My album of original music, Funeral Business (featuring Andrew Lee), has been available for purchase for some time. Well, now is the time when you can just listen to the whole thing for free on youtube. You can click here to get to my youtube webpage and subscribe, but below I am also putting all the songs in order for posterity’s sake. Again, thanks to everyone who contributed to this record, you know who are and I love you all. Again, if you like what you hear please follow these links to purchase. It means a lot.

Available for purchase on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon MP3 —

iTunes

Google Music

Amazon Music

Without further ado, here are the tracks, enjoy.

To paraphrase George Harrison, “the “you” in the song, is God.”  Gaining this insight gives the song even more creepy mysticism.  “Long, Long, Long,” from the “White Album,” is officially one of my favorite Beatles songs.  Like many people growing up with the Beatles, I wasn’t a fan of the song until I got much older.  When I was a little kid, it was too quiet (probably the quietest Beatles song in the catalog) and too boring for me to really feel.  As I grew older,  I realized it was a master class of songwriting and personal expression, and it began to affect me greatly.  It’s simply a fantastic gorgeous ode to love and God, expressed in the most ambiguous way imaginable.  I also love the little high pitched organ part, which reminds me of an ice queen ballerina dancing alone in the snow.  What’s that mysterious rattle at the end of the song you ask?  It’s a bottle of wine vibrating to the frequency of a peculiar Hammond organ note being played by Paul McCartney.  Pretty cool no?  You know what else is cool, you only have 4 more days to vote me as CBS’s Best Local NYC Blogger, by clicking here!

I wrote this song last fall, recorded it in the winter, started the music video in the spring, and put it away till..well…today.  The reason it’s the 7th part is because it took 7 mixes for me to get it just right.  Musically, this song was inspired by John Lennon’s “Julia,” and George Harrison’s “Not Guilty.”  I was going to call it, “The Road to Mandalay,” but I realized that British pop star Robbie Williams already had a song by that name, and the appeal of such a title went out the window.  The guitar picking was done on my ’75 Yamaha acoustic, and the guitar solo was played on my Epiphone Casino.  I really wish I could have made a beautiful live version video of the song, but I don’t have the money to arrange for it to be done perfectly. What you get instead is a charming little exercise in the wonder that is Microsoft Paint.  I gave up making the video many months ago because creating all the titles for the lyrics was so tedious that I lost interest until today, when I realized that I’m now unemployed, and it would have been a shame to not get it done when I had the chance.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask.  Oh, and of course, please vote me as NYC’s best local blogger in the CBS contest where I am a finalist.  Thanks.

I’m not ready to leave this concert from May 23rd, 1976 at Hughes Stadium.  For this segment, Bob is leading his band through a scorching rendition of “Idiot Wind,” another track from Blood on the Tracks.  This live version is especially nasty the way Dylan just bashes his electric guitar and snarls every lyric.  The song is about his ex-wife Sara, at least according to Bob’s famous son Jakob.  Bob denied this, but Jakob famously said that the nastier tracks from Blood on the Tracks are, “my parents talking.”  It doesn’t matter, because again, Bob puts the universal touch in all his songs, and this song is no different. It’s a remarkable and scathing diatribe of broken love and bitter nostalgia, and its a great moment in rock and roll history. A true folk rock gem whose long running time shouldn’t scare anyone from playing it, and if you are, well, you’re an idiot.

The year was 1976, and Bob Dylan was in Colorado at Hughes Stadium singing one of his greatest songs ever, “Shelter From the Storm.”  Originally from Blood on the Tracks, the song was being filmed and recorded for Bob’s live record Hard Rain.  “Shelter From the Storm” is one of Bob’s most enduring poems.  Its a universal anthem that blithely crosses nostalgia with tall tales of true romance and bitterness.  The video below is taken from NBC’s hour long film of the concert and showcases what Dylan would  do in a live setting for the rest of career, namely never playing his classic songs the way you heard them on record.  This version of “Shelter From the Storm” is transformed from a somber acoustic ballad into an upbeat rocking rave.  It’s also a sight to see Bob play that incredibly unique electric guitar with a slide no less!  This is a wonderful rendition, and a must watch for fans of Bob’s middle eastern head gear phase.

“Play With Fire,” a 1965 B-Side by the Stones, was credited to Nanker Phelge, a pseudonym the Stones used when they attributed the songwriting to all the members.  Still, its mainly the work of Jagger and Richards, with Phil Spector on bass oddly enough.  In fact, Mick and Keith are the only Stones to appear on the track. It was recorded on a late January night in 1965 Los Angeles; what a scene that must have been.  This song is pure attitude.  Richards came up with the perfect guitar line to match Jagger’s ferociously deadly delivery.  It’s one of my favorite Stones songs ever, and the video below captures the Victorian hellishness of the song’s power.  The Rolling Stones were truly a one of a kind phenomenon coming along at the ground zero for rock and roll phenomenons.  This song is proof of their unique singularity in music history.  Enjoy.

Did you know that when you plug your iPod into your computer, iTunes can arrange your iPod’s mp3s by plays, from most played to least? It’s pretty fascinating to see what you’ve been listening to exclusively, and how many thousands (yes thousands of times) you’ve clicked play on certain songs. Well, I’d thought it’d be interesting to share the top ten most played songs on my iPod in a new awesome mega post. So, without further ado, here is the list, starting with #10!

#10- The Police- Can’t Stand Losing You, 255 plays. My countdown kicks off with the Police’s catchy little reggae punk tune known as “Can’t Stand Losing You.”  From Outlandos d’Amour, this song isn’t skipped much for a bunch of reasons.  First, its supremely catchy, with its syncopated guitars, tight harmonies, and perfect drumming.  Second, Sting’s lyrics are so raw and real, that its one of the greatest breakup songs ever.  I’m just addicted to the way that chorus fades into oblivion.

#9-  The Beatles- Eleanor Rigby, 509 plays. Ahh, the Beatles, of course, you’ll be seeing a few songs by the fab four pepper my top ten I’m not ashamed to say. “Eleanor Rigby,” from Revolver, is just a brilliant song to play on a crowded depressed subway during rush hour.  The song swoops in with George Martin’s brilliant string arrangement, and you look around the train and see “all the lonely people,” wondering “where do they all belong.”  Then you wonder if you yourself is one of those lonely people who is gonna die alone while you are arranging your socks in your dingy apartment. Read more »

Another live show, this time me playing an original.  Sip From Your Fork, written when I was 22, never properly recorded.  A damn fine set of lyrics.

It was clearly your fault, you are locked in a vault
and what’s worse you have swallowed the key

You are covered in sleet and you are in it so deep
that in time theyll forget where you’re buried

so you might as well send your demons to hell
give a shout for some help do not worry

theres a reason to live that is true
you know what to do
its waitin for you because, its in you

I only can watch, as your monolog flies by
your mind and your lips everyday

you rant and you rave, yet you cannot convey youre insane
no one knows what to do, with you

youre dry as a cactus and without a tune, as you sip from your fork
and get bent by your spoon

come with me i can show you the way, ill show you today, why today
because, its monday

i will not believe that you will not be free
oh these negative illusions you spray

ill always contend, and i never pretend
when i beg you to see it that way

but youre chained to a rock, with your eyes on a clock
ears defeaned to things that I say

I can reach you if you reach for me, we both can believe
if you wish to be free, then you will be

Words and Music by Willie Simpson

In part 43 of my youtube countdown, I present to you the Magnetic Fields singing “Grand Canyon,” one of their great songs off their epic 69 Love Songs album.  The Magnetic Fields are the brainchild of serially depressed genius Stephin Merritt.  To me, Stephin is lyrically as brilliant as Bob Dylan..yes, I know what I just said, but its true.  He is a master pop lyric craftsman and probably one of the top 3 contemporary songwriters in the world today.  He sings in a very low Sintra-esque voice, which, to me, adds a timeless quality to his very original music.  “Grand Canyon,” a breathtakingly brilliant song about rekindling lost love, is one of 69 songs from his aforementioned triple album.  The album, which you all should get, and which I’ll probably do a big feature on soon, is one of the greatest pop albums of the past 20 years, and deserves to be heard by all, so check it out.  In the meantime, let the brilliant simple words of “Grand Canyon” serve as your introduction to this band of geniuses.

For part 38 of my youtube countdown, I have another fantastic George Harrison duet.  This time its with Paul.  No not McCartney, but SIMON!  This version of George and Paul tackle George’s incomprehensible 1969 stunner, “Here Comes the Sun.”  The occasion was Saturday Night Live and the results were breathtaking.  George hits all his acoustic marks with perfection, and Paul Simon’s voice just melts perfectly into George’s harmony.  The freaky thing about the video is how Paul Simon keeps looking at George like he wants to take him to bed, or more likely, create a new group called “Simon and Harrison.”  But George wasn’t about to be stuck with another Paul telling him what type of guitar solo to play on “Still Crazy After All These Years.”  So, instead, like with most of rock and roll history, we just have singular moments, and here’s a good one, enjoy.

UPDATE 10.20.13- YouTube/Google disabled embedding this video but you can click here to watch the performance! (Willie)