Must I Paint You a Picture

It’s bad timing and me
We find a lot of things out this way
And there’s you
A little black cloud in a dress
The temptation
To take the precious things we have apart
To see how they work
Must be resisted for they never fit together again
If this is rain let it fall on me and drown me
If these are tears let them fall

Chorus:
Must I paint you a picture
About the way that I feel
You know my love for you is strong, girl
You know my love for you is real

It took a short walk and a talk
To change the rules of engagement
While you searched frantically for reverse and them claiming
That virtue never tested is no virtue at all
And so I lost my ignorance
And now the bells across the river chime out your name
I look across to them again

All your friends said come down
It will never fly
And on that imperfect day
We threw it all away
Crisis after crisis, with such intensity
This would never happen if we lived by the sea

Most important decisions in life
Are made between two people in bed
I found that out at my expense
And when I see you
You just turn around and walk away like we never met
Oh we used to be so brave
I dreamt the world stopped turning as we climbed the hill
I dreamt impossible dreams that we were lovers still

-Billy Bragg

Early Musical Influences

A friend of mine asked “What were the ten songs/albums that were your earliest musical influences and why?”  It took some time to put together that list and here it is.  What were your’s?

 

The Beatles – Sgt Peppers

Actually Rubber Soul is my favorite Beatles album but Sgt Peppers really had a bigger impact on my young mind.  It was my parent’s record with the original paper badges insert (still have it).  A Day In the Life was the track that made my mind explode.  I can’t tell you why now but I remember it oh so clearly the first time it played.

 

The Miracles – Love Machine

The City of Angels was the first album I used my own money to purchase.  I still have it.  Somehow it managed to escape being smashed with all my other disco records when I turned to punk rock instead.

 

The Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter 23

I bought this 45 and played it to death.  It had a scratch and sniff cover that smelled like strawberries of course and looked like an envelope.

 

Wild Cherry – 99 ½

My introduction to funk from my neighbor, Lawrence.

 

KTEL – Greatest Hits of 1976

I still have this record!  I’m sure now why I loved it so much but I did.

 

The Who – Quadrophenia

Spoke so clearly to my early teen age angst and alienation.  I heard the album before the film came out.  I have the original with its multi-page picture booklet. 

 

The Selector – The Selector

My first ska album.  I loved Too Much Pressure and Carry, Go, Bring, Come.  I had no idea what they were talking about or that these songs were covers but this got me started.

 

Gang of Four – Entertainment

Lawrence told me to buy this.  I did and it is still one of my favorites.  Anthrax is my favorite song, funny as I am actually a hopeless romantic.  Or maybe I should say a romantic without hope?

 

Generation X – Generation X

This record came to my attention at age 16.  I was working at the local college radio station and flirting shamelessly with one of the DJs (Bus Riley).  I called in to his show one night and told me to play something for me, DJ’s choice – Kiss Me Deadly was his choice.  We ended up dating for almost a year!  The song still gets my heart jumping.

 

Peter Tosh – Wanted Dread or Alive

When I was 15 I had a radio slot on my high school station.  The instructor said there was a guy who was interested in sponsoring a reggae show and did I have any interest in taking the genre on.  I was game and ended up meeting weekly with this guy to learn about reggae and borrow records for the show.  He was a teenage counselor, white, with long blond dreads.  He took the time to teach me about reggae and although he didn’t want me to play songs with a pro-weed message he did play them for me.  “Nothing But Love� is still a favorite song from this period in my life.