Unpopular Opinions

[Mark Foote]

5 hours ago, Daniel said:

 

I object, your honor.  I am a hugger, not slugger.  Or at least that is my aspiration.

 

That said... exhibit A.  8:22 minutes of... "I don't know what"  Is it music?  See below:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

That's amazing.  I'm still listening to the track, 5 minutes in! 

I prefer it, over some Schoenberg somebody recommended the other day.

Probably my favorite Beatles tune:
 

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Mark Foote

[Daniel]

3 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

That's amazing.  I'm still listening to the track, 5 minutes in! 

I prefer it, over some Schoenberg somebody recommended the other day.

Probably my favorite Beatles tune: You know My Name ( Look Up My Number )

 

I had never heard that song before.  They have a huge library.  There's a wiki page on it which was an interesting read.  It's the B side of the "Let it Be" single.  So, if someone bought "Let it Be", on the flip side would be this bizarre silly song. 

 

Apparently the song is intended to be comedy, and was inspired by John seeing a phone book with the song title on it.  And they wrote a song about it.  In the wiki article, it describes some unique element of the chord changes.  I listened for them, but, my ear is not good enough to detect anything but what sounds like a standard 4 chord progression over a common rhythm.  The marble-mouth lyrics at the very end are my favorite part.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Know_My_Name_(Look_Up_the_Number)

[Michael Sternbach]

12 hours ago, Apech said:

 

Funnily enough - and I speak as a English person - I have found it hard to find anyone in my compatriots or even other countries who actually likes the Beatles.  I think they have their place in music history in the sense of what happened in the early sixties but beyond that I would never choose to listen to a Beatles song.

 

 

 

Hey, man, don't be square! That comment really bummed me out! Lemme tell ya, the Fab Four are totally outta sight! Last night, when my pals and I were getting loaded in that karaoke bar and all singing Yesterday, it really got our groove on! I mean... Just boss! Jinx!*

 

* You owe me a coke.

[Daniel]

unpopular opinion:  It's not called a 'soda' it's a 'pop'.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_soft_drinks_in_the_United_States#Pop

[Apech]

7 minutes ago, Daniel said:

unpopular opinion:  It's not called a 'soda' it's a 'pop'.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_soft_drinks_in_the_United_States#Pop

It’s properly called a fizzy drink.

[silent thunder]

Aside from opinions, popular or not, about The Beatle's abilities as musicians... their impact as artists seems rather unparalleled when looking back on the scope of their influence.  Here we are still talkin' about em.

 

Their process, chemistry and approach to their craft and how they shared their stories through song and film indelibly imprinted Western culture, musicians and film makers still honor at the altar of their muse.

 

I wonder if it was their openness and naivete that drew people in the way it did.  I didn't care for them until my 30's, then rediscovered them with a new ear and have come to deeply appreciate them.

 

It doesn't take complex chord progressions to connect.  And they sure connected with folks.  Still do. 

I regularly hear my son (17) humming George's tunes in particular, when in the shower.

 

Something about sharing an aspect of one's self that's authentic seems to cut through and connect with others.

 

I used to knock them for their overly simplistic music.  Pink Floyd too.  'Friggin bean bag music' I used to call it.  Now, I marvel at the same.

 

Simplicity, the longer I manage to remain in this life, reveals itself as the height of sophistication.  Though I suspect simplicity has always been, if not unpopular, then usually beneath notice.

[Daniel]

3 hours ago, Apech said:

It’s properly called a fizzy drink.

 

fizzy-lifting-drink?  LINK ( YouTube scene from Willy-Wonka )

 

The gas makes you float.  Hopefully.

 

[Nungali]

9 hours ago, Apech said:

It’s properly called a fizzy drink.

 

 

[silent thunder]

He drinks a vodka drink...

He drinks a fizzy drink...

[Daniel]

The less I seek my source for some definitive
The less I seek my source, closer I am to fine

- The Indigo Girls

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Daniel

[Apech]

10 hours ago, Daniel said:

The less I seek my source for some definitive
The less I seek my source, closer I am to fine

- The Indigo Girls

 

 

source

sauce

saws

sores

soars

George Soros

 

... you see who is behind this?

[silent thunder]

most definitely unpopular!

[Nungali]

We are all possessed .

[Mark Foote]

On 9/8/2023 at 8:33 AM, silent thunder said:

 

Something about sharing an aspect of one's self that's authentic seems to cut through and connect with others.
 

 

I had a significant other, who hung with a Sufi tribe.  They were all heirs of Sufi Sam, who lived in San Francisco and invented the "Universal Dances of Peace".  Wonderful dances, slow like the start of a Greek dance with lots of movement and changing of partners, everyone singing.

The idea was originally to convey the essence of Sufism through music.

But I digress.  The sheik of the group and a close friend could play Beatles songs on acoustic guitars like the Beatles.  Everyone would sing along.  Forty years after the Beatles, such a good time had by all.  Something authentic, that carries on.  
 

 

Quote

 

Simplicity, the longer I manage to remain in this life, reveals itself as the height of sophistication.  Though I suspect simplicity has always been, if not unpopular, then usually beneath notice.
 

Saving grace!

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Mark Foote

[steve]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:33 AM, silent thunder said:

Aside from opinions, popular or not, about The Beatle's abilities as musicians... their impact as artists seems rather unparalleled when looking back on the scope of their influence.  Here we are still talkin' about em.

 

Their process, chemistry and approach to their craft and how they shared their stories through song and film indelibly imprinted Western culture, musicians and film makers still honor at the altar of their muse.

 

I wonder if it was their openness and naivete that drew people in the way it did.  I didn't care for them until my 30's, then rediscovered them with a new ear and have come to deeply appreciate them.

 

It doesn't take complex chord progressions to connect.  And they sure connected with folks.  Still do. 

I regularly hear my son (17) humming George's tunes in particular, when in the shower.

 

Something about sharing an aspect of one's self that's authentic seems to cut through and connect with others.

 

I used to knock them for their overly simplistic music.  Pink Floyd too.  'Friggin bean bag music' I used to call it.  Now, I marvel at the same.

 

Simplicity, the longer I manage to remain in this life, reveals itself as the height of sophistication.  Though I suspect simplicity has always been, if not unpopular, then usually beneath notice.

 

If you haven't seen it yet consider checking out The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary about their final sessions and performance together by Peter Jackson. It's long but really wonderful if you're a fan. 

[liminal_luke]

14 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

 

I had a significant other, who hung with a Sufi tribe.  They were all heirs of Sufi Sam, who lived in San Francisco and invented the "Universal Dances of Peace".  Wonderful dances, slow like the start of a Greek dance with lots of movement and changing of partners, everyone singing.
 

 

Your posting brought back memories of Jamshed, an old sufi teacher of mine, who also taught those dances.  Small world....

[steve]

On 9/7/2023 at 4:24 PM, Taomeow said:

 

If I'm not missing something, in all of the history of rock music only one guy attempted to tackle something taoist before you -- Syd Barrett. 

 

Here are a few others, some quite explicit and others open to interpretation and my own projection:

 

The Inner Light by George Harrison (lyrics adapted from Juan Mascaro's translation of Ch. 47 of DDJ)

All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (lyrics adapted from Timothy Leary's poem All Things Pass - Lao Tzu)

Within You Without You by The Beatles (probably more Veda-influenced but that last line!)

Sitting by the Riverside by The Kinks

Let's Live for Today by the Grassroots

Letting the Days Go By by the Talking Heads

 

[Taomeow]

6 hours ago, steve said:

 

Here are a few others, some quite explicit and others open to interpretation and my own projection:

 

The Inner Light by George Harrison (lyrics adapted from Juan Mascaro's translation of Ch. 47 of DDJ)

All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (lyrics adapted from Timothy Leary's poem All Things Pass - Lao Tzu)

Within You Without You by The Beatles (probably more Veda-influenced but that last line!)

Sitting by the Riverside by The Kinks

Let's Live for Today by the Grassroots

Letting the Days Go By by the Talking Heads

 

 

Thank you.  I'll have to check them out.  My rock years and my taoist years didn't coincide in time, so I could easily miss the references to the latter within the former.  Even Chapter 24 was a hind sight realization -- when reading Wilhelm/Baynes for the first time, it dawned on me -- hey, it's almost verbatim that watchumacallit song!  Now what was it called again?...  Oh...

 

I will forever be grateful to The Beatles for helping me study English in my teens in ways my teachers couldn't hope to.  Many (not the best of course) rock bands of the time and pretty much all of them today mince words something horrible, their enunciation skills are beyond nonexistent.  Besides, I eventually inherited John Lennon's therapist, and it caused me to feel deep solidarity and empathy which made his songs resonate on a different level.   

[Mark Foote]

2 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

I will forever be grateful to The Beatles for helping me study English in my teens in ways my teachers couldn't hope to.  Many (not the best of course) rock bands of the time and pretty much all of them today mince words something horrible, their enunciation skills are beyond nonexistent.  Besides, I eventually inherited John Lennon's therapist, and it caused me to feel deep solidarity and empathy which made his songs resonate on a different level.   
 

Took me until the 2000's I think to recognize that Mick Jagger had perfect enunciation in all those early Stones songs.  I could actually make out the lyric he was singing, and that was not true for many other rock singers in those days.  Or, as you point out, since.

TV shows and movies these days, I pretty much need the captions on.  The art of projection has fallen out of favor.

John Lennon's were the songs that inspired me, on the Beatles albums.  From "I'll Get You" right through "Revolution", his were the chords, the rhythms, and the lyrics that really moved me (I'll give Paul credit for "Here, There, and Everywhere", though).

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Mark Foote said:

Took me until the 2000's I think to recognize that Mick Jagger had perfect enunciation in all those early Stones songs.  I could actually make out the lyric he was singing, and that was not true for many other rock singers in those days.  Or, as you point out, since.

TV shows and movies these days, I pretty much need the captions on.  The art of projection has fallen out of favor.

John Lennon's were the songs that inspired me, on the Beatles albums.  From "I'll Get You" right through "Revolution", his were the chords, the rhythms, and the lyrics that really moved me (I'll give Paul credit for "Here, There, and Everywhere", though).

 

If it was hard to make out many of the lyrics even for a native speaker, imagine the frustration of someone who's only learning a foreign language.  I compensated by making things up.  But with The Beatles, only occasionally did I have to come up with  masterpieces like "a girl with colitis goes by" (couldn't make out "kaleidoscope eyes" so poor Lucy had to suffer).

 

Mick Jagger blew my mind circa 2000 too but for another reason -- that's when I found out that "Sympathy for the Devil" was written under the influence of Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" which made an impression on him.  Because it used to be my favorite book for many years, I often lamented the impossibility of an adequate translation (which is indeed impossible, because the way the language itself is used therein may well be the main protagonist of that book).  So I thought it would be largely lost on anyone except native speakers, and was stoked to find out that it inspired that cool song (although Jagger's devil is grossly simplified compared to Bulgakov's complex character, but then, a rock song is not a novel, and a rocking devil doesn't have to imitate a pensive one tired of "same old same old" about us humans, after all those centuries.)      

[Daniel]

Unpopular opinion:  lurker is my new favorite word.  it is so much fun to say.  

[oak]

9 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Unpopular opinion:  lurker is my new favorite word.  it is so much fun to say.  

 

99 lurkers of TDB on the wall... yeah feels like getting drunk and sing all night long...

[oak]

"To speak rarely is natural..." DDJ...23...I'm confused now....is it in the DDJ 23 or The Dao of lurkers ? 🤭

[liminal_luke]

What if a lurker is pressured to post and then we all change our minds?  Will the mods send a message: we really wanted you to speak up, but on second thought...

[Cobie]

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Edited September 19, 2023 by Cobie