Here are the lyrics for those of you who want to belt along:

I bought no gift this year and I slept with your sister
I know I should have thought twice before I kissed her
but with the year we had last and the dress that she wore
I just went along for the ride and I came back for more
and I’m sorry baby

Holding on without any reason
cause something strong this holiday season
So whatever you say, it’s all fine by me
Who the fuck anyway wants a Christmas tree
’Cos the snow keeps on falling even though we were bad
It’ll cover the filth, we should both just be glad
and spend spend spend this Christmas together
and spend spend spend this Chris-Christmas together
and spend spend spend this Chris-Christmas together
and spend spend spend this Chris-Christmas together

MP3: The Hives - “Tick Tick Boom”
MP3: Cyndi Lauper - “Rocking Chair”

- Cecilia

Darren Hayes just can't still and give himself a break. Such a busy bee. Even though he hasn't been recording any new music lately (sorry peeps) or playing any shows, the singer has been releasing and promoting some other very exciting new things.

He invited me to send him some questions about his DVD release and I figured this concerned his concert DVD that was released a few months ago. It is a perfect stocking stuffer, so with the holidays around the corner great timing to talk about it again.

But who knew that he is releasing a whole new DVD in the next couple of months? A very, very special one actually. Directed by his partner Richard Cullen (who's such a sweetheart in person),  This Delicate FILM We've Made is a compilation of high-end animations and "glorious" surround-sound remixes from songs off "This Delicate Thing We've Made" that will be in stores in February 2009. However, a limited edition super dooper version is available in December. Hayes explains it all in this very special video interview I did with him.

On a more serious note, Darren also talks extensively about the Prop 8 mess in California. Everybody should have a look and see how Hayes makes sense of the situation by just going back to the basics. "Prop 8 was a huge blow to me personally, but also to the world in terms of civil rights. I'm not angry as much as determined (. . . ) I truly think that as a culture we will be embarrassed in twenty years time that we actually tried to legislate discrimination," he says.

I told him I'm active with GLAAD as I believe accurate and fair portrayal of gays and lesbians in the media can make a huge difference in people's perceptions and thinking. Darren encourages people to read  M.L. King's writings, because "passive resistance is the way to go" to accomplish change.

He ends the video with some very nice word about Kanye West.

Thanks for doing this video,  Mr. Hayes. You're brill, kind and witty as always. See you soon London!

The process of diligently, sometimes desperately, searching for number songs never fails to turn up interesting tidbits. In the early ‘70s, when women were paid 59 ¢ for every dollar earned by men (many of them male chauvinist pigs), proponents of women’s liberation wore buttons that read simply “59 ¢.” (If 21st-century feminists felt inclined to protest the wage gap, their buttons would read “77 ¢.”) Another thing this quest has taught me is that for every number between 1-100, some kind of connection can usually be made to Bob Dylan, and 59 is no exception. “The Ballad of Donald White,” which Dylan adapted from a traditional Canadian ballad called “Peter Emberley” and performed early on before concentrating on his own material, contains the lines, “And so it was on Christmas eve
/In the year of ‘59/It was on that night I killed a man,
 I did not try to hide.” Hardly an uplifting sentiment, but when you’re Dylan you don’t need to write an anthem every time out.

The Gaslight Anthem - "The '59 Sound"

I firmly believe that a band whose name incorporates the word “anthem” has a responsibility to render listeners physically unable to keep their fists from clenching and their heads from bobbing to its music. The Gaslight Anthem, punk rockers from New Brunswick, N.J, deliver the goods with “The ’59 Sound.” It’s the kind of song that would sound glorious blaring through a car stereo on the Jersey Turnpike beneath a splendidly polluted sunset, or even just ringing through headphones while waiting for your toast to pop. While it may not break any new ground (in fact, there’s an unsettling vocal similarity to the Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy”) “The ’59 Sound” succeeds; rock ‘n’ roll allows for almost infinite variations on a theme, and the force of good crunchy guitars and a sturdy melody will often carry you through with flying colors. “’59” by the Brian Setzer Orchestra is more specific to the year 1959 than “The ’59 Sound,” but this earnest but edgeless tribute to a great year in rock does little to evoke the spirit of the times.

For all you sidewalk social-scientist Blondie fans out there, please know that “11:59” has already nabbed top honors for the 11 slot, so chill. The Postmarks of Miami, Florida, perform a faithful cover version of the song on their By the Numbers CD, a collection guaranteed to warm the heart of numerologists worldwide: each song, from “One Note Samba” to “Five Years” to “11:59,” has a number in its title, proof positive that this author is not alone in obsessing about number songs. Speaking of covers, on the mini-album entitled 59, the adorable Japanese duo Puffy Ami Yumi performs a crisp rendition of “Joining a Fan Club” by Jellyfish, overlooked power pop proponents from San Francisco of the early ‘90s. Moving from the briefly appreciated to the largely unknown, “59.58” is a song by Headcase, a solo project from session man and former Curve bass player, Dean Garcia.

Imagine, if you will, that a songwriter ended up turning into a chicken. Wouldn’t you be tempted to look at his early work for references to laying eggs and clucking? It’s like when a singer commits suicide; one can’t help poring over song lyrics for intimations of his self-destructive plans. In that same vein, when a writer comes out of the closet, there is an urge to look back at his body of work for signs of self-loathing, or an over-reliance on neutral pronouns. Hüsker Dü provides a case in point; two of the three members of this seminal Minneapolis power trio eventually came out as gay. (Oddly enough, it was bassist Greg Norton, the one with the swishy handlebar moustache, who was the band’s lone heterosexual.) It’s hard to say how much of the angst that marked the band’s early records was fueled by Bob Mould and Grant Hart feeling forced to live a lie, but “59 Times the Pain” certainly exemplifies the inner turmoil of a deeply conflicted man. The song is brutal and grinding, with lyrics that speak of unbridled torment:

Husker Du - "59 Times the Pain"

The most intense of burning hells
Blasting expectations into smithereens
Never feeling normal, can’t accept the truth
Resign myself to hating it, I hate it all…
59 Times the Pain/I could never be like you

A Swedish hardcore band was so taken with the song that it took the title as a band name, and had a pretty successful 10-year run starting with a single called “Blind Anger & Hate.” Well, what did you expect from a band called 59 Times the Pain, “Feelin’ Groovy”? Ah, there’s my cue. As with no. 50, a composition by Paul Simon is the proverbial elephant in the room. But unlike the 50 slot, which offered a multitude of choices, this elephant can neither be ignored nor passed over for a more esoteric choice. “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”—let’s be glad he named the song after a structure properly known as the Queensborough Bridge—is the quintessential feel-good song of the ‘60s or just about any other era. Oh, there are countless songs about feeling good, but most focus on something specific—like “a new dawn, a new day, a new life,” as Nina Simone sang in “Feeling Good” or “the only one who can bring me joy” in Otis Redding’s “Happy Song,” to name just two. In “Feelin’ Groovy,” Simon turns this idea on its head by appreciating what we tend to overlook. It’s easy to feel good because you just got paid, just got laid, just met the girl of your dreams, but the source of Simon’s groovy feeling is freedom (no deeds to do, no promises to keep) and the simple sweetness of ordinary things: the morning, cobblestones, flowers, and that lamppost he is moved to address by name. Taking stock, Simon concludes, “Life I love you. All is groovy,” and somehow it doesn’t seem trite or mindless, like the ‘80s equivalent, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Simon & Garfunkel - "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"

Simon & Garfunkel - "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
(live in Central Park, NYC, 1981)

Cochise - "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"

Few of the cover versions of the song were half as groovy as the original. In 1967, Harpers Bizarre, then known as the Tikis, were a Santa Cruz surf band led by future Van Halen producer Ted Templeman. The music industry legend Lenny Waronker, who knew catchy when he heard it, approached the Tikis to record the song. Changing their name so as not to lose the hard-earned street cred of their Tikis fan base, the renamed Harpers Bizarre scored a monster hit with a lush, syrupy version replete with key change. Early in the ‘70s, a progressive-minded quartet called Cochise decided that “Feelin’ Groovy” needed an infusion of Heavy in the tradition of the Vanilla Fudge, who took the wired, sprightly intensity of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hanging On” and bludgeoned the song into submission. Cochise’s “Feelin’ Groovy” wasn’t quite as misguided, but it shared a common impulse to break a butterfly on a wheel. The debut LP by Cochise, whose members went on to play with Procol Harum, Foreigner, and Pink Floyd, was notable for its cover art, designed by future Pink Floyd cover-meister Storm Thorgerson. It depicted the sun rising over the Grand Teton-esque expanse of a woman’s naked breasts (quite daring for the time) and probably led to more than a few impulse buys by mammary-minded adolescents. Former street musician Ted Hawkins, who enjoyed a few years of notoriety before his death in 1995, did a soulful, stripped down version, and Jimmy Page liked to incorporate the melody into live versions of “Heartbreaker” and “Whole Lotta Love.” But the S&G original reigns supreme. During the duo’s 1966 concert tour, Simon explained the origins of the song to their audiences via the following charming spiel, which he tweaked from night to night:

"I came back from England to the United States in December of 1965, and “The Sounds of Silence” had become a big hit…. I had to make this transition from being relatively unknown in England to being semi-famous here. I didn’t adjust well. It was always slightly embarrassing to me, teeny bops, etcetera. So I used to think, all my sweets are gone, good times gone, left over in England. All the songs I was writing were very down type of songs, nothing happy, until about last June. For some reason last June I start to come out of it. I start to get into a good mood, I don’t know why….

So here I am getting into this pleasant frame of mind, and I was coming home one morning about 6:00, comin’ over the 59th Street Bridge in New York, and what a groovy day it was, a real good one, and one of those times when you know you’re not gonna be tired for about an hour. You know it’s gonna be nice. So I started writing a song that later became “The 59th Street Bridge Song” or “Feelin’ Groovy.”

Groovy little footnote: Simon & Garfunkel’s song was the first song to fully exploit the term “groovy,” which, along with “far-out,” “too much,” and “out of site,” vied for the title of essential superlative of the ‘60s. The cheesy “Groovy Kind of Love” swiftly followed, and years later came the Clash’s sublime “Groovy Times” and the acid house gem “Groovy Train” by the Farm.

Numerology is our pal Dave's ill advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. The higher the digit, the lonelier the climb.

Previously: No. 1, 2-4, , 4 (redux), 5-7, 6 (redux), 7 (counterpoint), 8, 9, 10/11, 12/13. 13 (counterpoint), 14/15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26/27, 28 , 29 , 30, 30 (counterpoint), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 , 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, Footnotes, 57, 58

GUEST POST by Kyle Bylin of indie label 50 Entertainment

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, he describes the levels at which the momentum of  change becomes unstoppable.  Expanding on the notion that once an idea hits it's threshold there's a point when it proceeds to spread from its niche market origins and spills over into the masses.  Gladwell states, "Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do."

The success story of Staind can be traced back to a chain of events which lead to a moment called The Tipping Point of The Ballad.  Beyond their early fans, they were still a relatively unknown band upon the release of their second album Dysfunction in April of 1999.  The highest chart ranking it received was #74.  It wasn't until October 31 on the Family Values Tour, seven months later, that the path of the band changed forever.

Ten minutes before going on stage, Lewis decided to play the song “Outside.”  What happened that night in Biloxi, Mississippi Lewis later recalls as, “An accidental phenomenon.” Up until this performance the lyrics were often changed, but there... 

in front of thousands, he finished them while he sang.  This live acoustic version was picked up by radio stations across the country and the music video saw frequent airings on MTV2, becoming an instant hit through both mediums.  The compilation released in May 2000 featured “Outside” as a bonus track and went on to become gold-certified.

The buzz generated by the live acoustic version built the perfect bridge between Dysfunction and their follow up Break The Cycle by successfully introducing new fans to the band a few months before the album was released.  When Break The Cycle hit shelves on May 22, 2001 and it sold 716,000 copies it's first week.  By week fifteen, the album had sold nearly 2.9 million copies and went onto spill into the masses by selling more then 7 million copies in the US alone.

Gladwell goes onto describe that there are three rules which govern these types of epidemics.  In The Law of The Few he notes that the attainment of a tipping point requires the intervention of a number of influential people which he classifies as Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.  Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, a Connector, had a special gift for bringing the world together.  After discovering Staind, he signed them to Flip which gave them a platform to launch their career.  Napster (The Net), Television (MTV2), and Radio DJ's played the role of Mavens, the people we rely upon to connect us with new information.  The Salesmen, the staff of Flip's parent company Elekra, were the charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills who put Staind in front of the world.

In The Stickiness Factor, he examines the specific content of the message that makes it memorable and have impact.  Expanded upon by Dan and Chip Heath in their 2007 release Made To Stick, the brothers explored the principle of SUCCESs (Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories.)  “Outside” was Simple because it was at the core of the idea of what Staind was about.  Unexpected due to the heaviness of their previous single “Mudshovel.”  Credible on Fred Durst's endorsement.  Most of all, the Story of Staind, four guys being discovered at a bar gig and getting signed, hits at the very heart of the romanticized notion of how “making it” in the music industry is defined.

Last, but not least, in The Power of Context Gladwell says, "Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur."  With Napster at the height of it's popularity, mass-radio play still thriving, the rise of alternative/nu-metal movement, and major label budgets still intact, it becomes quite clear that the environment which Staind arrived in was more then receptive and quite likely to adopt the idea of behind “Outside” and a band of their nature.

As Aaron Lewis begins to strum his guitar, the crowd in the background roars, and his voice projects, “And you, can bring me to my knees,” you can feel the impact of years gone by and the burdens they bear.  In the space of just under six minutes, Lewis engages you with every word.  In reflection of this story, what other occurrences can you think of when a ballad caused a tipping point for an artist?

Did you learn anything in music school?  Or does the phrase “circle of fifths” mean nothing to you?

I learned much at the Paris Conservatoire: beyond the obvious technical competence which everyone must acquire in their own way, I was given the freedom and time to develop my fledgling ideas in the most extraordinarily fruitful and stimulating atmosphere..

What’s your favorite “bad” piece of music? And briefly justify your crappy taste.

I consider a lot  of the oboe repertoire I play to be bad music, for instance, Pasculli or Kalliwoda. Endless sequences, rather uninspired melodic content, and so on. Yet, despite the lack of intrinsic interest, the performance of this music perhaps can be justified by the fact that it is fun to play, and expanded the technical possibilities of the oboe. I also have a soft spot for Bow Wow Wow, which I refuse to justify.

Your five-composition-long playlist for Schoenberg would contain:

Five pieces for orchestra, Four Orchestral Songs, the Second Quartet, The first Kammersymphonie, and the String Trio.

Congress calls on you to draw up a bailout plan for contemporary music!  What do you do?

There are only temporary, provisional solutions to this ‘problem’, which I don’t believe really is a problem, except for certain composers who insist on living off their irrational compulsion to write music. However, the single most important area requiring development, especially in North America, is music education in public schools. Without that basic groundwork, it would be difficult to change the situation in any significant way.

When Kenny of Fresh Selects and I met up with The Mighty Underdogs—the new hip-hop supergroup backed by Def Jux’s label and comprised of Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab, Latryx’s Lateef the Truthspeaker and Crown City Rocker producer Headnodic—inside Satyricon’s sticky, all-ages space in Old Town last night to talk to the lyricists about their brand new album (Droppin’ Science Fiction), Lateef was popping Lemon Heads and fiddling with his iPhone. Gab eyed the little box of yellow candies longingly as he slid onto the booth bench next to Lateef, and when I asked him what his favorite candy was, he said he was diabetic. So I asked him what his favorite vegetable was. “Artichoke,” he said smiling, exposing a set of deeply indented dimples. Thus began our pre-show chat with two (Headnodic was not on the Portland bill) of the most versatile, talented and long-standing emcees in the industry.

WW: The Mighty Underdogs are being coined a “super group”. If you could each have one superpower, what would it be?

Gab: I would be able to travel at the speed of light so I could just be out – ohh, I’m about to go to France, I’ll be right back (makes spacey sound effects), boom boom!

Lateef: I’d be able to regenerate anything instantly, including dead cells. Or be like Banshee and have sonic powers, to just blow the crowd away.

Do you feel like you’re industry underdogs?

Gab: No. We say Mighty Underdogs because an underdog is always hungry. The underdog always has something to prove. I feel like when you get to the point where don’t feel like you have anything to prove, that’s when you start falling off a little bit. Back against the wall, everything to prove, everything to lose, that’s the Mighty Underdog, that’s what makes the Mighty Underdog strong. The Mighty Underdog feeds off of adversity. (Pauses thoughtfully) I don’t think I’ve ever explained it to that much of a detail.

Kenny: What is your guys’ relationship, either work or otherwise, with the city of Portland because you’ve got the Quaanum and Lifesavas connection here? [Editor’s note: Lateef is owner of the Quaanum music label]

Lateef: We’ve been coming to Portland for a long time. And we always come all the way up, not just Portland but Oregon in general, Eugene. Gab did his solo record with Jake One and Vitamin D so we have a good relationship with the whole Northwest.

Kenny: How do you feel about the music scene in the Bay area, specifically the hipster and hyphy movements? And where do older school, industry veterans like yourselves, fit in?

Gab: I’m feeling the hipster stuff. To me, it’s just music changing and it should always change. That’s what we try to do as the Mighty Underdogs – Droppin’ Science Fiction isn’t anything like a Blackalicious or a Latryx record. I’d like to see more people get back to the culture of emcees battling and focusing on making great albums. Do it because you love it, because you get a rush from doing it. That’s when the best music is made.

Kenny: With your group name being what it is, who are some industry underdogs that you’re rooting for?

Gab: I like the Cool Kids, the Kids in the Hall.

Lateef: I think even though people are giving him dap, Wale is a little bit of an underdog right now. I feel like Blu and Exile are a little bit in that category.

WW: With hipster hip-hop taking over the airwaves, did you feel any pressure to conform to that sound or does this album reflect the sound you truly wanted to make?

Lateef: I don’t think there’s any pressure on us to do anything. This album, in and of itself is almost a concept album. At this point, when I sit down to make a record, I can creatively make the record I want to make. Hip hop has gotten a little bit stale lately and getting some new blood in there, I don’t have any problem with that, however you want to go with it—reggae, electro, shit, go all the way back to Planet Rock. Planet Rock still rocks.

WW: Are you hoping that the younger generation will just take the Mighty Underdogs at new group face value or that kids will look up your individual past groups and re-discover that sound for themselves?

Lateef: I think both are true. I think that this is it’s own chemistry and has it’s own identity but yeah, hopefully people will go back and check out history. The more they know their history, the better they’re going to be [as artists]. When you’re able to synthesize all of those influences and make something new with all of that, it’s going to be the best it can be.

WW: We’re in political times right now. What is a music industry policy change that you would make?

Gab: People wouldn’t be able to download. Sorry listeners, because I understand what it is to like music but at the same time, this is how we make our living as artists. It sucks that you do work and you bleed and you sweat for this music and then people can just take it for free.

Lateef: I’d say the same or at least there’d be a regular, institutional things across the board in terms of financial kick-back for the artist. If we were making a car instead of an album, you wouldn’t be able to steal it legally. You’d have to go buy the car, otherwise, they’d come arrest you. One of the things that I don’t think people realize is that there’s a whole trickle-down effect that happens as a result of piracy [in which] you cheat yourself out of an experience that the artist might attempt for you.

WW: How fair is it to make a Lucy Pearl comparison? [Lucy Pearl was a group popular in the late 1990s that, like the Mighty Underdogs, was comprised of three break-away solo artists that had each come from other, established groups and joined up to create a new group]

Gab: I think it’s like apples and oranges. I think that they’re two different groups going for two different sounds.

BONUS ROUND: Word Association

To Lateef, whose father used to do security detail for the Black Panthers: The Black Panthers

Lateef: Righteous. Revolutionary ideas of change and thinking outside of the box.

To Gab: Corporate buy-outs

Gab: Shit, I would like to see us buy out corporations one day.

What’s next for the Mighty Underdogs?

Gab: More touring, campaigning this album, getting on the road. We’ve both got solo records coming out next year, so continuing to make and put out good music.

Droppin’ Science Fiction, the new full-length album from the trio, is available now

Links:
The Mighty Underdogs’ space

Photo credit: Arian Stevens

From punk provocateur to pop crooner, Elvis Costello has played many parts over three decades, but TV host? Well, yeah, even that. He sat behind the desk at the Late Show one night in 2003, filling in for an ailing David Letterman. Veteran music writer/producer Stephen Warden took notice, and a few years later — with Elton John joining the gig as a co-producer (and a guest star) — Costello is free to let his inner musicologist rock out. The music and chat show Spectacle: Elvis Costello With … premieres on the Sundance Channel December 3rd, and Rock Daily has a full report from behind the scenes and a few advance clips: Click above to watch Elton John explain why he had to change his name to something a bit more rock & roll, and follow the jump for two tunes (the pair jamming on “Border Song” and “Down River”).

• On the Set of Spectacle with the Police, Jenny Lewis and More

Watch: Costello and John play “Border Song”"

Watch: Costello and John team up for “Down River”