that song stuck in my mind. I once heard that phenomenon referred to as an "Ear Worm." I like that metaphor. The song worms its way in through your ear, and then sits there. Well not really sits there, but goes around and around.
----------------
Now playing: Frightened Rabbit - I Feel Better
via FoxyTunes
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