Monkey Music

Free Little Bird - Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell

the song above is one that i just love and was playing over and over in my head while we were at the Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago, watching my big boy crawl all over the place exploring everything he could. since then, my internet BFF got me the cd so we can listen to it all the time. that is, as soon as i put it on the ipod.

the lyrics below belong to a song HM sings to Monkey every nite before he goes to bed. he tells me it's an old WWII song his mom sang to him. "a song for your sweetheart back home" is how he describes it. i found a video of one version on YouTube. trust me, you do NOT want to hear that one. there is a version i kinda like (it's just not as good as HM's voice singing it) and you can hear that if you click on the imeem playlist in the sidebar.

also included in that playlist are songs i like to think i can sing to my Monkey and other songs we listen to during the day.

I See The Moon

Over the mountain over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love

I see the moon the moon sees me
Down through the leaves of the old oak tree
(Please)
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love

Over the mountain over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love

I kissed the rose the rose kissed me
Fragrant as only a rose can be
(Sing a little louder miss)
Please take the kiss that comforts me
Back to the one I love

(Everybody altogether)
Over the mountain over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love

(Everybody once again)
Over the mountain over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me 
Shine on the one I love.

update:  some of the songs in the playlist are only 30 second
clips because some artists are greedy and don't even want
you to enjoy STREAMING music.

don't let me down

Baby Will's really diggin' this cover of the Beatles tune, Don't Let Me Down. it's a good one... from the Across The Universe soundtrack. i really need to watch that movie again.

Dont Let Me Down - Dana Fuchs

look what i can do!

so this morning, i'm on the road and the radio is talking about Peter Cetera coming into town, singing all Chicago songs.

they had a contest. they played parts of four different Chicago songs and you had to name them, in order, to get the tickets. i was caller three. bummed. call back.

dj: hello can you name the songs

me: CAN I?!?!?!?

dj: go ahead

me: shit! ooh, sorry. shoot! i'm going blank. i can't hear them now.

dj: here they are again. (but not really cuz i still couldn't hear them)

me: ACK! uh.. "Feeling something". i wanna say "Feeling That Way" but that's wrong.

dj: it's "Feeling Stronger". i'm gonna go ahead and give that one to you.

me: thanks. okay, next was "Baby, What A Big Surprise". then, "Old Days"

dj: yeah

me: then... OH! i CAN'T hear it.

dj: act surprised when i say it

me: huh?

dj: "Searchin.....

me: "SEARCHING FOR SO LONG"!! "SEARCHING FOR SO LONG"!!

dj: yeah, you got it!

other dj: that was hard.

dj: say a really loud clear thank you... NOW

me: THANK! YOU!

of course the shit got bleeped out but they were laughing at that.. and they left out the "act surprised" portion of it all, but i still got the tickets! i'm going to pick them up at lunch today.

it's Peter Cetera doing all the Chicago songs! yay! i'm so ghey.

new tunes

listen to the best of the Across The Universe soundtrack over on the sidebar.

for you... you know who you are

moviaoke

definition: watching a movie with the karaoke machine your niece left at your house.

Woz came over last weekend and we finally watched watched Across the Universe. not bad. not bad at all. great soundtrack. Evan Rachel Wood.. her voice.. when she did "If I Fell"... like buttah!

anyways, HM had the idea that we amp it up a bit... with the karaoke machine and 2 mic’s! totally worth it! it takes it to a whole new level. i don’t think i can ever go back to watching a musical-ish type movie without the mic’s again.

next up: Purple Rain fo sho!

muxtape.com

make your own mix-tape, ONLINE! i'm super excited about this website. instead of zipping files and emailing, you can just upload and give out the link. one of the vimeo peeps created it and tumbl'd it yesterday. in 4.5 hours, the site had 2000 users and 4000 songs. in 24 hours this site has generated 8,685 users / 19,731 songs / 35,000 visits. how awesome is that? seriously? things like this make me even more excited to go to NYC in June, to meet all these super creative people.

click on the picture or go here to see other muxtapes. look at me, i'm on the front page...wheeeee! top row, even. =)

some things to know about the site. 3-line sign up: username, password, email. that's it. also, when listening to a muxtape, switch between tracks with the left and right arrow keys, and use ‘return’ to pause and play. songs will advance from track to track in a loop by default.

here's mine if you wanna listen: http://islebehere.muxtape.com/

in case you haven't noticed

there's a new playlist over on the sidebar. it's all four seasons/jersey boys. feel free to enjoy like i am now.

EDIT: i just realized that if you listen to it from the sidebar, you only hear 30 seconds of the song. if you click on the "standalone player", it pops it out and plays the full songs.

this should hold you over for now

listening to

alexa ray joel. yes, daughter of billy. soulful voice. bluesy-ish music. "for all my days" is my favorite so far. i like the little guitar riff at the beginning. makes me think of my dad for some reason.

plus, how can you go wrong with someone whose musical influences include ella fitzgerald and nina simone?

www.myspace.com/alexarayjoel

XM on IM

S1 is so generous sometimes. SOMETIMES. she gave me her login for XM online. it's so choice. i sometimes, don't even mind riding in the short bus, just so i can listen to it.

so i've been listening to XM for the last two days and i'm completely excited about it... so excited in fact that i tell Manny about it. he's all, "yeah, and...?". i'm all, "whaddaya mean 'yeah, and...'?" he's like, "you can get that online, for free, with your AOL login". i was like, "sure, but you gotta have AOL, right?"

no.

no?

no.

so i go to the AOL main page just to prove him wrong. i navigate to the XM - listen online thingy and sure enough, i logged right in with my IM username and password!

anyways, i like S1's login thingy better. it shows you the songs that are playing and you can see them all on one menu. how cool! i'm gay. whatever.

among the favorites of today:
Hypnotize - Notorious B.I.G
Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms (take me back to '95 why don't cha?)
Oops Upside Your Head - Gap Band(?)
Lots of Billy Squier and Journey!

listening to

since Addie has now ruined Regina Spektor for me. RUINER! i have now moved on to Amy Winehouse. i heard about this artist a while back, but was kinda reluctant to really get into. as i am with any new artist, because they pretty much all fail me. not Amy. i've been listening to her since Saturday, when Ryan B and i picked up her Back to Black cd. i know she's been around for a while. she's got a few imports dating back to 2003. but, like i said...i'm usually reluctant to listen to new music.

she reminds me of the 60's girl groups, except more "whisky-laden" than "bubble gum". she's got a touch of Nina Simone, which i totally dig. i lent the cd to a co-worker of mine. she said she reminded her of the jazzy days of Billie Holiday. i don't know about all that, but the girl is good. like i mentioned earlier; 60's girl groups. but don't expect "my boyfriend's back" type lyrics. her lyrics are a tad more "raw", for lack of a better word.

i'm gonna take it to my mom's today so she can copy it. i think she'll like the music... not sure about the lyrics.

kill me now

is she serious with this remake??? COME! ON!

i'm not even gonna tell you what it is. you can be as shocked as i was.

test

cuz there's no such thing as TOO MUCH chicago...





update: it works!! where the hell was this thing when i wanted my ROCKY background music?!?!?

canned laughter

Princess and Addie have formed a new relationship in the last year or so. they share a room in our house, although Addie really had no say in the lime green\hot pink theme. i think she likes it, tho.

anyhoo, when Addie comes to visit, she also likes to visit with the princess. so we called to have her come over for a sleepover and maybe a movie. well, after waiting ALL DAY for her mom to drop her off, there wasn't time for the movie but we still took her grocery shopping with us and subjected her to showtunes. tunes from Annie, Cats, Rent, etc. Seasons of Love, from Rent, being the one i really belted out. Princess asked what showtunes were and what Rent was about. i told her we would take her to see it when she's 16. so, uhm, remind me in seven years, would ya?

being in the musical frame of mind when we got home, we went up to their room so we could listen to records. yes, records. she was actually pretty excited when i told her we put a "record player" in the room. you see, S1 got her not one, but TWO Kelly Clarkson records. two. that was pretty much the best song we had in the room so it got a lot of play. that and the fact that we were too lazy to go into the media room to get more. here is the outcome of that record and me being a video freak.




since u been gone on Vimeo

ba rumpa bump bum

i tried to find the record for this... no luck. well, no luck if you didn't want to pay more than $25 for it.