IT’S RAINING ALL OVER THE WORLD

It’s been pouring rain the last few days. Thunder serenaded me all night along and this morning alone we had a Black Storm Warning (i.e. it’s raining so hard the govt advises you to stay inside) for three hours. Results: the North Lantau Highway was washed out with mud, HK Island was flooded from Sheung Wan all the way up to Hennessy Road, and two people are dead after a mudslide buried them in their shop off Castle Peak Road.

And it’s still coming down, though not as hard as this morning.

Anyway, of course all this got me to thinking about how many songs have been written about rain. And I’ve been looking for an excuse to try out my Imeem account, so let’s give this a shot.

PRODUCTION NOTE 01: Track 5 is "April Snow" by Faye Wong, which may or may not display right in yr browser because of the Chinese characters. And yes, I know it says "Snow" and not "Rain", but trust me, this is a rain song.

PRODUCTION NOTE 02: It's likely the songs may be limited to 30-second samples. Which sucks, I know. Imeem claims you get the full version once you finish the list but I have my doubts. Let's find out.

PRODUCTION NOTE 3: In trying to put this thing together, I’ve worked out that Imeem, Seeqpod and MixTape are not designed for people with eclectic tastes. If you listen to nothing but Top 40, urban or classic rock, you’ll probably find everything you need. But if you need something like, say, The Wipers’ “Voices In The Rain” or Johnnie Ray’s “Just Walkin’ In The Rain” or something, forget it, Jim. And while some sites have some of those songs, none of them have the full list of songs I want.

True, I could upload them myself. But if I wanted to take it that far, I could just make my own damn mix on my MacBook and upload that to MediaFire or something. Which I tried, but too many of the songs I wanted to use won’t import into my music editor. Because God hates me, I think.

And so much for that idea.

Anyway, if yr wondering why some obvious choices aren’t there, that may be why. The other reason is that I tried to avoid the obvious choices whenever possible.

Blame it on the rain,

This is dF

EDITED TO ADD (a few minutes later): Looks like you just get the samples after all. Which makes Imeem absolutely fucking useless. Yes. Although maybe it'll play the full tracks in yr area, if it thinks yr IP address is within the permissible play zone. In which case Imeem is STILL fucking useless. Fuck you, Imeem. I'm canceling my account.

BAD COVER VERSION 013: I CAN’T SLEEP AT NIGHT

Resuming our coverage of the ongoing battle of cover songs vs originals.

Previously on Bad Cover Version:

Van Halen successfully defended its seminal song “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” against punk legends Minutemen. Ironically, one of Van Halen’s initial hits was a cover song as well, and in fact they released at least three singles in their Diamond Dave heyday that were covers – two of them by the same band. So Van Halen may be hard to cover, but how are they at covers themselves?

THE SONG: “You Really Got Me”

THE ORIGINAL: The Kinks

COMMENTS: Not only their breakthrough hit, but it’s also the song that basically invented rock music as you know it, what with its power chords and everything. Note also the last 45 seconds of the video – without the Kinks, THAT would be yr entertainment option today.

THE COVER: Van Halen

COMMENTS: It says a lot that this song not only broke The Kinks, but Van Halen as well. It also says a lot that Van Halen is the only band ever to make it their own hit single. Given that they take all the elements of the song and turn them up to 11, you can see why.

WINNER: Opinions will differ, but personally I’m giving this one to the Kinks – partly because they wrote a blueprint song and paved the way for Van Halen, and partly because their version charted higher. Sometimes numbers do matter.

FUN FACT: One of the great Rock’n’Roll Myths is that the solo on the Kinks version was actually played by Jimmy Page, not Dave Davies. It’s not true.

PRODUCTION NOTE: I’ll probably get to the other Van Halen covers eventually, but after two Van Halen episodes, it’s time to move on for a bit.

Next week: Austrian pop legend vs former prog-rock band!

Don’t ever set me free,

This is dF

52 RATS: THE OUTTAKES

As you know, Team Def was forced to cancel 52 Rats, mainly because we got kinda bored with it, and as it turns out, rats aren’t as compelling subject matter as, say, pigs.

However, I did have a couple of good items left over in the vault, and for the compleatists out there, I will present them now.

1. Roland The Rat, seen here posing with special guest star Samantha Fox.



And yes, this one is mainly an excuse to post a picture of Samantha Fox.

2. A video of rats fetching ice out of a glass.

FULL DISCLOSURE: The fact that most of my research was turning up more of #2 than #1 was a major factor in the decision to cancel the series. Besides, how can you top posting four (4) Ratt videos? With things like this?



No. Because we try to run a quality blog here.

Rat’s all, folks,

This is dF