Bet you all were expecting me to choose "Winter", weren't you? Well you know me. I like to keep things...unpredictable. The delicate piano part mirrors the settling of the snow, as the flakes freeze into something harder, colder. And then they let go into Spring, in a magnificent release (the song also describes a whole other kind of release in great detail ::blushes::).
I cannot tell the story of the song better than Tori herself can (oh how wonderfully witty she used to be before her "earth mother" phase). The blasphemy comes free, as does the Robert Plant impersonation.
Winter song time! Brrrrr...London's turned cold! After one of the mildest autumns in recent memory, nature is exercising her harshest punishment: freezing winds and ice rain. All the more reason to stay inside with a warm cup of tea and think about the songs that make us feel a little bit warmer in the wintertime.
"White Days" has to be one of my all-time favorite songs by The Juliana Theory, one of my all-time favorite bands (the devotion of an 16 year old never quite dies...). The fifth track from Love, it's the best example of how the band combined electronica style fast guitar riffs with classic song-writing.
I was always amazed how the band recreated the sounds almost perfectly live without any pre-recorded tracks or extra players. (My college roomate and I did manage to get pretty close to figuring out, to the endless unhappiness of our neighbors).
Anyways, it's a bit more melancholy than most of their tunes, which makes it perfect listening for a winter's day.
I couldn't find a good video of the song, so you get this weird fanvid instead:
Welcome back to this month's Song of the Day series, celebrating our transition to that most dark of seasons: winter. Today's special? "Hazy Shade of Winter," Bangles version.
Despite being a diehard fan of Simon and Garfunkel, this is one of those rare cases where the cover is clearly superior to the original. Sorry SG, but girl rock with killer riffs wins almost every time.
The original was featured on the soundtrack of The Graduate, while the cover was featured in Less than Zero (look out for the band, who make cameos throughout the movie).
Because this website isn't enough of a schizophrenic mess, I've decided to add a song of the day feature. But just to jazz it up, it will be themed (thanks for the suggestion, @lurrel!)
This month's theme shall be: Winter Songs! I've got a great line up for you already, and I'll try to keep an ongoing spotify playlist as we go. I welcome your recommendations, but I won't guarantee that they'll be featured.
As it's already the 3rd, you guys get a double dose today.
Let's kick things off with "Northern Sky," by Nick Drake, which the NME once described with far too many qualifications as "the greatest English love song of modern times." Typical NME dithering about what truly is one of the loveliest songs...ever.
Instrumentation was provided by John Cale of The Velvet Underground, who had his hands in many of the great tracks of the 1970's, whether you realize it or not.
Our second song today is actually a tribute to Nick Drake, and is based on the lyrics of "Northern Sky" (connections, aint they fun?). It's hypnotic and gorgeous, and in one of the ironies that likely would have sent Drake to his grave if he weren't already dead, it was a much bigger hit than any of Drake's songs ever were. But really, it's just as beautiful.
Ironically, Nick Drake himself would only find mainstream fame after being featured in a Volkswagen ad in 2000. He went from being completely unknown to the 5th best-selling artist on Amazon in 2000. So advertising...isn't all bad?
Weigh in, folks. What are your favorite winter songs?
