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Love Songs for the Lonely Hearts
(Continued)
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Dead Presidents: Music From The Motion Picture
There's a bar in my Brooklyn neighborhood called Frank's Lounge. Its
red and simple with black vinyl and no bullshit. Back in the early
70's, I imagine there were lots of afros, pimps, and mamas in bell
bottoms and sequin halters caught between disco and Motown groove.
Now, I just like to watch Knicks games with Frank, guys turning 50, and
a stiff drink. Muddy Waters to Stevie Wonder is always playing on the
jukebox, and at the bar, there's one drunk guy or another with the voice
of James Brown, singing along, heart and soul. If you and your
sweetheart can appreciate a place like this, this CD is the background
for your lovin.
Chopin; The Nocturnes
There's a few you'll find yourself listening to over and over again
obsessively, desperately. Or at least I do. These songs come with their
own needs and intentions. Love songs, night songs, passionate and
deeply romantic, it's dinner music, gothic despair, croon and woo and
pine and pang. Above all,Chopin's nocturnes are beautiful, color and
shape.
Negotiations And Love Songs 1971-86; Paul Simon
Recently, a close friend got his heart broken. Even before it happened
she said, "I could crush you". He did everything he could, but he fell
and broke. It was almost pathetic. Heroic. I asked him sometime later
if it bothered him that forever in her conversations with anybody and
nobody, he would be called Psycho Boy or maybe Pussy Kid, perhaps just
that poor poor guy. At worst, not be remembered at all for something
that hurt so much. This CD was playing, and he said, "Some of the
coolest rockstars have written the coolest songs about what I went
through with her. After me, Paul could've written 51 ways to leave your
lover. No, I don't feel bad at all."
Houses of the Holy; Led Zeppelin
Do you remember how fun it used to be in high school to hot-box
someone's van, get stoned, and make out with a girl you really liked?
For a moment, that was your whole world, and it was cool. You knew
every song on the classic rock radio station, college was still far far
away, and yet the thought of playing Rain Song at your wedding wasn't
strange at all. Try playing this CD again: love never made sense, but
you can remember the times when you thought it did. Anyway, these are
some great songs.
Girl From Ipanema; Astrud Gilberto
Ipanema is a neighborhood in Rio, Brazil. It's known for its elegant
bohemia and long nights. It is hot and enchanting, full of myth and
mixed religions, and beautiful girls who worship God and the Sun alike.
And these are the lullabies she sings as the drunken night slips away
into memory.
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Jon Chang lives and writes in New York City.
E-mail: jjhchang@hotmail.com
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