It was sorta kinda twenty years ago.
Nevermind
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Category Archives: Music
Guitar Tabs For Billy Joel’s Laura
These days, Billy Joel is generally being brushed off as an 80′s sellout wanker (here’s looking at you, Uptown Girl), but I really think The Nylon Curtain features some terrific songs: there’s Allentown, Pressure, Goodnight Saigon — and then there’s Laura.
Okay, so I’m admittedly somewhat obsessed with this song (previously) and its intricate chord changes in particular. Sat myself down with my guitar for half an hour in an effort to figure out the chords, as the Google had failed me dismally. Here’s what I came up with — mainly for my own reference, so hold your horses…
Intro:
G- D# - C
Main theme (as in Laura Calls me / In the middle of the night):
G - Em - A7 - C7
First bridge (as in I’m on her side / Why does she push the poison on me?):
F7 - Em /* @TODO: that 'oh wow wow' */
Second bridge (as in Here I am / Feeling like a fucking fool / Do I react…):
A# - C7 - Cm - A#
Now these chord changes may well owe their exotic feel due to my picking G as the root chord but still: cleverly done Mr Joel, most cleverly done…
Today’s Aha-Erlebnis
- There’s a second, optional argument to CodeIgniter’s uri segment helper which allows for a fall back default in cases where the uri segment returns false:
$this->uri->segment(2, date('Y')); - When loading a CI view, there’s an optional third argument which, when set to true, allows you to assign the view to a variable, instead of directly outputting it to the browser. Very very handy when constructing RSS feeds, PDF-downloads, or html emails:
//mail config...
$msg = $this->load->view('email_template', $data, TRUE);
$this->email->message($msg);
$this->email->send(); - At age two and a half my son is a confirmed, certified Apple nerd (do disregard Khadaffi audio in the back):
- Today’s favorite Beatles tune has to be Golden Slumbers.
When Laura Meets Baby Britain
Billy Joel’s point of view looks in from the outside, anger toward his “Nemesis” being the main driving force, whereas Elliott Smith tends to empathize with his “Nemesis”, realizing he’s been an accomplice all the way. It’s an interesting juxta position — while both songs are obvious witnesses of a jarring issue needing to be to cleared out.
Billy Joel – Laura
Elliott Smith – Baby Britain
A Concert For Jimmy
Jimmy Carl Black, original Mother of Invention, was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2008. A benefit concert is to be held on Sunday 9 November 2008. Tickets on sale here.
I realize the timing for this entry is as odd as it gets, but then again: life has proven itself to be stranger than fiction on most every occasion.
Just in case you’re wondering who the hell Jimmy Carl Black is: well, here he is playing the drums in a fantastic version of Frank Zappa’s King Kong: