World's gotta see, see all the love, love that's in me

I've shied away from participating in blog memes over the past while.  Not least because two of the words I strive to keep out of most of my posts are 'blog' and 'meme'.  I have never liked either.  Neologisms are one of the driving forces that continue the evolution of the English language, and I love to butcher a hearty bon mot into something mildly amusing yet understandable as much as the next fella.  (Discombobulatorium - noun - a small, hermetically sealed chamber where confusion is pumped into one's psyche.  "Why does Simon seem so stupid today?  It's like somebody put him in a discombobulatorium or something, you know?  Dude!")  But sometimes the ones that bleed into mainstream culture bug me.  Like 'blog' and 'meme'.

Don't even get me started on the gnashing of teeth and gouging of eyes I am reduced to when 'impact' is used as anything but a noun.  The transitive and intransitive verb forms of impact are, technically, correct, but they bug the hell out of me.  Perhaps because I work in an increasingly corporate environment and hear how things "will impact us" on an aggravatingly frequent basis.  The only time it's acceptable in my eyes is when describing a failed proton torpedo attack on the Death Star's small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port: "Negative, negative.  It just impacted on the surface."

But I digress.  This is all to say that this blog post is in response to being tagged for participation in a meme.  (Aargh!)  I hate you a little bit right now, Paul.  I have been asked to write about five or 10 (or whatever) songs that had an impact on my life.  (See!  noun.)  I like the challenge of this because music has rarely played a significant role in my life.  Not one of which I've been terribly conscious, anyway.

Let's jump into the WayBack Machine and see what I can dredge up.

Superman's Song, Crash Test Dummies

The Crash Test Dummies are the only thing of note I've ever known to come out of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Their debut album, The Ghosts That Haunt Me, was released in 1991 and the airwaves were awash with Superman's Song.  Big Hit.  That summer our family vacationed in Ontario and I remember pleading to head to the mall so I could pick up the tape.  (Yes, the tape.  Remember those?)

I spent much of the rest of the vacation plugged into my Sony Walkman, absorbing the bass drone of Brad Roberts' lead vocals, the deliciously unique lyrics of every song, and the folksy-country-rocksy music that was so unlike anything I'd ever heard before.  One of my younger cousins had a Fisher-Price tape player with a 'record' button, so I plugged in a blank tape, pressed 'play' on my Walkman, and recorded myself singing out loud to Superman's Song.  I could only hear Brad Roberts' voice, so of course I assumed I was singing along just as eloquently as he was dishing it out. 

Not so.  I was rather embarrassed when it got played in front of my aunt and uncle.  I often think of that time now when I belt out songs in the shower or the car, making sure that I'm not inflicting my musical stylings on anyone else.  That would be mean.

Alive, Pearl Jam

I was never a big fan of Nirvana or very much of the Seattle grunge scene, but Pearl Jam changed that perception.  The debut album Ten came out, and I never knew anything about it at the time.  I went on a camping trip that summer with three good friends, again it was 1991, and the one guy who drove told us he had to play us this new CD he got.  He popped open his trunk and both doors, turned the stereo up, and the opening guitar riff of Alive washed over us as we sat at dusk around a campfire.  We listened to that song a few times, and then made our way through the entire disc.  Awesomeness incarnate.

Ten is easily one of my favourite albums by any band ever.  (Even though it's always bothered me a little that there are 11 tracks on it.)  And Alive the sort of rock anthem that makes you wish your stereo went a little bit louder.  I bought it as soon as we got back from our trip.  Just like with the Dummies, I must have looked the fool trying to sing along, but I didn't care.  I went so far as to try to copy lead singer Eddie Vedder's quirky facial expressions as I sang along for a more authentic rendition.  Tried to be true to the spirit of the song.  I sucked at it, but I sucked so awesomely.

Can't Keep It In, Cat Stevens

My mother claims that both my brother and I have our own songs.  She says that a short while after each of us was born, she turned on the radio and that certain song was playing, just for us.  Mine was Morning Has Broken, by Cat Stevens.  I think it would have been vastly more amusing if Mom had turned on the radio to the newly-released Jungle Boogie in 1974, but she claims it was Cat Stevens.  Who am I to refute claims made by my mother?

Much as I do like my own song (thanks Mom!), pretty much my favourite song in the world ever is Can't Keep It In.  No matter what sort of pissy mood I may be in, this song has the power to lift me up out of it.  It's a feel-good, idealistic, up-beat, rose-tinted sort of song.  And I love it.

Oh I cant keep it in, I cant keep it in, I've gotta let it out.
I've got to show the world, world's got to see, see all the love
Love that's in me. I said, why walk alone, why worry when it's
Warm over here. you've got so much to say, say what you mean,
Mean what you're thinking, and think anything!

Sound Strange, Captain Tractor

Captain Tractor is a local indie band whose members all have real live day jobs to pay the bills.  I first saw them at a university function early in my post-secondary career and loved how fun they were.  Sort of reminded me a little of the Crash Test Dummies with their unique sound and genre-defying songs.  (Celtic Folk Rock if I were forced to peg it.)  I made a point of catching them live at every opportunity and saw them in concert 16 times by the time I graduated.  I still see them advertised for bar gigs every now and again.

Sound Strange is a sort of geek anthem of theirs.  And rest assured that the band has its fair share of geeks.  One of the guys who shares lead vocal duties had his last name legally changed to 'Skywalker'.  He's the one who wrote the lyrics and sings this particular little ditty.  I can't find it on YouTube, but the above link has the lyrics spelled out in full.  A sample:

Dried raisin bran, may be my favourite snack.
I may be losing my hair on top but there's plenty on my back.
You lost your virginity and you'll never get it back.
And if I ever liked you then taste is what I lack.

I really never liked you, since you cut your hair.
You always want to pick out the videos, and that's not really fair.
Since I found out you like Wesley, it's been really hard to care.
Our taste in Star Trek characters, is something we don't share.

O Canada & The Star Spangled Banner

Growing up, wee Canadians get an early and frequent exposure to our own and the American national anthems.  By the time we're in our teens, understanding blooms, and we no longer wonder who Jose is, or why it's so important to ensure he can see.

Even if you don't attend a lot of hockey games in person, you watch a LOT on TV.  And the anthems are always played and always broadcast on Hockey Night In Canada.  In our living room we wouldn't doff our caps or anything, but we'd mouth along with both anthems and watch the players stand on their respective blue lines, fidgeting, spitting, and staring up at the flags hanging from the rafters in the arena.

One of my favourite hockey memories is evenings spent in the living room at home, Hockey Night In Canada broadcasting on CBC with the TV muted and the radio blaring because the play-by-play guy on the AM station was way better than the TV guy.  Me and my stepdad were die-hard Edmonton Oilers fans, my mom was a Montreal Canadiens fan (largely because of her obsession with Guy LaFleur), and my brother, inexplicably, was a Calgary Flames fan.  It sometimes got a little raucous when any two of those three teams were playing.

Bonus Track:

All the Catholic hymns I sang in grade school and at church on Sundays into my teens. 

I still find myself humming or whistling many of them at random times.  I often have to stop and wonder what I'm humming before I realise I'm doing it.   My favourite was (and still is) Peace is Flowing Like a River.  The lyric I got wrong for so many years was, "... setting all the cactus free!"  It should have been 'captives', but the mental image of hordes of emancipated cacti rampaging through the desert has been a frequent source of amusement to me for years.

Comments

[Mark]

I admit I'm not as adamant about avoiding the words you mentioned, but I'm not crazy about them, either.

So... great blog post! Way to meme!

To me, if you're going to meme, this is the way to do it. Give some good background on your choice. I hate all those questionnaires that people send on *cough-cough* a certain popular social networking site. They have short answers that, in the end, reveal little about that person. My favorite number is 7, but probably for a much different reason than the next person who claims it.

I have to say, Superman's Song is one of the coolest ever. The pacing, the tone. The backing vocals. Not to mention the theme. And, of course, CTD rox!

For a while, every time I saw him my brother asked me to do my impression of Vedder singing "Alive." I have to agree, 10 was a great one.

Eerie that you chose the hymns you heard growing up. I, too, have hymns pop into my head at random points during the week. "There is pow'r, pow'r, wonder working pow'r... In the blood (in the blood), of the lamb (of the lamb)."

Yes,the apostrophes were printed in the hymnal. They served as reminders to skip the final syllable.

I'm blaming you for this flub, Simon. Just now, while trying to remember another hymn, I was internally singing, "At Calgary," instead of "At Calvary."

I like this meme. I might adopt it for my... online journal publication thing. (sorry such a long comment)

[JuJuBee]

Great songs, Simon...speaking of hockey, I have a couple good pics of The Cup to email to you, when I get a few minutes that don't involve children hanging from my limbs.

[Moksha Gren]

It's kinda sad...cuz I used to really love the word "meme" to discuss modern culture and religion and pretty much everything. Now it's become a cute word and it does indeed bug me. "Blog" on the other hand, is fine with me. Such an unattractive word, so Klingon in its root.

Aaaanywho...I liked your list. I too overplayed Ghost that Haunts Me and Ten. However, I find no joy in hearing Ten anymore. Sick of it to this day. Still love Pearl Jam, but it has to be the later stuff. It's probably linked with my illogical fad-avoidance thing, but that doesn't make it less real.

I get hymns stuck in my head too...but I don't know any of the words. I can't remember them from childhood and then I go to church with Moonshot's folks and get the melody in my head for months. Catchy tunes them hymns. I just make up my own words. I figure most of them were drinking songs before they were hymns, so I reckon they can take some lyrical alterations.

Like the new mug shot ;)

[Simon]

Mark, one thing I forgot about the original meme was to tag others who may be coerced into doing so. I normally don't like doing that either, but consider yourself so tagged. You're it!

JuJuBee, I will be envious of seeing pictures of hockey's Holy Grail, but I'd love to see them.

Moksha, one thing I didn't mention about Pearl Jam is how quickly I fell out of love with their newer stuff. Ten was a romp through awesome music, and I'm not really the sort to care much about whether it's popular or not. If I like it, I like it. Vs. was another good album, but not up to par with Ten. And then their stuff after that just went downhill in my opinion. Vedder's not the clearest singer to begin with, but he just kept mumbling more and more as their career went on.

I betcha that it'd be a load of fun to recreate well-known hymns with wholly inappropriate lyrics...

And thanks for that mug shot!

[wil]

"Emaciated cactus."

You're such a strange man!

[Émilie B]

"même", in French, is translated as "same". That's pretty boring.

Nice going, though. ;)

[Paul]

Ten is all kinds of awesome, as is anything and everything by Cat Stevens. By Cat Stevens, mind. That's doesn't include anything he released after he changed his name to Yusef Islaam. The Crash Test Dummies never really did much for me. I mean, their second big single was what? "Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmmm, mmm." That's about as entertainig as twelve minutes of "na, na, na, na...na, na, na, na...Hey Jude!"

[Mark]

Come on, Paul, "Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm" was only the chorus. That song made some good points about fitting in and individualism. And blind faith in religion.