The Wedding Song Playlist

Wedding Song Playlist



The Fiancee was talking about some songs she wanted to play at our wedding.
I should have just kept my mouth shut, but instead I reacted adversely to some of her some choices.
I don't even remember what they were now.  "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston was one of them, and the other ones were similar in style and genre.

After I had shot down about 3 or 4 of her choices, she turned and said, "Fine.  You make the Wedding Song Playlist. It's your job now."

Realizing that I had just been given extra work to do, I tried to quickly reverse course.  "No, it's okay.  Whatever songs you like are fine.  I won't complain anymore.  I'm sorry."
But she was firm on this.  She would no longer choose the wedding songs.  It was my job now.

Despite my initial reluctance, it was actually kind of fun when I got into it.  After all, what could possibly be more self-indulgent then spending time going through the Internet and picking out all your favorite songs?

There were a couple obstacles, though.
First of all, I  had largely stopped listening to music about 10 years ago.
I mean, I still listen to music in the sense that music is all around us every day, and you can't not listen to it.  But I've stopped actively listening to music.  In my free listening time, I listen to audiobooks, podcasts, lectures on Youtube, etc.  (I think this is a natural part of growing  older--many of us stop being obsessed with pop music at a certain point in our lives.  Or am I wrong to generalize on this?)
So to a certain extent, I had trouble remembering what the favorite songs of my youth even where.  I had to spend some time jogging my memory, and remembering what songs I used to put on my playlists 10 years ago.  (I still have this nagging feeling that I'm forgetting some of the best songs).

Secondly, the Fiance was firm that this had to be a list of love songs, and not just a list of my favorite songs.  So anything like "Working Class Hero", "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" or "War" was out.

But also, even within love songs genre--have you ever noticed that all the most beautiful love songs are about heartbreak?  There were a number of times when I said to the Fiancee, "Okay, this is a really beautiful song, but he's actually singing about a girl who doesn't love him back." She would always respond, "Delete it."
I've got a list as long as my arm of songs I had to cut for this reason.  One example, "I Can't Stop Loving You," by Ray Charles. I really wanted to include it, but a close examination of the lyrics shows that he's actually singing the song to an ex-lover.  Likewise, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" by The Beatles also got deleted because it was about a dysfunctional relationship.
I tell you, I've got a huge list of really beautiful love songs that had to be deleted because they were about some sort of dysfunctional relationship (--all the most beautiful songs are always about heartbreak).

On the other hand, songs like "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks were rejected by the Fiancee because they were a bit too hard rock, and didn't really fit the mood of the wedding.  (To be fair, she was absolutely right about this.  I kind of knew that in the back of my head before I even asked.)

What's left on this playlist is all the songs I did manage to come up with.
I'm kind of proud of it, in that stupid irrational way that everyone is proud of their own playlists?

(It is kind of stupid when you think about it?  Lots of people are proud of their playlists, but why?   Do we think that we somehow get credit for the songs just because we put them on a list?)

Anyway... for whatever it's worth...

TESOL Songsheets (Just the Links)

[This is a repost of the previous post, but with only the links and none of the worksheets embedded.]

(TESOL Ideas)

Google Drive Folder HERE

22 by Taylor Swift
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon
A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke
Ain't Got No, I Got Life by Nina Simone
Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers
All the Words in the English Language by The Animaniacs
As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber
Baby by Justin Bieber
Back to December by Taylor Swift
Blank Space by Taylor Swift
Bus Stop by The Hollies
Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles
Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone
Frankie and Johnny by Sam Cooke
Get Ready by The Temptations
Hey Jude by The Beatles
Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles
I Ain't Marching Anymore by Phil Ochs
I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift
I Should be Proud by Martha and the Vandellas
If It Hadn't Been For Love by Adele
Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) by Paul Revere and the Raiders
(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone by The Monkees
It's All Over Now by The Rolling Stones
Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice
Jesus Gave Me Water by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers
Let Her Go by Passenger
Let it Be by The Beatles
Let It Go by Demi Lovato
Listen by Beyonce
Love Potion Number 9 by The Searchers
Money (That's What I Want) by The Beatles
Nations of the World by The Animaniacs
O-o-h Child by The Five Stairsteps
People Got to be Free by The Rascals
Poison Ivy by The Coasters
Respect by Aretha Franklin
Revolution by The Beatles
Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers
She's Not There by The Zombies
Shop Around by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield
Stop the War Now by Edwin Starr
Sweet Cherry Wine by Tommy James and the Shondells
Tacky by Weird Al Yankovic
The Games People Play by Joe South
The Man by Aloe Blacc
The Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett
The Presidents Song by The Animaniacs
Think by Aretha Franklin
The Two G Sounds--Sesame Street ,
U.N. Me by The Animaniacs
Valerie by Amy Winehouse
War by Edwin Starr
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by Jimmy Ruffin
When I'm Gone (Cups) by Anna Kendrick
Word Crimes by Weird Al Yankovic
You and I by One Direction
You've Really Got a Hold on Me by The Beatles



I've been on a real kick lately to use songs more and more in my classes.  Although I use to think bringing in too many songs was the sign of a lazy TESOL teacher, I've been learning a lot of things lately that have changed my mind.  A lot of the literature I've read on young learners in particular has caused me to think I should focus less on the grammar, and more on simply trying to maximize their exposure to the language whatever why I can. (Much of the literature I've read on Young Learners says that they can not analyze grammar points as well as older learners, but can absorb a fair amount of the language simply by exposure.)  So, in addition to a steady diet of Graded Readers, I've been making it a point to do one song every lesson.
In this day and age, when the lyrics to everything are already on the Internet, it's easy enough for anyone to design these sheets by themselves.  So I'm not sure anyone really needs me to post my own.
However, having gone through the trouble of making them once, I want to keep track of the songsheets I've designed just for my own benefit in case I end up repeating any of these songs.  And this blog is a good place to do it.  And if anyone else out there happens to find them useful, so much the better.
The songsheets are all fill in the blank.  The words needed for the blanks are all in a box at the top.  (Although if you wanted to increase the challenge level for any of these, you could easily just delete the word box.)
With the young learners classes, I typically start out by saying all the words in the box, and having them repeat after me.  Then, I check the meaning of words in the box by describing the words in random order (e.g. "This is the opposite of up", "This is what you call someone you love") and having the class shout out the answers.  Then I play the song, and have the students fill in the sheet.  We check the answers as a class, and then I write the answers up on the board.  (If they missed any  words, I play the song again).  Then when all the answers have been filled in, I play the song one last time just so they can listen and check anything they missed.  (The answer sheet is usually just for my own benefit, and I don't usually hand that out to the class.)
In order to avoid cluttering up the blog, I've hidden away all the songsheets back in August 2003, and will just use this post to index them.
Notes:
1).  The list at the top of the post is only for songs I use to practice general listening fluency and to provide general exposure to the language.  Songs I use to illustrate specific grammar points are already posted elsewhere on this blog, but  I'll index them here as well:
2nd Conditionals
* If I Were a Boy by Beyonce 
* If 6 Was 9 by Jimi Hendrix 
3rd Conditional
* If It Hadn't Been for Love by Adele
Gerunds
* Wishing and Hoping by Dusty Springfield
Modal Verbs:
* I Should be Proud by Martha and the Vandellas
Negative Verbs
* You Don't Own Me by Leslie Gore
Passive
*The Banks are Made of Marble by Pete Seeger 
Present Tense Verbs
* Present Tense Verbs using "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke
Present Perfect
* I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2   
Reported Speech
* The Letter by The Box Tops
*Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals
Used to
* It’s All Over Now by The Rolling Stones
Will for Future Predictions
* Que Sera Sera by Doris Day 
Wish
* Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy by Leslie Gore 
Would + base form (for repeated past actions)
* Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield

2). The list above is a combination of songs I've chosen for my own reasons, and songs the students have asked me to do.
There is some difference of opinion in my staff room regarding student song requests.  One colleague has noted that students tend to request songs they already know by heart, thereby decreasing the value of the listening practice.  (He noticed that with songs students have requested, they often can fill in all the missing words before the song is even played, and he stopped taking student requests after this.)
Another colleague told me he thinks it is his purpose to introduce the students to new songs that they would not otherwise have encountered, and so also does not take student requests.
While I recognize the value of both of these arguments, I have also read a lot of material that talks about the value of allowing student participation in choosing classroom materials, so I have tried to honor student requests.  I also, particularly with the young learners, view the purpose of songs in the classroom as primarily to increase exposure to the language, and listening skills are secondary, so it's  not always a problem if they already know the words.
However, for the reasons my colleagues have mentioned above, I do try and split the difference--one day doing their song requests, one day doing my songs.
The musical tastes of my 11-15 year old students are not always in sync with my own, and there are any number of songs on this list that I would have completely avoided if left to my own devices.  They should probably be obvious from looking at the list (Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, One Direction, et cetera).
There are also songs on this list which I do not consider ideal for language practice because of the banality or repetitiveness of the lyrics, but have done anyway because of my commitment to honor student requests, like the song Baby by Justin Bieber, which for most of the song is just the same word repeated over and over again.  But I had a class plead with me to do that song a couple years ago. I agreed to do it, but I couldn't resist making the songsheet up slightly tongue-in-cheek, by making the missing word in several stanzas simply be "baby".  Before playing the song, I told the students "There's a certain word you're going to be using a lot on this song.  I'll give you a hint--it starts with a "B".  I also didn't much care for "As Long as You Love Me", also by Bieber, for the same reasons, but made the songsheet up anyway.   (Because these Justin Beibers songs are so repetitive, I didn't think they were ideal for language practice.  But to be fair, some of the songs I've included can be just as repetitive--like Think by Aretha Franklin.)

3).  The song When I'm Gone is also a student request.  It actually lead to a bit of an "Abbot and Costello" moment in my Young Learners class.  The students were complaining that all the songs I used were too old, and one of the girls said, "Teacher, next time can you do the song When I'm Gone."  To which I responded, "Okay, I guess, if you dislike it that much.  When are you going to be gone?"  There were several more back and forths between me and the whole class before I finally figured out When I'm Gone was the name of the song.

4). Related to the above point, not all of these songs have gone over great with the Young Learners.  Although you never know what will be popular and what won't be.  Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles was a surprise hit in one of my classes.

4).  I used to be limited to only the songs I had in my CD collection.  (Part of the reason there are so many Beatles songs on this list.)  But recently we've gotten computers in every classroom, and just about every song you could ever want is on youtube, so that means pretty much the sky is the limit for any song I want to do.
A couple of these songs, however, have multiple versions on Youtube.  Hit the Road Jack and Think have some versions where the lyrics are slightly different than my songsheet.  In both cases, my songsheet is based off of the single version of these songs.  (Although Hit the Road Jack appears to have a couple different versions claiming to be the official single release.)  Secret Agent Man also has a couple different versions flying about--possibly because of the difference between the single version and the TV theme version?

5) Word Crimes by Weird Al Yankovic is slightly different than the other songsheets. It was designed for advanced older learners instead of younger learners, and in an effort to keep their attention I deliberately made it as challenging as possible. (They weren't expected to successfully get all the words, but just to have a go at getting as many as they can.)  There's a pun included in that song, "cunning linguist", which does violate my rule of thumb about never using any songs in the classroom that have inappropriate lyrics, but I let this one slide because I was relatively sure my students would not catch the reference.  This assumption proved to be correct.

6) Nations of the World by The Animaniacs is great for helping classes with some of their geography (in English), despite the fact that the song isn't completely accurate.  (It includes a number of places which aren't technically countries, and omits other places that actually are countries.  SEE HERE for more information.)  But I still figure that on the whole it does more good than harm in terms of exposing students to English names for countries.  And it's a fun song.

TESOL Songsheets

(TESOL ideas)

22 by Taylor Swift



50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon



A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke



Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell



All the Words in the English Language by The Animaniacs



As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber



Baby by Justin Bieber



Back to December by Taylor Swift



Blank Space by Taylor Swift



Bus Stop by The Hollies



Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles



Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone



Frankie and Johnny by Sam Cooke



Get Ready by The Temptations



Hey Jude by The Beatles



Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles



I Ain't Marching Anymore by Phil Ochs



I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift



I Should be Proud by Martha and the Vandellas



If It Hadn't Been For Love by Adele



Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian) by Paul Revere and the Raiders



(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone by The Monkees



Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice



Jesus Gave Me Water by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers



Let Her Go by Passenger



Let it Be by The Beatles



Let It Go by Demi Lovato



Listen by Beyonce



Love Potion Number 9 by The Searchers



Money (That's What I Want) by The Beatles



Nations of the World by The Animaniacs



O-o-h Child by The Five Stairsteps



People Got to be Free by The Rascals



Poison Ivy by The Coasters



Respect by Aretha Franklin



Revolution by The Beatles



Secret Agent Man by Johnny Rivers



She's Not There by The Zombies



Shop Around by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles



Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield



Stop the War Now by Edwin Starr



Sweet Cherry Wine by Tommy James and the Shondells



Tacky by Weird Al Yankovic



The Games People Play by Joe South



The Man by Aloe Blacc



The Monster Mash by Bobby Pickett



The Presidents Song by The Animaniacs



Think by Aretha Franklin



U.N. Me by The Animaniacs



Valerie by Amy Winehouse


War by Edwin Starr



What Becomes of the Brokenhearted by Jimmy Ruffin



When I'm Gone (Cups) by Anna Kendrick



Word Crimes by Weird Al Yankovic



You and I by One Direction



You've Really Got a Hold on Me by The Beatles




I've been on a real kick lately to use songs more and more in my classes.  Although I use to think bringing in too many songs was the sign of a lazy TESOL teacher, I've been learning a lot of things lately that have changed my mind.  A lot of the literature I've read on young learners in particular has caused me to think I should focus less on the grammar, and more on simply trying to maximize their exposure to the language whatever why I can. (Much of the literature I've read on Young Learners says that they can not analyze grammar points as well as older learners, but can absorb a fair amount of the language simply by exposure.)  So, in addition to a steady diet of Graded Readers, I've been making it a point to do one song every lesson. 
In this day and age, when the lyrics to everything are already on the Internet, it's easy enough for anyone to design these sheets by themselves.  So I'm not sure anyone really needs me to post my own.
However, having gone through the trouble of making them once, I want to keep track of the songsheets I've designed just for my own benefit in case I end up repeating any of these songs.  And this blog is a good place to do it.  And if anyone else out there happens to find them useful, so much the better.
The songsheets are all fill in the blank.  The words needed for the blanks are all in a box at the top.  (Although if you wanted to increase the challenge level for any of these, you could easily just delete the word box.)
With the young learners classes, I typically start out by saying all the words in the box, and having them repeat after me.  Then, I check the meaning of words in the box by describing the words in random order (e.g. "This is the opposite of up", "This is what you call someone you love") and having the class shout out the answers.  Then I play the song, and have the students fill in the sheet.  We check the answers as a class, and then I write the answers up on the board.  (If they missed any  words, I play the song again).  Then when all the answers have been filled in, I play the song one last time just so they can listen and check anything they missed.  (The answer sheet is usually just for my own benefit, and I don't usually hand that out to the class.)
In order to avoid cluttering up the blog, I've hidden away all the songsheets back in August 2003, and will just use this post to index them.
Notes:
1).  The list at the top of the post is only for songs I use to practice general listening fluency and to provide general exposure to the language.  Songs I use to illustrate specific grammar points are already posted elsewhere on this blog, but  I'll index them here as well:
2nd Conditionals
* If I Were a Boy by Beyonce 
* If 6 Was 9 by Jimi Hendrix 
Gerunds
* Wishing and Hoping by Dusty Springfield
Modal Verbs:
* I Should be Proud by Martha and the Vandellas
Negative Verbs
* You Don't Own Me by Leslie Gore
Passive
*The Banks are Made of Marble by Pete Seeger 
Present Perfect
* I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For by U2   
Reported Speech
* The Letter by The Box Tops
*Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals
Will for Future Predictions
* Que Sera Sera by Doris Day 
Wish
* Sometimes I Wish I Were a Boy by Leslie Gore 

2). The list above is a combination of songs I've chosen for my own reasons, and songs the students have asked me to do.
There is some difference of opinion in my staff room regarding student song requests.  One colleague has noted that students tend to request songs they already know by heart, thereby decreasing the value of the listening practice.  (He noticed that with songs students have requested, they often can fill in all the missing words before the song is even played, and he stopped taking student requests after this.)
Another colleague told me he thinks it is his purpose to introduce the students to new songs that they would not otherwise have encountered, and so also does not take student requests.
While I recognize the value of both of these arguments, I have also read a lot of material that talks about the value of allowing student participation in choosing classroom materials, so I have tried to honor student requests.  I also, particularly with the young learners, view the purpose of songs in the classroom as primarily to increase exposure to the language, and listening skills are secondary, so it's  not always a problem if they already know the words.
However, for the reasons my colleagues have mentioned above, I do try and split the difference--one day doing their song requests, one day doing my songs.
The musical tastes of my 11-15 year old students are not always in sync with my own, and there are any number of songs on this list that I would have completely avoided if left to my own devices.  They should probably be obvious from looking at the list (Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, One Direction, et cetera).
There are also songs on this list which I do not consider ideal for language practice because of the banality or repetitiveness of the lyrics, but have done anyway because of my commitment to honor student requests, like the song Baby by Justin Bieber, which for most of the song is just the same word repeated over and over again.  But I had a class plead with me to do that song a couple years ago. I agreed to do it, but I couldn't resist making the songsheet up slightly tongue-in-cheek, by making the missing word in several stanzas simply be "baby".  Before playing the song, I told the students "There's a certain word you're going to be using a lot on this song.  I'll give you a hint--it starts with a "B".  I also didn't much care for "As Long as You Love Me", also by Bieber, for the same reasons, but made the songsheet up anyway.   (Because these Justin Beibers songs are so repetitive, I didn't think they were ideal for language practice.  But to be fair, some of the songs I've included can be just as repetitive--like Think by Aretha Franklin.)

3).  The song When I'm Gone is also a student request.  It actually lead to a bit of an "Abbot and Costello" moment in my Young Learners class.  The students were complaining that all the songs I used were too old, and one of the girls said, "Teacher, next time can you do the song When I'm Gone."  To which I responded, "Okay, I guess, if you dislike it that much.  When are you going to be gone?"  There were several more back and forths between me and the whole class before I finally figured out When I'm Gone was the name of the song.

4). Related to the above point, not all of these songs have gone over great with the Young Learners.  Although you never know what will be popular and what won't be.  Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles was a surprise hit in one of my classes.

4).  I used to be limited to only the songs I had in my CD collection.  (Part of the reason there are so many Beatles songs on this list.)  But recently we've gotten computers in every classroom, and just about every song you could ever want is on youtube, so that means pretty much the sky is the limit for any song I want to do.
A couple of these songs, however, have multiple versions on Youtube.  Hit the Road Jack and Think have some versions where the lyrics are slightly different than my songsheet.  In both cases, my songsheet is based off of the single version of these songs.  (Although Hit the Road Jack appears to have a couple different versions claiming to be the official single release.)  Secret Agent Man also has a couple different versions flying about--possibly because of the difference between the single version and the TV theme version? 

5) Word Crimes by Weird Al Yankovic is slightly different than the other songsheets. It was designed for advanced older learners instead of younger learners, and in an effort to keep their attention I deliberately made it as challenging as possible. (They weren't expected to successfully get all the words, but just to have a go at getting as many as they can.)  There's a pun included in that song, "cunning linguist", which does violate my rule of thumb about never using any songs in the classroom that have inappropriate lyrics, but I let this one slide because I was relatively sure my students would not catch the reference.  This assumption proved to be correct.

6) Nations of the World by The Animaniacs is great for helping classes with some of their geography (in English), despite the fact that the song isn't completely accurate.  (It includes a number of places which aren't technically countries, and omits other places that actually are countries.  SEE HERE for more information.)  But I still figure that on the whole it does more good than harm in terms of exposing students to English names for countries.  And it's a fun song.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

(Movie Review)

Why I Saw This Movie:

I’m a longtime - Beatles fan.  Plus a friend had recently recommended this movie to me.

Positives:

* The best thing about any documentary is the archival footage-and this film has plenty of it.

* A great soundtrack (naturally).

Negatives

* Most of the controversies in George Harrison’s life are either omitted or glossed over.

* The film isn’t so much a coherent narrative as much as it is just a hodge-podge of interesting tid-bits about George Harrison’s life.

The Review

          This documentary project runs up against a couple difficulties:

            How do you separate the story of George Harrison from the larger story of the Beatles?

            And, since the Beatles have already been documented to death, how do you tell their story without just repeating what’s already been done?

            The approach this film adopts is to not try and tell a complete story, but just focus on interesting moments.

            It stumbles a bit in its narrative, but on the whole it works fairly well.

            And some great archival footage. It’s worth watching just to see the archival footage alone.

Rating:

7 out of 10 stars

Links

This critical review does a good job of picking out the films flaws.  (I’m more of a fan of George Harrison’s music than this guy is, but I agree with him that this film would have been much more interesting if it would have included George Harrison’s flaws as well as his virtues.)

Link of the Day

Noam Chomsky - Brains, Minds and Machines Symposium - 2011
Also, the Daily Show is always brilliant, but I thought their take down on Slumdogs and Millionaires particularly a must watch.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World: Movie Review

10 Most Under-rated Beatles Songs

This has apparently been circulating around lately. I found it on Dr. Bob's blog (one of the Blogs I've been lurking on) and being a Beatles fan I thought I'd throw up my own list for the hell of it.

A quick note on criteria:

Under-rated is not a word that is often associated with The Beatles. Easily the most famous band in Rock and Roll history, most music fans I know are familiar with the whole Beatles canon. So I guess when I say "Under-rated" Beatles song, I'm talking relatively.
Obviously I've stayed away from anything that was #1. And I decided to stay away from anything on "Sgt Pepper's".
Also I avoided any of their various covers from the early years, or anything that wasn't a Beatle's original.

Other than that, I just used my own judgement.

Once I got going, it was hard to stop at 10. I would have like to go on to the top 30 under-rated Beatles songs, but I made a few tough choices and held myself back.

In no particular order, the top ten under-rated Beatles songs in my opinion

Links are to the wikipedia articles. In cases where I could find a version on-line, I linked to that as well in case someone doesn't know these songs as well as me.

10. Happiness is a Warm Gun...This song is divided into 3 parts, and the first 2 are my favorite. The beginning has classic nonsense Lennon lyrics.

The second part: "I need a fix cause I'm going down, down to the fix that I left uptown..." I have no idea what it means but it sounds really cool, and I like the way the music goes up and down with the lyrics.
(version on-line here)

9. The Word...Not only a top under-rated song, this is one of my favorite Beatles songs of all time. I've always been amazed that this song isn't better known than it is. It's got such an upbeat jazzy feel, plus a great positive message. (version on-line here)

8. Tomorrow Never Knows...I like George Harrison, but it is interesting to compare this Lennon song against any of George Harrison's Indian inspired music, and see what a talented song-writer Lennon was. This song manages to combine Eastern influences with a captivating rhythm. It just grabs you and pulls you in. (version on-line here)

7. Dig a Pony...I have a hard time not singing along when this song is on the CD player, even though some of the high notes strain my vocal range and make me look ridiculous. Even though I lose some dignity, I just can't resist it. It's such a fun song. (version on-line here)

6. Don't Let Me Down...Alright, this might be pushing the definition of "under-rated" a bit. I know it's a famous Beatles song, but it's not as famous as it should be. I hardly ever hear it on the radio, and it often gets left out of Beatles compilation albums.
Possibly the best Beatles song ever, the energy and feeling behind it is amazing. It never fails to lift me up a bit when I play it. (version on-line here)

5. Run for your Life...I'm not sure how I feel about the misogynistic undertones behind the lyrics, but a great bouncy song. (version on-line here)

4. Things We Said Today...Another song I have trouble not singing along to when it comes on. Especially when the chorus comes along.
I once saw part of this song randomly inserted on a T-shirt of the lady in front of me at the Oita Train station as part of Japanese-English:

Someday when we're older
Deep in love not a lot to say
Then we will remember

(The T-shirt stopped there, but it still made my day). (Version on-line here)

3. Yes it is...Wikipedia claims this as one of John Lennon's least favorite compositions, but the first time I heard it I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs ever. It has a haunting type of melody. I always envision this song being used as background music for a smoky bar.
(um...trouble finding an on-line version. Closest I could get was this cover by some other band).

2. I'm Only Sleeping...I love to listen to this song when I'm feeling lazy (which is pretty much all of the time.) And the weird backwards part is fun too. (version on-line here)

1. I Me Mine...Does this describe our society perfectly, or what? And I love the way the tension in the verses seems to build up until it explodes in the chorus. (on-line version here)

I've decided I'm going to tag this.

I know Jared is a big Beatles fan (although I'm never sure if he has blogging access).

Brett, you my friend are long overdue for a post. (If you don't start posting soon, I'm going to take a page from Mr. Guam and start a "Brett needs an update" campaign.)

Phil, Bork, I know neither of you are huge Beatles fans, but I always enjoy your thoughts on music.

Mr. Guam, you were never one to turn down a list.

And any fan who feels like picking up the challenge.

Link of the Day
Chomsky "Interventions" Interview

The U.S. Vs John Lennon

I went down to the UICA last Monday to see the new John Lennon documentary. (If you still haven't seen the trailer yet, you can watch it here.)

Being a big Beatles fan, you can guess that this would be right up my alley. However by the same token being a big Beatles fan, and a self-admitted geek, I also felt it didn’t tell me a lot of new stuff. Even most of the old footage I felt I had seen before, between the ABC Beatles’ Anthology series, the “Imagine” documentary movie from the 80s, the Dick Cavett interview, and the infamous week co-hosting the Mike Douglas show during which Lennon and Ono brought in Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale. The latter two shows are frequently re-run on VH1's rock classic series, or at least they were back when I was in high school.

Nevertheless, it was a very well done documentary, and very entertaining. And I figure entertaining is really all you can ask from a documentary. Being informative is a plus, but if you’re really concerned about the information aspect, you learn a lot more sitting down with a book than you would from a 2 hour documentary. And there are actually a number of books dealing with John Lennon’s political activities, if you look in the right place. The Calvin library has a couple of them, and I recall spending a couple Friday evening’s curled up with these books back in the day. (I know, geek, geek). There’s also a recent book, “Gimmie some Truth” on which this documentary was partly based. The NPR interview with the author can be heard here.The movie didn’t have much of a thesis other than to recount the events of John’s political activity, and the US governments reaction to them. It shows Nixon and the FBI doing some not-nice things, but I trust that’s not new information at this point.

However the story of John Lennon does present an interesting case study on the intersection of music and pop culture with politics. When you talk about star power, it’s hard to get much bigger than a member of the Beatles during their heyday. Remember the Beatles were (or at least started out as) a bubble gum rock band. It would be equivalent perhaps to Elvis, or today’s Brittany Spears or Justin Timberlake, becoming heavily involved in radical politics.

And for that matter, it’s hard to get more radical than John Lennon was. When you start hanging out with Bobby Seale, Jerry Rubin, and Tariq Ali (who, according to his autobiography was a close personal friend of John Lennon ), it’s hard to move further out to the left.

There was a time around when I was 17, 18, and 19, when I considered John Lennon, and more recent bands like “Rage Against the Machine” the height of political sophistication. I suppose that’s right around the age where that is common (maybe I was a late bloomer by a couple years). And I can still remember one day around when I was 19 listening to a “Rage Against the Machine” song, and thinking, “Wait a minute, these guys aren’t any more politically sophisticated than I am. The only difference is they have the ability to put their message to music. But the lyrics themselves are really not that deep.”

There is a danger when rock stars become the most visible parts of the American Left. I think this is a danger that is often courted by revisionist histories of the 1960s, which focus on the era as the hey day of Woodstock, the Rolling Stones, and the Grateful Dead, instead of the real story of the civil rights and anti war movements, which is grassroots organizing at the local level.

To be fair, I think this particularly documentary did a good job of walking that line. They portrayed Lennon as responding to what was already happening in the streets, instead of being a superstar who creates movements. But still, I wince a little bit when I watch a documentary that has Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal as supporting analysts for a movie about John Lennon. It makes me worry a little about where our culture is focused.

On the other hand, the older I get, the more I realize that not everyone’s brain is wired the same as mine. People like my youngest sister have a very hard time absorbing a tract by Noam Chomsky, but could easily understand the simple message in Lennon’s songs of giving peace a chance. And this point was made in the documentary. John and Yoko both said that they were trying to use their celebrity power to get people involved in the movement who wouldn’t otherwise be involved.

But here’s what has me worried: when I go through East town I see all sorts of progressive bumper stickers on cars or progressive buttons on people at the coffee houses. But when we meet for Media Mouse meetings or IGE meetings, it is rare we have more than 10 people. I don’t think our generation is apathetic politically, but I think people sometimes put bumper stickers on their car, or listen to folk music (or punk music, or Rage against the Machine, or whatever radical music you happen to like) and think they are doing their part. And actual organizing and political participation is falling by the wayside.

There is a line to walk between being able to use star power to attract people to the movement, and becoming too dependent on it. I’m not sure what the exact answer is, but I fear we have fallen too far to the latter.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
Despite sounding like a traditional love song, "Martha My Dear" was in fact inspired by Paul McCartney's Old English Sheepdog, Martha. Said McCartney, "Whereas it would appear to anybody else to be a song to a girl called Martha, it's actually a dog, and our relationship was platonic, believe me."

Link of the Day
More Japanese music. Usually I link to the oldies, but just for the sake of variety here's a more recent song. "Shanghai Honey" by Orange Range. This song was very popular with my junior high school students about 2 years ago. In fact they used parts of it for their team chant during "Sports Day." It's not great music, but it's kind of catchy. The Band Orange Range is originally from Okinawa, and you can hear Okinawan influences in the song during the chants in between verses.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon: Movie Review (Scripted)

Revolution by The Beatles (TESOL Songsheet)

(TESOL Songsheets)

Google: drive, docs, pub

Revolution by The Beatles

anyhow, can, destruction, hate, head, instead, plan, revolution, solution, world

You say you want a ____________
Well, you know
We all want to change the ____________
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about ____________
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right

You say you got a real ____________
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the ____________
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we ____________
But when you want money
For people with minds that ____________
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
Ah

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your ____________
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind ____________
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone ____________
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right

Answers

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
For people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
Ah

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right