Thursday, March 27, 2014

WEEK 100: Settle Down (Live, first show, 2002)



Oh my goodly goodness!

This is the 100th post! Not exactly the 100th week, because I don't in fact update this every single week, but the 100th post!!! The 100th MP3!!! THE 100TH CELEBRATION OF MEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee(eeeeeee.)

Well anyway, it took me a while to figure out what song should go here, but this one hits all the right notes with me. You might say it strikes a CHORD. You MIGHT SAY...

So this is from my very first show. August 18th, 2002, Sidewalk Cafe, and my God, this was like 12 years ago. Wow. Well the reason I chose this MP3 is because this was kind of the moment for me on stage that I felt like I found my voice, and that it was working, and that people were enjoying it. 

This was the last song of the night, and a lot of the other songs were pretty rough. A lot of mistakes, a lot of reject songs that no one has heard since, a lot of bad rhythm and awkwardness. But this song is so simple, there's just no way I could have screwed it up. So I am both extra relaxed in this recording but also full of happiness and confidence at completing my very first show, which I had been unbelievably nervous about for like several weeks leading up to it.

This MP3 also has one of my all time favorite off-the-cuff stage moment. The wonderful sound person woman there at the time threw on a giant dose of reverb during my very bad whistle solo. But she accidentally left it on as I sang the next line. She turned it off super fast and me and the audience kind of laugh at the weirdness of it. But then I improvised a lyric change - "we should go someplace where there isn't...so much reverb" (instead of "where there isn't so much stress."), and MAN...The big laugh and applause from the audience just made my night. I knew I wanted to keep playing shows. Not to mention the laughs at other lines, and the laugh after "THE CALM, CALM SEA" part! 

So yeah, this is a special one for me, on several levels. Hope you enjoy it both musically and also as an interesting historical document. 

OH...I didn't even talk about the song I guess? I explain it at the start of the MP3, but it's basically from the POV of a guy who's girlfriend is screaming at him, and he's trying to calm her down. The joke of the song is that there's an implication that the guy is a jerk and she's completely justified in yelling at him, but he's painting her as a raving lunatic. 

Is that funny? I think so. Check out the lyrics, then download the song!


And would you like to settle down for a while?
And would you like to settle down for a while?

You act like all those other people that I hate
Not enough like who I like
Normal people don't pretend to get mad all the time
Normal people don't like to fight

chorus

Tomorrow maybe you'll realize how crazy you were
Today well come to think of it
Yesterday you acted just the same or even worse
and Now you're acting ignorant

chorus

And would you like to take a breath
and nod your head
like you were on a ship at sea
THE CALM, CALM SEA!!!!!

::whistle solo::

We should go someplace where there isn't so much stress
It would be nothing like this
We should go and then your hair won't be in such a mess
Or my hands on your wrists

And would you like to settle down for a while?


DOWNLOAD THE SONG BY RIGHT CLICKING HERE!


Or listen to it here!





Thanks guys! See you soon,

Jordan