The Festival of Lights Begins Tonight

In honor of Hanukkah here is Adam Sandler’s third version of the Hanukkah song. I remember the first time I heard the original song, and laughing so much. Also Hanukkah is one of the only words that rhymes with Veronica, which made me feel quite special.  It has become somewhat of a theme song for the holiday and I love that Adam Sandler had the talent to make it so.  Enjoy the latest version, it does not disappoint.

Adam Sandler – Chanukah Song Part 3 (HQ)

 

Everybody Knows

Concrete Blonde – Everybody Knows

I named my blog Who Knew? almost exactly one year ago.  I had no idea how aptly I had titled the blog and as a year passes it reinforces within me a certain innate ability to honestly say “I have no idea what the future holds.”

I am someone who lives in the day, which has it’s distinct positives i.e. I am very spontaneous and most of my travels have occurred very spur of the moment, and it’s devastating drawbacks.  It is who I am however and I make no apologies or excuses, it is how I live.

Things tend to come full circle in life so this post features a song called Everybody Knows by a legendary performer Leonard Cohen.

Cohen rose to the opportunity this audience represented by releasing two consecutive albums, I’m Your Man (1988) and The Future (1992), that not only rank among the finest of his career, but that perfectly capture the texture of particularly complicated times. Cohen had long documented the high rate of casualties in the love wars, so the profound anxieties generated by the AIDS crisis were no news to him. Songs like “Ain’t No Cure for Love,” the wryly titled “I’m Your Man” and, most explicitly, “Everybody Knows” (“Everybody knows that the Plague is coming/Everybody knows that it’s moving fast/Everybody knows that the naked man and woman – just a shining artifact of the past”) depict Cohen surveying the contemporary erotic battleground and reporting on it with characteristic perspective, insight and wisdom.

I first heard the song in a movie called “Pump Up The Volume“  in 1990 and it was performed by the band Concrete Blonde.  Later I learned it’s origins and became a Leonard Cohen fan.  It came at a time when everything was changing, I was going off to college and my senior year in high school was marked by a clinical depression which almost prevented me from going off to University.  Thankfully I was able to get through it and I remember listening to this song on repeat in my car almost compulsively.  I think it quite fits the brooding and scared teen I had become for the song is not very hopeful, and in many ways very true.

So here I am 17 years and half a lifetime later posting my first post-hiatus entry into this blog.  Who Knew? the poem I wrote asks many questions.  Everybody Knows offers many answers, some all too true and others can be debated.  I know though that it evokes for me a great deal of truth, some fear and it does so in a very poetic fashion.  Leonard Cohen wrote what he knew.  I say who knows?

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded

Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed

Everybody knows that the war is over

Everybody knows the good guys lost

Everybody knows the fight was fixed

The poor stay poor, the rich get rich

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking

Everybody knows that the captain lied

Everybody got this broken feeling

Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets

Everybody wants a box of chocolates

And a long stem rose

Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby

Everybody knows that you really do

Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful

Ah give or take a night or two

Everybody knows you’ve been discreet

But there were so many people you just had to meet

Without your clothes

And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it’s now or never

Everybody knows that it’s me or you

And everybody knows that you live forever

Ah when you’ve done a line or two

Everybody knows the deal is rotten

Old Black Joe’s still pickin’ cotton

For your ribbons and bows

And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming

Everybody knows that it’s moving fast

Everybody knows that the naked man and woman

Are just a shining artifact of the past

Everybody knows the scene is dead

But there’s gonna be a meter on your bed

That will disclose

What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you’re in trouble

Everybody knows what you’ve been through

From the bloody cross on top of Calvary

To the beach of Malibu

Everybody knows it’s coming apart

Take one last look at this Sacred Heart

Before it blows

And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows

That’s how it goes

Everybody knows

Everybody knows

Leonard Cohen

 

From the archives: If I knew the way I would take you home.

I was twelve years old when I saw the movie Mask and heard the lyrics to “Ripple.” The song is played in the background as Sonny (Cher) finds her son Rocky (Eric Stoltz) dead in his bedroom after suffering from a disease that disfigured him and caused him much physical and emotional pain. I was in hysterics as I watched the scene unfold, yet as Ripple softly played, the lyrics stayed with me, like a lullaby comforting and peaceful. This was my first time hearing the Grateful Dead and it was the beginning of a musically and lyrical love affair with Hunter and Garcia. The song is simple, poetic and has a message that even as a young child I related to. As an adult I would go on to see twenty two Grateful Dead shows around the country before Jerry Garcia died Aug. 9 1995. This song is still able to evoke those emotions and it is rare that I do not cry or tear up a bit when I hear it. The last line of the song has always been my favorite, a reminder that we all get lost sometimes.

Grateful Dead – Ripple

Ripple
Lyrics By: Robert Hunter
Music By: Jerry Garcia
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?

It’s a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they’re better left unsung
I don’t know, don’t really care
Let there be songs to fill the air (note 1)

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man

There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone

Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow

You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who’s to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home

(1) on the version on Reckoning, Jerry Garcia says “That’s Otis” at this point, referring to Bob Weir’s dog who had wandered onstage

For another look at Ripple please go to Play on,

 

Coldplay: Viva la vida HQ

I am a sucker for Coldplay. The first time I heard them I thought it was U2 I was listening to. Chris Martin makes no bones about his desire to be the U2 of this generation. I know that for me that makes perfect sense. The music, the ballads are reflective and I know the melancholy is abundant, but I love it. This band touches me. Fix You off of X&Y is another one that hits deep and floods me.  Martin’s voice isn’t perfect, instead it’s vulnerable which makes him believable. 

Coldplay Viva La Vida Live Video Music Awards High Quality

 

Sentimental

The Gambler

Sometimes I get really sentimental, and this is what happens. So here is me, in a mood rarely shared.  I usually escape into my world and listen to whatever makes me feel like this, today I felt like it was time to share it with others.  Maybe we are all gamblers, just trying to make it through the hand we are dealt.  The lyrics in this song apply to so many things (the chorus specifically) in life.  But I would rather be a gambler, then sit by and watch the others play.