Tuesday 17 February 2009

Waxing Lyrical


I was looking for the meaning of a song and stumbled across this great little website.

It does exactly what it says on the tin - it has the lyrics of nearly half a million songs, by tens of thousands of different artists, and basically allows Joe Public to post comments about the songs.

I absolutely love music, but it's strange how often I'll hear the music but not listen to the words. A reminder to slow down and enjoy the ride.

A lot of songs are open to interpretation by the listener - a quick random scan of the website shows many differences of opinions over the meanings of certain songs. But hey, isn't that the beauty of the English (and other) language(s), and of music in general?

I've added this site to my favourites, it makes for a great wasted afternoon.

By the way, I was looking for an explanation of La Tristesse Durera (Scream To A Sigh) by Manic Street Preachers. I never really paused to think about this song's meaning, but it's become a little clearer now.

Monday 2 February 2009

The Blues Are Still Blue





I've not been myself recently. Don't worry, I'm not gonna lay my soul bare on this blog, well not too much. But today in particular I had a dose of the February Blues.


Statistically, today was the day of the year on which most people "throw a sickie" at work. Ignoring the bloody awful weather we had today, the weather is generally shit this time of year anyway, the Christmas party season is a distant memory, every one's still skint, the days are still short, New Year's Resolutions have generally run out of steam, no imminent bank holidays to look forward to, credit crunch, need I go on?



Before you all start running a hot bath & open a packet of razor blades & crack open a bottle of strong vodka, I should point out that my New Year's Resolution this year was to Think More Positively. With this in mind I have dedicated this post to 20 Reasons To Be Cheerful (with apologies to the late Ian Dury, 1,2,3):




  1. The Ashes are round the corner. OK, England might not be in the best shape they've ever been in what with the Kevin Pietersen/Peter Moores shenanigans, but the Aussies are a team in transition, and the atmosphere will be electric.

  2. It looks like Kris Marshall is about to get back together with his MILF in the latest BT advert.

  3. England are on track to qualify for the World Cup. At last, a manager who is getting the best out of a mediocre bunch of overpaid, egotistical professional footballers. Keep up the good work, Fabio.

  4. Tabasco Sauce. It adds a kick to my Spag Bol.

  5. Life's Too Short. It really is. Go travelling. Learn to play guitar. Leave your job. Ask her out. Relocate. Quite apt that today is also Groundhog Day.

  6. The new Cadburys advert with the kids with the twitching eyebrows. Well, it makes me laugh.

  7. Six Nations. Yep, a poor substitute for football, and it's essentially a load of posh blokes chasing an egg. But the older I get the more I'm getting into it. And you can watch the game with a pint in your hand. And a good chance to beat the Scots/Welsh/French/Italians/Irish at something (tho not very likely with our current crop of players).

  8. However old or young you are, there's still a real thrill when building a snowman with fresh snow.

  9. QPR are on the up. Rich owners, building up the team slowly but progressively, bright young manager, even an outside chance of the playoffs & a trip to Wembley this season.

  10. Elisabetta Gregoraci.

  11. Solstice. The days are getting longer and summer's approaching. Yay!

  12. There's still loads & loads of good people on this planet.

  13. Twitter. The new facebook?

  14. Bon Iver. There's always good new music.

  15. Oasis - at long overdue last, I'm finally getting to see these dudes play live this year.

  16. Gavin & Stacey - feel-good and funny.

  17. New series of The Apprentice.

  18. A bit of grin and bear it, a bit of come and share it.

  19. Akos Buzsaky.

  20. If all else fails, just select Nina Simone Feeling Good on your ipod.