Monthly Archives: November 2009

“Younger Generation” by the Lovin’ Spoonful – Chords, Tabs, & How to Play

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To see how it’s played in the cover song music video, CLICK HERE!

“Younger Generation”
The Lovin’ Spoonful

Cmaj7                                                   Dm7
Why must every generation think their folks are square?
Dm7     G7                                                            Cmaj7
And no matter where their heads are, they know Mom’s ain’t there…
‘Cause I swore when I was small that I’d remember when
I knew what’s wrong with them that I was smaller then.

Cmaj7                                          Dm7
Determined to remember all the cardinal rules,
Dm7  G7                                                 Cmaj7
Like sun showers are legal grounds for cutting school.
Cmaj7                                       Dm7
I know I have forgotten maybe one or two,
Dm7                       G7                Cmaj7
And I hope that I recall them all before the baby’s due
Dm7                              G7              Cmaj7
And I know he’ll have a question or two.

Cmaj7   F      G            C                 Am
Like,    “Hey, Pop, can I go ride my zoom?
Am      F                   G7                     C                     Am
It goes two hundred miles an hour suspended on balloons.
Am   F               G                    C                       Am
And can I put a droplet of this new stuff on my tongue,
Am    Dm                                                 D7
And imagine frothing dragons while you sit and wreck your lungs?”
C                                            Am                                                G
And I must be permissive, understanding of the younger generation

Cmaj7                                                 Dm7
Then I’ll know that all I’ve learned my kid assumes,
Dm7  G7                                             Cmaj7
And   all my deepest worries must be his cartoons.
Cmaj7                                       Dm7
And still I’ll try to tell him all the things I’ve done
Dm7                   G7                     Cmaj7
Related to what he can do when he becomes a man,
Dm7                           G7                Cmaj7
And still he’ll stick his fingers in the fan.

And, “Hey, Pop, my girlfriend’s only three.
She’s got her own videophone and she’s taking L.S.D.,
And now that we’re best friends she wants to give a bit to me.
But what’s the matter, Daddy?  How come you’re turning green?
F                                                           G
Can it be that you can’t live up to your dreams?

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **

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“Who Says” (John Mayer Cover music video)

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For John Mayer chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to a very special Monday edition of the Laptop Sessions! What makes tonight so special, you might ask? Well, for the first time in months, I’m bringing you a cover song music video of a song that has yet to be released.  No worries, though — if you like this song, then you’ll be able to buy it in stores tomorrow. 

The song I’m bringing you tonight is “Who Says,” the first single from the forthcoming 2009 John Mayer studio album Battle Studies.  There’s a little bit of a story behind this one, so here goes…

I first learned about this album when I happened upon Mayer’s video blog established to document the recording sessions.  The first video was a tour of his newly designed and built home recording studio.  Do I even need to describe it?  Believe me, it’s drool-inducing.  Although a couple of the entries were only jams or just a bit weird, I ended up searching YouTube for some of the new songs.  As I expected, most were available as live concert performances that someone videotaped and uploaded.  I listened to a couple, including “Who Says,” and I started to get excited about this release. 

I have a general rule against hearing too much of an album before it comes out.  After all, it’s more than half the fun of buying a new album to be able to get in the car, put it on the CD player, and discover the music for the first time.  Sometimes this is an exciting, expectation-defying journey (a la last week’s Echo & the Bunnymen album The Fountain).  Other times, it can be just as disappointing an experience as one can have (i.e. U2’s No Line on the Horizon deluxe edition CD). 

I should also comment on my recent opinion of Mayer. 

As I wrote in my review of Where the Light Is, I am a big fan of Mayer’s first three releases — the independently released EP Inside Wants Out, his debut Room For Squares, and his follow-up Heavier Things.  And yet, just as he gained “credibility,” I lost interest.  Yes, his third album Continuum offers some interesting guitar parts and melodies, but I resented the idea that he needed to become a blues afficionado in order to be accepted by those outside his stereotypical audience of young girls.  In my mind, this was a step backward in his songwriting.  Did no one notice or appreciate the effort he put into the album design for the first two albums, or the backing vocals in “Your Body is a Wonderland” that echo the chorus lyrics of “My Stupid Mouth”?  There was so much care taken with those releases that the minimalism of his last release was disappointing.  From the title of Heavier Things alone, one could imply that Mayer was interested in tackling more “important issues” and being taken more seriously. 

But, even in Heavier Things, he retained his sense of what was important — interpersonal relations, perspective, ambition, etc.  On Continuum, political and social issues apppeared as the subjects for his songs, which always seemed out of place to me. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an intense sense of loyalty, sometimes to my own detriment. But I had told myself I wouldn’t buy future Mayer releases to spare myself further disappointment, as I did with Where the Light Is.  That being said, I can’t deny that this single “Who Says” sounds more to me like the John Mayer that I enjoyed listening to on earlier works.  It’s simple, catchy, and tackles the same desires that my favorite John Mayer songs always did — namely, the desire for freedom from personal and social expectations (think: “No Such Thing,” “Not Myself,” “Bigger Than My Body,” and others). I don’t read the reference to marijuana as a literal desire to get high, but rather as a symbol for what society or one’s friends and family members think you shouldn’t do because “it’s not like you.”

So, I’ll give the album a try. 

And you better believe there will be a review forthcoming.

Until then, I hope you enjoy my video tonight.  I’m not sure what came over me, but I made this one a real production.  I tacked on a purposely goofy intro and follow-up documentary that I hope you laugh at — either because it’s funny or because you’re laughing AT me, as long as the result is the same!

And I know that I have other news and ideas on my mind that I wanted to share tonight, but I can’t remember what they are.  So, for now, I hope you enjoy this video. 

See you next session!

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Music Review: Weezer’s “Raditude”

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RATING:  1 / 5 stars

By Chris Moore:

I was the first to scoff at early negative reviews of the new Weezer album.  It seemed there was an inordinate number of swipes at the admittedly odd title, Raditude.  After all, I reasoned, Rivers Cuomo hasn’t exactly built his career by being serious.

So, it was with high hopes that I started listening to Raditude.  From the opening track — “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” — it became immediately apparent that the lyrics would be juvenile.

And yet this was never a turn-off.

I had heard this song, the first single, about fifteen or twenty times before the album was even released.  It had been leaked on YouTube, then removed, then reposted by another source, and finally released officially as the single.  And, each time I heard it, I liked it more and more.  This is saying a great deal, considering that the song includes references to watching Titanic and eating meat loaf as key plot points.

The way I see it, there are two types of great Weezer songs:  introverted, introspective ballads and catchy, fun rock/pop gems.

Any serious Weezer fan who will disparage the quality of Cuomo’s lyrics in 2009 needs to think back to such earlier tracks as “No One Else” — “My girl’s got a big mouth, with which she blabbers a lot…” — and “Getchoo” — “Sometimes I push too hard; sometimes you fall and skin your knee…”  And can anyone even begin to transcribe the lyrics to “Hash Pipe”?

I didn’t think so.

Weezer's "Raditude" (2009)

Weezer's "Raditude" (2009)

So, the credibility and entertainment value of “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” being established, the other nine songs on Raditude should be addressed.  In a nutshell, the new album is generally a mixed bag — one part catchy guitar hooks, one part derivative stylistic choices, and two parts juvenile and (to be frank) ridiculous lyrics — that all amounts to a mediocre collection of material.

I’ve always been drawn to Rivers Cuomo’s firm embrace on the simple, pure, and raw emotions that we generally attribute to the innocence (and immaturity) of youth, but this time around, there is little for me to relate to or feel moved by.

“I’m Your Daddy” is about as two dimensional a song as you’ll ever find, stripped of Cuomo’s trademark quirky innocence to reveal an inexperienced Romeo.  It is also a bit creepy to listen to after learning that he began writing it while watching his daughter.

“The Girl Got Hot” is driven by catchy, distortion-drenched guitars, but again the lyrics fall short.  I kept waiting for a moral to the story — I would have settled for something as simple as “don’t judge a book by its cover” — but all I ended up with was the singer’s revelation that, when it comes to Kiki Dee’s friends, “She got hot, and they did not.”  Oh, and the phrase “buyer beware” is potentially problematic, but I won’t even go there.

Then comes the piece de la resistance, “Can’t Stop Partying.”  Again, I waited for the subtext that the lyrics must surely contain, considering the minor chords and Cuomo’s diction — “can’t stop” implies addiction.  And again, I was met with lines like “If you was me, honey, you would do it too” and “Screw rehab; I love my addiction.”  Just when I thought it couldn’t get less redeemable, Lil Wayne lays down a chauvinistic, obscenity laden ode to excess.

The remainder of the album is divided between forgettable, inane tracks — like “In the Mall” — and solid, albeit middle-of-the-road songs — like “Put Me Back Together.”  The latter track is one of my favorites from the new album, even though it is difficult to shake the feeling that this would have been a filler track on any earlier Weezer release.

Other tracks like “Let It All Hang Out” and “Love is the Answer” are debatable — on the upside, they do tap into the aforementioned pure, raw emotions that the band’s best material always has, yet there is nothing extraordinary about them.

At the end of the day, I have to reluctantly admit that my opinion is not so divergent from that of Slant reviewer Huw Jones — strictly in his opinion of this album, but NOT his opinion of Weezer’s overall career arc (he’s seriously off there).  Weezer has finally released an album that I can’t endorse — and that I, unfortunately, can’t listen to for very long without feeling disappointed.

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“Who Says” by John Mayer – Chords, Tabs, and How to Play

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“Who Says”
John Mayer

D                G
Who says I can’t get stoned,
Em                                    A
Turn off the lights and the telephone?
Bm          E
Me in my house alone —
G                A            D
Who says I can’t get stoned?

Who says I can’t be free
From all of the things that I used to be?
Rewrite my history —
Who says I can’t be free?

D               G     D                           A
It’s been a long night in New York City;
A                G     D                     A
It’s been a long night in Baton Rouge.
G            D                 F#m               Bm
I don’t remember you looking any better,
Bm  E                                           A
But then again I don’t remember you…

Who says I can’t get stoned,
Call up a girl that I used to know?
Fake love for an hour or so —
Who says I can’t get stoned?

Who says I can’t take time,
Meet all the girls in the county line?
Wait on fate to send a sign —
Who says I can’t take time?

It’s been a long night in New York City;
It’s been a long night in Austin too.
I don’t remember you looking any better,
But then again I don’t remember you…

INSTRUMENTAL

Who says I can’t get stoned,
Plan a trip to Japan alone?
Doesn’t matter if I even go —
Who says I can’t get stoned?

It’s been a long night in New York City;
It’s been a long time since twenty-two.
I don’t remember you looking any better,
But then again I don’t remember, don’t remember you…

Outro:  D

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **

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