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Monday, Aug 5 2019, 6AM
This was released as the second single off of their third studio album. This piano and vocal only piece was performed by the band's singer-songwriter Patrick Watson.
In 2004, Buckley's version was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." The same year Time called Buckley's version "exquisitely sung," observing "Cohen murmured the original like a dirge, but... Buckley treated the... song like a tiny capsule of humanity, using his voice to careen between glory and sadness, beauty and pain... It's one of the great songs." bit.ly
The song was inspired by the Depression-era photographs of Dorothea Lange, showing poverty-stricken Americans in Dust Bowl conditions.
Another remarkable song covered by many, many artists. John Lennon composed the song in one session, sitting at his white grand piano in Tittenhurst Park estate in England. John Lennon once called it "’Working Class Hero’ for conservatives,” and, in many ways, it challenges the status quo at its most fundamental. Read about the way these sweet lyrics have made so many uncomfortable: www.biography.com
"...soar like an eagle and have a glorious time!", Shawn! We miss you. He performed "Wrapped In My Memory" live as part of KEXP's Soul Day Broadcast in May 2016. bit.ly
"what started as a whisper slowly turned into a scream..." Here are the lyrics to this fine song: www.benharper.com
Neil Finn explained in an interview "I wrote that on my brother's piano. I'm not sure if I remember what the context was, exactly, but it was just about on the one hand feeling kind of lost, and on the other hand sort of urging myself on: Don't dream it's over. That one actually fell out literally, without me thinking about it too much." He sings it live here: www.youtube.com
There have been more mass shootings this year than there have been days. We're not putting up with this public health crisis. Today's set is all about continuing the fight and coming together with our community.
Lead singer, Bono, was interested in the theme of spiritual doubt, which was fostered by producer, Brian Eno's, love for gospel music, and by Bono's listening to songs by The Swan Silvertones, The Staple Singers, and Blind Willie Johnson.
Eddie Vedder said about the song "Daughter":
"The child in that song obviously has a learning difficulty, and it's only in the last few years that they've actually been able to diagnose these learning disabilities, that before were looked at as misbehavior; as just outright rebelliousness, but no one knew what it was. These kids, because they seemed unable or reluctant to learn, they'd end up getting the shit beaten outta them. The song ends, you know, with this idea of the shades going down—so that the neighbors can't see what happens next. What hurts about shit like that is that it ends up defining people's lives. They have to live with that abuse for the rest of their lives. Good, creative people are just fucking destroyed."
This Berlin-based duo said, "The song describes a time in everybody’s life that make you lose faith in yourself, in someone else, or in life itself and you just need to hear from someone that one day everything will be OK again. That no matter what, with time and patience we all will be OK.” : www.kexp.org
Stevens was recovering during what amounted to nearly a year of convalescence, after being diagnosed with a collapsed lung and tuberculosis. He spent three months in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, England, transferring afterward to another nine months of bedrest at home. Stevens, who was near death at the time he was admitted in the hospital, used the time he was recuperating for contemplation, and wrote dozens of songs, including "Trouble", many of which were recorded much later.
When he was hospitalized, Stevens was often alone in a very spare and plain room. He was told that at the time he was admitted, he had perhaps only a few weeks of life left in him. The effect on the 19-year-old pop star was pronounced. He said, "To go from the show business environment and find you are in hospital, getting injections day in and day out, and people around you are dying, it certainly changes your perspective. I got down to thinking about myself. It seemed almost as if I had my eyes shut." The song itself shows Stevens switching from heavily orchestrated pop music to a folk-rock emphasis.
"Put your helmet on, we'll be heading for a fall...."The band's Dave Sitek told NME: "The 'I keep telling myself...' line means that it might not be true. Everyone goes through that, on multiple levels. There's a lot of doubt floating around." Here are the lyrics: www.azlyrics.com
When Ben. E. King died in 2015, The Atlantic extolled him and this song, saying, "Ben E. King, dead at 76, contributed to so many classic hits, but "Stand by Me" alone would have ensured his immortality.": www.theatlantic.com
Previously unreleased cover of Simon and Garfunkle, pressed in 2014 for Record Store Day. "America" was inspired by a five-day road trip Simon went on in 1964 with his girlfriend at the time.
7:11 AM
17th spin
Julien Baker covered Frightened Rabbit's The Modern Leper. Tiny Changes was released after lead singer Scott Hutchison's untimely death in May 2018, at the age of 36.
"In July 1996, Radiohead started rehearsing and recording OK Computer in their Canned Applause studio, a converted shed near Didcot, Oxfordshire. Even without the deadline that contributed to the stress of The Bends, the band still had difficulties, which Selway blamed on their choice to self-produce: 'We're jumping from song to song, and when we started to run out of ideas, we'd move on to a new song... The stupid thing was that we were nearly finished when we'd move on, because so much work had gone into them.' The members worked with nearly equal roles in the production and formation of the music, though Yorke was still firmly 'the loudest voice' according to O'Brien. Selway said 'we give each other an awful lot of space to develop our parts, but at the same time we are all very critical about what the other person is doing.'" bit.ly
Wayne Coyne, commenting on 'Do You Realize??' said, 'Whenever I analyze the scientific realities of what it means to be living here on Earth – in this galaxy – spinning around the sun – flying through space – a terror shock seizes me!!! I'm reminded once again of how precarious our whole existence is...'" bit.ly
Tim Friese-Greene explains the song: "I had a drum pattern loosely inspired by Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' and Mark was playing 'Green Onions' organ over the top."
Today is the birthday of Nada Surf singer-songwriter and guitarist, Matthew Caws. We're celebrating with "Always Love."
Watch Sugar frontman Bob Mould's latest performance with KEXP right here: www.youtube.com
The video fro Ship of Fools is all 1987 goodness: www.youtube.com
The Waterboys perform at The Neptune on Tuesday, October 8, 2019! Show info here: www.stgpresents.org
Beautiful story of grief and gratitude from François. Thanks for sending this in. Music matters.
Off the debut solo album from the Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave frontwoman. Watch Hersh performing live at KEXP in 2016 here: bit.ly
Listener story about accepting herself after an abusive relationship. This cover is a reminder to love yourself and walk unafraid.
On many R.E.M. songs, Michael Stipe intentionally sings in an indecipherable manner. He sang very clearly on this track, however, because he had a very poignant message to deliver. "I don't remember singing it," he noted in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, "but I still kind of can't believe my voice is on this recording. It's very pure. This song instantly belonged to everyone except us, and that honestly means the world to me."
Listener story from Rachel about feeling isolated in high school. We've been there. We understand. Thanks for sharing.
Another powerful song from Bowie. Bowie describes the feelings behind the song: It's not as truly hostile about Americans as say "Born in the U.S.A.": it's merely sardonic. I was traveling in Java when [its] first McDonald's went up: it was like, "for f**k's sake." The invasion by any homogenized culture is so depressing, the erection of another Disney World in, say, Umbria, Italy, more so. It strangles the indigenous culture and narrows expression of life. www.kexp.org
"Reznor's early angst is on full display here, asking the big questions about faith and religion, begging for a sign of a higher power, and becoming dismayed when his questions aren't answered." Read more about this song and the other "best Nine Inch Nail songs": loudwire.com
You can "Join in the Chant" when Nitzer Ebb plays industrial goth at Neumos on Wednesday, September 25th. www.neumos.com
Off the influential L.A. rapper's tenth studio album Everythang's Corrupt, released in December 2018. “I just hate bullies, man,” Ice Cube said. “It’s time for the good people to take over. We’re not running from nothing. Bring it on.” icecube.com
In a 1991 interview with Melody Maker, Chuck D of Public Enemy explained: "'Can't Truss It' is about how the corporate world of today is just a different kind of slavery. We don't control what we create. And because of the media, we don't control the way we think or run our lives. We've got to limit working for a situation that's other than ours. We have no ownership of anything. If you don't own business, then you don't have jobs. White people have jobs because they have business. They have institutions that teach them how to live in America. Black people don't have institutions that teach them how to deal with shit. The Number One institution that teaches you how to deal is the family, but slavery fucked that up. So the song is about the ongoing cost of the holocaust. There was a Jewish holocaust, but there's a black holocaust that people still choose to ignore."
Released on this day in 1969, The Stooges' self-titled debut album opened the door for everything loud, hard and heavy that followed. These four misfits from Detroit took rock to the edge, pushing the boundaries with every note. Arriving so long before its time, The Stooges album was not welcomed in all corners. Even those who approved often did so with a curious kind of hesitation. "Their music is loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative and childish," Edmund Ward wrote in the Oct. 18, 1969, issue of Rolling Stone, before admitting, "I kind of like it."
Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) is a neurobiological brain disorder that affects approximately 2.3 million Americans today. You are not alone.
These lyrics refer to a speech made by Martin Luther King Jr., which paraphrases part of a well-known Bible verse, "whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Galatians 6:7). The speech was delivered at the end of the Selma to Montgomery March on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama. The final lines in that speech read "How Long? Not long, because 'you shall reap what you sow'."
"A beautiful immigrant..." Watch IDLES sing "Danny Nedelko" during an extraordinary live performance at KEXP in 2018: www.youtube.com
Watch rare footage of David Bowie and Freddie Mercury in this unofficial video of "Under Pressure": www.youtube.com Now, hear the isolated vocal track for this wonderful song: www.wimp.com
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh band formed in 1986. The song's theme is inspired by the Spanish Civil War, and the idealism of Welsh volunteers who joined the left-wing International Brigades fighting for the Spanish Republic against Francisco Franco's military rebels. The song takes its name from a Republican propaganda poster of the time written in English and displaying a photograph of a dead young child killed by the Nationalists, under a sky filled with bomber aircraft, with the song's titular warning written at the bottom. Sadly, the lyrics continue to be appropriate.
Elbow frontman Guy Garvey was one of the few musicians to oppose the American invasion of Iraq before it started. However after speaking openly about his own feelings, he felt other musicians were concerned about appearing anti-American as it might affect them when they came to tour the US. Garvey told Q magazine April 2009, that this was the background to this song. He explained: "I decided that outrage hadn't worked. The idea behind 'Leaders' was: I'm not terrified of you, I'm not angered by you, I'm going to ridicule you. I'm not sure if it worked. It felt very guttural and spontaneous at the time. The five of us write every song together but it all needed careful discussion."
When this single was released in 2002, it was initially only available for one day, because as Jez Williams said, "We liked the fact that you could only get a hold of a certain amount of this or a certain amount of that. Especially in this day and age of readily available bits of music, it's kind of nice: a physical copy that's precious to you because you managed to get to the shop that day and actually own that."
Mac McCaughan says of this song, "Written and recorded Dec 24, 2016 in a moment of trying to look at any possible bright side of the coming new year after the disaster that was this one." It was chosen as a KEXP Song of the Day: blog.kexp.org
Summer Cannibals stopped by for an in-studio session last month. That video should be up in about 6-8 weeks. KEXP.org
The local legends will be closing out their U.S. tour for The Center Won't Hold at the the Paramount Theatre (minus the incomparable Janet Weiss) for two nights on November 23rd and 24th. Find more info here: www.sleater-kinney.com
Patti Smith is an artist who has defied the boundaries of both genre and gender in her work. “There will be no nudity, but the naked mind," Patti Smith said in her extraordinary "Words and Music" retrospective in New York from September 2018. Read the article here: bit.ly
See the late, lamented Sharon Jones performing "this Land Is Your Land" live: www.youtube.com
"If a patriotic song can divide us, this song can heal that divide" bit.ly
Iconic Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning singer Lila Downs is one of the world’s most singular and powerful voices her compelling stage presence and poignant storytelling transcend all language barriers.
Check out the most recent in-studio session with Hurray for the Riff Raff on June 15th, 2017: bit.ly
Off XTC's fifth record, English Settlement, which likely remains among their best records. Only 9 dates were performed on the English Settlement tour before Andy Partridge suffered several fainting spells and breakdowns due to intense stagefright. You are not alone.
Playing 2 sold out shows at The Tractor, Thursday/Friday October 3/4.