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Be The Star That You Are
By Wambui Bahati
Copyright 2006 Wambui Bahati
When I was a child, I developed a great love and respect for the theater. From my early adult years through the present, I have had the good fortune of performing in some extraordinarily wonderful productions all over the country. It wasnt all a piece of cake though, as the saying goes. Life and work with the theater can be brutal on the psyche. When I used to audition regularly for shows in New York City, I found it was possible for me to be too tall, too short, too light, too dark, too skinny, too heavy, too young, too old, too pretty, and not pretty enough -- all in one morning.
Auditioning is about waiting or hoping to be chosen. I would enter a room and hope that I was what they were looking for. A role does not necessarily go to the most talented person (talent is after all, relative and depends heavily on personal opinion). It is much more than that though, casting a show is not just about finding the most brilliant performer. It involves finding a person who also fits the physical and vocal characteristics of the character, the right looks and the right voice. And besides that, there are not that many parts to go around. Therefore, no matter how many talented, gifted, awesome, or right-for-the-part people there may be, everyone is not going to get a part.
Even after we're cast and still pretty close to elated about working in a new show, we find that we are very dependent on the decisions of others. There are producers, writers, and designers a whole creative team is involved in a show. We can be creative within the boundaries that they set. They determine the lines we say, the songs we sing, who the other cast members are and whether or not we will be fired. On top of that, sometimes even the critics end up defining our roles in a given show.
Live theatre is wonderful! Fine actors and an excellent creative team can produce magic. They take someone's story mere words on paper and give it life, emotion, motion and excitement (hopefully). That's Theater.
Sadly, many of us live our personal lives as if they were someone else's theater production. We live our lives and limit our creativity to the boundaries set by others. Today I encourage you to be your own producer and creative team for your own personal life. We have the ability to produce and star in a magnificent, long-running, spectacular hit. That hit is our life.
Isn't it exciting? We don't have to wait to be chosen. We can cast ourselves in any role we want to play. The key is in deciding what that role might be. And it gets even better. In life, if we decide we don't like our part, we have the power to rewrite it. This is the Joy of (so-called) real-life. Yet, so many of us wait for others to dictate the role we will play. And worse yet, we feel powerless to do anything about it. We react instead of act. We must not allow any outside person or group of people to decide what part we are going to play in our own lives.
In commercial theater, there are no unimportant roles. If the role were not necessary, it would not have been written. Believe me when I say producers are not interested in paying an actor who is not a necessary part of the show. Likewise, the Universe did not create anyone or anything that is not necessary. You are necessary and every part you play is important.
In commercial theater, on nights when there is no show, the theater is referred to as being "dark." If being the star of our own show (remember, in real life every role is a starring role) gets to be too exhausting, we can exit the world stage without exiting life. It's called meditation or contemplation, and some call it prayer.
Closing
You Can't Catch Me
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSfx1nZTAuM">You Can't Catch Me</a>, Music and Lyrics by Chuck Berry. <a href="http://www.last.fm/music/The+Rolling+Stones/_/You+Can%27t+Catch+Me">The Stones covered it.</a> John Lennon was<a href="http://www.abbeyrd.net/lenlevy.htm"> sued (twice!)</a> for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXdo1jGfzsM">covering it</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e7AQQTONvg">appropriating the lyrics</a>. If Iggy Pop and the Stooges were never sued for doing the same thing as "Come Together" in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7dKnF0coxQ">1970</a>, perhaps it's because nobody could understand what exactly he was saying, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Birdman#Origins">not even the bands that took their names from the adapted lyrics</a>. Perhaps JJ Cale was thinking of the chorus when he wrote <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVUBsEMgW5o&feature=related">Call Me The Breeze</a> in 1971. Finally, though Jonothan Richman's "Roadrunner" clearly took inspiration from the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4qp3T476co&feature=related">Velvet Underground's Sister Ray </a>and Bo Diddley's "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUKUt8CtSOI">Road Runner</a>"(<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/jul/20/popandrock5">among other things</a>), but, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTT-wj69ObE">as a Berry fan</a>, you can hear Richman echoing the lyrics in the Spirit of 1956 going Faster Miles an Hour, with the radio on, tuned to Rock And Roll. More covers: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3_x2I8FQ8Q">Steven Stills</a>. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Anthology-Blues-Project/dp/samples/B000001EIV/ref=dp_tracks_all_2#disc_2">Blues Project</a>.
Lyrics:
<strong>Can't Catch Me</strong>
I bought a brand new airmobile
It was custom made
It was a Flight DeVille
With an outboard motor
And some hideaway wings
Push in on the button and you can hear her sing
Now you can't catch me
No, baby, you can't catch me
'Cause if you get too close
You know I'm gone like a cool breeze
New Jersey Turnpike in the wee wee hours
I was rolling slowly 'cause of drizzlin' showers
Up come a flattop he was movin' up with me
Then come sailin' goodbye
In a little old suped up mini
I put my foot in my tank and I begin to roll
Moanin' sirens, was the state patrol
So I get out my wings and then I blew my horn
Bye-bye New Jersey I become airborne
Now you can't catch me
No, baby you can't catch me
'Cause if you get too close
You know I'm gone like a cool breeze
Flyin' with my baby last Saturday night
Wasn't no gray cloud floatin' in sight
Big full moon shinin' up above
Cuddle up honey be my love
Sweetest little thing that I ever seen
I'm gonna name you Mabelline
Flyin' with all the things set on flight control
Radio tuned to rock 'n' roll
Two, three hours passin' by
Altitude dropped to 505
Fuel consumption way too fast
Let's get on home before we run out of gas
Now you can't catch me
No baby, you can't catch me
'Cause if you get too close
You know I'm gone like a cool breeze
<strong>Come together</strong>
Here come old flattop. He come grooving up slowly
He got ju-ju eyeballs. He's one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker he just do what he please
Shoot me! Shoot me! Shoot me!
He wear no shoeshine he's got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger he shoot Coca-Cola
He say "I know you, you know me"
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free
Come together right now over me.
Shoot me! Shoot me! Shoot me!
He buy production he got walrus scumble
He's got Ono sideboard he's got spinal cracker
He's got feet down below his knee
Hold you in his arms till you can feel his disease
Come together right now over me.
He's roller-coaster he's got early warning
He's got muddy water he's got mojo filter
He say "One and one and one is three"
Got to be good looking 'cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now over me.
<strong>1970</strong>
Out of my mind on Saturday night
1970 rollin' in sight
Radio burnin' up above
Beautiful baby, feed my love
All night till I blow away
All night till I blow away
I feel alright, I feel alright
Baby oh baby, burn my heart
Baby oh baby, burn my heart
Fall apart baby, fall apart
Baby oh baby, burn my heart
All night till I blow away
All night till I blow away
I feel alright
I feel alright
<strong>Roadrunner</strong>
Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive past the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on
I'm in love with Massachusetts
And the neon when it's cold outside
And the highway when it's late at night
Got the radio on
I'm like the roadrunner
Alright
I'm in love with modern moonlight
128 when it's dark outside
I'm in love with Massachusetts
I'm in love with the radio on
It helps me from being alone late at night
It helps me from being lonely late at night
I don't feel so bad now in the car
Don't feel so alone, got the radio on
Like the roadrunner
That's right
Said welcome to the spirit of 1956
Patient in the bushes next to '57
The highway is your girlfriend as you go by quick
Suburban trees, suburban speed
And it smells like heaven(thunder)
And I say roadrunner once
Roadrunner twice
I'm in love with rock & roll and I'll be out all night
Roadrunner
That's right
Well now
Roadrunner, roadrunner
Going faster miles an hour
Gonna drive to the Stop 'n' Shop
With the radio on at night
And me in love with modern moonlight
Me in love with modern rock & roll
Modern girls and modern rock & roll
Don't feel so alone, got the radio on
Like the roadrunner
Rhymes with ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.
<a href="http://www.playgroundjungle.com/">Playground Jungle:</a> <i>The "folk process" in the subversive songs, rhymes, stories and jokes you told when the teacher wasn't around.</i> Visit the whole (growing) collection via the <a href="http://www.playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/index-of-first-lines.html">index of first lines</a>.
Hurricane Chris
Shreveport rapper <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Chris_(rapper)">Hurricane Chris</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0PCQYalZU8">performs</a> for the Louisiana State Legislature.
But what would Frank Lloyd Wright say?
<i>"[Jax de Leon's] last project as a student was a graphic representation of every note, word, instrument and voice from <a href="http://www.jaxdeleon.com/illinois/introduction/">Come on, Feel the Illinoise! by Sufjan Stevens.</a>"</i> Read an <a href="http://perfectlaughter.com/index.php/sufjan-illinois-jax-de-leon/">interview with him here.</a>
Filed under: he said what now?
<a href="http://www.snacksandshit.com/">Snacks and Shit</a> - The <a href="http://www.noroomservicejustsnacksandshit.com/2009/02/1_05.html">premise</a> is simple: A single hip-hop <a href="http://www.snacksandshit.com/2009/02/71.html">l</a><a href="http://www.snacksandshit.com/2009/02/75.html">y</a><a href="http://www.snacksandshit.com/2009/02/32.html">r</a><a href="http://www.snacksandshit.com/2009/02/25.html">i</a><a href="http://www.snacksandshit.com/2009/02/58.html">c</a>, taken out of context, with bonus commentary.
Enter Sandkitty
<a href="http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/6798/af20907621cbf76cee7547eco9.jpg">Herein</a> lies a link to a JPG of LOLcats representing the famous Metallica lyrics. (<a href="http://status.metafilter.com/">Again</a> 'cause I can't help myself.)
You have to zoom in when the page loads.
National Anthems of the World
Have you ever wondered what the national anthem of Bolivia, Nepal or The Republic of Seychelles sounded like? Well wonder no more because <a href="http://www.nationalanthems.info/">NationalAnthems.info</a> has got you covered! It claims to have the national anthem for every country in the world in MIDI format, along with downloadable lyrics and sheet music so you can sing and play along. But if the MIDI format isn't doing it for you, there's also other sites that you can visit that have downloadable MP3s of pretty much every national anthem this planet and its inhabitants have to offer, <a href="http://www.national-anthems.net/">such as this one</a> or <a href="http://www.navyband.navy.mil/anthems/national_anthems.htm">this one</a>, which is notable in that the anthems featured there were performed by the US Navy Band. And finally, for your further reading and listening pleasure, <a href="http://www.nationalanthems.us/">check out this forum</a> which contains background information on and even more links to downloadable national anthems.
Prewar Blues Lyrics & Dylan Lyrics Concordances 'N Stuff
The things I like best about Michael Taft's <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/michael%20taft,%20blues%20anthology.txt.WebConcordance/framconc.htm" title="">Prewar Blues Lyrics Concordance</a>, a subsection of T. G. Lindh's <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/concordance_meny.html" title="© Copyright TG Lindh , all rights reserved ">Web Concordances of Pre-War Blue Lyrics and Bob Dylan Lyrics</a>, are the listings of the lyrics by singer: <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/MTBluesA_C/Michael%20Taft,%20Blues%20Anthology%20with%20Index%20by%20Artist%20A-C.htm" title="Pre-war Blues Lyric Poetry: an Anthology - A - C">A - C</a>, <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/MTBluesD_H/Michael%20Taft,%20Blues%20Anthology%20with%20Index%20by%20Artist%20D-H.htm" title="Pre-war Blues Lyric Poetry: an Anthology - D - H">D - H</a>, <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/MTBluesJ_L/Michael%20Taft,%20Blues%20Anthology%20with%20Index%20by%20Artist%20J-L.htm" title="Pre-war Blues Lyric Poetry: an Anthology - J - L">J - L</a>, <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/MTBluesM_R/Michael%20Taft,%20Blues%20Anthology%20with%20Index%20by%20Artist%20M-R.htm" title="Pre-war Blues Lyric Poetry: an Anthology - M - R">M - R</a> and <a href="http://www.dylan61.se/MTBluesS_Y/Michael%20Taft,%20Blues%20Anthology%20with%20index%20by%20Artist%20S-Y.htm" title="Pre-war Blues Lyric Poetry: an Anthology - S - Y">S - Y</a>. And the nice thing about the blues lyrics is you don't need to ask for a log in and password. It 's all right there. Explore and enjoy. <a href="http://www.dundee.ac.uk/english/wics/cncintro.htm" title="''Its simplest use is as an index, to locate quickly any passage in a text. All you need to know is one word from the passage: look up that word in a concordance to the text and you will find the passage.''"><em>What is a Concordance ?</em></a> you may ask.
Well, woot, there it is: <em>A concordance is a comprehensive index of the words used in a text or a body of texts. </em>.
See also <a href="http://www.dundee.ac.uk/english/wics/wics.htm" title="This site is devoted to the study of literature using literary computer concordances, a form of analysing text. This document will attempt to help students understand what is meant by literary concordancing and will ask questions about featured Romantic writers which may be answered by using the English department concordance site.">The Web Concordances and Workbooks</a>. Not to mention the less scholary, more incomplete and occasionally rather dubious <a href="http://www.federalcigarjugband.com/Pages/glossary.html" title="What follows is an excerpt from the dictionary portion of The Jug Band Dictionary and Companion©. The Jug Band Dictionary and Companion© is a work in progress by Federal Cigar Jug Band bass player/juggist, Bill Boslaugh -- the completed work is expected sometime in the (not too?) distant future. ">Jug Band Dictionary</a>, as the etymologies of some words therein are sometimes more folk than the author realizes...
Lyrical visuals
<a href="http://www.vimeo.com/658158">Solar, with lyrics.</a> A very pretty, surprisingly wordy video. <a href="http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=5558">(via)</a>
Protest Songs
So are you ready to march on Washington to protest in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_song">song</a>? Here are some <a href="http://www.ocap.ca/lyrics.html">lyrics</a>. Some <a href="http://www.brownielocks.com/sixtieswarsongs.html">examples</a> from the 60's. Something <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-op0vyUhkE">sweet</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan">Bob Dylan</a>. Speaking of Zimmermans, here's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlUyNmUABbc">Roy's</a> take on Iraq. Roy is new to me, but <a href="http://royzimmerman.com/">apparently</a> he protests in song about a lot of stuff.
Famous First Words
<a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-25/">The 25 Best Pop Song Opening Lyrics, like EVER</a> - a spinner.com 'hit list', complete with wry commentary and abruptly cut-off audio clips. Bonus: <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-25/">25 more</a>, suggested by people who don't work for the webside. If you are as annoyed by the one-item-per-page format as I am (and if you don't have AdBlock, the video ads are extra annoying), here they all are sorted by artist name:
50 Cent <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-22/">#22</a>, Fiona Apple <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-24/">#24</a>, The Beatles <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-4/">#4</a> <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-11/">R11</a>, Beck <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-7/">#7</a>, Bon Jovi <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-10/">#10</a>, Johnny Cash <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-13/">R13</a>, The Carpenters <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-6/">#6</a>, Elvis Costello <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-11/">#11</a>, The Doors <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-8/">R8</a>, The Eagles <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-14/">R14</a>, Erik B and Rakim <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-12/">R12</a>, Merle Haggard <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-18/">#18</a>, Jimi Hendrix <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-14/">#14</a>, Human League <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-25/">#25</a>, Michael Jackson <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-15/">#15</a>, Joe Jackson <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-5/">R5</a>, Rick James <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-1/">#1</a>, Jefferson Airplane <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-18/">R18</a>, Led Zeppelin <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-10/">R10</a>, Jerry Lee Lewis <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-24/">R24</a>, LL Cool J <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-5/">#5</a>, Lynyrd Skynyrd <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-6/">R6</a>, Madonna <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-21/">R21</a>, George Michael <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-19/">#19</a>, Nirvana <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-19/">R19</a>, Roy Orbison <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-12/">#12</a>, Ozzy Osbourne <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-23/">R23</a>, Pavement <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-16/">#16</a>, Carl Perkins <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-8/">#8</a>, Tom Petty <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-20/">R20</a>, Prince <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-17/">#17</a> <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-25/">R25</a>, The Ramones <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-3/">#3</a>, Otis Redding <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-15/">R15</a>, The Righteous Brothers <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-23/">#23</a>, The Rolling Stones <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-2/">#2</a> <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-1/">R1</a>, Bob Seger <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-17/">R17</a>, The Sex Pistols <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-20/">#20</a>, Simon & Garfunkel <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-21/">#21</a>, Paul Simon <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-22/">R22</a>, Sir Mix-A-Lot (!?!) <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-2/">R2</a>, The Smiths <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-16/">R16</a>, Patti Smith <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-9/">#9</a>, Bruce Springsteen <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-4/">R4</a>, Rod Stewart <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-7/">R7</a>, Three Dog Night (?)<a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-3/">R3</a>,Weezer <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/06/best-opening-lyrics-no-13/">#13</a>, Warren Zevon <a href="http://www.spinner.com/2007/08/24/readers-best-opening-lyrics-no-9/">R9</a>.
Carlos Gardel and the Tango
<a href="http://www.gardelweb.com/index-english.htm">Carlos Gardel was a singer</a> who became a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Carlos_Gardel_Abasto_Buenos_Aires.jpg">national icon of Argentina</a>. <a href="http://www.gardelweb.com/Gardel_music.htm">He sang<a href="http://www.totango.net/ttindex.html"> the tango </a>among other styles, but would now be most famous for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBHhSVJ_S6A">this</a>, which was originally <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrDh5OLS-M">this</a>. (<a href="http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/porunaca.htm">Lyrics here</a>.)
For those of you who think this is all too romantic, listen to <a href="http://www.todotango.com/spanish/biblioteca/letras/letra.asp?idletra=154">another side of tango</a>...(<a href="http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/cambalac.htm">Translation here</a>.)</a>
Bomb the Bass
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncHsp1Sn5-M">Bug Powder Dust</a> <br><a href="http://www.sauna.org/kiulu/powder.html">Lyrics</a>, by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_The_Bass">Bomb the Bass</a>
Great Russian Voices
<a href="http://russia-in-us.com/Music/GRV/">Giants of Soviet opera are little known in the West.</a> But Victor Han has taken it upon himself to keep their memory alive....my personal favorite is <a href="http://russia-in-us.com/Music/GRV/Reizen/index.htm">Mark</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afLLdU8Odfs">Reizen</a>, a deeply nuanced bass, who was powerful enough to carry on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MzO56PmjQ4">singing into his ninth decade</a>. If you'd care to follow along with some of the songs, you can use Emily Ezust's <a href="http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/">massive archive of lyrics</a>, to which Victor contributes. Or, try listening in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-ch6dmen2k">English</a> first. Too much music? <a href="http://www.vor.ru/English/Music_Portraits/Music_Portraite_06.html">Here's some reading</a>.
Haaaaah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! The Laughing Policeman!
<a href="http://www.laughingpoliceman.com/sing_along.htm">When I was a kid, my dad, who grew up in London, during the Blitz, used to play this old record: a song called "The Laughing Policeman."</a> It always put a smile on my face. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laughing_Policeman_%28song%29">Wikipedia</a>, it was written in 1922 by Charles Jolly, who wrote "numerous other laughing songs (The Laughing Major, Curate, Steeplechaser, Typist, Lover, etc)." If you want to hear the happiest policeman ever, <a href="http://www.radiocraft.co.uk/laughiiceman.mp3">here's the mp3</a>. The song has inspired <a href="http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/l/laughing_policeman.asp">cartoonists</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0752847724/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">mystery novelists</a> (great series, by the way!), <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0070292/">filmmakers</a>, a <a href="http://www.brillianttv.co.uk/timmymallett/recordings-laughingpoliceman.html">more-recent recording</a> (<a href="http://www.brillianttv.co.uk/timmymallett/sound/mallett2.mp3">mp3</a>), and, inevitably, some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH1Atggwzfc">scary</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HAD1fcPDOM&mode=related&search=">people</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpvYV32eQIQ&mode=related&search=">on</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYEIcPPEydk&mode=related&search=">youtube</a>. Speaking of youtube, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZPkrkT6BVQ">this</a> is how I remember the song.
Paroles, Paroles, Paroles...
<a href="http://lyricwiki.org/Main_Page">LyricsWiki</a> is the place to find reliable lyrics without invasive ads.
<a href="http://www.songmeanings.net/">SongMeanings</a> when you've been wondering what those lyrics mean.
<a href="http://www.kissthisguy.com/">The Archive of Misheard Lyrics</a> because sometimes your version is much better than the original.
Songophobia
<a href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/observer/archives/2006/09/29/jarvis_cocker_w.html">What inoffensive songs do people find scary?</a> A list asked for by a curious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarvis_Cocker">Jarvis Cocker</a>, former frontman of the band Pulp. <br>My favorite entry:<br>"Laughing Gnome - Bowie. Scared the crap out of me as a kid. I remember getting my parents to check under the bed. My father, a bit of an evil electronics bastard put a speaker under my bed one night and played the song just as I was drifting off. He then ran in when I started screaming and pulled out a doll from under the bead and chopped its head off with a machete. God I need therapy."
Bob Dylan Annnotated and Tablaturated
Artur J's <a href="http://republika.pl/bobdylan/lat/" title="'Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different from that from which it was torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion.' - The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism T.S. Eliot">Annotated Lyrics of Bob Dylans Love and Theft</a> has expanded and now features Annotated lyrics for <a href="http://www.bobdylan.republika.pl/streetl/index.html" title="Street Legal comes the closest to where my music is going, you know. It has to do with an illusion of time, I mean, what the songs are necessarily about is the illusions of time.- Bob Dylan 1978">Street Legal</a>, <a href="http://www.bobdylan.republika.pl/kol/" title="'I’m thinking about calling this album Knocked Out Loaded. Is that any good, you think, Knocked Out Loaded?' - Bob Dylan 1986 (to Mikal Gilmore">Knocked Out Loaded</a>, <a href="http://www.bobdylan.republika.pl/ohmercy/index.html" title="'Most of [Oh Mercy songs] are stream-of-consciousness songs; the kind that come to you in the middle of the night, when you just want to go back to bed.'- Bob Dylan, 1989">Oh, Mercy</a> and <a href="http://www.bobdylan.republika.pl/mt/index.html" title="'I'd make this record no matter what was going on in the world. I wrote these songs in not a meditative state at all, but more like in a trancelike, hypnotic state. This is how I feel? Why do I feel like that? And who's the me that feels this way? I couldn't tell you that, either. But I know that those songs are just in my genes and I couldn't stop them comin' out.' - Bob Dylan 2006">Modern Times</a>. And he is already on top of Dylan's quotes of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/arts/music/14dyla.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin" title="But maybe you've heard his words, if you're one of the 320,000 people so far who have bought Bob Dylan's latest album, 'Modern Times,' which made its debut last week at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. It seems that many of the lyrics on that album, Mr. Dylan's first No. 1 album in 30 years (down to No. 3 this week), bear some strong echoes to the poems of Timrod, a Charleston native who wrote poems about the Civil War and died in 1867 at the age of 39. ">Henry Timrod</a> on the new album. On a related tip, someone waved a lawyer at Eyolf Østrem, so he removed all his tabs from his Dylan tablature site, <a href="http://www.dylanchords.com/" title="My Back Pages Bob Dylan - Chords and lyrics - For chords, go to one of the mirrors. The rest you may still find here">My Back Pages</a>. But, fortunately there are some mirrors and the blog of <a href="http://dylanchords.info/" title="Aug 26: Didn’t I say it? And it was so. I was going to wait until the official release date, but since a) I am going away for a week, and b) most people seem to have it already, I figured: why wait any longer? Modern Times it is.">this one</a> has a tab page for Modern Times already.
It's like 10 000 spoons when all you need is a knife
<a href="http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid14634.aspx">32 worst lyrics of all time</a>
Gracenote.com announces legal lyrics downloads
<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/14/BUG1MJUJOT29.DTL">An end to</a> <a href="http://www.kissthisguy.com/">mondegreens?</a> It looks like <a href="http://www.gracenote.com/">Gracenote</a>, the company behind the <a href="http://www.mp3-converter.com/faq/cddb.htm">CDDB</a> (CD database), is looking to enhance your music-listening experience by providing an expansive and "legitimate" lyrics database <a href="http://www.betanews.com/article/Gracenote_Inks_Deal_to_Offer_Lyrics/1152903017">in association with major on-line digital music providers</a>. Will this be the end of the road for <a href="http://www.mredkj.com/other/lyrics-illegal2.html">existing lyrics sites</a>? <small>[more inside]</small>
i was standing by the window
Made most popular to many Americans as the closing song for the Grand Ole Opry programs, Will The Circle Be Unbroken was written in 1907 by Ada Habershon, an intensely religious young woman and acquaintance of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Moody">Dwight Moody</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_David_Sankey">Ira David Sankey</a>. The music was "composed" by <a href="http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/501300335">Charles Gabriel</a>, a popular songwriter and composer of the era who is often solely credited with the song, but while he may have put the notes down on paper, the tune itself already existed as the African-American spiritual Glory Glory / Since I Laid My Burden Down. [lots more inside]
Music CopyRight Cops Strike Again
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4508158.stm">Now they're after the lyrics.</a> The MPA isn't stopping at the MP3 files.
Singhing the blues
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1581445,00.html">When science meets art.</a> Science writer <a href="http://www.simonsingh.com/">Simon Singh</a> was annoyed with the lyrics to British singer <a href="http://www.katiemelua.com/">Katie Melua</a>'s latest single. He rewrote them to be scientifically accurate, and she sings <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today1_melua_20051015.ram">the unfortunate result</a> (RealAudio file).
the saddest song I've ever heard
<a href="http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/usa/asiwoits.htm"><i>The Streets of Laredo: The Cowboy's Lament</i></a> was originally written as the Irish drover balled <i>Bard of Armaugh</i> (or <i><a href="http://www.ierland.com/lyrics/bard_of_armagh.txt">Armagh</a></i>), which later mutated into <i>A Handful of Laurel</i>, about a young man dying of syphilis in a London hospital, musing back on his days in the alehouses and whorehouses. Immigrants settling in the Appalachians brought their own version, <i><a href="http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7101">The Unfortunate Rake</a></i>, sung as early as 1790, about a young soldier dying of mercury poisoning, a result of treatment for venereal disease, who requests a military funeral - a slight but important evolution from the previous version. The current lyrics are most popularly attributed to cowboy <a href="http://www.cowboypoetry.com/fhmaynard.htm">Frances Henry "Frank" Maynard</a>, who copyrighted them in 1879. While various <a href="http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=46310">versions</a> of the song were popular in the US before Maynard took pen to paper and needle to wax cylinder (under such titles as <i><a href="http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=3672">Locke Hospital</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=5525">St. James Infirmary Blues</a></i>, <i>Tom Sherman's Bar</i> and <i>Way Down in Lodorra</i>), his version is the one with which we are most familiar today.</br>
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<i>beat the drum slowly, play the fife lowly / sound the death march as you carry me along / cover my body in sweet-smelling posies / for I'm the young</i> (rake, soldier, man, girl, lass, etc) <i>cut down in</i> (his/her) <i>prime</i> (or <i>and I know I've done wrong</i>)</br>
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The song has been recorded by pretty much every country, western and folk-identified musical artist since recording music became practical, although the most popular versions must be those by <a href="http://www.arlo.net/bio.shtml">Arlo Guthrie</a> (who once said it was "the saddest song I know," and who sings it on his album <i>Son of the Wind</i>) and <a href="http://www.johnnycash.com/Cashcareer.htm">Johnny Cash</a> (who added <a href="http://www.lyricsdepot.com/johnny-cash/streets-of-laredo.html">a few verses</a> to his 1965 version, improving the song a bit and making it more emotionally complex). <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden/php/search/individ.php?mid=103">Roger McGuinn's</a> creative commons-licensed version is one of my personal favorites, as is Bobby Sutliff's <a href="http://www.houseofideas.com/bobby_sutliff/sound.htm">version</a>.
People have a problem with me, cause I ain't lazy...
<a href="http://www.pegcity.com/images/bastidpipismitty.mov">"I Ain't Lazy"</a> (lyrics NSFW) featuring <a href="http://www.skratchbastid.com/">Skratch Bastid</a>, <a href="http://www.peanutsandcorn.com/artists/johnsmith.html">John Smith</a> & <a href="http://www.peanutsandcorn.com/artists/pipskid.html">Pip Skid</a>. A day-in-the-life indie hip-hop video directed by Jason Lapeyre featuring another top notch crew of <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/40944">PCRs</a>.
our eyes and going "dark" is essential for our well-being in the real world too. Use this time to remember your objectives and to thank the Universe that you are in a hit show. Ask the Universe for guidance if there is a particular scene you are having trouble with. Sometimes it might be necessary to write yourself a role where it appears that you are a background player for a while. Just for a little while.
Listen for the cue that you need to hear, see, or feel. If you should happen to miss a cue, wait for the next one. Dont beat yourself up over a missed cue or a late entrance. It's your show. The life critics have no power over you. They cannot shut down your show unless you give them that power. Just like in commercial theater they are only giving their opinion. Thats what they do and it has nothing to do with you. They created that role for themselves.
Stop replaying what you believe to be the missed cues and sour notes of your life. Maybe the drama you are featuring yourself in is physically and mentally draining you. Perhaps you find that the comedy youre playing in now is a little too frivolous for you. If this is the case, then it's time to write yourself some new songs, or at least write some new to the old melodies. Decide to learn some new tunes and perhaps even a new dance step. What kind of lighting will be appropriate?
Also, consider the script. What are you saying and doing? Are these your words? Are you thinking and feeling for yourself? Write your own script. Make an outline. Have a plan. Are your feelings and thoughts sincere? Are you considerate of others and the parts and shows that they have written for themselves? Do you respect their right to do a show that you may not agree with? If we are really excited about creating, starring, and having fun in our own show, we have no time to be concerned or to criticize someone else's show.
Surrounding yourself with the right cast members is important too. Sometimes it is hard to give your best performance if you are among cast members who are not giving 100 per cent. If you continue to play opposite players who are not playing full out, you will eventually lower your own expectations, believing this is the norm. Dont let any player steal your thunder. Do not give less than you have in order not to make the others look bad. Fire those around you who drain your energy and are unnecessary burdens. Recast those parts with others who understand your "big picture" and have similar goals, those that you trust, and most of all those who you can laugh with.
Your show will be a hit as long as you remember that you hold and have access to all of your show's creative power. Ask yourself from time to time, is this a show that I'm proud of? If the answer is ever no, then rewrite, recast, or exit into the wings and decide what your next cue is. Remember, if you don't cast yourself in your own show, you will, by default, play a role in someone else's show. Why not be a shining star in the greatest show in the Universe - your own show- your life? Free Article brought to YOU by ArticlesOn.com, where you'll find Articles On Everything! Visit http://articleson.com to get more free content. Wambui Bahati "Miss Inspiration" is a professional motivational and inspirational speaker and entertainer. Her passion: Reminding you of your magnificence.www.inspiration-motivation-celebration.com
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