John Legend - No Other Love (Feat. Estelle)

Excellent song by John Legend and Estelle!  Though I have to say that picking Legend as part of his stage name kind of makes me wonder just how arrogant he must be!

In any case, please see the video below for music and lyrics.


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Bat For Lashes - Moon and Moon

Like every Bat for Lashes song, Moon and Moon sounds great but starts to hurt my head when I try to figure out what the song is saying, especially the first stanza.

Lover when you don't lay with me
I'm a huntress for a husband lost at sea
If I had you here, we were here together
I'd be boy and you'd be girl, beautiful

 I think I'm safe in assuming that Bats For Lashes (otherwise known as Natasha Khan) is talking about a guy from the "huntress for a husband" statement but what does she mean when she's saying "I'd be boy and you'd be girl."  Maybe the guy doesn't want to be a girl?  Maybe that's the reason he's not there and she's alone?

Much of the song seems like a call for help but I'm not sure who she is calling when she calls "moon and moon."  Anyone have any ideas?  If so, please comment!!

Please see the video below for music and lyrics.


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The Rakes - When Tom Cruise Cries

I love this song by The Rakes and it has the best title ever.  You know it's bad when Tom Cruise cries - it must be really bad then.

I'm sure Tom Cruise cried once again when the group split up in 2009.  They had three fairly good albums - When Tom Cruise Cries is from their second album, Ten New Messages (2007).  Doesn't seem available as an MP3 on iTunes or Amazon which is unfortunate but it is still available as a CD!

Please see the video below for music and lyrics.


If you like the song, please support the artist and buy their music!!

Movie - The Help (2011)

I've wanted to watch this movie for a while now.  I'm always interested in period pieces that bring an era to life.  While the movie explored the racial and political issues of the time, it was at a very superficial level.  The movie could have spent more time delving into the lives of the maids since those stories really brought home the power that the employers had over them.  My movie synopsis is as follows:

1. Young white southern girl, "Skeeter" Phelan (played by Emma Stone), is an aspiring writer.  She doesn't fit the normal southern belle mold and is stifled by the restrictions placed on women during the 1960's.  
2. Skeeter returns home after graduating college and settles for a job writing a housekeeping column for the local paper.  This is hardly her ideal position.  She's been rejected by all of the best publishing houses but she perseveres.  
3. The housekeeping column turns out to be a stretch since, of course, Skeeter's never done any housework.  She asks one of the local maids, Aibileen (played by Viola Davis in an exceptional performance) to help her with the weekly column.
4. As she spends time with Aibileen, Skeeter realizes there is an amazing story to be told.  These African-American maids are for all intents and purposes acting as mothers to the white children left in their care.  This is all the more bizarre since the maids'own children are being watched by others.
5. Skeeter gets the "go-ahead" from a publisher for the story but needs to convince maids to come forward and tell their stories. 
6. Even with the promise of anonymity, the risk to the maids is severe.  Repercussions are not just economic - the Ku Klux Klan is active, powerful and willing to make examples of anyone upsetting the separate but equal concept that is farcically in place to meet federal requirements.  But Skeeter needs to find women willing to take the risk to meet the publisher's demands.

The story continues with the effort of finding and gaining the trust of these maids.  And as they tell their stories, the viewer learns that a century after the Civil War, the south remains very much as it was in practice.  As mentioned earlier, I think more time could have been spent on "the Help" rather than Skeeter and her travails, but it was still an excellent movie.

Life lesson learned from the movie - treat the people who handle your food with the utmost respect!

I gave this movie three stars out of five.

More movie information can be found on IMDB and you can always buy the movie on Amazon!!!

The Downtown Fiction - I Just Wanna Run

This song by The Downtown Fiction is a paranoid's anthem!  Or perhaps it's just about running from your problems.  Either way,  it's an enjoyable song with catchy lyrics!

Video below contains music and lyrics to the song.



If you like the song, please support the artists and buy their music!!

Scouting For Girls - Take A Chance On Us

I like Scouting For Girls (I mean the group and not the activity).  They write good pop songs that are simple and without a lot of hidden meaning.  Sometime simple works just fine.  Their best known song is This Ain't A Love Song but I think this one is just as good if not better.

The London-based trio have been friends since childhood and two of the three met as Cub Scouts.  Their name is supposedly a take off on the Scouting for Boys handbook used by the Boy Scouts.

Please see the video below for music and lyrics.


If you like the song, please support the artists and buy their music!!

Martha Wainwright - Love is a Stranger

I like Martha Wainwright for her open and honest lyrics. Interesting song on a very interesting album. This song and You Cheated Me are my favorites on the album but there are plenty of other good ones as well.  An interesting piece of trivia - singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright is her brother.  It must run in the genes since both parents were also active musicians!

Please see the video below for music and lyrics.


If you like music, please support the artist and buy her song!!!

Reba McEntire - Cathy's Clown

Cathy's Clown was originally performed by The Everly Brothers in 1960 and was a fairly successful single for them.  In their version, the singer bemoans the fact that he is Cathy's Clown.

While it's a nice song, I prefer the Reba McEntire version where she's singing from the perspective of a third person watching the story unfold and is in love with the man who is Cathy's Clown.  Unrequited love abounds in this version!!.

Please see the video below for music and lyrics.


If you like the music, please buy the artist's song!!

Plushgun - A Crush to Pass the Time

Plushgun is an interesting group,  Don't take my word for it - look at the album cover and the title (Pins and Panzers).  This album is a listening pleasure and the songs are not the normal humdrum melodies. Heavy use of synthesizers aside, I think this is one of those unknown groups deserving of much more popularity!

A Crush to Pass the Time was such a cool song.  A horrible dating strategy but still a kinder gentler way to describe one's fear of taking a bold leap forward.

Please see the video below for music and lyrics.


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No Doubt - Looking Hot

It's been more than ten years since No Doubt's last album, Rock Steady.  No one could be blamed for thinking that the group was no longer together after that long a hiatus.  Even when they did get back together to start the new album, Push and Shove, in 2008, progress was so slow that it didn't seem like the album would ever come out.

In any case, it is out now and it's very good.  The ska-punk sound still shows up in some of the songs.  Settle Down was the first single off of the album and was released in the summer in advance of the September album release.  Looking Hot is scheduled for a November release as a single.  The video below contains the music and lyrics.  Please tell me what you think.


If you like the song, please support the artists and buy their music!!!