September 22, 2006

Another Unplayable 45, this time: vlogged!

Oh, my friends, are you in for a treat. Today's Unplayable 45 is vlogged.

Unplayable 45

And what a very vloggy vlog it is:



Some links to help you with that vlog. Here are the lyrics to "Here Comes the Night." And here are the lyrics to "Brown Eyed Girl," the song that came on the 60s channel as I emerged from the parking garage this evening and made contact once again with the satellite. Here's the episode of BloggingHeads.tv with David Corn and Byron York arguing about "Hubris" that somehow has something to do with this. And here you can find and explanation of what "snowball sampling" is. Hey, it all fits together in the vlog.

Anyway, back to the 45. Since I can't play it, I wanted to buy it on iTunes to relive the experience of listening to it, but all they had was a karaoke version of the Them recording. That was disappointing but enough to make me remember why I liked this enough to buy it. The guitar hook is quite profound. But I remember regretting spending my money on this, because I didn't like the sound of Van Morrison's voice. I never learned to like it later. I don't doubt that he's an excellent singer. There's just a tone to it that I find unappealing.

And I especially didn't like it back when I was a teenager. He sounded too much like an adult, like those soul singers with their heavy voices who were always singing about way too serious adult relationships. The ultimate example of a song of that kind for me was Percy Sledge singing "When a Man Loves a Woman." I could tell it was good, but I could not identify with what was going on there, with people deeply emotionally distraught about love problems. The adult quality was -- judged by the hippie ethic of my generation -- square. Love, love, love -- it should bring joy and universal good will -- none of this grasping and suffering.

24 comments:

Ruth Anne Adams said...

"I'm currently an adult."

Heh.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

I think it means you need to replace your Snowball microphone for your podcasts.

Ann Althouse said...

nedludd: Well, in the 60s we had "Let's Spend the Night Together." I'm not talking about references to sex, but to the emotional turmoil of serious relationships.

XWL said...

If you remember a particular discussion in the first Clerks film, you might not bandy the term 'snowball' about so casually.

(explicit and occaisonally misogynistic language at 'snowball' link)

Meade said...

1960 "Teenage Sonata" by Sam Cooke - not heavy, not adult, no grasping and no suffering; light, soulfully sweet, and joyful.

Ann Althouse said...

XWL: I do remember that and did think of that, actually, not that I meant to allude to it.

XWL said...

Any outrage expressed in my previous post regarding the casual use of the term 'snowball' was the mock kind, of course.

Probably all the snowballs popping into your consciousness are to remind you now that autumn has officially fallen, winter isn't far.

At least that would be the Joni Mitchell Circle Game type explanation.

And, while we are on the subject of nerds (which was a major theme in your vlog), Lev Grossman coined a new term when describing Ken Jennings, celebrinerd.

(the original article here, Ken's post here, my post here, the Urban Dictionary definition here)

Now there is a half hearted effort to get this out there as a word folks use.

Given your description of yourself in this vlog. I'm thinking that Prof. Althouse qualifies as a celebrinerd, at least in blogospheric terms.

Of course, pretty much every lawblogger, and for that matter almost every blogger of note could be called a celebrinerd.

Ann Althouse said...

When it comes to "Gloria," of course, I prefer Patti Smith. (But I did have the Shadows of Knight version when it came out, though not anymore.)

Simon said...

Ah, another vlog. The perfect rejoinder the the femisting mafia's argument that you're just jealous of Jessica's looks. ;)

Ann Althouse said...

Rob: Ugh! I became a big fan of Patti Smith when I saw her by accident at a club back when she was doing poetry readings but at one point broke into the song "Gloria." It was the coolest thing I ever saw. I'm not interested in later Patti Smith and "Because the Night" isn't anything to me. I basically like the first album. I have a single too. Maybe I'll scan it tomorrow.

Kev said...

When I first saw the Parrot record label on that 45, what came to mind was Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "The Monster Mash," which was recorded on that label (along with a lot of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck...the pop singer, that is, not the classical composer).

vbspurs said...

vlogged!

First, loved how you're on Youtube now, Ann, since 2006 is the Year of the Youtube (just like 1906 was the year of the hobble skirt).

But here's my beef.

HOW EXACTLY DOES THE YOUTUBE PROGRAMME DECIDE WHICH MOMENT OF YOUR VIDEO TO FREEZE?

Sorry to shout, but this is driving me nuts.

Look at your freeze-capture moment in your vlog.

You seem either in agony (having perchance seen a squirrel, or horrors, a bat), or about to sneeze or in the throes of a Linda Lovelace multiple orgasm!

It's very discomfitting, and rather like false advertising, IMHO.

Look at my own Youtube effort here.

Heaven knows why the code decided to feature Brad Pitt in Interview with a Vampire, instead of the million other possible screenshots available, in my traipse across South Florida programming.

Not that I mind looking at Brad Pitt, anymore than I mind looking at you mid-ecstacy, either.

But dammit, be honest about it, Youtube!

Cheers,
Victoria

amba said...

Speaking of new terms (somebody did), could somebody please come up with a better term for a vlog than "Vlog"? Or is it too late? It sounds . . . Russian. (A Russian typo? The Vloga Boat Song?) Vlog the Impaler. And now "pzizz," like "Pnin."

It also sounds like what was done to Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ," which can also be part of an obscenity -- "Vlog the Dummy"? (Very funny link, if you can stand it. Adjusting the antenna?)

Suppose you could call it a Tublog, but that sounds like a Danish beer.

Some of these words do not deserve to catch on.

amba said...

Ack. (By contrast, I've always loved "blog." It just doesn't translate well into "Russian.")

vbspurs: If you ask me, in the freeze frame Ann is singing. (Haven't watched it.)

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Victoria: My guess is that YouTube freezes the frame at the midpoint of the clip, whatever its length.

When you see that frame, you know you're half-way done.

This is not based on fact, only my supposition and observation.

SippicanCottage said...
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Ann Althouse said...

Sippi: Thanks for the clip, painful though it is. Badly played and sung, and the guy that introduces them makes a child molestation joke.

I think this song is a lot like the Yardbirds, which is a band I really did like. So I don't really have a coherent theory. I was going to say that I disliked a heavy, humorless presentation of love relationships, but I wasn't consistent about that, for whatever reason.

SippicanCottage said...
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Ann Althouse said...

Alan: George had a window where I have a wall. I also have a sofa. Once I opened my door and found a stranger sleeping on it!

SippicanCottage said...
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amba said...

The early Van Morrison song I liked a lot was "Domino," which was danceable (a big criterion for me), but I never understood the lyrics. It just now occurred to me that it's not 1970 any more (thinking about an old song takes you back, if you're tech-tarded and don't have an iPod) and I can Google them. So here they are. I still don't understand the chorus, but this says it's a tribute to Fats Domino.

SippicanCottage said...
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Anonymous said...

great, hilarious, rambling, coherent vlog....btw my one very favorite van song after all these years is actually "coney island"...

Hazy Dave said...

Van and BANG records had very different ideas about which direction Van should go after "Brown Eyed Girl". Van ultimately got his way (and has been following his muse nearly 40 years now), but visit here

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/
09/van_morrisons_c.html

for a delightful indication of his strategy for getting out of his contract with Bert Berns (earlier the writer and producer of "Here Comes The Night").