Music for Writing

For those of you who know me, you know that when I write for any length of time, I listen to the same song for hours at a time - it helps me go "Zen," you know, find my rythym and really settle in, and it helps me keep a lyrical rythym that (sometimes) makes my work flow just a little nicer. Unless it has to be edited forty-five times at the behest of four other people.

But I digress.

Just below this entry you can see, no doubt, two things. One is a tapir. Pay no attention to that. Second is what I have written over the last two days. Its painful, isn't it? Yeah. I love political science. Anyway, since I haven't been online for awhile, well, I figured I should post something, though admittedly my list of influences is low, to say the least. Then I thought, hell, why don't I tell people what I've been listening to. So here it is:

1. Jake Jones and the Gold Front Boys: "Southern Sea Blues"

Honest answer? I don't know anything about Jake Jones, and I know even less about the Gold Front Boys. But this song, wow. It makes me happy - like I'm in the car, going 60 miles an hour on a sunny day through backwoods towns where Cheerwine and unusual ginger ales can be got on the cheap at stores where people still have accents.

2. The Bare Naked Ladies: "Too Little, Too Late" (All I can find is a clip - for $0.10 you can buy it. Cheap b@$#@%&s.)

Wow - one of the greatest albums of all time, BNL's Maroon is chock full of the kind of music that makes you have faith in the ability of rock and roll to produce music you can appreciate both for its quality and its toe-tapping, um, -itude. This song, wow, every break-up since Maroon came out I cranked this one up, and, of course, whenever I found myself generally depressed, etc. . . ah, meloncholia.

3. Citizen Cope: "The Son's Gonna' Rise"

This one, from The Clarence Greenwood Recordings, wow, fantastic. Another uplifting, beautiful, tune, though not one with as much history as the old BNL piece above. And no, the spelling isn't wrong - this song is, at least in as far as any bluesy, jazzy, not-preachy piece can be, a Christian song. That's right. I know, I know. Everyone is surprised, saying things like "Eric, what about Deinonychus?" Whatever. Its all cool. I am still your favorite non-literal interpertist, I just like good music that actually gets at the real meaning of the religion: you know, hope, faith, universal (non-racist, sexist, nationalist, etc.) love, and service to humanity. Regardless, back to the song, I like to think of it as a contemporary Pilgrim's Progress sort of piece - with as many personifications so much as a sort of wierd reverse personification.

Nevermind.

4. N.E.R.D: "Rockstar"

Yes. I listen to techno-rock-rap-a la-Linkin Park. You go to hell.


Also, there's a deinonychus.