Fun facts from the 80s
For my most recent birthday, Honey Bear and a few other lovely people chipped in some money so I could update my much neglected CD collection.
I spent a very happy hour or so at JB Hi Fi and bought CDs by Ben Lee, Holidays on Ice, Sleepy Jackson, New Order, Michael Franti, Kasey Chambers, The Cure, The Bangles, Missy Higgins, Hi5, Clare Bowditch and Wilco.
My taste in music is eclectic. Deal with it.
Great music, not much good blogging material, apart from Luke Steele’s alleged links to Hillsong, but that’s been done.
There will be a future post about Kasey Chambers, but for now here’s a few things you may not have known about the Bangles.
1. They are confusing
Lets face it, they sang this:
All the Japanese with their yen/ The party boys call the Kremlin/And the Chinese know (oh whey oh)/ They walk the line like Egyptian
That may be simultaneously the most multicultural and the most absolutely drug induced, blurrily confused and completely mental set of lyrics ever. What does it mean? Dude, no one knows, its all too confusing, aaargh etc…
2. Prince is confusing
It seems every article ever written about the Bangles mentions that “Manic Monday” was written by Prince. However, the CD cover tells us it was written by “Christopher”.
Prince has changed his name/symbol a time or too, but I didn’t know he ever went through a period of calling himself “Christopher”. I wondered briefly if there had been some sort of misunderstanding. However, I have no doubt that it was Prince who wrote this song, mostly because the first two lines of “Manic Monday” sound like a sleepier version of the first two lines of “1999”* And just as an aside, does the prevailing view that Prince is some sort of musical genius seem slightly less credible when we consider that in looking for things to rhyme with “Monday” he came up with “Sunday”, “fun day” and “I don’t have to run day”.
I think that what I like most about this is I still can’t tell if Christopher is meant to be his first or last name. Even when he uses a sensible name this dude retains an air of mystery.
3. The one that really surprised me
Two of the tracks on this CD were co-written by members of the Bangles and one D Navarro.
There can’t be that many D Navarros around, surely, but I really hope this is not who I think it is. In fairness, the on line biographies I checked didn’t mention the Bangles at all, but they wouldn’t, would they?
The guy may have much credibility left after hosting Rock Star (anyone who contributed to sharing the talents of JD Fortune with the world has some explaining to do). Even allowing for that lapse of judgment, if this man wrote the lyrics “I remember words that fell like coins into a wishing well” then the former members of Jane’s Addiction and the Chillis should get together and give this guy the biggest wedgie in the history of rock/metal/funk/whatever.
Oh, and did I mention I really like this CD?
*Yes they do.
I spent a very happy hour or so at JB Hi Fi and bought CDs by Ben Lee, Holidays on Ice, Sleepy Jackson, New Order, Michael Franti, Kasey Chambers, The Cure, The Bangles, Missy Higgins, Hi5, Clare Bowditch and Wilco.
My taste in music is eclectic. Deal with it.
Great music, not much good blogging material, apart from Luke Steele’s alleged links to Hillsong, but that’s been done.
There will be a future post about Kasey Chambers, but for now here’s a few things you may not have known about the Bangles.
1. They are confusing
Lets face it, they sang this:
All the Japanese with their yen/ The party boys call the Kremlin/And the Chinese know (oh whey oh)/ They walk the line like Egyptian
That may be simultaneously the most multicultural and the most absolutely drug induced, blurrily confused and completely mental set of lyrics ever. What does it mean? Dude, no one knows, its all too confusing, aaargh etc…
2. Prince is confusing
It seems every article ever written about the Bangles mentions that “Manic Monday” was written by Prince. However, the CD cover tells us it was written by “Christopher”.
Prince has changed his name/symbol a time or too, but I didn’t know he ever went through a period of calling himself “Christopher”. I wondered briefly if there had been some sort of misunderstanding. However, I have no doubt that it was Prince who wrote this song, mostly because the first two lines of “Manic Monday” sound like a sleepier version of the first two lines of “1999”* And just as an aside, does the prevailing view that Prince is some sort of musical genius seem slightly less credible when we consider that in looking for things to rhyme with “Monday” he came up with “Sunday”, “fun day” and “I don’t have to run day”.
I think that what I like most about this is I still can’t tell if Christopher is meant to be his first or last name. Even when he uses a sensible name this dude retains an air of mystery.
3. The one that really surprised me
Two of the tracks on this CD were co-written by members of the Bangles and one D Navarro.
There can’t be that many D Navarros around, surely, but I really hope this is not who I think it is. In fairness, the on line biographies I checked didn’t mention the Bangles at all, but they wouldn’t, would they?
The guy may have much credibility left after hosting Rock Star (anyone who contributed to sharing the talents of JD Fortune with the world has some explaining to do). Even allowing for that lapse of judgment, if this man wrote the lyrics “I remember words that fell like coins into a wishing well” then the former members of Jane’s Addiction and the Chillis should get together and give this guy the biggest wedgie in the history of rock/metal/funk/whatever.
Oh, and did I mention I really like this CD?
*Yes they do.
posted by I'm not Craig at 6:45 AM
6 Comments:
And 'Honey Bear' would be ... ??
As for the Bangles lyric, it (derr, of COURSE; how could you be so DUMB?!; etc) refers to the time they were hanging out in their hotel room in Japan with a little-known Tokyo garage band called The Party Boys after a gig. They were all sitting around one night, having a few beers, sharing some laughs, swapping keys, etc, when suddenly The Party Boys had a hankering for some Chinese food, for which they offered to pay with the yen they had on them. They knew of a great little place not too far away called The Kremlin for some strange reason, and they made excellent fried rice there (known in China as O-Wheyoh). In the western world they've changed the name, but all the Chinese stores in Asia know it as O-Wheyoh. Unfortunately, while bringing them their order, their delivery guy was pulled over by a motercycle cop and given a sobriety test. He was told to walk down the white line on the road with one hand up in front of his face and the other hand down behind his backside, swapping them back and forth with each step. When he arrived at the Bangles' hotel room, he explained that the same cop had been stopping all of his fellow delivery drivers to do the same thing. Hence, the lyric in question was born. So you see, there's nothing strange about it at all. You're so suspicious, aren't you!
Oh, one other thing: HI-5?? Do you have children? PLEASE tell me you have children. Or at least one child. Or have the mental faculties of a 4-year-old.
Bevis
Thanks, it all makes sense now.
On the questions of who Honey Bear is and whether I have children, you may wish to check out the quite recent post on this blog* called "Lessons from parenting part 1", which you should be reading and memorising anyway, Mr soon-to-be-a-father.
Best wishes to you and wifey for the big day. When is that again?
*Yes, I know every post on this blog is quite recent
It's just occurred to me that the previous post I referred to says nothing at all about who Honey Bear is, except that she is the mother of my children.
So, since you ask, Honey Bear is my wonderful, amazing, gorgeous, smart, sexy and hilarious wife. We have been married for five years and she makes me the happiest man in the world on a daily basis just by being her lovely self.
Hey, Dave Navarro has his own blog at www.6767.com so feel free to share your comments with him personally. He does read them all. ;)
Nice blog, you're on my list now..
Ah, okay. Thanks. And you're on my list now, too, I'm Not.
(It's okay if I just call you "I'm Not" for short, isn't it?)
Hi Snoskred
Thanks for visiting, hope to see you again.
I dount that Dave Navarro would be too worried about the views of an anonymous Australian blogger.
More importantly, did he write for the Bangles or not? If so, he probably wouldn't be surprised by the suggestion that it was not the most "alt-rock" thing he ever did.
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