I finally got my cd "Songs for Dustmites!" I've been living off snippets from Steve's web page and the videos on his MySpace. I've heard the originals on some of the songs, but quite a few of them I've never heard before. I couldn't get all of the snippets to play. I'll give you a run-down on what I think of the songs. You can read, or not; your choice.
First, the photos in the booklet: I love the first one. He has his "vulnerable" eyes on, or as he says his "winsomefulness" is showing. You just want to hug him. He looks adorable. The second one: His eyes look a little freaky. It's the same look, but the lens makes them look almond-shaped and distorted. He still looks cute, though.
Mighty Little Man: Way better than the original. I like the lyrics in the original better, but the music is much better in the cd version. The lyrics in the first one are very autobiographical, and my favorite line is "I have my mother's eyes." I do think that the cd version's lyrics definitely match the video. It would be hard to make a video for the first version's lyrics, I imagine.
What I Do on Saturday: Another good one. I'm not that crazy about the video. I guess it's a personal taste thing; it's not bad. The first two songs seem to be the most upbeat. I kind of spaced a little for the rest of the cd. It's mellow.
Maintain: I totally get this song. I wrote out what I thought the song meant on one of the Steve Burns fan boards that I frequent, so I'm just going to paste it here- "I understood it like this... when you're in "love" for the first time, everywhere you look you're reminded of your Love. Everything is super alive feeling. You're constantly connected to each other "jump out of my skin gonna float above the buildings see which one you're in"; you're invincible "we can finally stop the traffic we can finally stop the trains"; everything is moving around you like you're both in a bubble "we can act like we're above it all"; and everything and everyone can see how in love you are "it's screaming from the payphones and its dripping from the trees and it's moving through the pavement underneath your feet." I think he's describing this awesome (sorry, cheesy I know, but for lack of a better word) state of euphoria and he just wants it to stay or "Maintain." " Thanks for letting me save some typing. For those who don't have the words handy, the phrases in quotes are lines in the song.
>1: It took me awhile to figure out the name for this song. Yes, my math skills are rusty. I like it. The lyrics are cute, and I especially like the line about building a fort in our mother's room. Which makes me think that it's not supposed to be a love song, maybe it's about one of his sisters? And how could you not like a song where someone plays an empty ice cream container.
Troposphere: This song is about an airplane ride, I guess. I always thought troposphere was pronounced traw-posphere (like draw). It's the southern in me. I was either not paying attention in Earth Science or my teacher didn't pay attention in her Earth Science class. We know it's right, because could Steve do any wrong?
Stick Around: This one makes me just want to cry. It doesn't really remind me of a personal experience, because if I'm mad at someone I really don't want them to stick around and I haven't really had any painful (for me, maybe) breakups. But I really don't like to think of Steve being hurt, he's just too much of a cutie. It's a really emotional song.
A Reason: This one I liked the original better, period. I know it wasn't professionally done, but the sniffing and coughing is very endearing. Also, the way he delays the vocals a tad bothers me. I guess all those years of piano, flute and piccolo drove the obsessive need for everything to be right on the beat into my brain. I'm still learning to like jazz, there's just too much improvising in that.
Music for Montgomery County, PA: It's instrumental. I don't remember much, children were running around at the time.
A Song For Dustmites: Cool, kind of spacey. I really enjoyed the YouTube video, but it's not able to keep my attention when the children are running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2_xl7ZK3Kw
Superstrings: Nothing really jumps out about this song, it's just good.
A Sniveling Mess: Sometimes I feel like a sniveling mess, and the lyrics are totally me. I don't like to admit it, but yeah, I'm a sniveling mess.
Henry Krinkle's Lament: eh, it's good.
You may be able to tell that the last few songs weren't my favorite, but if something happened to this copy, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
The packaging was pretty cool, too. I liked the little blurb by Paul Ford. If you haven't already read it, you need to. I enjoy a nice dry humor. You can download the whole thing from Steve's web page. I strongly recommend it.
http://www.steveswebpage.com/SongsForDustMites.html
Plus, the dustmites are just adorable. Cute and bald, just like Steve.
First, the photos in the booklet: I love the first one. He has his "vulnerable" eyes on, or as he says his "winsomefulness" is showing. You just want to hug him. He looks adorable. The second one: His eyes look a little freaky. It's the same look, but the lens makes them look almond-shaped and distorted. He still looks cute, though.
Mighty Little Man: Way better than the original. I like the lyrics in the original better, but the music is much better in the cd version. The lyrics in the first one are very autobiographical, and my favorite line is "I have my mother's eyes." I do think that the cd version's lyrics definitely match the video. It would be hard to make a video for the first version's lyrics, I imagine.
What I Do on Saturday: Another good one. I'm not that crazy about the video. I guess it's a personal taste thing; it's not bad. The first two songs seem to be the most upbeat. I kind of spaced a little for the rest of the cd. It's mellow.
Maintain: I totally get this song. I wrote out what I thought the song meant on one of the Steve Burns fan boards that I frequent, so I'm just going to paste it here- "I understood it like this... when you're in "love" for the first time, everywhere you look you're reminded of your Love. Everything is super alive feeling. You're constantly connected to each other "jump out of my skin gonna float above the buildings see which one you're in"; you're invincible "we can finally stop the traffic we can finally stop the trains"; everything is moving around you like you're both in a bubble "we can act like we're above it all"; and everything and everyone can see how in love you are "it's screaming from the payphones and its dripping from the trees and it's moving through the pavement underneath your feet." I think he's describing this awesome (sorry, cheesy I know, but for lack of a better word) state of euphoria and he just wants it to stay or "Maintain." " Thanks for letting me save some typing. For those who don't have the words handy, the phrases in quotes are lines in the song.
>1: It took me awhile to figure out the name for this song. Yes, my math skills are rusty. I like it. The lyrics are cute, and I especially like the line about building a fort in our mother's room. Which makes me think that it's not supposed to be a love song, maybe it's about one of his sisters? And how could you not like a song where someone plays an empty ice cream container.
Troposphere: This song is about an airplane ride, I guess. I always thought troposphere was pronounced traw-posphere (like draw). It's the southern in me. I was either not paying attention in Earth Science or my teacher didn't pay attention in her Earth Science class. We know it's right, because could Steve do any wrong?
Stick Around: This one makes me just want to cry. It doesn't really remind me of a personal experience, because if I'm mad at someone I really don't want them to stick around and I haven't really had any painful (for me, maybe) breakups. But I really don't like to think of Steve being hurt, he's just too much of a cutie. It's a really emotional song.
A Reason: This one I liked the original better, period. I know it wasn't professionally done, but the sniffing and coughing is very endearing. Also, the way he delays the vocals a tad bothers me. I guess all those years of piano, flute and piccolo drove the obsessive need for everything to be right on the beat into my brain. I'm still learning to like jazz, there's just too much improvising in that.
Music for Montgomery County, PA: It's instrumental. I don't remember much, children were running around at the time.
A Song For Dustmites: Cool, kind of spacey. I really enjoyed the YouTube video, but it's not able to keep my attention when the children are running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2_xl7ZK3Kw
Superstrings: Nothing really jumps out about this song, it's just good.
A Sniveling Mess: Sometimes I feel like a sniveling mess, and the lyrics are totally me. I don't like to admit it, but yeah, I'm a sniveling mess.
Henry Krinkle's Lament: eh, it's good.
You may be able to tell that the last few songs weren't my favorite, but if something happened to this copy, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
The packaging was pretty cool, too. I liked the little blurb by Paul Ford. If you haven't already read it, you need to. I enjoy a nice dry humor. You can download the whole thing from Steve's web page. I strongly recommend it.
http://www.steveswebpage.com/SongsForDustMites.html
Plus, the dustmites are just adorable. Cute and bald, just like Steve.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment