Author Archives: Jon Martin

Smashing Pumpkins, “Mayonaise”

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smashingpumpkins-siamesedream.jpgFool enough to almost be it
Cool enough to not quite see it

Doomed…

 

 

 

Something Chris wrote about wondering whether contemporary couples still had “their song” started me thinking about just how important songs have been in my life, and in the construction of my own personal identity. And of the complete impossibility of choosing a “favorite song.” A sort of one-size-fits-all for the rest of my life… I have songs for seasons, friends, enemies, places, moods, times, and so on. I can tell you precisely how any one of the thousands of songs I own fits into my life, and precisely how it doesn’t. And so, as you might expect, on most days I am completely unable to describe which is my “favorite.”

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R.E.M., “Wendell Gee”

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There wasn’t even time to say
Goodbye to Wendell Gee
So Whistle as the wind blows…
Whistle as the wind blows…
With me.

Closing R.E.M.’s “Fables of the Reconstruction” album, “Wendell Gee” is one of those perfect examples of what Michael Stipe and Co. do so very well that is, reify the mundane into these revelatory narratives that pull meaning from your subconscious mind. (Sounds simple, right?) Last night, I had a series of nightmares. Only, I wasn’t quite asleep. The crux of it is that when I think about everything that’s happened with my dad, and how I lost him, I feel horribly derelict for not being there for him in his final moments. “After everything he gave me in life,” I think, “how could I not have given him the comfort of knowing he wasn’t alone?” And, of course, I had no idea. It was a perfectly normal day a little rainy, a little cold but nothing terrifying. Typical November in New England, and, as such, I was typically lost in my little life.

Still, it’s irrational to the extreme, but it feels like a complete shirking of the single-most important thing I could have ever done for my dad.

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Site News

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Hi everyone,

The time has come to unveil the first part of my evil plan for world domination! I am very proud to introduce you to our very first contributor – Chris Clark. Chris is a friend of mine from ages ago, a survivor of the Chelmsford, MA music scene (population five), and a lover of terrible, terrible pop bubblegum trashâ„¢. Seriously, though, Chris provides a set of experiences that will very likely be couched in songs that I would never have considered, even though I’m familiar with them. And that, my friends, is the point of this site. Or, at least, it’s what I hope this site will become. In the next few weeks, I will (fingers crossed) be introducing a handful of new contributors as things begin to take shape.

Would you like to be one of them? You could be. The first step is to register for the site. The second is to send me your ideas, and we’ll see about opening this thing up a bit. I’m still going to keep on writing about the songs that saved my life, but my hope is that we’ll find a way to share our diverse experiences in a way that will bring us closer.

And so, help me welcome our first contributor by heading over to read Chris’ post. In the next few weeks, there will be others… and, yes, there are more surprises to come! Hang in there, true believers…

Indigo Girls, “Kid Fears”

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indigogirls-indigogirls.jpgWhat would replace the rent with the stars above?
Replace the need with love?
Replace the anger with the tide?
Replace the ones that you love?

 

 

One of the least important things about this song is intimately connected with one of the most significant. Life’s funny that way. Laura was the first person to play it for me. In the days of my earliest infatuation with her, we were sitting on the floor of her room, listening to music, and fiddling around with her guitar. She was practicing a variety of things (many of them from Sarah McLachlan’s “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy” album, which I had also just heard for the first time). At the time, I had no idea who the Indigo Girls were { “I mean, c’mon, they’re a girl band” – I would have said}, but I did know and love R.E.M. Every member of R.E.M. performs on this record, but none so spectacularly as Michael Stipe. { Honestly, has any other band ever done so much mentoring? Eddie Vedder discussed this when he inducted R.E.M. into the rock and roll hall of fame, and you can find that here, here, and here. But seriously? Peter Buck contributed great things to albums by The Replacements. Michael Stipe shepherded Thom Yorke in his time of crisis. Then Eddie Vedder. And a host of other bands from the Athens, GA area – including the Indigo Girls. And I’ll never stop thinking about what might have come out of the “acoustic” stuff he was working on with Kurt Cobain. The man really is a dynamo…} Now, as anyone who will have heard old recordings of band practice will know {And yes, I realize this represents a small, miserable population of people who will likely never speak to me again.}, I once had the uncanny ability to sound just like Mr. Stipe when speaking into a tape recorder. So, naturally, Laura thought I would be able to sing this song with her. And, naturally, that I’d be able to play along with her.

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The Smiths, “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”

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thereisalight.jpgTake me out, tonight.
Where there’s music and there’s people
And they’re young and alive.
Driving in your car,
I never never want to go home…

 

 

When I think back on my life in high school, and the friends that were there, it’s hard to overstate the immenseness of Chris‘ importance to me. We were, of course, members of the ill-fated band. But before that, we were often to be found driving across the landscape in Chris’ venerable { Read: decrepit (but lovably so). And I suppose we were, on occasion, not so much driving as watching others drive from the sidelines. Bless that little car… }Ford tempo. Most nights, we didn’t really have a destination. We’d make loops of our suburban town, wander up to Nashua, and then eventually head home. Yet, despite the relative simpleness of these outings, and their rather generic nature, I can think of few things in my life that I treasure more. And the reason for that, of course, was a shared love for loud music, and a mutual lack of concern for the passing of time.

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