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I first heard this song years ago on The Box (remember that, kiddies?) and I was very amused initially. Over time, however, I found that I really liked this song. I like Scatman John’s scat-singing, and I very much enjoy the rhythm and the beat. As to the story behind the song, from Wikipedia:

The lyrics detail how he overcame his difficulties with stuttering by turning them into the ability to scat-sing, and encourages children who stutter not to give up.

I think that’s pretty cool too.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

(Scatting by Scatman John)
I’m the Scatman
(Scatting by Scatman John)
I’m the Scatman
(Scatting by Scatman John)
Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you.
As a matter of fact don’t let nothin’ hold you back.
If the Scatman can do it so can you.
Everybody’s sayin’ that the Scatman stutters
But doesn’t ever stutter when he sings.
But what you don’t know I’m gonna tell you right now
That the stutter and the scat is the same thing.
Yo I’m the Scatman.
Where’s the Scatman ? I’m the Scatman.
Why should we be pleasin’ all the politician heathens
Who would try to change the seasons if they could?
The state of the condition insults my intuitions
And it only makes me crazy and my heart like wood.
Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you.
As a matter of fact don’t let nothin’ hold you back.
If the Scatman can do it brother so can you.
I’m the Scatman.
(Scatting by Scatman John)
Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you.
As a matter of fact don’t let nothin’ hold you back.
If the Scatman can do it brother so can you.
I’m the Scatman.
I hear you all ask ’bout the meaning of scat.
Well I’m the professor and all I can tell you is
While you’re still sleepin’ the saints are still weepin’ cause
Things you call dead haven’t yet had the chance to be born.
I’m the Scatman.
(Scatting by Scatman John)
I’m the Scatman….repeat after me
It’s a scoobie oobie doobie scoobie doobie melody
I’m the Scatman….repeat after me
It’s a scoobie oobie doobie scoobie doobie melody
(Scatting by Scatman John)

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Now playing: Beastie Boys - Unite
via FoxyTunes

Austin Powers was not the most recent use of Quincy Jones’ Soul Bossa Nova. That honor goes to Dream Warriors.

My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style utilizes Jones’ 1962 recording very nicely, and counterpointed against the cool vocals, the song really works well. Definitely one I fell in love with the first time I heard it.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

here we go are you ready for one other
Dream Warriors’ noise is new discover-al
once again with a new blend so telephone a friend
(yo dude I just got this new song It’s dope man)
compact disc to the prime is optimist
fans and friends I’m universally cosmic
concrete jungles abound
you stand by the speakers
you’re smothered and covered up in the sound
you stand strong as you pump your fist
I’m talkin’ all that jazz
now what’s my definition
[Chorus:]
my definition
my definition
my definition is this
my definition
my definition
my definition is this
my definition
my definition is this
my definition
when I kick rhymes there’s something said to do damage
hits so strong even superman needs a hand
so bob your head dread as I kick the funk flow
this rhyme is subliminal yet you don’t think so
I walk with a gold cane a gold brain and no gold chain
behind the truth lies there lies a parafix
in the mix is where Dream Warriors go
define if you will but I know so
there is no definition
[Chorus]
rhyme thou I know it to flow it just like a poet
your definition of me is definetly wrong
why must I try to lie and build an alibi
when all you ask is just for me to be me
replace a replacable replacement with this
relax relax relaxtion boombastic
my name is King Lu
(mine is Capital Q)
bags of mostly water search to find my definition
[Chorus]
I sought beauty through the dust of strife
I sought meaning to my music addicition
arise awaken we have need to reverse
a plauge has befallen us no time to reherse
this rhyme speaks it speak and has spoken
this rhyme will not change things
it needs to be changed in a hurse
you find caskets in my rhyme baskets of rhyme
your definition can define
so what’s my definition
[Chorus]
(yo, where’d everybody go?)

Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) is one of those songs that makes you want to get down and boogie. The beat, the horns, the smooth lyrical delivery all mesh together to make for a great, catchy sound. It’s one of those songs that’s great to play when a party is at it’s peak, as it will fill the dance floor–or at least, put people in a good frame of mind.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
as you know we have something
special for you at
Birdland this evening.
A recording for
Blue Note Records

I’ve found it. At last.
Put it on.

There was a brief period in the early to mid 90’s where several artists showed up with a rap/jazz fusion at the same time, and Digable Planets was one of those bands. This particular song caught on in a big way, probably because of the cool jazz bass and the simple, funky beat. That’s the reason I like it, and I imagine that’s why it was a big hit.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

we like the breeze floats straight out of our lids
them they got moved by these hard rock brooklyn kids
us floor rush when the dj’s boomin classics
you dig the crew on the fattest hip hop record
he touch the kinks and sinks into the sounds
she frequents the fatter joints called undergrounds
our funk zooms like you hit the mary jane
they flock to booms man boogie had to change
who freaks the clips with mad amount percussion
where kinky hair goes to unthought of dimensions
why’s it so fly cause hip hop kept some drama
when butterfly rock the light blue suede pumas
what by the cut we push it off the corner
how was the buzz entire hip hop era
was fresh and fat since they started sayin outtie
cause funks made fat from right beneath my hoodie
the puba of the styles like miles and shit
like sixties funky worms wit waves and perms
just sendin chunky rhythms right down your block
we be to rap what key be to lock

(Butterfly)
we jazz like that
we freak like that
we zoom like that
we out (we out)

A simple song of lost love, So Low is a really catchy and cool sounding song. I enjoy the sound immensely, particularly the bass, drums and keyboards. The first time I heard it, I had to listen to it again–then again–then again. It’s that sort of song.

Here’s a link to the video (love the clothes, BTW).

And of course, the lyrics:

Hello, meet my problems
I only miss you when I’m with you
I gotta fly car to jet around town
Gone sour to the bone
Gone bad to the marrow
Financial situation’s depleted
Guess a slap in the face is what I really needed
From a strong hand to make me a man
What more could I ask?
What more could I stand?

I’m so low that I wish I was dead
With a knife in my chest and a bullet in my head
I’m so low that I wish I was dead
Must I go on?

For most people, True was how they first encountered Spandau Ballet, and that’s the impression that most people have of them. True is a great song, but well before then they had a slightly different sound.

Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) is a really well executed piece of pure funk. It’s one of those songs that makes you want to free your ass and your mind at the same time. I love the opening with the guitar quickly followed by the congas, and the trumpet solo in the bridge really just makes this song so much fun.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course the lyrics:

I checked the time, it was almost time
A curious smell,an intangible crime
I’m washing my clothes,but the stain still grows
cover your eyes,the stain still shows

I don’t need this pressure on
You go down,down
Pass the talk of town
You go down Greek street
Then it’s underground
Well it’s Soho life
For this mobile knife
It’s the place to shoot
Friday night Beat Route

Get Back is one of those feelgood jams that just makes you want to get out of your chair and bust a move. I really dig the way the guitars work against each other, as well as the way the vocal shifts work too. And it’s got a great beat and you can dance to it, or chair-dance if you’re not so inclined to shake your hips anymore.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Here comes the boom
I got game like Kobe, act like you know me, if you rhyme better well then kid you best show me
Fly by wrecking, never come in second, fists in my pocket and use my words as my weapon
Ghetto blaster thumping, girlies are bumping, got to get the dough like my man Donald Trump and
Set this in motion, jaws in the ocean, if you need a rhyme well, then kid I got the potion
Damn
Building this up like a high rise, better yet phatter than Neil Carter’s right thigh
Coming in slanging, never leave you hangin, if you talk shit then on your door I’m banging
Twisting up hip hop, running with my flip flops, past all the cops just chilling in the donut shops
For no other reason, no it ain’t treason, just coming up cause this is the zebrahead season
Get back
I didn’t want it
Didn’t need it
My time is the only thing that you have taken
So about the world, don’t be mistaken
Get back
I didn’t want it
Didn’t need it
You’re lost the only thing that you were given
Afraid to stand alone, so now you’re tripping
Living life disco, here to San Fransisco, do my own stunts cause I like to take the risk, yo
Punk rock rhyming, rap in always climbing, like your first time cause I’ll pop out your hymen
With the bass drum booming, jump up in the room and, watch the walls sway cuz the grove is grooving
Got your hands shaking, suckers that I’m baking, made you look dumb it’s your girl that I’m Taking
What
Let me set this off like a bomb, have your ass stepping like Jerry had Tom and I’m gone
With the free style form that I’m kicking, have your ass tripping, with the rhymes that I’m flipping
And this ain’t no west coast thing, it’s a world wide ring with the style we bring, right
So watch the dime drop as I harvest my crop cause I’m going to ride this to the top

The first time I heard this song, I thought it would be the perfect backing music for the mutant gang from The Dark Knight Returns. It’s loud–very loud–angry, energetic and over the top. Plus there’s really nothing else that sounds like it, at least not that I’ve heard.

The song’s meaning is pretty self-explanatory–it’s about rejecting the system and creating something better. Well, maybe not better, but something different. Either way, I find the song and it’s sound compelling.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

ACTION!!!!!!!!!
It’s time to live and it’s time to die!
It’s time to live and it’s time to die!
It’s time to live and it’s time to die!
It’s time to live: REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!
What we gonna go for?
What we gonna go for?
What we gonna go for? REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!
What we gonna go for? What we gonna go for?
What we gonna go for? REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!
Welcome to step one - I can’t wait no longer -
Let’s make it happen!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another investigation of our generation!
Sublime information!
The collapse of a century!!!!!
I’m targeted at the Whitehouse
Like a bullet from a gun! Waste my life from scratch…
But at least we will leave a bad taste in your mouth!!!!
Dope - Fly - Fly - don’t take it
Take it out too far and I won’t fake it!
A blank promise - your words -
Nothing else than another hell ride
We got to!!!!!
REVOLUTION ACTION!!!! What we gonna go for????
REVOLUTION ACTION!!!! What we gonna go for????
REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What we gonna go for???? What we gonna go for????
Revolution!!!!!! Action!!!!!
Revolution - Action - Revolution - Action!!!!!!
We got to….
Are you ready???????
A shoot - a pain - with the knife between my teeth
And then I leave you in cold blood!!!! I’m comin’ at ya!!!
I’m comin’ at ya!!!!!!!! Carl Crack like a flamin’ arrow -
Burning the regime of terror!!!!
With a gun pointing at my head
I realise what I could get instead!!!
What you gonna go for????? What you gonna go for?????
What you gonna go for?????????? REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!!
What you gonna go for?
What you gonna go for? REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!
What you gonna go for? What you gonna go for?
What you gonna go for? REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!
Many people are in power but none of them is one of us -
Press and media any hour - NOW TELL ME:
WHAT’S WRONG WITH US????????????????
In the lion’s throat I stand and wanna know!!!!!!!!
surrounded by me and my gang… your life just blows!!!
BREAK INTO THE CENTER WHERE YOUR HEART GOES!!!!!!!!!
You hold the cigarette like you’re trying to understand
But what if the next person near you
IS TAKING THE TRUTH OUT OF YOUR HANDS????????
REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What we gonna go for????? ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT AIN’T SELF-DESTRUCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT AIN’T SELF-DESTRUCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REVOLUTION ACTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

—————-
Now playing: Jethro Tull - Bungle In The Jungle
via FoxyTunes

List of Demands is a powerfully energetic song with some great lyrics. At the same time, it’s also a little confusing.

The song is about reparations for slavery, yet the entire second verse–lyrically fantastic, by the way–is essentially a declaration of love and seems to have nothing to do with verses one and three.

Williams voice is strong and energetic, exhorting the listener into a frenzy, and the lyrics are really, really good. I also think it’s a great choice sometimes for singers to repeat lines of importance as it really drives the point home.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

I want my money back.
I’m down here drowning in your fat.
You got me on my knees praying for everything you lack.
I ain’t afraid of you.
I’m just a victim of your fears.
You cower in your tower praying that I’ll disappear,
I got another plan, one that requires me to stand.
On the stage or in the street, don’t need no microphone or beat.
And when you hear this song, if you ain’t dead then sing along.
Bang and strum to these here drums til you get where you belong.

I got a list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you’re gonna know where I stand.
We’re living hand to mouth!
You wanna be somebody?
See somebody?
Try and free somebody?
I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands.
I ball my fist and you’re gonna know where I stand.
We’re living hand to mouth!
Hand to mouth!

I love this song’s blues guitar stylings, as well as the chorus. I also really enjoy Frontalot’s stilted rapping, as well as the sardonic lyrics of this song, about a preacher stating that not only is his congregation and religion the correct one, but the only way to save the world is to convert everyone to his ideas–seems pretty familiar to me.

Here’s a link to a live performance

And of course, the lyrics:

Congregation, settle in your seats.
The Reverend Front Aloud is on the mic and about to speak.
I’m about to freak you out, make you shiver in the pew
while I’m delivering to you my sermon and divinity ensues,
brought by the one true God. It’s a fact:
anybody else who ever had a God, their God’s wack.
We ain’t got to worry about ‘em; we picked the right horse.
You’re in the right house of worship (of course),
and forces are gathering out in the world
to diminish our faith in ways radical and thorough,
to discourage us from loving anything that’s immaterial,
to tempt our children with ever fruitier cereal,
and worst of all, to call us idiots while they do it.
My congregation, listen; I’m about to walk you through it.
We’re going to take the nation back from the heathens that’s within it.
We’re gonna get the most egregious of the atheists imprisoned,
cause a schism while we’re at it, but emerge on top,
and once we’ve purified our ranks we won’t stop —
we’ll purify your minds of what’s illegitimately thought.
It’s not to be a battle indiscriminately fought,
but an orchestrated effort, and I’m gonna need you to commit.
Might take a couple generations for this deviltry to quit.
Start with the kids — in fact, they get distracted from the Lord —
so I’d like you to write a couple letters to your school board.

And what has this so-called science ever done for us
but trumpeted that when ashes go to ashes & dust to dust,
despite the fuss of living, energy gets conserved.
Denying the weight of the soul of a man: this is ill deserved.
This is still the curse of Copernicus that we suffer.
Secular thought ought not to overflow its buffer
and run roughshod through the minds of you, the population.
Heretics such as Dawkins and Sagan overstep their station
to say that what we see and what we believe should be confluent.
Look to your Reverend to end apostasy — that’s what I’m doing!
Look to your Holy Book to light the way; that is its purpose.
Open it up and you’ll find Eden ‘fore you even scratch the surface.
And sure, this should be mirrored in the textbooks verbatim
but I’m not in a position yet to issue ultimatum.
So I lay down my scheme: we’ll make it seem as though creation
isn’t anything we’d like to interject to education.
We’ll wrangle up the language: science, data, theorem,
the irreducible complexity of the ears we use to hear ‘em
gnashing teeth and wailing from Kansas to PA.
Yes, my flock, I talk of futures not imminent but underway.
Already established an Institute for Discovery.
Discovered that Darwin is dead with outlook grim for recovery.
Schoolmarms will soon say that he burns in a fiery sea.
Think how much like paradise that’s gonna be.