King Sunny Ade and His African Beats, and it's been a long long long long long time
Today iTunes used its magical abilities to conjure music out of nowhere. I am aware that computers come installed with "sample" music and promos, and I know that iTunes for testing purposes gives you a couple more. In my mysterious "Shared" drived and music folder I found plenty of one-track album-titled folders, along with complementary images of the corresponding album cover. But no amount of promo can explain the entire CD of "King Sunny Ade and His African Beats."
Yes, my friends, you heard me right. I am the proud new owner of the ridiculous bizarre King Sunny Ade and His African Beats. Not only is the artist called King Sunny Ade, but the CD is in fact entirely in African. It sounds like the Weather Channel might sound like if you turned it on in Kenya.
Where the hell did it come from?!
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Going along with the random theme, I got one promo song that I really really like: "Long Long Time" by Guy Forsyth. A lot of you guys (Mike, Stephen, Weifei, and Marc all come instantly to mind) would probably like it a lot, too. The "long, long time" singing sounds almost Oldies and surprised me at first, but Guy's talking-singing between the choruses sounds a lot like Cake. And the words... the words are great. Read 'em sans choruses and if you're anything like me you will really feel 'em.
"When I was a kid I used to draw airplanes with stars and bars shooting down airplanes adorned with hammers and sickles. I bought a hundred water guns so I could save the world, saving my lunch money stealing my father’s quarters, dimes and nickels. I discovered religion watching Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star by letting go and closing his eyes. And I devoured comic books, three color mythologies taught me right from wrong, and if you believed you could fly.
"I remember hearing songs about trains and feeling the rush of wonder that the world was both infinite and accessible all at the same time. Then it was songs about highways and Born to be Wild and Little Red Corvette and the road went on forever in my mind. But now its clogged with stinking SUVs and two story pickup trucks that can climb over anything but the two story pickup truck right in front of it. Now even the highways look the same, Starbucks and 7-11s and Wal-Mart's line the feeder roads. We don’t live around this mess: we live under it.
"Now all the songs are about gangsters and guns and the TV speeds by at a hundred deaths an hour and everyone wants to pull off the crime of the century. Steal 200 gazillion dollars, enough to buy myself an island and build a real honest to God train on it for no one but me. And get away with it, get away with it. We Americans are Freedom loving people and nothing says freedom like getting away with it.
"We went from Billy The Kid to Richard Nixon, Enron, Exxon, OJ Simpson. We used to dream about heroes but now it's just how to beat the system. So where do we go to dream now? Up on the rooftop of the projects, straining through the city lights to see if they’ve built golden arches on the moon yet? Self-medicated, half-sedated, trying our best to stay distracted, living life according to the TV set? Corporations owning nations, telling us don’t change the station, it’s the only safe way to win the human race.
"I wonder how the world sees us, rich beyond compare, powerful without equal? A spoiled drunk 15-year-old waving a gun in their face.
"Its been a long, long , long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time...."
Yes, my friends, you heard me right. I am the proud new owner of the ridiculous bizarre King Sunny Ade and His African Beats. Not only is the artist called King Sunny Ade, but the CD is in fact entirely in African. It sounds like the Weather Channel might sound like if you turned it on in Kenya.
Where the hell did it come from?!
=======
Going along with the random theme, I got one promo song that I really really like: "Long Long Time" by Guy Forsyth. A lot of you guys (Mike, Stephen, Weifei, and Marc all come instantly to mind) would probably like it a lot, too. The "long, long time" singing sounds almost Oldies and surprised me at first, but Guy's talking-singing between the choruses sounds a lot like Cake. And the words... the words are great. Read 'em sans choruses and if you're anything like me you will really feel 'em.
"When I was a kid I used to draw airplanes with stars and bars shooting down airplanes adorned with hammers and sickles. I bought a hundred water guns so I could save the world, saving my lunch money stealing my father’s quarters, dimes and nickels. I discovered religion watching Luke Skywalker rescue Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star by letting go and closing his eyes. And I devoured comic books, three color mythologies taught me right from wrong, and if you believed you could fly.
"I remember hearing songs about trains and feeling the rush of wonder that the world was both infinite and accessible all at the same time. Then it was songs about highways and Born to be Wild and Little Red Corvette and the road went on forever in my mind. But now its clogged with stinking SUVs and two story pickup trucks that can climb over anything but the two story pickup truck right in front of it. Now even the highways look the same, Starbucks and 7-11s and Wal-Mart's line the feeder roads. We don’t live around this mess: we live under it.
"Now all the songs are about gangsters and guns and the TV speeds by at a hundred deaths an hour and everyone wants to pull off the crime of the century. Steal 200 gazillion dollars, enough to buy myself an island and build a real honest to God train on it for no one but me. And get away with it, get away with it. We Americans are Freedom loving people and nothing says freedom like getting away with it.
"We went from Billy The Kid to Richard Nixon, Enron, Exxon, OJ Simpson. We used to dream about heroes but now it's just how to beat the system. So where do we go to dream now? Up on the rooftop of the projects, straining through the city lights to see if they’ve built golden arches on the moon yet? Self-medicated, half-sedated, trying our best to stay distracted, living life according to the TV set? Corporations owning nations, telling us don’t change the station, it’s the only safe way to win the human race.
"I wonder how the world sees us, rich beyond compare, powerful without equal? A spoiled drunk 15-year-old waving a gun in their face.
"Its been a long, long , long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time...."