David O'Doherty experiments with music

Hello readers.

I was asked to write something about the music I like for this blog, and I thought that to try and make it a bit more interesting than just somebody you've probably never heard of rattling on about how awesome their taste is, I would pick ten songs I really like from my computer and write about them for exactly the length of each song while the song is playing. This does mean that shorter songs will have less written about them than long ones, but that shouldn't really matter. It's an experiment and God loves an experimenter. Loosen up squares, take a chillaxitive. This is the 90s. It's time to take some risks. Let's go.


1. Aberfeldy – "Love is an Arrow" - Young Forever (2 mins 30 sec)




I think this is one of the most perfect songs of recent years. My father is a jazz musician so I grew up listening to show tunes and the phenomenal perfection of lyricists like Lorenz Hart and Cole Porter. "When love congeals it soon reveals the faint aroma of performing seals" that's a Cole Porter one. Well this song doesn't have a lyric as perfect as that, but "Love is a verb and a noun as well, you'll find it in the dictionary under L" is a pretty good go. It also has an amazing video.


2. Art Brut – "Emily Kane" – Bang, Bang Rock and Roll (2.41)

The territory this song covers has been done by thousands of other songs, but somehow this one remains fresh. He still likes a girl from when he was little and he doesn't care if everybody knows that he's absolutely not over it. I think this is what rock music is supposed to do. To express a very simple idea in a very concise way. Like I'm Horny by Mousse T.


3. Beck – "Beercan" – Mellow Gold (4 mins)

I've listened to this song hundreds of times and I have no idea what it's about. I like certain lyrics. "Swirling chickens caught in flight". Also the bit about throwing frisbees at the sun. It's one of my favourite songs. I'm trying to figure out why I like it. Maybe it's the way it sounds homemade. Or at least that he was very excited when he made it. That's how people should be when they make things. I find so many novels dull because you can't imagine the writer sat down and was bubbling with enthusiasm for the job ahead. And consequently it comes out as a bit of a plod. You never get that with Kurt Vonnegut. I've just got into him. Read Slapstick. Or the first half of it anyway. That'll let you know what I'm talking about.


4. Ben Folds – "All You Can Eat" – Sunny 16 (3.23)

The problem with so much current American rock is that acting like you are experiencing a certain emotion is not necessarily the best way of getting that emotion across. I mean people talk about angry comedians, but if you were actually angry, you wouldn't be funny, you'd just be angry. You need to package your fury. This song is fucking furious. And yet it has quite a jazzy piano solo in it. Stick that up your holes My Chemical Romance.


5. Bob Dylan with The Band – "Forever Young" – The Last Waltz (4.23)




I'd never seen a good live band DVD until I saw The Last Waltz. It's The Band's last gig and they have a bunch of megaspecial guests. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond. They all get hilarious, "Now welcome on stage my very good friend Ringo Starr" type intros, except Dylan. His intro is a shot of the preposterous white fedora hat he's wearing and then we pan down. But I swear it's so good that after seeing it you will consider buying a white fedora hat. Imagine wearing one into town. It would be carnage. Well this is my favourite Bob Dylan song and I much prefer this version of it to the one on the earlier album. I can't remember which one. It's on the Best of I had when I was 14. It was a hissy home tape job. Sometimes I like to think I'm pretty cool for having had this at such a young age, but then I remember that on the other side, the album you'd have to listen to in order to rewind the Bob Dylan album, was an album called Deep Forest which was pigmy chanting set to horrible house beats. It may be the worst album of all time.


6. Cat Power – "The Greatest" – The Greatest (3.22)



I never got Cat Power till I saw her do this on Jools Holland. When she sang "Once I wanted to be the greatest" she raised her arms in a kind of failed strongman way and I immediately wanted to be her friend. The only other thing I knew about her was from a gig in Whelans a few years ago that my friend was at when she was off her face on something and ended the show by getting off with random people from the audience. It was genuinely unsettling. Well this song explains that. To some extent. Things haven't quite worked out. She is unsettlingly beautiful too. I wonder what I'd look like if I were a girl.


7. Cody Chesnutt – "Look Good in Leather" – The Headphones Masterpiece (3.55)

I've always found bragging in songs pretty hilarious. It's one of the founding rocks of hip-hop. I'm brilliant and I have a lot of stuff. That may be true, but the fact that you've taken the time to write a song about it and have convinced me to buy it makes it really funny. This song is really funny. It's not hip-hop. Basically Cody is brilliant at riding, that's what he's trying to say. He's also brilliant at wooing generally. And he's tells us this for 4 minutes. Of course he knows it's ridiculous too but that's kind of the idea. I once saw a gig of his and he came out in a robe with a crown on. There were about 50 people in a half empty music club in Auckland, all music nerds, and he came out as our king and sang songs about fucking our girlfriends better than us. Brillo!


8. Fionn Regan – " Be Good or Be Gone" – The End of History (3.19)




Another song I have no idea what it's about, but I still love the lyrics. Be good or be gone. I also like the fact that he doesn't really care if you don't know what it's about. Keep it vague. That's a Bob Dylan quote from somewhere. I think he might say it to Donovan in Don't Look Back or somewhere. Well Fionn is keeping it awesomely vague. He has a very nice voice. That's not something I thought I would say here or indeed at any time in my life. Also I love the video for this song. It shows that he has the confidence in his work to poke fun at it. At one point he's standing in his wellies singing it in front of some cows on a farm.


9. Jeffrey Lewis – "Don't Let the Record Company Take you Out for Lunch" – It's the Ones Who've Cracked that the light Shines Through (2.10)

This song is so good I am finding it difficult to write while it's playing. I agree with 80% of what he's saying but the fact that it all rhymes so beautifully, I still end up thinking he's completely right about everything in the world. It's a great song to listen to after a shit gig. This hasn't been very illuminating if you don't know the song. Go to the youtube clip of his Will Oldham song. Then you'll get the gist.


10. The Moldy Peaches – "Steak for Chicken" – The Moldy Peaches (2.44)

I wish I had thought of this. I suppose you could say that about all of the songs on this list. It's the last one and we are only up to M on my alphabetical artists list. The deal here is that they have written alternative lyrics to the same tune, and they sing them over each other. "We're not those kids sitting on the couch." I know that's what some people think about me. That I just stay in my flat smoking weed all day, but I don't. I work pretty hard writing my crappy jokes. I guess that's why people say stuff like that. I shouldn't call them crappy jokes.


{David O'Doherty is an Irish comedian, and maybe the best one. He's heading out an a national tour soon, if 'national' means Ireland and Prague. He has an album out; you can download it here. }