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Living in Chicago, by way of Dayton, OH and Havertown, PA. Contact me at atozpod@gmail.com.

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Where You At?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

from Depot to Diamonds

Day 180, Session 66:
When/Where: Tuesday December 19th - Evening. Heading home on the train.
First song: Depot Depot by Tom Waits
Last full song: Diamonds On My Windshield by Tom Waits
Progress: 873-883 of 4617
Total Songs Heard: 774

So this worked yesterday, and in my efforts to continue catching up, I'll lazy out again.

Songs from today's session:
Depot Depot - Tom Waits
Description - De La Soul
Desert Winds - John Williams
Desire - Toad The Wet Sprocket
Destination Moon - Dinah Washington
Destination Moon - They Might Be Giants
Devil Boy - Seven Mary Three
Devotion - Weezer
Diamonds and Gold - Tom Waits
Diamonds For Duke - The University of Dayton
Diamonds On My Windshield - Tom Waits


I'd like to include the "Songs Heard" section every day, but it kind of mucks up the look of things. What I really want to do is include it as a expandable list, but I can't for the life of me find an easy way to create something like that in Blogger. I have the feeling I'm out of luck unless I become a lot better at programming. If you have any (simple to implement for an idiot) suggestions let me know.

Let's see, we had two different songs called Destination Moon, so it must be time for another song breakdown!

Destination Moon by Dinah Washington vs. Destination Moon by They Might Be Giants:

What's it about?
Dinah Washington wants some time away with her man. Apparently the moon seemed like the most convenient place to get away. Sure, this doesn't seem practical now, but back when this song was released in 1962 I'm sure moon based honeymoons seemed like something that was just around the corner. I'm not quite sure what TMBG is talking about in this song. But they do give detailed instructions on how to get from your bed to the moon. Perhaps that's the point. Maybe they're saying if you can just get out of bed in the morning, anything is possible.

Representative lyric:
Dinah Washington - "
So away we steal in a spacemobile. A supersonic honeymoon. Leave your cares below, pull the switch, let's go! Destination moon."
TMBG - "By rocket to the moon,
By airplane to the rocket, By taxi to the airport, By front door to the taxi, By throwing back the blanket, Hanging down the legs"

The music:
Dinah Washington uses a lot more horns. TMBG uses a lot more electric guitar.

Verdict:
As cool as moon based honeymooning seems, it's just not practical, especially with gas prices being what they are these days (something Ms. Washington surely did not foresee in 1962.) Combine that with TMBG's can do attitude and electric guitar and it's as apparent as a full moon on a clear night... They Might Be Giants has the better version of Destination Moon.

1 comment:

Mike said...

Destination Moon is one of my favorite TMBG songs.

I think it's about a sick (possibly dying) guy who is still trying to get to the moon, despite being ill (or extremely old) - that's what the "card with the cartoon nurse" and the "withered leg" parts are about.

In my opinion.

I like song breakdowns. And Teenage Fanclub (I had a few of their songs, but not the one you posted about above)!