House of the Rising Son

Eric Burdon is cool....





check him rocking as a 67 year old! Spill the Wine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XwpafmmRX8

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

The great fear i have...

Cover by The Animals


Baby, do you understand me now
Sometimes I feel a little mad
But don't you know that no one alive
Can always be an angel
When things go wrong I seem to be bad
But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

Baby, sometimes I'm so carefree
With a joy that's hard to hide
And sometimes it seems that all I have do is worry
Then you're bound to see my other side
But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

If I seem edgy I want you to know
That I never mean to take it out on you
Life has it's problems and I get my share
And that's one thing I never meant to do
Because I love you

Oh, Oh baby don't you know I'm human
Have thoughts like any other one
Sometimes I find myself long regretting
Some foolish thing some little simple thing I've done
But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood


Original by Nina Simone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klyea0oYYrE
Popular Version in Kill Bill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGFTrDMTyN4

Man in the Mirror

I'm Gonna Make A Change, For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs

A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change


I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With Me

I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself And Then Make A Change.


James Morrison


And of course the original man.

Something to do on a nice Sunday Afternoon...

By Tom Lehrer

Zee Avi

Do check her out. I mean her music.
=)

The Bet (Excerpt) - Anton Chekov

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Bet.shtml

"For fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not seen the earth nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have sung songs, I have hunted stags and wild boars in the forests, have loved women ... Beauties as ethereal as clouds, created by the magic of your poets and geniuses, have visited me at night, and have whispered in my ears wonderful tales that have set my brain in a whirl.

In your books I have climbed to the peaks of Elburz and Mont Blanc, and from there I have seen the sun rise and have watched it at evening flood the sky, the ocean, and the mountain-tops with gold and crimson. I have watched from there the lightning flashing over my head and cleaving the storm-clouds. I have seen green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, towns. I have heard the singing of the sirens, and the strains of the shepherds' pipes; I have touched the wings of comely devils who flew down to converse with me of God ...

In your books I have flung myself into the bottomless pit, performed miracles, slain, burned towns, preached new religions, conquered whole kingdoms ...
"Your books have given me wisdom. All that the unresting thought of man has created in the ages is compressed into a small compass in my brain. I know that I am wiser than all of you.


"And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.

"You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple and orange trees instead of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a sweating horse; so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth. I don't want to understand you.

Part 4 Down by the Salley Gardens

Poem by William Yeats

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her did not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.


Emi's Rendition



Is this song so difficult to sing?
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=down+by+the+salley+gardens&aq=1&oq=down+by+the+sall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_By_The_Salley_Gardens#Recordings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVTDp3ATjMg

Part 3: In my Life

Emi Fujita's Cover



Original by Beatles


There are places i'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends i still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life i've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When i think of love as something new
Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more

Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more

Part 2 Today Emi Fujita

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries
I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrow shall all pass away
ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today

I'll be a dandy and I'll be a rover
You'll know who I am by the song that I sing
I'll feast at your table, and I'll sleep in your clover
Who cares what tomorrow shall bring

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries
I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrow shall all pass away
ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today

I can't be contented with yesterday's glory
I can't live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment and now is my story
I'll laugh, and I'll cry, and I'll sing

Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I'll taste your strawberries
I'll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrow shall all pass away
ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today

Part 1b Wishes Emi Fujita

I looked in the sky and there I saw a star shining so bright above
I closed my eyes and wished upon the star that I would fine true love

Someone who needed me
Someone to share my life
For a love that would be true
I would wait forever

So...no...matter how long it may be
I will be waiting
One star-brighter than the others
Two Hearts-beating for each other
I believe wishes really come true

Love at first sight I knew it from the moment when you said hello
I hoped you felt it too, but we both so shy-how was I to know

when you reached for my hand
I knew you were the one
We laughed and talked for hours like I'd known you forever

Like...a...dream or something from a book
True love had found me
One star-brighter than the others
Two Hearts-beating for each other
Now I see wishes really come true

You just have to dream
Nothing's as bad as it seems
to be...believe me
Someone's waiting for you to try
There in the sky

One star-brighter than the others
Two Hearts-beating for each other
You will see wishes really come true
You can't stop believing-wishes do come true
You gotta believe me (wish on a star) wishes do come true...

Part 1a ひだまりの詩、 Le Couple

Emi Fujita and Her husband Ryuji Fujita

Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbbpxHmN0yc&feature=related

Yale Whiffenpoofs


The Twilight Singers

Part 2b 劉若英 很愛很愛你

I'm sorry for making you wait such a long time.
Work came up suddenly again.
Always being unable to be together
I know I've made you feel lonely.

At the times when we can't meet
your voice cracks over the telephone.
The smile on your face that time when we met after so long
Tugs at my chest.

I've realized that you are deep within my heart.
"I love you"-- I can't imagine myself saying those words!

Trusting only in that thing you said
I've been waiting until today.
I pray I won't forget how to smile,
Because I want to be with you

Because when I am with you, laughing, I can open up.
"I love you"-- even so, I can't imagine saying those words aloud!
I've realized that you are deep within my heart.
"I love you"-- I just can't say it!

Part 2b Kiroro 長い間

Part 1b 后来 by 劉若英

Afterwards (René Liu)

Afterwards, I finally learned how to love
It's a shame you disappeared into the sea of faces.
Afterwards, though all the tears, I finally understood
That you can only miss somebody once.

White petals of orange flowers fall on my blue pleated skirt
"I love you," you softly say
I lowered my head and smelled the burst of fragrance
That eternal night; 17 years old, midsummer
That night you kissed me
Letting me in my future days, when I feel like sighing
To always remember that day's starlight

That love then, why was it so simple like that?
And also, why when we are young
Must we let those whom we love be hurt?
On this similar deep of night, are you the same?
Also feeling the quiet hurt of regret?
If at the time we could have been less stubborn
We would not feel regret now

How are you remembering me? Does it bring you laughter or silence?
These past years, was there someone who could let you not be lonely?

It will never happen again.
To have that boy in love with that girl.

Part 1a Kiroro 未来へ

How to make your own Zombie!

What are zombies?
According to wiki: a mythical creature that appears in folklore and popular culture typically as a reanimated corpse or a mindless human being.
Modern zombies are typically depicted in popular culture as mindless, unfeeling monsters with a hunger for human brains and flesh...

"Father give me the Bull of Heaven,

So he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling.

If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,

I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,

I will smash the doorposts, and leave the doors flat down,

and will let the dead go up to eat the living!

And the dead will outnumber the living!"

(Mesopotamian mythology, Ishtar)

But there are real 'zombies'!
Read up on Clairvius Narcisse here. (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952208,00.html)

So to make a Haitian zombie - the complicated way: (http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/12/09/1260445.htm )
First, make them "dead", then make them "mad" so that their minds are malleable
- toad venon - biogenic amines, bufogenine and bufotoxins. One of their many effects is that of a pain-killer - far stronger than cocaine.
- Fugu tetrodotoxin - The toxin drops your temperature and blood pressure, and puts you into a deep coma. In Japan, some of the victims recovered a few days after being declared dead.
- Datura (Jimsons Weed, Angel's Trumpet, Brugmanisa candida) - contains the chemicals atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which can act as powerful hallucinogens in the appropriate doses. It breaks your links with reality, and then destroys all recent memories. So you don't know what day it is, where you are and, worst of all, you don't even know who you are. The zombies are in a state of semi-permanent induced psychotic delirium.


To make a Singaporean Zombie - The easy way:
- Send the unfortunate soul to school.

=)

Part 3: Kaze Ni Naru/ To become Wind

Close the forgotten eyes and retrieve the love song
Reach out your hand hidden in the blue sky one more time

Don't forget, soon I'll be by your side all the time
Even when at dawn you gaze at the starry sky alone

Don't let your only heart become darkened by sadness
I'll change your sighs into the spring breeze

I ride my bike fast up the sunny hill
Carrying the memories I forgot with you

Lalalalala, I hum, staining my lips
The happiness I've found with you is like a flower

Open the forgotten window; the love song starts to run
Hold up the hand entrusted to the blue sky one more time

I won't forget that soon you'll be by my side all the time
Even on the tomorrows when wavering tears shine in the starry sky

Embracing that lone word in my heart
For your sake, I am now blown on by the spring breeze

I ride my bike fast up the sunny hill
Carrying the promise I made with you

Lalalalala, I hum, staining my lips
The happiness I've found with you is like a prayer

I ride my bike fast up the sunny hill
Carrying the promise I made with you

Lalalalala, I hum, staining my lips
The happiness I've found with you is like a prayer
The happiness I've found with you is like a prayer

Part 2: To Become Wind

The original Singer, Tsuji Ayano.
She's cute in her funky way!

Exactly the kind of person to relate to whenever we're depressed/content/happy state!

Part 1: Kaze Ni Naru

Since I've been doing tweets, have not updated here in a while.

But to share the BESTEST song in the whole world!
Took YEARS literally to found out which cartoon this song was from, coz i vaguely remember a cat cycling up a hill and singing this song...

and it turned out I had this anime in my DVD collection all along!
And its from the bestest Studio Ghibli!
The Cat Returns!



Wonder what she's singing about?