Day #22 of the 30 Day Music Meme

[shadowkat]

Day #22 of the 30 Day Music Meme - a song that moves you forward.

This is my favorite Leonard Cohen song. It's not as well known as his other songs...and I didn't even know it existed until a few years ago.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[wendelah1]

I love Leonard Cohen. My favorite is "Anthem."

[shadowkat]

Another lesser known song. He has his overplayed songs - like Halluegha, but then there's the quiet gems that are lesser known. I've almost all his albums. I adore him.

[cjlasky7]

Gotta admit, I stopped in the mid-90s after "The Future" and never caught up after that. This sounded like prime Cohen, though; the Biblical imagery was as potent as ever. Is the rest of "Old Ideas" as good as this one?

[shadowkat]

His last albums were quite good. Or so, I thought. I bought the one he released prior to his death - kind of like I did with Bowie.

I have no memory for song titles or music. I'm either looking it up, or I heard it really recently on my Iphone or via my Church's Zoom Services. So, I couldn't tell you one way or the other. Sorry.

[cjlasky7]

How do you move forward if your whole world has literally collapsed around you?

Bruce Springsteen, "The Rising"

https://youtu.be/eAx76S33n_s

Bruce confronted the pain and horror of 9/11 straight on, but he also conveyed the strength of the human spirit and how we can come together as a community. That is why "The Rising" was played at the Democratic convention last week; that's why the message is needed right now.

[atpo_onm]

Usually have to ponder these, but not this time. Flat out classic, very first thing that came to mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfAdHBtK_Q

"Meet the new boss..."

[beer_good_foamy]

Goddamn, I love that song. I've been repeatedly late to things because I happened to put that song on less than 8.31 minutes before I'm supposed to be somewhere.

[cjlasky7]

Great song. These guys sound interesting. Could you recommend some of their albums?

*rimshot*

I was going to do a full essay on this song in the "many meanings" category, but I chickened out. But since the song is here anyway, let me do a condensed version:

At first glance, the song is extremely cynical. The Woodstock nation has failed, and it's the same old bullshit dressed in new clothing.

But Townshend is really taking the more personal, spiritual view here. Any political or social movement goes through a cycle of discovery, vitality and decay, until something new pops up to replace it. It's the deeper, spiritual truths that you discover during that time that truly matter.

You see this in the other two of Townshend's major works. Tommy finds his higher truth, but his movement is corrupted by mass marketing and greed, and must inevitably fall. In Quadrophenia, Jimmy places his faith in the Mods, but is disillusioned when he finds their leader working as a bellboy at a posh seaside hotel. At the start of the album, Jimmy is at the seaside in Brighton, watching the waves roll in; at the end, he crashes his motorcycle on the rocks, rows out to sea on a boat and lets the rain wash over him ("Love Reign o'er Me"). The cycle brings him back around to a more elemental truth.

I could say a lot more here, but I might actually need to get something done today....

[beer_good_foamy]

Midnight Oil tried to make a career out of writing songs that got the audience to act. And they arguably never topped the first track on their first album.

There's a shit storm a-comin'! I can feel it's coming soon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LogqbxpCFcc