Halloween is coming! Again... Get your candy bucket filled in preparation for all of the masked children coming your way. Or maybe for a more novel idea how about no masks this Halloween. And I mean no masks whatsoever...
Triskaidekaphobia
Recently this blog passed its thirteenth blogiversary having started on September 20th of 2009. That seems like a lot of water under the bridge or, more appropriately, words off of my keyboard--and I guess it is.
In recent years words seem to be getting fewer. The posts have gotten less frequent. And yet I persist into my thirteenth year of blogging. After the past two very weird and annoying years the idea of a thirteenth year seems like a bit of an ominous thing. But not being particularly superstitious I'm not overly concerned. I'm just hoping this upcoming thirteenth year of blogging will bring at least a few quality posts and a decent A to Z April. For those who don't get that last reference I'm talking about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I imagine I'll be returning for this blogging challenge. In fact I've been mapping out my theme already. But you'll have to wait for March to hear what that will be.
As for now, one of the big things for many of us is Halloween. In my case I think this deserves a mention since thirteen years ago this blog started out as a Halloween blog. Blogging about all things Halloween and related was my original intent. Thankfully I went off course in that mission as I don't know that I could have comfortably sustained that many years blogging about Halloween and the like.
Yes, my blogging has been fairly lucky I think. Went off on some interesting and occasionally weird tangents, but hopefully I've kept readers interested for the most part. So I'm having expectations of another at least okay year of blogging in this thirteenth year. I have no fear of the number 13, but maybe I should fear my frequent lack of initiative. Forget the COVID vaccine--what I need is a healthy injection of ambition. I'm likely not the only one.
But let's get on with the Halloween spirit with a kind of spooky sounding song title for this round of....
Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands. This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month. My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months. The premise is simple: Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it. Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.
The Killing Moon
Battle of the Bands
The Killing Moon
The song "The Killing Moon" was originally recorded by the English band Echo & the Bunnymen, appearing in 1984 on their album Ocean Rain. The song is the band's most notable song--one of their few that made to the hit charts.
The song's attributed writer Ian McCulloch gives this account of how the song came to him:
"I love (the song) all the more because I didn’t pore over it for days on end. One morning, I just sat bolt upright in bed with this line in my head: 'Fate up against your will. Through the thick and thin. He will wait until you give yourself to him.' You don’t dream things like that and remember them. That’s why I’ve always half credited the lyric to God. It’s never happened before or since."Whatever the case may be, I like this song a lot and taking into account all of the covers that have been done and the uses of the song in film and television, a lot of others must agree. There are so many cover versions to be found on YouTube that it made it a little difficult to come up with just two challengers. So I've opted for three quite different versions. Hope you enjoy...
Grant Lee Phillips "The Killing Moon" (2006)
The Quakes "The Killing Moon" (2001)
George Gaudy "The Killing Moon" (2011)
Time to Vote!
You don't have to kill yourself or go over the moon to play along in this Battle of the Bands. I hope you'll at least give the versions a listen to discern your favorite. Which version do you prefer? Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind. You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.
Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.
Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:
StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands
'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'
'Curious as a Cathy'
Sound of One Hand Typing
Jingle, Jangle, Jungle
Winner of this Battle Announced on Friday October 22nd
Have fun with this Battle and please do vote. I'll have a results post despite the fact that those posts don't get many comments and comparatively few visitors. But that's okay. Gotta announce the winners, right?
Are you superstitious about the number 13? Did your blog start out as something different than where it is now? How many years have you been blogging?
I've heard of Echo & The Bunnymen, but none of their music (in their prime years they were mostly played on college radio in my neck of the woods). I listen to snippets of all three and I like Grant Lee Phillip the best. The song sounds like it should have that noirish feel to it and the video perfectly supplies that.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd try to make it poppy/rock and it failed miserably, whereas the 3rd try to put it somewhere that it didn't belong.
I've been blogging for about the same amount of years as you have, and it also changed during those years. I went from posting 3-4 times a week to just about a semi-monthly rate. I think at this point, with me being almost a year into retirement, I really have nothing to blog about. But I keep doing it anyways, mostly to keep my writing skills in shape at the bare minimum.
First vote:
DeleteGrant Lee Phillips.
Lee,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 13 years of blogging! We've been friends for a good number of them and I'm happy this platform brought together two like-minded individuals. I'm not superstitious, either. I can do without the masks, too. If you're sick with anything KEEP AWAY from others and if you think a person is sick STAY AWAY from them. It doesn't get any easier than that. I probably will participate in the A2Z event next year and will give my theme more thought at the beginning of the new year.
Now for your battle. I listened to all three covers before going over to YT to listen to the original because honestly I couldn't say for sure I remembered it but Echo & The Bunnymen jiggled my memory. The three versions you put up in this battle paints the mood differently. In the end, I really liked the way the 3rd selection opened while maintaining the general melody arrangement which almost made me feel like I was at the circus for some reason. I'm giving my vote to George Gaudy. I don't have a mid-month battle but will on Nov. 1st. Have a funtastic Friday, my friend!
Cathy, everybody just needs to think human. No point in living a life of fear.
DeleteA vote for George Gaudy.
Lee
Happy anniversary! I started blogging about two months after you. Wow. Yeah, we were all eager for last year to end, but we had no idea how bad this year was going to be.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely going with the first band.
Alex, we are of a certain generation of bloggers I guess.
DeleteA vote for Grant Lee Phillips.
Lee
I really liked the version by The Quakes, so I'm goig with them.
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogiversary!
John, yeah, happy.
DeleteA vote for The Quakes.
Lee
BOIDMAN ~
ReplyDeleteI was not at all familiar with this song but I think the Battle was very interesting because of the vastly different approaches to the same song!
The first version I dismissed almost immediately because it features that kind of "whiney" singing that became so popular in the '90s and, unfortunately, is apparently still with us today. I like my male singers to sound like Waylon Jennings, not like Enya.
The third one was pretty interesting with that "sad clown" music, and it went in a drastically different direction. I could have voted for it, but...
THE QUAKES, man! I've always been a big, big fan of Rockabilly, and they've got that kind of sound and spirit goin' on!
All that having been said, I was FASCINATED by the black & white movie video used as the imagery for the first recording. It's obviously a foreign movie (French or Italian?), but I have definitely seen that primary male actor in something before. And just that super-cool scene (sans audible dialogue) has now got me on a quest to find out what movie that scene is from. I want to watch that movie now. (I also want that very cute girl who's in it! ;^)
~ D-FensDogG
STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS
STMcC, I really liked the contrasting versions of the song. And I've liked this song since first hearing it in the eighties.
DeleteA vote for The Quakes.
The film clip is from Nuits blanches (Le notti bianche) Luchino Visconti, 1957
Lee
A comment from "6-Gun" sent to me via email due to problems commenting on this site:
ReplyDeleteI always liked this song, and Grant Lee Phillips reminds me most of the original. The others were… OK… but frankly did not even sound like the same song to me.
Your blogging: Thirteen years strikes me as almost too long to do anything! But what else are you going to do? Might as well plug away at it unless you find something else to do that you DO enjoy. That's my dilemma: what to do these days. Most stuff “they” no longer allow me to do.
"Let's go Brandon."
Sixgun McItchyfinger
"Let's Go, Brandon!"
Delete~ D-FensDogG
'FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS'
6-Gun votes:
DeleteGrant Lee Phillips.
Lee
My favorite is Grant Lee Phillips. It seems most in line with my own musical preference.
ReplyDeleteI began my main blog in March 2011, about six months after my Angelfire site (which I'd had since 2001) was deleted without notice or chance to appeal. Long story short, I made the mistake of naming a mentally unbalanced blogger who then vanity-searched herself, and her sycophantic friends sent me nasty e-mails and reported me to Angelfire. I used that blogger's story as a jumping-off point to discussing a bigger topic; it wasn't all about her or even a personal attack. Now I'm much more careful.
My blog was originally focused on writing and my hoped-for journey to traditional publication, but now I write about classic films and albums, books, historical topics, and writing craft.
Carrie-Anne, you've had some pretty strange blogging stories to tell, but I guess we all might have. And since we're writers we should be able to elaborate well.
DeleteYou do blog about a lot of diverse topics. And usually in well-researched depth.
A vote for Grant Lee Phillips.
Lee