It’s Like Starting a Cold Engine

Author by professormaddog31Posted in Baseball, Music, Other

snoopy-dance-gif-image-x2witl-clipartIn a few short weeks, it will be Opening Day and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m really psyched this season. Last year was very difficult for me in a lot of ways, and while I tried to stay optimistic and cheerful, it was tough. But it’s a new day, and while I still feel like there are demons on every corner trying to get me, I no longer feel like they are on my heels so much.

One thing I’m proud of here at F.I. is all of us listen to different music and we are constantly trying to introduce each other to different new things. Or old things, some of these songs are pretty old (not to mention when I get a wild hare and decide to post the Ink Spots or Artie Shaw or something). However, this last year I’ve expanded my musical knowledge a little bit more and I have a bunch of new things in my arsenal that I am really loving.

Just like our teams are getting ready for Opening Day, I am, too. So I’m going to post a few newish to me tunes that you might be interested in, and I’d love it if you’d post a few as well so that we can learn a few different chords and maybe find a new favorite.

First off, I discovered this amazing song by a new artist named King Princess. This has a vintage sound mixed with a very pleasant pop sensibility that I really dig. This song has been on repeat nonstop. I don’t know why I get an Everly Brothers plus Lesley Gore vibe from this, and no, that is NOT a slam on any of these artists.

This song isn’t quite as new, but this version is. Many of you will know this song by its original artist, Don McLean, the dude who sang “American Pie”. Noted electronic post-dubstep minimalist James Blake recently released a cover and I am absolutely in love with it. Generally, I love everything James Blake does anyway, so that’s not unusual. However, this isn’t Blake’s usual style, which tends to be more ethereal and sketchy with more of a downbeat. Instead, Blake does a straight piano track and only does an effect on his vocals (on the recorded version), which adds a haunting quality to this piece.

Lastly, from waaaaaaaaaaaay out in left field, here’s Offset and Metro Boomin with the hottest rap beat of the year thus far, “Ric Flair Drip”.

Literally the first time I heard this, I got a serious case of the head nods. Lately, the rap game has been pretty crap if I’m honest, but between Kendrick Lamar, some Migos songs, and this absolute banger, I think it might be coming back.

15 thoughts on “It’s Like Starting a Cold Engine”

  1. I don’t have a song but I do have a poem by Ed Charles of the 1969 Miracle Mets. The talent of Shakespeare he did not have, but sincerity he did.

    Jackie Robinson – Super Star

    He accepted the challenge and played the game
    With a passion that few men possessed.
    He stood tall in the face of society’s shame
    With a talent that God had blessed.

    He banged out hits and aroused the fans
    With his daring base-running skills.
    This great great player and proud black man,
    Many bigots did threaten to kill.

    But he continued to pursue the impossible dream
    With an intensity that at times was most startling.
    He hissed at obstacles and tormented the opposing teams
    To the delight of his vast vast following.

    He was a “spirit aflamed” though preordained
    By God and destiny it seemed
    To shoulder the burdens of a race contained
    And lift them to lofty esteem.

    He ripped up the sod along the base lines
    As he ran in advance of a base.
    Upon his feet were your hopes and mine
    For a victory for the black man’s case.

    He opened up opportunities that never existed
    For the likes of you and me.
    This man from Georgia courageously assisted
    In the dawning of a new era for thee.

    Yes, he made his mark for all to see
    As he struggled determinately for dignity.
    And the world is grateful for the legacy
    That he left for all humanity.

    Thanks, Jackie, wherever you are.
    You will always be our first “super star.”
    For history shall record ad eternally proclaim
    Your great deeds in its halls of fame.

    So go now and rest for awhile
    For again you shall come a “spirit aflamed”
    In the bosom of another black child
    That God and destiny shall name

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  2. I’ve said this before but I’m repeating it out of bad habit: I can’t remember another spring camp or opening day that engendered in me so little interest or enthusiasm. After Beep Beep and his Luca Brasi replacement Mike Hill got finished gutting the Feesh – after he traded away the best outfield in baseball and still has no pitching to show for it, for example – I just lost interest. I suppose once the season gets underway and the team is well established in the NL East basement, I’ll get around finally to writing those baseball book reviews and historical features whose titles are pinned to the bulletin board above my desk. I just need something to happen to make me give a flying fark at a rolling doughnut about the game again.

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  4. I haven’t really been following Spring Training like I should be but I see that my Jays are solidly middle-of-the-pack, hovering just North (naturally) of Old Gator’s Strange Attractor. About where I expect to see them for most of the impending season.

    Lately I have been mucho busy learning new songs, as our community choir is preparing for our annual Cabaret performances at the end of May. Our director, whom everyone loves like a sweet grandmother (albeit one with dictatorial leanings), has very eclectic musical tastes and delights in pushing us out of our comfort zone to learn new things. Thus, our repertoire for this show runs the gamut from J.S.Bach to Freddie Mercury, with just about everything in between, including a trio of medleys that have quickly become choir favourites — one is a medley of disco hits, while the other two are medleys from the popular musicals “Grease” and “Hair”. Oddly, the last one is more popular with the teens than with those of us who remember when it first came out.

    I am also learning to sing in Italian, as my 16-year-old daughter and I are performing the Celine Dion/Andrea Bocelli version of “The Prayer”.

    However, one of the more upbeat songs we are doing is the following Delbert McClinton version of “You Are My Sunshine”. (apologies that the video starts mid-song).

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        1. Respectfully, a song about a lovesick man whose wife runs around on him, finally leaves, and all he can do is cry and beg her to come back even though he knows she’s no good is a tragedy.

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