Friday, 04 May 2012

• Playlist Friday: How's the Weather?

  Well, hello there, Internet. Thanks for dropping by. Today is Friday which means the weekend has started (yay!) and it's time for...

  

  This is weekly feature, which I invite you all to participate in if you are so inclined, in which I list a number of songs on a particular theme.

  This week, the theme is The Weather, because I have nothing else to talk about, so I'll start a conversation about the weather. (Yes, I am a hit at parties.)

   

  1.  Always Take The Weather With You, by Crowded House

  This video has absolutely nothing to do with the song. One of the youtube commenters suggests that the creator has a public transportation fetish. I suppose it might be that they were thinking that if you are taking the weather with you, you're going somewhere, so you must be taking a train or something?

  Anyway. If you know anything by Crowded House, you probably know "Don't Dream, It's Over," which is an okay song and was very popular, but I like this one better. I'm not sure what the song is trying to say. I suppose it would be nice to take weather with you if the weather you were taking was nice, warm, and sunny, but if you're from the middle of Siberia and your weather is freezing cold, I don't think you'd want to take it with you to Miami.

   

  2. It's Raining Men, by Weather Girls

  So, technically this isn't really about the weather, because I've never heard of men actually falling from the sky (frogs and fish, yes, but not humans). And it's kind of a silly song. Mother Nature decides to make it rain men so that every woman in the world has somebody. (I guess she has no sympathy for lesbians? Well, the gay guys can take those men.)

   

  3. Everybody's Talking At Me, by The Beautiful South
  

  This song is included because of the line, "going where the weather suits my clothes," which I think is a wonderful line because my clothes would be quite comfortable for warm weather. My college roommate was an aspiring nudist, so the line intrigued her because in an ideal situation she'd wear no clothes.

  This is a cover version by a British band called The Beautiful South. I actually saw them live when I was in high school; they opened for Barenaked Ladies, and I was so interested that I immediately went and bought a few of their albums. Apparently they're quite popular over there, but I haven't met too many Americans who are into them. This is the first time I've managed to include them on a playlist, which makes me happy and yet somewhat sad, because I think I should have put them on one before. In future I shall attempt to include one of their original songs.

   

  4. NYC Weather Report, by Five For Fighting
  

   

  Another band I like but somehow hasn't made it on a playlist before. I'm not sure what this song is about or what it means, but I like it. It reminds me of springtime in New York City, and my ex and taking the bus or train across the Meadowlands, which are the closest you can get to middle-of-nowhere in North Jersey. If you ignore the distant cities and the fact that you're on a train, and just look at the acres of golden grass, you can get the impression of what this place was like before people came and built things. From what I understand, the area is protected natural habitat, and largely swampland, which is why you can't build anything on it. I would like one day to stop on the side of the road and just take some photos, but they discourage such things on the Turnpike.

   

  5. Diane, by Guster

  "I watched you board a train, in the London rain, and waved bye-bye as you slipped out of view."

  Guster is a band I like, and have liked for quite some time, but don't have a lot of music by. Many of their songs seem to be about dysfunctional relationships. This is no exception. Though the chorus sings, "We'll make it out together," I get the impression that when she boards the train in the London rain, it's sort of a final good-bye.

   

  6. The Storm, by Gaelic Storm

  No lyrics to discuss with this one, but I think it's fairly obvious why it's included. :)

  Gaelic Storm sometimes does covers of traditional Irish folk tunes and sometimes does their own music. This is one of their original compositions. If I remember right, the liner notes for this album basically apologized for the unoriginal title of the tune, but I think it's awesome and the music totally conveys thunderstorm to me, and would even if they hadn't included the sound effect in the beginning.

  
  

  7. A Horse With No Name, by America

  "I been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of the rain."

  I've never understood why they didn't name the horse. I mean, seriously, you rode the dang thing all the way through the desert but you didn't bother to name it? Why not?

   

  So that's it for songs about the weather. Hope you didn't hate it.

  How's the weather by you?

  What kind of weather do you like?

   

  Next week, delving into the mystical and metaphysical with Songs About Dreams.

  Until then, enjoy the weather, and hope it is pleasant near you. :)
  

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