Monthly Archives: February 2010

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Song of the Day #560: ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ – Sinead O’Connor

It’s not every songwriter who can write matter-of-factly about their personal problems and spin it into addictive pop music. Sinead O’Connor pulled that off in spades on her breakthrough album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, with no better example than her hit ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’

The first line is a beauty: “It seems years since you held the baby while I wrecked the bedroom.” Such an evocative image, and it feels so real. And these lines, from the chorus, feel less like lyrics and more like something from an apology letter: “If I treated you mean, I really didn’t mean to. But you know how it is and how a pregnancy can change you.”

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Song of the Day #559: ‘Lights Out’ – Santogold

I chose today’s song not because I had anything particularly interesting to say about it but because I hadn’t paid much attention to this album in a long time and I figured it was due a little love.

I did stumble across an interesting tidbit while preparing for this blog entry, though.

Apparently Santogold (which is the stage name of Santi White) changed her name to Santigold a year ago after she was sued by Santo Gold, a company that produced a bizarre infomercial in the mid-80’s selling a money-making opportunity related to gold jewelery and a wrestling movie called Blood Circus.

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Song of the Day #558: ‘A Martyr For My Love For You’ – The White Stripes

The White Stripes’ most recent album, Icky Thump, came out a little over two years ago. After that release, Jack White went off and started about two dozen bands, none of which have excited me very much (at least not the bits and pieces I’ve heard). I wish he’d get back with Meg and release another White Stripes record because the last few have been excellent.

Today’s song is one of my favorites from Icky Thump. It’s about being so insecure about a new romance that you call it quits before things even get started… or at least that’s what it’s mostly about.

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Song of the Day #557: ‘The Wind’ – Cat Stevens

When it comes to music in movies, it’s usually the songs I don’t know well that have the biggest impact on me. That way the music and images arrive all of a piece without prior associations. Sometimes when a song I know well is used in a movie it’s jarring and actually takes me out of the film.

One big exception was the use of Cat Stevens’ ‘The Wind’ in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. I knew this song very well and loved it, having worn out my copy of Teaser and the Firecat during high school and college. So when the opening notes kicked in during the kite scene in Rushmore, it could easily have gone wrong.

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